The author brings significant authority to this subject. Mikhail Zygar is a prominent opposition Russian political journalist who co-founded TV Rain, the country's only independent news channel, and wrote the acclaimed book All the Kremlin’s Men. His extensive experience includes reporting from Ukraine since 2004, providing firsthand knowledge of the country's political evolution. Following the 2022 invasion, Zygar wrote an open letter condemning the war—an act signed by tens of thousands of Russian citizens that ultimately forced him to flee his home country.

This report establishes the strategic framework for the pre-production of Professor Sven Biscop's This Is Not a New World Order. Our primary objective is to distill its complex analysis into a core value proposition that will drive all content, marketing, and positioning. The book’s central argument is that the world is not entering a new chaotic era but is operating within a multipolar system that many in Europe, long insulated from raw power politics, are only now beginning to understand. Using the Russian invasion of Ukraine as its primary case study, the book eschews the alarmism common in contemporary analysis, arguing that treating every crisis as an unprecedented "turning point" is the very antithesis of sound strategic thinking. It seeks to answer two fundamental questions: What would it actually mean for the EU to think geopolitically? and, at the core of any grand strategy, Which role is the EU playing on the world stage? The book delivers a pragmatic, accessible analysis targeting policymakers, diplomats, military officials, and students of international relations seeking a clear-eyed assessment of great power politics from a European perspective. Authored by the director of the Europe in the World programme at the Egmont – Royal Institute for International Relations in Brussels, a professor at Ghent University, and a lecturer for senior EU diplomats and military officials, the work carries unimpeachable authority. Positioning this work effectively begins with defining the keywords and themes that serve as the foundation of its message and market presence.

Serhii Plokhy’s The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History presents the full-scale 2022 invasion not as an isolated event, but as the violent culmination of a conflict initiated in 2014. The book’s fundamental argument frames the war as an old-fashioned imperial conflict, driven by Russia's deep-seated historical ambitions, against which Ukraine is fighting a definitive war of independence.

Plokhy’s work is aimed at an audience seeking a longue durée historical perspective to understand the conflict's origins far beyond contemporary headlines. The author poses the book's central questions directly: "What made such a war of aggression possible? What made the Ukrainians resist as they did...? Finally, what will be the most important consequences of the war for Ukraine, Russia, Europe, and the world?"

As a Harvard historian of Ukrainian origin, Plokhy is a preeminent authority on the subject. His analysis provides an indispensable framework for policymakers, journalists, and strategists, dismantling the Kremlin's historical justifications and offering the definitive long-view needed to navigate the geopolitical fallout of this conflict, which he terms "the return of history" to Europe.