Edition No7 | 17-03-2023 Opposition Divisions - the Challenges Facing Alexei Navalny and the Russian Opposition ~~~~~ FEATURED ARTICLES: https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/02/20/navalny-sets-out-15-point-plan-for-russias-postwar-development-a80276 Navalny Sets Out 15-Point Plan for Russia's Postwar Development Updated: Feb. 20, 2023 ~~~~~ NEWS LINKS: The Moscow Times From Gershkovich to Gadzhiev: 9 Journalists Jailed in Russia https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/04/22/from-gershkovich-to-gadzhi...
May 02, 2023•49 min
Russian Disinformation is relentless. Like floodwaters it envelops all low-lying and unprotected things and when it recedes, leaves them coated with a filthy, foul-smelling taint. We are all of us vulnerable. Russian disinformation continues to be a threat to Ukrainian sovereignty and unity, though is perhaps not as effective as it was in the years 2014-2022. Nonetheless new narratives are created and propagated continuously to try and divide, confuse, and delay the allies supporting Ukraine, an...
May 02, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Season 2Ep. 160
There’s no such thing as a former KGB man, writes Mark Hollingsworth. Is the FSB an intelligence agency gone out of control, accountable to no one but itself and intent on subverting Western political institutions? The scale of Russian disinformation warfare and Active Measures is huge even when compared to their activities at the height of the Cold War. In 1985, 1,300 KGB officers were stationed in the USA. The FBI only had 350 counter-intelligence officers. Since the early days of the Cold War...
May 02, 2023•59 min•Season 2Ep. 159
You may not be interested in Russia. But Russia is interested in you. Writes Kier Giles in his book: Russia's War on Everybody. Russia's full-scale attack on Ukraine in 2022 is a challenge to the West also, and has prompted a range of responses, but also hesitancy, anxiety, and caution. From the expansion of NATO to military investment planning, supply of equipment and training of Ukraine troops, the Western alliance, as well as many other countries, are in this war, whether they fully acknowled...
Apr 29, 2023•57 min•Season 2Ep. 158
Rather than seeing the conflict in Russia in terms of big geopolitical concepts, like ‘multi-polar world’, it can also be seen at a much more basic level – democracy against autocracy. The area of research of my guest today will help to shed like on how a democracy reacts and evolves in reaction to a military attack, but also an informational assault over more than 8 years and becomes more resilient. We will examine how digital democracy can add to citizen participation, transparency and social ...
Apr 28, 2023•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 62
Putin, in his senseless war of aggression in Ukraine has resurrected death and destruction on a scale not seen since WWII, bringing misery and violence to the heart of Europe in the 20th Century. What myths and delusions led us to this point – and how can it be stopped? Today I am exploring these questions with Professor Dina Khapaeva. Dina Khapaeva is a Professor at the School of Modern Languages, at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Director research at the Smolny Institute. Dina Khapaeva's...
Apr 28, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 61
Cornered like a rat, Vladimir Putin is more dangerous than ever. We want his regime to be unstable, fragile, and collapsing – but 14 months of war have shown it is remarkably resilient. We wanted the Russian people to rise up against tyranny, but more than a million fled the country instead. Analysts, politicians, and the media have been wrong about so much when it comes to Russia. What are we still getting wrong. Mark Galeotti is an author and academic – by training an historian – but in practi...
Apr 25, 2023•1 hr 14 min•Season 2Ep. 157
“War is when two states are at war” – “We do not have a war, we have a circus. With clowns in uniform and without. They don't even know how to fight, and they can't decide to declare war on the enemy.” So said Girkin, (or Igor Ivanovich Strelkov to give his full name), a Russian army veteran and former FSB officer who played a key role in the annexation of Crimea by Russia, and later the war in Donbas as an organizer of militant groups in the so-called Donetsk People's Republic (DPR). But how fa...
Apr 24, 2023•59 min•Season 2Ep. 156
Putin expected Ukraine to roll over in days when he launched the full-scale war in February 2022. But this was a tragic misreading of the Ukraine people and their relationship with their leaders and system of government – which they were prepared to fight for and lay down their lives for. Instead of a small victorious war, Putin has become entangles in a quagmire that has now claimed more Russian lives than 10 years of war in Afghanistan. That war helped to accelerate the collapse of the Soviet ...
Apr 23, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 60
Russia has been attacking Ukraine overtly since 2014, but even before that has sought to influence politics in Ukraine through propaganda and Information warfare, corrupt agents, and assets. But this war turned into a full-scale invasion in February 2022. Of course, Western technology and weaponry has played an important role in helping Ukrainians to resist, but also home-grown technology, techniques of resistance and strong ‘self-organising’ initiatives have all helped turn the tide from being ...
Apr 23, 2023•45 min•Season 1Ep. 59
Those who ascribe to the Great Powers view of history, may interpret the Russia Ukraine war as a clash of political cultures, part of a wider geo-political game; they may go so far as to suggest that such a civilisational conflict was inevitable. But this interpretation ignores the agency of individuals, groups, and nations in making decisions and in some way absolves them of guilt for the crimes that are being committed on an unimaginable scale against individuals. This macro political interpre...
Apr 23, 2023•51 min•Season 1Ep. 58
Dr Sean McFate is a strategist and expert on international relations. He is a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, and a professor at: Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service, Syracuse University's Maxwell School, and the National Defence University’s College of International Security Affairs. His career began as a paratrooper and officer in the US Army’s 82nd Airborne Division. He served under Stan McChrystal and David Petraeus, and graduated from elite training programs, such...
Apr 23, 2023•52 min•Season 2Ep. 57
GUEST: Robin Horsfall, soldier, writer, campaigner and keynote speaker. ---------- Russia's much vaunted 'new offensive', started without huge fanfare, and seems to have petered out with little tangible success, but an unimaginable scale of losses. This is nowhere more apparent than in the attritional 'meat grinder' confrontations around Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Vhuledar. To win outright, or initiate negotiations to end the war, Ukraine will have to avoid the same failures with it's expected Spring...
Apr 21, 2023•55 min•Season 2Ep. 155
Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have had to evacuate through Russia or were forcibly deported there. They have experienced terrible things like the “filtration” camps on the borders, separation from families, cruel interrogations by Russians, and being forced to live in another country (enemy country) without money or documents in many cases. Left stranded and struggling to leave Russia by themselves. Some, like children do not even have the option to try to return home or go to Europe. Dina...
Apr 21, 2023•55 min•Season 1Ep. 56
GUEST: Scott Lucas - political analyst, journalist and researcher. ---------- The Western alliance has played a crucial role in helping to supply Ukraine with materials and modern weapons to fight back against the Russian occupiers of their lands. But this is a commitment that will need to stretch to decades to ensure Ukrainian independence is maintained against a revanchist Russia. Similar to how South Korea is armed to the teeth and has become an economic and innovation powerhouse, similarly U...
Apr 21, 2023•55 min•Season 2Ep. 154
“As the UK government mulls the idea of using frozen Russian assets to help pay for the rebuilding of war-torn Ukraine, ministers appear to have failed to realise that a simple weapon against sanctioned assets is within their reach. That is introducing a provision forcing sanctioned oligarchs to disclose all their assets in the UK.” Today I will be discussing this idea that could make a huge difference to Ukraine with the author of these words, Maria Nizzero. We’ll be discussing whether it is mo...
Apr 14, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Season 2Ep. 153
Putin undoubtedly feared an independent, democratic, and affluent Ukraine on his doorstep, which is compelling reason why he started the war. Rather than a struggle caused by geopolitics, the Ukraine war can, with some justification, be viewed as a fight between the idea of an open society and authoritarianism. Freedom versus tyranny. For Ukrainian freedom and life are synonymous, which helps explain their extraordinary will to resist occupation. For Russians, liberty does not seem to be high up...
Apr 14, 2023•47 min•Season 2Ep. 152
Pick the worst periods of Russian history and you will find echoes of them in the present day – whether that be the economic and mafia chaos of the 90s, the privations and repression of the Soviet period. And several stories from the last few weeks exemplify this devolution of Russia into the worst versions of itself from the past. The arrest of an American journalist. The defection of a former Kremlin security officer, and a spectacular assassination of a political extremist in St Petersburg. -...
Apr 12, 2023•43 min•Season 2Ep. 149
Today we are exploring the cultural aspects of the David and Goliath struggle between Ukraine, a young democracy versus Russia an old imperial autocracy. Russian propaganda ties to play up the similarities between Ukrainian and Russian culture, because of some shared history and cultural ties. However, there are significant differences between the two literary traditions, due to the historical and cultural context in which the two literary traditions developed. Ukrainian literature has a strong ...
Apr 11, 2023•59 min•Season 2Ep. 139
One year after the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Nobel Peace Prize winning organisation Centre for Civil Liberties has documented more than 30,000 war crimes in the country. Their aim is for an eventual “Tribunal for Putin” that will hold the criminals accountable. But how does documenting Russian crimes by the Centre for Civil Liberties and others help this process? While fighting against Russian aggression, Ukraine is defending not only its independence, but European security and...
Apr 09, 2023•1 hr•Season 2Ep. 151
Taras Topolia is singer and frontman of leading Ukrainian rock band Antytila. He is also spokesman of the Youth Council to President Zelensky of Ukraine. In 2018, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the future president of Ukraine, participated in one of their videoclips, LEGO. Antytila has collaborated with U2 and Ed Sheeran as well as other bands and musicians. Shortly before the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the band joined the Territorial Defence Forces, having previously served as volunteers since the...
Apr 08, 2023•43 min•Season 2Ep. 150
Ukraine confounded military experts and pundits in 2022, firstly by surviving, and then by pushing the Russian army back from thousands of square kilometres of its territory. Politicians and pundits around the world had urged Ukraine to offer concessions in order to secure a peace settlement with Russia. Giving up territory in the east or pledging to remain neutral, would in their views have saved Ukrainian lives and reduced the risk of Russian aggression or even a nuclear strike. But Ukrainians...
Apr 07, 2023•1 hr•Season 2Ep. 148
Edition No6 | 17-03-2023 A Year of Aggression and Lies ~~~~~ FEATURED ARTICLES: https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/02/11/russia-studies-war-ukraine-decolonize-imperialism-western-academics-soviet-empire-eurasia-eastern-europe-university/ It’s High Time to Decolonize Western Russia Studies Why has it taken a war of conquest for experts to recognize Russia’s nature as a vast imperial enterprise? By Artem Shaipov, a member of the Aspen Institute’s NextGen Transatlantic Initiative, and Yuliia Shaipova, ...
Apr 06, 2023•34 min
Day by day Russia seems to be turning back the clock to darker times. Pick the worst periods of Russian history and you will find echoes of them in the present day – whether that be the economic and mafia chaos of the 90s, the privations and exceptionalism of the Soviet period, nuclear threat of the Cold War era, Stalin’s repressions and purges, the slaughter of WWII, poverty of the 19th century or unrelenting imperial expansionism of Ivan the Terrible’s times. In its political mythology and wit...
Apr 04, 2023•1 hr 12 min•Season 2Ep. 147
Disinformation continues to be a threat to Ukrainian sovereignty and unity, though is perhaps not as effective as it was in the years 2014-2022. But around the world aggressive information warfare still threatens information security and social stability, especially in states which Russia seeks to destabilise or coerce into supporting it. As we saw in the 2016 US elections, it can potentially threaten results of voting, place undue influence on voters’ decisions and undermine democratic processe...
Apr 02, 2023•41 min•Season 1Ep. 70
Every time Ukraine pulls off another ‘improbable’ victory, or achieves a substantial breakthrough, journalists and military analysts return to their familiar refrain that ‘the war will now grind on indefinitely’ or that ‘there will be no more advances until spring’. From the battle of Kyiv, to Kharkiv and now Kherson, the stark evidence of extraordinary Ukrainian capability and boundless Russian incompetence is quickly forgotten. It seems that underestimating Ukraine’s potential and over-estimat...
Apr 02, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 71
The Putin regime has been widely exploiting the vulnerabilities of global social media platforms, using bots and trolls to promote specific stories and narratives. But they are not alone once developed the same techniques can be used by other powers, international and local to subvert democratic institutions and to warp public perception of the news and politics in their countries. But Russian propaganda does not work how most people think it does. The interventions of the trolls and agitators o...
Apr 02, 2023•56 min•Season 2Ep. 146
After the first anniversary of the full-scale war, a febrile and impatient media is asking the question “when will the war end” with greater frequency. There are many reasons for this – of course a concern for the loss of life, the destruction, and the economic pain. But also, war fatigue, misunderstanding the combatant’s motivations and actions, and a general lack of historical perspective, leading them to misunderstand the mechanics and practice of warfare. My guest this week is Hein Goemans, ...
Apr 01, 2023•46 min•Season 2Ep. 145
The Putin regime has been widely exploiting the vulnerabilities of global social media platforms, using bots and trolls to promote specific stories and narratives. But Russian propaganda does not work how most people think it does. The interventions of the trolls and agitators often fail to directly promote pro-regime narratives in political discussions but do succeed in distracting people from having open discussions that are critical of the state. Welcome to the counter-intuitive world of Russ...
Mar 24, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Season 2Ep. 144
Russia is tearing itself away from modern civilization and its associated values, norms and comforts. Putin and his coterie of incompetent sycophants seem to be happily destroying the foundations of everything that has been built in the past 30 years. Instead, he’s embracing an alternative future tied to eastern despotism as a vassal state of China – a source of assets to be mined, without any value-added production. What demons have resurfaced from Russia’s past, and what is driving a form of s...
Mar 24, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Season 2Ep. 143
