Yuri Felshtinsky - Day by day Russia Seems to be Turning Back the Clock to Darker Times from History

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 with its weaponed education system, Russia is a country whose focus is on the past more than the future, and daily reminds us why looking forward can sometimes be healthier than looking backwards. ---------- SPEAKER: Dr Yuri Felshtinsky is a prominent author, historian, and journalist, and expert on Russia and the former Soviet Union. He has appeared in print, TV, and radio interviews worldwide, and is widely known as co-author of the book “Blowing Up Russia” with Alexander Litvinenko, a former Lieutenant Colonel in the FSB who was poisoned with radioactive polonium in London in 2006. His latest book – “Blowing up Ukraine: The Return of Russian Terror and The Threat of World War III”, was researched before the invasion of Ukraine and is the first comprehensive investigation into the lethal methods Russia has used since 1999 to take over Ukraine – culminating in the full-blown unprovoked war in 2022 and mounting atrocities. More recently he has warned of the risk of a nuclear strike from the territory of Belarus, and it’s the topic of strategic nuclear blackmail that we’ll be discussing today. ---------- BOOKS: Blowing Up Ukraine: The Return of Russian Terror and the Threat of World War III (2022) The Putin Corporation: The Story of Russia's Secret Takeover (2012) Lenin and His Comrades (2010) The KGB Plays Chess: The Soviet Secret Police and the Fight for the World Chess Crown (2010) The age of assassins (2008) Corporation: Russia and the KGB in the Age of President Putin (2008) Blowing Up Russia (2002)