Russia: A Guide for the Perplexed, with Dr Andreas Berg

Jonathan is joined by Russian-Australian scholar Andreas Berg for a deep dive on contemporary Russia. They cover the anarchic chaos of the 1990s transition from communism, the rise of Vladimir Putin, the nature and operation of Putin's regime, the complex and fraught relationship between Russia and Ukraine, the current war in Ukraine, the would-be rebellion of Evgeny Prigozhin's Wagner PMC and the fate of Russia post-Putin.

Dr Andreas Berg is an intellectual historian with a PhD from Griffith University on the interplay between the Enlightenment and mystical discourses in eighteen century Russia. For over a decade, he taught the humanities at Griffith and Bond Universities and he is currently pursuing post-graduate study in international relations at the Australian National University.

The Political Animals is hosted by Dr Jonathan Cole, a scholar, writer and translator specialising in political theology: the intersection of religion and politics. Jonathan was a senior terrorism analyst at Australian intelligence agency the Office of National Assessments where he worked on Islamist terrorism and the global jihadist movement. He is the author of The Reign of God: A Critical Engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's Theology of Political Authority and Christian Political Theology in an Age of Discontent: Mediating Scripture, Doctrine, and Political Reality.

You can follow Jonathan and the show on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.