Veteran war correspondent Scott Anderson joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss his time reporting in Chechnya. Anderson compares the First and Second Chechen Wars to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. He also reads from his nonfiction book, The Man Who Tried to Save the World, and talks about how he overcame efforts to quash a magazine article he wrote that was critical of Putin, as well as why Chechnya’s conflict was scary enough to leave him with a streak of white hair.

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This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

Selected readings for the episode:

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S5 Ep. 15: ‘Forget What You Know About War’: Scott Anderson on What Russia’s Wars in Chechnya Tell Us About the Invasion of Ukraine