Russian Roulette

In this episode of Russian Roulette, Jeff welcomes Marian Schwartz, a prize-winning translator of Russian fiction and other works. They discuss her new translation of Olga Slavnikova’s novel The Man Who Couldn’t Die, as well as the state of Russian fiction today. Marian recommends other authors for you to discover and mentions a funny story illustrating the dangers of translating classical literature.     You can read Marian’s bio here: https://www.marianschwartz.com/about and purchase the book here: https://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-man-who-couldnt-die/9780231185950 We want more mail! If you would like to have your question answered on the podcast, send it to us! Email rep@csis.org and put “Russian Roulette” in the subject line. And, if you have one, include your Twitter handle, so we can notify you publicly when we answer your question (or, if you don’t want us to, tell us that). We look forward to hearing from you.

In this episode of Russian Roulette, Jeff welcomes back Melinda Haring, editor of the UkraineAlert blog at the Atlantic Council. As the dust settles from a raucous Ukrainian presidential campaign (though by all measures a smooth and fair election day) they discuss what a Zelenskiy presidency means for Ukraine, for Russia, and for the West, and delve into Ukraine’s parliamentary politics in the runup to October Rada elections. testtest You can read Melinda’s bio and recent publications, here: https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/about/experts/list/melinda-haring We want more mail! If you would like to have your question answered on the podcast, send it to us! Email rep@csis.org and put “Russian Roulette” in the subject line. And, if you have one, include your Twitter handle, so we can notify you publicly when we answer your question (or, if you don’t want us to, tell us that). We look forward to hearing from you.

In this episode of Russian Roulette, Jeff sits down with Ambassador James Dobbins, Howard Schultz, and Ali Wyne, authors of the recent RAND Corporation report “Russia Is a Rogue, Not a Peer; China Is a Peer, Not a Rogue.” They discuss what type of challenge Russia and China pose to U.S. interests, how the two challenges are similar and different, and what U.S. policy can do in response to each. We encourage you to read their report, here: https://www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PE310.html You can view their bios and other publications, here: https://www.rand.org/about/people/d/dobbins_james.html https://www.rand.org/about/people/s/shatz_howard_j.html https://www.rand.org/about/people/w/wyne_ali.html

In this episode of Russian Roulette, Jeff sits down with Angela Stent, director of the Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies and a professor of government and foreign service at Georgetown University, and author of the recent book “Putin’s World: Russia Against the West and With the Rest” (Twelve, 2019), for which she won the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy’s prize for the best book on U.S-Russia Relations. They discuss Angela's new book, U.S.-Russia relations, Vladimir Putin's role in the construction of Russian foreign policy, and much, much more. You can read Angela's bio and other publications, here: https://www.brookings.edu/experts/angela-stent/ We highly encourage (insist!) you pick up a copy of Angela's book at your local bookstore, or order it, here: https://www.twelvebooks.com/titles/angela-stent/putins-world/9781455533015/

In this episode of Russian Roulette, Jeff sits down with William Pomeranz, Deputy Director of the Wilson Center’s Kennan Institute and author of Law and the Russian State: Russia's Legal Evolution from Peter the Great to Vladimir Putin (Bloomsbury, 2018). They discuss the evolution of law in Russia, the role of state power in the Russian legal tradition, the criminalization of commercial disputes, including the recent Michael Calvey case, Russia’s succession question and its legal ramifications, and much, much more. We sincerely recommend Will’s book, available for purchase, here, https://www.amazon.com/Law-Russian-State-Evolution-Bloomsbury/dp/1474224229, or for order from your local bookstore. You can view Will’s bio and read more about his other projects, here: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/person/william-e-pomeranz We want more mail! If you would like to have your question answered on the podcast, send it to us! Email rep@csis.org and put “Russian Roulette” in the subject line. And, if you have one, include your Twitter handle, so we can notify you publicly when we answer your question (or, if you don’t want us to, tell us that). We look forward to hearing from you.  

In this episode of Russian Roulette, Jeff sits down with Anna Ohanyan, the Richard B. Finnegan Distinguished Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Stonehill College. They discuss the concept of “regional fracture” in the post-Soviet world, how Russia employs this strategy to secure its own aims, what can be done about it, and why we should care. For more on this topic, check out Anna’s new book, an edited volume titled Russia Abroad: Driving Regional Fracture in Post-Communist Eurasia and Beyond (Georgetown University Press, 2018) - http://press.georgetown.edu/book/georgetown/russia-abroad. And don’t miss Anna’s recent presentation at CSIS: https://www.csis.org/events/russia-abroad You can view Anna’s bio and read more about her other projects, here: https://www.stonehill.edu/directory/anna-ohanyan/ We want more mail! If you would like to have your question answered on the podcast, send it to us! Email rep@csis.org and put “Russian Roulette” in the subject line. And, if you have one, include your Twitter handle, so we can notify you publicly when we answer your question (or, if you don’t want us to, tell us that). We look forward to hearing from you.

In this episode of Russian Roulette, Jeff sits down with Joanna Lillis, an Almaty-based journalist for The Economist, The Guardian, and EurasiaNet and author of the recent book Dark Shadows: Inside the Secret World of Kazakhstan, a vibrant portrait of the country based on 13 years of on-the-ground reporting. They discuss Nursultan Nazarbayev’s legacy, Kazakh identity and lots more. You can follow Joanna, here, https://twitter.com/joannalillis?lang=en, and we recommend you purchase her excellent book through your local independent book store.  We want more mail! If you would like to have your question answered on the podcast, send it to us! Email rep@csis.org and put “Russian Roulette” in the subject line. And, if you have one, include your Twitter handle, so we can notify you publicly when we answer your question (or, if you don’t want us to, tell us that). We look forward to hearing from you.

In this episode of Russian Roulette, Jeff sits down with Louis Lauter, Vice President for Congressional and Government Affairs at CSIS, and Colin McElhinny, Associate Director and Associate Fellow for Congressional and Government Affairs at CSIS. They discuss the role of Congress in U.S. relations with Russia, attitudes and approaches to Russia in the new Congress, and what sanctions legislation may be on the horizon. Note that this episode was recorded on January 25, before the government shutdown had ended. You can learn more about Louis, here, https://www.csis.org/people/louis-lauter, and Colin, here, https://www.csis.org/people/colin-mcelhinny. Be sure to check out their excellent work measuring the internationalism of Congress, here: https://www.csis.org/features/beyond-waters-edge We want more mail! If you would like to have your question answered on the podcast, send it to us! Email rep@csis.org and put “Russian Roulette” in the subject line. And, if you have one, include your Twitter handle, so we can notify you publicly when we answer your question (or, if you don’t want us to, tell us that). We look forward to hearing from you.

In this episode of Russian Roulette, Jeff sits down with Adam Mount, a Senior Fellow and the Director of the Defense Posture Project at the Federation of American Scientists, to discuss the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, its apparent demise, and the future of nuclear arms control. Then, Jeff answers our listeners’ mailbag questions on missile defense, the link between national identity and security orders in the post-Soviet region, and the future of Crimea. Check out Adam’s bio and his recent publications, here: https://fas.org/expert/adam-mount/ We answered your mail, and we need more! If you would like to have your question answered on the podcast, send it to us! Email rep@csis.org and put “Russian Roulette” in the subject line. And, if you have one, include your Twitter handle, so we can notify you publicly when we answer your question (or, if you don’t want us to, tell us that). We look forward to hearing from you.

In this episode of Russian Roulette, Olya and Jeff offer their take on a busy 2018 in Russia and Eurasia: the Mueller investigation, Vladimir Putin 4.0, Skripal, the World Cup, Trump and Putin’s Helsinki encounter, a new government in Armenia, the Sea of Azov crisis. It's all here, and much, much more.   2018 brought some good news and some bad news. In the latter category, we are sad to report that this is the final episode of Russian Roulette featuring co-host Olya Oliker (though not the final episode of Russian Roulette, nor, likely, even the final episode with Olya participating). Olya is off to an exciting new position as head the Europe & Central Asia division of the International Crisis Group. Olya bids her farewell and thanks to all Russian Roulette listeners. This has been one of her favorite parts of the job, and your support made it possible. Meanwhile, Jeff will continue to carry the Russian Roulette torch into 2019.   It’s a New Year and we need new mailbag questions! If you would like to have your question answered on the podcast, send it to us! Email rep@csis.org and put “Russian Roulette” in the subject line. And, if you have one, include your Twitter handle, so we can notify you publicly when we answer your question (or, if you don’t want us to, tell us that). We look forward to hearing from you. С наступающим 2019 годом!