Russian Roulette

In this episode of Russian Roulette, Jeff sits down with Melinda Haring, Editor of the UkraineAlert blog at the Atlantic Council and a fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. They discuss the upcoming presidential elections in Ukraine: the candidates, the issues, how it’s likely to play out, and what it all means for Ukraine and for the West. You can view Melinda’s bio, here, https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/about/experts/list/melinda-haring#fullbio, and follow the excellent UkraineAlert blog, here, https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert. Check out video of a recent CSIS event on Ukraine’s elections, here: https://www.csis.org/events/ukraines-election-campaign. As always, keep sending us 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.  

In this episode, Jeff sits down with Sarah Cameron, associate professor of history at the University of Maryland and author of the recent book The Hungry Steppe: Famine, Violence, and the Making of Soviet Kazakhstan (Cornell University Press, 2018), which examines an important though oft-overlooked episode in Soviet collectivization, the Kazakh famine of 1930-33. They discuss the causes and consequences of the famine; Sarah’s experience researching the topic in Kazakhstan; why the Kazakh famine is so little known in the West; how Kazakh society interacts with this episode of its history; and the state (and politics) of scholarship on Soviet collectivization.   You can view Sarah’s bio, here, http://history.umd.edu/users/scameron, and you can purchase her book, here: http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/?GCOI=80140109782010   As always, keep sending us 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.  

In this episode, Jeff sits down with Philip Stewart, Director of the Program in Dialogue in Organizations at the International Institute for Sustained Dialogue, and a Senior Associate at the Kettering Foundation. Phil directs a bipartisan dialogue on U.S. policy towards Russia—a Track 2 for Republicans and Democrats designed to formulate a sustainable U.S. policy towards Russia. They discuss the structure and content of the meetings, how Russia factors in U.S. domestic politics, and Phil’s impressions from a recent trip to Moscow of how Russia’s domestic political landscape is evolving.   You can read some of Philip’s earlier publications, here, https://www.kettering.org/content/phil-stewart, or view his work history, here, https://www.linkedin.com/in/philip-stewart-a3009413/.   As always, keep sending us 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.  

On this election day 2018, Jeff sits down with Elizabeth Rosenberg, Senior Fellow and Director of the Energy, Economics, and Security Program at the Center for New American Security (CNAS) for a sanctions-themed episode of Russian Roulette. They discuss the strategy and evolution of the Russia sanctions program, what effects sanctions have had on the economy and politics of Russia, the risks to the United States of over-relying on sanctions, and how Russia sanctions factor into U.S. domestic politics in 2018 and beyond.   You can view Elizabeth’s bio and recent publications, here: https://www.cnas.org/people/elizabeth-rosenberg   Having trouble navigating the web of U.S. sanctions against Russia? We organized them for you. Check out the CSIS Russia Sanctions Tracker @ https://russiasanctionstracker.csis.org/   As always, keep sending us 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.  

In this episode of Russian Roulette, Jeff sits down with Marlene Laruelle, a research professor at the Elliot School of International Affairs at George Washington University, associate director of the Institute for Europe, Russian, and Eurasian Studies, and co-director of PONARS (Program on New Approaches to Research and Security in Eurasia). Not least, Marlene is editor of the forthcoming collected volume Entangled Far Rights: A Russian-European Intellectual Romance in the Twentieth Century (November 6, 2018: University of Pittsburgh Press). They discuss the genesis and evolution of European-Russian far right connections, how Russia does and doesn’t influence the European far right today, and, shifting to a debate in the Eurasia academic community, the use of the term “fascist” to describe contemporary Russia. You can view Marlene’s bio and recent publications, here: https://elliott.gwu.edu/marlene-laruelle We encourage you to preorder her edited volume, here: https://www.amazon.com/Entangled-Far-Rights-Russian-European-Intellectual/dp/0822965658 As always, keep sending us 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.  

In this episode, Olya and Jeff sit down with Sam Charap, a senior political scientist at RAND Corp and coauthor of the recent RAND report “Rethinking the Regional Order for Post-Soviet Europe and Eurasia,” which explores solutions to the dilemma of mutually exclusive Russian and Western integration paths for six “in between” countries: Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. We discuss the report’s findings and the viability of this third path to European security, as well as U.S.-Russia relations, Ukraine’s future, and European security writ large.   You can view Sam’s bio and recent publications, here: https://www.rand.org/about/people/c/charap_samuel.html#overview   And you can read the report, here: https://www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PE297.html and Sam’s book on the Ukraine crisis, co-authored with Timothy Colton, here: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781138633087   As always, keep sending us 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.

In this episode of Russian Roulette, Jeff sits down with Marina Litvinenko, an activist, campaigner, and the widow of Alexander Litvinenko, the Russian dissident poisoned in London by agents of the Russian government in 2006. They discuss Marina’s campaign to raise awareness about the Russian government’s illicit activity abroad, continuities between her husband’s case and the recent Skripal poisonings in Salisbury, Russian state propaganda, and more. Then, Olya and Jeff answer some mailbag questions from our esteemed Russian Roulette listeners. For an account of Alexander Litvinenko’s activities as a whistleblower and his subsequent murder, we encourage you to read Death of a Dissident, coauthored by Marina Litvinenko and Alex Goldfarb. You can read more about Marina and Alex’s legal campaign against Russian state propaganda, here: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/06/alexander-litvinenko-alex-goldfarb-sues-russian-tv-channels-for-libels As always, keep sending us 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.    

In this episode, Olya and Jeff sit down with Evgeniya Chirikova, a Russian environmental activist who got her start organizing opposition to a planned highway project that would destroy swathes of the federally-protected Khimki forest near Moscow. Our discussion of her efforts to save Khimki forest spills into a broader one about grassroots activism in Russia, its lessons, and its prospects. You can read more about Evgeniya’s career, work and activism, here: https://www.goldmanprize.org/recipient/evgenia-chirikova/ Check out Evgeniya’s website and project, Activatica, here: http://activatica.org/. Activatica is a digital communication platform that aims to build a network of activists in Russia around the word. As always, keep sending us 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.

In this episode, Olga and Jeff sit down with Brian Taylor to talk about his new book, The Code of Putinism. Brian is a professor of political science at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University and his book provides a framework for thinking about Russian domestic and foreign policy. This podcast is a companion to the book launch CSIS hosted for The Code of Putinism, so we strongly recommend you check out both. The book launch discussion, which also featured Stephen Hanson, Vice Provost for International Affairs at William and Marry College, is available here: https://www.csis.org/events/code-putinism-book-launch-event You can view Brian’s bio and other publications, here: https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/psc/Taylor,_Brian/ If you would like to purchase The Code of Putinism, it is available in many fine bookstores. If you prefer your books delivered to your door, Olya asks that you consider an independent seller: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780190867324 As always, keep sending us 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.  

In this episode, Olya and Jeff sit down with Bill Courtney for a complete tour d’Eurasie. Bill is an adjunct senior fellow at the RAND Corporation and a former career foreign service officer. He served as ambassador to Georgia, Kazakhstan, and the U.S.-Soviet Bilateral Consultative Commission, and covered Russia and Eurasia on the NSC. We discuss the Russian economy, from taxi drivers and pension reform to sanctions and business conditions, and recent developments in Georgia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Armenia. At 3:34, Olya erroneously states that the minimum retirement age for women in Russia is being raised to 60. It is being raised to 63. At 34:20 Jeff mentions the evolution of the term “Eastern Europe.” For context, we recommend you read Timothy Garten Ash’s article on the topic, here: https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1986/10/09/does-central-europe-exist/. You can view Bill’s (illustrious) bio and read his recent publications, here: https://www.rand.org/about/people/c/courtney_william.html. As always, keep sending us 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.