The Global Agora: Recent Episodes
Andrej Matisak
This is the podcast about foreign policy, international relations, politics, security, defense... My name is Andrej Matišák. I'm a journalist, deputy head of foreign desk in Slovak daily Pravda. So far this is mostly a small side project. Maybe it will grow. I'll see. Anyway, I hope that you will like it and you will support it by listening, sharing and subscribing. Of course, there are gazillions of projects like this but I think that this is the only one from Slovakia. :-)
Does American President Donald Trump really see the Russian war against Ukraine at least partly differently compared to, for example, six months ago, when he was still regularly berating Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy? This was my question for a military analyst, Franz-Stefan Gady. His response? "I think the major mistake that we are making in Europe is constantly trying to assess what Trump is thinking about this or that. What we need to do is to get a clear understanding of what Ukraine really means for us," Franz said to me. Does he think that the US will provide Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine? How does he see the situation on the battlefield? And why does he say that Trump wants to hand over the war to the Europeans? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
Who is Andrej Babiš? Who is the real Babiš? The best kind of handle we can get on this is what he said early on about how he wants to run the country like a firm. Clearly, he wants centralized power. He doesn’t like checks and balances. That’s how Seán Hanley, Associate Professor in Comparative Central and East European Politics at University College London, put it in our conversation. The elections in Czechia will be held on October 3rd and 4th, and Babiš’s ANO will probably get over 30 percent of the votes. Will the populist billionaire of Slovak origin become Prime Minister again? And will he, by cooperating with smaller radical parties, steer Czechia onto a path similar to Slovakia’s? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
Is it accurate to describe the upcoming elections in Moldova, scheduled for September 28, as a duel between the pro-EU and pro-Russian camps? Has Russia been at least partly successful in influencing a significant number of Moldovan voters? And what might happen if pro-Russian forces win? I discuss these questions, and more, with Denis Cenusa, an Associate Expert at the Center for Geopolitics and Security Studies in Vilnius. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
Are Russia, China, and Donald Trump's America global disruptors, and what can the EU do about it? And how to live in a world full of anxiety where drones fly over our heads, we feel economic pressure, and the wars are nearby. Join me as I speak with Paweł Świeboda, Senior Visiting Fellow and Co-Director of the Brussels Economic Security Forum at the European Policy Centre. He was Deputy Head and Head of Research of the European Political Strategy Centre at the European Commission. He is a member of the European Commission’s Expert Group on the Economic and Societal Impact of Research and Innovation. Our interview took place at the Europe Future Forum in Warsaw. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
What does MAGA propaganda represent in American politics? And what does Superman represent? To unpack these political symbols, I speak with Nicholas Cull, Professor of Communication at the University of Southern California, a pioneer scholar and educator in the field of public diplomacy and a historian of the role of mass communication in foreign policy. Does he believe that President Donald Trump acts like a wannabe dictator and has weakened America’s position on the global stage? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
Washington has sent warships, submarines, and thousands of Marines into the Caribbean, raising questions about America’s intentions toward Venezuela. The Trump administration says it is targeting narco-terrorists linked to Nicolás Maduro’s regime – but how accurate is that picture, and what does it mean for regional stability and security? There was already an attack on an alleged drug trafficker's boat that killed 11 people. The State Secretary, Marco Rubio, explained that the strike was ordered personally by President Donald Trump. And while it would have been possible to stop the boat, the decision was made to destroy it, which raises questions about the legality of such an attack. To unpack the situation, I speak with Wilder Alejandro Sánchez, president of Second Floor Strategies in Washington, D.C., and an analyst specializing in defense, security, and geopolitics across the Americas and beyond. How likely is direct US military action against Venezuela? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
In this episode of my podcast, The Global Agora, Niklas Harring, Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science at the University of Gothenburg, discusses the complex relationship between public concern over climate change and actual support for climate policies. While surveys consistently show that Europeans overwhelmingly view climate change as a serious threat and support ambitious climate goals, there remains a striking gap between this concern and acceptance of concrete measures such as carbon pricing or the removal of fossil fuel subsidies. Harring explains why fairness perceptions and political leadership are key to bridging this gap, how public experiences of climate impacts shape attitudes, and why hope and effective communication are essential for sustaining climate action in democratic societies. And what does he think about Greta Thunberg, and about the effect of the Donald Trump administration's actions on fighting climate change? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
A very different kind of meeting took place between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office. It was a stark contrast to their previous encounter at the end of February, which many described as an ambush. What has changed in the past six months on both the Ukrainian and American sides? And what do these changes mean for the future of the Russian war, peace negotiations, and the security of Europe? I discussed these and other questions with Julia Kazdobina, the head of the Ukrainian Foundation for Security Studies. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
Vanda Felbab-Brown is a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, and we discuss how the fentanyl crisis has become the most lethal drug epidemic in United States history. She examines the factors contributing to it, including the high potency of synthetic opioids and the role of criminal organizations in their distribution. Vanda also offers her insights into a recent decline in fentanyl-related deaths in the US and shares her concerns about the potential for a similar crisis to take hold elsewhere. So, does she see any signs that Europe could face a fentanyl epidemic similar to that in North America? Listen to our conversations. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
When President Donald Trump says jump, every Republican asks: How high? But is he weaker than he appears? Trump plays the hegemon, and many are afraid of him, from his party to the media, law firms, and universities. But at one moment, he will be a lame duck, and he is old. I discussed the current state of the GOP and the Democratic Party with Steven Greene, a Professor of Political Science at North Carolina State University. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
Is there a real risk of coordinated aggression by China and Russia that could lead to simultaneous attacks on Taiwan and NATO countries? Both the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General Alexus Grynkewich, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte have mentioned this scenario. So, should we be seriously worried about something that could resemble a global war? I spoke with Mick Ryan, a military strategist and retired Australian Army Major General, to find out. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
Is everything a distraction from the Epstein files? But when Donald Trump accuses Barack Obama of treason, what's next? Can the current US President try to arrest and prosecute his predecessor? And how would America and its institutions react to it? "At this point, we can't rule anything out," Professor of Public Policy at the University of Michigan Donald Moynihan told me. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
The Norwegian newspaper The Barents Observer is taking the Russian General Prosecutor’s Office to court for declaring the media outlet a so-called undesirable organization. "I think that the Russian authorities are very, very afraid of independent media. We publish in Russian, so we do have an audience inside the country," said Barents Observer publisher Atle Staalesen to me. I met him in 2014 when I visited Kirkenes, the Norwegian town on the border with Russia. We talked about how The Barents Observer stands up to pressure from Russian officials – and also about how concerned Norway is about a potential Russian attack. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
Phillips P. O'Brien is the Head of the School of International Relations and Professor of Strategic Studies at the University of St Andrews. Does he think that what we're seeing from the Trump administration could amount to a kind of deliberate strategy – to restrict funding and weapons for Ukraine, in the belief that Kyiv will interpret this as a signal that it must eventually capitulate? How effective is Donald Trump in helping Vladimir Putin? And why is Professor O'Brien also highly critical of European leaders? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
Vladimir Putin recently announced that Russia plans to cut military spending starting next year. This statement came after the Minister of Economic Development, Maxim Reshetnikov, warned that the country’s economy is teetering on the brink of recession. Yet Putin also declared: Wherever a Russian soldier sets foot, that’s ours. So, regardless of his words about the economy, is he preparing for a forever war? And can his regime survive without war? I discussed this – and much more – with Volodymyr Dubovyk, an Associate Professor in the Department of International Relations at Odesa I. Mechnikov National University. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
Cas Mudde is a Dutch political scientist – or, as he prefers to call himself, a politicologist – one of the foremost scholars on the far right in Western democracies and a professor at the University of Georgia. After a few phone discussions, I finally met him in person at the GLOBSEC conference in Prague. We talked about Donald Trump's America, why he is optimistic about US democracy, though not really that optimistic, and also about what, if anything, politicians like Viktor Orbán, Robert Fico, Jarosław Kaczyński, and Andrej Babiš can actually change. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
The NATO summit takes place on June 24-25 in The Hague. How should the North Atlantic Treaty Organization deal with American President Donald Trump? Can NATO work in a mode of pleasing and not provoking him? How should the Alliance spend 5 percent of GDP on defense? And what to do with Russia? At the GLOBSEC conference in Prague, I spoke with Ben Hodges, a former commanding general, United States Army Europe. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
Can Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz party lose next year’s election? What might he do to prevent that? How nervous is Orbán about Péter Magyar's Tisza Party, which is currently leading in the polls? And with the potential win of Andrej Babiš in the Czech elections and with recent Karol Nawrocki's victory in Poland's presidential race, could we be witnessing a more illiberal V4? I discussed all this and more with Zsuzsanna Végh, an analyst at the German Marshall Fund. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un recently suffered a public embarrassment. He wanted to show off his new destroyer, but it was damaged. „The destroyer program of North Korea has suffered a setback. But Kim Jong-un has no intention of stopping the development of it,“ Ramon Pacheco Pardo, a Professor of International Relations at King's College London, told me. According to him, it is obvious that the Russian ruler, Vladimir Putin, is helping the DPRK in the military field. And the US and its allies, South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, and Australia, now have to reckon with the fact that if North Korea gets involved in any conflict in the Pacific, Russia can also be part of it. Does it mean that World War three can start in the Indo-Pacific? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
I don't think Larry Diamond needs much of an introduction – but here we go. He is a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and the Mosbacher Senior Fellow in Global Democracy at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) at Stanford University. For decades, his research has focused on democratic trends and conditions around the world, as well as on policies and reforms to defend and advance democracy. In February, Larry wrote an article titled: Trump's America Is in a Free Fall – Not a Slippery Slope – to Tyranny. So I wanted to hear directly from him: How does he assess what Donald Trump and his people are doing? How can we resist the recession of democracy in the US and around the world? Are there any reasons for optimism? And is he staying in Trump’s America? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
How to negotiate with the Russian ruler Vladimir Putin, and does he feel empowered by his American counterpart, Donald Trump? „One very big misperception of the world and the US, especially President Trump, about the Russians is that they are very powerful. And this is very wrong,“ Leonid Litra told me. He is a Senior Research Fellow at the New Europe Center in Kyiv and a Visiting Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. We looked at the American diplomatic negotiating tactics regarding the Ukraine war, how Kyiv assesses the situation, what Russia thinks about it, and where Europe is. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
Gabrielius Landsbergis served as Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs from December 2020 until November 2024. Interestingly, 20 years ago, I also interviewed his grandfather, Vytautas Landsbergis. But we live in a very different world now – one in which the Baltic countries, including Lithuania, have closed their airspace to Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who felt compelled to visit Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. So, what does Mr. Landsbergis think about such a visit? What does Russian aggression against Ukraine mean for Lithuania? How worried is he that Lithuania could become the target of a Russian attack? And would Lithuanians fight if they were attacked by Russia? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
What should we expect from the new German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, in terms of foreign, security, and defense policy? Is he prepared to face US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin? Would Germany defend its allies in the event of a Russian attack, especially in a scenario where US support is uncertain? I discussed these questions – and more – with defense analyst Rafael Loss from the European Council on Foreign Relations. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
Is this the novel of our times? In fact, You Must Take Part in Revolution is a graphic novel, one for a new generation that likely prefers more images and fewer words, and it explores a near-future dystopia shaped by a US–China war, in which America has become a proto-fascist state. Timely, isn’t it? You Must Take Part in Revolution comes from Emmy-nominated journalist Melissa Chan and acclaimed dissident artist Badiucao. While it's impossible to ignore the parallels with today’s world, Melissa emphasizes that the book is not meant to be instructional or educational. It’s meant to entertain. And I can attest to that, so read it! Are you curious what inspired Melissa and Badiucao to create this book, and why the title is drawn from a Mao Zedong quote? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
John Deni is a Research Professor of Joint, Interagency, Intergovernmental, and Multinational (JIIM) Security Studies at the U.S. Army War College's Strategic Studies Institute. He just wrote an article for Foreign Policy titled: A Drawdown of U.S. Forces in Europe Is All but Certain. As this is a very hot topic, I wanted to know more about it. So why does John think a drawdown is basically certain, and what would it mean? And what does it have to do with the American nuclear deterrent in Europe and potential Russian plans? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
How much does Denmark feel squeezed between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, as the Russian ruler wages a war in Europe, and the US President says he wants to take over Greenland? What does this mean for Denmark's threat perceptions? These were some of the questions I asked Anders Puck Nielsen, a military analyst and researcher at the Royal Danish Defence College. You can find more information about him on his website: logicofwar.com. We discussed Denmark’s role in supporting Ukraine, why – according to Anders – Russia needs a spring offensive, and whether Putin is merely bullshiting the West with his engagement in the ceasefire talks with the Americans. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
Aaron Mehta is the editor-in-chief of Breaking Defense, but above all, he's a dear friend. We met almost a decade ago on NATO's eastern flank, in Poland. The result? I introduced Aaron and a bunch of other colleagues to the "mad dog" drink. If you don't know what it is, google it and give it a try! But this is not just a free ad for a drink and friendship. I used Aaron's expertise and experience to dissect what we know about the F-47, a sixth-generation fighter program. When will it fly? How much will it cost? Will it be better than the Chinese project? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
American President Donald Trump has just announced that the US is imposing tariffs on everyone, including the islands inhabited by penguins. Russia is the only major economy excluded. Why? And can trade wars escalate into real wars? I discussed these topics and more with David McCuan, a Political Science Professor at Sonoma State. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
Seva Gunitsky is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto. Yes, I asked him how worried he is that Donald Trump's America might militarily attack Canada. According to him, it's very unlikely, but... "I teach introduction to international politics, and when I talk about countries' war plans, I used to use the Canada-American relationship as an example of a true security community, where there are no war plans against each other. I cannot use that example anymore, that's for sure," he explained to me. And do you want to know if he sees similarities between Trump and the Russian ruler, Vladimir Putin? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
Victoria Vdovychenko is the joint program leader of the Future for Ukraine Project at the Center for Geopolitics, University of Cambridge, and holds a PhD in Foreign Policy and World History. I first met her in Bratislava in 2022, just a few months after Russia's large-scale invasion, and it's great to have her on my podcast. Victoria has a stark warning for Europe: “You will suffer if there is no long-lasting and just peace in Ukraine,” she told me. However, she also emphasizes that Ukrainians don't have the luxury of dwelling in negativity—they are engaged in an existential fight. Do you want to know how she answered my question about whether Ukraine and Europe can end up on one side of the war and Vladimir Putin at least partly supported by Trump's administration on the other side? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
How far do you think American President Donald Trump could go in his adversity toward the European Union? Let's say on a scale from zero to ten, where 10 is the worst scenario akin to the EU being at war with the US. "I think probably somewhere like 8,5," Minna Ålander said to me. She is a Non-resident Fellow with the Transatlantic Defense and Security Program at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) and the Chatham House Associate Fellow. Minna recently wrote an article - Is Trump Making Europe Great Again? - so we discussed her piece in a more detailed way and we also talked about if Europeans can and should lead the free world, however we define it. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
If America had to choose, would it defend Estonia or Taiwan? Can Europe still count on the US to come to its defense? If necessary, does Europe have enough troops available for long-term deployment to Ukraine? What should European Union leaders do to strengthen European security in the short term, at least? I discussed these pressing topics and more with Assistant Professor Jan Kofroň from the Institute of Political Studies at Charles University’s Faculty of Social Sciences. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
The first time I interviewed Tom Nichols was in 2016 in Bratislava, just before the US presidential elections. At that time, he was still a Republican, but he had already rejected Donald Trump. Of course, he no longer identifies with the party. "I never thought I would see the party of Ronald Reagan making excuses for a dictator in the Kremlin," Tom told me. He is a staff writer at The Atlantic and a contributor to the Atlantic Daily newsletter. He is a professor emeritus of national-security affairs at the US Naval War College, where he taught for 25 years, and an instructor at the Harvard Extension School. We discussed why the US voted alongside Russia and North Korea against a UNGA resolution that was supported by American allies, Trump's approach to Ukraine negotiations, and the presidential purge of the armed forces. And why does Tom say Vladimir Putin is one shining star in Trump's world? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
Ukraine has faced Russian aggression since 2014, and the large-scale invasion began three years ago, on February 24th, 2022. If you listen to my podcast The Global Agora, you know that I regularly discuss the war with Mick Ryan, as we try to assess what is happening on the battlefield as well as in the political realm. He is a military strategist and a retired Australian Army major general. This time, we talk about the most pivotal moments of the war and what Ukrainians and Russians are doing militarily. Do you want to know why my guest thinks Russian leader Vladimir Putin is probably smiling these days, and what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has that US President Donald Trump will never have? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
I know my question may seem too apocalyptic — or even crazy — but I had to ask: Is the EU's war with the US or Russia more likely? And as strange as it may sound, Nathalie Tocci provided a very interesting answer. So, welcome to my discussion with the Director of the Italian Istituto Affari Internazionali (Institute of International Affairs). We talked about Donald Trump's plan for negotiations with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Ukraine, the role of Europeans in all of this, and what America means to the EU these days. An ally, friend, partner, rival? An adversary, even? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
The elections in Germany will be held on February 23rd, and the Christian Democrats alliance of CDU/CSU, led by Friedrich Merz, is currently leading the polls. Everything suggests that Merz will be the next Chancellor. But with whom will he form a coalition? Can CDU/CSU cooperate with the extremist Alternative for Germany (Alternative für Deutschland - AfD)? Alexander Clarkson, a lecturer in German, European, and International Studies at King's College London, answered my question about the potential collaboration between the German centrist-conservative right and the far-right. We also discussed what the AfD represents, how it fits into Donald Trump's world, and what we can expect from Merz. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
The analysis shows that Russia is escalating its efforts to destabilize European countries. While previous operations mainly focused on disinformation and cyberattacks, recent activities demonstrate a shift towards hybrid warfare, including physical sabotage and political assassinations. Another striking pattern is the shift in Russian operations towards Western Europe. These are the main findings of the report titled Russian sabotage operations in Europe since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Bart Schuurman, a Professor of Terrorism and Political Violence at Leiden University, is the lead author of the study. We discussed not only what is happening, but also how Europe should or could respond to the rising number of Russian sabotage operations. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
Donald Trump's era is here. What might he do about Ukraine? Is Russian leader Vladimir Putin happy about him, and what about the US allies? Charly Salonius-Pasterak, a leading researcher at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, has co-authored a report titled Four Lenses for Observing the Second Trump Administration: Reflecting Uncertainty. This presented a great opportunity to discuss what, aside from unpredictability, we might expect from the second Trump administration in terms of foreign policy. Is this the end of the world as we know it? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
The hardest but also most inspiring year. Heading into the new year with hope. This is what Maria Avdeeva, a Ukrainian security expert, wrote on Bluesky just before the New Year. Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, she has been covering what's happening in her country. And she also has time to talk to me, so this is another round of our conversation. This time, we discussed what gives her hope for the future and what her biggest concerns are for 2025. Naturally, this led us to debate Donald Trump and his presidency. But we also discussed Slovak PM Robert Fico's visit to Moscow and Joe Biden's legacy regarding Ukraine. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
How much is Poland currently spending on defense? Can Warsaw afford it? Is Poland considering reinstating mandatory military service? And what is Poland’s primary defense objective amid Russia's war against Ukraine? About this and much more, I talked to Marek Świerczyński, head of the security and international affairs desk in Polityka Insight. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
What might be the main and most important political trends that will shape the year 2025? This was my first question for Professor Erik Jones, Director of the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute. Erik joined my podcast to discuss predictions for the upcoming year, as well as to reflect on what happened in 2024. We covered topics such as elections around the world, the Russian war against Ukraine, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and more. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
This is not my first podcast about James Bond. When No Time to Die hit theaters in 2021, I had a two-part conversation with Martin D. Brown, bondologist, Professor of International History at Richmond American University in London, and co-author of the book The Bondian Cold War: The Transnational Legacy of a Cultural Icon. Martin is back on my podcast, so we are once again discussing everything Bond-related. What's next for 007 after Daniel Craig? Can we expect an announcement in 2025 about who the new Bond will be? How much does the most famous spy series reflect the reality of international affairs, and do we live in an era of Bond villains? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
Could Slovak politics have been "TikTok-ed" in a similar way to Romania, where the far-right candidate Calin Georgescu won the first round of the presidential election? Is Slovak PM Robert Fico pro-Russian? And why is his government relatively fragile only one year into its rule? My podcast guests usually discuss global events, but if you're interested in learning more about my country, Slovakia, this is the episode for you. I spoke with Slovak political scientist Pavol Baboš from the Department of Sociology at Comenius University in Bratislava. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
Jennifer Mercieca is a Professor in the Department of Communication and Journalism at Texas A&M University and the author of the book Demagogue for President: The Rhetorical Genius of Donald Trump. So we talked about Trump. Is he an existential threat to American democracy? Is he truly willing to use the Justice Department, the FBI, and other state institutions to target his opponents? Will the U.S. government resemble a form of oligarchy, and will the administration be led by figures like Elon Musk or Vice President JD Vance? Can the Democrats learn something from Trump about how to connect with voters? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
Does Russia want far-right Calin Georgescu to become president of Romania? "My guess is Russia is satisfied even with the current level of disarray in Romania," Oana Popescu-Zamfir told me. She is the director of the GlobalFocus Center and we discussed the current political situation in her country between the parliamentary elections and the second round of the presidential race. Our debate took place on December 5th, afternoon. So, ahead of the decision by the Romanian Constitutional Court to annul the result of the first round of the presidential elections. The second round was originally planned for December 8th. How does Oana assess Georgescu's rise? What would it mean if he wins? Will he try to become a part of the Ukraine skeptic/pro-Russian bloc within NATO and the EU? And has Romania been TikToked? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
Does Vladimir Putin think he can not lose the war in Ukraine? Do the Russians believe this? I talked to political analyst Anton Barbashin, an editorial director of Riddle, a website about Russia I can only recommend. Anton just wrote an article titled Will Russia Use Nuclear Weapons in Ukraine? Do you want to know what are Russia's real red lines? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
Ukraine is losing the war after 1,000 days of the Russian large-scale invasion. Why are the defenders in such a situation? Due to the lack of personnel and weapons, or hesitation of its Western allies, or the relative strength of Russia? Or is it everything combined? I talked to the military analyst Gustav Gressel. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
Retired Brigadier General Rainer Meyer zum Felde has vast experience regarding transatlantic security. He is currently a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Security Policy at Kiel University. From 2013 to 2017, he was the Senior Defence Advisor at the Permanent Delegation of Germany to NATO and the German Representative in the NATO Defence Policy and Planning Committee. He also served as Vice President of the Federal Academy for Security Studies in Berlin and worked in various national and international security and defense policy assignments. So how much is General Mayer zum Felde concerned about Russia attacking NATO if Vladimir Putin wins in Ukraine? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
What is your biggest concern related to Donald Trump's second term? This was my question for a Professor of History Seth Cotlar from Willamette University in Oregon. And his answer was almost... Optimistic? Could it be less bad than it looks? Do you want to know and what are the caveats here? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
What can we expect from Donald Trump if he wins the presidential elections regarding foreign policy and Ukraine and Russia? Will he leave NATO? And why does it look like Trump wants to make America small like Viktor Orban's Hungary? I talked to a Russian and East European Studies Professor at the University of Pennsylvania Mitchell Orenstein. He is the author of the book The Lands in Between: Russia vs. the West and the New Politics of Hybrid War. And of course, we also discussed Kamala Harris's potential foreign policy. Does she want to see Ukraine's victory? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
Will chaos follow the US presidential election? The Sonoma State Political Science Professor David McCuan cannot exclude this scenario. We discussed the polls, swing states, particular counties in swing states, Kamala Harris's campaign, Donald Trump's plans, and, of course, who might win the election. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
Can North Korea afford to send a large number of soldiers to Ukraine's battlefield to support Russia's aggression? Is Ukraine somehow a proxy war for Pyongyang? Does Kim Jong-un think or even believe it fights the West, the US? As there have been many discussions about how North Korea can help Russia fight Ukraine by sending its soldiers, I talked to the Editor at NK News and NK Pro Arius Derr. Do you want to know more about Pyongyang-Moscow relations? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you.https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
Could Ukraine repeat the Kursk operation in Transnistria? What's the situation in Moldova before the presidential election that will take place on October 20? And why are politicians like Slovak PM Robert Fico talking about reestablishing standard relations with Russia? I talked to Denis Cenusa, an Associate Expert at the Eastern Europe Studies Centre in Vilnius. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you.https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
The Americans have one month to decide who they will vote for. Will it be a Democrat Kamala Harris or Republican Donald Trump? As this is a spooky season, I asked Professor of Political Science from North Carolina State University Steven Greene which candidate is more concerned about a possible October surprise. We all know that the polls are tight, so we talked about why the Americas are willing to support Harris and what motivates them to vote for Trump. And do you want to know which of my takes on American politics my guest liked and what that has to do with Elon Musk? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
Would Australia join NATO if it could? How is Canberra looking at what's going on in Beijing and Moscow? What is the primary objective of the AUKUS alliance, and how does it contribute to Australia's security interests? Bryce Wakefield explains it all in my podcast. He is the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Institute of International Affairs and a Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
Kacper Rekawek is a Senior Research Fellow and Current and Emerging Threats Programme Lead at the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism in the Hague. He just published the report Russian State Terrorism and State Sponsorship of Terrorism. But it seems the West doesn't have the stomach to say that Russia is a terrorist state. Why is it so despite Moscow's aggression against Ukraine and the strings of killings and sabotage in Europe? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
What keeps former Italian Prime Minister and current President of Jacques Delors Institute Enrico Letta awake at night when he thinks about the European economy? This was my first question for him and from there we went to a discussion about the European defense industry, EU competitiveness, demography, migration, austerity, and, of course, his report Much more than a market. Our interview took place at the annual GLOBSEC conference that was held in Prague this year. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
What is Russia's most effective weapon in the war against Ukraine? You might be surprised by what Philip Breedlove thinks about this. He is a retired four-star general in the United States Air Force who served as the commander of U.S. European Command, as well as the 17th Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) of NATO Allied Command Operations, from May 2013 until May 2016. We talked about the situation on the battlefield, about how Ukraine is using its F-16 jets, and how the West cannot continue to reward Vladimir Putin's bad behavior. Our interview took place at the annual GLOBSEC conference that was held in Prague this year. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
I don't think I need to introduce Mark Galeotti whose new book Downfall: Prigozhin, Putin, and the New Fight for the Future of Russia was just published and he is also a fellow podcaster so listen to his show In Moscow's Shadows. Mark is the director of the consultancy firm Mayak Intelligence, an Honorary Professor at UCL School of Slavonic & East European Studies, and a Senior Associate Fellow at RUSI. It's great to have him back on my podcast, so we discussed what kind of effect the Kursk incursion has on Vladimir Putin's regime, what's next or the Russian war against Ukraine, and also how to talk to Russians these days. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
Tom Nichols is a staff writer at The Atlantic and an author of the Atlantic Daily newsletter. He is also a Professor Emeritus of national-security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College, where he taught for 25 years. His books include The Death of Expertise and Our Own Worst Enemy: The Assault From Within on Modern Democracy. I am happy to have Tom back on my podcast to discuss what we can expect from Donald Trump if he is re-elected. Tom considers the Republican ex-president an existential threat to American democracy. Why? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
I can only recommend reading the report - Political Drivers of China’s Changing Nuclear Policy: Implications for U.S.-China Nuclear Relations and International Security - so I also wanted to talk to its author. Tong Zhao is a Senior Fellow with the Nuclear Policy Program and Carnegie China and I'm happy he agreed and what follows is our debate. Are you interested in knowing more about China's decision process for the use of nuclear weapons? Or about possible cooperation between China and Russia in the area of nuclear weapons development? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
Donald Trump is 78. Do you think there is any chance he could follow Joe Biden's example and will stop his campaign? That was one of my questions for Professor Matthew Eshbaugh-Soha from the Department of Political Science at the University of North Texas as we discussed the current state of the US presidential campaign. Of course, we also talked about Vice-President Kamala Harris, about the enthusiasm that surrounds her, but also about her potential weaknesses and what could derail the political honeymoon she currently experiences. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
This is a special episode of my podcast as I have more than one guest for the first time. And not two, but three. I talked to Alessio Armenzoni, an Associate Fellow at the London-based Open Source Centre, Giangiuseppe Pili, an Assistant Professor at the Intelligence Analysis Program at James Madison University and Gary Kessler, the president of Gary Kessler Associates, a maritime cybersecurity research and training consultancy. We discussed their report Red Flags: Russian Oil Tradecraft in the Mediterranean Sea. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
The 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris is the biggest sports event of the year. It will attract fans from around the world but, unfortunately, it also attracts terrorists of all kinds. So what are the main threats France is facing? I talked to Lucas Webber who is a Co-Founder of MilitantWire.com and a Research Fellow at the Soufan Center and he is mostly worried about jihadi terrorism and particularly about the Islamic State. But I also asked him if he thinks that Russia could threaten the Olympics and if he would visit Paris despite the security concerns. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
"Let's hope that this is the end of the story of political violence in the 2024 election cycle. But my suspicion is it's not the end it's the beginning or the middle and we have more to come". This is what a Research Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) Jacob Ware said to me when I asked him about what's next for the US after the assassination attempt against former Republican President Donald Trump. Jacob studies domestic and international terrorism and counterterrorism. Together with Bruce Hoffman, he is the author of God, Guns, and Sedition: Far-Right Terrorism in America. We talk about the perpetrator Thomas Newton Crooks, far-right and far-left, and much more. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
We met many times, so I was really happy when Oana Lungescu agreed to the following interview. She is the longest-serving NATO Spokesperson, from 2010 to 2023, and the first woman and first journalist to hold the post. And, as she said, she was also the first person from the wrong side of the Iron Curtain in this position. We talked about her career path from Ceausescu's Romania to BBC and the Alliance and also about the NATO summit in Washington DC, NATO's adaptation and the Russian war against Ukraine. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
If you listen to my podcast The Global Agora you know Mick Ryan has been generous enough to appear on my show. He is a military strategist and retired Australian Army major general, so I again used this opportunity to talk about all things related to NATO and the Russian war against Ukraine. And while the days are dark, he says he stays optimistic. Why? And how much is he concerned about the possibility of Russia attacking NATO's territory? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
The United Kingdom general election takes place on July 4th. "All the things in the UK are now being seen as terrible," Professor Steven Fielding told me. He is an expert in British politics and modern political history and is currently writing a book analyzing the Labour Party since the 1970s. So is this going to be an electoral wipeout for the ruling Conservative Party? What kind of role is Nigel Farage and his Reform UK party playing and what to expect from the Labour Party if they get a chance to govern? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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What's next for the European Union after the European Parliament election? Will Ursula von der Leyen continue as the President of the European Commission? And what to expect from France on the EU scene as President Emmanuel Macron announced the early election and it could lead to a far-right government? I talked to Professor Erik Jones, Director of the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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On 15 and 16 June, Switzerland is organizing a Summit on Peace in Ukraine and about 90 countries and organizations will attend. Russia wasn't invited and Ukrainian analyst Julia Kazdobina explains why. She is a Visiting Fellow at The Stockholm Centre for Eastern European Studies and she heads the Ukrainian Foundation for Security Studies. So what would be a successful summit for Ukraine and would be a failure? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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What is Vladimir Putin afraid of? Should the West be concerned about Russian nuclear rhetoric? And what do current Putin's reshuffles and purges tell us about his regime? I talked to Andrei Soldatov, a Russian investigative journalist, co-founder, and editor of Agentura.ru, a watchdog of the Russian secret services’ activities. He is also a nonresident Senior Fellow with the Center for European Policy (CEPA). Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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I talked to Aung Myo Min, Minister of Human Rights in the National Unity Government of Myanmar. Our interview was conducted at the CEE-Asia Forum in Bratislava organized by the Central European Institute of Asian Studies (CEIAS) and Slovak Foreign Policy Association (SFPA). We talked about whether the junta in Myanmar is losing, the role of Russia, China, India, and ASEAN, and also about Aung San Suu Kyi. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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I just returned from a one-week-long visit to Taiwan and this podcast is one of the results of spending a few days there. I talked to Lev Nachman, a political scientist, Assistant Professor at National Chengchi University in Taipei, and a co-author of the book Taiwan: A Contested Democracy Under Threat. We discussed the domestic political dynamic and, of course, the cross-Strait relations as on May 20th the presidential inauguration of Taiwan's President William Lai took place and it was almost immediately followed by Chinese military drills around the island state. Do you want to know what Lev's advice to PRC's leader Xi Jinping regarding Taiwan would be? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Alex Finley is a former officer of the CIA’s Directorate of Operations, where she served in West Africa and Europe. She has penned three satires about the CIA: Victor in the Rubble, Victor in the Jungle, and Victor in Trouble. Satire about the CIA? In my view, the agency definitely deserves this kind of genre but still, I ask Alex why she chose it. But, of course, we also talked about some, let's say, more serious stuff, including if Russia's intelligence services can help install an American president. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Let's assume the West finds the magic pink castle in Hollywood, where all the stuff is stored that Ukrainians need and immediately transfers it on the magic carpet to Kyiv. Even with this, Ukraine would still have a problem. This is what Gustav Gressel said to me when we spoke about the situation on the frontline. He is a Senior Policy Fellow with the Wider Europe Programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations’ Berlin office focusing on armed conflicts, military affairs, and defense policy. We also discussed how the Russians are using the glide bombs and the tools of electromagnetic warfare and how this could be addressed. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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What is Ukraine facing? What is Russia learning? Is it possible that Ukraine will lose the war as soon as this year? Mick Ryan is a military strategist and retired Australian Army major general and he explains why we have to talk about the worst scenario. We also discussed Ukraine's mobilization efforts and demography, and what the West has to do to help Kyiv. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Volodymyr Dubovyk is an Associate Professor in the Department of International Relations and Director of the Center for International Studies at Odesa I. Mechnikov National University. We talked about the US aid for Ukraine, how others need to step up, the difficult situation on the battlefield, and Ukraine's mobilization efforts. I also asked him how much is he concerned that Ukraine could lose the war. And at the end, we discuss the current state of Ukraine-Slovakia relations and the civic Slovak initiative Ammunition for Ukraine you can support. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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How close or far is the US from a civil war? This was my question for Jay Ulfelder, a political scientist who works as a Research Project Manager at the Nonviolent Action Lab at the Harvard Kennedy School. From 2001 until 2011, he served as Research Director for the Political Instability Task Force, a US Government-funded program that aims to help policymakers anticipate and understand various forms of political crisis around the world. This episode of my podcast has been partly inspired by a new movie Civil War. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Iran has hit Israel with up to 350 drones and ballistic and cruise missiles. Most of them were destroyed by the air defense as Israel's allies helped also. So what will follow after this unprecedented attack? How far is the Middle East from the big regional war? I talked to James Dorsey, a Senior Fellow at the Middle East Institute of the National University of Singapore. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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I'm talking to Maria Avdeeva from Kharkiv from the beginning of the Russian full-scale invasion. She is a security expert and I remember her telling me she wants to inform the world about what's going on in her country. And Maria is doing it all the time! This time we talk about how her city is constantly attacked and if we can expect a Russian ground offensive against Kharkiv. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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NATO is a success story, but as Alliance turns 75 can it also face demise? Over seven decades, what is the brightest hour, and what about the most problematic moment of NATO? And is Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk right when he says Europe could be in the pre-war era as Russia continues with its aggression against Ukraine? I talked to John Deni, a Research Professor of Joint, Interagency, Intergovernmental, and Multinational (JIIM) Security Studies at the U.S. Army War College's Strategic Studies Institute. Before joining the U.S. Army War College, John worked for 8 years as a political advisor for senior American military commanders in Europe, but his views do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Government. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Russia was attacked by Islamic State but Moscow is trying to shift the blame and is spreading conspiracy theories about Ukraine's involvement. The Kremlin is lying despite the severity of the threat as on March 22nd, extremists killed 143 people in the Crocus City Hall in Krasnogorsk in the Moscow Oblast. So is counterterrorism cooperation with Russia possible, taking into account also the brutal war Moscow is waging against Ukraine? And why was Russia attacked by ISIS? I talked to Lucas Webber, a co-founder and editor of Militant Wire. It's a media company that provides analysis of militant activity and armed conflict around the world. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Should the West try to turn China and India against Russia? What is the most visible impact of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine on EU-Asia relations? And how close is China to Russia? I discussed those questions with Michael Raiterer. He is a Distinguished Professor at the Centre for Security, Diplomacy and Strategy (CSDS) of the Brussels School of Governance and served as the EU Ambassador in South Korea. Our interview took place at the CEE-Asia Forum in Bratislava organized by the Central European Institute of Asian Studies (CEIAS) and Slovak Foreign Policy Association (SFPA). Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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This time, I talked to Slovak political scientist Pavol Baboš from the Department of Sociology at Comenius University in Bratislava. We discussed the incoming presidential elections in Slovakia and the two clear favorites. The Speaker of the Parliament Peter Pellegrini and the former foreign minister Ivan Korčok. The first round of the elections will take place on April 23rd, and the second round, with the two most successful candidates, on April 6th. Can we say who will win it? And what about the autocratic tendencies of the current Slovak government? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Will Ursula von der Leyen be President of the European Commission again? She has been confirmed as the European People's Party candidate to continue with her current job and it's pretty sure that the EPP will win the European Parliament elections in June. But... "For me, it's not obvious that she will stay," Policy Analyst from the European Policy Centre Eric Maurice reacts. Why does he say this and what's next for the EPP after the elections? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Toms Rostoks is a Director at the Centre for Security and Strategic Research at the National Defence Academy of Latvia and an Associate Professor at the University of Latvia. We tried to assess what happened in two years of the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine, to forecast what might be next but we also talked about the scenario that at least some Western troops will help Kyiv. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Oleksandra Matviichuk is a Ukrainian human rights lawyer and head of the Center for Civil Liberties. Her organization was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022. But, unfortunately, we talked about the war, about the Russian full-scale invasion that has already been ongoing for two years. "This is wishful thinking that Putin will stop. Putin openly talked about his goal in numerous interviews. He said there is no Ukrainian nation, and that we are the same people as Russians, which means through this genocidal policy Ukraine has to be occupied and people in Ukraine have to be reeducated as Russians or killed and that is why we have no other choice. If we stop fighting, there will be no more of us," said Oleksanda to me. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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How can Europe react to Donald Trump's threats to NATO? There is a realistic scenario that the populist Republican can win the US presidential elections in November. What would it mean to NATO when Trump suggested that he would encourage Moscow to attack allies that are, as he said this, not paying bills? I talked to Edward Hunter Christie, a Senior Research Fellow at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA). Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Are we inching towards a big regional war in the Middle East? "What we see today is that two major unresolved issues are starting to interact with each other and could cause quite serious problems. One is, of course, the unresolved position of Iran. And the second problem is, of course, the unresolved issue of Palestine." This is what Erwin van Veen sees when he looks at the Middle East. He is a Senior Research Fellow at Clingendael Institute’s Conflict Research Unit and head of Clingendael’s Middle East program. We talked about the war in Gaza, the Houthis' attack in the Red Sea, and Iran-Saudi rivalry but also about Russia and China and their approaches to the current events in the Middle East. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Bille August is a Danish film and TV director and screenwriter. His movie Pelle the Conqueror won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Movie in 1988. He visited Bratislava for the festival of Scandinavian movies - SCANDI which introduced his movie The Kiss to the Slovak audience. And by chance, I've got an opportunity to interview him. So we talked about films, movie stars, actors, Indiana Jones, Richard Nixon, and revenge. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Almost there. Sweden is now waiting only for a green light from Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán to become a member of NATO. But what will Stockholm bring to the Alliance? And how to prepare NATO and the EU for a potential war with Russia? According to Johan Norberg, a Senior Military Analyst from the Swedish Defense Research Agency (FOI), the West needs to continue its support for Ukraine and it has to act quickly. And it also has to keep its unity. But is it possible? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Does Hungary's PM Viktor Orbán want to take over the European Council? Charles Michel, the current President of the European Council, wants to run in June's EU elections, so there is a possibility that Orbán can replace him as Hungary starts its Presidency of the Council of the EU on July 1st. So what could be Orban's plan and how to deal with his regime? I talked to Daniel Hegedüs. He is a German Marshall Fund Senior Fellow focused on Central Europe and he extensively covers populism and democratic backsliding in Central and Eastern Europe. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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The countdown to the US presidential elections starts with the party primaries. There is a clear favorite on the Republican side, but can Nikki Haley or Ron DeSantis threaten Donald Trump's position? And if Trump is the nominee, what does it tell us about how the current Republican party perceives democracy? I talked to J. Miles Coleman who is the associate editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball, the University of Virginia Center for Politics’ newsletter on American campaigns and elections. We have also discussed scenarios such as Trump not being the nominee or Democratic President Joe Biden saying he is not running. What would it mean? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Franz-Stefan Gady is the founder and chief executive officer of Gady Consulting and a military analyst. From the beginning of the Russian aggression, he has frequently visited Ukraine and if you are regularly listening to my podcast The Global Agora, you know that I interviewed him a couple of times in the past. So I am glad Franz joined me for another episode in the series of our debates. We discussed what can be the potential course of the war in 2024, what trends we might witness, and also what are the main military options Ukraine and Russia can still exploit. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Tomohisa Takei is a retired Japanese admiral who served as the 32nd Chief of Staff of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force from 2014 to 2016. I had a chance to talk to him as he visited Bratislava in December. He explained how his country would react to China's attack against Taiwan, how to prevent it, and how is the Indo-Pacific region affected by the Russian war against Ukraine. And would Japan fight Russia over the Kuril Islands? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Taylor Swift was named Person of the Year 2023 by Time. Does she deserve this? What makes her so special? Her skill as a musician? Her phenomenal commercial success? Does she already have a place among the best artists in the history of pop music? And can Taylor Swift run for the US President? I talked to Toby Koenigsberg, an Associate Professor of Jazz Piano and Chair of Popular Music at the University of Oregon. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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There is support in the US for Ukraine but the Republicans have decided that Americans are more concerned about the cost and the Biden administration, I must say, has been terrible in explaining why Ukraine is important. This is what Steffen Schmidt also known as Dr. Politics told me when we discussed upcoming Republican presidential primaries and also the foreign policy effects on presidential elections. He is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Iowa State University, which means we, of course, talked about the Iowa caucuses that will be held in one month, on January 15th. So what to expect from the Republican primaries? Will Donald Trump easily confirm his frontrunner status or can Ron DeSantis or Nikki Haley still hope? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Daniele Albertazzi is a Professor of Politics and Co-Director of the Centre for Britain and Europe at the University of Surrey. He is focusing on right-wing populism, Italian politics, political communication, and party organization. He reacted to one of my tweets and it led to our podcast discussion. We talked about the foreign and domestic policies of Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, about her possible competition with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán over the leadership of the European radical right, and also about whether Meloni's support for Ukraine will last. And do you want to know what tweet of mine triggered this debate? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Is Vladimir Putin's regime surprisingly too resilient and does Donald Trump represent a clear and present danger to American democracy? I raised such questions with Michael Chertoff who was the second US Secretary of Homeland Security from 2005 to 2009. He just attended the ITAPA conference in Bratislava. We also discussed Ukraine-West relations and whether he plans to endorse somebody in the upcoming presidential elections. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Martin Edwards is a Professor in the School of Diplomacy and International Relations at Seton Hall University, where he teaches classes on International Organizations. So I asked him if we need the UN, if there is a case for suspending Russia from the UN as it wages a war against Ukraine, and what it can and can not do about the Gaza conflict. We also talked about the veto the P5 countries are using and, let's say misusing, and about what the UN needs except for reforms. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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What can a war do to the artist? I talked to the Ukrainian director Alisa Kovalenko about fighting Russians and making movies. She recently visited Slovakia and at the movie festival Jeden Svet - One World she presented her documentary We Will Not Fade Away which follows the lives of five teenagers from Donbas. Why does she say that she believes in victory but she is a realist? And what had Alisa seen even before Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi started to talk about it? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Mick Ryan is a military strategist and retired Australian Army major general. He believes that the slow delivery of the Western weapon systems to Ukraine is one of the reasons why the Russians were able to build strong defensive lines. We discussed the successes and failures of Ukraine's counteroffensive, why he thinks that Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi injected a dose of reality into the conversation about the war, and also what we got wrong about Russia. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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On October 29th, an angry mob tried to hunt for Jews at Makhachkala’s Uytash International Airport, and the local authorities were caught off guard. How much does the events in Dagestan reflect the antisemitism of the Russian society? Are we going to witness similar incidents? I talked to Harold Chambers, an expert on the North Caucasus and a doctoral candidate at Indiana University. And from Dagasten we pivoted to Chechnya and we discussed the potential ambitions of Ramzan Kadyrov. Could he try to replace President Vladimir Putin and would it lead to the break up of Russia? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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If you haven't read this already, I would like to recommend a report from The Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) titled: Greyzone Lawfare: Russia and the Voyages of the SPARTA IV. It shows how certain Russian vessels appear to continue regularly transiting the Bosporus with military materiel, in breach of international law. I talked to one of the co-authors of the report. Giangiuseppe Pili is an Assistant Professor in the Intelligence Analysis Program at James Madison University and a RUSI's Associate Fellow. We discussed what Russian ships in the Black Sea are hiding and how to stop them but we talked also about the broader topic of how Russia is trying to evade sanctions. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Can the Republicans govern and do they care about it? They have a majority in the House of Representatives, but at this moment they are unable to elect the Speaker of the House. The candidacy of Jim Jordan just bit the dust despite the endorsement from Donald Trump. But should somebody like Jordan be seriously considered to become the House Speaker? The congressman from Ohio is known for supporting the Big Lie and he voted not to certify the Electoral College results. So what if Trump wins the presidential elections in 2024, but Vice President Kamala Harris says his electoral votes don't count? How would somebody like Jordan react? This interesting question popped up in my debate with Professor of History Seth Cotlar from Willamette University in Oregon. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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How much is Haiti a functioning state in the situation where 300 gangs are active across the state and the government cannot enforce its authority in quite a few areas? Not to mention the widespread problem of kidnappings. All of this is happening as Haiti remains the poorest country in Latin America and the Caribbean region. Can it be at least partly reversed by the expected UN-backed Kenya's security mission? What can be done about the power of the gangs and how do these criminal structures operate? I talked to Diego Da Rin, a consultant for Latin America and the Caribbean in the International Crisis Group. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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After Slovakia, in Central Europe, all eyes are on Poland. Poles vote in parliamentary elections on October 15th. The winner will be either the populist-conservative political alliance United Right led by Jaroslaw Kaczynski's Law and Justice party (PiS) or the center-right Civic Coalition that was formed around the Civic Platform of Donald Tusk. I went through those scenarios with Vít Dostál, the Executive Director of the Association for International Affairs (AMO) in Prague. He focuses on Czech foreign and European policy, Central European cooperation, and Polish foreign and domestic policy. So I also asked him if the victory of Law and Justice could lead to the creation of an illiberal front in Europe. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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How can Europe build a new security architecture? Can it wait until the possible return of Donald Trump to the White House? Should the West abandon all self-imposed red-lines when helping Ukraine? And does German Chancellor Olaf Scholz regret that he started to talk about Zeitenwende? At the GLOBSEC event in Bratislava, I talked to Ulrich Schneckener, Professor of International Relations & Peace and Conflict Studies at Osnabrück University. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Slovak early elections will take place on September 30. It seems the winner will be either the left-wing populist Smer of former Prime Minister Robert Fico or liberal Progressive Slovakia. What does it mean for the country internally and externally? Can Slovakia become the next Hungary and the Trojan horse of Russia in the EU and NATO? I talked to Slovak political scientist Pavol Baboš from the Department of Sociology at Comenius University in Bratislava. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Is Russia dangerously close to NATO? The drone incident in Romania shows it won't be wise to underestimate the situation. "Russia is escalating and testing NATO," Iulia-Sabina Joja thinks. She is a Senior Fellow and director of Middle East Institute's Black Sea Program and she teaches European security as an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University and George Washington University. We talked about how NATO should react to what Russia is doing and also about what the Alliance can do in the Black Sea region. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Andrew Lebovich is a Research Fellow with Clingendael's Conflict Research Unit and also a Postdoctoral Researcher with the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS). When the coup in Niger happened at the end of July, he was doing research in this West African country. So I was really happy when he said yes to my request for an interview. I asked him also a question that is probably a simplistic one. Is the coup in Niger a pro-Russian coup? But we also discussed the role of France and the US in Niger, what to expect or maybe not to expect from ECOWAS and the risks of an epidemic of the coups in Africa. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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The Republicans want to send the military to... Mexico? It was quite a prominent topic of the first presidential debate of the GOP candidates. So what is behind this rhetoric? Is Mexico a functioning state taking into account the strong presence of drug cartels that are shipping highly lethal fentanyl to the US? I talked to Vanda Felbab-Brown, a Director of the Initiative on Nonstate Armed Actors and Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. She visited Mexico in June and July, so I also asked her how dangerous it is to conduct the field research there. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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If this was a sort of deathmatch between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, the result is very clear now. Prigozhin was killed in a plane crash on August 23rd. But did Putin specifically order the killing of Prigozhin? I talked to political analyst Anton Barbashin who is an editorial director of Riddle, which is a website about Russia I can only recommend. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Lee Morgenbesser is an Associate Professor in Comparative Politics at the School of Government and International Relations at Griffith University. His most recent book is titled The Rise of Sophisticated Authoritarianism in Southeast Asia, so he is a perfect match for the next episode of my podcast. We discussed how Prime Minister Hun Sen took over Cambodia and if his reign is somehow unique if we compare Hun Sen to other authoritarian rulers. The July election showed that Hun Sen is running the country seemingly unopposed. But can people in Cambodia still resist his rule? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Cristiano Ronaldo led the way, other big football stars, though many of them are aging stars, follow. Karim Benzema, N'Golo Kante, Roberto Firmino or Jordan Henderson, just to name a few. Why is Saudi Arabia spending crazy money on football players? Is this a clear example of sportwashing? Can the Saudis' effort be sustainable? I talked to James Dorsey, who is a Senior Fellow at the Middle East Institute of the National University of Singapore and the author of The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer and other publications. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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I've got three recommendations for you. I recommend watching Oppenheimer. I recommend reading the book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, co-authored by Kai Bird and the late Martin Sherwin, on which the movie is based. And I recommend listening to this episode of my podcast as I had a chance to talk to Kai Bird. And I do believe we had a very interesting debate about the movie, his book, and about how relevant Oppenheimer is these days. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Franz-Stefan Gady is founder and chief executive officer of Gady Consulting and also a consulting senior fellow with the Institute for International Strategic Studies. With the other experts he recently visited Ukraine's frontlines, so I am glad he agreed to discuss what he saw and what could be next for Ukraine's offensive and Russia's defense. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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The Spanish elections will take place on July 23rd and it seems we will witness the same situation as in some other European countries. It means that the mainstream right will have to collaborate with the far-right to govern. In the case of Spain, we are talking about the People's Party cooperating with Vox. But would the far-right Vox in government change the country? I talked to Alejandro Quiroga who is a Reader in Spanish History at Newcastle University. We have also discussed why the right is leading in the polls and how the electoral campaign is influenced by the Russian war against Ukraine. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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The current polls show that the far-right Alternative for Germany, in German Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), is the second most popular party in the country. While it is an extremely unlikely scenario, I wanted to know what would happen if the AfD would rule Germany. So I talked to Kai Arzheimer who is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Mainz. We have also discussed why the AfD is rising in the polls and how it's connected with the Russian war against Ukraine. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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As the NATO summit in Vilnius is approaching and the war intensifies, I talked to Ben Hodges who is a former commanding general, United States Army Europe. He explained how he sees the Ukrainian offensive and what are Russians doing to counter it. We have also discussed what weapons Kyiv needs for the possible breakthrough and why the West is still not providing such systems. And what does he expect from the NATO summit in terms of strengthening defense of the Eastern flank and regarding Ukraine's ambitions to join the Alliance? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Should Iran face more sanctions if it continues helping Russia to wage a brutal war against Ukraine? I talked to Barbara Slavin, a distinguished fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington and a lecturer in international affairs at George Washington University. We also discussed how far would Russia go to help Iran and vice versa, how the Russian war affects the Middle East, China in the region, and how weak or strong is the regime in Tehran. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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John Sipher is a senior non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council, and the co-founder of Spycraft Entertainment, a production firm providing content to the entertainment industry. He retired in 2014 after a 28-year career in the CIA’s National Clandestine Service, which included serving in Moscow and running the CIA’s Russia operations. So I asked him if he would hire current Russian President Vladimir Putin for the CIA looking at his KGB's career. We also discussed John's career, the brutal Russian war against Ukraine, Spycraft Entertainment, but also how deep into Putin's inner circle can the Western intelligence services see. Do you wanna know? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Andrei Kolesnikov is a Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center. For now, he stays in Russia, although he was labeled as a foreign agent. According to Andrei, Russian society is basically the same if we compare pre-war times and the current situation. The group of Putin's non-supporters has always been around 15-20 percent and the invasion didn't change this. So can something penetrate the mind of Russians? Does Putin's regime resemble the late era of Stalin? Should we be worried that with all the talks about nuclear weapons, Russia may think that maybe they are not that dangerous? And what about the relationship between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Wagner's boss Yevgeny Prigozhin? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper cannot be clearer. He believes Donald Trump would try to pull the US out of NATO and South Korea in his second term. I talked to Esper at the annual GLOBSEC conference in Bratislava and we also discussed the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Republican Party, and China. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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What happens if Belarus' dictator Alexander Lukashenko dies? I talked to the opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. And she has a plan. She fights for her country as her husband Siarhiej is imprisoned by the regime. We also discussed the dangers of the Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus, Ukraine and how she works hard to keep Belarus on agenda. Our debate took place at the annual GLOBSEC conference in Bratislava. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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How can Ukraine plan its counteroffensive? Would the F-16 jets help Kyiv? And what can Russia do to counter the impending attack? I talked to Johan Norberg, a Senior Military Analyst from Swedish Defense Research Agency (FOI). Why does he think that the West will decide the war? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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She hates him because of his politics! It's all about money and fame! Is this why E. Jean Carroll sued Donald Trump? Not at all, a friend of Carroll Jennifer Taub explains. She is a Law Professor at Western New England University School of Law, author of the Substack newsletter Money & Gossip, and host of the podcast Booked Up with Jen Taub. In our debate, she dissected the verdict of the civil trial E. Jean Carroll v. Donald Trump and we also discussed why she thinks that the Republican Party is the anti-women party. Read also her book Big Dirty Money: Making White Collar Criminals Pay and listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin is naming and shaming everybody. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov is offering his services but it's not clear if he really has something to offer. And the Russian President Vladimir Putin is... Is doing exactly what? About Prigozhin, Kadyrov, and Putin, I talked to political analyst Anton Barbashin who is an editorial director of Riddle, which is a website about Russia I can only recommend. So is Putin in control? What may happen to Prigozhin and Kadyrov if the Russian President falls? And how much are the people of Putin's regime nervous about the impending Ukrainian offensive? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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As Wikipedia says, Charles III, born Charles Philip Arthur George on November 14th, 1948 is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Last year, at the age of 73, he became the oldest person to accede to the British throne, also after having been the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales in British history. King Charles' coronation will take place on May 6th and he has really big shoes to fill. According to the YouGov poll from May 2022, so a few months before her death, Charles's mother, Queen Elizabeth II, has been admired by the British public. At that time 57 % of respondents claimed that she has done a very good job during her time on the throne and another 24% say she has done a fairly good job. But there are also other challenges King Charles faces. As the newspaper Guardian pointed out, on the eve of his coronation, a survey shows only three in 10 Britons think the monarchy is very important. The poll by the National Centre for Social Research shows public support for the monarchy has fallen to a historic low. A total of 45% of respondents said either it should be abolished, was not at all important, or not very important. So wearing the Supertunica for the coronation which weighs about 2kg and is made of cloth of gold-silk thread wrapped in thin pieces of gold or silver gilt metal won't be the biggest burden of King Charles III's reign. Dr. Tessa Dunlop is a British historian, writer, and broadcaster. Her latest book is titled Elizabeth and Philip: A Story of Young Love, Marriage and Monarchy. So it was no brainer to ask her to talk about the upcoming coronation of King Charles III. Why does she think that he will be a caretaker monarch? What to expect from the next royal generation represented by Prince Willian and Princess Kate? And how does she assess the story of Harry and Meghan? Read Dr. Dunlop's book and listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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French President Emmanuel Macron was elected for his second term one year ago, on April 24th, 2021. How strong or weak is he now? I talked to Georgina Wright, a Senior Fellow, and Director of Institut Montaigne's Europe Program. We discuss recent Macron's visit to China and its aftermath but also French domestic politics. Is Macron naive? And is there a danger that he is paving the way for a radical successor? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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The National Hockey League has a war crimes problem. Because of this piece, in the Globe and Mail, I contacted Mark Kersten. He is a Senior Consultant of the Wayamo Foundation and an Assistant Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of the Fraser Valley, in British Columbia. So what's wrong with the NHL and with its superstar Russian player Alexander Ovechkin who is also known as a big fan of President Vladimir Putin? The Russian invasion of Ukraine uncovered some ugly truths that, as Mark argues, we should at least start to debate about. Should the NHL suspend Ovechkin for his continued support of Putin? How should the hockey fans react? And should the Russian athletes attend the Olympic Games? I talked to Mark about these topics but also about if the International Criminal Court is building a solid case against Putin. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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The Good Friday Agreement that ended the conflict in Northern Ireland turned 25 on April 10th. What were the main factors that contributed to its success? I talked to Shaun Mcdaid, a Senior Lecturer in Politics from the Department of Behavioural and Social Sciences at Huddersfield University. We discussed the history of the Troubles, terrorists from the Irish Republican Army, and their international connections including the Soviet one, but also what's next for Northern Ireland amid Brexit. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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From April 4th, Finland is officially the thirty-first member of NATO. What does it mean for the country, for the Alliance, and for Russia? What are the pros and possible cons of Finland's membership? And why is Sweden still out? I talked to Charly Salonius-Pasternak, a leading researcher in The Center on US Politics and Power at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs. I also asked him what he thinks about the idea that Finnish PM Sanna Marin can become the next Secretary General of NATO. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Kacper Rerawek is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Research on Extremism (C-REX) at the University of Oslo. His book Brown-Red Cocktail? Extremist Foreign Fighters in the War in Ukraine was published last year and for The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) he just released a report A Year of Foreign Fighting for Ukraine: Catching Fish With Bare Hands? So who are they and how do foreign fighters contribute to the fight with Russia? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Fred Wellman served in the Army for 22 years as an aviator and public affairs officer and he left the Armed Forces as a Lieutenant Colonel. He was a Blackhawk helicopter pilot, and completed tours during Operations Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom. So, in his own words, he invaded Iraq twice. He also was a spokesman for General David Petraeus, and General Martin Dempsey. I have asked Fred for an interview as March 20 marked the 20th anniversary of the Iraq war. Fred is working on a book about his service in Iraq, and the impact of the war on him and the others in his life. He said to me that he could call his memoir: They all died. But he can also sleep at night at ease. We discussed his service, the damage the war caused, if somebody, e. g. ex-President George Bush, should be tried for the invasion, and many other topics. Listen to our conversation. And check also my previous episode about the Iraq war as I talked toRobert E. Kelley had been an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspector in Iraq in 1992–93 and he was there also in the final months before the 2003 invasion. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Some people claim that the American invasion of Iraq 20 years ago started what could be called the post-truth world. Robert E. Kelley had been an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspector in Iraq in 1992–93 and he was there also in the final months before the 2003 invasion. We talked about his experience, his work, and how his team had to deal with leaks to the press from the CIA that ended up being great big lies. Kelley is a Distinguished Associate Fellow at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Listen to our conversation and stay tuned as the next episode of my podcast will be also related to the 20th anniversary of the Iraq war as I talked to Fred Wellman who did tours in Operations Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom and was also a spokesman for General David Petraeus and General Martin Dempsey in Iraq. Listen to our conversation. And if enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Did the probability of Russia attacking Norway decrease? Karsten Friis, a Senior Research Fellow from The Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, thinks it does, but there are also a few buts. So we have discussed what is the biggest concern of Norway regarding Russia, also taking into account that Finland and Sweden are, hopefully, on their way to NATO. He explained how Norway is helping Ukraine and if Oslo could and should do more. We also talked about the militarization of the Arctic, and about NATO Secretary General and former Norwegian PM Jens Stoltenberg. And does Karsten like the famous TV series Occupied about the Russian occupation of Norway that was supported by the European Union? Listen to our conversation. And if enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you.https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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In December, The Society for the German Language named Zeitenwende the word of the year for 2022. But one year after the Russian large-scale invasion of Ukraine started, does the Zeitenwende also have a real political meaning? What is the role of Chancellor Olaf Scholz in this epochal tectonic shift as he described it by himself? I talked to Alexander Clarkson who is a Lecturer in German, European, and International Studies at King's College London. We also discussed if the EU unity towards Russia can last, Hungary, and the upcoming election in Slovakia that might lead to the government with pro-Putin forces. Listen to our conversation. And if enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you.https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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It's one year from the beginning of the Russian large-scale invasion of Ukraine. "Russian President Vladimir Putin thinks he can bully Ukrainians. But he only makes us angrier." This is what Iuliia Mendel said to me in our podcast debate. She is the former press secretary of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, from June 2019 until July 2021, author of the book The Fight of Our Lives, and opinion contributor for The Washington Post. And she also has a clear message for Moscow. Russia has to withdraw, beg for forgiveness and pay for the crimes. Perhaps then it can survive. Listen to our conversation. Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Could Russia try to stage a coup in Moldova? How probable is it? Is Moldova's government ready for such a scenario? And what about the problem of Transnistria? About the current developments in Moldova, I talked to Denis Cenusa. He is an associate expert at The Eastern Europe Studies Centre (EESC) in Vilnius. Listen to our conversation. And if enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you.https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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We are all following Rob Lee on Twitter, aren't we? I'm not sure when he sleeps but his feed is all the time full of interesting information, analysis, and videos related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. With all of this, I'm really happy that Rob joined my podcast. No introduction is needed, but he is a Senior Fellow in the Foreign Policy Research Institute’s Eurasia Program, and a Ph.D. student researching Russian defense policy at King’s College London’s War Studies Department. And, of course, he is also a former Marine infantry officer. We talked about the trends that shaped the war, about possible offensive of the both sides, and also about the peace prospects. Listen to our conversation. And if enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Finland and Sweden are still out of NATO despite the agreement from the Alliance summit in June in Madrid. Is Turkey playing a divide-and-conquer game as it seems Ankara is all the time moving the goalposts? Is Russian happy about it? And what about Hungary? I talked to Toni Alaranta, Senior Research Fellow in the European Union Research Programme at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA). His areas of expertise include Turkey’s domestic and foreign policies, in particular Turkey’s relations with the EU, the US and Russia. Listen to our conversation. And if enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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How is the Russian invasion against Ukraine shaping Japan's security views? What are Tokyo's main concerns? China, North Korea, Russia? I talked to John Nilsson-Wright, University Associate Professor in Modern Japanese Politics and International Relations at Cambridge University and Korea Foundation Korea Fellow and Senior Research Fellow for Northeast Asia with the Asia-Pacific Programme at Chatham House. And as the government of PM Fumio Kishida boosts the defense investments, we have also discussed the attitudes of Japanese citizens towards a more complex and hostile regional and global security environment. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you.https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Wilder Alejandro Sanchez is an analyst of defense, trade and geopolitical issues in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Western Hemisphere and the President of Second Floor Strategies, a consulting firm in Washington, DC. As his expertise stretched from the post-Soviet space to Latin America, I picked Alex's brain and we talked about how the mentioned regions reacted to the Russian war against Ukraine. The focus of our conversion has been Kazakhstan, but we also talked about Moldova and Latin America and the Caribbean. Listen to our conversion. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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The first round of the presidential election in Czechia takes place on 13 and 14 January. There are three clear favorites for the run-off. Ex-Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, former rector of Mendel University in Brno Danuše Nerudová, and former Chair of the NATO Military Committee Petr Pavel. I talked to Seán Hanley, an Associate Professor in Comparative Central and East European Politics at the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies. We tried to assess what to expect from the presidential election and who might win this vote. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Russian President Vladimir Putin achieved less than nothing. This is how Tom Nichols assesses the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Tom is a staff writer at The Atlantic and Professor Emeritus of national-security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College, where he taught for 25 years. So is Putin the biggest loser of 2022? Are we witnessing Cold War 2.0? Read not just the latest Tom's book Our Own Worst Enemy: The Assault From Within on Modern Democracy and listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you.https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Maria Avdeeva is Ukrainian disinformation and security expert from Kharkiv. From the beginning of the large-scale Russian invasion she is trying to document what is going on. I talked to Maria jusť before the big aggression and also a few times in the past months. And while the situation is complicated, I'm glad that we had a chance to reconnect. The war is raging but it's also a bit of a Christmas episode. Because there is hope for Ukraine, there must be hope for Ukraine. Listen to our conversation and find out how did Maria prepare "Russian warship, go fuck yourself" gingerbread. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you.https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Every comparison is a problematic one, but it is also interesting to educationally speculate. I talked to Rory Truex, an Assistant Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University. His research focuses on Chinese politics and authoritarian systems. We also discussed one very hypothetical question. Would Xi Jinping attack Ukraine if he would rule Russia? What was Rory's answer? How does he assess China-Russia relations but also internal dynamics within the CCP? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you.https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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The Russians themselves must conclude that the war against Ukraine was a mistake, a disaster. That's why they have to lose otherwise there will be another war. This is how Anne Applebaum sees the invasion. She is a staff writer for The Atlantic and a Pulitzer-prize winning historian. She is also a Senior Fellow at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Anne's latest book is The Twilight of Democracy. But in fact, she doesn't need much of an introduction and I'm glad that we were able to arrange this conversation. We also discussed what would happen if Russian President Vladimir Putin would disappear and what to do about Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you.https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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What kind of weapons does Ukraine need to keep the momentum on the battlefield? What is the prospect of some negotiations with Russia? Will and should Ukraine continue to strike targets inside Russia? About this and much more, I talked to Toms Rostoks, an Associate Professor in International Relations at the University of Latvia and Senior Researcher at the Centre for Security and Strategic Research at the National Defence Academy. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you.https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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The current protests in China against the zero covid policy will be squashed. This is what I think, but more importantly, this is also what Lawrence C. Reardon thinks. Because he definitely knows China. Chris, as I know him, is a Professor of Political Science at New Hampshire University and a research associate at Harvard University's Fairbank Center. But while he suggests that demonstrations will be suppressed, it doesn't mean that the Chinese communist regime is totally safe. Why? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you.https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Does the football World Cup in Qatar deserve so much criticism? Is it somewhat illegitimate? And what about the beer for fans? I talked to Arash Azizi, a scholar and the PhD candidate in history at New York University (NYU). He researches the history of socialist and Islamist movements in Iran and the Arab world. But we didn't discuss just Qatar and football. We also debated how he sees the future of the revolutionary movement in Iran. Arash is the author of the book - The Shadow Commander: Soleimani, the US and Iran’s Global Ambitions. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you.https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Jennifer Mercieca was right. She is Professor in the Department of Communication and Journalism at Texas A&M University and an author of the book Demagogue for President: The Rhetorical Genius of Donald Trump. We recorded this podcast one day before Donald Trump's presidential announcement and Jennifer was pretty sure, as you can listen, how this ends up. We discussed what's next for Trump, and for Ron DeSantis or Joe Biden. And also what's next for American democracy. The midterm elections showed it might be less fragile than we thought. But... Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you.https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Julian Ringhof is a policy fellow with the European Power program at the European Council on Foreign Relations. His research focuses on the implications of digital and emerging technologies for international affairs. He just published an article titled The age of ego-politics: Elon Musk and the power of the tech giants. With that in mind, I thought that it would be interesting to interview Julian and I think that our conversation doesn't disappoint. We talked about Elon Musk and Ukraine and Starlink. About Elon Musk and Twitter. And also about Elon Musk and his visions. Should we be afraid of the intentions of the richest person in the world? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you.https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Professor Seth Cotlar is a historian at Willamette University in Oregon so as we talked about American politics, his answer contains many historical references. It only helps to better understand what's going on in the US. The midterm elections take place on November 8 and President Joe Biden said that democracy will be on the ballot. Is this a bit of a political exaggeration or is it really happening? And can American democracy properly function when millions believe in an alternate reality? Yes, we have been talking about the Republican Party and its voters. Listen to our conversation also featuring Seth's cat Odie. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you.https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Imagine that you are in a wargame simulation and you play Russia. This is what happened to Alexander Bollfrass. He is a Senior Researcher at the Center for Security Studies (CSS) at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology - ETH Zurich. I talked to him after he participated in such a wargame. What were its main conclusions? Did the players blow off the world with nuclear weapons? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you.https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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As Russia is conducting essentially terrorist attacks targeting Ukrainian cities with drones, I spoke to Mauro Gilli. He is a Senior Researcher in Military Technology and International Security at the Center for Security Studies of ETH-Zurich. We talked about drones and other military systems and about how both sides used them on the battlefield. Do you want to know what is the biggest surprise for my podcast guest when he looks at war? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you.https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Is Xi Jinping fully in control? ,,99,5 percent," said Kerry Brown to me when I asked him if we can be 100 percent sure that Xi gets a third term as general secretary at China's Communist Party Congress that starts on October 16th. He is a Professor of Chinese Studies and Director of the Lau China Institute at King's College, London. So what does Xi's reign mean? Could the Chinese leader be a bigger problem than Russian President Vladimir Putin? And what about Taiwan? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you.https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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In September, I visited South Korea for the first time and I also had the opportunity to see the demilitarized zone. Just before my visit, I talked to Sung-Yoon Lee, Kim Koo-Korea Foundation Professor of Korean Studies and Assistant Professor at Tufts University. Our discussion was focused more on North Korea and the regime in Pyongyang. So what can we expect from Kim Jong-un and from his sister Kim Yo-jong? In fact, Professor Lee's new book will be exactly about this as its title is - The Sister: The extraordinary story of Kim Yo Jong, the most powerful woman in North Korea. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you.https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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The far-right party the Brothers of Italy led by Giorgia Meloni just won the early election with 26 percent of votes. The alliance of the Brothers of Italy, Matteo Salvini's Lega and Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia will establish the government that will be further to the right as any Italian government after the Benito Mussolini's era. Yes, the fascist era. Is Meloni an ideological heiress of Mussolini? I talked to Erik Jones, a Director of the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you.https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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The election just took place in Sweden and the result is that the country will be run by the rightist government. The Social Democrats led by PM Magdalena Andersson von over 30% of the votes but it's not enough to govern due to the fact that the far-right Sweden Democrats are the second-strongest party, gaining 20,5% of the votes in their best-ever election performance. How did it happen? What contributed to the success of the Sweden Democrats? Will they directly join the rightist government? And should we call them far-right? I talked to Nicholas Aylott, an Associate Professor of Political Science at Södertörn University. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you.https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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,,The war in Ukraine is entering a critical phase. Winter is coming and it will be hard. Hard for the Ukrainian people and armed forces who are fighting for their freedom, and hard for those of us who support them," NATO's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg recently wrote for The Financial Times. But what is NATO doing more than six months into Russia's war against Ukraine? Should the Alliance be even more active? I talked to John Deni, a Research Professor of Joint, Interagency, Intergovernmental, and Multinational (JIIM) Security Studies at the U.S. Army War College's Strategic Studies Institute. Before joining the U.S. Army War College, Dr. Deni worked for 8 years as a political advisor for senior U.S. military commanders in Europe but his views do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Government. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you.https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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This podcast was recorded two days before Queen Elizabeth II. passed away, that's why it's not mentioned. The death of the Monarch might have real political consequences for the United Kingdom, but it doesn't change the fact that a new Conservative PM Liz Truss will face many challenges. Is she up to the job? Is Boris Johnson already plotting a comeback? I talked to Steven Fielding, a Professor of Political History at Nottingham University. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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The former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was born on March 2, 1931 and passed away on August 30. There is very little doubt that he changed the world and contributed to the end of the Cold War, though he also faced a lot of criticism. Where is Gorbachev's place in history? How important was he? What were his successes and failures? I talked to Bradley Woodworth, an Associate Professor of History at the University of New Haven and Program Manager of the Baltic Studies Program at Yale University. Listen to our conversation. And if enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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You gotta fight for your right to party! The famous Beastie Boys song might become a new political slogan of Finland's Social Democrat PM Sanna Marin. After the video of her partying was leaked, she faced criticism, she took a drug test and apologized. But is this episode even newsworthy? If Marin is a party girl, so what? Is she facing double standards from critics? Would they be probably silent if this would be a video of a man in politics? I talked to Emilia Palonen, a Senior Lecturer from the Department of Political and Economic Studies at the University of Helsinki. Listen to our conversation. And if enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you.https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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The Taliban took over Kabul one year ago, on August 15th. It had a huge geopolitical significance but I have to admit there is another reason why it's so easy for me to remember it. The fact is that August 15th is my birthday. About what happened in Afghanistan in one year, I talked to Vanda Felbab-Brown. She is a Senior Fellow in the Strobe Talbott Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology in the Foreign Policy program at Brookings Institution and also the Director of the Initiative on Nonstate Armed Actors. We recorded our conversation one day after it was announced that the leader of Al-Qaeda Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed in Kabul by an American strike. So we started with al-Zawahiri, and we moved to the debate about the troops' withdrawal and about how the Taliban is running the country. Listen to our conversation. And if enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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To quote Margaret Thatcher: Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren't. So how powerful is Russia whose leaders like to brag about it? I talked to Nicholas Cull, a Professor of Public Diplomacy and Communication at the University of Southern California. We discussed Russian narratives related to the war against Ukraine and what Moscow is trying to achieve by using them but also the concept of reputational security that is helping Ukraine. Does Russia have diplomacy or is it mostly trolling? Why does Nick think that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is doing an amazing job? And do we live in Tom Clancy's novel? Excuse a bit worse quality of the sound. Listen to our conversation. And if enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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The Italian government of PM SuperMario Draghi collapsed. The early election will take place on September 25th. How might the voting be affected by Russian aggression against Ukraine? How pro-Putin are Italian parties and the public? Will Italy turn to Russia after the early election? And what to expect from the far-right leader Giorgia Meloni and her party Brothers of Italy which leads in the polls and it seems that Meloni has a realistic chance to become the first Italian female Prime Minister. I talked to Davide Vampa, a Senior Lecturer in Politics at Aston University. Listen to our conversation. And if enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Happy Birthday to Arnold Schwarzenegger! Born on July 20, 1947, in Austrian Thal, he is 75 years young. The star of The Terminator, Predator, BTW, probably my favorite Arnolds's movie, Conan the Barbarian, Red Heat, Total Recall, Kindergarten Cop, Twins or True Lies, and the former Republican Governor of California has never been far from the spotlight. How was he able to achieve what he has achieved? Schwarzenegger had a master plan. This is what Michael Blitz explained to me. He is a co-author of the books Arnold Schwarzenegger: A Biography and Why Arnold Matters: The Rise of a Cultural Icon and a Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at the City University of New York. So why is Arnold a cultural icon? How influential is he these days? Can he or his movies predict the future? And would Arnold Schwarzenegger be able to beat Donald Trump if they would politically face each other? Listen to our conversation. And if enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Complex or complicated? What is the legacy of murdered Japan's ex-PM Shinzo Abe? Was he a nationalist who globalized Japan? The killing of the longest-serving Japanese Prime Minister on July 8th shocked the country and the world. How will Mr. Abe be remembered? I talked to Joshua Walker, President, and CEO of Japan Society in New York who had a chance to interact with the late Japanese PM. Listen to our conversation. And if enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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How much should we be surprised by the scale and quickness of the demonstrations in Sri Lanka? What has led to such turmoil? I talked to Ashok Swain. He is a Professor and Head of the Department of Peace and Conflict Research at the Uppsala University. We have also discussed what's next for Sri Lanka's powerful Rajapaksas' family and if the Russian war against Ukraine contributed to the country's problems. And does Professor Swain think that Sri Lanka's protests are just a prelude to similar events around the world? This podcast was recorded on July 13th before the resignation of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his travel from the Maldives to Singapore. Listen to our conversation. And if enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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"If the current amount of support from the West to Ukraine was present in 2014 over the annexation of Crimea, we could have avoided a lot of people being killed. But I'm glad that Ukraine is receiving support, and hopefully, there will be more support and long-term support." This is what Anton Barbashin said to me during our debate. He is an editorial director of Riddle, which is a website about Russia I can only wholeheartedly recommend. We discussed if we can compare Russian President Vladimir Putin to historical figures like Peter the Great, Hitler, or Stalin. Anton pointed out that Putin connected his fate to the war against Ukraine. So how would the Russian President define victory or loss? Listen to our conversation. And if enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you.https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Ben Hodges is a former commanding general, United States Army Europe. He believes Ukraine can win the war Russia started on February 24th. Why does he believe this? How should the West help Ukraine? Should it send troops? "I would say right now we have the best strategic advantage over Russia we have had in the last 70 years," General Hodges told me. What does he mean by this and why does he think that the West should communicate to Russia that it will support Ukraine forever? And we also talked about the NATO summit that is taking place this week in Madrid. Listen to our conversation. And if enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Do the conservative Justices at the Supreme Court impose their religious beliefs on America? The Supreme Court overturned the Roe vs Wade verdict that was the law of the land for almost 50 years. Prior to this decision, I talked to Diana Carlin. She is a Professor Emerita of Communication at Saint Louis University. We had a debate about how the Supreme Court works, past precedents, culture wars, and also if the US is approaching The Handmaid's Tale world, and if the US can become a religious tyranny. Listen to our conversation. And if enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Toni Alaranta is a Senior Research Fellow in the European Union Research Programme at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA). His areas of expertise include Turkey’s domestic and foreign policies, in particular Turkey’s relations with the EU, the US and Russia. According to him, Ankara has the maximalist and the minimalist position toward the Finnish and Swedish NATO bid. We also talked a bit about Turkish domestic politics and about how President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been poisoning relations with the allies for over a decade. And does Turkey also have some justified demands related to Finland and Sweden's NATO applications? Listen to our conversation. And if enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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We have started our conversation talking about Germany and about what German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is doing or not doing regarding Ukraine. But, and perhaps inevitably, we have moved our discussion to what is going on in America and what might happen. And the question is: Does Russian President Vladimir Putin only need to survive until Donald Trump will be back in the White House? At the annual GLOBSEC conference in Bratislava, I talked to Rachel Rizzo. She is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Europe Center where her research focuses on European security, NATO, and the transatlantic relationship. Listen to our conversation. And if enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Would Russia be willing to use nuclear weapons? And what about the West, especially the US? I talked to Alexander Bollfrass, a Senior Researcher at the Center for Security Studies (CSS) at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology - ETH Zurich. Why does he think that it seems that Russia makes a whole class of nuclear weapons exclusively for television? We also discuss if the risk of a nuclear incident is higher now and if we should get rid of nuclear weapons. Listen to our conversation. And if enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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As CNN pointed out, it's the third time in recent months that American President Joe Biden has said the US would protect Taiwan from a Chinese attack, only to have the White House walk back those remarks. Over a few decades, the US has intentionally maintained a position characterized as strategic ambiguity when asked whether it would come to Taiwan’s defense in the event of an attack by China. But the fact is that the American President creates the debate as it seems he is clearer about US intentions in regard to Taiwan than his predecessors. Does Biden want to have Taiwan's cake but also eat it? Is everything somewhat the same, but different? But still the same? Of course, China reacted furiously to Biden's statements but it's pretty sure that Beijing has to take them into account when thinking about Taiwan. So what's going on? Would the US defend Taiwan militarily if China would attack? Are there some scenarios under which America wouldn't react? Those questions were answered by China watcher and publisher of the China Neican Adam Ni. We also discussed how Russia's war against Ukraine affects China and its plans related to Taiwan and how far would Beijing go to help Moscow. And is Chinese communist chief Xi Jinping nervous? Listen to our conversation. And if enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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On May 14th, 18-year-old Payton Gendron killed 10 people and wounded three; 11 of the 13 shot were Black residents and the attack took place in a predominantly African American neighborhood in Buffalo. The far-right terrorist wrote a manifesto connected to the Great Replacement conspiracy theory and according to CNN just before the attack, he invited people to the chatroom at the messaging social platform Discord to discuss his act of racist violence. This chatroom included months of posts written by Gendron and the messages illustrated his white supremacist views and how he wanted to kill as many minority people as possible. But Gendron did not act in a vacuum. Is the far-right ecosystem hiding in plain sight in the US? And maybe not even hiding? I talked to Colin Clarke. He is a Senior Research Fellow at The Soufan Center and Director of Policy and Research at The Soufan Group, where his research focuses on domestic and transnational terrorism, international security, and geopolitics. We discussed the far-right movement in the US and beyond. But we also talked about guns and Tucker Carlson. Listen to our conversation. And if enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Should we call Russian President Vladimir Putin a war criminal? And what are the consequences of using such terminology? Are we witnessing genocide in Ukraine and does Putin talk about Ukrainians in genocidal terms? About this but also about much more, I talked to Paola Gaeta. She is a Professor of International Law at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. This podcast was recorded a few weeks ago but I do believe it's still very timely. Listen to our conversation. And if enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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As many other journalists can attest, Maria Avdeeva is doing an excellent and brave job informing the world about what is going on in Kharkiv and Ukraine. I talked to her just before the Russian invasion, shortly after, and now again. Maria is a Research Director at the European Expert Association where she focuses on international security and combating hybrid threats and disinformations. "From the beginning of this stage of the Russian war, shelling continues every day," she said to me as we talked about life in Kharkiv under the shadow of war. But she believes that Russia will never get the city under control. This podcast was recorded on May 5th. Give Maria a follow on social media, support her, support Ukraine, and listen to our conversation. And if enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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Emmanuel Macron won the French presidential election as he received 58.5 percent of the vote in the run-off round against far-right candidate Marine Le Pen who was supported by 41.5 percent of voters. It was a hard-fought victory but the French president cannot sleep on laurels as the legislative election is swiftly approaching. What's Macron's vision for the next five years? Does he want to be the leader of the EU, and does he have a recipe for how to beat illiberals? I talked to Georgina Wright, a Senior Fellow, and Director of Institut Montaigne’s Europe Program. I also asked her if she thinks that Macron is arrogant. Listen to our conversation. And if enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak
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How healthy or unhealthy is Russian President Vladimir Putin? Why is the Kremlin bragging about the nuclear arsenal? What led to Bucha and the other massacres by Russian soldiers in Ukraine? And does Putin think everything is fine and how delusional is he? About this and much more, I talked to Andrei Soldatov, a Russian investigative journalist, co-founder, and editor of Agentura.ru, a watchdog of the Russian secret services’ activities. He is also a nonresident Senior Fellow with the Center for European Policy (CEPA). Listen to our conversation.
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"Germany lost its compass and is going through a soul searching." This is how Jörg Forbrig, a Senior Fellow from the German Marshall Fund and director for Central and Eastern Europe, assess Berlin's reaction to the Russian war against Ukraine. But he also emphasizes that there are things Germans got right and those should be acknowledged. So is Russia's war against Ukraine also Germany's fault and what can Berlin do about it? Will Germany provide more weapons to Ukraine? Where is ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel? And how quickly could Germany cut off the import of Russian gas? Listen to our conversation.
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What if the only limit Hungary's PM Viktor Orban has after the election is his own imagination? Orban's far-right populist Fidesz just clearly won the election that took place on March 3rd. The Prime Minister's party will have a constitutional majority in the next Hungarian parliament. Fidesz won 135 mandates in the parliament that has 199 seats. The united opposition lost badly, they only have 56 seats and 7 seats go to the extremist Our Homeland movement. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said that Hungary’s parliamentary elections were well-run but the electoral process was marred by the absence of a level playing field. And what does Hungarian political scientist from The Centre for Social Sciences Zoltán Gábor Szűcs think about the election? "Knowing what we know now, the united opposition did not have a real chance to win," he said to me. We also discussed the legitimacy of Orban's victory and if the Hungarian Prime Minister is a friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Listen to our conversation.
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Does war in Ukraine make Russian President Vladimir Putin nervous? "If there is anything human in him, he should be nervous." This is how a Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations Kadri Liik answered my question. We talked about why she thinks that this war looks like Putin's crusade, about the peace negotiations, and the role of Roman Abramovich, and if she is surprised by the performance of Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky and Ukraine's armed forces. Listen to our conversation.
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"We have to be extremely careful making preliminary judgments about what is really happening on the ground." This is what Franz-Stefan Gady said to me when I asked him if Russia gets anything militarily right when attacking Ukraine and how Ukrainian forces are doing. My guest is a Research Fellow for Cyber, Space and Future Conflict at The International Institute for Strategic Studies. What is his cautious forecast of the conflict? This podcast was recorded on March 21st. Listen to our conversation.
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Christopher Chivvis is a Senior Fellow and Director of the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment. He most recently served as the U.S. national intelligence officer for Europe. "The course of the war is notoriously difficult to predict," he said to me when I asked him about what we could expect in regards to the Russian invasion against Ukraine. But we have tried to talk a bit about possible scenarios and also about some military analogies. This podcast was recorded on March 14th. Listen to our conversation.
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How many people are arriving? What is their motivation? And could it help Ukraine which is under Russia's attack? All of these questions are related to the establishment of the International Legion of Territorial Defense. Trying to find the answers, I talked to Kacper Kerawek. He is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Research on Extremism (C-REX) at the University of Oslo. His book Brown-Red Cocktail? Extremist Foreign Fighters in the War in Ukraine will be published soon. We also talked about how the Foreign Legion could work, about some historical parallels, but also about the somewhat inevitable topic of the Azov Movement. Listen to our conversation.
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Maria Avdeeva is a Research Director at the European Expert Association where she focuses on international security, cooperation of Ukraine with the EU and NATO, combating hybrid threats, and emerging security challenges. For years she was fighting Russia's disinformation war against Ukraine. From February 24th is her country under military invasion ordered by Vladimir Putin and Maria stays in Kharkiv, even as the city faces heavy Russian shelling. I talked to Maria on March 3rd afternoon and originally the recording was not for a podcast, which means the sound quality is a bit lower. But Maria stays in Kharkiv because she wants to inform the world about what's going on and I decided that I want to help her to spread the message. I talked to her also just before the war started. Stand with Ukraine and listen to our conversation.
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The number of casualties is growing as Russia wages its war in Ukraine. Will President Vladimir Putin escalate even further and why does he talk about nuclear weapons? I talked to Mark Galeotti who is, as his Twitter bio says, an analyst of murky topics from Russian politics to global crime. Dr. Galeotti is the director of the consultancy firm Mayak Intelligence. He is also an Honorary Professor at UCL School of Slavonic & East European Studies and a Senior Associate Fellow at RUSI. His books include We Need To Talk About Putin and most recently The Weaponisation of Everything. He is also a creator of the podcast In Moscow's Shadows. Why does Dr. Galeotti see some parallels between the Russian attack against Ukraine and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan? Listen to our conversation.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin is a man of dark emotions. But it's good that the West still engages with Moscow diplomatically. This is what Andrei Kolesnikov thinks. He is a Senior Fellow and the Chair of the Russian Domestic Politics and Political Institutions Program at the Carnegie Moscow Center. We talked about Putin's decision system. if he listens to somebody and what it all means for the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Do you want to know when was Putin honest and if he gave us a road map of his intentions? This podcast was recorded on February 17, just before the current round of a huge escalation. Listen to our conversation.
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Maria Avdeeva lives in Kharkiv, just 40 kilometers from the Russian border. She is a Research Director at the European Expert Association where she focuses on international security, cooperation of Ukraine with the EU and NATO, combating hybrid threats, and emerging security challenges. I talked to her on February 13 when we debated extremely tense situation as the Russian troops are surrounding Ukraine. Are people in Kharkiv panicking or are they ready to fight? How does she assess the Western support for Ukraine and why does she think that even if Russia starts a large-scale invasion it won't be able to control Ukrainian cities? Listen to our conversation.
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To use her own words, she a disaster researcher and scientist for fiction with irrepressible curiosity about our wonderfully weird universe. This is how Mika McKinnon introduces yourself. If you listen to my podcast regularly, and I hope you do, you know that I usually cover foreign policy events and trends. But not exclusively, so this is an episode about disasters. Mika McKinnon is a perfect guest. Experienced and funny. We talked about the current Hunga Tonga eruption, about volcanoes and related risks and about how you cannot, I repeat, cannot trigger Yellowstone eruption by using nukes. But also about her fascinating research into landslides on asteroids. And did I mention that she is also a sci-fi science consultant? Most recently for the movie Moonfall but also for cult classics Sharknado, Stargate or Star Trek. Listen to our conversation
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According to current polls, less than 50 percent of Finns oppose the membership of their country in NATO. This is for the first time ever. Is it caused by Russian actions? I talked to Charly Salonius-Pasternak, a leading researcher in The Center on US Politics and Power at Finnish Institute of International Affairs. Does it mean that Finland will apply for NATO membership any time soon? And if it will, would it be a smooth and quick process? And what would Russia do? Listen to our conversation: Will Finland apply for NATO membership and how would it work?
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What does French President Emmanuel Macron mean when he says that Europeans should work on proposals to build a new security and stability order in Europe? These words are somewhat similar to those the West hears from Kremlin. But is there any connection? I talked to Georgina Wright, a Senior Fellow and Director of Institut Montaigne’s Europe Program. We talked about Paris-Moscow relations, what will France do in case of Russian invasion against Ukraine but also about what kind of role can Russian issue play in the upcoming presidential election. Listen to our conversation: Russia crisis and European security: A view from France.
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The world tennis number one Novak Djokovic was deported from Australia on January 16 and that means he is unable to defend his Australian Open title from the previous year. For now he also lost the chance to become the record Grand Slam holder. The Serbian tennis player is unvaccinated but he received a medical exemption to enter Australia. But in the end his visa was revoked twice and the federal court decided that he can be deported. What does it tell us about the immigration system in Australia? Were political calculations involved in Djokovic's case? This podcast was recorded on January 13, just before the final decision related to subsequent deportation. I talked to Emily Foley, a PhD candidate at La Trobe University in Melbourne. Her research focuses on political parties and temporary migration. Does she think that Djokovic should support refugees in Australia? Listen to our conversation: Will Djokovic's case affect Australia's immigration system and politics?
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The US-Russia bilateral meeting, NATO-Russia Council meeting and the OSCE talks. Can a flurry of diplomatic activities change something, or will Russia invade Ukraine? How much should we be concerned also about the possibility of bigger conflict between NATO and Russia? I talked to John Deni, Research Professor of Joint, Interagency, Intergovernmental, and Multinational (JIIM) Security Studies at the U.S. Army War College's Strategic Studies Institute. Before joining the U.S. Army War College, Dr. Deni worked for 8 years as a political advisor for senior U.S. military commanders in Europe. He is also a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council. This podcast was recorded on January 12 and Dr. Deni's views do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Government. Listen to our conversation: How to approach negotiations with Putin's Russia?
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Are you afraid of a civil war in America? "I don't fear civil war so much, as I fear more of the riots, more of the kind of violence we saw on the Capitol." This is what Professor Emerita of Communication at Saint Louis University Diana Carlin told me. We discussed what happened on January 6th, 2021 when a mob of supporters of at that time President Donald Trump attacked the United States Capitol, why was Trump responsible for this assault and why words do matter but it seems that the facts don't. According to the Program on Extremism at George Washington University the number of federal cases against individuals involved in the Capitol Hill Siege stands so far at more than 700. Professor Carlin lives in Kansas which is a red state. How does she assess the current Republican Party? And why does she say that some Americans want to see the US that probably never existed? Listen to our conversation: 1/6 anniversary: Is the GOP Trump's party? Polarization, divisions and radicalization in America.
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Every forecast is tricky but we are trying anyway. Marc Julienne is Head of China Research within the Centre for Asian Studies of the French Institute of International relations (IFRI) and we discussed what to expect from communist regime in Beijing in 2022 especially on the international scene. What will be the main trends in the US-China and in the EU-China relations? How much is Dr. Julienne concerned about Cross-Strait relations? And what might China do if Russia decides to attack Ukraine? Listen to our conversation: What's next for China's foreign policy in 2022?
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On December 20 Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová traveled to military base Ādaži in Latvia. I also had a chance to visit NATO Enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) multinational battalion that consists of a framework nation Canada and of Albania, Czech Republic, Iceland, Italy, Montenegro, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain. The Slovak contingent is currently made of 135 soldiers. On the occasion of President Čaputová's visit, I talked to Toms Rostoks, an Associate Professor in International Relations at University of Latvia and Senior Researcher at the Centre for Security and Strategic Research at the National Defence Academy. We discussed what led to the creation of the eFP concept and why Russia should blame itself that the Alliance deployed four battalions to Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. What does Dr. Rostoks think about Moscow's demands that the US and NATO should limit their activities on the Alliance Eastern Flank? Should we talk to Kremlin about this? And how much is he concerned about the possibility of the Russian invasion against Ukraine? Listen to our conversation: What is the role of NATO battalions on the Easter Flank? To die heroically?
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"You are entering this Panthéon because although you were born American there is no one more French than you". This is what President Emmanuel Macron said when he paid a tribute to Josephine Baker as she was inducted into France's Panthéon in Paris at the end of November. She becomes the first Black woman and just the sixth woman being immortalized there. Baker was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1906. In 20s and 30s, she took over France and Europe with her dance and music performances. After World War II broke out, Baker began to help the French resistance. We still don't know that much about this period of her life, but Professor of French History at Cardiff University Hanna Diamond wants to change this. I talked to her as she is working on a book about Baker's wartime activities. But we have also discussed Baker's celebrity life and how she was involved in the civil rights movement in America. Baker died in 1975 but would she today support Black Lives Matter? Listen to our conversation Black woman, star, spy, activist: What do we know about Josephine Baker?
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After 16 years it's clear that the German Chancellor can be also... a man. Christian Democrat Angela Merkel is gone and Germany and the world have some questions. What to expect from the traffic light coalition led by Olaf Scholz that consists of his SPD, Greens and liberal FDP? Will Scholz be able to manage his government and what kind of role he could play on the European and global scene? In September, just before the elections in Germany, I talked to Alexander Clarkson who is a Lecturer in German, European and International Studies at King's College London. And he is again my guest, as we have tried to forecast what will be the domestic focus of Scholz's government, or what kind of foreign policy will Chancellor and the Green Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock pursue. Listen to our conversation.
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The aim of the UK COP26 Presidency was to keep alive the hope of limiting the rise in global temperature to 1.5C, and the Glasgow Climate Pact does just that. Combined with increased ambition and action from countries, 1.5C remains in sight, but it will only be achieved if every country delivers on what they have pledged. This is what the Glasgow Climate Pact from 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference that took place in November said. Before COP26, I had a chance to talk to political economist Alexander Gard-Murray, who is a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Climate Solutions Lab and the Rhodes Center for International Economics and Finance at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University. And he is again my guest. How does he assess COP26? Who were the heroes and villains of the COP26 according to him? And is humanity still on a self-destructive path? Listen to our conversation.
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On November 24th, at least 27 people, including women and children, died trying to cross the English Channel in a small boat. A Kurdish woman from northern Iraq Maryam Nuri Mohamed Amin has become the first victim of this tragedy to be named. “Her story is the same as everyone else – she was looking for a better life," said one of her relatives for the Guardian. Was this tragedy preventable? Why the UK and France blame each other what does is have to do with Brexit? I talked to Andrew Geddes, a Professor of Migration Studies and the Director of the Migration Policy Centre at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute. Why does he think that too much focus on disrupting smugglers' networks might be counterproductive? Listen to our conversation.
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Presidential and legislative elections in Libya should take place on December 24th. While we read headlines about candidates such as Saif Gaddafi, the problems run deeper. At least according to Jalel Harchaoui who is a Senior Fellow at the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime where he concentrates his work on North Africa. He emphasizes that the legal framework for the upcoming elections is weak and it may lead to various challenges, including violent clashes, that will undermine the concept of liberal democracy in Libya. We also talked about why people like Saif Gaddafi or Khalifa Haftar are running and why Europe seemingly doesn't care about the suffering of Libyans. Listen to our conversation.
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On one hand this is a hybrid attack against the European Union from Belarus dictator Alexander Lukashenko with Russia's shadow looming over the situation. On the other hand, this is also a humanitarian crisis that shows that the EU asylum system hardly works. Thousands of migrants and refugees are stranded along the EU's borders with Belarus affecting Poland, Lithuania and Latvia. Does it have a quick fix? I talked to Artur Gruszczak, Professor and Chair of National Security at the Faculty of International and Political Studies at Jagiellonian University in Krakow. And as he said some of his statements may sound controversial. Listen to our conversation.
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Is this a make or break moment? As the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference better known as COP26 just started and will take place in Glasgow till November 12th, the question is if political leaders will use the event to effectively move forward when addressing the climate emergency. "This is a chance for all these countries to show leadership, this is the point where they have to stand up and be counted. I want more out of every country," COP26 President Alok Sharma said for Sky News. And according to political economist Alexander Gard-Murray this is a problem because we cannot be sure if politicians will step up. Gard-Murray is a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Climate Solutions Lab and the Rhodes Center for International Economics and Finance at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University. We debate what to expect from COP26, why he is hopeful but not confident and why he says that climate change delayism is perhaps even worse than climate change denial. And what does he think about Greta Thunberg? Listen to our conversation.
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Bond. James Bond, Part 2. Yes, this is the second part of my conversation about James Bond's past, present and future with Martin D. Brown, Associate Professor of International History at Richmond University in London who is also a bondologist. The first part was published on October 19th. Bond was called a blunt instrument by his novelist father Ian Fleming. Would this blunt instrument be helpful in any international crisis? Dr. Brown answers this question and he adds that it is somehow weird that the UK government promotes Bond. Do you wanna know why? And do you wanna know what's perhaps next for the Bond franchise as Daniel Craig's era comes to end with the movie No Time To Die? Listen to our conversation.
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Bond. James Bond. If you listen to my podcast The Global Agora regularly, you already know that I discuss a variety of things with various experts. And it's no time to die, it's time to debate the James Bond franchise. I have to admit that I am a big fan of 007 and I am happy to welcome Martin D. Brown, Associate Professor of International History at Richmond University in London. And he is also a bondologist. This is the first part of our conversation. We have discussed Dr. Brown's favourite Bond movie, but also what might be the best Bond movie. I have asked him how he uses 007 in his teaching and he explained if James Bond belongs to the Cold War propaganda. And we have had a debate about the last Bond movie No Time to Die, which is also the last movie of Daniel Craig's era as James Bond. This episode of my podcast also contains a few big spoilers related to No Time to Die. If you haven't seen the movie yet, I strongly recommend skipping our discussion from 14:00 till 21:40. Otherwise listen to our conversation. The second part will be published on October 26th, Tuesday. The second part will be published on October 22nd, Friday.
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Conservative MP Sir David Amess was murdered on October 15th. I tried to look at this case with the assistance of Shaun McDaid. He is a Senior Lecturer in the Division of Criminology, Politics and Sociology at the University of Huddersfield. Dr. McDaid's research primarily relates to political violence and its prevention and post-conflict transitions. We talked more broadly about the threats and violence against politicians and also about the terrorisms and extremism in the postmodern world. Listen to our conversation.
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,,The United States is very concerned by the People’s Republic of China’s provocative military activity near Taiwan, which is destabilising, risks miscalculations, and undermines regional peace and stability,” US state department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement. What is behind the record number of Chinese military planes entering Taiwan's air defense identification zone? China watcher, editor of the China Story blog and co-author of the column China Neican 内参 column Adam Ni identifies three reasons. How much is he worried about a possible conflict in the Taiwan Strait? What kind of dynamics does he see in the Taipei-Beijing-Washington triangle? And where is Europe in all of this? Listen to our conversation.
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Is Brexit going badly? According to a recent YouGov poll, 53 percent of Britons think so. But does it mean that they want to rejoin the EU? I talked to Martin Farr, a Senior Lecturer in Contemporary British History at Newcastle University. We also discussed how to put the current fuel crisis in the UK into a historical perspective and what's next for the Labour Party under the leadership of Keir Starmer. And why does Dr. Farr think that Starmer and Tory PM Boris Johnson are basically in the wrong jobs? Listen to our conversation.
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A new poll conducted by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) shows that EU citizens view Germany as a trustworthy, pro-European power and Angela Merkel’s approach of searching for compromises between competing interests is a major source of Berlin’s positive image. But, of course, there is a but. Merkel is leaving politics. What is the most positive and the most negative aspect of her political legacy? Will her legacy last beyond the parliamentary election that takes place on September 26th? And could French President Emmanuel Macron be jealous of Merkel? I talked to Jana Puglierin, a Senior Policy Fellow at ECFR and the head of ECFR’s office in Berlin. Listen to our conversation.
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We're gonna have to spend years looking at this to really work out what the hell just happened with CDU/CSU. This is how Alexander Clarkson, Lecturer in German, European and International Studies at King's College London, sees the situation just before the election in Germany. Looking at the polls, it seems Social Democrats might get between 25-27 percent of votes, while Christian Democrat will only get between 20-23 percent. Dr. Clarkson explains why this is happening and what surprises him most. And does he think that outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel regrets something after decades in politics? Listen to our conversation.
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When was the last time the Labour Party in Norway didn't win the parliamentary election? In 1924. And the series of victories didn't stop on September 13. While the Labour Party won only 26,3 percent of votes, which is historically one of the weakest results, they will still have 48 seats in the parliament and everybody expects that they will establish a governing coalition with the Socialist Left and the Center Party. And that would mean that all five Nordic countries will be run by the center-left governments. But does it really matter? I talked to Nicholas Aylott, an Associate Professor of Political Science at Södertörn University. His main academic interest is in comparative European politics, with a focus on political parties. Listen to our conversation.
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Is Pope Francis happy with his job? And even if he is, he is also 84, which means he is not the youngest. Are there any indications that he may resign? About Francis' papacy, I talked to John Allen, the editor of Crux, and a senior Vatican analyst for CNN. He has written eleven books on the Vatican and Catholic affairs. Pope Francis is just visiting Slovakia and his trip will last more than three days while he spent only a couple of hours in Hungary. Why? Listen to our conversation.
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A day that changed the world. This is how 9/11, 2001 is often described. And it's true. The world looked in disbelief when planes piloted by Al-Qaeda terrorists hit The World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Almost 3 000 people died and subsequently it affected the fate of millions. Colin Clarke is a New Yorker and he admits that the 20th anniversary of Al-Qaeda attacks is very emotional for him. But Dr. Clarke is also a Senior Research Fellow at The Soufan Center and Director of Policy and Research at The Soufan Group, where his research focuses on domestic and transnational terrorism, international security, and geopolitics. His most recent book is called After the Caliphate: The Islamic State and the Future Terrorist Diaspora. That's why we discussed successes and failures of the war on terror, the role of Osama bin Laden, if 9/11 was preventable or a scenario when Al-Qaeda attacks didn't happen. Listen to our conversation.
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What does Afghanistan withdrawal means for international politics? Is America still a superpower? And what is and could be the role of Europe in all of this? ,,There is no military power that can stand up to United States in a head to head competition. Having said that, if we measure power by your ability to get what you want, the United States is weaker because it doesn't know what it wants." This is a observation from Erik Jones, the new Director of the Robert Schuman Centre at the European University Institute. How relevant is these day his book Weary Policeman: American Power in an Age of Austerity that he coauthored in 2012? Listen to our conversation.
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,,I think we, no matter what, need to be doing everything practically at our power to get people out of Afghanistan that want to leave the country". This is how Melissa Siegel, Professor of Migration Studies at Maastricht University and the United Nations University-MERIT, sees the current situation in Afghanistan. We also discussed what kind of coordinated approach the European Union and its partners should take to help the Afghans and how not to talk about migration. Did the West give millions of Afghans hope and now everything is probably lost? Our interview took place before the attack outside Kabul's airport on August 26th that killed at least 169 Afghans and at least 13 US service members. Listen to our conversation.
The interview took place during the 8th EMN Training Seminar on Migration organized by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Slovakia that is the coordinator of the National Contact Point of the European Migration Network (EMN) in the Slovak Republic. The event was financed by the European Union.
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Ukraine celebrates the 30 anniversary of its independence that was established on August 24, 1991. The country's sovereignty might be limited by the annexation of Crimea and by the war Russia started in 2014. But the fact that Ukraine was able to keep its independence is not a small thing. This is according to Susan Stewart, Senior Fellow at Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) - The German Institute for International and Security Affairs. How does she compare Ukraine of 1991 to Ukraine of 2021? What does she think about The Crimean Platform, about a new Kyiv's diplomatic initiative? And what can Ukraine's government do in regards to the situation in Donbas? Listen to our conversation.
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Russia has recently published a new National Security Strategy. What does it mean for the Russian Armed Forces? How were they changed by recent wars, reforms and modernization programs? How bad or good is the West in reading Russia's military intentions? I talked to Johan Norberg, Senior Military Analyst from the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI). What does he think about the risk of the West-Russia war? Listen to our conversation.
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Will Tehran return to nuclear talks? What to expect from a new Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi? How differently will US President Joe Biden deal with Iran compared to President Donald Trump but also to President Barack Obama? And how to react to Iranian provocations and attacks? I talked to Barbara Slavin, director of the Future of Iran Initiative, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and a lecturer in international affairs at George Washington University. What does she call Raisi? Do you wanna know? Listen to our conversation.
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In July, The Foreign Affairs Council adopted a decision setting up an EU military training mission in Mozambique (EUTM Mozambique). The aim of the mission is to train and support the Mozambican armed forces in protecting the civilian population and restoring safety and security in the Cabo Delgado province. The mandate of the mission will initially last two years. During this period, its strategic objective will be to support the capacity building of the units of the Mozambican armed forces that will be part of a future Quick Reaction Force. How much is the conflict in Cabo Delgado becoming international? The Rwandan troops are already there, South Africa is sending 1 500 soldiers and Americans are training Mozambican marines. Since 2017, a jihadist insurgency in Cabo Delgado has killed more than 3 000 people and displaced more than 800 000. But a deployment of foreign troops is not without risks. What can go wrong? I talked to Emilia Columbo. She is a a senior associate to the The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Africa Program, and a senior security risk analyst at VoxCroft. Previously, she served as a senior analyst at the CIA, covering African and Latin American political-security issues. Listen to our conversation.
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Japanese athletes are winning more medals and the country is getting more COVID-19 infected people. This is a current reality of the Tokyo Olympics. What is the media image of the Games in Japan? What do people think about the situation and will it affect the politics in the country as the parliamentary elections will take place in October? Political scientist Yuki Shiraito thinks that at this moment people do not have a clear opinion about the Games. Our conversation took place on Monday afternoon Japanese time so he was also able to update me in a real time about the successes of Japanese athletes but also about the increased number of the COVID-19 cases. Dr. Shiraito is Assistant Professor of Political Science, Faculty Associate of the Center for Political Studies, and Faculty Member of the Center for Japanese Studies at the University of Michigan. Listen to our conversation.
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The Forbidden Stories consortium and Amnesty International had access to records of phone numbers selected by Israeli NSO Group clients in more than 50 countries since 2016. An unprecedented leak of more than 50,000 phone numbers shows how NSO's technology, commonly known as the Pegasus spyware, has been systematically abused for years. As The Forbidden Stories and Amnesty emphasize, potential targets include human rights defenders, academics, businesspeople, lawyers, doctors, union leaders, diplomats, politicians and several heads of states. Among them was also a Hungarian investigative journalist Szabolcs Panyi. His outlet Direkt36 belongs to The Pegasus Project media partners. How did he find out that he was under surveillance? Did he change his life? Why is he not surprised that Viktor Orbán's government was using the Pegasus spyware? And what does he think about the responsibility of the Israeli government? Listen to our conversation.
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It's the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attack by Norwegian far-right extremist Anders Breivik. On July 22, 2011 he detonated a car bomb outside the prime minister's office in Oslo. The explosion killed eight people. Brevik than drove to Utøya island where he shoot 69 people who gathered at a Labour Party youth camp. His victims were mostly kids. Breivik ended up behind bars, perhaps indefinitely. But what does he mean for the violent far right scene? How has this scene evolved? And can we expect another attack, similar to Breviks's? I talked to Professor Matthew Feldman, Director of the Centre for Analysis of the Radical Right. Listen to our conversation.
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The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) just came out with a report Cyber Capabilities and National Power: A Net Assessment. The countries covered in this report are the US, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, France, Israel, China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam. The IISS has divided the 15 states into three tiers of cyber power. But taking into account the methodology of the report, only in the US merits inclusion into the first tier. But how does America behave in cyberspace? Does it prefer cooperation with allies or perhaps not that much? And what about China and Russia? I had a chance to talk about the report and related topics with Greg Austin who leads the Cyber, Space and Future Conflict Programme at the IISS. Do you want to know what his biggest concern is regarding what the big powers are doing in cyberspace? Listen to our conversation.
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Evil reigns in Poland and we want to fight it. That's reason enough, you don't need any other justification. Those are the words of Donald Tusk aimed at the ruling Law and Justice Party. Polish ex- Prime Minister and former President of the European Council will give up his role as president of the European People's Party to be able to fully engage in Polish affairs and to run the opposition Civic Platform party. But how much does Tusk still understand the Polish politics? What can he bring into a political arena except a heavy criticism of the Law and Justice? Just attacking Law and Justice might not be enough for Tusk to be successful. That's what Professor of Politics and Contemporary European Studies at the University of Sussex Aleks Szczerbiak thinks. He even said that the Law and Justice and its leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski are perhaps pleased with Tusk being back. Listen to our conversation.
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The Chinese Communist Party was founded in July 1921. What is the brightest and what about the darkest hour of the CPP, and why? Is the party ashamed of something? And how long will Xi Jinping rule the Party and the country? About the CCP’s past, present and future, I talked to Rory Truex. He is an Assistant Professor in Princeton's Department of Politics and School of Public and International Affairs and the author of the book Making Autocracy Work: Representation and Responsiveness in Modern China. Why does he compare China's history to a pendulum? And what does he think about the Cold War with Beijing? Listen to our conversation.
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Can Spain's divisions be settled? "It's best for Catalonia and for Spain and it's in accord with the Spanish Constitution. The government will work for understanding and not for confrontation." This is what Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez said when he announced a pardon for nine Catalan leaders serving prison sentences for their roles in Catalonia's 2017 independence referendum. But what does this move mean for Catalan and Spanish politics? I talked to Alejandro Quiroga, a research professor at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Listen to our conversation.
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We, the Heads of State and Government of the 30 NATO Allies, have gathered in Brussels to reaffirm our unity, solidarity, and cohesion, and to open a new chapter in transatlantic relations, at a time when the security environment we face is increasingly complex. This is how the communiqué from the NATO summit that took place on June 14th starts. The document should direct the Alliance towards an updated Strategic Concept. NATO acknowledges that it faces multifaceted threats, systemic competition from assertive and authoritarian powers, as well as growing security challenges to its countries and its citizens from all strategic directions. Russia, China, cyber, hybrid, and other asymmetric threats, rapid advances in the space domain or the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction are mentioned in the communiqué. Climate change is called a threat multiplier that impacts Alliance security. Why is NATO talking about all those challenges? And what steps will the Alliance take to address them? I talked to Dr. Benedetta Berti, a foreign policy and security researcher, analyst, consultant, author and lecturer. She serves as Head of Policy Planning in the Office of the Secretary General at NATO. Our discussion took place at GLOBSEC 2021 conference in Bratislava. Listen to our conversation.
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Speculations about his death were hugely exaggerated in the past, but it seems that the leader of Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram Abubakar Shekau is really dead. What does it mean for the organization that it's known for its brutality? Will the possible collapse of Boko Haram strengthen a rival group The Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP)? And BTW, if Shekau is finally dead, what about the persistent rumors that the leader of Al-Qaeda Ayman al-Zawahiri has also died? I have tried to unwrap those issues when talking to Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a founder and chief executive officer of Valens Global and the author of Bin Laden's Legacy, the book I can only recommend. Listen to our conversation.
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American President Joe Biden will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin. Their summit takes place in Geneva on June 16. But does this meeting make any sense? Will it make any difference? Should it make any difference? And what to expect from Biden and from Putin? My questions were answered by Tom Nichols, U.S. Naval War College professor, and an adjunct at the U.S. Air Force School of Strategic Force Studies and the Harvard Extension School. He is also a columnist for USA Today, a contributing writer at The Atlantic, and an author of the book The Death of Expertise and of the incoming book Our Own Worst Enemy. What would be his advice for Biden before the summit? Listen to our conversation.
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How big is the shadow of the former US President Donald Trump over NATO? What can the Alliance expect from Joe Biden, his successor in the White House? What are the main threats and how should the transatlantic organization deal with Russia, China or climate change? The NATO summit takes place in Brussel on June 14 and the leaders of member states will discuss the future of the Alliance and the NATO 2030 initiative. I also have had this debate. My guest is former Danish Prime Minister and, of course, former Secretary General of NATO Anders Fogh Rasmussen. He led the Alliance from 2009 till 2014 and he is a founder and chairman of Rasmussen Global. Listen to our conversation.
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How successful is the Israeli air defense system Iron Dome? How does this military technology work? What are the limitations of the Iron Dome? And how much does the system create an atmosphere of false safety and what about related political implications? I have tried to find some answers to those questions with Franz-Stefan Gady. He is a Research Fellow for cyber, space and future conflict at The International Institute for Strategic Studies. Listen to our conversation.
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This is a special episode. As you know The Global Agora focuses on politics, international affairs and security. But I have many interests and I decided to create a podcast about the worldwide phenomenon called Friends. Yes, Friends, the series. It is of course influenced by the recent Friends: Reunion special. If you have not watched it already, my podcast may contain some mild spoilers. I am not a fanatical fan of Friends, I cannot repeat all the greatest one-liners, but the show made me laugh many, many times. And it also made me cry. A few times. About the cultural and societal impact of Friends, I talked to Professor Robert Thompson, founding director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture and a Trustee Professor of Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University. And there will also be some gossip. :-) Listen to our conversation.
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The parliamentary elections in Moldova will take place in less than two months but compared to previous votes this time something is different. What is it? Former Foreign Minister of Moldova Nicu Popescu will explain. He is the director of the Wider Europe programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations and he will also explain why and how the European Union should strengthen the security cooperation with its eastern neighbors. Listen to our conversation.
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Does Belarusan dictator Alexander Lukashenko have any strategy or his only focus is to survive no matter what? Why was he willing to dramatically kidnap journalist Raman Pratasevich knowing that he had to expect at least some reaction from the West? And about Russia's reaction? I talked to Alena Kudzko, Director of the GLOBSEC Policy Institute in Bratislava. She is from Belarus and she explains what people in the country think about the hijacking of the Ryanair plane. Listen to our conversation.
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On February 1st, the Myanmar military took over the country. It was a surprise move from the Tatmadaw led by general Min Aung Hlaing. The military suspended the civilian government and de facto leader of the country and Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi was imprisoned. The initial reaction of the public was muted but soon the demonstrations began. Junta has reacted with brutality, murders and torture. According to the right groups, more than 800 people have been killed so far. What's next for Myanmar? How strong is the regime? Will the situation deteriorate even further? I talked to Hunter Marston. He is a PhD Candidate at the Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs at Australian National University, and Non-Resident Fellow at Pacific Forum. Listen to our conversation.
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According to the European Commission the Next Generation EU instrument is more than a recovery plan. It is a once in a lifetime chance to emerge stronger from the pandemic, transform our economies, and create opportunities and jobs for the Europe where we want to live. But is it really? How might the Next Generation EU fund change and strengthen the EU? And is European Union doing enough in fighting the coronacrisis in comparison to the US? I talked to Miguel Otero Iglesias about those issues. He is a Senior Analyst in International Political Economy at Elcano Royal Institute and professor at IE School of International Relations in Spain. Listen to our conversation.
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Hello and welcome to another episode of my podcast The Global Agora. My name is Andrej Matišák, and I work as the deputy head of foreign desk in Slovak daily Pravda. With more than 3.3 million deaths attributed to COVID-19, the coronavirus pandemic is one of the deadliest in history. While the vaccines have emerged as a safe and effective tool against the disease, we can also say that COVID-19 is still trying to penetrate our defenses. We have seen various mutations of the coronavirus, the current focus is on the variant B.1.617 that was identified in India. What does it mean for the pandemic? How much should we be worried? I talked to Martin Michaelis, Professor of Molecular Medicine at the University of Kent. Listen to our conversation.
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Hello and welcome to another episode of my podcast The Global Agora. My name is Andrej Matišák, and I work as the deputy head of foreign desk in Slovak daily Pravda. The Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack hit critical US energy infrastructure. According to BBC News, the pipeline carries 2.5 million barrels a day, means 45% of the East Coast's supply of diesel, petrol and jet fuel. How much is this the sign of the things that will come? American President Joe Biden said that the attack struck the jugular of America’s pipeline system. What do we know about DarkSide, the group behind the attack? Is there any connection to Russian state? I talked to Dr. Tim Stevens. He is a Senior Lecturer in Global Security and the head of the King's Cyber Security Research Group at King's College, London. Listen to our conversation.
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Hello and welcome to another episode of my podcast The Global Agora. My name is Andrej Matišák, and I work as the deputy head of foreign desk in Slovak daily Pravda. The White House confirmed that it completed its policy review on North Korea and said that it will use a calibrated approach towards Kim Jong-un's regime. But what does it mean for Joe Biden's presidency? And what kind of approach will Pyongyang use? I talked to Soo Kim about those issues. She is a policy analyst at the RAND Corporation. Her research interests include the Korean Peninsula, Indo-Pacific strategy, decision making, propaganda, and the intelligence community. She served as an analyst in the CIA. Does she think that Kim Jong-un is totally in control? And what about his sister Kim Yo-jong? Listen to our conversation.
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Hello and welcome to another episode of my podcast The Global Agora. My name is Andrej Matišák, and I work as the deputy head of foreign desk in Slovak daily Pravda. A big election day just took place in the United Kingdom. We have seen local elections for 145 English local councils, election to the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Parliament and some other election races such as mayoral election in London. What does it mean for the future of the UK? Did Scotland move towards another independence referendum? And are the Tory leader and British PM Boris Johnson and the Labour leader Keir Starmer satisfied or unsatisfied with the results? I talked to Robin Pettitt. He is a Senior Lecturer of comparative politics at Kingston University and an expert in the internal life of political parties.
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Hello and welcome to another episode of my podcast The Global Agora. My name is Andrej Matišák, and I work as the deputy head of foreign desk in Slovak daily Pravda. This new episode is a bit longer than usual but I had a very interesting conversation about what might be next for Afghanistan and Taliban after the withdrawal of foreign troops. President Joe Biden's decision is criticized by many, including Afghans. It's easy to understand those concerns. So I talked to Vanda Felbab-Brown. She is a senior fellow in the Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology in the Foreign Policy program at Brookings Institution, and she is the director of the Initiative on Nonstate Armed Actors. Let's find out what she thinks about the future of Afghanistan, about the future of the country she visited many times.
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This time, my guest is a very well known political commentator David Frum. He is a staff writer at The Atlantic and from 2001 to 2002, he was a speechwriter for Republican President George W. Bush and he is the author of ten books, most recently Trumpocalypse: Restoring American Democracy. Check also his website davidfrum.com. It's 100 days of Joe Biden's Presidency. What went right and what wrong for the Democrat in the White House? What about the GOP? And what advice would David Frum give to President Biden? Listen to our conversation.
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Hello and welcome to the third episode of my podcast The Global Agora. My name is Andrej Matišák, and I work as the deputy head of foreign desk in Slovak daily Pravda.
The election in Germany will take place on September 26 and the world will be watching who will succeed Chancellor Angela Merkel. Is the Chairman of CDU Armin Laschet a strong contender? Or will Annalena Baerbock replace Merkel and Germany will have the first Green Chancellor? And should the world be nervous about those changes? I talked to Eric Langenbacher, Teaching Professor in the Department of Government, Georgetown University. He is also a Senior Fellow at the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies (AICGS) in Washington.
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Hello and welcome to the second episode of my podcast The Global Agora. My name is Andrej Matišák, and I work as the deputy head of foreign desk in Slovak daily Pravda.
What's next for the US-Central Europe relations with the Biden's administration? When will American President visit the region? Will Joe Biden go to Poland? Warsaw is for the US the most important security partner in the region. Or will Biden visit Slovakia? I talked to Jörg Forbrig, Senior Fellow and Director for Central and Eastern Europe at the German Marshall Fund.
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Hello and welcome to the first episode of my new podcast the Global Agora. My name is Andrej Matišák, and I work as the deputy head of foreign desk in Slovak daily Pravda. My guest is Mark Galeotti. He is, as his Twitter bio says, an analyst of murky topics from Russian politics to global crime and his podcast is called in Moscow's shadows. Mark is an author of a number of books about Russia. Most recently We need to talk about Putin and A Short History of Russia.
And Russia is also again in the news.
Czech government decided to expel 18 Russian diplomats as it concluded that Russian military agents were involved in an ammunition depot explosion in Czechia in 2014. Two Czech civilians were killed at that time. Czechia is also searching for the GRU operatives Alexander Mishkin and Anatoliy Chepiga who were also involved in the Skripals poisoning.
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