Foreign Office with Michael Weiss: Recent Episodes
Free Russia Foundation and New Lines Magazine
Foreign Office is a weekly interview podcast hosted by Michael Weiss, from New Lines Magazine and Free Russia Foundation, dedicated to those ever-relevant subjects of Russian intelligence operations and active measures. Featured guests include prominent historians and scholars, journalists, diplomats, and ex-spies.
Michael’s guest this week is Australian Retired General Mick Ryan. Mick is a military analyst who served in the ADF for more than 35 years and was commander of the Australia Defence College. He is the author of War Transformed and an adjunct fellow at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington DC. Michael and MIck discuss the latest developments in the Russia-Ukraine war and what could be in store for the coming months. Don’t miss it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
On this special episode of Foreign Office, Michael is joined by Roman Dobrokhotov, a Russian investigative journalist, political scientist and former activist and Christo Grozev, a Bulgarian investigative journalist and author and the lead Russia investigator with Bellingcat, focusing on security threats, extraterritorial clandestine operations, and the weaponization of information. The three discuss the alleged assassination of former Wagner Group Leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sweden is set to join NATO as Turkey drops their objections. They’ve also been staunch supporters of Ukraine in the effort against Russia. To understand Sweden’s role on the international stage, Michael speaks with Martin Kragh, Deputy Center Director of the Stockholm Center for Eastern European Studies (SCEEUS) and Senior Research Fellow at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs. Kragh's research interests include Russia's economy and history, but also the political development in Russia and the former USSR. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Michael’s guest this week is Calder Walton, Assistant Director of the Belfer Center's Applied History Project and Intelligence Project at the Harvard Kennedy School and author of the book, “Spies: The Epic Intelligence War Between East and West. Michael and Calder discuss the history of espionage between Russia and the United States and they touch on Michael’s upcoming book on the GRU. Don’t miss it! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This week, Michael sits down with Estonia’s Ambassador to Ukraine, Kaimo Kuusk, who has been in the post since 2019. Ambassador Kuusk will soon become the Ambassador to Lithuania, but before he takes his new post, he discusses the Ukrainian counteroffensive, the US decision to send cluster munitions to Ukraine and his thoughts on Russia and Putin after the Wagner Group’s mutiny. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Michael’s guest this week is Pierre Vaux, a researcher specializing in open-source investigations, conducting digital forensic analysis of hostile state activity, disinformation and extremism. As a journalist, he has covered the Ukraine war and the Russian military intervention in Syria since their beginnings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Michael Weiss is on assignment this week. In light of this weekend's events, we're bringing you an episode from the Foreign Office archive. Bellingcat's Christo Grozev on what the latest disclosures out of Bulgaria and Czechia tell us about GRU Unit 29155. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Michael’s guest this week is Pekka Kallioniemi, a postdoctoral researcher working in the field of human-computer interaction at Tampere University. He is the creator and author of Vatnik Soup, a Twitter thread series (and a hashtag!) where he introduces pro-Russian actors and propagandists from around the world, be they so-called "independent journalists", politicians, military personnel or just regular grifters looking to make some easy money. As is typical with Michael’s guests, Pekka brings perspectives that you won’t hear anywhere else. Tune In! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Michael’s guest this week is James Rushton, a journalist at Yahoo News who is covering the Ukraine-Russia war from his home in Kyiv. He’s been reporting amidst air raid sirens and other challenges and is extremely well-placed on the front lines of the war to tell you what is happening in the country. His experience and perspective on all things Ukraine is not to be missed. Tune In. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Michael’s guest this week is Jennifer Cafarella, the Director of Strategic Initiatives at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). Jennifer and her team of analysts have been providing detailed reports and interactive maps each day since the war began on both Russian and Ukrainian positions. If you’re interested in what’s really happening in Ukraine, don’t miss this conversation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Renee DiResta of the Stanford Internet Observatory on the latest attempts to retcon Russia’s election interference
Yahoo contributor James Rushton and 'The Killer in the Kremlin' John Sweeney on covering the war from Ukraine and what to expect next.
U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Jahara Matisek explains the debate around sending Western jets to Kyiv.
Eliot Cohen, Professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, explains why he's optimistic Ukraine will win.
Author Owen Mathews on his latest book Overreach: The Inside Story of Putin’s War Against Ukraine
Gen. Mick Ryan explains how Ukraine has handled Western weapons platforms, and why it's wisely gone back to a war of "corrosion" against Russian forces.
What’s behind Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s sacking of his SBU chief and Prosecutor General? Ukrainian journalist Viktor Kovalenko explains.
How a dog avatar became a meme that chased a Russian ambassador off Twitter (for a while).
Former CIA officer Marc Polymeropolous discusses the capture of a GRU illegal trying to infiltrate the ICC -- and whether or not former National Security Adviser John Bolton could really plan a "coup."
Benjamin Tallis explains the Sholz government's wobbliness on Ukraine and why old habits die hard in Berlin.
Nathan Ruser combined open source intelligence and cartography to offer a more precise and explanatory visual of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
James Rushton, an independent national security analyst, on the Western weapons systems sent to help Ukraine defend the Donbas.
Phillips O'Brien, a professor a strategic studies at the University of St. Andrews, on why so many overestimated Russia's military capability.
Olexander Scherba, Ukraine's former ambassador to Vienna, on why his country will never be like Austria.
Russian journalists Andrei Soldatov on how the FSB’s Fifth Service is taking the blame for failure in Ukraine.
Pavlo Kalyuk, the community organizer for Podil, explains why he isn't leaving Ukraine's besieged capital.
Agnieszka Legucka recently returned from Eastern Ukraine, offers her perspective of what happens next.
Peter Pomerantsev and Vladislav Davidson discuss the messaging about an intending Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Hybrid War Expert Liubov Tsybulska on how Russia’s “imminent” invasion is already underway.
Robert Lee, a Russian military analyst, says Putin's buildup at Ukraine's borders means only one thing: an invasion is coming.
Human rights lawyer Steve Swerdlow and scholar Diana Kudaibergenova on the recent turmoil in the Central Asian republic.
Journalists Holger Roonemaa and Mattias Carlsson discuss their joint investigation with @foreignoffpod into the notorious Russian mercenary corps.
National security attorney Mark Zaid explains the US government’s indictments of the Wikileaks founder, history of the Espionage Act, and why this case is unique.
Newlines Institute senior analyst Rasha Al Qeedi dissects the results of the last election and how the country has changed since America's invasion.
Attorney Jonathan Reich explains how financial safeguards against criminality are being used to target Russian dissidents and exiles from Putin's regime.
Hungarian writer Peter Kreko explains how a Central European country of ten million became the lodestar for a new breed of North American conservative.
Atlantic contributor and USA Today columnist Tom Nichols discusses America's political and cultural dysfunction, and why there may not be a cure.
A scholar and expert on Afghanistan Kamran Bokhari explains how various countries will respond to the Taliban takeover, and what to do about ISIS-K.
Former US Army intelligence officer Michael Pregent on the terrorist threat from Afghanistan in the wake of two horrific suicide bombings.
Mike Nelson, a U.S. war veteran and visiting fellow at the National Security Institute at George Mason University, discusses the pullout from Afghanistan. And America's place in the world.
Journalist and author Wesley Morgan explains how Afghans integral to the U.S. war effort have been left to a grim fate in a Taliban-run country.
Afghanistan scholar and professor at the US Naval Postgraduate School Thomas Johnson explains how America bungled its longest war.
Russia's former deputy energy minister discusses the political situation in Russia, and why Putin isn't as strong as he looks.
Veteran Russia expert James Sherr discusses the recent policy pivot on Nord Stream 2, and what the West doesn't understand when dealing with Moscow.
Historian and biographer Owen Mathews on how Soviet master spy Richard Sorge infiltrated the Third Reich.
Former CIA officer Marc Polymeropoulos on being a victim of directed energy attacks, U.S. Russian relations, and his new book.
Former Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicious discusses Belarus's hijacking of a commercial plane, and what the West needs to do about Minsk (and Moscow).
Andrei Sannikov, a former Belarusian presidential candidate, explains Alexander Lukashenko's crazy plot to arrest a journalist by hijacking a RyanAir plane.
National security reporter Tom Rogan on why the CIA isn't giving up on the GRU 'bounties' claim, and on alleged directed energy attacks against Americans.
Czech analyst Jakub Janda on how Russian state terrorism on NATO soil has upended Prague's relationship with Moscow.
Bellingcat's Christo Grozev on what the latest disclosures out of Bulgaria and Czechia tell us about GRU Unit 29155.
Nerma Jelacic, director of External Relations and Communications at Commission for International Justice and Accountability, explains how her NGO unmasked a Russian-back disinformation network on Syria — by pretending to be a Russian spy.
RFE/RL’s Mike Eckel explains how the latest US sanctions on Russia advance what Mueller alleged about the Trump campaign’s ties to Moscow.
USIP Russia Director Don Jensen weighs the possible reason for Russia’s military buildup.
Analyst Monika Richter explains how Chinese government threats got an EU report on COVID-19 disinformation censored.
Johns Hopkins scholar and “Active Measures” author Thomas Rid on the DNI report on Russian meddling and how 2020 is different from 2016.
Wired journalist Andy Greenberg on the SolarWinds hack and why cyberespionage is not cyber warfare.
Benjamin Schmitt, an energy security expert, argues Nord Stream 2 can and should be cancelled.
Russian journalist Yevgenia Albats — on Amnesty International’s decision to revoke Navalny’s prisoner of conscious status.
Andrea Chalupa, screenwriter of "Mr. Jones," on what inspired her to memorialize the journalist who uncovered Ukraine's terror-famine.
Senior Fellow at the European Values Center for Security Policy Nathalie Vogel on why the EU let the Kremlin humiliate it — again.
The deputy editor of Newlines magazine Faysal Itani on the murder of Lebanese activist Lokman Slim and what America can and cannot do in the Middle East.
Former CIA Officer John Sipher discusses the grey area between Russian informant and Russian agent.
Journalist Marcy Wheeler explains the U.S. government's charges against the Wikileaks founder, and why Britain refused to extradite him to America to face them.
Christo Grozev, the Bellingcat journalist who unmasked Alexey Navalny’s hit squad, explains how he did it, and what it says about Putin’s security state.
Foreign policy analyst Damir Marusic on why a Biden presidency won't necessarily change much.
Former Biden adviser and Russia expert Michael Carpenter discusses his coauthored articles with President-Elect Joe Biden and what to expect from the new administration.
As Joe Biden crept to victory, Estonia's former President Toomas Henrik Ilves explained how much of Europe saw this election -- and what it expects and (doesn't expect) from America going forward
FireEye's John Hultquist explains the U.S. government's newly unsealed indictment about the GRU's devastating hacking operations.
Tim Weiner, the acclaimed historian of the CIA, discusses his new book on American-Russian political warfare, from the Cold War till now.
Time magazine's Simon Shuster discusses the ongoing Kremlin disinformation campaign involving individuals sanctioned by the U.S. Government
In this episode, Vladimir Kara-Murza, vice president of Free Russia Foundation, recounts his own poisoning (twice) while traveling in Russia and what the FBI will has and hasn't told him about what it knows.
Russian journalists Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan discuss Russia's history of poisonings in light of the Navalny case and why the use of a signature toxin such as Novichok implicates Vladimir Putin.
In our pilot episode, Michael interviews Anton Shekhovtsov, an expert on the European far-right and the Russian government's ties to it. They discuss their jointly written essay for The Daily Beast, drawn from a still-classified KGB training manual, about the false-flag recruitment of an adviser to the Austrian chancellery in the late 1950s and early 1960s by a particularly resourceful Soviet double agent "Safo." Also, the stunning revelations about a Wirecard executive, Austria's first expulsion of a Russian intelligence officer, and why Vienna has the well-earned reputation of being the spy capital of Europe.