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

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

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

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

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

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

,,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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 

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

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.

"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.

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.

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.

"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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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?

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.

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?

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

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?

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.

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?