Episodes
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Max and Maria spoke with Sorin Ioniță and Eto Buziashvili about the recent election results coming out of Moldova and Georgia. Both of these post-Soviet states find themselves at a geopolitical crossroads, with Russian malign influence campaigns directly impacting their domestic politics.
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Max and Maria with Ben Cahill and Eddie Fishman about the current state of Russia's energy industry, and the prospects for the country's lucrative hydrocarbon exports. They also assessed the impacts of Western sanctions on the industry to date and ways those sanctions could potentially be tightened going forward. This conversation was recorded on October 7, 2024.
Chokepoints: American Power in the Age of Economic Warfare by Edward Fishman is available for pre-order now (Penguin Random House). -
Missing episodes?
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This week, Maria sat down with Sergey Aleksashenko and Alexandra Prokopenko to discuss the Russian central bank's continued inability to reign in domestic inflation, and what it means for Russia's economy and war effort going forward.
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On this week's episode, Max and Maria are joined by Andrea Kendall-Taylor to discuss Russian collaboration with China, Iran, and North Korea, and the key role that these partnerships are playing in sustaining Russia's invasion of Ukraine and post-2022 foreign policy strategy.
"The Axis of Upheaval: How America's Adversaries Are Uniting to Overturn the Global Order," by Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Richard Fontaine (Foreign Affairs) -
This week, Max and Maria were joined by military analysts Michael Kofman and Rob Lee to discuss the latest phase of the war in Ukraine. Max and Maria asked them for their thoughts on the ongoing Ukrainian offensive in Kursk, and whether or not this seizure of Russian territory by Kyiv exposes Russian threats of escalation as hollow. If they are hollow, does that mean Western "red lines" on certain kinds of aid to Ukraine should be reassessed?
"Ukraine's Gamble: The Risks and Rewards of the Offensive Into Russia's Kursk Region" by Michael Kofman and Rob Lee (September 2, 2024 in Foreign Affairs) -
Max and Maria sat down with Sam Bendett and Mick Ryan to discuss the Ukrainian military's recent seizure of territory in Kursk Oblast, inside Russia. They discussed how this attack took place, the risks and potential gains at stake for the Ukrainian side, and what this could all mean for the war going forward.
Check out Mick's latest book, "The War for Ukraine: Strategy and Adaptation Under Fire." All royalties from the book will be donated to support the Ukrainian war effort. -
This week, Maria sat down with investigative journalists Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan. Andrei and Irina gave their analysis of the recent high-profile Russia-West prisoner swap, and also discussed the threat of Russian hybrid attacks on Western countries. Additionally, they described the complex relationship between the Russian state and the Russian community in emigration, and outlined how the Kremlin views Russian émigrés as both a threat, and a potential source of intelligence opportunities.
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Max and Maria sat down with Jade McGlynn to discuss her recent report for CSIS, "Crossing Thresholds: Ukrainian Resistance to Russian Occupation."
"Crossing Thresholds: Ukrainian Resistance to Russian Occupation," by Jade McGlynn on CSIS.org.
"The Ukrainian resistance is torching Putin's dreams of conquest," by Jade McGlynn for The Telegraph. -
On this week's episode, Max and Michael Kimmage sat down with Dmitri Alperovitch, chairman of Silverado Policy Institute, to discuss Dmitri's recent book, "World on the Brink: How America Can Beat China in the Race for the Twenty-First Century." Recorded on July 2, 2024, the conversation covers the geopolitical parallels between the European and Indo-Pacific theaters today, and what the dual strategic challenges emanating from Moscow and Beijing mean for Western policymakers.
SHOW NOTES: Check out a new CSIS report from Max Bergmann and Christopher B. Johnstone, "Europe's Security Role in the Indo-Pacific: Making It Meaningful." -
Maria recently sat down with sanctions expert Eddie Fishman and economist Sergey Aleksashenko to provide a timely update on the evolving sanctions regime leveled against Russia. (Recorded on June 18, 2024.)
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This week, Max sat down for a public conversation with Hanna Notte and Jon B. Alterman to discuss how the governments of Russia and Iran have strengthened their political, economic, and security collaboration since the launch of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
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Maria sat down with Russian independent journalist and author Mikhail Zygar, and University of Oxford professor Christopher Davis, to discuss the recent string of anti-corruption charges at the Russian Ministry of Defense, and the replacement of Sergei Shoigu with Andrei Belousov at the ministry’s head. What does all this mean for the current composition of the Russian elite, and what impact will these changes have on the Russian war effort in Ukraine?
Please check out Mikhail Zygar's Substack, "The Last Pioneer." -
Today, Max and Maria were joined by Tina Dolbaia and Nick Fenton, two members of the team at CSIS, to discuss the CSIS Europe, Russia, and Eurasia program's latest report, "Back in Stock? The State of Russia's Defense Industry after Two Years of the War."
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On this week's episode, Max and Maria sat down with Roman Dobrokhotov, the founder and editor-in-chief of the Russia-focused investigative media outlet, The Insider. Roman's team, along with colleagues at CBS's 60 Minutes and the German outlet Der Spiegel, recently concluded an investigation that uncovered evidence potentially linking Russia's military intelligence agency, the GRU, with the health incidents impacting U.S. government officials and their families that have come to be known as "Havana Syndrome."
Show Notes: "Unraveling Havana Syndrome: New evidence links the GRU's assassination Unit 29155 to mysterious attacks on U.S. officials and their families" by Roman Dobrokhotov, Christo Grozev, and Michael Weiss (The Insider) -
Max and Maria sat down with Paul Schwartz and Sam Bendett to discuss the different technological and tactical battlefield innovations taking place in Ukraine today, and what they mean for military analysts studying the war.
Disclaimer: Paul and Sam's views as expressed in this episode are their own, and do not necessarily represent the Center for Naval Analyses (CNA). -
Nicolas Véron of Bruegel and the Peterson Institute for International Economics joined Max to discuss the ongoing debate over Russia's frozen central bank reserves. This conversation was recorded on March 15, 2024.
See "The European Union should do better than confiscate Russia's reserve money" by Nicolas Véron for Bruegel. At the time of this episode's publication, the European Council met for a summit in Brussels and was considering a plan to use the profits accrued to frozen Russian assets to provide military support for Ukraine. -
This week, Maria was joined once again by Liana Fix and Nikolay Petrov to discuss Russia's March 2024 presidential election, and what "politics" looks like in the country today.
Be sure to read the new paper written by Maria and Liana, "Leadership Change in Russia: Contingency Planning Memorandum" (Council on Foreign Relations). -
This week, Max and Maria are joined again by Miriam Lanskoy from the National Endowment for Democracy to discuss the recent news of Alexei Navalny's death in a Russian penal colony.
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