Podcasts about russophilia

Robert Fico has been the prime minister of Slovakia since 2023, and has served in that position three times since 2006. The thankfully unsuccessful attempt on Fico's life came at a time when the prime minister had become genuinely controversial internationally for the first time. This followed an increasingly erratic approach to the Slovakian media, pronounced lockdown and vaccine skepcitism in the aftermath of the pandemic, and opposition to military assistance to Ukraine - a country which shares a border with Slovakia. What you're about to hear is that there was a time when Fico was a much more conventional politician. So why has he changed? Was he responding to changes at home in Slovakia - a country with a distinct political trajectory to its neighbours - or did the World change around Slovakia, with Fico looking abroad for inspiration?My guest today is Dr Michal Ovádek. Michal is a lecturer and assistant professor in European Institutions, Politics and Policy at University College London, who primarily researches issues related to EU institutions, and the rule of law. As well as Fico, we discuss the post-communist transition in Slovakia, the origins of Slovak ambivalence towards the Ukrainian war effort, and associated Russophilia, and the cultural divide inside the country today. 

A personal and unpolished snap response to the news that the Czech government is expelling 18 Russian diplomat-spies after an investigation linked the GRU's Unit 29155 - and the infamous 'Petrov and Boshirov' of Salisbury novichok fame - with the explosion at an arms depot in 2014 that killed two. And I touch on how this may help Prague adopt more of a leadership role in Central Europe, another of my hobbyhorses...There are previous articles of mine on the 2020 'ricin case' here and President Zeman's Russophilia here.You can also follow my blog, In Moscow's Shadows, and become one of the podcast's supporting Patrons and gain question-asking rights and access to exclusive extra materials right here. 

  We’re back! In this episode we are talking to Milan Nič, a senior fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations. We discuss what has happened in Slovakia since the horrific murder of investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancé this spring, how much influence does Russia have in the country, and where Slovak politics is going once former prime minister Robert Fico decides to fully retire. History Minute: Traditions of Russophobia and Russophilia in the Region Resources: Select publications, Milan Nič, German Council on Foreign Relations Slovakia Tries to Mask its Oligarchic Democracy with Strong EU Ties, Dariusz Kalan, World Politics Review, 6 November 2017 Six Months after the Murder of Jan Kuciak his Killers Still Enjoy Impunity, Ifex, 21 August 2018 Slovakia, Nations in Transit 2018, Freedom House Testing Democratic Resolve in Slovakia in: Sharp Power: Rising Authoritarian Influence, Chapter 5, National Endowment for Democracy, 2017 Euro-Orientalism: Liberal Ideology and the Image of Russia in France (c. 1740−1880), Ezequiel Adamovsky, Oxford: Peter Lang, 2006 Subscribe via RSS feed. Subscribe via iTunes.

Matt Dunn hosts the Dan Caplis Show. Evaluating the grim, censorious psychology of the brittle Clinton Campaign. How to explain the reckless charges of racism, sexism and Russophilia? Should NBC moderator Matt Lauer be punished for asking pointed questions of Hillary at the forum on national security? Should discussion of Hillary's emails be disallowed? Should Hillary's persistent "cough" be censored out of existence? The pro-Hillary, pro-hypocrisy Washington Post seems to think so. Meanwhile, Libertarian Gary Johnson puzzles over Aleppo and Mary Matalin says Trump has a "100% chance of winning." Also, we remember the final courageous stand of conservative icon Phyllis Schlafly, who supported Donald Trump as the "last chance to save America." Plus, we offer an encouraging epitaph for the now nearly non-existent "Never Trump" movement. Will the last Never Trumper turn out the light? With thoughts on "The Flight 93 Election."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, journalists, academics, and policymakers have sought to make sense of post-Soviet Russia. Is Russia an emerging or retrograde democracy? A free-market or crony capitalism? Adopting Western values or forever steeped in Asiatic mores? Is Russia in transition, and if so, transition to what? Usually the answers to these questions are rooted in Russophilia or Russophobia, colored by teleological assumptions and crude stereotypes. As if to reaffirm Churchill’s quip that “Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma,” too many find the nature of today’s Russia remains elusive. The first lines of Daniel Treisman‘s new book The Return: Russia’s Journey from Gorbachev to Medvedev (Free Press, 2011) signifies a change of tone. Whatever Russia is, Treisman asserts, one indisputable fact is clear: “Russia has returned. Not to the West, of which it was never truly a part. But to the world.” Tresiman’s text is a refreshing, unbiased, and erudite exploration of the journey Russia has taken over the last twenty years. The Return begins with Gorbachev’s attempts to save the moribund Soviet system and ends with a sober evaluation of its achievements and problems. In between are discussions of Gorbachev, Yeltsin, Putin, and Medvedev as political personalities, the collapse of the USSR, the economic turmoil of the 1990s, the war in Chechnya, and US-Russian relations. With each step the reader is urged to rethink, speculate, and reevaluate many of myths about Russia’s past, present, and future. For these challenges, Treisman has done a great service. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, journalists, academics, and policymakers have sought to make sense of post-Soviet Russia. Is Russia an emerging or retrograde democracy? A free-market or crony capitalism? Adopting Western values or forever steeped in Asiatic mores? Is Russia in transition, and if so, transition to what? Usually the answers to these questions are rooted in Russophilia or Russophobia, colored by teleological assumptions and crude stereotypes. As if to reaffirm Churchill’s quip that “Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma,” too many find the nature of today’s Russia remains elusive. The first lines of Daniel Treisman‘s new book The Return: Russia’s Journey from Gorbachev to Medvedev (Free Press, 2011) signifies a change of tone. Whatever Russia is, Treisman asserts, one indisputable fact is clear: “Russia has returned. Not to the West, of which it was never truly a part. But to the world.” Tresiman’s text is a refreshing, unbiased, and erudite exploration of the journey Russia has taken over the last twenty years. The Return begins with Gorbachev’s attempts to save the moribund Soviet system and ends with a sober evaluation of its achievements and problems. In between are discussions of Gorbachev, Yeltsin, Putin, and Medvedev as political personalities, the collapse of the USSR, the economic turmoil of the 1990s, the war in Chechnya, and US-Russian relations. With each step the reader is urged to rethink, speculate, and reevaluate many of myths about Russia’s past, present, and future. For these challenges, Treisman has done a great service. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, journalists, academics, and policymakers have sought to make sense of post-Soviet Russia. Is Russia an emerging or retrograde democracy? A free-market or crony capitalism? Adopting Western values or forever steeped in Asiatic mores? Is Russia in transition, and if so, transition to what? Usually the answers to these questions are rooted in Russophilia or Russophobia, colored by teleological assumptions and crude stereotypes. As if to reaffirm Churchill’s quip that “Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma,” too many find the nature of today’s Russia remains elusive. The first lines of Daniel Treisman‘s new book The Return: Russia’s Journey from Gorbachev to Medvedev (Free Press, 2011) signifies a change of tone. Whatever Russia is, Treisman asserts, one indisputable fact is clear: “Russia has returned. Not to the West, of which it was never truly a part. But to the world.” Tresiman’s text is a refreshing, unbiased, and erudite exploration of the journey Russia has taken over the last twenty years. The Return begins with Gorbachev’s attempts to save the moribund Soviet system and ends with a sober evaluation of its achievements and problems. In between are discussions of Gorbachev, Yeltsin, Putin, and Medvedev as political personalities, the collapse of the USSR, the economic turmoil of the 1990s, the war in Chechnya, and US-Russian relations. With each step the reader is urged to rethink, speculate, and reevaluate many of myths about Russia’s past, present, and future. For these challenges, Treisman has done a great service. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices