Departures Podcast featuring Olivier Roy, author of “The Crisis of Culture: Identity Politics and the Empire of Norms”
The tremendous velocity with which modernity and technology has encroached on our social lives is underappreciated, shaping our understanding not only of critical events but also ourselves, as the world is flattened. A teenager in France or Brazil may see violent footage of the Ukraine war fed to them on TikTok, only to be replaced […]
Departures Podcast featuring Vincent Bevins, author of “If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution”
In June 2013, the journalist Vincent Bevins found himself covering a mass street protest in São Paulo, originally sparked by a rise in bus fares. As the tear canisters rained town and violent clashes with police began, the protesters began chanting “Love is over. Turkey is here,” making a intentional connection to another uprising taking […]
Departures Podcast featuring Gary Gerstle, author of ‘The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order’
In an increasingly complex and fractured international system, the norms and expectations of how nations and markets interact is changing from one era into the next before our very eyes. That is the main focus of inquiry for Gary Gerstle, whose new book, “The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order: America and the World […]
Departures Podcast featuring John Rapley and Peter Heather, authors of ‘Why Empires Fall’
For more than one thousand years, the Roman Empire ruled over a vast territory that was unprecedented in both scope and scale. When it finally did fall under pressure from barbarian invasions and internal political divisions (among many other factors), many historians argue that the Romans sowed the seeds of their own demise. Is the […]
Departures Podcast featuring Frank Costigliola, author of ‘Kennan: A Life between Worlds’
George F. Kennan is arguably the most important American diplomat of the modern era, whose “long telegram” and strategy of containment shaped the Cold War and postwar period. And yet, at critical moments later in his career, he was cast aside and shut out by the institutions he once led. In his new book, “Kennan: […]
Departures Podcast with Anand Giridharadas, author of ‘The Persuaders: At the Front Lines of the Fight for Hearts, Minds, and Democracy’
Every day in the media we are told that the United States is irreparably polarized. That lines have been drawn, political opinions have been weaponized into tribal identities, and that apart from an ever-slimming section of undecideds, we are locked into this dreadful stalemate. That’s why it’s so refreshing to read a more optimistic take […]
Departures Podcast with Michael Cox, author of ‘Agonies of Empire: American Power from Clinton to Biden ‘
The sharpening polarization taking place in the United States over the past several election cycles has gradually calcified the nation’s institutions into obstructionist forces which are impeding Washington’s ability to project its influence abroad. Now, many are asking, is the United States really the “indispensable” power it perceives itself to be, or are we witnessing […]
Departures Podcast with Brendan Simms and Charlie Laderman, authors of ‘Hitler’s American Gamble’
During one specific week in December in 1941, a series of events and calculations led to Adolf Hitler’s disastrous decision to declare war on the United States, putting the conflict on the eventual path toward the outcome we now regard with familiarity. The sequence of events leading from the bombing of Pearl Harbor by Japan […]
Departures Podcast with Jon Grinspan, author of ‘The Age of Acrimony: How Americans Fought to Fix Their Democracy, 1865-1915’
“100 billion people have lived on planet earth since our species evolved, and for all our archives, all our libraries, and all our museums, we have only the tiniest little sliver of any record of who these people were and what their lives were like,” says Jon Grinspan in his conversation with Robert Amsterdam. “So […]
Departures Podcast with Seth Jones, author of ‘Three Dangerous Men: Russia, China, Iran and the Rise of Irregular Warfare’
Forget tanks, missiles, and soldiers. The forms of warfare predominantly being used against the United States today are much more often unconventional and irregular, such as large-scale offensive cyber actions, disinformation campaigns, spying, economic subversion, and smaller armed conflicts via proxies. This is a deeply worrying trend, argues Seth Jones, author of the terrific book […]
Russia News Blast
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RA’s Daily Russia News Blast – February 24, 2022
Today in Russia: Invasion. Will the world respond?
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RA’s Daily Russia News Blast – February 23, 2022
Today in Russia/CIS: Ukraine calls up reservists; Levada Center Director Volkov on public opinion in Russia; Erdogan says Turkey won’t accept Russian moves in Ukraine; EU and US latest sanctions; Russia-Ukraine crisis as viewed Uzbekistan; Israel walks a tightrope on its Ukraine position
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RA’s Daily Russia News Blast – February 22, 2022
but which borders?;’ History professor (and President) Putin delivers fiery speech; Lavrov re-writes the rules of international sovereignty; UK and EU roll out initial sanctions, and Washington plans big moves; Nord Stream 2 finally meets its end after a slow, painful death; Zelensky’s speech; White House: On second thought, that’s an invasion; How will China respond?; Russia to evacuate all diplomatic staff from Ukraine
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