Departures Podcast with Linda Kinstler, author of ‘Come to This Court and Cry: How the Holocaust Ends’
“Imagine that all of humanity stands before you and comes to this court and cries. These are our laws, let them prevail.” -Sir Hartley Shawcross, War Crimes Trials, Nuremberg, Germany, July 27, 1946 After discovering a former Nazi who belonged to the same killing unit as her grandfather and was the subject of a posthumous criminal investigation […]
Departures Podcast with Jamie Martin, author of ‘The Meddlers’
“If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em,” is often a colloquial proverb tossed around to express a reluctant surrender to whatever dominant force one may be facing – but it might also be a decent way to express how many states have found their domestic political options increasingly constrained by in the age of globalization, […]
Departures Podcast with Chenayi Mutambasere
When one thinks of Zimbabwe, the concept of “free and fair elections” is not the first to come to mind. And yet, like many post-Cold War authoritarian states, elections are nevertheless organized and manipulated to produce something adjacent to public legitimacy, which becomes all the more treacherous when the opposition is able to actually win […]
Departures Podcast with Lynette Ong, author of ‘Outsourcing Repression Everyday State Power in Contemporary China’
State repression, whether or not it’s outwardly aggressive, invites backlash. So how does the Chinese state maintain control during disruptive periods of intense urbanization, even as heavy consequences impact society? This week Departures is pleased to feature a discussion with Lynette Ong, a Professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto about her excellent […]
Departures Podcast with John Arquilla, author of ‘Bitskrieg: The New Challenge of Cyberwarfare’
War doesn’t always look like it used to, with just tanks, missiles, ships, and planes. It also takes place online, and observers in the West are becoming increasingly aware of the need to increase cyber defense capacities as authoritarian states like Iran and China rapidly advance. This poses important questions for democracies around the world: […]
Departures Podcast with Adeeb Khalid, author of ‘Central Asia: A New History From The Imperial Conquests To The Present’
Often dismissed as the edge of the Russian or Chinese empires, Central Asia hosts a complex history that informs on present day atrocities including the Russian invasion in Ukraine, and the Uyghur concentration camps in China. It is through these current events that Central Asia has become one of the most important geopolitical regions in […]
Departures Podcast with Helen Thompson, author of ‘Disorder: Hard Times in the 21st Century’
We can all agree that the global world order has become rather disorderly. We also seem to have trouble coming up with consistent and convincing explanations of what brought about this disorder, pointing uselessly at shocks such as the passage of Brexit to the Trump to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But for political scientist […]
Departures Podcast with Joby Warrick, author of ‘Red Line: The Unraveling of Syria and America’s Race to Destroy the Most Dangerous Arsenal in the World’
Before Russia invaded Ukraine, it intervened in Syria in 2015 to shore up the beleaguered regime of their ally, Bashar al-Assad. How did this experience inform upon Vladimir Putin’s catastrophic decision to invade and attempt regime change of the democratically elected government in Kyiv? This week’s episode of Departures features Joby Warrick, a Pulitzer Prize-winning […]
Departures Podcast: From the frontlines of Kyiv with Ilya Ponomarev, Dispatch #2
We last checked in with former Russian lawmaker Ilya Ponomarev about a month ago, as the Russian military began its invasion of Ukraine. Now, with things looking much different and many things not going to plan, we check back in for Dispatch #2 from inside Ukraine. Ponomarev, who was forced into self-exile from Russia following […]
Departures Podcast with Jason Stearns, author of ‘The War That Doesn’t Say Its Name: The Unending Conflict in the Congo’
The Democratic Republic of Congo is one of the most resource-rich nations in the world, holding the largest deposits of critical minerals which will be key to the coming industrial transformation. But it is also a nation that is well into its third decade of war – a war that in many ways is forgotten, […]
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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