Departures Podcast with Peter Pomerantsev
I will be honest – I was personally very excited to have Peter Pomerantsev come on to the podcast for today’s episode. Not just because he’s extraordinarily well versed in modern day Russian politics and brings a distinctive, sharp critical voice to the almost unfathomable levels of crookery and corruption that characterizes that country’s government, […]
Departures Podcast with Stephen Kinzer
In the aftermath of World War II, instead of prosecuting certain German and Japanese officials for various war crimes, the Central Intelligence Agency decided it would be more useful to recruit some of them into their own ranks, thus opening one of the most bizarre chapters in Cold War history under the agency’s director Allen […]
Departures Podcast with Robert Patterson
Our podcast is often focused on international affairs, often involving countries where our law firm is active. But given the dramatic developments taking place in the United States in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, we are confronted with the fact that many of the same authoritarian abuses, the same […]
Departures Podcast with Barry Gewen
There are few other living historical figures more divisive that Henry Kissinger, and few others who attract such impassioned debate. Was he an ambitious figure, monstrously bereft of conscience, or a master strategist who accepted the world as it is and deftly manufactured outcomes that benefitted his country? We’re so pleased to have the opportunity […]
Departures Podcast with Sean McFate
The United States spends trillions on its military, but are we really achieving stronger national security? Not really, says Sean McFate, the author of The New Rules of War, an incisive exploration of what it takes to win today’s wars. In his conversation with host Robert Amsterdam, McFate argues that the US has become obsessed with […]
Departures Podcast with Jeffrey Smith
There are a lot of pundits out there declaring democracy promotion to be dead on arrival in the Trump era. But there’s still an important community of activists fighting for the cause against the odds and even winning. “Democracy matters and democratic leadership matters, even in the face of a fast-moving crisis like the coronavirus,” […]
Departures Podcast with Stephen Krasner
If engineering democracy abroad is next to impossible, and autocrats will not accept reforms that could cause them to lose power, how can the US engage with illiberal regimes without enabling them? This question is at the center of Dr. Stephen Krasner’s most recent book, How to Make Love to a Despot: An Alternative Foreign […]
Departures Podcast with Kim Dotcom
In just a few short months, the global coronavirus crisis has already shown its power to reshape the world, as many professionals shift to working from home (some permanently), and as we watch how technology plays a larger and larger role in our day to day lives. One party that benefits greatly from this trend? […]
Departures Podcast with Joshua Yaffa
Is it better to fight an authoritarian government and lose, or work with that government and survive to fight another day? In this latest episode of Departures, Bob interviews Joshua Yaffa, Moscow Correspondent for the New Yorker and author of Between Two Fires: Truth, Ambition, and Compromise in Putin’s Russia, about the mentalities of the people who brought […]
Departures Podcast with Angela Stent
On the latest episode of Departures, Robert Amsterdam speaks with Professor Angela Stent, director of the Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies and a professor at Georgetown University about her book, “Putin’s World: Russia Against the West and with the Rest.” In her book, Stent examines Russia’s long-troubled relationship with the West, while […]
Russia News Blast
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RA’s Daily Russia News Blast – August 3, 2020
Today in Russia: Russian mercenaries in Belarus can’t keep their story straight; Russia says July oil output in line with OPEC+ deal; Trump didn’t believe Russia bounty reports in Afghanistan; Navalny doesn’t just have trouble with Putin, he can’t get along with the press, either; 5.3k new COVID-19 cases in Russia; Belarus presidential candidate Tsikhanouskaya opposes Russia integration; Poland imposes maximum fine against Nord Stream 2, days after Pompeo blasts the project in testimony; The hunt for $240 million in offshore bank bonds; Russia breaks off double taxation agreement with Cyprus; 1 million Moscow motorists’ data stolen by hackers; Russia plans to carry out mass vaccination in October
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RA’s Daily Russia News Blast – July 31, 2020
Today in Russia: EU sanctions for hacking; US ex-marine sentenced, could be part of prisoner swap; 5.5 thousand more COVID-19 cases; Russia reacts furiously to Belarus arrests, ambassador claims the men were en-route to third country; Nine deaths in Crimea minibus accident; Russia to allow people to identify themselves as elves and other fantastic creatures on census; Construction companies and their “Leninist” methods; Ex-press secretary for Prosecutor General’s office to join United Russia and help with campaigning
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RA’s Daily Russia News Blast – July 30, 2020
Today in Russia: Belarus-Russia relations in freefall as Wagner Group mercenaries found in Minsk; Belarus pre-election crackdown; Germany asks for Russia’s help to track down fugitive Wirecard exec; Russia and China catching up with US on hypersonic missiles; Putin’s ratings plummet as Khabarovsk protest enjoy widespread support across Russia; Ruble falls against the Euro to 86.23
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