Podcast: Facing and being Russia in a wargame: Did the players blow off the world?

I talked to Alexander Bollfrass, Senior Researcher, Center for Security Studies (CSS), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology – ETH Zurich.

Image by Robert Waghorn from Pixabay

Podcast: Is Ukraine hitting Russia where it hurts the most?

I talked to Toms Rostoks, Associate Professor in International Relations, University of Latvia, Senior Researcher, Centre for Security and Strategic Research, National Defence Academy.

HIMARS. Credit: https://asc.army.mil/

Podcast: Would Xi Jinping attack Ukraine if he would rule Russia?

I talked to Rory Truex, Assistant Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University.

General Secretary of the CCP Xi Jinping. Credit: http://english.gov.cn/

What may 2023 bring to Donald Trump?

The January 6th Committee formally accuses Donald Trump of four crimes and it seems that after the election he is losing his grip over the GOP. So may I please ask you for your prediction for 2023? Do you think that Republicans may finally dump Trump, or not really and why? Read a few comments.

Podcast: My conversation with Anne Applebaum: What if Putin disappears? How would it affect the war?

I talked to Anne Applebaum, Staff Writer for The Atlantic and a Pulitzer-prize winning historian, Senior Fellow at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. 

Photo: Anne Applebaum. Credit: https://www.anneapplebaum.com/

EU-ASEAN Summit: What could/should ASEAN do about Russia’s war?

Read a few comments. 

Should we pay more attention to ISIS?

As it was announced the Islamic State leader Abu al-Hassan al-Hashemi al-Quraishi was killed, the news made almost no headlines. It’s probably normal that these days ordinary people do not care much about the state of ISIS. ISIS once looked like a jihadi juggernaut (this image was definitely created by the media). But what is ISIS now? A semi-dangerous terrorist organization? How would you assess the current strength of this terrorist group and its appeal? Read a few comments.

 

Ex-leader of ISIS Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi who was killed in 2019. The image is from video posted by ISIS’s Al-Furqan media.

Podcast: What is the biggest problem Xi Jinping is facing going forward?

I talked to Lawrence C. Reardon, Professor of Political Science, New Hampshire University, Research Associate, Harvard University’s Fairbank Center.

Who is paving a road for the far-right politics and politicians?

In every country, the situation is a bit different but with Italy having a pretty far-right government or with Sweden where the far-right party supports the government, many observers are claiming that this is really a normalization of far-right politics. Again, I know it is not that easy to generalize, but how much is this normalization a fault of center-right parties as in some cases they are willing to embrace more far-right rhetoric? Do you think this is a dangerous trend in European politics or not, and why? Read a few comments.

Italian PM Giorgia Meloni. Credit: https://www.governo.it/

Podcast: What to criticize about Qatar’s World Cup? And what’s next for protests in Iran?

I talked to Arash Azizi, PhD candidate in History at New York University (NYU), Author of The Shadow Commander: Soleimani, the US and Iran’s Global Ambitions.