The Freewheeling Diplomat

You would not know if from the onslaught of nuclear weapons threats from Russian TV propagandists and political figures, but there is a 1973 Treaty between the USSR and the United States -- still in effect with Russia -- under which both sides agree to refrain from the use of nuclear weapons threats.    I spoke with Tom Countryman, Board Chair of the Arms Control Association, about how to understa...

Romania plays an often under-appreciated role as a bulwark for NATO on its eastern flank.  I spoke with Black Sea security expert and George Washington University Professor Iulia Joja on June 14 about Romania's security challenges amid Russia's war on neighboring Ukraine.  Among the topics covered were: traditional Romanian attitudes toward Russia; issues in Romanian-Ukrainian bilateral...

President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador has declared an unprecedented and controversial war on the country's gangs.  Under a "State of Exception" in effect since March 2022, over 60,000 suspected gang members have been arrested.   Some human rights groups warn that the round up is coming at the expense of proper due process.  Bukele's supporters note a dramatic drop in the murder...

How is Russia's information war against Ukraine going?   What are the main propaganda and disinformation narratives Russia is pushing -- and are they working? What is happening in cyber space?   We explore these and other topics with Gavin Wilde,  Senior Fellow in the Technology and International Affairs program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.   Gavin is a noted Russia expe...

We review what Russia's war on Ukraine has meant for Central Europe with Matt Boyse, who served as U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State responsible for coordinating policy toward Central Europe from 2018-2021.   Poland has emerged as a clear leader in the wake of the invasion, but we examine how the rest of the region, with the exception of Hungary, has risen to the challenge as well.  Pu...

The Nordstream 2 natural gas pipeline -- Putin's project to make Germany energy dependent on Russia,  divide the Euro-Atlantic Community, bypass Ukraine, and make Europe subject to energy blackmail -- went from zero percent completed to 95 percent completed during the Trump Administration.  This took place despite bipartisan legislation from Congress in 2017 that called for the US to sanction...

I spoke with Mike Purcell who had decades of experience as a Russia watcher for the U.S. Marines.  Mike, now retired and teaching at GW University, brings unique operational, strategic and area expertise to the analysis of Russian military performance.   He led a combined armed force of 800 marines and 200 vehicles during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.  He was later a Foreign Area Officer in Russia an...

Russian and Soviet history make it clear that defeat in war can result in the overthrow of the leader and that -- in the Soviet period especially -- the inner circle has repeatedly taken action against a leader seen to have failed.    Autocrats rule through the appearance of strength.   Putin is weakened and getting desperate.    Yet he continues to hold on to his imperial fantasies.   There is no...

I spoke with my former State Department colleague Ben Schmitt on August 12 about energy sanctions against Russia.   We reviewed how Germany had willfully made itself more dependent on Russian energy through a misguided policy of "change through trade."   We discussed the outlook for Europe's efforts to rapidly wean itself off Russian oil and gas.    While in the near term, Russia is...

I spoke with Mykola Vorobiov, journalist and political-military analyst based in Kyiv.  Mykola has devoted the past eight years to analyzing and writing about Russia's war on Ukraine, including covering the front in Donbas.  Mykola evaluates prospects for Ukraine's much anticipated counter-offensive in the key Kherson region in the South.   He examines the composition and morale of Russi...

China has been cagey in its support for Russia since the February invasion of Ukraine.  On one hand, China echoes Russia’s propaganda line and has ramped up purchases of Russian oil, giving the Putin regime a lifeline.  On the other hand, China ha s not sent military supplies to Russia.   Chinese companies have actually decreased exports to Russia in recent months out of fear of sanctions.    And...

Putin's war against Ukraine is already a nuclear war.   Although he has not pushed the nuclear button, Putin and his propagandists have used Russia's nuclear arsenal extensively to try to intimidate Ukraine and  -- in particular -- the West.  Threats of nuclear war have been fast and furious, with Russian TV commentators expressing outright glee at the prospect of nuclear annihilation of...

Putin's history of getting Ukraine wrong did not begin will his brutal and  bungled invasion in February 2022.  In fact, Putin himself prompted the overthrow of the Russia-friendly, NATO-neutral, corrupt Ukrainian Administration of Victor Yanukovych in 2014.    This episode explores Putin's repeated ineptitude in his dealings with Ukraine -- from the Orange Revolution of 2004 to the Maid...