History in the Making: The War in Ukraine

It was an absolute pleasure to do this podcast - the first one I have done live, in person at my guests' office in the center of Kyiv. (Hence some of the side comments and background noise!) I had the honor of speaking with the Co-Founders of RePower NGO, Sebastian Lindstrom and Maryna Sadikova - such inspired and inspirational people who you can't help but feel the warmth, drive, and energy flowi...

I had the pleasure of interviewing Ryan Hendrickson, a former US Army Green Beret who spent years in Afghanistan, lost a leg, and has now devoted the last several years of his life to helping Ukraine. As so many veterans struggle with life after service, Ryan found meaning and purpose again in Ukraine. Devoting his life to helping others who are struggling and protecting those from being harmed ha...

If you want a fascinating look into the stories of why those in the West gave up their lives and came to Ukraine to fight, then have a listen to this episode. I had the pleasure of speaking with the British journalist Colin Freeman who did extensive interviews, trips, and research into the stories of foreign fighters who joined Ukraine's foreign legion. Who are these guys? Why did they join? What...

I had the pleasure of meeting Denys and other members of his brigade at the showing of a documentary The Lanterns in Kyiv the weekend before the recording of this podcast. The documentary highlighted the heroic efforts of frontline medics in saving lives, while of course putting their own lives in danger. Their story is worth telling and listening to in order to get a better feel for life at the f...

Not exactly a spoiler alert, but you can likely imagine the answer provided to this question in the podcast here today. In Part 2 of this discussion, I continue my conversation with Dr. Taras Kuzio, who was on earlier this year in a great show where we discussed whether Ukraine has a Nazi problem. He is joined by Dr. Ian Garner, prominent British-born historian and specialist in Russian war propag...

Not exactly a spoiler alert, but you can likely imagine the answer provided to this question in the podcast here today. To answer the question of this podcast, I had back on the show Dr. Taras Kuzio, who was on earlier this year in a great show where we discussed whether Ukraine has a Nazi problem. He is joined by Dr. Ian Garner, prominent British-born historian and specialist in Russian war propa...

Always honored to have back on the show my professor from graduate school, John Harper. I was fortunate to have his class - one of the best classes I've ever taken - American Foreign Policy since 1945. Considering the historic events going on globally, I wanted to take a step back and take the historical view of things. We discuss Ukraine but more broadly the current state of the international ord...

One of the most underreported stories of the horrific crimes Russia has committed relates to what Russia has done to children. Aside from killing hundreds of children in attacks deep within Ukraine, including intentionally targeting maternity wards and kindergartens, what we’ll focus on today is the kidnapping, forced deportation, and re-education of Ukrainian children stolen from Ukrainian territ...

I for one became super encouraged for Ukraine after doing this interview. The last few months, and specifically the past few weeks, things have taken a turn for Ukraine on the battlefield. Ukraine has taken back more land than Russia has gained lately. Ukraine is eliminating more men than Russia can recruit. Ukraine has taken back the technological edge. And Ukraine is now winning. Tune in to this...

We all read in history books the horrors of World War II, and collectively said "never again". Yet here we are in Europe, and it's happening again. Far too often I speak with those outside of Ukraine who have either forgotten about what Russia has done to innocent civilians in Ukraine or who are entirely unaware of what has happened. To help correct that, I was motivated to do this podca...

I was honored to have back on the show Dr. Sergey Radchenko - though this time the focus of the conversation was not about history or negotiations, but instead on his own inspiring and thought-provoking personal journey. Recently he published in the British paper The Guardian his personal journey in renouncing his Russian citizenship due to the disgust he felt at being associated as a Russian with...

If you're looking for some inspiration, listen in to this conversation with Superhumans CEO Olga Rudnieva. This one will hit your emotions. Having helped thousands of amputees from the war, the stories of resilience and strength of Ukraine's heroes are overwhelming. How do amputees recover both physically and mentally? What keeps them going? This show isn't about trauma - its about the dreams that...

We recorded this episode on April 4th, the International Mine Awareness Day, to highlight the situation Ukraine is in as the most heavily mined country in the world. I had the pleasure of speaking with the head of the UN's Mine Action program here in Ukraine, Paul Heslop, on this important day. We discussed the scale of the mine problem in Ukraine, how de-mining is done, innovations in de-mining d...

The US has an outsized influence on world events. So much here in Ukraine and elsewhere hinges on the policies of Trump. For that reason, I did this episode to help non-Americans (but I think will be informative for Americans as well) understand the mindset of the Trump voter. In Part 1, we explored domestic issues and general perceptions. In this second part, we shift to foreign policy and global...

The US has an outsized influence on world events. So much here in Ukraine and elsewhere hinges on the policies of Trump. For that reason, I did this episode to help non-Americans (but I think will be informative for Americans as well) understand the mindset of the Trump voter. In short, I have been asked the last decade living in Europe by European friends and colleagues: Who votes for Trump and w...

I had the great pleasure in this episode in speaking with a world-renowned expert on Iran and militant Shia groups in the Middle East - and also an old friend from my Washington DC days - Phillip Smyth, to discuss the War in Iran and where it is heading.  We covered it all - what does Trump do next? What does Iran do next? Will the Houthis soon cause problems for global trade on the other sid...

What is the front like these days in this new era of drones? What is the situation around Pokrovsk? Is Ukraine's biggest issue manpower or actually weapons? And did America actually support Russia to defeat the Ukrainians in Kursk? Tune in to this episode to hear the answers to this and much more from a war correspondent who has been living and reporting from the front since the start of the full-...

Last week marked the 4-year anniversary of Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. To mark this date, I had the great pleasure to speak with Gen. David Petraeus to do an overview of where the war is today and where it’s heading.  Among other topics discussed, we focused on: Why Americans should consider Ukraine vital to US national security How the West/Ukraine can stop...

Does Ukraine have a Nazi problem? How pervasive is far-right nationalism in Ukraine? What is the history of the Kremlin's propaganda campaign about Ukrainian Nazis? Why does Moscow insist on calling Ukrainians all Nazis? And what about Nazism in Russia? We touch upon all of this in this very illuminating episode with Dr. Taras Kuzio, who has researched and written extensively on the topic for year...

We delved into yet another Kremlin lie, this one a recurring theme literally for the past 60 years going back to the Soviet era - US biolabs around the word out to attack Russia. To reveal this lie, I spoke with Dr. Dmytro Stepanskyi, the head of Microbiology at the Dnipro State University. In short, this is an interesting propaganda tool by the Kremlin because they are directly accusing the US of...

With peace talks ongoing for the past year Trump has been in office, it's worth asking: where are we with the peace process and where will things go from here? We've hit another inflection point it seems. Trump's White House is eager to claim 90% of work is done with the peace talks. The West seems to have largely aligned around their position and the US seems to believe a deal could be coming.&nb...

It's always nice to meet and speak with like-minded, passionate, empathetic people who dedicate their lives to something bigger than themselves. And that's what this podcast was all about. I had the great pleasure of speaking with a proud Ukraine supporter, who also comes from my hometown of Cleveland!  Brandon Chrostowski has travelled multiple times to Ukraine to help, not because of his he...

I admit I departed from my usual more detached analytical style, and spoke a bit more from the heart in this one.  Too much has happened and for too long to not do a podcast like this. Most of my adult life I have spent in Europe and so have gained a solid perspective on how Europeans and other non-Americans view the US and how these views have developed. I'm also asked routinely by friends a...

With so much disinformation about the war particularly at this moment, I felt it would be good to do a show on some of these lies. Although I was hoping we could delve into the many myths of this war, we ended up speaking primarily about the central myth of this war: the Russian lie that this is a defensive war in retaliation against the last 30 years of NATO expansion. Listen in to understand the...

So what now in Venezuela? Trump has put himself in dangerous territory by removing a foreign leader and now vowing to "run" the country, precisely what he has promised his MAGA support base the US under him would no longer do.  What happens next?  Why did he do it? And above all, how will it impact Ukraine? If history is any indicator, I'm not optimistic for how this plays out for Trump,...