Post-Soviet Files

The interview I referenced can be found here: https://youtu.be/bAYkBO3nDxg Thank you to all those who have followed the podcast over the last several months. This has been an amazing jouney. I never would have expected the goernment of Peter Magyar and TISZA to be as transparent as they have been, hosting almost daily a YouTube livestream featuring members of the Cabinet answering questions from m...

In this episode we discuss how Hungary got to a point where democracy felt functionally meaningless. As someone who never knew a government before Orban, this topic is very close to me. We discuss the potential future under Peter Magyar and TISZA, the obstacles that still exist and the various mechanisms that kept Fidesz going through the networks of the so-called "mafia state". Hosted on Acast. S...

To many in the United States, the msuic of the Soviet Union can be summed up as the Red Army Choir, maybe the Cossack Choir and Katyusha. Many in Gen Z get their first taste of the Soviet musical world via war games like World of Tanks, where some of these tracks serve as background music. In reality, the music scene of the USSR was varied and complex, offering a world of stories to tell just the...

Could the 2026 Hungarian election leave Viktor Orban out of power? In today's emergency episode, we discuss the rise of Peter Magyar and Tisza, a political party which has risen in the last few years out of nothing to build a coalition that can take on the sitting government. After 16 years in office, illiberal democracy may be over. The TISZA Party promises not just a shift in domestic policy, it...

This is a different format than usual, but I felt it must be said. Many Americans seem to lionize certain figures in Eastern Europe as though our political leaders represent the nation's general identity. Budapest, Warsaw and Moscow are large cities the same as Tokyo, Berlin, and New York.. Cosmopolitan life does not stop just because a government declares itself to uphold a hyper-traditional faca...

The band KINO and its lead singer Viktor Tsoi are legends of the Soviet rock scene. Many say that Viktor left the world too soon, yet his music is beloved by millions around the globe today. This episode seeks to examine his rise to fame and the environment in which KINO operated. The Soviet Union had long held a contentious relationship with the music industry, for many decades most music which w...

Central Eastern Europe is full of statues memorializing kings, poets, and the victims of war. The Baltic States especially since the collapse of the USSR have been trying to assert their national identity after decades of systematic attempts to erase their language and culture. Soviet monuments have been controversial in the region since the collapse in 1991. Today, the host James Orban discusses...

The USSR had a much different philosophy with regard to the profession of engineering. In today's episode we explore in brief a history of how the profession was viewed by the state, why it was promoted so heavily, and how the social position of engineers evolved over time. Now, whether it was objectively "better" is a different question. TRemember to follow the Post Soviet Files wherever you list...

Estonia is a country that punches way above its weight. In NATO, they are known as being experts in cyber security, while in the business world numerous major start-ups and tech companies emerged from the Baltic country. The origin of this technological prowess is often said to be in the 1990s when Estonia found itself free from occupation by the USSR. The reality, however, is much more interestin...

The USSR lasted for over 80 years, and how the state treated religio varied over time. One big way this happened was through public holidays, and especially holidays centered on religion. Host James Orban breaks down how the USSR treated Christmas, shifting the date and trappings to New Years. This is a much shorter episode than usual, here's to a happy new year! Thank you all for the continue sup...

For centuries, Russia has held cultural and economic pull for people across Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe. In the 2020s this seems to be changing, ot just due to the war in Ukraine. Geopolitical winds are changing, and even as the US is arguably in decline the Russian language too faces an uncertain situation. Many countries once occupied/governed by Moscow are turning to English...

In the Soviet Union, having a metro system in your city was a real status symbol. In most cities this would be good news, a sign their city was on the rise. Latvia's capital Riga was scheduled to have a metro built in the late 1980s as the population swelled to over 900,000. Early plans called for murals and marble ceilings, new rolling stock to rival that of Moscow and St. Petersburg, but this op...

All cultures have some form of "second world fiction", where a character enters another world. Japan's "isrkai" light novel industry and web fiction are what most people think of, but the post-Soviet sphere and particularly Russian speaking world has its own formof these stories. On this episode I discuss the origins of this genre, how it differs from Japanese light novels, and the unique sub-genr...

In today's episode, host James Orban discusses the origins of the Russian minority in theBaltic States of Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania as they exist today. From their origins in the Tsarist times to how the Soviet Union implemented unofficial colonization programs all the way to the present day. Kremlin propaganda efforts have made the Russian minority a wedge issue, 30% of the Latvian populatio...

In this short episode, host James Orban discusses the various issues at play when covering Central and Eastern European economics, culture, and politcs in the podcast format. There are very notable examples, but by and large coverage especially in the English language seems to over the years have come to be dominated by discussions of the Soviet Union. The USSR not for what it was, but for what Co...

Russian propaganda is rarely original. Back in the mid-1970s, Poland's Socialist government approved of various music festivals and song competitions covering a wide variety of genres. The Intervision Song Contest was one attempt to rival the Western Eurovision contest. It did not last long. In 2025, almost 50 years later, Russia revived the competition in the name of "anti-woke", "traditional" va...

From 1989 to 1990, governments around the Socialist bloc were facing financial hardship and various movement organizing for greater labor rights, democratic processes, openning up of the markets, and all manner of other similar policies. Host James Orban examines the response one government from the region took. Hungary under Kadar in 1989 approved for Hungarians to be given global passports, and...

The European Union has long faced a brain drain from east to west, but in the last decade or so many young people especially in tech have decided to permanently move to the United States seeking a better life. Recently with immigration laws evolving in the US and the current US-China trade tensions, host James Orban looks into how this landscape is changing. Interviewing Marton Barcza, host of Tec...

Host James Orban discusses how Eastern Europe is broadly viewed in the US as compared to Europe. While Berlin, Vienna and London have broadly started to hire and listen to experts who originate from the region or who have a lot of first hand knowledge, at every level American institutions and individuals seem resistant. Find More Here The Eastern Border by Kristaps Andrejsons: Follow me on substac...

Can Europe take advantage of the apparent American exodus? For as long as I've been alive, Americans have said "I'll leave if X candidate wins the election", and rarely does this happen. In 2025, reports are emerging from Spain, France, Poland, and Portugal among other countries that more and more Americans are applying for visas of all different kinds. On today's episode host James Orban digs int...

For a long time as someone who grew up in a part of the United States where everyone was from somewhere else, I had this thought that living in much of the US South would be akin to going somewhere no one would understand my experiences or references. I grew up around other immigrants and was shaped by that - so when I found that my new home in the southern US was seeing a rise in businesses from...

In this episode host James Orban explores the transition of Hungary from one-party Communist rule to a democratic capitalist state. Many people across the West assume it was a clean break, but that couldn't be further from the truth. If you enjoyed today's episode, feel free to subscribe to the Substack below: https://eurodreampod.substack.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more infor...