The Eastern Front

Former Hungarian Ambassador to the United States, Andras Simonyi, joins Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia to talk about the paradox that is Viktor Orban. He discusses the Hungarian and Russian relationship weeks away from the Hungarian presidential election. Ambassador Simonyi explains how Russian propaganda has infiltrated Eastern European media and why it isn't too early to start thinking about how to...

Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia welcome Dr. Aviezer Tucker, Center Associate at Harvard University’s Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies. Dr. Tucker discusses the themes of his piece in the UnPopulist, “Along with Ukraine, Putin is Destroying Putinism.” He draws a parallel between Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia, arguing that similarly to how the 1968 i...

Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia discuss Zelensky's speeches to the West, in particular his addresses to the US Congress, UK Parliament, and German Bundestag. They examine the implications of Zelensky's speeches on the ground, and beyond into the Eastern Front and the larger West. References: Public Expresses Mixed Views of U.S. Response to Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine, Pew Research Center.

Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia welcome Mason Clark, Lead Russia Analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, to discuss updates and new developments on Ukraine’s ongoing defense against Russia in the last week. Mason discussed how Ukrainian forces have been in an overall good position in holding back Russian forces around Kyiv and northeastern Ukraine, as well as in retaining the ability to launch...

Giselle, Iulia, and Dalibor break down the highlights and lowlights of Ukraine's ongoing defense and analyze allies' strategies to offer Ukraine defensive support. They call out the fallacy of partner countries "Westsplaining" how Ukraine ought to defend itself, and they discuss how Ukraine's allies should instead align their defensive actions according to Ukraine's needs. References : " Putin’s b...

Iulia and Dalibor speak with Ani Chkhikvadze, a reporter at Voice of America, to unpack how we can understand the Russian government's presently unfolding invasion of Ukraine by recalling modern Georgian history. Both Ukraine and Georgia have been invaded by Russia over the past few decades and neither Ukraine nor Georgia are current members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), despit...

Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia again welcome Fred Kagan, Senior Fellow and Director of the American Enterprise Institute's Critical Threats Project (CTP), who offers another update on the state of Russian forces in Ukraine. The good news, for Ukraine, is that the Russian military has committed the sin of underpreparing and that it has forgotten major lessons from previous military campaigns. Fred dis...

Maria Tomak, Head of National Office of the Crimea Platform, created under President Zelensky's administration, joins Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia from Lviv to discuss Putin's possible war crimes in Ukraine. Maria updates our hosts on what she's hearing from Crimea and other captured territories in Ukraine. She compares Russia's 2014 invasion of Crimea with the situation in Ukraine today, draws par...

Poland has emerged as a leader in its support for Ukraine and in its study of Russia's and Putin's psychology. Marek Mankiszak, head of the Russian Department at the Centre for Eastern Studies, joins Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia to assess Putin's motives for invading Ukraine. Marek explains that Putin is trying to change the political order in Europe, because in his mind, the current is order was u...

Fred Kagan joins Giselle and Dalibor again today to give us another update on the state of Russian forces in Ukraine. He tells us about the status of forces in each offensive throughout Ukraine and of the Ukrainian forces fighting to hold them off. He and Giselle discuss the kinds of weapons both sides are using, and though Ukrainians have been successful so far, he and Dalibor warn of an angry an...

The day after Biden's first State of the Union address, during which he lauded the sanctions imposed on Russia, Chris Miller, a Jean Kirkpatrick Visiting Fellow at AEI, joins Giselle, Dalibor and Iulia to talk sanctions. Chris assesses how effective the US' and EU's sanctions on Russia are, how long it will take to see their effects, and how they will affect the global economy. He also notes a cha...

What is it like to be in Ukraine today? What is the mood of the Ukrainian people? Joel Wasserman, a former AEI intern joins Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia from Lviv to describe the human experience of Russia's war with Ukraine. He recounts personal experiences of shortages and closures, air raid sirens, and harrowing evacuations. But above all, Joel describes the tremendous solidarity of the Ukrainia...

The Russian military faltered over the weekend but fighting in Ukraine picked up again on Monday. Mason Clark, Lead Russia Analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, joins Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia again with updates from the weekend. Mason takes a look at why the fighting paused over the weekend, what's happening in Kharkiv, and the state of Kyiv. Our hosts also discuss Belarus' threat of e...

How did Russia's invasion of Ukraine unfold? What's next for Ukraine? Fred Kagan, Director of AEI's Critical Threats Project and Mason Clark, Lead Russia Analyst at the Institute for the Study of War join Giselle, Dalibor and Iulia to dissect these questions. Mason describes the geography of Russia's military offensive and the state of Ukraine's military resistance. Fred gives his analysis of Bide...

As Russia attacks Ukraine, Hanna Shelest, Director of Security Programmes at the Foreign Policy Council, joins our hosts from Odessa to discuss the events of the night. She gives her account of the beginning of Russia's invasion, starting with waking up at 5am to the sounds of explosions. She points out the misinformation already spreading, and shares her observations of Ukrainians' sentiments. Ha...

After an intense escalation on the Eastern Front, Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia react to the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. They each give their thoughts on the events of the last several days, and the reactions we've seen so far from America and Europe. Iulia describes what happened this weekend and what she's hearing from the Eastern Front. Dalibor gives his perspectives on the bold Eu...

From the frontline on the border between Ukraine and Russia, journalist Askold Krushelnycky calls in to talk to Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia about what conditions are like 25 miles from the Russian border. Askold describes his journey to Kharkiv, the atmosphere in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and the attitudes of people he's spoken to. Askold was also on the frontlines at the beginning of Russi...

Peter Pomerantsev, Senior Fellow at Johns Hopkins University, joins Giselle, Dalibor and Iulia to talk about how the West can rise up to the challenge of Putin's information warfare. Peter discusses how Putin thrives on uncertainty, ambiguity, and confusion. With our hosts, he shows what the West has learned from Russia's 2008 and 2014 invasion, and how we've already entered into a perception batt...

The fourth president of the Republic of Estonia, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, joins Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia to trace the history of post-Soviet Russian aggression from 2008 to today. President Ilves describes what's different between Russia's 2014 invasion of Crimea and now, what the Eastern Front needs from the West, and how Ukraine is currently serving as Russia's bargaining chip with NATO. Referen...

General Breedlove, former Commander of US European Command and Supreme Allied Commander of NATO joins Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia, as tensions flare to a new high along the Russian/Ukrainian border, He lays out what a Russian military campaign against Ukraine would look like, including Russia's artillery capabilities, and its potential use of nuclear weapons.

Do we have a Putin problem, or a Russia problem? Why can't everyone see that Putin wants a return to the Russia's Soviet-era sphere of influence? And why is the West not more united in responding to Putin's aggression? Timothy Garton Ash, Professor of European Studies in the University of Oxford, Professorial Fellow at St Antony’s College, Oxford, and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, joins...

In The Eastern Front’s inaugural episode, Giselle and Iulia interview fellow co-host, Dalibor Rohac, a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.  Dalibor dives into the question of why, as Vladimir Putin threatens to invade Ukraine, Central Europe is not more unified in its relationship with Russia. As Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, visits Vladimir Putin, Dalibor...

Giselle and Dalibor consult their fellow co-host, Iulia Joja, a Senior Fellow at the Middle East Institute, on her analysis of security in the Black Sea. Iulia contextualizes historical and modern factors at play in the Black Sea, which have caused both reliance on the US and Russophobic sentiments and reliance on Russia and refusal of NATO help. Iulia explains why an independent Romania and Bulga...

Dalibor and Iulia turn to fellow co-host, Giselle Donnelly, Senior Fellow at AEI, for her assessment of Ukraine’s military readiness as Russia amasses troops at its border. Giselle lays out what the nightmare scenario in Ukraine would look like. She also analyzes vulnerabilities in the Russian military, how Ukraine could be better prepared for a Russian invasion, and what the US and NATO could be...

Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia are joined in this episode by Ulrike Franke, a Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. As the new German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, embarks on his first visit to the US, Ulrike gives her insight into how we should understand Germany’s relationship to its allies and to Russia. She dissects Germany’s handling of the current Russia/Ukraine crisis,...