Mitchell Orenstein is a professor of Central and East European Politics in the Slavic department at the University of Pennsylvania and an associate of the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian studies at Harvard. His research focuses on the political economy and international affairs of Central and Eastern Europe.This episode is the latest installment to the four-part series on Reconsidering Russia, where we try to dig into Russia's historical and geopolitical context to help you better understand some of their moves today and what's going on in their country today.Tune in to hear Eric, Xander, and Professor Orenstein dive deep into Russia's real objective in Ukraine, Eastern Vs. Western-leaning periods of Russian leadership, why Russia really needs to diversify its economy, and so much more.00:00 Introduction01:35 Why Geopolitics is not about reforms or democracy03:49 What does Russia really want?05:49 Understanding Russia's national interests and foreign policy preferences12:59 Eastern Vs. Western-leaning periods of Russian leadership16:33 Comparing Russian perceptions to the American interpretation20:10 What does the 'Near Abroad' mean?20:54 The democratization of Russia's 'Near Abroad'24:12 Consequences of the collapse of the Soviet Union28:10 The strategic and fundamental importance of Ukraine32:14 Russian interests in Finland34:57 The Nature of Germany's relationship with Russia39:01 Caucasus as a region of strategic importance to Russia44:15 Chinese and Russian interests in South-East Asia47:15 China-Russia relations: Eternal rivals or emerging alliance 50:41 Russia's views on China's growth in power and influence 52:38 Russia-Japan dispute over Kuril Islands 54:50 Thoughts on Russia's domestic politics and foreign policy58:35 Why Russia really needs to diversify its economy01:01:58 What to expect from Russia in the next 5 to 10 years01:05:18 Russia - a gas station with nuclear weapons01:08:03 Parting thoughts Links and Resources:Reconsidermedia.comMitchel's website - https://www.mitchellorenstein.com/Mitchel's profile on the Foreign Affairs Magazine - https://www.foreignaffairs.com/authors/mitchell-orensteinReconsider Media on Twitter - https://twitter.com/reconsidermediaReconsider Media on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ReConsiderMedia/Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/reconsiderpodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ver todos los episodios