x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

In Moscow"s Shadows

Russia, behind the headlines as well as in the shadows. This podcast is the audio counterpart to Mark Galeotti"s blog of the same name, a place where "one of the most informed and provocative voices on modern Russia", can talk about Russia historical and (more often) contemporary, discuss new books and research, and sometimes talk to other Russia-watchers. If you"d like to keep the podcast coming and generally support my work, or want to ask questions or suggest topics for me to cover, do please

news news commentary

All Episodes

51:02

In Moscow's Shadows 190: Sanctions, Spies, and...

In Moscow"s Shadows ·

2025/03/09

Reflecting the chaotic and fast-moving nature of the times, another podcast of two parts. In the first, looking at various issues of the week, from Trump's apparent threat to increase sanctions on Russia to a spy case in the UK. In the second half, I look at two recent books, Political Legitimacy and Traditional Values in Putin's Russia, edited by Helge Blakkisrud & Pål Kolstø (Edinburgh UP) and Jeremy Morris’s Everyday Politics in Russia. From Resentment to Resistance, (Bloomsbury) and u...

en-gb

49:08

In Moscow's Shadows 189: Oval Office Mugging and...

In Moscow"s Shadows ·

2025/03/02

Much as I would love not to have to keep talking about Trump, it's inevitable that I cover the extraordinary events of this week: Trump as King Lear, demanding obsequious flattery, Zelensky perhaps ought not to have made the trip to DC. So where now? And in the second half, the Russian police in crisis, demoralised, under-strength and with corruption again on the rise. Another very real success story of early Putinism, police reform, being devoured by the war and late Putinism. The video of t...

en-gb

47:45

In Moscow's Shadows 188: War and Peace and Trump

In Moscow"s Shadows ·

2025/02/23

In a more-freeform-than usual episode, I consider the aftermath of the Munich Security Conference, why Trump is such a Putin fanboy (more about being a wannabe strongman than because of any kompromat), and what this means for peace in Ukraine. The summary? There is no deal on Ukraine, and we shouldn't get ahead of ourselves, but there is at least a chance for some kind of a deal. Maybe. The podcast's corporate partner and sponsor is Conducttr, which provides software for innovative and immers...

en-gb

48:50

In Moscow's Shadows 187: Tatarstan

In Moscow"s Shadows ·

2025/02/09

As Russia-watchers, we know that Russia is not just Russian, or Russian Orthodox, but there is also a glib assumption that to be Muslim or otherwise a minority is to be depressed, repressed, and suppressed. So how to explain Tatarstan, one of the few regions where the titular nationality is a majority (54% Tatar, 54% Muslim), yet one which seems to work well enough within the Russian Federation? The podcast's corporate partner and sponsor is Conducttr, which provides software for innovative a...

en-gb

19:08

In Moscow's Shadows Bonus Minipod: Ukrainskii Sindrom

In Moscow"s Shadows ·

2025/02/03

Originally one of the 'Twelve Days of Shadowy Christmas' bonuses for Patrons, in this short pod I explore whether, when the soldiers come home, Russia is likely to experience a problem of a dispossessed and alienated generation akin to the 'Afghan Syndrome' which faced the veterans of the Soviet Afghan war. Sadly, the answer is probably so. Support the show

en-gb

48:28

In Moscow's Shadows 186: Why is Putin's Russia so...

In Moscow"s Shadows ·

2025/02/02

The Russian response to Tucker Carlson's claim that the Biden administration tried to assassinate Putin has to a large extent been driven by political expediency -- it makes a great propaganda narrative -- but there does seem to be more to it than that? Why is modern Russia, from Putin down, so prone to seeing the world through a conspiratorial lens, everything determined by behind-the-scenes forces and shadowy secret masters? And what does this mean for policy? Does Russia really still own A...

en-gb

51:28

In Moscow's Shadows 185: The One With All The Stuff

In Moscow"s Shadows ·

2025/01/26

How else, frankly, to title an episode which covers Trump and Putin, the CIA's Ukrainian cooperation, Russo-Iranian and -Indian relations, Belarus, and four books on Crimea's history?The Vlad Vexler commentary I mentioned is here. The Moscow Times article on Russian-Indian relations is here.The four books I cover are:The Eurasian Steppe by Warwick Ball (Edinburgh University Press, 2021)'A Seditious and Sinister Tribe': the Crimean Tatars and their Khanate by Donald Rayfield (Reaktion, 2024)Cr...

en-gb

45:44

In Moscow's Shadows 184: One Hundred Years of...

In Moscow"s Shadows ·

2025/01/18

The UK has signed a 'One Hundred Years Partnership Agreement' with Ukraine -- what's really involved under this grandiose title, and what does it show us about the wider challenges (and some missed opportunities) for supporting Kyiv?The texts are available here.The podcast's corporate partner and sponsor is Conducttr, which provides software for innovative and immersive crisis exercises in hybrid warfare, counter-terrorism, civil affairs and similar situations.You can also follow my blog, In ...

en-gb

42:21

In Moscow's Shadows 183: War and Peace (and Public...

In Moscow"s Shadows ·

2025/01/12

We pundits have done more than our fair share speculating on whether, how, when and with what consequences there could be peace or a ceasefire in Ukraine, but instead it seems a good time to see what various research projects suggest about what ordinary Russians and Ukrainians think. This is something that is actually harder to ascertain than one might assume, but it important, not least for conditioning the decisions the respective governments may make.The various articles and surveys I cite...

en-gb

54:59

In Moscow's Shadows 182: Things To Watch in 2025

In Moscow"s Shadows ·

2025/01/05

Outright prediction may be a mug's game, but what are some of the people and processes I will be watching in 2025?For those who get lost in the flow, they are:PERSONALIA· Elvira Nabiullina· Ramzan Kadyrov · Alexander Khinshtein · Alexei Dyumin · Sergei Naryshkin · Nikolai Patrushev · (Not ...

en-gb

34:47

In Moscow's Shadows 181: Strap in for a Bumpy 2025

In Moscow"s Shadows ·

2024/12/29

Sabotage under the Baltic, a grudging apology, a possible attack on a Russian cargo ship, firebombing ATMs, energy blackmail in Moldova... what connects them beyond a sense that, having changed his rules of engagement abroad in 2024, Putin may find this coming to bite him in 2025. Either way, it looks like the coming year will be a bumpy one, to say the least.The podcast's corporate partner and sponsor is Conducttr, which provides software for innovative and immersive crisis exercises in hybr...

en-gb

57:48

In Moscow's Shadows 180: Keep Calm and Carry On

In Moscow"s Shadows ·

2024/12/22

What can one learn from Putin's 4½-hour-long end of year press conference? Essentially, his message to his people is that - however they might feel - everything is fine and they should stay the course. Meanwhile, over Ukraine if anything his line may be hardening: he may talk of 'compromise', but is trying to define the terms of any future peace. Anyway, I listened to 4½ hours, and offer you only one hour... The article by Joshua Huminski I mentioned is here.The podcast's corporate partner an...

en-gb

52:24

In Moscow's Shadows 179: Sex, Drugs & Rocky Roads

In Moscow"s Shadows ·

2024/12/15

We tend to focus on the big challenges facing Russia: war, sanctions, the struggle of authoritarianism vs the remnants of civil society. Maybe it is time to look at some of the less often discussed problems that nonetheless characterise the emerging Russian 'polycrisis': demographics, the mephedrone epidemic, and crumbling transport infrastructure: sex, drugs and rocky roads.The OSW report on demographics I mentioned is here; the Global Initiative report on drugs is here.My IWM podcast on Syr...

en-gb

46:13

In Moscow's Shadows 178: Assad la vista, baby - what...

In Moscow"s Shadows ·

2024/12/08

So Bashar al-Assad's blood-drenched regime has fallen. Hurrah. But what now for Russia? Is this a terrible geopolitical defeat, or actually something that perversely frees it from a commitment made in 2015, yet less relevant today? What are the likely knock-on effects for Russia's position in the Mediterranean and Africa? The hottest of hot takes.That Q&A with Sam Heller and Aron Lund is at:https://tcf.org/content/commentary/syrias-civil-war-has-roared-back-how-far-can-the-rebels-go/ ...

en-gb

50:22

In Moscow's Shadows 177: Adaptation in Russia and...

In Moscow"s Shadows ·

2024/12/01

President Zelensky's suggestion that military attempts to retake the occupied territories could be abandoned in return for rapid NATO membership for Ukraine does mark a change in tack. What is driving this political-diplomatic adaptation?And, in the second half, I draw on four books that speak in different ways to how Russia has managed (and sometimes failed) to adapt to the military and economic struggle, to bring them to this position.The books are:Christopher Lawrence, The Battle for Kyiv ...

en-gb

55:30

In Moscow's Shadows 176: Is Andrei Belousov the...

In Moscow"s Shadows ·

2024/11/24

Schrödinger's Defence Minister, at once busy and visible yet strangely inconsequential and intangible, what can one make of Andrei Belousov, his rise and his chances of achieving anything in his current role?The entry page for the Conducttr online crisis exercise on Russian sabotage I mentioned is @ https://www.conducttr.com/russian-sabotageThe podcast's corporate partner and sponsor is Conducttr, which provides software for innovative and immersive crisis exercises in hybrid warfare, counter...

en-gb

48:56

In Moscow's Shadows 175: 'In a dangerous world,...

In Moscow"s Shadows ·

2024/11/17

'Strategic culture' means the underlying cultural assumptions about threats and options that informs a nation's specific strategic choices, and Russia's has been strikingly continuous for centuries. As I discuss, it reflects the underlying circumstances and challenges of the country, and while not a straightjacket -- Gorbachev and Brezhnev were products of the same culture -- it helps explain Putin's own decisions. The entry page for the Conducttr online crisis exercise on Russian sabotage I ...

en-gb

37:28

In Moscow's Shadows 174: Putin, Trump, and the...

In Moscow"s Shadows ·

2024/11/10

It's impossible to avoid talking about the potential implications of Donald Trump's election, even as its difficult to know for sure what he intends and almost as hard to say anything that hasn't already been said. I have a go, though, after considering Putin's hour-long speech and epic (or exhausting) 3-hour Q&A on the 'polyphonic' world order at Valdai.The podcast's corporate partner and sponsor is Conducttr, which provides software for innovative and immersive crisis exercises in hybri...

en-gb

49:51

In Moscow's Shadows 173: Personalistic Power under Putin

In Moscow"s Shadows ·

2024/11/03

I use reviews of three books to consider the risks and limitations of personalistic explanations of power under Putin, and whether a medieval concept of clan and family actually makes more sense...The books are:THE WIZARD OF THE KREMLIN by GIULIANO DA EMPOLI (Pushkin Press) THE KREMLIN’S NOOSE. PUTIN’S BITTER FEUD WITH THE OLIGARCH WHO MADE HIM RULER OF RUSSIA by AMY KNIGHT (Icon Books and Cornell UP)THE RULING FAMILIES OF RUS. CLAN, FAMILY AND KINGDOM, by CHRISTIAN RAFFENSPERGER and DON...

en-gb

39:08

In Moscow's Shadows 172: BRICS without Straw

In Moscow"s Shadows ·

2024/10/26

(It seems to be obligatory to use a weak BRICS/bricks pun, so I felt I had to follow...)The BRICS summit in Kazan (a smart place to hold it) gives all the appearances of being a propaganda win for Putin. However, I think it emphasised that in a new 'multipolar' world, he only has the friends he can afford to rent -- and some day the bill will become due.In the second half, I question whether Russia is genuinely falling back into the 'wild 90s'. Perhaps the 'stagnant 70s'? Or the 'decaying 80s...

en-gb

250 results

Similar Podcasts

Expres Ráno

Expres FM

PBS News Hour - Full Show

PBS News

CD Voice

China Daily

Israel Today: Ongoing War Report

Noa Levi

Jeffrey Epstein: The Coverup Chronicles

Bobby Capucci