Relevant Reading:

Germany’s Dilemma

Understanding Putin’s Men

Good evening, listeners! We have another great episode for you this week. Our host, Richard Aldous, speaks with Andrew A. Michta about Europe and NATO in the age of Trump before hearing from Anton Barbashin about how better to understand the Kremlin.

First, Andrew A. Michta, the dean of the College of International and Security Studies at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, takes a look at how U.S. Defense Secretary Mattis’ recent discussions with NATO defense ministers in Brussels went earlier this month, before discussing the health of the treaty and the likelihood that we might soon see an end to the European Union.

Then, Anton Barbashin, a political analyst and the managing editor of Intersection, makes his debut on the podcast to lay out why dividing Vladimir Putin’s inner circle into liberals and statists is a poor way to try and understand why the Kremlin does what it does. He instead describes four general groups that surround Putin: progressives, neutrals, conservatives, and bigots.

Be sure to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, where you can leave a review. Follow Andrew A. Michta @andrewmichta, Anton Barbashin @ABarbashin, and Richard Aldous @RJAldous on Twitter.