Eurasia Center Wonkcast

Casey and Cole are joined by career diplomat Dimitrios Tsikouris to hear about his thoughts on diplomacy. Ambassador Tsikouris had a long diplomatic career that ended in 2010 and has recently joined the honorary board of the Eurasia Center. We are thankful for him taking the time to join the podcast. 

Casey, Cole, and Noah discus the recent criticism UEFA has faced over whether to light a soccer stadium in rainbow colors. This follows a widely maligned Hungarian law impinging on freedom of expression. This episode briefly covers the European response and sport diplomacy. 

Casey, Cole, and Noah finalize the summit diplomacy series. In this episode they discuss the meeting between Joseph Biden and Vladimir Putin in Geneva. 

Casey, Cole, and Noah discuss the Tigray conflict. The TPLF and Ethiopian, Eritrean, and Amhara forces have been fighting for months. Neither side posses the capacity to decisively win the conflict but civilians have borne the brunt of fighting.

Casey, Cole, and Noah discuss the recent diplomatic engagements in Europe. This episode focuses on the G7 and NATO summits with the Biden-Putin summit coming in a later episode. 

Casey, Cole, and Noah discuss the situation in East Asia. They place America's allies and partnerships in context vis a vis China and discuss the future in the region.

Casey, Cole, and Noah discuss the "non-paper" alongside Thomas Ridenour, a Eurasia Center research assistant. The mysterious diplomatic paper suggests the breakup of Bosnia-Herzegovina along ethnic lines. They discuss the implications of the paper, reactions to it from Balkan and Western powers, and who might be responsible for writing it. 

Casey Chambers and Cole Davila discuss the recent COVID-19 surge in India with Eurasia Center intern Rishi Parikh. We discuss the specifics of the Indian situation as well as vaccine distribution globally. 

On May 23rd Belarus engaged in "state piracy" by seizing a Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius. Two of the passengers onboard, Roman Protasevich and Sofia Sapega were wanted by Belarus. Under the pretense of a false bomb threat attributed to Hamas, authorities forced the flight to land in Minsk and took the two. Casey, Cole, and Noah discuss the implications of this incident. 

Russia has recently undertaken a massive troop buildup on the border of Ukraine. This could be the prelude to invasion or simply a continued form of prodding the West. Casey and Nick discuss the implications of this further.