This week Latika Takes: The Podcast is at the Yerevan Dialogue in Yerevan, Armenia.

Latika’s guest is Armenia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Robert Abisoghomonyan. Mr Absioghomonyan discusses the transformation in Armenia, a post-Soviet state, that is underway, with a societal push to seek EU membership.

This week, Armenia hosted the European Political Community to which Canada’s Mark Carney and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky were also invited, in a show of the EU’s pulling power.

Armenia also hosted the EU-Armenia summit aimed at deepening ties between the tiny country and the 27-member bloc, which many countries are trying to join.

Latika and Robert discuss how Russia’s failure to come to Armenia’s aid under it’s military alliance obligations when Azerbaijan seized Nagorno-Karabakh in 2023.

They also discuss the true viability of EU membership for Armenia, Yerevan’s special relationship with the Iranian regime, and the delicate balancing act the country's government is playing as it heads to elections next month, battling Russian interference.

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This week Latika Takes: The Podcast is in Greece at the Delphi Economic Forum.

Latika’s guest is Carla Sands, who served as Donald Trump’s Ambassador to Denmark during his first Presidential term.

Carla Sands discusses NATO, why Article 5 is no longer considered iron-clad by MAGA and will change post-Trump.

Carla Sands also discusses President Trump’s comments disparaging allied war dead in Afghanistan and what Australia can do to be a model ally.

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This week Latika Takes: The Podcast is in London and is joined by the UK’s former Defence Secretary Michael Fallon.

Sir Michael served as Defence Secretary between 2014 and 2017 and during part of President Donald Trump’s first term.

He discusses why the UK, NATO and Indo-Pacific allies, including Australia should have supported the US war in Iran.

Sir Michael also discusses the UK’s defence spending and the likelihood of the UK delivering on AUKUS.

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This week Latika Takes: The Podcast interviews Greg Grandin, author of America, América.

Grandin discusses his book and the creation of the Monroe Doctrine, now adopted by President Donald Trump and many presidents before him.

Grandin discusses how America’s relationship with Latin America and Europe created the Doctrine and set in place the US’s modern foreign policy.

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This week Latika Takes: The Podcast welcomes back Estonia’s Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna, who is travelling to Australia this week.

The Estonian Foreign Minister sets out why he supports the US and Israel’s war against Iran, but won’t be involved.

He expresses unhappiness with the Trump Administration’s oil reprieve granted to Vladimir Putin in spite of the Russian President’s continued war in Ukraine.

They discuss the validity of the Coalition of the Willing deploying in Ukraine. And Mr Tsahkna discusses his conversation with China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi about ending the war in Ukraine.

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This week, Latika Takes: The Podcast is in Kyiv, Ukraine, marking the fourth anniversary of Vladimir Putin’s illegal full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Latika interviews ‘Bambi,’ a 20-year-old American who gave up his life in Georgia, US to fight for Ukraine. The pair sit down in Kyiv just hours before Bambi left to return to the Donbas, where he is fighting for Ukraine in the sensitive area of Pokrovsk, a city the Russians have all but taken, but at huge cost and after more than a year.

Bambi discusses the futility of hashtagging beliefs and causes versus actions and his views on the global rules.

He reveals what it’s like to live underground in a two-by-three metre hole for two straight months and hunt down Russians using drones.

He discusses how he survives communicating with Ukrainians who don’t speak English, the ethics of killing using drones, and watching his fellow fighters die.

Bambi has asked if I can include a PayPal link to donate to his unit. I am more than happy to do this. Ukraine suffers from not being able to mobilise as many men as Russia or pay them enough. Russia uses mercenaries, foreigners and pays huge sums to get men to the frontline where it outmasses Ukraine. Please consider donating to Bambi’s unit here.

Latika Takes in Ukraine is entirely self-funded. Please consider contributing towards this work if you find it informative.

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This week Latika Takes: The Podcast is in the Black Sea city of Odesa, Ukraine. The city is covered in ice and snow, a sight not seen by locals for around a decade, reflecting the brutally cold war winter that Ukrainians have endured.

In Kyiv, temperatures have dropped to minus 20 degrees Celsius, at the same time, Russia’s Vladimir Putin has deliberately attacked energy infrastructure.

Ahead of the fourth anniversary of the full-scale invasion, Latika M Bourke sits down with the high-profile opposition MP Oleksii Goncharenko, who is a prominent critic of Ukraine’s wartime President Volodmyr Zelenskyy.

Mr Goncharenko discusses Ukraine’s exhaustion and the viability of continuing the war for another winter, the corruption scandals around Zelenskyy, and the security guarantees Europe and the US can provide Ukraine.

This interview refers to a range of articles and ideas that Latika Takes has previously covered and discussed, which I’ve linked below for your ease:

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This week Latika Takes: The Podcast is at the Munich Security Conference in Bavaria, Germany.

Latika interviews Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles about his debut appearance at Europe’s largest security and defence conference in Munich, Germany.

Mr Marles discusses the future of the war in Ukraine, why rules still matter in the global order and China’s military build-up.

He gives his reaction to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s address to the MSC and his views on the health of the transatlantic alliance.

And he shares the details of the gift given to him by his new running mate, Japan’s Defence Minister Shinjirō Koizumi.

The panels discussed in this podcast can be found here.

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This week Latika Takes: The Podcast is in Washington DC and interviews the former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence Jim Townsend.

Mr Townsend, now at the Centre of New American Security, completed more than two decades of work on European and NATO policy in the Pentagon, at NATO and at the Atlantic Council. His work spanned the Cold War, post-Cold War political reconstruction in Europe and Europe's new challenges including Russia and terrorism.

Latika and Jim discuss US President Donald Trump’s approach towards NATO and the Alliance’s worst day after the threat to invade Greenland.

He also discusses the activation of Article 5 and the effect of Trump’s traducing of Allied war dead in Afghanistan on future NATO and Allied military missions.

Mr Townsend warns that Russia is poised to come back from its war in Ukraine stronger than ever and that Europe could return to its pre-World War state if NATO collapses because of a loss in US leadership.

And he discusses whether NATO boss Mark Rutte is too fawning over Mr Trump.

Jim Townsend also podcasts on the transatlantic alliance at Brussels Sprouts.

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This week Latika Takes: The Podcast interviews ARSEN OSTROVSKY who was shot during the Bondi terror attack at Bondi Beach on December 14.

An international human rights lawyer, Ostrovsky relocated back to Australia just 2.5 weeks before the attack, to take up a position as Head of Sydney Office of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council, a leading Jewish communal advocacy organisation.

In this interview, Arsen Ostrovsky discusses being shot in the Hannukah attack and the ten minutes between being hit and finding out this his wife and two young girls were safe.

He took this photo to see his injuries and sent it to his wife not knowing if this would be his last message to her.

Mr Ostrovsky is now among the many campaigners pushing for a federal Royal Commission into antisemitism, something the Labor Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is resisting.

He also discusses the fake images of him that went viral after the attack, which used AI to generate images of him depicting him having fake blood applied by make-up artists.

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This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.latikambourke.com/subscribe