In this episode, Adam Reichardt sits down with Harvard University’s George Soroka to discuss the political, geopolitical and also spiritual implications of the granting of Autocephaly to the newly created Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
George Soroka is a lecturer in the Department of Government at Harvard University, where he is also affiliated with the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, and the Institute for Quantitative Social Science.
Resources:
“A house divided. Orthodoxy in post-Maidan Ukraine” by George Soroka. Published in New Eastern Europe issue 3-4/2019
“Poroshenko has achieved a second independence from Russia” by Taras Kuzio. New Eastern Europe 15 October 2018
Ongoing coverage of Ukraine’s presidential election:  http://neweasterneurope.eu/category/ukraine-elections-2019/
Music featured in the podcast:
Opening theme: Sum of My Fears by Dazie Mae:  http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Dazie_Mae/Last_Jazz_in_Paris/03-1518107-Dazie_Mae-Sum_of_My_Fears
Liturgy of the Faithful / Ukrainian Orthodox chant

In this episode of the Talk Eastern Europe podcast, co-hosts Maciek Makulski and Adam Reichardt give a preview of the upcoming presidential elections in Ukraine; discuss the tragic events in Gdańsk with the murder of the mayor Paweł Adamowicz; and go through the newest issue of New Eastern Europe magazine which focuses on public intellectuals and their role in Central and Eastern Europe today.
 
Highlights
1.30: Ukraine presidential elections preview
7.00: Discussion of the murder of the Gdańsk Mayor Paweł Adamowicz
14.00: Public intellectuals and the new issue of New Eastern Europe
 
Show notes and links
Ukraine elections coverage: http://neweasterneurope.eu/category/ukraine-elections-2019/
“Local governments are the foundation of democracy” A conversation from 2016 with Paweł Adamowicz (the late mayor of Gdańsk): http://neweasterneurope.eu/2019/01/15/local-governments-are-the-foundation-of-democracy/
“Pawel Adamowicz: Gdansk mayor and standard-bearer for civil rights and liberal values in Poland” Adam Reichardt’s obituary in The Independent: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/pawel-adamowicz-death-gdansk-poland-mayor-civil-rights-liberal-values-a8740886.html
Issue 1/2019: Public intellectuals. What is their place, role and responsibility today? http://neweasterneurope.eu/2019/01/02/issue-1-2019-public-intellectuals-place-role-responsibility-today/
“Where there is word, there is responsibility for mankind” .A conversation with Basil Kerski, director of the European Solidarity Centre in Gdańsk. http://neweasterneurope.eu/2019/01/02/word-responsibility-mankind/
“The dramatic turn of political discourse in Romania” By Paul Gabriel Sandu: http://neweasterneurope.eu/2019/01/02/dramatic-turn-political-discourse-romania/
 
Music featured in the podcast licensed under the Creative Commons license 3.0
Opening theme: Sum of My Fears by Dazie Mae: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Dazie_Mae/Last_Jazz_in_Paris/03-1518107-Dazie_Mae-Sum_of_My_Fears
Railroad's Whiskey Co by Jahzzar: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jahzzar/Home/Railroads_Whiskey_Co

This episode looks at Estonian politics as well as gives an idea about the situation related to the Russian minority in the Baltic States with a particular focus on Estonia where parliamentary elections will be held in March 2019. The background for our discussion will be a conversation between Filip Rudnik, a Polish journalist, and Kristina Kallas, leader of a new political party called Eesti 200.
 
Highlights:
04.25: Eesti 200 – what does it stand for?
12.02: Discussion about EKRE and populism in Estonia
20:57: Eesti 200 education proposals and how to deal with Russian minority issue
 
Music featured in the podcast licensed under the Creative Commons license 3.0
Opening theme: “Sum of My Fears” by Dazie Mae: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Dazie_Mae/Last_Jazz_in_Paris/03-1518107-Dazie_Mae-Sum_of_My_Fears
Also in the podcast: “Thatched Villagers” by Kevin MacLeod
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Kevin_MacLeod/Thatched_Villagers/Thatched_Villagers

In this episode hosts Maciek Makulski and Adam Reichardt look at some current developments in the region. Maksym Khylko, chairman of the board at the East European Security Research Initiative Foundation and Senior Research Fellow at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, provides his commentary on the situation with the Russian capture of three Ukrainian vessels and the imposition of Martial Law in Ukraine.  Maciek Makulski looks at the newest book on Transnistrian identity by Piotr Oleksty – a Polish expert. Adam Reichardt then interviews Oleksy, about the current political developments in Moldova and they discuss his new book.
Read the article “Old Moldova in New Europe” online: http://neweasterneurope.eu/2018/11/05/old-moldova-new-europe/
 
Highlights:
04.23 Commentary by Maksym Khylko on Russian attack on Ukrainian naval vessels in Kerch strait
12.10 – interview with Piotr Oleksy author of “Old Moldova in New Europe” and the recent book Naddniestrze. Terror tożsamości
 
Music featured in the podcast licensed under the Creative Commons license 3.0
Opening theme: Sum of My Fears by Dazie Mae: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Dazie_Mae/Last_Jazz_in_Paris/03-1518107-Dazie_Mae-Sum_of_My_Fears
Also in this podcast:
Dark Water by Podington Bear: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Podington_Bear/Fathomless_-_Ambient/Dark_Water
Swing Gitane by The Underscore Orkestra: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/The_Underscore_Orkestra/The_ExtraOrdinary_Adventures_of/06_Swing_Gitane
 
Subscribe to the New Eastern Europe magazine 

In this episode, co-hosts Maciek Makulski and Adam Reichardt discuss the newest issue of New Eastern Europe which has the theme of 1918 and memory of the end of the First World War from the Eastern European perspective. The hosts also discuss other threads in the issue including some interesting pieces on social and economic developments in Russia as well as a discussion on Belarus in the eyes of its neighbours.
 
Resources:
New Eastern Europe issue 6/2018: http://neweasterneurope.eu/2018/11/05/issue-6-2018-1918-year-independence/
“The decline of the West and the joy in the East” - Interview with Andrzej Chwalba, Polish historian: http://neweasterneurope.eu/2018/11/05/decline-west-joy-east/
“1918 – A geopolitical catastrophe for Ukraine”. By Yaroslav Hrytsak: http://neweasterneurope.eu/2018/11/05/1918-geopolitical-catastrophe-ukraine/
“Is the blockchain revolution starting in Russia?” By Agnieszka Pikulicka-Wilczewska: http://neweasterneurope.eu/2018/11/05/blockchain-revolution-starting-russia/

In the first episode of Talk Eastern Europe, co-hosts Adam Reichardt and Maciek Makulski open the podcast with a discussion on current issues in the Baltic states and how literature can give a view into a nation's identity. Adam Reichardt interviews Inga Žolude - a Latvian writer and winner of the European Union Prize for Literature in 2011.
Resources:
Inga Žolude at Latvia Literature: http://www.latvianliterature.lv/en/writers/20
European Union Prize for Literature 2011: http://www.euprizeliterature.eu/author/2011/inga-zolude
New Eastern Europe: www.neweasterneurope.eu