The first round of the presidential election in Czechia takes place on 13 and 14 January. There are three clear favorites for the run-off. Ex-Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, former rector of Mendel University in Brno Danuše Nerudová, and former Chair of the NATO Military Committee Petr Pavel. I talked to Seán Hanley, an Associate Professor in Comparative Central and East European Politics at the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies. We tried to assess what to expect from the presidential election and who might win this vote. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak

Russian President Vladimir Putin achieved less than nothing. This is how Tom Nichols assesses the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Tom is a staff writer at The Atlantic and Professor Emeritus of national-security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College, where he taught for 25 years. So is Putin the biggest loser of 2022? Are we witnessing Cold War 2.0? Read not just the latest Tom's book Our Own Worst Enemy: The Assault From Within on Modern Democracy and listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak

Maria Avdeeva is Ukrainian disinformation and security expert from Kharkiv. From the beginning of the large-scale Russian invasion she is trying to document what is going on. I talked to Maria jusť before the big aggression and also a few times in the past months. And while the situation is complicated, I'm glad that we had a chance to reconnect. The war is raging but it's also a bit of a Christmas episode. Because there is hope for Ukraine, there must be hope for Ukraine. Listen to our conversation and find out how did Maria prepare "Russian warship, go fuck yourself" gingerbread. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak

Every comparison is a problematic one, but it is also interesting to educationally speculate. I talked to Rory Truex, an Assistant Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University. His research focuses on Chinese politics and authoritarian systems. We also discussed one very hypothetical question. Would Xi Jinping attack Ukraine if he would rule Russia? What was Rory's answer? How does he assess China-Russia relations but also internal dynamics within the CCP? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak

The Russians themselves must conclude that the war against Ukraine was a mistake, a disaster. That's why they have to lose otherwise there will be another war. This is how Anne Applebaum sees the invasion. She is a staff writer for The Atlantic and a Pulitzer-prize winning historian. She is also a Senior Fellow at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Anne's latest book is The Twilight of Democracy. But in fact, she doesn't need much of an introduction and I'm glad that we were able to arrange this conversation. We also discussed what would happen if Russian President Vladimir Putin would disappear and what to do about Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak

What kind of weapons does Ukraine need to keep the momentum on the battlefield? What is the prospect of some negotiations with Russia? Will and should Ukraine continue to strike targets inside Russia? About this and much more, I talked to Toms Rostoks, an Associate Professor in International Relations at the University of Latvia and Senior Researcher at the Centre for Security and Strategic Research at the National Defence Academy. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak

The current protests in China against the zero covid policy will be squashed. This is what I think, but more importantly, this is also what Lawrence C. Reardon thinks. Because he definitely knows China. Chris, as I know him, is a Professor of Political Science at New Hampshire University and a research associate at Harvard University's Fairbank Center. But while he suggests that demonstrations will be suppressed, it doesn't mean that the Chinese communist regime is totally safe. Why? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak

Does the football World Cup in Qatar deserve so much criticism? Is it somewhat illegitimate? And what about the beer for fans? I talked to Arash Azizi, a scholar and the PhD candidate in history at New York University (NYU). He researches the history of socialist and Islamist movements in Iran and the Arab world.  But we didn't discuss just Qatar and football. We also debated how he sees the future of the revolutionary movement in Iran.  Arash is the author of the book - The Shadow Commander: Soleimani, the US and Iran’s Global Ambitions. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak

Jennifer Mercieca was right. She is Professor in the Department of Communication and Journalism at Texas A&M University and an author of the book Demagogue for President: The Rhetorical Genius of Donald Trump. We recorded this podcast one day before Donald Trump's presidential announcement and Jennifer was pretty sure, as you can listen, how this ends up. We discussed what's next for Trump, and for Ron DeSantis or Joe Biden. And also what's next for American democracy. The midterm elections showed it might be less fragile than we thought. But... Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak

Julian Ringhof is a policy fellow with the European Power program at the European Council on Foreign Relations. His research focuses on the implications of digital and emerging technologies for international affairs. He just published an article titled The age of ego-politics: Elon Musk and the power of the tech giants. With that in mind, I thought that it would be interesting to interview Julian and I think that our conversation doesn't disappoint. We talked about Elon Musk and Ukraine and Starlink. About Elon Musk and Twitter. And also about Elon Musk and his visions. Should we be afraid of the intentions of the richest person in the world? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak