Toni Alaranta is a Senior Research Fellow in the European Union Research Programme at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA). His areas of expertise include Turkey’s domestic and foreign policies, in particular Turkey’s relations with the EU, the US and Russia. According to him, Ankara has the maximalist and the minimalist position toward the Finnish and Swedish NATO bid. We also talked a bit about Turkish domestic politics and about how President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been poisoning relations with the allies for over a decade. And does Turkey also have some justified demands related to Finland and Sweden's NATO applications? Listen to our conversation. And if enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak

We have started our conversation talking about Germany and about what German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is doing or not doing regarding Ukraine. But, and perhaps inevitably, we have moved our discussion to what is going on in America and what might happen. And the question is: Does Russian President Vladimir Putin only need to survive until Donald Trump will be back in the White House? At the annual GLOBSEC conference in Bratislava, I talked to Rachel Rizzo. She is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Europe Center where her research focuses on European security, NATO, and the transatlantic relationship. Listen to our conversation. And if enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak

Would Russia be willing to use nuclear weapons? And what about the West, especially the US? I talked to Alexander Bollfrass, a Senior Researcher at the Center for Security Studies (CSS) at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology - ETH Zurich. Why does he think that it seems that Russia makes a whole class of nuclear weapons exclusively for television? We also discuss if the risk of a nuclear incident is higher now and if we should get rid of nuclear weapons. Listen to our conversation. And if enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak

As CNN pointed out, it's the third time in recent months that American President Joe Biden has said the US would protect Taiwan from a Chinese attack, only to have the White House walk back those remarks. Over a few decades, the US has intentionally maintained a position characterized as strategic ambiguity when asked whether it would come to Taiwan’s defense in the event of an attack by China. But the fact is that the American President creates the debate as it seems he is clearer about US intentions in regard to Taiwan than his predecessors. Does Biden want to have Taiwan's cake but also eat it? Is everything somewhat the same, but different? But still the same? Of course, China reacted furiously to Biden's statements but it's pretty sure that Beijing has to take them into account when thinking about Taiwan. So what's going on? Would the US defend Taiwan militarily if China would attack? Are there some scenarios under which America wouldn't react? Those questions were answered by China watcher and publisher of the China Neican Adam Ni. We also discussed how Russia's war against Ukraine affects China and its plans related to Taiwan and how far would Beijing go to help Moscow. And is Chinese communist chief Xi Jinping nervous? Listen to our conversation. And if enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak

On May 14th, 18-year-old Payton Gendron killed 10 people and wounded three; 11 of the 13 shot were Black residents and the attack took place in a predominantly African American neighborhood in Buffalo. The far-right terrorist wrote a manifesto connected to the Great Replacement conspiracy theory and according to CNN just before the attack, he invited people to the chatroom at the messaging social platform Discord to discuss his act of racist violence. This chatroom included months of posts written by Gendron and the messages illustrated his white supremacist views and how he wanted to kill as many minority people as possible. But Gendron did not act in a vacuum. Is the far-right ecosystem hiding in plain sight in the US? And maybe not even hiding? I talked to Colin Clarke. He is a Senior Research Fellow at The Soufan Center and Director of Policy and Research at The Soufan Group, where his research focuses on domestic and transnational terrorism, international security, and geopolitics. We discussed the far-right movement in the US and beyond. But we also talked about guns and Tucker Carlson. Listen to our conversation. And if enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak

Should we call Russian President Vladimir Putin a war criminal? And what are the consequences of using such terminology? Are we witnessing genocide in Ukraine and does Putin talk about Ukrainians in genocidal terms? About this but also about much more, I talked to Paola Gaeta. She is a Professor of International Law at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. This podcast was recorded a few weeks ago but I do believe it's still very timely. Listen to our conversation. And if enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak

As many other journalists can attest, Maria Avdeeva is doing an excellent and brave job informing the world about what is going on in Kharkiv and Ukraine. I talked to her just before the Russian invasion, shortly after, and now again. Maria is a Research Director at the European Expert Association where she focuses on international security and combating hybrid threats and disinformations. "From the beginning of this stage of the Russian war, shelling continues every day," she said to me as we talked about life in Kharkiv under the shadow of war. But she believes that Russia will never get the city under control. This podcast was recorded on May 5th. Give Maria a follow on social media, support her, support Ukraine, and listen to our conversation. And if enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak 

Emmanuel Macron won the French presidential election as he received 58.5 percent of the vote in the run-off round against far-right candidate Marine Le Pen who was supported by 41.5 percent of voters. It was a hard-fought victory but the French president cannot sleep on laurels as the legislative election is swiftly approaching. What's Macron's vision for the next five years? Does he want to be the leader of the EU, and does he have a recipe for how to beat illiberals? I talked to Georgina Wright, a Senior Fellow, and Director of Institut Montaigne’s Europe Program. I also asked her if she thinks that Macron is arrogant. Listen to our conversation. And if enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. https://ko-fi.com/amatisak

How healthy or unhealthy is Russian President Vladimir Putin? Why is the Kremlin bragging about the nuclear arsenal? What led to Bucha and the other massacres by Russian soldiers in Ukraine? And does Putin think everything is fine and how delusional is he? About this and much more, I talked to Andrei Soldatov, a Russian investigative journalist, co-founder, and editor of Agentura.ru, a watchdog of the Russian secret services’ activities. He is also a nonresident Senior Fellow with the Center for European Policy (CEPA). Listen to our conversation.

"Germany lost its compass and is going through a soul searching." This is how Jörg Forbrig, a Senior Fellow from the German Marshall Fund and director for Central and Eastern Europe, assess Berlin's reaction to the Russian war against Ukraine. But he also emphasizes that there are things Germans got right and those should be acknowledged. So is Russia's war against Ukraine also Germany's fault and what can Berlin do about it? Will Germany provide more weapons to Ukraine? Where is ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel? And how quickly could Germany cut off the import of Russian gas? Listen to our conversation.