The Slavic Connexion

Peter Pomerantsev is a Visiting Senior Fellow at the Institute of Global Affairs at the London School of Economics, an author and TV producer. He specialises on propaganda and media development, and has testified on the challenges of information war to the US House Foreign Affairs Committee, US Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the UK Parliament Defense Select Committee.

He writes for publications including the Financial Times, London Review of Books, Politico, Atlantic and many others. His book on Russian propaganda, Nothing is True and Everything is Possible, won the 2016 Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize, was nominated for the Samuel Johnson, Guardian First Book, Pushkin House and Gordon Burns Prizes. It is translated into over a dozen languages.

His next book, THIS IS NOT PROPAGANDA: ADVENTURES IN THE WAR AGAINST REALITY, which looks at developments in the 'battle for hearts and minds' across the world, will debut in hardcover August 2019.

Thanks for listening.

Recorded Live at the Glickman Conference Center at the University of Texas at Austin on April 25th, 2019.

www.slavxradio.com

Associate Producer: Tom Rehnquist

Please note: The views expressed by Info Wars speakers are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of The Slavic Connexion; the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies; or the University of Texas at Austin.

Special Guest: Peter Pomerantsev.

Dr. Denis Stukal is a postdoctoral researcher with SMaPP. He is doing research in the fields of Comparative Politics and Political Methodology. His primary focus is the use of machine learning techniques to study political misinformation in post-communist countries (especially, in Russia).

Recorded Live at the Glickman Conference Center at the University of Texas at Austin on April 25th, 2019.

www.slavxradio.com

Associate Producer: Tom Rehnquist

Please note: The views expressed by Info Wars speakers are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of The Slavic Connexion; the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies; or the University of Texas at Austin.

Special Guest: Denis Stukal.

Dr. Joshua Tucker, director of NYU's Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia, presents his most recent research at the 2019 Trust Me: Information Wars symposium, which was made possible by the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies in collaboration with the Intelligence Studies Project (ISP).

Follow Dr. Tucker on Twitter: @j_a_tucker

Thanks for listening!

Recorded Live at the Glickman Conference Center at the University of Texas at Austin on April 25th, 2019.

www.slavxradio.com

Associate Producer: Tom Rehnquist

Please note: The views expressed by Info Wars speakers are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of The Slavic Connexion; the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies; or the University of Texas at Austin.

Special Guest: Joshua Tucker.

As a kickoff to the Information Wars Social Media Conference here at the University of Texas today, we are releasing this episode featuring one of UT's own speakers, Dr. Kiril Avramov who is not only brilliant but one of the most caring and engaging educators on these Forty Acres!

Dr. Avramov was until December 2017 the Acting Vice-Rector for International Relations and Research at the New Bulgarian University (NBU) in Sofia, Bulgaria and an Assistant Professor of Political Science at NBU. He studied previously at Gustavus Adolphus College (USA/MN), the University of Aberdeen (Scotland), University of Sofia (Bulgaria), Central European University (Hungary), and NBU. He taught in the Department of Political Science at the University of Sofia until 2005 and, from 2006-2010, was also the Director of the international consultancy and research institute “Political Capital” in Bulgaria. In 2010, he was appointed as the Director for International Relations of Political Capital at the firm’s headquarters in Budapest.

Dr. Avramov’s main research interests are information warfare, psychological operations and mass cognitive hacking, as well as the “weaponization of information” and their respective application and effects on individual and group decision-making processes in the Central and Eastern Europe and MENA regions. Additional areas of interest include political elites’ and non-elites’ decision-making resilience mechanisms and radicalization in post-transition democracies during identified active “psyops” and third party information operations.

BOOK RECOMMENDATION:

Note: Dr. Kiril Avramov appears courtesy of the Intelligence Studies Project, a joint endeavor of the Clements Center for National Security and the Strauss Center for International Security and Law at the University of Texas at Austin.

Producer's Note: This episode was recorded on April 12th, 2019, therefore the Ukrainian presidential election had not occurred yet, deeming Volodymyr Zelensky as the uncontested winner.

CREDITS

Follow The Slavic Connexion on Instagram: @slavxradio, Twitter: @SlavXRadio, and on Facebook: facebook.com/slavxradio .

Check out our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDqMRKmAtJRxBVxFTI82pgg

Thanks for listening and please don't forget to subscribe!!

Special Guest: Kiril Avramov.

Our host Matt visits with special guest and East Asia expert Dr. Artyom Lukin about Russian geopolitics in the Asia-Pacific region. Этот эпизод на русском языке.

Dr. Artyom Lukin is the deputy director for Research at the School of Regional and International Studies and associate professor at Far Eastern Federal University in Vladivostok, Russia. Dr. Lukin earned his PhD in Political Science from Far Eastern State University in 2002. In addition to his academic career, he worked as a public relations officer for the city of Vladivostok from 1998 to 2002 and at Dalenergo, the largest energy utility company in Russia’s Far East, from 2002–2007. He has authored numerous chapters, papers and op-eds, in Russian and English, on Asia-Pacific international politics and Russia’s engagement with Asia. Russia’s Far East: New Dynamics in Asia Pacific and Beyond, Lynne Rienner, (2015). Artyom Lukin’s research interests include international relations and security in the Asia-Pacific and Northeast Asia, Russian foreign policy, Russia’s engagement with the Asia-Pacific, and social, political and economic processes in the Russian Far East. Lukin has authored and co-authored multiple scholarly publications in Russian and English. He has been involved in numerous research and publication projects both in Russia and abroad. Artyom Lukin is an expert with the Russian International Affairs Council and he serves as a regular commentator for Russian and international news media.

Connect with Dr. Lukin on Twitter: @ArtyomLukin and via email: [email protected]

Dr. Lukin appears on this show courtesy of the Kozmetsky Center at St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas. Special thanks to Dr. Sharyl Cross and Joseph Sadek for bringing Dr. Lukin in from Russia and sharing him with The Slavic Connexion!

CREDITS

Follow The Slavic Connexion on Instagram: @slavxradio, Twitter: @SlavXRadio, and on Facebook: facebook.com/slavxradio .

Check out our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDqMRKmAtJRxBVxFTI82pgg

Thanks for listening and please don't forget to subscribe!!

Special Guest: Artyom Lukin (Артём Лукин).

"In Russia, we don't see North Korea as a threat," says Dr. Artyom Lukin, an expert on Russian foreign policy in the Asia-Pacific region. A contributing writer to Washington Post, Huffington Post, and more, Dr. Lukin clears up American misconceptions in the Far East and gives us some uniquely Russian insight and perspective.

Dr. Artyom Lukin is the deputy director for Research at the School of Regional and International Studies and associate professor at Far Eastern Federal University in Vladivostok, Russia. Dr. Lukin earned his PhD in Political Science from Far Eastern State University in 2002. In addition to his academic career, he worked as a public relations officer for the city of Vladivostok from 1998 to 2002 and at Dalenergo, the largest energy utility company in Russia’s Far East, from 2002–2007. He has authored numerous chapters, papers and op-eds, in Russian and English, on Asia-Pacific international politics and Russia’s engagement with Asia. Russia’s Far East: New Dynamics in Asia Pacific and Beyond, Lynne Rienner, (2015). Artyom Lukin’s research interests include international relations and security in the Asia-Pacific and Northeast Asia, Russian foreign policy, Russia’s engagement with the Asia-Pacific, and social, political and economic processes in the Russian Far East. Lukin has authored and co-authored multiple scholarly publications in Russian and English. He has been involved in numerous research and publication projects both in Russia and abroad. Artyom Lukin is an expert with the Russian International Affairs Council and he serves as a regular commentator for Russian and international news media.

Connect with Dr. Lukin on Twitter: @ArtyomLukin and via email: [email protected]

Dr. Lukin appears on this show courtesy of the Kozmetsky Center at St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas. Special thanks to Dr. Sharyl Cross and Joseph Sadek for bringing Dr. Lukin in from Russia and sharing him with The Slavic Connexion!

CREDITS

Follow The Slavic Connexion on Instagram: @slavxradio, Twitter: @SlavXRadio, and on Facebook: facebook.com/slavxradio .

Check out our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDqMRKmAtJRxBVxFTI82pgg

Thanks for listening and please don't forget to subscribe!!

Special Guest: Artyom Lukin (Артём Лукин).

The future Dr. Ashlyn Hand dialogues with Matt about the super fun topic of religious freedom in U.S. foreign policy and the specific case of post-USSR Uzbekistan. And she says nobody wants her at the dinner table...

About the Guest:

BOOK MENTIONED

CREDITS

Follow The Slavic Connexion on Instagram: @slavxradio, Twitter: @SlavXRadio, and on Facebook: facebook.com/slavxradio .

Thanks for listening and please don't forget to subscribe!!

Special Guest: Ashlyn Hand.

On this episode, Tom hosts half-Russian graduate student Lucia Winkeler as they talk all things Caucasus and how many times she has to explain to people that it's not Czechia, it's CHECHNYA as in the First and Second Chechen Wars. Lucia is a dual-degree CREEES and LBJ Global Policy Studies graduate student who is primarily focusing her research on female terrorists originating in the North Caucasus region. She is a graduate of Texas A&M University and is fluent in Russian with a working proficiency in Spanish.

EDITOR'S CORRECTION: The man in charge of the 2002 Moscow Dubrovka theatre crisis was in fact Movsar Buharovich Barayev, and not (as named in the episode) Shamil Basayev who was actually leader of another operation in 2004 as our guest Lucia pointed out, the Belsan school crisis which was not in Moscow. Our sincere apologies to our listeners for the error.

BOOK MENTIONED

CREDITS

Follow The Slavic Connexion on Instagram: @slavxradio, Twitter: @SlavXRadio, and on Facebook: facebook.com/slavxradio .

Thanks for listening and please don't forget to subscribe!!

Special Guest: Lucia Winkeler.

In this episode Matt and Tom discuss everything you probably NEVER wanted to know about Alexander Dugin. But who is Dugin and what does he want? Wikipedia says simply "[he] is a Russian political analyst and strategist known for his fascist views." High commendation, indeed. But Dugin and his concept of Eurasianism is far too complicated for us in general. However, Tom could write a book about this subject... and he probably will, so this ought to be interesting.

Books mentioned:

1) (Recommended read!) Masha Gessen - THE FUTURE IS HISTORY https://www.amazon.com/Future-History-Totalitarianism-Reclaimed-Russia/dp/159463453X/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=the+future+is+history&qid=1555029233&s=gateway&sr=8-1

And for a "fun" deep-dive into Eurasianism, Marlene Laruelle's RUSSIAN EURASIANISM: AN IDEOLOGY OF EMPIRE ought to cover the concept in full: https://www.amazon.com/Russian-Eurasianism-Ideology-Marlène-Laruelle/dp/1421405768/ref=sxbs_sxwds-stvp?pd_rd_i=1421405768&pd_rd_r=f8eb50e2-6b3c-4149-accf-390e012bf7f3&pd_rd_w=wGIv8&pd_rd_wg=eDgg7&pf_rd_p=5c5ea0d7-2437-4d8a-88a7-ea6f32aeac11&pf_rd_r=XRP5TC55RSVK141V5QZF&qid=1555029573&refinements=p_27%3AA.+Dugin&s=books&text=A.+Dugin

CREDITS

Follow The Slavic Connexion on Instagram: @slavxradio, Twitter: @SlavXRadio, and on Facebook: facebook.com/slavxradio .

Thanks for listening and please don't forget to subscribe!!

For more information on Seva Novgorodsev (DJ with the BBC Russian Service), visit his website www.seva.ru.

Watch the interview on our YouTube channel with English subtitles:

CREDITS

Co-Producer: Tom Rehnquist (Connect: facebook.com/thomas.rehnquist)

Music/Sound Design: Charlie Harper (Connect: facebook.com/charlie.harper.1485 Instagram: @charlieharpermusic www.charlieharpermusic.com)

Associate Producer: Sergey Pantsirev

Exec Producer & Creator: Michelle Daniel (Connect: facebook.com/mdanielgeraci Instagram: @michelledaniel86)

Follow The Slavic Connexion on Instagram: @slavxradio and on

Thanks for listening and please don't forget to subscribe!!

Special Guest: Seva Novgorodsev (Сева Новгородцев).