The Slavic Connexion

Returning guest, Alex Kokcharov, joins us from London to share his personal views and stories on the war in Ukraine. He talks of the stark informational divides that have arisen between Russia and the West, wherein even family on both sides of the Ukraine-Russia border cannot agree on what is happening in this conflict or why. Putin's Propaganda machine "brainwashes" Russian people outside of Moscow and St. Petersburg that even those with family in the midst of shelling in Russian-speaking cities like Mariupol do not believe that Russia is at all responsible. Follow Mr. Kokcharov on Twitter: @AlexKokcharov .

If you would like to make a donation to help the people of Ukraine, we highly recommend the Ukraine Relief Network, providing essential and immediate help to war refugees on the ground. Check out http://www.ukrainereliefnetwork.org/.

PRODUCER'S NOTE: This episode was recorded on March 5, 2022 via Zoom. Mr. Kokcharov appears here in a personal capacity, speaking to his own views, experiences, and connections.

If you have questions, comments, or would like to be a guest on the show, please email [email protected] and we will be in touch!

CREEES STATEMENT OF SOLIDARITY

CREDITS

Music Producer: Charlie Harper (Connect: facebook.com/charlie.harper.1485 Instagram: @charlieharpermusic) www.charlieharpermusic.com (Main Theme by Charlie Harper and additional background music by )

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

DISCLAIMER: Texas Podcast Network is brought to you by The University of Texas at Austin. Podcasts are produced by faculty members and staffers at UT Austin who work with University Communications to craft content that adheres to journalistic best practices. The University of Texas at Austin offers these podcasts at no charge. Podcasts appearing on the network and this webpage represent the views of the hosts, not of The University of Texas at Austin.

Special Guest: Alex Kokcharov.

With the unconscionable Russian invasion of Ukraine ordered by Russian president Vladimir Putin, we will be focusing the next several episodes on Ukraine. These episodes will aim to provide our global listeners, who are seeking to inform themselves truthfully about the war, with background, context, analyses, and historical appreciation of this country and why the world absolutely must care and must combat Putin's revisionist and disinformationist campaigns.

On this episode, the first of our Ukraine-focused series, returning guest Dr. David Marples, professor of history at the University of Alberta, graciously joins us to help unpack, if not understand, Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine by providing a basic yet thorough overview of the conflict's history. Visit slavxradio.com/ukraine for a list of trusted organizations addressing this humanitarian crisis. We highly recommend the Ukraine Relief Network, providing essential and immediate help to war refugees on the ground. Check out http://www.ukrainereliefnetwork.org/.

ABOUT THE GUEST

PRODUCER'S NOTE: This episode was recorded on March 3rd, 2022 via Zoom.

CREDITS

Music Producer: Charlie Harper (Connect: facebook.com/charlie.harper.1485 Instagram: @charlieharpermusic) www.charlieharpermusic.com (Special Episode Theme by Charlie Harper and additional background music by Charlie Harper, Ketsa, Polkavant)

Executive Producer & Creator: Michelle Daniel (Connect: facebook.com/mdanielgeraci)

DISCLAIMER: Texas Podcast Network is brought to you by The University of Texas at Austin. Podcasts are produced by faculty members and staffers at UT Austin who work with University Communications to craft content that adheres to journalistic best practices. The University of Texas at Austin offers these podcasts at no charge. Podcasts appearing on the network and this webpage represent the views of the hosts, not of The University of Texas at Austin.

Special Guest: David R. Marples.

В этом выпуске Лера и Миша берут интервью у известного российского оппозиционного политика, историка, и публициста Владимира Кара-Мурзы. Они обсуждают перспективы российской оппозиции на ближайшие годы, состояние гражданского общества в России, положение оппозиционной прессы в России, преследование про-демократических активистов и постепенную, но плавную смену риторики президента Путина в отношении демократии и сменяемости власти в Российской Федерации. Мы искренне надеемся что вам понравится! Желаем приятного прослушивания!

ABOUT THE GUEST

For the English version of his interview please see here: https://www.slavxradio.com/kara-murza

PRODUCER'S NOTE: This episode was recorded on February 9th, 2022 at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin.

If you have questions, comments, or would like to be a guest on the show, please email [email protected] and we will be in touch!

CREDITS

Music Producer: Charlie Harper (Connect: facebook.com/charlie.harper.1485 Instagram: @charlieharpermusic) www.charlieharpermusic.com (Main Theme by Charlie Harper and additional background music by Uncan, Ketsa, Holizna)

Executive Producer & Creator: Michelle Daniel

DISCLAIMER: Texas Podcast Network is brought to you by The University of Texas at Austin. Podcasts are produced by faculty members and staffers at UT Austin who work with University Communications to craft content that adheres to journalistic best practices. The University of Texas at Austin offers these podcasts at no charge. Podcasts appearing on the network and this webpage represent the views of the hosts, not of The University of Texas at Austin.

Special Guest: Vladimir Kara-Murza.

On this special episode, we had the opportunity to speak with Russian opposition leader Vladimir Kara-Murza during his visit to The University of Texas at Austin. Mr. Kara-Murza provides insight into the Russian dissident movement today, perspective on Mr. Putin and US-Russian relations over the last two decades, and personal reflections on the life and legacy of Boris Nemtsov before and after his assassination on February 27, 2015. We hope you enjoy!

ABOUT THE GUEST

If you have questions, comments, or would like to be a guest on the show, please email [email protected] and we will be in touch!

CREDITS

Music Producer: Charlie Harper (Connect: facebook.com/charlie.harper.1485 Instagram: @charlieharpermusic) www.charlieharpermusic.com (Main Theme by Charlie Harper and additional background music by Strobotone, Ketsa, Shaolin Dub, Jaco Pastorius, Polkavant)

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

DISCLAIMER: Texas Podcast Network is brought to you by The University of Texas at Austin. Podcasts are produced by faculty members and staffers at UT Austin who work with University Communications to craft content that adheres to journalistic best practices. The University of Texas at Austin offers these podcasts at no charge. Podcasts appearing on the network and this webpage represent the views of the hosts, not of The University of Texas at Austin.

Special Guest: Vladimir Kara-Murza.

On this episode, Lera and our new host Misha speak with travel writer and journalist Mark Baker based in Prague. They discuss how he went from writing for the likes of Bloomberg and working for Radio Free Europe to researching and creating travel books for Lonely Planet and others. Mark Baker expounds on his latest book, not a travel guide but a memoir, which covers his amazing stories and experiences in Prague in the decade following the Cold War. We hope you enjoy!

ABOUT THE GUEST

(Photo credit: Mark Baker)

NEW EPISODE with journalist and travel writer Mark Baker who talks about his personal journey and epic adventures in Prague during a time of transformation at the end of the Cold War and after. Take a listen!https://t.co/Bot1WGkKeo@earlportion @MSimanovskyy @markbakerprague pic.twitter.com/qTzoFWl1U7

PRODUCER'S NOTE: This episode was recorded on October 29th, 2021 via Zoom.

If you have questions, comments, or would like to be a guest on the show, please email [email protected] and we will be in touch!

CREDITS

Music Producer: Charlie Harper (Connect: facebook.com/charlie.harper.1485 Instagram: @charlieharpermusic) www.charlieharpermusic.com (Main theme by Charlie Harper and additional background music by Ketsa, Dlay, Anthem of Rain, Makaih Beats, Antony Raijekov, Shaolin Dub)

Executive Producer & Creator: Michelle Daniel (Connect: facebook.com/mdanielgeraci www.msdaniel.com)

DISCLAIMER: Texas Podcast Network is brought to you by The University of Texas at Austin. Podcasts are produced by faculty members and staffers at UT Austin who work with University Communications to craft content that adheres to journalistic best practices. The University of Texas at Austin offers these podcasts at no charge. Podcasts appearing on the network and this webpage represent the views of the hosts, not of The University of Texas at Austin.

Special Guest: Mark Baker.

Sergey Radchenko, a prolific historian with a multifaceted background and perspective, regales us on many topics from Cold War history to the current sitaution with Russia and Ukraine and Moscow's continued pursuit of legitimacy on the global stage. On a personal note, he shares about his time as an exchange student in Hong Kong and expounds on what it was like living in Mongolia while finishing his PhD with the London School of Economics.

Dr. Radchenko questions Russia's continual status as the "Bear in the woods," saying it doesn't have to be this way while providing perspective on NATO's relationship with the USSR. He tackles the topic of sanctions and explains why they are helpful, or at least preferable to war, and if they do, in fact, work. He persuasively argues that Russia is a huge issue that must be taken seriously by the West though not quite through military means. A better US foreign policy towards Russia would include (1) engagement, (2) focus on strategic dialogue, (3) efforts to revive people-to-people contact, and (4) efforts to reopen consular sections, all of which he holds is important for the future of relations between the West and Russia and "for the future of the world." Take a listen!

ABOUT THE GUEST

NEW EPISODE ALERT! We had the pleasure of talking with historian @DrRadchenko who lends us his expertise on Soviet/Russia-China relations, the current Ukraine crisis, and the ongoing conflict between NATO and Russia. Take a listen! @SAISHopkins https://t.co/hvBNJW9dXl pic.twitter.com/JYqGaKd6LJ

PRODUCER'S NOTE: This episode was recorded on January 10th, 2022 via Zoom.

CREDITS

Music Producer: Charlie Harper (Connect: facebook.com/charlie.harper.1485 Instagram: @charlieharpermusic) www.charlieharpermusic.com (Main Theme by Charlie Harper and additional background music by Charlie Harper, Ketsa, Dlay, )

Executive Producer & Creator: Michelle Daniel (Connect: facebook.com/mdanielgeraci www.msdaniel.com)

DISCLAIMER: Texas Podcast Network is brought to you by The University of Texas at Austin. Podcasts are produced by faculty members and staffers at UT Austin who work with University Communications to craft content that adheres to journalistic best practices. The University of Texas at Austin offers these podcasts at no charge. Podcasts appearing on the network and this webpage represent the views of the hosts, not of The University of Texas at Austin.

Special Guest: Sergey Radchenko.

On this episode, UT CREEES's new cohort of MA graduate students, under the direction of Dr. Mary Neuburger, presents their findings of a Fall 2021 project in which they analyzed North Macedonia’s mired quest for EU accession, which was blocked for over 25 years by Greece and since 2019 has been held up by a Bulgarian ultimatum. Since both Greece and Bulgaria are EU members, they have veto power over Macedonian accession, which has put the country now called North Macedonia into an untenable position in its desire to become a fully integrated part of Europe. Thanks for listening!

PRODUCER'S NOTE: This episode was recorded over several sessions in Fall 2021, both via Zoom and in studio at The University of Texas at Austin.

CREDITS

Music Producer: Charlie Harper (Connect: facebook.com/charlie.harper.1485 @charlieharpermusic) www.charlieharpermusic.com (Main Theme by Charlie Harper)

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

DISCLAIMER: Texas Podcast Network is brought to you by The University of Texas at Austin. Podcasts are produced by faculty members and staffers at UT Austin who work with University Communications to craft content that adheres to journalistic best practices. The University of Texas at Austin offers these podcasts at no charge. Podcasts appearing on the network and this webpage represent the views of the hosts, not of The University of Texas at Austin.

Special Guests: Aleksej Demjanski and Kiril Avramov.

Happy Holidays, y'all! On this episode, Lera gets to sit down and chat with Dr. Juliane Fürst who unpacks 10 years worth of research and personal explorations in the Soviet Hippie movement as published in her latest book from Oxford University Press. Her stories will thrill, so gather 'round and take a listen. We hope you enjoy!

ABOUT THE GUEST

SELECT QUOTES FROM THE EPISODE

"In retrospect, I can see that all my topics--they look like choices, but actually these topics found me, and I just sort of wandered around until the topic found me and then I knew it."

"I always told my mother, you're very lucky, I'm not punkish, I'm not hippyish... I don't pierce my nose, my ears, whatever. But... interviewing all these hippies, I could suddenly see that actually in my own quiet way, I was quite anarchic and possibly still am..."

"The one thing they all had in common was a crazy love of The Beatles... It wasn't only a case of privilege, but quite often it was a case of privilege. In many places, these very early Hippie crowds came from children of the nomenklatura in the Party."

"The Soviet Hippieland... is a civilization in its own right, rather than some imitation of a Western movement."

"Long hair goes a long way in the Soviet union because it's somethign that was so forbidden... It's like wearing red and white in Belarus was nothing like 2 years ago and now it's a political statement that gets you into prison."

"I very much feel that one can only understand a society if you really listen to the pluralities of voices... especially in the outer edges... If you never try to see how far can somebody be from the mainstream of society, then you never get a full picture of it... It really gave me enormous pleasure over the last 10 years... that I'm really preserving something..."

"We have come to the point where we've realized that... it isn't anymore all about people doing things or policies, the in-between and the ephemeral and the emotional... are what matters."

PRODUCER'S NOTE: This episode was recorded on November 19th, 2021 via Zoom.

If you have questions, comments, or would like to be a guest on the show, please send a message to [email protected] and we will be in touch!

CREDITS

Music Producer: Charlie Harper (Connect: facebook.com/charlie.harper.1485 Instagram: @charlieharpermusic) www.charlieharpermusic.com (Main Theme by Charlie Harper and additional background music by Charlie Harper, Ketsa, Shaolin Dub, JayKode Trap Remix - "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy", Aliev Beatz - "Home Alone" remix, The Fab 4 Beatles cover band, Joe Truswell - The Beatles remix, Dopant Beats "In the Hall of the Mountain King", Stas Namin and the Flowers, Pyotr Mamonov)

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

DISCLAIMER: Texas Podcast Network is brought to you by The University of Texas at Austin. Podcasts are produced by faculty members and staffers at UT Austin who work with University Communications to craft content that adheres to journalistic best practices. The University of Texas at Austin offers these podcasts at no charge. Podcasts appearing on the network and this webpage represent the views of the hosts, not of The University of Texas at Austin.

Special Guest: Juliane Fürst.

On this, the 30th anniversary of the institution of martial law in Poland (which took place on December 13th, 1981), we talked with Eastern Europe historian Tomek Jankowski to commemorate this momentous point in modern history which roughly coincides with the release of the 2nd edition of his comprehensive and entertaining history of Eastern Europe. Sharing with us his personal experiences and stories from his time in Hungary as a student to his getting caught in the Romanian revolution of 1989, Tomek reflects on the unimaginable changes in Eastern Europe since the 1st edition of his book (2013) and unpacks the concept of Eastern Europe both in geographical terms and in contemporary culture. We hope you enjoy this amazing discussion!

Check out the 2nd edition here from New Europe Books and Academic Studies Press: https://www.neweuropebooks.com/eastern-europe

ABOUT THE GUEST

PRODUCER'S NOTE: This episode was recorded on December 3, 2021 via Zoom. Tomek Jankowski appears courtesy of New Europe Books and Academic Studies Press.

CREDITS

Music Producer: Charlie Harper (Connect: facebook.com/charlie.harper.1485 @charlieharpermusic) www.charlieharpermusic.com (Main Theme by Charlie Harper and additional background music by Charlie Harper and Michelle Daniel, Kai Engel, and Ketsa)

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

DISCLAIMER: Texas Podcast Network is brought to you by The University of Texas at Austin. Podcasts are produced by faculty members and staffers at UT Austin who work with University Communications to craft content that adheres to journalistic best practices. The University of Texas at Austin offers these podcasts at no charge. Podcasts appearing on the network and this webpage represent the views of the hosts, not of The University of Texas at Austin.

Special Guest: Tomek Jankowski.

Lera and Zach talk with Atlantic Council fellow and prolific American journalist Vladislav Davidzon. Davidzon has extensively covered the Belarussian protests from within Minsk, Ukrainian political and cultural developments since 2014, and Russian elections and Navalny's impact on Moscow politics and policies. His new book From Russia With Love is now available. You can find it here: https://www.amazon.com/Odessa-Love-Political-Literary-Post-Soviet/dp/1680539663. For a recent review by the Atlantic Council check out this link: https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/american-authors-timely-love-letter-to-odesa/. We hope you enjoy!

ABOUT THE GUEST

His work has been featured in numerous publications, including the Wall Street Journal, World Policy Journal, the New York Observer, and the American Interest. Davidzon holds a master’s degree in human rights and democratization from the European Inter-University Centre for Human Rights in Italy and earned his bachelor’s degree at the City University of New York.

NEW EPISODE!! @VladDavidzon sheds light on all pressing current events in Eastern Europe, from Belarus to Russia to Ukraine. And we touch on his new book From Odessa With Love, which (fun fact) makes a splendid stocking stuffer! Thanks for listening! https://t.co/myg64Skdsn pic.twitter.com/i3Ny4tmqvt

PRODUCER'S NOTE: This episode was recorded on November 12th, 2021 via Zoom.

If you have questions, comments, or would like to be a guest on the show, please send a message to [email protected] and we will be in touch!

CREDITS

Music Producer: Charlie Harper (Connect: facebook.com/charlie.harper.1485 Instagram: @charlieharpermusic) www.charlieharpermusic.com (Main Theme by Charlie Harper and additional background music by Charlie Harper, Ketsa, and featuring music from Serhiy Zhadan & the Dogs); Clip of Tsikhanouskaya's speech to the European Council given October 2020, taken from YouTube.

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

DISCLAIMER: Texas Podcast Network is brought to you by The University of Texas at Austin. Podcasts are produced by faculty members and staffers at UT Austin who work with University Communications to craft content that adheres to journalistic best practices. The University of Texas at Austin offers these podcasts at no charge. Podcasts appearing on the network and this webpage represent the views of the hosts, not of The University of Texas at Austin.

Special Guest: Vladislav Davidzon.