This week, Jeremi and Zachary are joined by Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch to discuss the ways in which U.S. policy has evolved in the region surrounding Ukraine, and the ways people should understand the evolution of that policy for current challenges regarding Ukraine and Democratization in the region as a whole.

Zachary sets the scene with his poem: "Ode to President Zelensky".

Marie Yovanovitch served as the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine (2016-2019), the Republic of Armenia (2008-2011) and the Kyrgyz Republic (2005-2008). She also served as the Dean of the School of Language Studies at the Foreign Service Institute, U.S. Department of State and as the Deputy Commandant and International Advisor at the Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy, National Defense University. Earlier she served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, where she coordinated policy on European and global security issues. Before that, she was the bureau’s Deputy Assistant Secretary responsible for issues related to the Nordic, Baltic, and Central European countries. Ambassador Yovanovitch is the author of a recent memoir: Lessons from the Edge.

This episode was mixed and mastered by Oscar Kitmanyen.