At the end of January, David Klion and I talked about Russia’s pending attack on Ukraine. I think much in our discussion still holds up, particularly our discussion of the importance of the 1990s in shaping Vladimir Putin’s sense of national humiliation, the fact the moral onus of the current war being on Putin, and the extremely limited range of options open to Joe Biden and NATO.
The war that was once hypothetical is now a reality. So David and I sat down again to assess where things stand. We take up in particular the suffering experienced in Ukraine, the plight of the Russian people, the Russian anti-war movement, the folly of those calling for a no fly zone or generally ignoring the dangers of nuclear war, and the importance of Russian oligarchs as pillars of Putin’s regime.
On the subject of oligarch’s David has written a superb piece for Jewish Currents about Roman Abramovich, a billionaire supporter of Putin who has extensive financial ties to the west. As David makes clear in his article, and as we discuss on the podcast, the so-called Russian oligarchs are not just a Russian phenomenon. They have extensive ties to business and political elites in many countries. That fact they have been indulged for so long, despite enabling Putin and looting Russia, suggests a much broader culpability for the current crisis and the need for a much more radical reckoning.
We also discussed, more briefly, David’s profile of Michael McFaul, former ambassador to Russia and twitter personality. That’s a topic we’ll return to in a future episode.
In addition to the earlier talk with David, this one can be enriched by listening to my discussion with Matt Duss, foreign policy advisor to Bernie Sanders.
I should note that occasionally on the podcast you’ll hear my daughters in the background. Alas, the only convenient time David and I had to talk was on a weekend. I don’t think the background noise is too bothersome.
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Podcast: Putin's Plutocrats are Also Ours