In Moscow's Shadows 83: Putin's decision-making; and Russian organised crime after the invasion
A fresh batch of Patrons' questions, clustered around Putin, his influences (no, Ivan Ilyin is not his guru) and decision-making; and then in the second half, how are the effects of invasion and sanct...
13 Nov 202254min
In Moscow's Shadows 82: What Prigozhin Wants, What Putin Believes, and Why Russia Might Create its own Bureau 39
In the first part of the podcast, I address the first batch of questions put to me by my Patrons, including Prigozhin's authority and whether Putin really believes some of the increasingly bizarre non...
6 Nov 202253min
In Moscow's Shadows 81: A Sampling of the Latest News; and the Russo-Chinese Intelligence Relationship
In the first segment, I touch on some of the latest news stories: Ukraine's drone attack on Sevastopol and the ending of the grain deal; will Russian withdraw from Kherson; and what Russians think. In...
30 Okt 202239min
In Moscow's Shadows 80: Annexations, Mobilisations, Martial Law and More
I'm back after a month of travels, and what a month it's been. In this longer-than-usual catch-up episode, I look at its main developments, including annexations, mobilisation, martial law and politic...
22 Okt 202259min
In Moscow's Shadows 79: Putin's Dilemmas, on and off the battlefield
Military analysts often talk about the way forces seek to 'impose dilemmas' in their enemy on the battlefield. The extraordinary Ukrainian advance from Kharkiv is imposing a series of dilemmas both mi...
16 Sep 202244min
In Moscow's Shadows 78: Organised Labour in a Neoliberal and Authoritarian Russia
It's Labo(u)r Day here in DC, so I look at the - pretty poor - state of organised labour in Russia, but also the hints that coming economic pressures could help encourage some solidarity and lateral c...
5 Sep 202236min
In Moscow's Shadows 77: Gorbachev's Hope vs Putin's Victimhood, a short rumination
A short, one-segment piece in which I consider one of the less widely-discussed aspects of Gorbachev's legacy (and quite why he sat so uncomfortably for the present regime): that he stood for hope (ho...
1 Sep 202217min
In Moscow's Shadows 76: The Impotence of Power and Giving Liz Truss some options for Narrative Warfare
How far is the Kremlin grappling with the problem of power and relevance: it has made promises, it issues decree, but is it really able to achieve any more at home than in the stalemate in Ukraine? Do...
28 Aug 202258min
