Reconsidering Russia 2: Russia's Interest & What to Expect with Prof. Mitchell Orenstein ReConsider

Mitchell Orenstein is a professor of Central and East European Politics in the Slavic department at the University of Pennsylvania and an associate of the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian studies at Harvard. His research focuses on the political economy and international affairs of Central and Eastern Europe.
This episode is the latest installment to the four-part series on Reconsidering Russia, where we try to dig into Russia's historical and geopolitical context to help you better understand some of their moves today and what's going on in their country today.
Tune in to hear Eric, Xander, and Professor Orenstein dive deep into Russia's real objective in Ukraine, Eastern Vs. Western-leaning periods of Russian leadership, why Russia really needs to diversify its economy, and so much more.
00:00 Introduction
01:35 Why Geopolitics is not about reforms or democracy
03:49 What does Russia really want?
05:49 Understanding Russia's national interests and foreign policy preferences
12:59 Eastern Vs. Western-leaning periods of Russian leadership
16:33 Comparing Russian perceptions to the American interpretation
20:10 What does the 'Near Abroad' mean?
20:54 The democratization of Russia's 'Near Abroad'
24:12 Consequences of the collapse of the Soviet Union
28:10 The strategic and fundamental importance of Ukraine
32:14 Russian interests in Finland
34:57 The Nature of Germany's relationship with Russia
39:01 Caucasus as a region of strategic importance to Russia
44:15 Chinese and Russian interests in South-East Asia
47:15 China-Russia relations: Eternal rivals or emerging alliance 
50:41 Russia's views on China's growth in power and influence 
52:38 Russia-Japan dispute over Kuril Islands 
54:50 Thoughts on Russia's domestic politics and foreign policy
58:35 Why Russia really needs to diversify its economy
01:01:58 What to expect from Russia in the next 5 to 10 years
01:05:18 Russia - a gas station with nuclear weapons
01:08:03 Parting thoughts 
Links and Resources:
Reconsidermedia.com
Mitchel's website - https://www.mitchellorenstein.com/
Mitchel's profile on the Foreign Affairs Magazine - https://www.foreignaffairs.com/authors/mitchell-orenstein
Reconsider Media on Twitter - https://twitter.com/reconsidermedia
Reconsider Media on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ReConsiderMedia/
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