#15 - Mark Galeotti, Russia

Bio

Mark is one of the most knowledgeable people on the planet when it comes to everything Russia. He’s the CEO of Mayak Intelligence, he’s a PhD and has served as a professor a multiple schools including NYU and now the University College London School of Slavonic and East European Studies, he’s the author of many books on Russia. Including the recent titles A Short History of Russia and We Need to Talk about Putin How The West Gets Him Wrong.

Times

• 1:25 - Intro to Mark
• 4:30 - What it’s like to work in Russia (spoiler: he was shot at once)
• 10:55 - Russian intelligence & USB sticks
• 13:55 - Russian opinion of war in Afghanistan (having been there)
• 19:40 - Monopolized narratives in Russia
• 26:55 - Putin and these narratives
• 30:55 - Do the people of Russia believe the narratives?
• 35:25 - How much impact does the Bolshevik Revolution have on today’s Russia? / Putin’s time in KGB
• 39:10 - Russia’s 3 parties
• 41:25 - Are Russian elections from national to local all shams?
• 43:40 - Navalny background & update
• 57:55 - Russian build up on Ukrainian border
• 1:05:25 - Russian legitimacy through Putin’s eyes
• 1:08:40 - Does Russia need to become more aggressive? / Oil
• 1:15:25 - What is Putin’s endgame?
• 1:16:10 - Is the NHL black card rumor true?

Links

Mark's twitter

Mark's blog

Mark's Recent  Books:

• A Short History of Russia
• We Need to talk about Putin, How the West gets him Wrong

Jeff's twitter

NarrativeMonopoly.com