Commonwealth Club of California Podcast
News:Politics
Russia’s future lies outside of Russia.
That’s the verdict offered by Paul Starobin, a veteran analyst of Russia. Since Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine, some 1 million Russians have fled the country and gone into exile. Motivated by opposition to the war, by guilt for their country’s deeds, by personal hatred for the czar-like Putin, and by a vision of a better Russia shorn of autocracy, the exiles have mounted an organized resistance to Putin’s rule.
Starobin says that the resistance includes followers of the imprisoned Putin opponent Alexi Navalny, dissident Russian Orthodox priests, and journalists feeding Russians back home the kind of coverage that is censored by Kremlin-controlled media. Most aggressively, some exiles are actively aiding the Ukrainian fight against Russia’s armed forces in hopes of hastening Russia’s defeat and Putin’s demise.
Starobin traveled to places like Armenia and Georgia to meet with exiles and had conversations with prominent figures throughout Europe and America, as he took measure of this rebellion—and its potential to fix a nation plagued by revanchist imperial dreams.
He reported his findings in his new book Putin’s Exiles, and he’ll tell you what he found and what might be coming next for Russia. Join us for a special online-only program that goes beyond pro-Putin propaganda and the tightly controlled narrative inside the country, and looks outside its borders to the diaspora of Russian exiles, who are imagining and fighting for the future of their country.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Humanities West Presents Shakespeare’s First Folio’s 400th Anniversary
Week to Week Political Roundtable: The Race Is On
Fergus Bordewich: President Grant’s War Against the Ku Klux Klan
Arlan Hamilton: Getting Your First Million
CLIMATE ONE: Wardrobe Malfunction: The Climate Impact of Clothing
The Black Spy Who Witnessed the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
John Judis: Where Have All the Democrats Gone?
Cutting Edge: Women with Alzheimer's Is on the Rise! Hope Is Here!
CLIMATE ONE: Pairing Scientists with Community Advocates
"API Women, Non-binary Filmmakers: Telling Our Own Stories
CLIMATE ONE: REWIND: Youth Activists 15 Years Later
Jason Rantz: What's Killing America
FOX's Bret Baier: To Rescue the Constitution
Is U.S. National Security In Jeopardy?
Brian Stelter: The Epic Saga of Fox News and the Battle for American Democracy
CLIMATE ONE REWIND: Just a Walk or Bike Ride Away: The 15-Minute City
"Redemptive Dreams: Engaging Kevin Starr's California Past, Present, and Future
The Day After Tomorrow in Palestine-Israel: A Tale of Two Peace Activists
Say “Good Night” to Insomnia
Takashi Murakami: Unfamiliar People—Swelling of Monsterized Human Ego
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free