Departures With Robert Amsterdam

Imagine you are trapped in a far-flung foreign compound with 10 other people, none of them want to be there, but you have a seemingly limitless supply of alcohol. Oh, and you are charged with developing critical intelligence and knowledge for Imperial Russia's ambitions to gain global power. That's among the many fascinating stories in Gregory Afinogenov's new book, "Spies and Scholars: Chinese Secrets and Imperial Russia’s Quest for World Power," which explores how knowledge about Asia was developed from the 17th to the 19th centuries. What's interesting about this unique period of history that Afinogenov writes about is how espionage was used as a means of generating knowledge for public intellectuals, helping Imperial Russia to compete with rival Britain, to advance a deeper knowledge of the East - but this information, filtered and passed through Moscow, rarely met its goal and often did not get distributed inside Russia itself, shaping future relations with China in various ways. Afinogenov argues that w

For decades, academics and journalists have struggled to explain Russia by attempting to better explain Vladimir Putin, endlessly debating his background, his personal character, and his thinking. Many of them argue that his personal power is at the heart of decision-making, that his will alone drives events. And we couldn't be more wrong. Timothy Frye, a professor of political science at Columbia University, has had decades of experience working on the ground in Russia, and brings together these anecdotes of his experiences along with academic research to present a new argument: that's there's nothing particularly special about Vladimir Putin to set him apart from numerous other authoritarian leaders. His power is in fact quite constrained, consisting of a complex series of trade-offs and difficult decisions made more challenging by his low popularity and the responsiveness of the government to public pressure. Speaking about his new book "Weak Strongman: The Limits of Power in Putin's Russia" in this conver

From the first election of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela in 1998 to the death of Fidel Castro in Cuba in 2016, Latin America experienced a vast "pink tide" of left-leaning leaders often described as populist. And while it would be a mistake to consider all these diverse personalities and governments under a single banner, it would also be a mistake to ignore some similar systemic undercurrents and driving factors behind this period of populism in Latin America, argues Will Grant, a BBC reporter and author of the new book "Populista: The Rise of Latin America's 21st Century Strongman." Speaking in this interview with Robert Amsterdam, Grant explores how populism became the most important political movement in the Western Hemisphere in the 21st century, and then how that idealism came crashing down, leaving Latin America in the grips of some of the most authoritarian and dangerous leaders since the military dictatorships of the 1970s.

In light of the escalating violence taking place in Israel this week, we reached out to our friend and colleague Ron Robin, a scholar, author, and the President of Haifa University. In this brief interview, which was interrupted at several points by air raid sirens nearby Prof. Robin's location, we discuss the origins of the political violence we are seeing, the end of Benjamin Netanyahu's political career, and the potential impact of the Abraham Accords and other diplomatic forces - including Russia - which may provide for the resolution and management of tensions in Gaza.

Near the end of this episode, host of the Departures podcast Robert Amsterdam tells his guest, "This is perhaps the best book I've ever read on Africa, and I've read a lot of books." Such is the esteem we hold for Michela Wrong, a British journalist who has covered Africa for decades for outlets such as the BBC and the Financial Times. Her latest book, "Do Not Disturb: The Story of a Political Murder and an African Regime Gone Bad," tells the inside story of the authoritarian regime of President Paul Kagame in Rwanda through the lens of one specific murder case - the 2013 killing of Patrick Karegeya, the former head of external intelligence, and extrapolating that investigation to reveal so much more about the country and the region. Wrong's book also serves as a sledgehammer to a number of myths that tend to be held up about Rwanda - not just the enormous chasm between its darling status among donor organizations and its reality as an apartheid state, but also crucial facts about Hutu victims of the genocide

In April 2013, in a distant corner of Nigeria, a terrorist group kidnapped some 300 schoolgirls, eventually igniting a global advocacy campaign that brought an unprecedented level of international attention to the country. This global attention, which involved interventions by Western intelligence agencies, military advisors, and a plethora of aid NGOs, has not necessarily always resulted in success. The Wall Street Journal reporter Drew Hinshaw, along with his co-author Joe Parkinson, has published a fascinating deep dive into this incident under the title "Bring Back Our Girls: The Untold Story of the Global Search for Nigeria's Missing Schoolgirls." Hinshaw and Parkinson write that the kidnapping of Chibok girls represented "not just a story about a remote tragedy-stricken town in Nigeria, but a parable and perhaps a cautionary tale about the flawed interconnected workings of our butterfly’s-wings world."

In recent years, China has gradually transitioned from a "quiet rise" strategy under Hu Jintao to the "wolf warrior" mode of diplomacy, as the government seeks to take more aggressive actions to defend its interests and expand its influence in the international environment. While this has in many cases produced successful outcomes, there is also a growing body of evidence that Beijing is running into resistance. Luke Patey, a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies and Lead Senior Research Fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, joins Robert Amsterdam on this podcast to discuss his fascinating new book, "How China Loses: The Pushback against Chinese Global Ambitions," which focuses on these issues. According to Patey, China has shown a determined strategy to use initiatives such as Belt and Road and Made in China 2025 to achieve dominance in high-tech industries and advanced manufacturing. Many fear that China's economic clout, tech innovations, and military power will a

Since the end of the Cold War, Turkey's geostrategic relevance as a NATO ally bridging the West with Asia has been highlighted repeatedly - but there's often been less attention on how Ankara's role has been managed in terms of its relations with Beijing. This week Selçuk Çolakoğlu of the Turkish Center for Asia Pacific Studies joins Robert Amsterdam to discuss his new book, "Turkey And China: Political, Economic, And Strategic Aspects Of The Relationship." This detailed and informative study covers numerous aspects of the relationship, ranging from Sino-Turkish cooperation on energy, trade, and security, but also issues such as the Belt and Road Initiative and the roles of other actors -- particularly the United States and Russia.

From the earliest days of representative government, special advisers have served an essential background role in politics, never more so than in the last 50 years in Great Britain. They have performed tasks both administrative and policy-oriented, mundane and extraordinary, and have affected domestic and even foreign policy matters, in both seen and unforeseen ways. In his new book, "The Secret Life of Special Advisers," Peter Cardwell unravels the decades of mystique surrounding those whom Piers Morgan has called “these miserable little creatures,” key advisers to Cabinet ministers and the British Prime Minster since the 1970s. Featuring personal anecdotes and incredible stories from his days as a special advisor to four UK cabinet ministers within the Cameron, May and early Johnson administrations. During this podcast discussion with Robert Amsterdam, Mr. Cardwell highlights the importance of a united party, where divisions and excessive amounts of rivalry within a political party can lead to chaotic outco

There are few turncoat spies more infamous than George Blake, an MI6 agent who spied for the Soviet Union in the 1950s, was later caught, convicted and sentenced to 42 years in prison. There are even fewer to manage to escape prison and flee to the East to live a life of relative happiness and satisfaction. This story is masterfully told in the new book, "The Happy Traitor: Spies, Lies and Exile in Russia: The Extraordinary Story of George Blake," authored by the Financial Times columnist Simon Kuper. Simon joined the Departures podcast for a discussion with Robert Amsterdam about Blake's fascinating life, his dramatic escape as a prisoner of war in North Korea and also his escape from prison in Britain. With unprecedented access to Blake including the last major extended interview he gave, Kuper's book is an exploration of the life of one of the more fascinating character's in Cold War history, how he came to reach the momentous decisions in his career and how he managed to never look back with any sort of r

Generally in the scholarship on Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Turkey's most famous transformative leader, there are only a handful of books which delve into the making of the politics and the culture in the lead-up to him becoming president in 1923. In his new book, "Eternal Dawn: Turkey in the Age of Atatürk," Prof. Ryan Gingeras of the Naval Postgraduate School aims to cover that gap, providing a kaleidoscopic view of the sweeping changes in society that were taking place during his time in power and what they mean for Turkey's evolution as a country. Eternal Dawn presses beyond the reigning mythology that still envelops this period and challenges many of the standing assumptions about the limits, successes, and consequences of the reforms that comprised Mustafa Kemal's revolution. Through a detailed survey of social and political conditions that defined life in the capital as well as Turkey's diverse provinces, Gingeras lays bare many of the harsh realities and bitter legacies incurred as a result of the republic

What a nightmare for Vladimir Putin. When Russian-backed militants shot down Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 in Ukraine in 2014, killing almost 300 innocent people, the Kremlin defaulted to its usual muscular disinformation tactics and media operations to confuse and cloud the issue. But who stepped forward to bring accountability and facts, they didn't see it coming. Eliot Higgins is the founder of the open source intelligence intelligence (OSINT) collective known as Bellingcat. His group, with the contributions of hundreds of volunteers, was able to track down and verify videos and cell phone data, Google Earth satellite images, and other sources to verify, confirm, and indict Russia for its responsibility in this heinous act. From there, they have moved onto conflicts and crises worldwide, providing intelligence in a popularized, non-government manner. Higgins' latest book, "We Are Bellingcat: An Intelligence Agency for the People," tells the story his organization's rise, and what OSINT means for the futur

When former President Donald Trump ordered the drone strike which claimed the life of General Qassem Soleimani, the leader of Iran's elite Quds Force, it irrecoverably changed the future path of the country and region at large. This week we are proud to have a special guest, the Iranian historian and NYU professor Arash Azizi to discuss his new book, "The Shadow Commander: Soleimani, the US, and Iran's Global Ambitions," which provides a riveting account of the life of one of the most influential figures in modern Middle Eastern history. According to Azizi, had Soleimani not been killed in that drone strike, it would be very likely that he would emerge as the next presidential candidate - a role that his daughter is now appearing to fulfill. The military career of Soleimani was outstanding in several respects, but notably for the level of hubris he displayed which was uncommon among Iran's military leadership. "He published Game of Thrones-themed memes against Donald Trump prepared by his team on Twitter, he

Often overlooked, the nations of Central Asia represent a highly important geostrategic region of the world with abundant mineral and energy wealth - and yet, US diplomatic efforts in these countries are way behind the larger neighbors of Russia and China. Part of this lack of engagement has to do with how America - at least as a symbol - is understood and regarded by various social groups. Professor Edward Schatz of the University of Toronto joins the Departures podcast this week to discuss his excellent book, "Slow Anti-Americanism: Social Movements and Symbolic Politics in Central Asia" which explores these topics through an innovative lens. The book features an exploration of how Islamist movements, human rights activists, and labor mobilizers across Central Asia receive and process information about what America is and what its values are, which is often strikingly different that the rhetoric of "high politics" like presidential elections and foreign policies. "The running metaphor that I use in the bo

At some point, people stopped believing that electing the right leaders and passing the right laws was the most effective way to achieve social change. Since at least the 1970s, people have been rapidly losing faith in government, democracy, big banks, big corporations, organized religion, and other institutions which were thought to help give order and shape norms for society. In Ethan Zuckerman's new book, "Mistrust: Why Losing Faith in Institutions Provides the Tools to Transform Them," these questions are explored in great depth while also seeking to illuminate the available solutions for citizens to regain their social capital. There are four ways that we regulate our societies, Zuckerman says in the podcast interview. We make laws, which say you can't do this or that. We use markets to make bad behavior expensive, like taxing cigarettes. We use social norms - if you engage in prohibited conduct, we will shun you. And lastly, we have code, we use technology to impose normative values, making it more diff

It may be hard for many of our listeners to believe, but once upon a time US foreign policy could offer glimmers of astonishing humanitarianism, which was the case over the epic career of Robert (Bob) Gersony. While other literary references have framed the actors leading US foreign interventions as "quiet" or "ugly," Gersony's life story offers a vision of the "good American," and a reminder of the importance and strategic value of making decisions based on human rights and protecting refugees. Veteran journalist and author Robert Kaplan joins the podcast to discuss his latest innovative work, "The Good American: The Epic Life of Bob Gersony, the U.S. Government's Greatest Humanitarian," a story of a foregone time in world history, of the last vestiges of the print and typewriter age where the United States was the foremost world power. In the mid 20th century, the State Department wasn't yet strictly stocked with Ivy League graduates, but instead included men like Robert Gersony, who’d never held a formal g

Since the United States touched base in the Philippines in 1898, the relationship between the Philippines and the U.S. has endured with war and military service forging a continuing but contentious relationship between the two countries. But has it been a productive relationship for both members? While Filipinos have served in the American military since the early 20th century, they were prevented from receiving equitable benefits for their service during World War II until 2009. Historically speaking, they were employed as porters and servers, soldiers and sailors, and their role in the U.S. armed forces simultaneously combated and perpetuated racism and hierarchies within and out of the institution of the military. During World War II, as Japanese occupation of the Philippines became more violent, the relationship between the US and the Philippines solidified despite the fact that many Filipinos had strongly preferred to ally with Japan. MIT history professor Christopher Capozzola joins the podcast to discu

It is easy to get very comfortable with our surface-level understanding of history. Most of the time it is generally consistent with the facts, except when it isn't. When it comes to how we regard the notorious regime of Josef Stalin and this particular period of Russian history, there are more than a few areas which have been analyzed and considered completely outside the context of the time in an ahistorical manner. This kind of thinking not only leads to rather annoying comparisons of Stalin with people like Vladimir Putin, but also deprives us of a fulsome understanding of events, motivations, and decisionmaking by the people involved. James Ryan and Susan Grant join the podcast to discuss their excellent co-edited volume, "Revisioning Stalin and Stalinism: Complexities, Contradictions, and Controversies," which is a collection of articles examining the controversies of Stalin's leadership and questions regarding the cult of personality surrounding him. "The past must be understood historically," says Rya

In every important decision in our lives and in our careers, we are presented with a vast array of information. The ways in which we process, analyze, and rationally make decisions not only reflects what every decisionmaker wishes to see, but also the relative weight of how we expect to achieve realistic outcomes - and often times we miscalculate and make mistakes. This week we are proud to have on the podcast Sir David Omand, a former director of the British intelligence agency GCHQ, whose new book, "How Spies Think: Ten Lessons in Intelligence," presents a masterclass in critical thinking. Drawing key experiences from his distinguished career, including key briefings with Prime Ministers from Thatcher to Blair, and conflicts from the Falklands to Afghanistan, Omand shares his strategies to help people to sort fact from fiction and how to use real intelligence for everyday business decisions. "Data is dumb, correlation is not causation. That's why explanation is everything," says Omand. "Although we never ha

Zephyr Teachout is a renowned US law professor, activist, author, and columnist with an expertise in anti-corruption, but we couldn't help but begin our conversation during this podcast to respond to the shocking events in Washington DC on the 6th of January 2021, when a mob of violent rioters forced their way into Congress. With four people dead, three bombs found, the nation may never be the same. So what happens next? What will the consequences be? "There seems to be a desire to just rush ahead two weeks and to sort of treat this as if we can just sweep it under the rug," Teachout says, but this would be a major mistake. "Trump, Hawley, and Cruz didn't necessarily expect to win, but were playing to social media and really achieved a lot of what they desired because there was no real plan of maintaining control, but there was a plan of really inciting a deep distrust of the peaceful transfer of power. I think of this as a very significant assault on constitutional democracy." Teachout continues: "Even with