Russia

Our guest is one of Russia’s top investigative journalists, working and living in exile. In his latest book, co-authored once again by his fellow investigative journalist, Irina Borogan, Our Dear Friends in Moscow follows a group of young Russians, part of an idealistic generation who came of age in Moscow at the end of the 20 th century – the communist era had just imploded and an exciting and uncertain future lay ahead of them. Initially, the group enjoyed the freedoms of the new era, but the notion that Russia was destined to join the West, and Europe, in a new partnership began to fade. The Russian economy crashed, civil war stalked Chechnya, and terrorism came to Moscow. By the time of Vladimir Putin’s second and seemingly endless term as president, the country had embraced a kind of ethno-nationalism and was heading for war at home and abroad.

An interview with Andrei Soldatov, co-author of the book, Our Dear Friends in Moscow. The book tells the story of how the hopes of a generation of optimistic Russians in the 1990’s was replaced by autocracy, fear, and betrayal.

An interview with Alexander Vindman, author of The Folly of Realism. The book offers a chilling analysis of how Western indecision made possible the return of brutal Russian expansionism with terrifying consequences.

An interview with Connor Sullivan, author of the new novel, Sleeping Bear. In the book, a former Army veteran seeking solitude in the Alaskan wilderness finds herself a pawn in a deadly game with Russia.Note: This is an encore edition of Reader's Corner. The episode originally aired in February 2023.

An interview with Maria Popova, co-author of the new book, Russia and Ukraine: Entangled Histories, Diverging States. The book examines how the fall of the Soviet Union started an identity and regime divergence between Russia and Ukraine, and set both countries on an inevitable collision course.

An interview with Sergey Radchenko, author of the new book, To Run the World. The book offers a detailed portrait of Russian leadership during the Cold War, helming a sprawling nation with irreconcilable ambitions as a self-proclaimed superpower and the leader of global revolution.

When President Biden selected Idaho’s Douglas Hickey to be the United States Ambassador to Finland, Hickey knew it would be honor and challenge. But those challenges mount with every day, beginning with the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the fact that Finland shares NATO's largest land border with Russia – 800 miles.

International relations can seem really far away from anybody in the United States, including here in Idaho and that’s something Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Kristin Kane with the U.S. Department of State wants to change.

Kristin Kane is a U.S. diplomat of the highest degree. For the U.S. State Department, she has served Foreign Tours across the globe. Brasilia, Dakar, Lisbon and Paris is just a short list of her multiple assignments. And while her diplomatic arsenal plays out where you might expect – regarding the planet’s hotspots – sometimes it’s about engaging in the back seat of an Uber in Boise.

An interview with Morvan Lallouet, co-author of Navalny: Putin’s Nemesis, Russia’s Future? The book offers a close look at Alexei Navalny, from his pioneering anti-corruption investigations to his leadership of a political movement.