And they say liberal arts majors like historians are no longer needed. This guy is proof they are essential. This guy makes more sense than any computer programmer I've heard.

Excellent interview, this guy makes more sense of geopolitical issues than anyone else I have listened to.

@markb8468

Жыл бұрын

Agreed

@gmw3083

Жыл бұрын

It takes two to tango. Kotkin ignores American hegemony and nato aggression. Putin attempted to join nato, but being that nato can't exist without its main enemy, that couldn't happen. Maybe try Jeffrey Sachs.

@michaeldelisieux5252

Жыл бұрын

Agree!

As a hungarian (who knows a thing or two about russia) I've been constanty blown away by the amount of insights he provides.

Fantastic! If Dr. Kotkin had his own weekly show, I'd be the first to subscribe. Despite being almost a year old, this interview was still highly educational.

Stephen Kotkin has this beautiful ability to clearly outline the big picture and always makes me feel better and I am very happy we have great thinkers still amongst us!

Dr. Kotkin, what a gift you are during this turbulent time. Your 'intellectual humility' makes your voice the most trustworthy one in the podcast era we live in right now.

When I see a Kotkin interview, I "thumbs up" before I even start listening... I've never regretted my decision!

If Stephen Kotkin is talking, I'm listening. Thanks for bringing more of his wisdom, knowledge, and insight to us. He should be more widely known, and citizens of the US should be required to hear his analysis of history and international affairs. He can hold nearly anyone's interest!

I never miss a word this guy says. Thank you for the great conversation!

@markb8468

Жыл бұрын

Same!

@thecount1001

Жыл бұрын

i'm surprised more people don't pay attention or even know who he is. his intelligence combined with an uncommonly listenable voice and delivery make him my preferred 'go to', intellectual.

As a Belarusian, I find this 83% accurate. The rest of 17% I blame on my own experience, which forms my own lense. So, it is very accurate.

After every single interview with Kotkin , I have to sit back, take 5mns to evaluate everything he says. I usually end up laughing. It’s a laughter coming from a place of being overwhelmed at how comprehensively genius this man is. Mearshiemer was the 1st person I heard talking about Russia vers west issue but when I came across Kotkin , Mearshiemer suddenly sounded like a propaganda mouthpiece. Slava Ukraine 🇺🇦 US must show some teeth right at the top. Because so far we haven’t yet convinced Putin/Russia that they can’t achieve anything.

Men and women like Professor Kotkin remind us that academics are still highly relevant.

Stephen doesn't only parrot history, he breaks down the psychology, sociology and philosophy of that history. An unbelievable resource.

One of the most impressive characteristics of Stephen Kotkin is his intellectual humility. Few other scholars speak about this virtue. It is refreshing.

@thecount1001

Ай бұрын

unlike John Mearsheimer, his polar opposite in style and perspective.

Love to listen to this calm, wise, amiable and fair professor dr.Kotkin! Thank you!

Stephen Kotkin is simply the master of interleaving historical fact with current ground truth to derive reason based analysis. That, coupled with rhythmic storey-telling creates a great listening experience.

Gotta love this guy. Steven Kotkin is believable and extremely well informed. I just hope Western leaders listen to him.

So refreshing to hear reality effectively and clearly articulated.

Kotkin as a historian is a joy, insightful and display of clarity amongst a large proportion of mass media ignorance, bias, prejudice, fear mongering and self interest.

As a Pole, I am always surprised and shocked how much the West does not understand this current war and its context. But this is the absolutely brilliant interview. One of the few experts who speak sense.

Stephen Kotkin`s contributions is existential level important combining great history lessons with great analytic and philosophic skill!!

Stephen Kotkin is beyond insightful. He should be a household name.

Great interview... I wish everyone would take time to listen to Stephen, full of common sense ❤

This interview is from May 2022. I'd like to hear Prof. Kotkin's view on the situation eleven months later.

@robleahy5759

Жыл бұрын

He has given five or more interviews available on KZread since this date. Enjoy his addendum.

It's scary how perfectly fluent and yet melodic this man speaks! Sounds almost as if he would read from a paper

Stephen Legend Kotkin ❤

I found Kotkin's assessment of Putin very illuminating. It explains why he's not only out of his element but also head of a state that is being stripped down to the foundation by oligarchs and courtiers.

What a privilege to listen to this masterful interview and be able to benefit from Mr Kotkin's expert explanations and background history so that we can have an understanding of this most complex horror that is the invasion of Ukraine. Most of us in urban far flung Western countries grapple with the rationale and motives of an aggressive, brutal Russia that's hell bent on wiping out Ukraine by pounding civilian apartment blocks, hospitals, schools etc. Thank you for your presentation, your humbleness and your professionalism. You have enlightened me not only regarding the Russian perspective, but the wonderful spirit of our Western world. You are right, we have almost become accepting that our Western world was doomed because we had become weak and self indulgent, when despite the shortcomings, greed and mistakes, we are far from being irrelevant and in fact are mightier than any of us imagined.

The moment I see written or spoken word by Mr. kotkin I stop, read or listen intently. Just love Mr. kotkin.

Blows all those private school boys away every time.

“Prediction is difficult- particularly when it involves the future.” - Mark Twain

Thank you for bringing this to us. Always good to get Stephen's current thoughts. He is hands-down the most informed expert on this subject that I've ever seen or read

Professor Kotkin is a national treasure.

Excellent presentation. Events are their own force and all we can do is adhere to what we believe is right. This works in favor of one side 100% of the time. It might even be the good side. However , doing nothing because you are not assured of an outcome guarantees that you will amount to nothing.

Kotkin is a great historian and worth listening to.

Kotkin is largely correct, but I think he slightly overestimates the dominant position of the West. The fact is that we have saddled ourselves with unsustainable levels of debt. Since we froze Russia's bank reserves, foreign central banks have switched from buying Treasurys to loading up on gold. Russia is a major gold producer and commodity powerhouse. Commodities are a hedge against inflation. The US economy is gradually becoming a smaller percentage of the total world economy. So while the US remains world hegemon, we are definitely moving into a multipolar world. As Kotkin said, it is important to remain humble and avoid overconfidence.

Always inspired by Stephen Kotkin's honesty and deep understanding of complex geopolitical issues, and this interview on the war in Ukraine was no exception. His insights shed light on the root causes of the conflict and the challenges facing Ukraine, as well as the broader implications for regional and global security. I appreciate his nuanced analysis and would love to see more of his expert commentary on youtube and other platforms. Thank you, Stephen Kotkin, for sharing your wisdom and expertise!

Brilliant, just bloody brilliant. The man is a genius, proves that history is, and always will be, essential and must never be ignored!!!!!!

Excellent interview and Kotkin always talks on topics in a balanced sense. Well done.

Spot on.

This man is so incredibly interesting. I need to hear more of what he has to say.

WOW!! Thank You Sirs for so much insight and information!!!

The clarity and adroitness of Kotkin's mind never ceases to amaze me.

Thanks Stephen for us for the update much appreciated 👍

this is great!

Great analysis-deep understanding

Anything Stephen Kotkin and I'm There. He's the sharpest, most insightful person on Russian geopolitics. Thank you for this updated perspective, Dr. Kotkin!

Stephen Kotkin is just amazing

Thanks for posting.

excellent as always...

Thank you for putting deep perspective on this critical topic.

It was exellent lecture.... Thanks a lot. Greetings from Warsaw 🇵🇱

Excellent. Please do more.

I so want to hear Dr. Kotkin lecture in person. He is so reasonable, articulate and humble and of course brilliant.

Lovely. Great speaker.

Excellent

As far as I'm concerned, I think that Russia's prescribed economic shock therapy based on the then popular neoliberal dogma's in the 1990s created enormous hardship in Russia and turned Russians away from a western style of running a country both politically and economically.

Thanks.

Excellent interview! There is a level of decadence in the west and hopefully the events in Ukraine have been a wakeup call to take a hard look at threats to the free world. There is no freedom without the work needed to sustain it.

Excellent on many levels. Thanks.

Not just brilliant, but profound and insightful, based on a thorough understanding of the historical evidence.

Another Clear Concise exploration of Geopolitics for the People .. Thank You 🙏

god bless stephen kotkin

more Mr. Kotkin, nice

Absolutely brilliant situational overview, executed with flawless insight only a scholar such as Stephen Kotkin could muster.

Used to read your magazine back in my 20’s. So excited to see you have a KZread channel! Subbed automatically.

@foreignaffairs

Жыл бұрын

Thank you for coming back.

I admire Dr Kotkin thoughtful analysis.

He is really good, if not very very good, excellent interview.

This interview was fantastic thank you. I'll be looking for more from Stephen Kotkin.

Great analysis!!!

A brilliant lecture !Thank you for this

Quite an insightful insight, Thank u.

God bless Mr.Kotkin, thank you FA for the content…..just gained a new subscriber here

Thank you for mentioning Tibet. We always seem to hear about the genocide of the Uyghurs as if the same crime hasn't happened in Tibet and Inner Mongolia, where quite apart from the suppression of religion, language and culture, ecologically sustainable nomadic ways of life, agricultural practices that have taken centuries to evolve are being destroyed by the Chinese invader.

Thanks, very insightful.

He is great allways 🙏

I totally agree with this gentleman. I just don't think president Macron gets it.

Hell yes Stephen Kotkin!

Amen !

Holy hell I have been having a subscription for the Foreign Affairs journal for 4-5 years now but I was completely unaware that they have podcasts haha It's of high quality btw Kotkin seems to be an incredibly thorough and well-read man.

How dare you make such good interviews that I see a static picture for 40 minutes and cannot get away just because I want to listen to the next what the guest has to say.

I found myself both agreeing and disagreeing with Mr. Kotkin. I am indebted to him for his monumental work on Stalin and the USSR, which will stand the test of time.

Wow, what an insight. One thing Putin never foresaw was the public outrage in the western world, people going to the streets calling for action, from the very beginning and thus putting pressure on the politicians to act. While politicians rather would warn about the price for cutting of gas from Russia, people saw a new Munich 38 and rejected it firmly. Now we have to stand by Ukraine til the very end and rightly so. Slava Ukrainini.

@Blanka1100

Жыл бұрын

Some people saw it coming long time ago. Russia's neighbours in the first place. They have been warning for years.

I think Kotkin communicates in a very good way for me to understand.

Its also true that the West got a lot wrong about Russia. They have been far more resilient than we expected.

This guy is great

I’ve heard Stephen Kotkin, mentioned by others as someone who really understands Russia. I considered reading a or some of his books, but never did. I thoroughly loved this interview. I am sold on the statement that he is a man who understands more than most others that I’ve heard speak. One thing that really impressed me about him in this interview is his ability to admit that he was wrong before on some things. How often do we hear experts say that? I am interested in the truth not the “party line” which ever side of issues one might come down on. It’s his willingness to say I was wrong on x, y, or z that makes me believe that he is also more interested in the truth than just promoting his own image or agenda. That seems in my experience to be very rare. After this interview I will look more into Stephen Kotkin’s words that he has said and written in the past. He was very impressive here. (At least to me as someone who knows a LOT less than he does in this area).

You got to hand it to Stephen Kotkin. He's dazzling us with his wisdom, knowledge, and insight on Russia, Stalin, and the USSR and doing a perfect impression of Joe Pesci at the same time. What a legend!

There is only 1 Stephen Kotkin

So, Kotkin finally addresses the views from the other side with an argument that still dismisses the views from the other side.

15:00 I love how blunt he is here

Dr. Kotkin is very knowledgeable and by listening to him one learns a lot.

Kotkin rules.

This bloke is the best ,!!!!!

Beautiful analysis. Very well articulated. Thank u. Keep it up

Kotkin is too good.

I agree with all the positive comments here (and I don’t see any negative ones).

Dr. Kotkin is brilliant in his understanding of communist regimes and strategy. Kudos.

Excellent work, Steven is one of the best!

Stephen Kotkin was a great guest, I love his cadence