#15 - Mark Galeotti, Russia

The Narrative Monopoly

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