Foreign Office with Michael Weiss
By Free Russia Foundation and New Lines Magazine
Foreign Office with Michael WeissMar 13, 2023
Foreign Office #71. Kinzinger on 1/6, Ukraine and the GOP
The former Illinois Representative talks war — both abroad and at home.
Foreign Office #70. Prigozhin and Wagner and Trolls—Oh My
Renee DiResta of the Stanford Internet Observatory on the latest attempts to retcon Russia’s election interference
Foreign Office #69. The View from Kyiv
Yahoo contributor James Rushton and 'The Killer in the Kremlin' John Sweeney on covering the war from Ukraine and what to expect next.
Foreign Office #68. Will Ukraine Get F-16s?
U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Jahara Matisek explains the debate around sending Western jets to Kyiv.
Foreign Office #67. Why Russia's War Is In Even Worse Shape Than It Looks
Eliot Cohen, Professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, explains why he's optimistic Ukraine will win.
Foreign Office #66. “Putin’s Folly”
Author Owen Mathews on his latest book Overreach: The Inside Story of Putin’s War Against Ukraine
Foreign Office #65. On Ukraine's Military Adaptability
Gen. Mick Ryan explains how Ukraine has handled Western weapons platforms, and why it's wisely gone back to a war of "corrosion" against Russian forces.
Foreign Office #64. The Kyvian Reshuffle
What’s behind Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s sacking of his SBU chief and Prosecutor General? Ukrainian journalist Viktor Kovalenko explains.
Foreign Office #63. The Fellas of NAFO
How a dog avatar became a meme that chased a Russian ambassador off Twitter (for a while).
Foreign Office #62. On Coups and Illegals
Former CIA officer Marc Polymeropolous discusses the capture of a GRU illegal trying to infiltrate the ICC -- and whether or not former National Security Adviser John Bolton could really plan a "coup."
Foreign Office #61. The Battle of Donbas
War reporter Danny Gold on his time at Ukraine’s eastern front
Foreign Office #60. What is Wrong With Germany?
Benjamin Tallis explains the Sholz government's wobbliness on Ukraine and why old habits die hard in Berlin.
Foreign Office #59. How Mapmaking Explains Conflicts
Nathan Ruser combined open source intelligence and cartography to offer a more precise and explanatory visual of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Foreign Office #58. What Ukraine Has -- And What It Still Needs
James Rushton, an independent national security analyst, on the Western weapons systems sent to help Ukraine defend the Donbas.
Foreign Office #57. The Russian Dissident in Jail
Evgenia Kara-Murza talks about her husband Vladimir's latest arrest in Moscow.
Foreign Office #56. How Military Analysts Got Russia's War So Wrong
Phillips O'Brien, a professor a strategic studies at the University of St. Andrews, on why so many overestimated Russia's military capability.
Foreign Office #55. On Ukraine's Non-Neutrality
Olexander Scherba, Ukraine's former ambassador to Vienna, on why his country will never be like Austria.
Foreign Office #54. Putin’s Purge
Russian journalists Andrei Soldatov on how the FSB’s Fifth Service is taking the blame for failure in Ukraine.
Foreign Office #53. On Defending Kyiv
Pavlo Kalyuk, the community organizer for Podil, explains why he isn't leaving Ukraine's besieged capital.
Foreign Office #52. Our Man in Kyiv
British journalist John Sweeney reports from Ukraine's besieged capital.
Foreign Office #51. The view from Ukraine
Agnieszka Legucka recently returned from Eastern Ukraine, offers her perspective of what happens next.
Foreign Office #50. Information war as a prelude to real war
Peter Pomerantsev and Vladislav Davidson discuss the messaging about an intending Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Foreign Office #49. Russia Prepares the Battlespace in Ukraine
Hybrid War Expert Liubov Tsybulska on how Russia’s “imminent” invasion is already underway.
Foreign Office #48. A Likely Attack
Robert Lee, a Russian military analyst, says Putin's buildup at Ukraine's borders means only one thing: an invasion is coming.
Foreign Office #47. The Crisis in Kazakhstan
Human rights lawyer Steve Swerdlow and scholar Diana Kudaibergenova on the recent turmoil in the Central Asian republic.
Foreign Office #46. Putin’s Expendables
Journalists Holger Roonemaa and Mattias Carlsson discuss their joint investigation with @foreignoffpod into the notorious Russian mercenary corps.
Foreign Office #45. The Case Against Assange
National security attorney Mark Zaid explains the US government’s indictments of the Wikileaks founder, history of the Espionage Act, and why this case is unique.
Foreign Office #44. The State of Iraq
Newlines Institute senior analyst Rasha Al Qeedi dissects the results of the last election and how the country has changed since America's invasion.
Foreign Office #43. Once Bitten, Twice Bold
Ambassador Daniels Fried on why the US keeps making the same mistakes with Russia.
Foreign Office #42. How the Kremlin Manipulates the Anti-Money Laundering System
Attorney Jonathan Reich explains how financial safeguards against criminality are being used to target Russian dissidents and exiles from Putin's regime.
Foreign Office #41. Why the American Right Loves Orban
Hungarian writer Peter Kreko explains how a Central European country of ten million became the lodestar for a new breed of North American conservative.
Foreign Office #40. Our Own Worst Enemy
Atlantic contributor and USA Today columnist Tom Nichols discusses America's political and cultural dysfunction, and why there may not be a cure.
Foreign Office #39. The Geopolitics of the New Afghanistan
A scholar and expert on Afghanistan Kamran Bokhari explains how various countries will respond to the Taliban takeover, and what to do about ISIS-K.
Foreign Office #38. ISIS-K and the Taliban: It's Complicated
Former US Army intelligence officer Michael Pregent on the terrorist threat from Afghanistan in the wake of two horrific suicide bombings.
Foreign Office #37. Crisis and Credibility
Mike Nelson, a U.S. war veteran and visiting fellow at the National Security Institute at George Mason University, discusses the pullout from Afghanistan. And America's place in the world.
Foreign Office #36. America's Abandoned Allies
Journalist and author Wesley Morgan explains how Afghans integral to the U.S. war effort have been left to a grim fate in a Taliban-run country.
Foreign Office #35. Afghanistan, Before and After the Americans
Afghanistan scholar and professor at the US Naval Postgraduate School Thomas Johnson explains how America bungled its longest war.
Foreign Office #34. Why Vladimir Milov Is Optimistic
Russia's former deputy energy minister discusses the political situation in Russia, and why Putin isn't as strong as he looks.
Foreign Office #33. Tales from Odessa
Author Vladislav Davidzon on a decade of writing about (and for) Ukraine.
Foreign Office #32. The Biden-Russia Conundrum
Veteran Russia expert James Sherr discusses the recent policy pivot on Nord Stream 2, and what the West doesn't understand when dealing with Moscow.
Foreign Office #31. Sorge's Way
Historian and biographer Owen Mathews on how Soviet master spy Richard Sorge infiltrated the Third Reich.
Foreign Office #30. The Silent Weapon
Former CIA officer Marc Polymeropoulos on being a victim of directed energy attacks, U.S. Russian relations, and his new book.
Foreign Office #29. The View from Vilnius
Former Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicious discusses Belarus's hijacking of a commercial plane, and what the West needs to do about Minsk (and Moscow).
Foreign Office #28. A KGB Kidnapping
Andrei Sannikov, a former Belarusian presidential candidate, explains Alexander Lukashenko's crazy plot to arrest a journalist by hijacking a RyanAir plane.
Foreign Office #27. Microwaves and Bounties
National security reporter Tom Rogan on why the CIA isn't giving up on the GRU 'bounties' claim, and on alleged directed energy attacks against Americans.
Foreign Office #26. Explosions and Expulsions
Czech analyst Jakub Janda on how Russian state terrorism on NATO soil has upended Prague's relationship with Moscow.
Foreign Office #25. A 21st Century SMERSH
Bellingcat's Christo Grozev on what the latest disclosures out of Bulgaria and Czechia tell us about GRU Unit 29155.
Foreign Office #24. The Professor and “Ivan”
Nerma Jelacic, director of External Relations and Communications at Commission for International Justice and Accountability, explains how her NGO unmasked a Russian-back disinformation network on Syria — by pretending to be a Russian spy.
Foreign Office #23. Of “Kostya” and Collusion
RFE/RL’s Mike Eckel explains how the latest US sanctions on Russia advance what Mueller alleged about the Trump campaign’s ties to Moscow.
Foreign Office #22. Will Russia Invade Ukraine (Again)?
USIP Russia Director Don Jensen weighs the possible reason for Russia’s military buildup.
Foreign Office #21. Strategic Miscommunication
Analyst Monika Richter explains how Chinese government threats got an EU report on COVID-19 disinformation censored.
Foreign Office #20. Disinformation and Its Discontents
Johns Hopkins scholar and “Active Measures” author Thomas Rid on the DNI report on Russian meddling and how 2020 is different from 2016.
Foreign Office #19. When a Hack is not an Attack
Wired journalist Andy Greenberg on the SolarWinds hack and why cyberespionage is not cyber warfare.
Foreign Office #18. The Pipeline from Hell
Benjamin Schmitt, an energy security expert, argues Nord Stream 2 can and should be cancelled.
Foreign Office #17. Canceling Navalny
Russian journalist Yevgenia Albats — on Amnesty International’s decision to revoke Navalny’s prisoner of conscious status.
Foreign Office #16. Mr. Jones and Me
Andrea Chalupa, screenwriter of "Mr. Jones," on what inspired her to memorialize the journalist who uncovered Ukraine's terror-famine.
Foreign Office #15. What the Borrell Was He Thinking?
Senior Fellow at the European Values Center for Security Policy Nathalie Vogel on why the EU let the Kremlin humiliate it — again.
Foreign Office #14. Beirut Blues
The deputy editor of Newlines magazine Faysal Itani on the murder of Lebanese activist Lokman Slim and what America can and cannot do in the Middle East.
Foreign Office #13. The KGB's "Confidential Contacts"
Former CIA Officer John Sipher discusses the grey area between Russian informant and Russian agent.
Foreign Office #12. The People v. Julian Assange
Journalist Marcy Wheeler explains the U.S. government's charges against the Wikileaks founder, and why Britain refused to extradite him to America to face them.
Foreign Office #11. How to Catch a Russian Assassin
Christo Grozev, the Bellingcat journalist who unmasked Alexey Navalny’s hit squad, explains how he did it, and what it says about Putin’s security state.
Foreign Office #10. America in a Post-Trump World
Foreign policy analyst Damir Marusic on why a Biden presidency won't necessarily change much.
Foreign Office #9. Resets, Be Gone!
Former Biden adviser and Russia expert Michael Carpenter discusses his coauthored articles with President-Elect Joe Biden and what to expect from the new administration.
Foreign Office #8. Unfrozen Conflict
Award-winning journalist Simon Ostrovsky reports from Nagorno-Karabakh
Foreign Office #7. The View from Europe
As Joe Biden crept to victory, Estonia's former President Toomas Henrik Ilves explained how much of Europe saw this election -- and what it expects and (doesn't expect) from America going forward
Foreign Office #6. Thumping Out Sandworm
FireEye's John Hultquist explains the U.S. government's newly unsealed indictment about the GRU's devastating hacking operations.
Foreign Office #5. CIA v KGB: How American and Russian political warfare differs -- and how it doesn't
Tim Weiner, the acclaimed historian of the CIA, discusses his new book on American-Russian political warfare, from the Cold War till now.
Foreign Office #4. Second Time As Farce: How a Russian-Backed Operation in Ukraine to Sway the 2020 U.S. Election Came Undone
Time magazine's Simon Shuster discusses the ongoing Kremlin disinformation campaign involving individuals sanctioned by the U.S. Government
Foreign Office #3. Double Trouble: Who and What Poisoned Vladimir Kara-Murza?
In this episode, Vladimir Kara-Murza, vice president of Free Russia Foundation, recounts his own poisoning (twice) while traveling in Russia and what the FBI will has and hasn't told him about what it knows.
Foreign Office #2. Russia's history of poisonings
Russian journalists Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan discuss Russia's history of poisonings in light of the Navalny case and why the use of a signature toxin such as Novichok implicates Vladimir Putin.
Foreign Office #1. How Austria became Europe’s spy capital
In our pilot episode, Michael interviews Anton Shekhovtsov, an expert on the European far-right and the Russian government's ties to it. They discuss their jointly written essay for The Daily Beast, drawn from a still-classified KGB training manual, about the false-flag recruitment of an adviser to the Austrian chancellery in the late 1950s and early 1960s by a particularly resourceful Soviet double agent "Safo." Also, the stunning revelations about a Wirecard executive, Austria's first expulsion of a Russian intelligence officer, and why Vienna has the well-earned reputation of being the spy capital of Europe.