The Eurasian Knot
by The Eurasian Knot
Latest episode
Russia's Familial Colonialism
Russia's Familial Colonialism
About this podcast
To many, Russia, and the wider Eurasia, is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. But it doesn’t have to be. The Eurasian Knot dispels the stereotypes and myths about the region with lively and informative interviews on Eurasia’s complex past, present, and future. New episodes drop weekly with an eclectic mix of topics from punk rock to Putin, and everything in-between. Subscribe on your favorite podcasts app, grab your headphones, hit play, and tune in. Eurasia will never appear the same. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episodes
The newest 50 of 384 episodes
- Russia's Familial Colonialism · 47 minColonialism comes with many ideological justifications. Like, the desire to “civilize” the “backward” native. To more efficiently extract and utilize natural resources. Because…
- The Shandeans of the Soviet Union · 52 min"I wrote not to be fed but to be famous." This is one of the many, many humorous and whimsical sayings attributed to the writer Laurence Sterne. This Anglican cleric became a…
- Dumplings! · 50 minThey go by many names. Xiao mai. Samosa. Momo. Mani. Pelmeni. Vareniki. Khinkali. That’s right, dumplings! That delicious meat-wrapped-in-dough dish! The dumpling is one of the…
- Marriage and Family in Chechnya · 48 minThe history of Chechens, or Nokhchi, is defined by war, occupation, and ethnic cleansing. Yet despite these repeated traumas, the Nokhchi have persisted, resisted and survived…
- A Novel of Modern Russia · 39 minMaya, the heroine of Svetlana Satchkova’s The Undead: A Novel of Modern Russia, is an aspiring Russian filmmaker. And after fits and starts she finally gets a break when the…
- Latvian Soldiers in WWII · 54 minWorld War II casts a long, dark shadow over eastern Europe. Especially in those nations caught between the Wehrmacht and Red Army. Some locals joined the Nazis, others served in…
- Los Rusos · 50 minAn overlooked destination for thousands immigrating out of the Russian Empire and Soviet Union was Mexico. The reasons were many. Jews fled anti-semitic violence. Religious…
- The Origins of the Ukraine War · 55 minWhen did Putin decide to invade Ukraine? Was it shortly after 2012 when he returned as President? In 2014, after the seizure of Crimea and clashes in the Donbas? Or was it when…
- The Soviet Death Penalty · 46 minThe fact that the USSR executed its citizens with little jurisprudence is well known. The word “troika” is synonymous with Stalinist repressions of the 1930s. What is less known…
- Soviet Protestants · 51 minWe tend to think of the 1990s when it comes to Protestantism in Russia. It was then that evangelicals descended on Russia to shine Jesus’ light into the post-Soviet void. Yet…
- Thresholds Part 7: Olga · 17 minOver the last century, tens of millions of people quit Eastern Europe for the United States. The push-pull factors were many—war, poverty, instability, persecution at home and…
- Thresholds Part 6: Yelena · 15 minOver the last century, tens of millions of people quit Eastern Europe for the United States. The push-pull factors were many—war, poverty, instability, persecution at home and…
- Thresholds Part 5: Julia · 13 minOver the last century, tens of millions of people quit Eastern Europe for the United States. The push-pull factors were many—war, poverty, instability, persecution at home and…
- Thresholds Part 4: New Immigrants · 36 minOver the last century, tens of millions of people quit Eastern Europe for the United States. The push-pull factors were many—war, poverty, instability, persecution at home and…
- Thresholds Part 3: Russians in San Francisco · 35 minOver the last century, tens of millions of people quit Eastern Europe for the United States. The push-pull factors were many—war, poverty, instability, persecution at home and…
- Thresholds Part 2: Becoming White · 29 minOver the last century, tens of millions of people quit Eastern Europe for the United States. The push-pull factors were many—war, poverty, instability, persecution at home and…
- Thresholds Part 1: Leaving the Old Country · 39 minOver the last century, tens of millions of people quit Eastern Europe for the United States. The push-pull factors were many—war, poverty, instability, persecution at home and…
- The Rise and Fall of the Georgian Democratic Republic · 58 minThe Georgian Democratic Republic lasted a mere three years, from 1918-1921. And though it was viewed as an oddity at the time, many European social democrats marveled at its…
- The Man Who Knew Russia · 1 h 7 minEveryone has an opinion about the late Russian historian Richard Pipes. Some loved him. Many hated him. He was a conservative and anti-communist. A hardliner on American policy…
- Reporting Russia's Descent · 38 minMarc Bennets has been reporting from Russia for over two decades. He’s covered Putin’s rise and consolidation of power, assassinations of oppositionists, mass protests, daily…
- Boris Nemtsov · 54 minOn the night of 27 February 2015, assassins gunned down Boris Nemtsov as he crossed the Bolshoi Moskvoretskii Bridge. Shock quickly spread throughout Russia, particularly among…
- The Last Soviet Artist · 44 minI met the graphic artist, Victoria Lomasko, about 10 years ago when she was a resident at the City of Asylum in Pittsburgh. I emceed an event with her back then. So I was happy…
- Remembering Alexander Rabinowitch · 37 minWhen I opened Facebook this morning, as I do every morning, I learned that Alexander Rabinowitch died at 91 years old. Rabinowitch was arguably one of the most important…
- Anastas Mikoyan · 50 minHow Stalin personally ran the Soviet Union has rightly received much attention. Less discussed is the small group of men that served as his top lieutenants. They carried out his…
- Soviet Holocaust Literature · 54 minIt has long been assumed that there was no Holocaust memory in the Soviet Union. Official Soviet ideology lumped the 1.5 million Soviet Jews exterminated by the Nazis into the 26…
- The Russian Paradox · 51 minMany studies focus on how Russia doesn’t work and why. There’s a laundry list of reasons. Corruption. Autocracy. Imperialism. Exceptionalism. But, how, then, does Russia work?…
- Kurt Vonnegut in the USSR · 51 minI went through my Kurt Vonnegut phase in my late teens. I read Player Piano, Cat’s Cradle, I think, Deadeye Dick, and of course, Slaughterhouse Five. I can’t say I remember much…
- The Post-Soviet Human Condition · 1 h 8 minThe Eurasian Knot hasn’t featured many philosophers. So, when Ukrainian political philosopher, Mikhail Minakov, came to the University of Pittsburgh to give a talk, I eagerly…
- Bye, Bye Orban · 50 minOn April 12, 2026, Hungarians overwhelmingly voted Peter Magyar into office ending the sixteen-year rule of Viktor Orban. It was a stunning victory that sent voters into the…
- The Georgian August 1924 Uprising · 50 minIn August 1924, a group of rebels organized by the anti-Bolshevik Committee for the Independence of Georgia and led by the Georgian Social Democratic Party, rose up against…
- The Edge of Sports · 47 minSpoiler alert. This episode has nothing to do with the Eurasian Knot’s usual fare. Dave Zirin was speaking at the University of Pittsburgh. Zirin is one of the few sports…
- Russian and American Internal Colonization · 54 minAbout eight years ago, I interviewed Steven Sabol about his book, The Touch of Civilization. It was the first book I was aware of that compared the US’ and Russia’s efforts to…
- Everyday Politics in Russia · 59 minWhat do Russians really think? The question is old and elusive. It is also somewhat of a tell–to pose it is to suggest there’s a coherent answer, and more so, that Russians’…
- Ukraine's Euromaidan · 1 h 2 minIn the winter of 2013-14, protests erupted in Kyiv, Ukraine. Their goal was to oppose President Viktor Yanukovich’s rejection of the EU Association Agreement. Many protesters saw…
- KGB Same-Sex Honey Traps · 43 minOne of the most salacious and storied methods of KGB spycraft during the Cold War was the honey trap. Agents would get an informant to seduce a target, usually a Westerner deemed…
- The Bolshevik Rank and File · 57 minIn 1917, the Bolshevik Party had roughly 24,000 members. A decade later, it boasted about 1.2 million. Recruitment came in waves and so did the purges. Still, Party members were…
- Stalin's Last Days · 36 minJoseph Stalin died today, March 5, seventy-three years ago. So, I thought it would be a good idea to dig out, re-edit and remaster, the interview I did with Joshua Rubenstein…
- Searching for Belief during the Soviet End Times · 1 h 6 minWhen societies are in crisis, people tend to seek alternative belief systems to give them comfort, explain a complex world, or fill a space left vacant by discredited ideologies…
- Moscow's Hunt for Olympic Gold · 53 minAs a Cold War kid, I remember the intense rivalry between the United States and USSR during the Olympics. Of course, we remember the US’ boycott in 1980 because of the Soviet…
- The Long History of American-Russian Relations · 1 h 7 minA quick scan of the hundreds of books on US-Russia relations gives the impression that the two countries only met in the 20th century. But relations go back to the early days of…
- REEES Faculty Spotlight: Gregor Thum · 41 minThe history of borders and nations in Eastern Europe is fraught. What we even call the region is a site of contestation. Is it “Eastern Europe,” “Central Europe,” or “East…
- Russia Starts Here · 55 minWhat is Russia? There’s no easy answer. Travelers, scholars, philosophers, and journalists have pondered the question for centuries. And though answers vary, there is one point…
- The Further Adventures of the Black Russian · 45 minA decade ago, Vladimir Alexandrov published an excellent biography, The Black Russian, about an unknown historical figure–Fredrick Bruce Thomas. Thomas was a Black Mississippian…
- The Great Reforms · 53 minAlexander II’s Great Reforms were sweeping. They freed over 22 million serfs, overhauled the judicial, university, and municipal systems, and loosened censorship, among others…
- Post-Soviet Graffiti · 55 minI love street art. And I don’t care in what form. Beautifully crafted murals. Spraypainted gang tags. Scrawls on bathroom stalls. Even guerilla sticker mosaics on streetlights. I…
- The Stiliagi · 1 h 2 minA new youth subculture emerged in the Soviet Union in the late 1940s and early 1950s–the Stiliagi. Roughly translated as “the stylish,” these youths, the majority of whom were…
- Fraternization and Survival During WWII · 40 minSoviet ideology called for the emancipation of women. Soviet women would be active participants in public life, unburdened by the home, children, and husbands, and serve equally…
- The Art of War · 40 minAbout two years ago, I was brought on to a podcast project started by the Global Studies Center at the University of Pittsburgh. The initial pitch was to produce a student-led…
- How Peat Electrified the USSR · 50 minWhat is peat? We had no idea until the Eurasian Knot spoke to Katja Bruisch about how this coal-like soil was an energy source in Russia and the Soviet Union. Found in wetlands…
- Murder Mystery in Moscow · 1 h 3 minI’ve grown to admire historians like Catherine Merridale. You know, those historians who buck academic conventions to write for a non-academic audience. This was quite a change…
