The Power Vertical Podcast at CEPA

The more wars change, the more they stay the same. On the first Power Vertical Podcast at CEPA, Brian Whitmore sits down with Volodymyr Dubovyk to discuss the ongoing war in Ukraine.

What do you do when an adversary is using chaos as a strategy? You get smart. In the second edition of the new Power Vertical Podcast at CEPA, we look at a recent report by CEPA Senior Fellow Donald Jensen and CEPA President Peter Doran on the Kremlin’s strategy of chaos. Host Brian Whitmore, director of CEPA’s Russia program, previews his upcoming series on Hybrid Containment, a Western strategy for countering Moscow’s offensive.  Joining me are CEPA fellows Donald Jensen and Maria Snegovaya.

How are members of Russia’s “Generation Z” different from their parents? Will the Putin generation turn against Putin? In the third edition of the new Power Vertical Podcast at CEPA, we dive into a recent report by CEPA Adjunct Fellow Maria Snegovaya looking at the generation born since 1993. Joining me are CEPA fellows Maria Snegovaya and Donald N. Jensen.

It's one of the greatest threats to European security and transatlantic solidarity. It flouts EU laws and regulations—and gets away with it. It's a guided weapon masquerading as a commercial project. It, of course, is the Kremlin-sponsored Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project. And on this week’s Power Vertical Podcast, we strip away its myths, fantasies, and fairy tales and look at the reality. HostBrian Whitmore, director of the CEPA Russia Program, is joined by CEPA President Peter B. Doran and Benjamin Schmitt, European Energy Security Advisor at the U.S. State Department.

He leads a regime that plays by its own rules. He's been called a spoiler, a rogue, and a global troll. But Vladimir Putin’s international misbehavior also invokes a tactic as old as warfare itself – that of a raider. On this week’s Power Vertical Podcast, we look at raiding as a strategy and a tactic in the Kremlin’s playbook. Host Brian Whitmore, director of the CEPA Russia Program, is joined by CEPA Senior Fellow Donald N. Jensen and military analyst Michael Kofman of the CNA Corporation.

It's the most vulnerable point in NATO's frontline and it is vital to the defense of the Baltic states. If Russia and NATO ever engage in armed conflict in Europe, the epicenter is likely to be the Suwałki Corridor—a 65-kilometer strip of the Polish-Lithuanian border situated between Belarus and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. How vulnerable is the Suwałki Corridor? And what can be done to defend it? On this week’s Power Vertical Podcast, I discuss this with LTG (Ret.) Frederick Benjamin Hodges, the former commander of U.S. Army Europe, currently the Pershing Chair in Strategic Studies at CEPA, and co-author of the upcoming report: Securing The Suwałki Corridor: Strategy, Statecraft, Deterrence, and Defense.

Despite Vladimir Putin's falling approval ratings, the mood in Moscow these days is triumphant—and not just because of Russia's surprisingly strong showing in the World Cup. With Putin about to get his long-sought one-on-one meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, many in the Russian foreign policy elite think they are about to get a lot of things on their wish list. So, are they? On this week’s Power Vertical Podcast, we look ahead to the Helsinki summit. Joining me are former U.S. State Department official Donald N. Jensen, a Senior Fellow here at CEPA and a lecturer at Johns Hopkins University; and Stephen Blank, a senior fellow for Russia at the American Foreign Policy Council.

The restoration of empire. A multipolar world led by great powers. Spheres of influence. Personalized rule. An authoritarian and patrimonial state. Support for so-called traditional values. And something called sovereign democracy. All of these things have been associated with something we have come to call Putinism. But does it all add up to an ideology?

One is a rising power that believes time is on its side. The other is former empire desperate to revive its past imperial glory. They share opposition to the Western-led liberal world order. But their geopolitical interests clash in Central Asia, the Far East, and elsewhere. So are Russia and China allies? Frenemies? Competitors? Or all of the above? And what does it mean going forward? On this week’s Power Vertical Podcast I take a close look at the Sino-Russian relationship with Stephen Blank, a senior fellow on Russia at the American Foreign Policy Council.

So you thought cyberattacks, disinformation campaigns, troll farms, and bot armies were a problem—well, you ain't seen nothing yet. According to a new report, advances in artificial intelligence, automation, and machine learning, together with the growing availability of big data, open the door to a frightening brave new world in which adversaries like Vladimir Putin's Russia can take political warfare against the West to a whole new level. Welcome to the world of deep fakes, virtual interactive worlds, and weaponized big data. On this week’s Power Vertical Podcast, we discuss what is coming in political warfare. I’m joined by Dr. Alina Polyakova, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, an adjunct professor of European studies at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, and co-author of the report The Future of Political Warfare: Russia, The West, and the Coming Age of Global Digital Competition; and former U.S. State Department official Donald Jensen, a senior fellow here at CEPA, a lecturer at Johns Hopkins University, and author of the forthcoming report Putin's Strategy of Chaos.

Half a century ago this week, Soviet and Warsaw Pact troops invaded Czechoslovakia and crushed the Prague Spring. And 27 years ago this week, a hardline coup against Mikhail Gorbachev failed, precipitating the collapse of the Soviet Union. Seventy-nine years ago this week, the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, dividing Eastern Europe between Hitler and Stalin. And 29 years ago this week, an estimated two million Soviet citizens joined hands to form a human chain spanning 675 across the three Baltic states, marking the 50th anniversary of the Hitler-Stalin pact and protesting the Soviet occupation of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. What do these anniversaries, and how they are observed – or not observed – tell us about today’s Russia? On this week’s Power Vertical Podcast, I take a look back – and a look ahead with former U.S. State Department official Donald N. Jensen, a Senior Fellow at CEPA and a lecturer at Johns Hopkins University.

Throughout the Cold War, it was understood that the United States would bear the brunt of the burden for Europe's defense. And after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact, the issue of European defense and security was put on the back burner as military budgets shrank across the continent. Now, with a resurgent and revanchist Russia, European security is front and center again. But the question remains: who will bear the burden? And what is the future of Atlanticism? On the latest Power Vertical Podcast, Brian Whitmore discusses the current turbulence in the transatlantic relationship with Elisabeth Braw, a London-based adjunct fellow at CEPA.

Don't look now, but the energy game is changing. Shale, LNG, and renewables are upending the old rules that have long governed the market. And as energy markets change, the geopolitics of energy won't be far behind. This has deep and profound implications for energy exporters like Russia, which has long relied on hydrocarbons to fuel its hegemonic ambitions. On this week’s Power Vertical Podcast, Brian Whitmore discusses what it all means with Agnia Grigas, a senior fellow at The Atlantic Council and author of the books The New Geopolitics of Natural Gas and Beyond Crimea: The New Russian Empire.

Elite tension, protests, and duels: Listen to the latest on Russia with Brian Whitmore, Donald N. Jensen, and Maria Snegovaya. 

A Russian invasion masquerading as a popular uprising. An unexpectedly robust Ukrainian defense. A frozen stalemate with no end in sight. So what exactly has Moscow learned after more than four years of war in the Donbas? On this week’s Power Vertical Podcast, we take a look at how Russian military thinkers view the war and what that means for the future. Joining me are Krisztian Jojart, the Andrassy National Security Fellow at CEPA, an external fellow at the Budapest-based Center for Strategic and Defense Studies, and author of the forthcoming report Lessons From Ukraine: Implications for Russian Military Thinking; and veteran Kremlin-watcher and former U.S. State Department official Donald Jensen, a senior fellow at CEPA and a lecturer at Johns Hopkins University.

They're agile. They're mobile. And they're elusive. They're stateless, they're disruptive, and they're violent. They're the new barbarians. They're at the gates of Western civilization. And in an era of heightened great power conflict and competition, they're changing the calculus, strategy, and rules of international politics. Are terrorists, pirates, and hackers the new Huns, Goths, and Vandals? And how do they play into the conflict between Russia and the West? On this week’s Power Vertical Podcast, Brian Whitmore speaks with former U.S. State Department official Jakub Grygiel, author of the new book Return of the Barbarians: Confronting Non-State Actors from Ancient Rome to the Present, to find out.

With all the trolls, bots, cut-outs, fakes, psy-ops, active measures, and influence campaigns, the West is facing a stealthy and joined-up threat from the Kremlin and other hostile actors. Some of it, we've seen before in the Soviet propaganda campaigns of the Cold War. Some of it is new, tailored to the era of digital news and social media. So, how is the push-back going? Find out on this week’s Power Vertical Podcast, where Brian Whitmore speaks to JD Maddox, a consultant to the U.S. State Department's Global Engagements Center and CEPA President Peter B. Doran.

The West has seen Russia's strategy of chaos before. And it can fight back. Listen to the latest Power Vertical podcast as Peter B. Doran and Donald N. Jensen explain how.

Nearly five years ago Vladimir Putin's regime forcefully and illegally annexed Ukraine's Crimean peninsula. Today Russia is attempting to forcefully and illegally annex the international waters of the Sea of Azov. At stake is southeastern Ukraine's access to the sea as well as Ukraine's economic viability and very sovereignty. But Moscow's gunboat diplomacy also has broader implications for international law, maritime rights, and Black Sea security. Listen to the latest Power Vertical Podcast as Brian Whitmore navigates the choppy waters of the Sea of Azov with guests Stephen Blank, a senior fellow for Russia at the American Foreign Policy Council and CEPA Senior Fellow Donald N. Jensen.

The line between peace and war is blurred, as is the line between domestic politics and foreign affairs. The motherland is surrounded and besieged by enemies. And in this environment, the best defense is a good offense. In this environment, the best strategy is to weaponize everything. The concept of asymmetric warfare is not new to Russian military thinking. In fact, it has deep historical roots. What are they? And what can the West learn from them?   Listen to the latest Power Vertical Podcast as Brian Whitmore is joined by Krisztian Jojart, the Andrassy National Security Fellow at CEPA, an external fellow at the Budapest-based Center for Strategic and Defense Studies, and author of a forthcoming report on the Historical Roots of Russian Asymmetric Warfare. Also joining the podcast is report co-author Dorka Takácsy, the Szell Kalman Fellow at the Hungary Initiatives Foundation in Washington, and Donald N. Jensen, a senior fellow at CEPA and a lecturer at Johns Hopkins University.