Is it better to fight an authoritarian government and lose, or work with that government and survive to fight another day? Bob interviews Joshua Yaffa, Moscow Correspondent for the New Yorker and author of Between Two Fires: Truth, Ambition, and Compromise in Putin's Russia, about the mentalities of the people who brought Vladimir Putin to power, the internal moral compromises they make to keep him there, and what those compromises mean during a global pandemic.   Yaffa describes a pervasive wiliness among the people he met through his reporting in Russia, from TV producers to zookeepers to human rights activists: people who engage in "quiet games of soft rebellion, acknowledging power and being outwardly loyal to it, while at the same time trying to undermine it and eke out personal benefit from it." 

Departures with Robert Amsterdam

The unique burden of being Russian

 On the latest episode of Departures, Robert Amsterdam speaks with Professor Angela Stent, director of the Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies and a professor at Georgetown University about her book, "Putin's World: Russia Against the West and with the Rest." In her book, Stent examines Russia's long-troubled relationship with the West, while also dissecting Russian relations with the rest of the world, including China, Japan, and the Middle East. She writes that "Putin's world" is one in which its relationship with The US and the EU is "adversarial," and its relations with the rest of the world have returned with a vengeance. Importantly, Stent employs a deeply historical perspective to inform her analysis of Putin's Russia on the world stage. The discussion touches on Russia's relationship with key global players such as China - which she views as one of unequals - as well as the extent to which Russia helped Donald Trump in the 2016 election. In Stent's view, President Donald Trump has served a useful role for Russia especially as a driver of the disaggregation of the West, and therefore "it’s not surprising that in 2016 the Russians favored Trump." 

Is Putin making Russia great again?

Across the world, borders have been closed, flights grounded, and hotels shuttered. When we eventually begin the great re-opening, the travel industry is going to look radically different and may remain that way for the foreseeable future. This week's guest arguably knows the travel sector better than anyone. Peter Greenberg, the Emmy award-winning producer and journalist for CBS News, speaks with Robert Amsterdam about what we should be watching, precautions we should take when traveling, and why we should indeed be very concerned about the absence of leadership to chart a path out of this crisis.

The travel industry will never be the same

Brian Greenspan is highly regarded as one of Canada's foremost criminal law practitioners, having represented a wide variety of celebrities to some of the country's top business groups. In this conversation with Departures host Robert Amsterdam, Greenspan shares his views on a diverse range of issues, including how he sees rule of law and criminal justice holding up under the immense pressures of the coronavirus pandemic, the contrasting political cultures between the US and Canada and what it means for mass incarceration, and what are some of key rulings that didn't go his way over the years that still keep him up at night.

Will rule of law withstand the age of pandemic?

The debate over whether or not the United States is losing its global influence and moving away from its role of leadership in the international system has moved more to a discussion of just how far and how fast it is falling, and what that means for how the rest of the world structures its relationships and disputes. This process, which was well underway before the 2016 election of President Donald Trump, has recently been accelerated in light of the global COVID-19 pandemic, according to a number of observers. In this episode of Departures, Robert Amsterdam invites authors Alexander Cooley and Daniel Nexon to respond to these events and share the insights featured in their new book, "Exit from Hegemony: The Unraveling of the American Global Order." 

The incredible shrinking US influence

Why have the people who have made the biggest foreign policy mistakes of all time never had to face the music? Robert Amsterdam discusses the changing role of diplomacy and the US grand strategy in a post-pandemic world with Stephen Walt, Robert and Renée Belfer professor of international relations at Harvard University, author of The Hell of Good Intentions: America’s Foreign Policy Elite and the Decline of US Primacy.    For Professor Walt, sustainable US foreign policy successes are win-win, not the result of overwhelming pressure campaigns: for diplomacy to work, “even if you’re getting most of what you want on most of the issues, you shouldn’t expect to get 100% of what you want.” He further predicts a further retreat from globalization in response to COVID-19: “At least in the short to medium term, the end result is going to be a world that is less open, less free, and less prosperous.”

Take-it-or-leave-it diplomacy

Over the past 25 years, the power and influence of the United States has been challenged in new ways from a variety of state and non-state actors, yet our responses to these challenges often seems mired in the past. In this latest episode of Departures, Robert Amsterdam has a wide-ranging discussion regarding emerging geopolitical trends with David Kilcullen, author of the book "The Dragons and the Snakes: How the Rest Learned to Fight the West."

Offshore balancing acts in the age of Trump

There nothing better than spending your summer vacation reading some good books - which at least for us, means reading our way through several new titles examining the future trajectory of Vladimir Putin's Russia. This week, Anders Åslund, a senior fellow in the Eurasia Center at the Atlantic Council, joins Bob on this episode of Departures to discuss his latest book, "Russia's Crony Capitalism: The Path from Market Economy to Kleptocracy."

With friends like these - corruption as an organizing principle in Putin's Russia

Is understanding the past the best way to view the present? Robert Amsterdam and guest Dr. Ed Watts, author of 'Mortal Republic: How Rome Fell Into Tyranny," discuss how a closer look at the Roman experiment with representative democracy may help us to better understand our own circumstances in the United States, and the obstacles and opportunities that we may see on the way forward.

The assumed notion of permanence

The City of London takes great pride in its cosmopolitan, international approach to diversity - but the reality on the ground and in the public schools for young black children is sadly rather dire. This week Robert Amsterdam explores the issue with Cheryl Phoenix, who leads the Black Child Agenda, a unique and important organization focused on breaking the schools to prison pipeline in the United Kingdom.

Breaking the Schools to Prison Pipeline in the United Kingdom

The ambitious expansion of global influence by China, right at a moment in which the US and West are retreating from the world, is rewriting the playbook on global trade. "This is really a change not just in the software of international trade – it’s also in the operating system," says our guest Chris Flynn, a lawyer at Australian Gilbert + Tobin. Robert Amsterdam and Flynn discuss how businesses are managing this transition, and what new opportunities are coming in the reordering of Asia.

Doing business in the new Chinese world order

Helen Epstein is the author of "Another Fine Mess: America, Uganda, and the War on Terror." Epstein has been working in Uganda for the last twenty years. During that time, the region has received some $20 billion of foreign aid, yet the quality of education, health care, and basic standards of living remain low. Epstein’s analysis of the situation centers on Uganda’s longtime dictator, Yoweri Museveni. She argues that his support for the West’s War on Terror has allowed him to channel funds meant for public services into shoring up his regime.

Why the West looks away from Uganda's deepening political violence

Financial analyst Emanuele Minotti joins Robert Amsterdam's Departures podcast this week to discuss the recent anti-establishment upheavals in Italy and what it means for Italian and European equity markets.

Italy's financial dysfunction and rise of populism

Robert Amsterdam is joined this week by Professor of History Benjamin Carter Hett, whose new book "The Death of Democracy" examines how Weimar Germany marched toward authoritarianism and the events that led to the rise of Hitler. Bob and Prof. Hett discuss a number of broad similarities between this period and the toxic politics of our current scenario.

To rise as the most angry, forceful critics of the system

Anders Aslund of the Atlantic Council joins Bob to discuss Putin's lack of a succession plan, his impact on Europe, the global reaction to Trump and his trade war, and what we can expect next from the populist wave upsetting Western democratic systems.

More Tsarist than Soviet

International lawyer Robert Amsterdam and other members from the Amsterdam & Partners LLP team host a wide range of special expert guests to discuss leading international political and business issues.

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Departures with Robert Amsterdam

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