Ep. 25: Waller Newell on Putin and Tyranny

School of War

Waller Newell, Professor of Political Science and Philosophy at Carleton University, joins the show to discuss tyranny and tyrants—and Vladimir Putin in particular. 

Waller Newell, Professor of Political Science and Philosophy at Carleton University, joins the show to discuss tyranny and tyrants—and Vladimir Putin in particular.  Times <ul>
<li>02:05 Introduction</li>
<li>03:43 Let's talk about Vladimir Putin</li>
<li>05:40 What is the Russian "Soul"?</li>
<li>07:19 Quote from "The Russian Idea"</li>
<li>08:40 Who was Nikolai Berdyaev?</li>
<li>09:54 Is Berdyaev an influence on Aleksandr Dugin?</li>
<li>11:05 The West has a hard time understanding non-economic motivations. Why?</li>
<li>13:06 Who is Aleksandr Dugin?</li>
<li>15:21 “Eurasian Nationalist Bolshevism” </li>
<li>16:55 Rehabilitating Stalin</li>
<li>18:40 Are we seeing a perpetuation of Tsarist Russia?</li>
<li>20:40 What is fascism?</li>
<li>22:35 The many types of tyranny</li>
<li>25:12 What kind of tyrant is Putin?</li>
<li>26:50 Why has millenarian tyranny appeared so relatively recently in history?</li>
<li>29:51 The relationship between liberalism and millenarian tyranny</li>
<li>31:25 The next ten years in Russia</li>
<li>34:00 Did Putin know what he was getting himself into in Ukraine?</li>
<li>35:36 The prospect of Russian and Chinese collaboration in the future</li>
<li>36:55 Who drives Chinese policy - Xi Jinping or the Chinese Communist Party?</li>
<li>38:56 Staying sane while studying tyrants</li>
<li>42:10 What should we be reading to better recognize hostile actors for what they are?</li>
</ul>

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This podcast seeks to learn what war teaches. There has been a steady decline in the study of military history and its associated theoretical discipline, strategy.This podcast seeks to fill that gap through in-depth interviews on military and diplomatic history.&nbsp; Our guests have included former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the Cold War historian John Lewis Gaddis, and China Select Committee chairman Mike Gallagher. We discuss the battlefield commanders, diplomats, strategists, policymakers, and statesmen who have had to make wartime decisions in the ancient and modern eras.The subject of an episode may be an historical battle, campaign, or conflict; the conduct of policy in the course of a major international incident; the work of a famous strategist; the nature of a famous weapon; or the legacy of an important military commander or political leader.&nbsp;&nbsp; Aaron MacLean is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He has worked as a foreign policy advisor and legislative director to Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and spent seven years in the U.S. Marine Corps. <a href="https://schoolofwar.substack.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Visit our Substack for episode transcripts</a><a href="https://www.instagram.com/school.of.war/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Follow along on Instagram</a>