From Hope to Hostility: US Relations With Putin’s Russia
When the Cold War ended in 1992, there was great hope for the newly formed Russian Federation. They worked closely with the US to help control the thousands of loose nukes scattered around former Soviet states like Ukraine. But following a series of major economic problems, and missteps by the West, Russia turned in a new direction, when a previously obscure ex-KGB agent named Vladimir Putin took over as President in 2000. In this episode, former US Ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, and former US Secretary of Defense, William Perry talk about their up close and personal interactions with Russia through the 1990s and the 2000s, and try to make sense of how US-Russian relations have deteriorated to today’s dangerous hostility.
Read MoreDid Ukraine Make a Mistake by Giving Up Nuclear Weapons?
In the 90s, Ukraine made the decision to dismantle the thousands of former Soviet nuclear weapons left on its territory. Nearly 3 decades later, Russia has invaded Ukraine using its own nuclear arsenal to bully other nations from interceding. In this special episode of AT THE BRINK, we explore whether Ukrainian denuclearization was a fateful mistake and if a nuclear Ukraine could have prevented the Russian invasion.
Read MoreHibakusha
In August 1945, over 200,000 people were killed by atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Understand these weapons through the eyes of three Hiroshima survivors.
Read MoreFire and Fury in the Hermit Kingdom
Since the 1990s we have veered between crisis and hope with North Korea. Now that they have their nuclear deterrence, what happens next?
Read MoreThe Iran Deal
Blocking a Persian Bomb Donald Trump called it “the worst deal ever negotiated”. Benjamin Netanyahu called it an “embarrassment” which “paves Iran’s path to the bomb”; Lindsey Graham called it “a death sentence for Israel”. They were talking about the JCPOA, or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, commonly known as the Iran Nuclear Deal, an…
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