In-depth conversations on the conflicts and rivalries shaping our world, explored in the detail the subject deserves. Dmitri Alperovitch speaks with the military commanders, intelligence officials, diplomats, historians, and strategists who shape events and study them closely — on the war in Ukraine, strategic competition with China and the future of Taiwan, nuclear deterrence, sanctions and semiconductors, and the changing character of warfare. Throughout, the aim is to understand not merely what has happened, but why — and what is likely to follow.
Geopolitics Decanted is hosted by Dmitri Alperovitch — chairman of the Silverado Policy Accelerator in Washington, D.C., national bestselling author of World on the Brink: How America Can Beat China in the Race for the Twenty-First Century, and co-founder of CrowdStrike.
Episodes
Dec 12, 2022
Dec 12, 2022
47 min
Dmitri Alperovitch talks with Michael Kofman
- The strategic impact of Russian terror strike campaign against Ukrainian critical infrastructure
- Likelihood of a near-term Ukrainian offensive to retake the South
- Is Ukraine trying to retake Kinburn Spit to control the Dniepier river?
- Would tanks help Ukraine break through the Russian trenches in the Donbas?
- Will we see significant offensive action this winter?
- Why the war will not stop at February 24 lines
Dec 2, 2022
Dec 2, 2022
1hr 5 min
In this episode, Dmitri Alperovitch talks with historian and Russia expert Mark Galeotti about:
- Whether Putin is capable of compromising his war aims in any potential future negotiations with Ukraine
- The real reason for why he chose to invade Ukraine
- Why he went ahead and annexed territories he didn't even have full control over
- The similarities between Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 and Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022
- Why Prigozhin and Kadyrov are no threat to Putin's hold on power
- Whether the sanctions and export controls are having much of an effect on the Russian economy and society
- How the people in Russia's intelligence services are reacting to the war (and what happened to SVR's Naryshkin)
- Why Putin is incapable of holding incompetent leaders accountable
- Why the bombastic rhetoric from Russian nationalist shock jocks on state television is not a portal into Kremlin's policy
- And much more!
Nov 25, 2022
Nov 25, 2022
45 min
In this episode, Dmitri Alperovitch talks with Dr. Danny Moore, a scholar of offensive cyber operations and a former cyber operator in the Israeli Defense Forces, about the successes and failures of Russian cyber attacks against Ukraine, the reasons for the lack of Russian cyber retaliation against the West, how the cyber component of warfare might play out different in a potential conflict with China over Taiwan, and the disturbing vulnerabilities of US weapons platforms like the F35 to cyber attacks
Nov 17, 2022
Nov 17, 2022
1hr 9 min
Why has Russia been unable to suppress Ukrainian air defenses? What is the true state of its missile stockpiles and production rates? Is the F-16 the best aircraft to provide to Ukraine to replace its old Soviet fighter jets? How can the West disrupt the chips supplies for the Russian military?
Dmitri Alperovitch talks to Justin Brock and Dr. Jack Watling from Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) about their findings from the recent trip to Ukraine
Nov 12, 2022
Nov 12, 2022
46 min
What lessons should Taiwan and its allies draw from the current conflict in Ukraine? Is the tank obsolete? Are commercial drones the future of warfare?
Dmitri Alperovitch speaks to Franz-Stefan Gady, a research fellow at IISS and a deep thinker on the future of conflict and war, about his recent trip to Ukraine and the non-obvious lessons for Taiwan from this conflict
Nov 8, 2022
Nov 8, 2022
52 min
Military coup or orderly transition? Nothing lasts forever and in this edition of the podcast, Dmitri Alperovitch speaks to Daniel Treisman, professor of political science at University of California, who specializes on Russian politics and economics, about how Putin's multi-decade reign of Russia might end
Oct 31, 2022
Oct 31, 2022
52 min
Dmitri Alperovitch talks with Michael Kofman, who is just back from a trip to Ukraine.
They discuss:
- The latest on the fight in Kherson and Luhansk
- Impact of Russian terror strikes on civilian infrastructure
- Ukrainian morale
- How Putin's mobilization is progressing
- What the Russians are trying to achieve with the dirty bomb scares, - Lkelihood of use of nuclear weapons and
- How this war might end
Oct 15, 2022
Oct 15, 2022
47 min
Dmitri Alperovitch and Silverado's Executive Director Sarah Stewart talk to Kevin Wolf, former Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration, about the latest export control measures announced by the Biden Administration that are now crippling the Chinese semiconductor companies and why this is one of the most important actions the US could have taken to deter an invasion of Taiwan