Podcasts by War & Peace

War & Peace

War and Peace is a podcast series from the International Crisis Group. Olga Oliker and Elissa Jobson interview experts about all things Europe and its neighbourhood from Russia to Turkey and beyond. Their guests shed new light on everything that helps or hinders prospects for peace. A podcast member of the EuroPod production network.


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War & Peace
Europe’s Struggle to Respond to the Gaza War from 2023-12-05T16:41:29

In this episode of War & Peace, Olga and Elissa talk with Julien Barnes-Dacey, Middle East and North Africa Program Director at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR),...

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War & Peace
Time to Talk? Assessing the Plausibility of Negotiations in the Russo-Ukrainian War from 2023-11-21T16:54:20

In this episode of War & Peace, Olga talks with Samuel Charap, Senior Political Scientist at the RAND Corporation, about whether the current moment makes negotiations to end the war...

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War & Peace
Why Women Fight: Gender Dynamics in Insurgencies and Armies from 2023-10-24T13:32:33

Throughout history, women have been involved in conflict: as soldiers, as insurgents and as civilians. Yet, the ways in which men and women are treated on and off the battlefield and the contrib...

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War & Peace
The Days After: Humanitarian Crisis and Prospects for Peace in Karabakh and the Region from 2023-10-10T17:08:11

In the first episode of a new season of War & Peace, Olga Oliker is joined by Crisis Group’s South Caucasus experts, Olesya Vartanyan and Zaur Shiriyev, to talk about the implicatio...

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War & Peace
NATO’s Vilnius Summit and Baltic Security from 2023-07-28T14:12:10

On 12 July, NATO concluded its two-day summit in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius. At the backdrop of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the decision to hold the meeting in one of NATO’s newer members...

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War & Peace
Ukraine’s Male Travel Ban and the Protection of Civilians in Wartime from 2023-07-12T13:45:05

War, by definition, takes terrible tolls on civilian populations. Just what risks a given person faces depends on many factors, including gender, class and geography. While international law has...

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War & Peace
The War in Ukraine: Rallying Point for the Left or New Neocon Adventure? from 2023-06-30T12:54:51

Western support for Ukraine’s war against Russia has faced continued scrutiny. Critics have compared the conflict to past American wars of choice, such as the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, ...

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War & Peace
Bonus Episode: Is This the End? Wagner in Russia, Ukraine and Africa from 2023-06-29T07:59:45

Today we're bringing you a bonus episode on the attempted insurrection by Wagner forces in Russia from Crisis Group's global podcast Hold Your Fire!


Over the weekend, Yevgeny Prigozhin...

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War & Peace
Escalation in Northern Kosovo: Causes, Dangers and Prospects from 2023-06-13T15:11:05

On 29 May, a group of ethnic Serb protesters clashed with troops of the NATO peacekeeping force KFOR in the town of Zvečan in northern Kosovo. Demonstrators were angry at the Kosovo government’s...

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War & Peace
What to Expect from Five More Years of President Erdoğan in Türkiye from 2023-06-02T14:06:48

This week on War & Peace, Olga Oliker speaks with Crisis Group’s Türkiye Director Nigar Göksel about the Turkish elections and how President Erdoğan’s new term might shape the c...

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War & Peace
Increasingly At Odds: What’s Shaping the EU-China Relationship? from 2023-05-16T15:40:39

The EU’s relations with China have long been complex. With China’s influence expanding globally and the U.S. increasingly viewing Beijing as its primary competitor, the EU and its member states ...

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War & Peace
Protests and Far-Right Politics in Israel and Europe from 2023-04-18T14:33:20

Israel’s new governing far-right coalition under Benjamin Netanyah has proposed judicial reform that would weaken the country’s judiciary. In response, Israelis have taken to the streets in prot...

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War & Peace
Protests in Georgia and Tbilisi’s Complicated Relationships with Russia and the West from 2023-04-04T15:57:26

In early March, Georgians took to the street in Tbilisi to protest a bill that would have classified organisations and media groups receiving more than 20 per cent of their funding from abroad a...

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War & Peace
Bert Koenders on the War in Ukraine and the Future of Europe from 2023-03-21T16:54:22

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has marked a watershed for Europe. The European Union (EU) and its member states acted quickly to implement sanctions against Russia, bolster Ukrainian de...

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War & Peace
Tribunal on the Crime of Aggression: Faint Prospect or Realistic Probability? from 2023-03-07T15:54:12

This episode of War & Peace draws on a live Twitter Spaces discussion between Olga Oliker, Elissa Jobson, Crisis Group’s UN Director Richard Gowan and its Senior Adviser for the U.S...

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War & Peace
Ukraine’s Jews, Israel and the War from 2023-02-21T14:47

Accusations of anti-semitism and nazism have been a leitmotif of the Russian-Ukrainian war from its start. Russian propaganda has consistently accused Ukraine’s government of ultra-nationalist a...

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War & Peace
Kazakhstan One Year After "Bloody January" from 2023-01-24T14:05:29

2022 was a turbulent year for Kazakhstan. In early January, anti-government protests erupted across the country. The resulting clashes between police and demonstrators led to thousands of arrest...

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War & Peace
Catherine Ashton on Diplomacy, Ukraine, and Her New Book from 2023-01-10T14:44:07

From 2009 to 2014, Catherine Ashton served as the European Union’s (EU) first high representative for foreign affairs and security policy. In that role, she was the EU’s senior  negotiator ...

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War & Peace
Understanding the Latest Escalation in Türkiye’s PKK Conflict from 2022-12-21T13:36:47

On 13 November, a bomb detonated in Istanbul’s busy Istiklal Avenue, killing six and wounding 81 people. Ankara blamed the attack on the PKK, a Kurdish militant insurgency, which has been in a d...

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War & Peace
Making Sense of Russia’s Changing Role in Africa from 2022-11-29T16:15:16

For more than a decade, Russia has made a concerted effort to strengthen its influence on the African continent. It has had some success. In countries like the Central African Republic and Mali,...

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War & Peace
A Closer Look at Ukraine’s Donbas after Russia’s Occupation from 2022-11-15T17:16:09

If war reached most of Ukraine in February of 2022, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion, the country’s eastern Donbas region has been torn apart by war since Russia, having occupied Cri...

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War & Peace
The Still-Perilous Path Toward Peace Between Armenia and Azerbaijan from 2022-11-03T09:18:25

It has been almost two years since a November 2020 ceasefire deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan ended a brutal six-week war. While the Moscow-brokered deal was meant to end large-scale combat o...

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War & Peace
Bosnia and Herzegovina After the Elections from 2022-10-18T14:16:58

More than two weeks after the elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina on 2 October, the country’s political future remains uncertain. While reformist and moderate candidates have seen success in the...

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War & Peace
Taking Stock of Russia’s Military Performance in Ukraine from 2022-10-04T15:11:06

On 21 September, Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilisation in Russia, marking a major escalation of the war in Ukraine. According to Russia’s Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, 300,000 Russia...

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War & Peace
6.3 Million IDPs and a Humanitarian Crisis: Ukraine’s “New Normal” from 2022-07-12T13:01:47

Even if the war in Ukraine ended tomorrow, the country’s humanitarian needs would be colossal. Around 6.3 million people are displaced internally, with many still living in communal shelters not...

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War & Peace
What it Means to Demine in Ukraine and Afghanistan from 2022-07-06T09:23:23

Landmines remain a tool of warfare around the world. Yet both during and after fighting, they wreak havoc not just on adversaries, but also on the civilian population. In mined areas, everyday a...

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War & Peace
Climate, Conflict and the Implications of Russia’s War on Ukraine from 2022-06-21T15:05:46

When world leaders convened at COP26 in November last year, climate was at the forefront of the global agenda. But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has instead triggered a new “gold...

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War & Peace
100 Days of War in Ukraine: Russia’s Offensive in the East from 2022-06-08T16:07:02

After failing to capture Kyiv, Russian forces have regrouped, with Moscow looking to solidify control of territory it holds in the south and east and to capture more land, including all of Donet...

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War & Peace
The Ukraine War: A Watershed Moment for EU Foreign Policy? from 2022-05-25T16:28:22

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has been a watershed moment for EU foreign policy. Since then, the EU has mobilised €2 billion of military aid and levied some of the harshest sanctions e...

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War & Peace
Changing Dynamics in the Western Balkans from 2022-05-10T14:29:47

The Western Balkans, a region defined in part by not being in the European Union, also contains several countries that were devastated by war in the 1990s. Now it faces new troubles, driven in p...

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War & Peace
Internal Displacement and Humanitarian Response in Ukraine from 2022-04-27T14:27:58

Russia’s war in Ukraine has created a huge displacement crisis, with nearly eight million people internally displaced and over five million fleeing abroad. As the fighting enters its third month...

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War & Peace
S3 Episode 15: Can the OSCE Survive the Ukraine War? from 2022-04-12T13:45:04

The future of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is in doubt. Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine in clear violation of the OSCE’s commitments to territorial int...

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War & Peace
Can the OSCE Survive the Ukraine War? from 2022-04-12T13:45:04

The future of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is in doubt. Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine in clear violation of the OSCE’s commitments to territorial int...

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War & Peace
S3 Episode 14: The Ukraine War's Global Shockwaves from 2022-03-30T12:36:54

War continues to rage in Ukraine, over a month after Russia launched its large-scale invasion. Alongside its staggering humanitarian consequences, the war’s fallout has been felt widely around t...

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War & Peace
The Ukraine War's Global Shockwaves from 2022-03-30T12:36:54

War continues to rage in Ukraine, over a month after Russia launched its large-scale invasion. Alongside its staggering humanitarian consequences, the war’s fallout has been felt widely around t...

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War & Peace
Bonus Episode: The Ukraine War: A View From Africa from 2022-03-15T10:13:46

Today we're bringing you a bonus episode on the Russian war in Ukraine, from Crisis Group's podcast Listen

War & Peace
S3 Episode 13: Turkey and Russia’s Complicated Relationship from 2022-03-08T14:36:19

Russia and Turkey’s complex relationship sometimes baffles outside observers. In many respects, Turkey and Russia are fierce competitors: Moscow and Ankara back opposing camps in Libya, Syria an...

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War & Peace
Bonus Episode: Russia's War in Ukraine from 2022-03-01T09:25:16

Today we're bringing you a bonus episode on the Russian war in Ukraine, from Crisis Group's global podcast Listen

War & Peace
S3 Episode 12: Where Can Europe Best Act for Peace? from 2022-02-15T11:28:35

The year 2022 looks set to be a challenging year for Europe. The EU must reckon with growing risks of conflict close to home: from a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine to rising ethnic tension...

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War & Peace
S3 Episode 11: How Does the EU Help Prevent Conflicts? from 2022-02-02T12:35:59

The president of the European Commision, Ursula Von Der Leyen, has vowed to create a more “geopolitical commission”, ramping up Europe’s external involvement and staking out an increasingly prom...

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War & Peace
S3 Episode 10: What Just Happened in Kazakhstan? from 2022-01-18T13:21:33

In early January 2022, an unexpected wave of protests swept across Kazakhstan. Initially provoked by a doubling of the price of liquified petroleum gas (LPG), the protests rapidly grew more poli...

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War & Peace
S3 Episode 9: Could Citizens’ Assemblies Save Democracy? from 2022-01-04T14:09:31

A wave of democratic experimentation is defying conventional wisdom about electoral politics and good governance. Randomly selected citizens’ assemblies are becoming a popular tool for tackling ...

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War & Peace
S3 Episode 8: What Does Belarus's President Lukashenka Want? from 2021-12-21T14:11:17

In 2020, Belarusian dictator Aleksandr Lukashenka cracked down on protesters challenging the results of an election in which he had claimed resounding victory, and on the opposition in general. ...

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War & Peace
S3 Episode 7: New Ways to Think About Nuclear Weapons from 2021-12-07T17:22:38

The threat posed by nuclear weapons is changing and policy-makers are struggling to keep up. As the Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference approaches, it is clear that the nuclear security f...

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War & Peace
Bonus Episode: Will Russia Invade Ukraine? from 2021-12-03T17:31:54

Today we're bringing you a bonus episode on the Russian troop buildup on the Ukrainian border, from Crisis Group's global podcast Listen

War & Peace
S3 Episode 6: One Year On from the Ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh from 2021-11-23T16:46:10

On 10 November 2020, a Russian-brokered ceasefire put an end to a devastating war in Nagorno-Karabakh that killed some 7,000 people. But it did not bring peace. The year since has seen the situa...

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War & Peace
S3 Episode 5: German Foreign Policy After Merkel from 2021-11-09T14:51:56

After sixteen years at Europe’s helm, Angela Merkel is stepping down from power. The federal election in September also marked an end to the long-term hold her political party, the Christian Dem...

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War & Peace
S3 Episode 4: Europe’s Balancing Act in Western Sahara from 2021-10-27T15:38:45

Exactly a year ago, in November 2020, an old conflict on the south-western edge of Europe burst back into flames. After almost 30 years of ceasefire, the pro-independence Polisario Front and Mor...

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War & Peace
S3 Episode 3: The Migration Lessons of Afghanistan and Syria from 2021-10-12T12:58:34

In 2015, over a million people fleeing conflict arrived at Europe’s borders. The continent showed itself to be woefully underprepared, struggling to address the unfolding catastrophe at its door...

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War & Peace
S3 Episode 2: What's at Stake for Russia in a Taliban-led Afghanistan? from 2021-09-28T10:58:13

The Taliban’s dramatic toppling of the Afghan government prompted much soul-searching in the West. But for those closer to Kabul, anxieties about how the Taliban’s takeover will shape the region...

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War & Peace
S3 Episode 1: Big Data and Global Security from 2021-09-14T09:45:39

As rapidly developing data technology outpaces governance structures and their ability to adapt, the long-term impact of increasingly data-driven economies on security and society remains uncert...

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War & Peace
S2 Episode 22: Defusing Tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean from 2021-07-06T11:44:56

Tensions flared in the eastern Mediterranean in mid-2020 when Turkey sent seismic research ships into waters contested with Greece and the Republic of Cyprus. While neither Turkey nor Greece see...

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War & Peace
S2 Episode 22: Defusing Tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean from 2021-07-06T11:44:56

Tensions flared in the eastern Mediterranean in mid-2020 when Turkey sent seismic research ships into waters contested with Greece and the Republic of Cyprus. While neither Turkey nor Greece see...

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War & Peace
S2 Episode 21: Understanding the Russian-origin Muslim Diaspora from 2021-06-22T11:29:12

Successive waves of Muslim-origin migrants have fled Russia since the 1990s. While some simply sought a better life, hundreds of thousands left due to conflict or persecution. Jean-François...

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War & Peace
S2 Episode 21: Understanding the Russian-origin Muslim Diaspora from 2021-06-22T11:29:12

Successive waves of Muslim-origin migrants have fled Russia since the 1990s. While some simply sought a better life, hundreds of thousands left due to conflict or persecution. Jean-François...

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War & Peace
S2 Episode 20: The Under-loved Logic of Nuclear-free Zones from 2021-06-08T12:09:51

In 2004, the UN Security Council recognised that the proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and their means of delivery constitutes a threat to international peace and securit...

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War & Peace
S2 Episode 19: Venezuela’s Multifaceted Crisis and Europe from 2021-05-25T13:45:15

Venezuela’s multifaceted crisis has no solution in sight: from the massive migration problem – the number of Venezuelan refugees surpasses the Syrian crisis this year – to widespread hunger, the...

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War & Peace
S2 Episode 18: Peacemaking in Cyberspace from 2021-05-11T09:47:55

What happens behind closed doors during peace talks? Adam Cooper, senior program manager at the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue and host of The Mediator’s Studio, talks to Olga and Hug...

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War & Peace
S2 Episode 17: Has the Spread of Nuclear Weapons Added to Global Stability? from 2021-04-27T11:01:54

Maintaining the balance of power is considered essential to stability and peace. What happens when nuclear weapons enter the equation? Petr Topychkanov, senior researcher at the SIPRI Nuclear Di...

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War & Peace
Bonus episode: Rising Russia-Ukraine Tensions and the West (from the Crisis Group podcast Hold Your Fire!) from 2021-04-23T07:34:07

In this episode of Crisis Group's podcast Hold Your Fire!,  Richard Atwood and Naz Modirzadeh talk to Crisis Group’s program director for Europe and Central Asia, Olga Oliker, about ris...

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War & Peace
S2 Episode 16 : Colonial Amnesia and Racial Justice in Europe from 2021-04-13T08:48:23

The Black Lives Matter protests that engulfed the U.S. last year sparked similar anti-racism demonstrations in London, Paris, Brussels and several other cities across Europe. The challenge now i...

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War & Peace
S2 Episode 15: What’s the Point of Nuclear Weapons Today? from 2021-03-30T10:12:02

Nuclear weapons sometimes sound like a throwback to another era, but they don’t just remain on stand-by. Nuclear-armed nations are investing heavily in creating more sophisticated and diverse nu...

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War & Peace
S2 Episode 14: Europe’s Colonial Legacies from 2021-03-16T10:24:33

Indonesia was the first country to proclaim its independence after the Second World War, setting in motion a significant chapter of post-colonial history by doing so. In his latest book, Rev...

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War & Peace
S2 Episode 13: Planning for Nuclear Armageddon from 2021-03-02T12:08:23

While the threat of imminent nuclear armageddon may not be at the forefront of the average person’s mind today, it was a real, globe-spanning fear not so long ago during the Cold War. Absent the...

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War & Peace
S2 Episode 12: Police, Protests & Populism in Central Asia from 2021-02-16T11:46:03

Central Asia is no exception to the protests that have emerged with renewed vigour on a global scale, a phenomenon made more visible against the backdrop of COVID-19 restrictions. 

Althoug...

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War & Peace
S2 Episode 11: Reviving Dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia from 2021-02-02T11:10:22

Thirteen years after Kosovo broke away from Serbia to become de facto independent, political inertia continues to stall the largely European-driven dialogue process aimed at reaching an understa...

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War & Peace
S2 Episode 10: Turkey’s Trials and Errors from 2021-01-19T11:02:32

Ankara’s assertive foreign policy choices delight many at home. But they can puzzle and anger its counterparts as Turkey experiments with increasingly militarised postures in the Eastern Mediter...

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War & Peace
S2 Episode 9: Europe Has Much to Prove in 2021 from 2021-01-05T13:40:47

With the international system in major flux as we turn the page on 2020, Ambassador Gérard Araud believes one main thing is clear: 2021 opens a new, more dangerous chapter.

A Crisis Group ...

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War & Peace
S2 Episode 8: Personal Reflections on 2020, between Europe and the Middle East from 2020-12-22T14:12:36

“I think I should kill you”. 

So began one especially fraught encounter in Hugh Pope’s critically acclaimed memoir, Dining with Al Qaeda, now out in an updated edition. He joins O...

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War & Peace
S2 Episode 7: Twenty-first Century Threats from 2020-12-08T11:01:34

Sir John Sawers, former chief of the British secret service MI6 and Executive Chairman at Newbridge Advisory, joins Olga and Hugh for a dynamic conversation on the changing global balance of pow...

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War & Peace
S2 Episode 6: The Future of NATO from 2020-11-24T13:16:25

The geopolitical landscape has transformed dramatically since NATO was established in 1949. As a transatlantic alliance that seeks to safeguard democratic values and the rule of law, how well ha...

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War & Peace
S2 Episode 5: Europe’s Impact Depends on Internal Strength, Not the New U.S. President from 2020-11-10T13:32:43

The prospect of a Biden administration brings new opportunities for European security and foreign policy, but many challenges remain. Joining Olga and Hugh to discuss the evolution of U.S.-Europ...

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War & Peace
S2 Episode 4: Why Gender Matters in the Fight Against Terrorism from 2020-10-27T12:04:29

2020 marks two decades since the formal integration of gender into the UN’s mandate of conflict prevention and resolution. According to Aleksandra Dier, Gender Coordinator at the UN Security Cou...

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War & Peace
S2 Episode 3: Russian Digital Diplomacy from 2020-10-13T13:54:28

Hugh and Olga are joined this week by Oleg Shakirov, Senior Expert at the Center for Advanced Governance and Consultant at the Moscow-based PIR Center, for a discussion on how Russian foreign po...

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War & Peace
S2 Episode 2: Rethinking an End to Ukraine’s Costly War from 2020-09-29T09:42:59

Why have ceasefire agreements repeatedly fallen apart since the war in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region erupted six years ago? And how has this political inertia shaped the lives of civilian popu...

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War & Peace
S2 Episode 1: How a Bad Brexit May Sour European Security Cooperation from 2020-09-15T07:46:58

As the end of the transitional period and negotiations for Britain to leave the EU draws near, a ‘no-deal’ or a very limited deal is increasingly likely. Even if a deal is reached, it will be fa...

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War & Peace
Episode 22: Energy Policy and Pipeline Politics from 2020-06-29T06:33:15

To conclude our first season, Olga and Hugh talk energy security with Alissa de Carbonnel, Crisis Group’s Deputy Program Director for Europe and Central Asia. They assess who is dependent on who...

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War & Peace
Episode 21: Will Protests in the U.S. Bring the Systemic Change Needed? from 2020-06-15T07:22:09

Last week, for the very first time in Crisis Group's history, we published a statement on the events unfolding in the U.S. The murder of George Floyd, an unarmed African American man, triggered ...

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War & Peace
Episode 20: How COVID-19 Makes Afghanistan’s War Still More Deadly from 2020-06-01T08:48:18

After two decades of conflict in Afghanistan, many hoped that a peace deal between the U.S. and the Taliban, signed on 29 February 2020, would mark the beginning of a peace process between the A...

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War & Peace
Episode 19: The OSCE's Role in a COVID-19 World from 2020-05-18T07:39:05

As COVID-19 cuts a deadly swathe across the globe, its political impact is only starting to be felt and could last long after the virus is contained. George Tsereteli, President of th...

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War & Peace
Episode 18: The Russian and European Roles in Ending Ukraine’s War from 2020-05-04T07:24:52

What will it take to end the war in Ukraine? 

A plan for what happens inside Ukraine is a prerequisite for peace in the six-year civil war. But that will not suffice if the conflict’s broa...

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War & Peace
Episode 17: Turkey in the Time of COVID-19 from 2020-04-20T08:16:02

Turkey’s many paradoxes and its place on a global crossroads come into focus in a discussion about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic with Aslı Aydıntaşbaş, Senior Policy Fellow at the European Co...

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War & Peace
Episode 16: Libya’s Battle for Tripoli from 2020-04-06T07:20:43

Libya has been in a near constant state of war since Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was toppled back in 2011, morphing into local conflicts between pro- and anti-Islamists. On 4 April last year, forces...

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War & Peace
Episode 15: Getting EU-Turkey Relations Back on Track from 2020-03-23T06:11:09

One hour after 34 Turkish soldiers were killed in Idlib, Syria’s last rebel-held bastion, Turkey opened its borders to Greece, prompting thousands of migrants to head for the frontier in the hop...

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War & Peace
Episode 14: Deconstructing Islamic State’s Appeal in Central Asia from 2020-03-09T09:00:36

The conflicts in Syria and Iraq drew between 12,000 and 15,000 fighters from Central Asia. Noah Tucker, expert on Central Asian issues and our guest on War & Peace this week, helps us unders...

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War & Peace
Episode 13: Bringing home Europe’s ISIS-affiliated women and children from 2020-02-24T07:45:51

Over 13,500 foreign nationals who went to fight for ISIS are currently detained in Syria, among them women and children living in abhorrent humanitarian conditions. Western governments have larg...

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War & Peace
Episode 12: Of Nightclub Bouncers and Arms Control from 2020-02-10T07:40:33

“Policies today are geared toward power, strength and pushing back. They are not geared toward talking to each other, and that is the prerequisite for arms control”. 

For Ulrich Kuehn, our...

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War & Peace
Episode 11: A 2020 Peace Agenda for the EU from 2020-01-27T08:03:04

As decades-old wars continue to escalate and new crises threaten peace and security around the world, European leadership is urgently needed to prevent and mitigate deadly conflict. 

Crisi...

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War & Peace
Episode 10: Ground Reality in Nagorno-Karabakh from 2020-01-13T07:16:30

The dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh is the longest-running conflict that accompanied the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991. War over the territory broke out in 1992 between Armenians and Azerbaijani...

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War & Peace
Episode 9: Russia in 2020 from 2019-12-30T10:42:29

2019 was a good year for Russia. The country rejoined the Council of Europe, the first case of sanctions being lightened since its 2014 annexation of Crimea. It confirmed the country’s commitmen...

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War & Peace
Episode 8: Bridging the EU-Russia Divide from 2019-12-16T08:25:24

Russia’s relationship with the European Union has been mired in tension and mistrust since Moscow's annexation of Crimea in 2014. But while relations at a political level are strained, in Russia...

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Episode 7: Holding the EU Flag High from 2019-12-02T11:32:45

The European Union has mobilized huge financial, political and security resources to stabilize the Balkans, often serving the flagship policy of offering EU membership to qualifying countries. T...

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War & Peace
Episode 6: Defeating Populism from 2019-11-18T06:50:51

“Populism attaches itself to whatever issue provokes fear and outrage [and] hate speech leads to hate crime”. 

Heather Grabbe joins Olga and Hugh on this week’s episode to discuss how popu...

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War & Peace
Episode 5: Russia's Winning Streak from 2019-11-04T08:08:11

Russia’s role on the international stage is rapidly expanding. It is taking over Washington’s place as the Middle East’s power broker, growing its economic influence in Africa and deepening militar...

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War & Peace
Episode 4: Europe's Hidden Strengths from 2019-10-21T05:57:56

The turmoil since the United Kingdom’s 2016 referendum on leaving the European Union has exposed deep fissures not just within British society, but also deep problems within Europe as a whole. Olga...

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War & Peace
Episode 3: Ukraine’s Zelensky Revolution from 2019-10-07T07:44:54

Ukraine’s President Zelensky faces many challenges. The former actor’s country is locked in conflict with Russia, while corruption and failed political reform have harmed its relationship with the ...

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War & Peace
Episode 2: Europe in the World from 2019-09-22T21:19:04

Europe’s security outlook has shifted dramatically in the last few years. Russia has broken out of the “Cold War consensus”, the Middle East is “on fire” and North Africa is “in chains”. Surrounded...

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War & Peace
Episode 1: Europe and Iran from 2019-09-16T07:32:04

What was so significant about the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and how important was Europe’s contribution? Why has U.S. President Trump’s ripping up of the accord and “maximum pressure” strategy not wor...

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