Melissa Chan is an Emmy-nominated journalist based between Los Angeles and Berlin. She has reported everywhere from Cuba to Canada, Mongolia to Moscow, North and South Korea. These days she focuses on transnational issues, often involving China’s influence beyond its borders, as well as the rise of global authoritarianism and ebb of democracies. Sh…

In our largest-ever gathering in "the bunker," scholars David Gioe, Huw Dylan, and Elena Grossfeld discuss their latest article, "The Autocrat’s Indispensable Service: How Russian Intelligence Secured Vladimir Putin’s Regime After Failing Him in Ukraine." With the Prez presiding over the conversation from the end of the long table, we dive into a p…

Today's guest in the bunker refers to himself as an “Ex spymaster, specializing in taking over countries." Philip Ingram MBE BSc MA GCLI is a widely published journalist, specializing in the security and intelligence arenas, who has built on a long and senior career in British Military Intelligence, with years of experience in all aspects of intell…

Keir Giles is a senior consulting fellow of the Russia and Eurasia Programme. Previously, he worked with the BBC Monitoring Service and the UK Defence Academy, where he wrote and advised on Russian military, defence and security issues including human factors influencing Russian security policy, Russian strategy and doctrine, the Russian view of cy…

In this episode, we delve into the Belarusian legal system through Katie's firsthand experience as a co-defendant in a political trial. We discuss the challenges of finding a criminal defense lawyer—or any lawyer—willing to represent a dissident. Darth also reads an excerpt from his book and shares insights on the week's most significant tweets. In…

John Sipher, former CIA officer and a co-founder of Spycraft Entertainment, in the bunker. We are asking our guest how it would be if the CIA were tasked to invade Canada; what were John's impressions from working in Moscow; and many details about Russian intelligence services. Follow us on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@InTheBunkerWithDarth Joh…

In this episode, we sit down with Edward Lucas, who is British writer, journalist, and politician. Did you know that Edward was among the first 100 Darth's followers back in the days? Here is some context for Edwards' reference to Lennart Meri's speech. Full address by Estonian President Lennart Meri in 1994 is here. As usual, we are most thankful …

In this episode, we sit down with General Ben Hodges to talk about Ukraine's counteroffensive in Kursk, as well as Russian army capabilities (lack thereof) and corruption. We are most thankful to each Patreon for the material support of our podcast. If you are not ready for a long-term commitment, such as on Patreon, but you enjoy our chatter in th…

In this episode Eto Buziashvili joins us in the bunker to discuss the recent arrest of Pavel Durov, founder of Telegram. We talk about how telegram works, what the Kremlin uses it for, what kind of content is on there and what the implications are for the Kremlin now they believe western intelligence has access to the platform. In June Eto wrote "A…

Apparently, Maria Snegovaya survived visiting us in the bunker in Season 1. So we decided to invite Maria again, this time to talk about her recent article, "Dissecting Putin's regime ideology," which she co-authored together with Jade McGlynn: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1060586X.2024.2386838. Jade appeared on our pod as well, and…

Did you miss us this summer? We finally caught our sound editor, who's been in hiding, and we're back with season 2 of our podcast. This time we sit down with Brendan B. Brown, the frontman of the Wheatus rock band, to talk about music censorship, Russian tsar Nicholas II, and many other things in between. When Brendan is not touring and performing…

In this episode, we welcome David Frum, a Canadian political commentator and former speechwriter for President George W. Bush. David is currently a senior editor at The Atlantic and an MSNBC contributor. What we discuss: David expresses his belief that Trump will soon lose: "He would seem like a stronger candidate if he just stayed at Mar-a-Lago an…

* This episode was originally recorded for our Patreon supporters who receive premium content on Belarus, Russia, and Darth's insights on Twitter debates. Join us on patreon.com/IntheBunkerwithDarth to engage directly with our team, ask questions, and shape the content you love. * Greetings from the Bunker! In this 1-on-1 episode with Darth, we dis…

Isn't it exciting that Darth and I are now talking to the smart guys at the GOP? Tune into our chat with Rick Wilson, an American political strategist who ran campaigns for George W. Bush (R), Dick Cheney (R), and Rudy Giuliani (R). In this episode: Why is U.S. support for Ukraine being micromanaged? Why do Putin's policies resonate with Trump supp…

Darth and I welcome Michael Weiss, an investigative journalist renowned for his extensive coverage of the wars in Syria and Ukraine, as well as his publications on Russian espionage and disinformation. Amid a fair amount of jokes and sarcasm, we delve into discussions about the GRU and how its spy culture contrasts with that of the SVR, Russia's fo…

This is our first episode in the monthly series on Belarus. You'll gain insights into Belarusian domestic politics as we discuss how our guy is running the country, relying on his family and the network of "mini-garchs.". According to Wikipedia, he is the "longest-serving European president." That's one way to put it. Tune in and learn more about o…

In this episode, Ben Wittes agrees to serve as a token for the gender equality balance, as he is the second male guest in our podcast series. On a more serious note, we're discussing Trump’s trials and how they'll impact the 2024 elections. While Darth’s parody plots to bring the bad guy back to the White House, we are discussing the unfavorable co…

Darth & I are joined in bunker by Natalia Antonova. Natalia is an OSINT researcher, writer, playwright and close watcher of Russia. Based in DC, she's from Ukraine but also lived in Moscow for a number of years. Listen and learn about Russian homo-romanticism, as opposed to homo eroticism, incels who hate women but love Putin, techbros who love Put…

In this episode Darth is joined by Maria Snegovaya. Maria is a post doc at Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service, a Senior Fellow with the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and a Fellow at the Illiberalism Studies Program at George Washington University. More interesting, th…

In this episode Darth and I joined by Minna Ålander, an expert on both Finland and Germany as well as Arctic security. We talk about German relations with Russia, nuclear blackmail, how China is apparently an arctic nation, and Macron's recent statements about the war. Darth insisted that Minna decide between tea, sushi and perfume. Katie: @kshmats…

In this Episode Darth and I talk about the election results and how it was a real cliffhanger. We talk a little about what this might mean in future and what the prospects are for Russia becoming a democracy (spoiler, not much). We recap some of the events this week aside from the voting theatre and then introduce the Patreon we're gonna be loading…

This episode is just Darth and I. We talk about Parody Putin's adress to the Duma, Medvedev's comrade Mao jacket with the buttons that can barely take the strain, and most of all, Darth's new book. Follow me: @kshmatsina There's also a Patreon: click here for more details.

In this episode Darth & I are joined in the bunker by Jade McGlynn, an author & research fellow from King's College London. Her books "Memory Makers" and "Russia's War" discuss how Russians see the war in Ukraine and how Russians see their own history nd we dig into these in the pod. We also also talk how the Kremlin uses and abuses this and why it…

In our first, formal episode, Darth & I are joined by the former president of Estonia, Toomas Hendrick Ilves, who gives us his take on the state of the war, Western Europe's almost willful lack of understanding of Russia, the selection process for head of NATO, what Medvedev is like in person, how Estonia became a success after de-occupation, and h…

Welcome to the "In the Bunker With Darth" Podcast. In this intro I introduce myself (Darth needs no introduction) and we talk about what the pod will be about, master strategy and why it's all going to plan. We also discuss the new book that's about to be released, why some academics get Russia so wrong & refuse to admit when you can learn plenty a…