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

02:05 Introduction

03:43 Let's talk about Vladimir Putin

05:40 What is the Russian "Soul"?

07:19 Quote from "The Russian Idea"

08:40 Who was Nikolai Berdyaev?

09:54 Is Berdyaev an influence on Aleksandr Dugin?

11:05 The West has a hard time understanding non-economic motivations. Why?

13:06 Who is Aleksandr Dugin?

15:21 “Eurasian Nationalist Bolshevism” 

16:55 Rehabilitating Stalin

18:40 Are we seeing a perpetuation of Tsarist Russia?

20:40 What is fascism?

22:35 The many types of tyranny

25:12 What kind of tyrant is Putin?

26:50 Why has millenarian tyranny appeared so relatively recently in history?

29:51 The relationship between liberalism and millenarian tyranny

31:25 The next ten years in Russia

34:00 Did Putin know what he was getting himself into in Ukraine?

35:36 The prospect of Russian and Chinese collaboration in the future

36:55 Who drives Chinese policy - Xi Jinping or the Chinese Communist Party?

38:56 Staying sane while studying tyrants

42:10 What should we be reading to better recognize hostile actors for what they are?