Sergey Radchenko

Iran in the Cold War A useful background read.

Iran in the Cold War. A useful background read from To Run the World. open.substack.com/pub/profradc...

To Run the World: The Kremlin's Cold War Bid for Global Power To Run the World: The Kremlin's Cold War Bid for Global Power [Radchenko, Sergey] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. To Run the World: The Kremlin's Cold War Bid for Global Power

Ah look what’s here: the paperback version of Two Run the World. Never been a better time to buy a copy! www.amazon.com/Run-World-Kr....

Killing the chicken to scare the monkey How Moscow and Beijing have reacted to the U.S. and Israeli strikes against the Middle East

"Killing the chicken to scare the monkey:
How Moscow and Beijing have reacted to the U.S. and Israeli strikes against the Middle East." My thoughts.
open.substack.com/pub/profradc...

A morning rant about national identities “So, do you ever go back to Russia?”—the woman asked sympathetically.

A morning rant about national identities open.substack.com/pub/profradc....

Cuban missile crisis | What if Arkhipov & Soviet sub B-59 had fired its torpedos? | History Undone YouTube video by History Undone

Got to talk about the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is always disturbing and fun. www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Dft....

Russia's invasion of Ukraine: new evidence Some highlights from Shaun Walker's amazing piece, with a few comments

Some thoughts on Shaun Walker's brilliant piece in the Guardian: open.substack.com/pub/profradc.... And here's the piece itself: www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int....

Russia's Arctic game President Putin sees Greenland as a testing ground for his vision of a world divided into spheres of influence, in which the United States and Russia set the rules of the game and keep the other playe...

But there is also some interesting evidence here on what the Russians have actually been saying about Greenland. Read here: engelsbergideas.com/essays/russi....

Engelsberg Ideas just published my piece on Putin’s views vis-a-vis Trump’s claims to Greenland. It’s mainly a historical piece, where I try to understand how ideas about “spheres of influence” have evolved in the Kremlin’s thinking over the years.

Reading Kofman Mike's latest piece on the Russia-Ukraine war, and my comments

Reading Kofman. Some thoughts on Michael Kofman's great piece in Foreign Affairs. open.substack.com/pub/profradc...

Writing a history of the Russia-Ukraine war New Boris Johnson releases

Writing a history of the Russia-Ukraine war. I talk about Boris Johnson's visits to Ukraine in 2022, and what I was and was not able to obtain through FOIA requests: open.substack.com/pub/profradc...

Sergey Radchenko (@radchenko.bsky.social), Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins SAIS, joins Katia Glod, NEST Centre’s Deputy Head of Foreign Policy, to assess the trajectory of the talks, Moscow’s calculus, and the prospects for either a negotiated outcome or an extended war.

Red Dawn Over China: How Communism Conquered a Quarter of Humanity — brutality behind the propaganda Frank Dikötter dismantles CCP myths about Mao’s leadership to tell a story of Chinese repression that is still relevant today

www.ft.com/content/e4b8.... My review of Frank Dikötter's new book, Red Dawn Over China.

⚪ Origins of the War

A conversation with @radchenko.bsky.social

📅 February 11
🕙 10:00 AM ET

RSVP Now ⬇️
zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Damn. I got a medal from the Council on Foreign Relations, which is super exciting.

The Ukraine war pessimists were proven right this year As the Russian-Ukrainian full-scale war nears its fourth anniversary, Vladimir Putin looks confident, even cocky.

spectator.com/article/what.... I have a piece out where I assess where we are with Trump, Putin, and Zelensky, almost a year on. It’s not a very hopeful piece.

America’s Magical Thinking About Ukraine A bad deal is worse than no deal.

U.S. President Donald Trump “should not be in a rush to force a bad deal” in Ukraine, argues @radchenko.bsky.social. Instead, Washington should “exercise patience and remain on the side of the Ukrainians and their European supporters.”

Damn. People, somehow I finished a new book. It reads well too. So relieved. It's always good to finish stuff. Stay tuned.

Really perceptive piece, by two of my brilliant @jhu.edu colleagues, @himself.bsky.social and @radchenko.bsky.social.

Terrific piece by @himself.bsky.social @radchenko.bsky.social - another example of how 35 years after we hoped Russia would become more like us, Trump wants US to become more like Russia.

Trump and Putin share a craving for status. That’s why they both want to destroy Europe | Henry Farrell and Sergey Radchenko Liberal democracies view Putin’s Russia as a bully – and Trump’s US as an angry drunk with a bazooka. The response is pure venom, say Henry Farrell and Sergey Radchenko of Johns Hopkins

Trump and Putin share a craving for status. That’s why they both want to destroy Europe | Henry Farrell and Sergey Radchenko

Is Russia a threat? Revisiting Trump's NSS

Is Russia a threat? A few thoughts on Trump's NSS (where I serve a devil's advocate to myself and try to test my assumptions). open.substack.com/pub/profradc...

America’s Magical Thinking About Ukraine A bad deal is worse than no deal.

If the alternative to a bloody, grinding war is “the peace of surrender to Putin’s Russia, then that peace can wait,” writes @radchenko.bsky.social.

America’s Magical Thinking About Ukraine A bad deal is worse than no deal.

Ok let's talk about where we are with Russia/Ukraine. My latest for Foreign Affairs: www.foreignaffairs.com/ukraine/amer.... The key thing is understanding American national interests. Should be straightforward but, evidently, it's not.

To preview the conclusion: "This looks pretty bad for Ukraine. If this is the asking price (from the U.S.), imagine what they will negotiate it down to. Yet I worry that at this point, Zelensky, besieged on all sides, has very few options."

The U.S. plan: an analysis I work through the 28 points explaining the underlying issues

So, I went through the U.S. plan on Ukraine. Here I offer a point-by-point analysis: profradchenko.substack.com/p/the-us-pla....

On BBC this morning, with Catherine Barnard (Cambridge), and our wonderful host Julian Worricker. Talking about politics, sports, literature, art, and love.

If you’re in Italy, I’ll be doing three presentations there next week.

On Monday October 27, I’ll do a book talk on The Party’s Interests Come First: the Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping in Milan at Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore

aseri.unicatt.it/aseri-2025-t...

What will make Russia a "contented" power? And is the price worth paying? An interesting discussion from the mid-1990s.

What will make Russia a "contented" power? And is the price worth paying? open.substack.com/pub/profradc...

Running the world *together* with the US? The historical origins of Russia's resentment (from newly declassified documents).

Running the world *together* with the US? open.substack.com/pub/profradc.... I explore an interesting idea that Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev presented to the Americans in 1994, and why he expected the United States to help Russia in rebuilding its sphere of influence.

This is just gold.