Charles Hecker

Zero Sum | Hurst Publishers A Foreign Affairs 'Book of the Year' From communism to capitalism to collapse, the highs and lows of doing business in post-Soviet Russia.

To understand the economic pressure Russia is under, see @charleshecker.bsky.social's recent interview here ➡️ tinyurl.com/43pft42h. Read his book, ‘Zero Sum: The Arc of International Business in Russia’.

‘Fascinating’ @financialtimes.com

tinyurl.com/485er3kk

Iraq’s former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki resurfaces – but at what cost? - Monocle Our guests Lynne O’Donnell and Charles Hecker assess the reemergence of Iraq’s former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, and whether it’s...

Latest Daily on Monocle Radio. @lynneodonnell.bsky.social and @charleshecker.bsky.social on whether Donald Trump may have a point re: the return of Nouri Maliki, plus the day's other stuff, and a letter from Gregory Scruggs in Santo Domingo. monocle.com/radio/shows/...

🔴 The Long View #008

The Russian business environment has fundamentally changed.

@charleshecker.bsky.social explains why new elites, new laws, and hard feelings complicate any return of Western companies.

🔴 The Long View #008

Even severe economic pressure does not always change political behavior.

@charleshecker.bsky.social explains why Russia’s worsening economic outlook may not be the decisive factor for Putin.

🔴 The Long View #008
Western Businesses in Post-Soviet Russia, Part 2

Following a strong response to last year’s event, Thane Gustafson and @charleshecker.bsky.social return to continue the conversation.

Register to attend.
zoom.us/webinar/regi...

It was a pleasure - thank you for inviting me to the microphone!

If you haven’t read ‘How Tyrants Fall,’ by @marceldirsus.com, you need to do that now. But first, listen to Marcel and I talk about the history (and the future) of Western business in Russia, in his great new podcast, The Next Best. The timing could not be better.

Thank you!

It’s my great honour to join @rusi.bsky.social as an Assoc Fellow in the International Security Research Group, under Dr Neil Melvin. Huge thanks to Rachel Ellehuus, Neil Watling and Emily Ferris for their warm welcome. Looking forward to leaning *and* contributing.

Thank you to the @kennaninstitute.bsky.social for the terrific conversation, and congratulations on a successful re-launch.

Zelensky’s meeting with top US army delegation in Kyiv - Monocle Volodymyr Zelensky prepares to meet with a US army delegation in Kyiv after American and Russian officials draft a plan...

Latest Daily on Monocle Radio. @charleshecker.bsky.social and Carole Walker on the US-Russia "peace plan" for Ukraine, and the day's other stuff, plus @pburtsoff.bsky.social reports from Hanaholmen. monocle.com/radio/shows/...

The control and use of language in the book is so artful. I think that’s one of the elements that makes it work so well.

I can’t break the nasty habit. Ditching cigarettes (20 years ago) was easier.

👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻! It’s just *such* a good book. So glad you’re enjoying it. I’m here, but finding it hard to juggle two accounts. Ugh. 🙃

6 New Books We Recommend This Week Suggested reading from critics and editors at The New York Times.

📖🎉 Big book news! Zero Sum: The Arc of International Business in Russia, is an Editors' Choice in the @nytimes.com this week. Zero Sum is out the US w/ @oxunipress.bsky.social. @hurstpublishers.bsky.social @benhnoble.bsky.social

6 New Books We Recommend This Week www.nytimes.com/2025/03/06/b...

I am hugely grateful for this thoughtful and wonderfully written review of Zero Sum in The Tablet. As companies prepare to re-enter Russia, read what it was like when they entered 30 years ago - and evacuated 3 years ago. @hurstpublishers.bsky.social @oxunipress.bsky.social @benhnoble.bsky.social

Zero Sum: The Arc of International Business in Russia Hecker speaks with dozens of Western business executives, bankers, and financiers who reaped immense profits in the Russian market after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

What an honour for Zero Sum
to be reviewed in @foreignaffairs.com and by none other than Maria Lipman, whose work I have always admired. www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/zero... @hurstpublishers.bsky.social @oxunipress.bsky.social @benhnoble.bsky.social

So grateful for the stewardship of @hurstpublishers.bsky.social and @michaeldwyer.bsky.social as Zero Sum gains recognition from reviews in publications like the @financialtimes.com and the @nytimes.com ⬇️

Book Review: ‘Zero Sum,’ by Charles Hecker As the Trump administration pushes for renewed business ties with Russia, a new book looks back at the companies that helped prop up illiberalism in the country.

Zero Sum's launch day in the US is accompanied by this wonderful review in the @nytimes.com by David Kortava of @foreignaffairs.com Zero Sum is available via @oxfordunipress.bsky.social and @hurstpublishers.bsky.social @benhnoble.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/03/04/b...

It was such a pleasure to work on this creative project with @literaryhub.bsky.social If you want to understand contemporary Russia, rewind a few years - and then a few decades - to learn the most.

Huge thanks to @joshuachuminski.bsky.social and the CSPC for being such gracious hosts today and providing such a fantastic platform to discuss my book. Dramatic change is afoot around the world; being in DC at a time like this is… electrifying (in a very complex way).

How will European leaders play the Trump game? As France’s Emmanuel Macron and the UK’s Keir Starmer visit the White House this week, we unpack how European leaders will approach Trump when it comes to…

Latest Daily on Monocle Radio. @terrystiastny.bsky.social and @charleshecker.bsky.social on Trump-whispering, micro-managing and keeping influencers out of journalism, plus NATO's head of policy planning, Benedetta Berti-Alberti, interviewed at @munsecconf.bsky.social. monocle.com/radio/shows/...

Huge thanks to everyone who pre-ordered Zero Sum in the US. I’m truly grateful. These feverish days are the perfect time to read about the triumphant highs and devastating lows in the history of Western business in Russia.

Zero Sum in the ‘Smart Thinking’ section @waterstones.bsky.social Picadilly. @benhnoble.bsky.social @hurstpublishers.bsky.social Business, Russia and geopolitics. How timely.

Zero Sum | Hurst Publishers From communism to capitalism to collapse, the highs and lows of doing business in post-Soviet Russia.

#Trump posits welcoming #Russia back into the #G7. As businesses prep for their re-entry plans to the Russian market, what did they learn on their way out? Read @charleshecker.bsky.social's #ZeroSum: The Arc of International Business in Russia. ‘Fascinating’ @financialtimes.com tinyurl.com/485er3kk

🚨Heads up New York! Join me on 27 March @columbiauniversity.bsky.social’s Harriman Institute for a book talk with Alexander Cooley on the past, present & future of int’l business in Russia. @hurstpublishers.bsky.social @oxfordunipress.bsky.social Register ⬇️
harriman.columbia.edu/event/book-tal…

The Political Risk Podcast Business Podcast · 35 Episodes · Twice monthly

Catch me and David Benyon talking about Russia and geopolitical risk on the brilliant Political Risk Podcast, at the link below (and others too). Thanks, Dave, for letting me talk about my book Zero Sum, from @hurstpublishers.bsky.social

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

Could Russia and America ever have got along? A revealing, damning and fascinating diplomatic memorandum, sent in 1994 from the US embassy in Moscow, has recently been declassified.

A now de-classified 1994 memo from the US Moscow embassy to the State Dept candidly warned that the US was getting it wrong in Russia. Its author suffered the consequences. Did the relationship suffer, too? A few thoughts from me, in @thespectator1828.bsky.social

www.spectator.co.uk/article/coul...

Steph, thanks. It was such a pleasure to be a guest on #MeetTheWriters, with you in control on the boards and @georginagodwin.bsky.social at the mic.

Charles Hecker: Russia’s zero-sum game Charles Hecker’s 40-year career has seen him travelling and reporting from both the Soviet Union and Russia. He has worked as a journalist and a geopolitical…

🎧 Tune in to @charleshecker.bsky.social’s interview with @georginagodwin.bsky.social on Monocle Radio as he discusses his career in geopolitics, his experience living in Moscow, and his new book #ZeroSum: The Arc of International Business in #Russia 👇
monocle.com/radio/shows/...