War & Peace
News & Politics
About
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 . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episodes
- EU and NATO Members Grapple with War in Iran
This episode of War & Peace features Olga and Lisa Musiol discussing the European Union's response to the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. They cover the EU's coordination, the challenges of maintaining transatlantic ties, and the war's impact…
- Cold Hard Truths: Arctic Security in a Changing World
This episode of War & Peace features Gabriella Gricius discussing Arctic security amidst great power competition. Topics include U.S. interest in Greenland, NATO's Arctic Sentry mission, and the roles of Russia and China in the region.
- Bonus Episode: A Transport Route to Peace in the South Caucasus?
This bonus episode of Hold Your Fire! features Joshua Kucera discussing the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace talks, U.S. involvement, and the proposed TRIPP transit corridor. They also assess Türkiye’s regional role and Iran’s concerns.
- Can Europe Solve Its U.S. Dilemma?
Nathalie Tocci discusses European responses to U.S. actions and rhetoric, examining potential security shifts to reduce U.S. dependence and approaches to multilateralism in a changing global landscape.
- Karabakh Refugees in Armenia
In this episode of War & Peace, Olga Oliker, Alissa de Carbonnel, and Joshua Kucera discuss the difficult situation for refugees displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh in Armenia following Azerbaijan's 2023 offensive. They cover challenges like h…
- How Ukraine’s Women Are Meeting the Challenges of War
In this episode of War & Peace , Elissa and guest host Alissa de Carbonnel are joined by Sabine Freizer Gunes, UN Women representative for Ukraine, about how the war in Ukraine has shaped and amplified gender inequalities in Ukraine and ho…
- A Bigger Table? The Case for More Global Diplomacy over Ukraine
In this episode of War & Peace , Olga and guest host Alissa de Carbonnel are joined by Bob Deen, Head of the Security Unit at the Clingendael Institute, to assess the state of diplomacy aimed at ending the war in Ukraine. They discuss why…
- Elliptical Orbit? Belarusian Foreign Policy in Fraught Times
In this episode of War & Peace , Olga and Elissa speak with Valery Kavaleuski, former Belarusian diplomat and Executive Director of the Euro-Atlantic Affairs Agency, about Minsk’s evolving foreign policy and how it is constrained by enduri…
- Down, But Not Out? Russia’s Shifting Role in a Turbulent Middle East
In this episode of War & Peace , Olga Oliker speaks with Hanna Notte, Director for Eurasia at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies and a non-resident Senior Associate at CSIS, about Russia’s changing role in the Middle East…
- More Europe, Less U.S.? What to Expect from the NATO Summit
In this episode of War & Peace, Olga and Elissa speak with Dr. Pia Fuhrhop, head of the International Security Research Division at SWP, about the upcoming NATO summit, transatlantic relations, and how European NATO allies are working to s…
- Ukraine: The Battlefield and the Negotiating Table
In this episode of War & Peace , Olga and Elissa speak with Crisis Group’s senior Ukraine analyst, Lucian Kim, about how the war in Ukraine is evolving and what is happening with diplomatic efforts to end it. They discuss recent developmen…
- The Authoritarian Playbook Explained
In this episode of War & Peace , Olga and Elissa talk with political scientist Ekaterina Schulmann to unpack how aspiring authoritarian leaders transform democracies into autocratic governments and whether democratic erosion in Western dem…
- Latin America’s Evolving Drug Trade. Why It Matters for Europe
In this episode of War & Peace, Olga and Elissa talk with Crisis Group’s Latin America program director Renata Segura and senior Colombia analyst Elizabeth Dickinson. They unpack the evolving landscape of narcotics trafficking in Latin Ame…
- Bonus Episode: Trump, France and European Security
Today, we're bringing you a bonus episode from Crisis Group's global podcast, Hold Your Fire! In this episode of Hold Your Fire!, Richard Atwood is joined by Gérard Araud, Crisis Group Trustee and former French ambassador to the U.S., the…
- After Assad – Implications for Türkiye in Syria and Beyond
In this episode of War & Peace , Olga and Elissa speak with Berkay Mandıracı, Crisis Group’s senior Türkiye analyst, about Ankara’s evolving role in Syria following the Assad regime’s collapse and about the apparent progress of efforts to…
- What 2025 Could Mean for the War in Ukraine and the Ukrainian and Russian Armed Forces
In this episode of War & Peace , Olga and Elissa are joined by Michael Kofman, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment specialising in Ukrainian and Russian military affairs. They reflect on the developments along Ukraine’s frontlines in 2…
- Lucian Kim on Russia, Ukraine and His New Book “Putin’s Revenge”
In this episode of War & Peace , Olga Oliker speaks with Lucian Kim, Crisis Group’s Senior Ukraine analyst, about his new book “Putin’s Revenge: Why Russia Invaded Ukraine”. They reflect on Lucian’s decades-long career as a journalist cove…
- A New European Commission Faces a Fast-changing World
In this episode of War & Peace , Olga and Elissa are joined by Lisa Musiol, head of EU affairs to discuss the challenges facing the new European Commission. They ask what the appointment of more right-leaning commissioners might mean for i…
- What Next for Georgia and Its Breakaway Regions after Contested Elections?
In this episode of War & Peace , Olga and Elissa are joined by Tbilisi-based journalist Joshua Kucera to discuss Georgia’s contested parliamentary elections and the prospects for the country and its breakaway regions Abkhazia and South Oss…
- U.S. Elections: Trump, Harris and Transatlantic Relations
In this episode of War & Peace , Olga and Elissa speak with Jeremy Shapiro, U.S. Program Director at the European Council on Foreign Relations, about what the possible outcomes of the U.S. presidential election could mean for the future of…
- A Still-fraught Path to Peace for Armenia and Azerbaijan
In the first episode of a new season of War & Peace , Olga and Elissa talk with Konul De Moor, Crisis Group’s consulting South Caucasus Analyst, about the difficult path toward peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan after Baku gained full co…
- Prisoners of the Past? Political Crises and Ethnic Tensions in the Western Balkans
In this episode of War & Peace , Olga speaks with Crisis Group’s consulting senior Balkans analyst Marko Prelec about the enduring political and ethnic tensions in the Western Balkans. They discuss the looming risk of Bosnia and Herzegovin…
- A Long War in Ukraine? Perspectives from Kyiv and Washington
In this episode of War & Peace , Olga and Elissa speak with Lucian Kim, senior Ukraine analyst at Crisis Group, about how perspectives on the war in Ukraine are evolving in Kyiv and Washington and how both capitals grapple with the prospec…
- Could Far-Right Electoral Gains Upend EU Foreign Policy?
In this episode of War & Peace , Olga and Elissa speak with Crisis Group’s senior EU analyst Marta Mucznik and Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations Susi Dennison, about the upcoming European Union parliamentary…
- Moldova’s Restive Separatists, Russia Worries, and EU Aspirations
In this episode of War & Peace, Olga and Elissa speak with Crisis Group’s Oleg Ignatov, Senior Russia Analyst, and Marta Mucznik, Senior EU Analyst, about Moldova’s increasingly fraught relations with its breakaway region of Transnistria a…
- Can Nuclear Arms Control Survive a Changing World Order?
In this episode of War & Peace , Olga and Elissa talk to Joe Cirincione, author and a leading expert on arms control and national security, about the demise of arms control and the threat of nuclear war in a rapidly changing world order. T…
- Two Years Into Full-Scale War, What Ukraine Needs and What its Backers Can Give
In this episode of War & Peace , Olga and Elissa are joined by Alissa de Carbonnel, Crisis Group’s Deputy Europe and Central Asia Director, and Simon Schlegel, Senior Ukraine Analyst, to talk about the latest developments along Ukraine’s f…
- Maritime Security in the Red Sea: What Role for the EU?
In this episode of War & Peace , Olga and Elissa are joined by Camille Lons, visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, to talk about how Europe is responding to rising tensions in the Red Sea. They discuss what’s behind…
- Is Moscow the Big Winner from War in the Middle East?
In this episode of War & Peace , Olga and Elissa are joined by Hanna Notte, Director for Eurasia at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, to assess Russia’s stance on the war in Gaza, how Russia is looking to benefit from t…
- Europe’s Struggle to Respond to the Gaza War
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), to assess Europe’s response to the Gaza war. They unpack dif…
- Time to Talk? Assessing the Plausibility of Negotiations in the Russo-Ukrainian War
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 in Ukraine more or less advantageous for all concerned. T…
- Why Women Fight: Gender Dynamics in Insurgencies and Armies
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 contributions they make can vary widely, shaped in l…
- The Days After: Humanitarian Crisis and Prospects for Peace in Karabakh and the Region
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 implications of Azerbaijan regaining control of Nagorno-Karabakh in…
- NATO’s Vilnius Summit and Baltic Security
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 and a country claimed by the Soviet Union fo…
- Ukraine’s Male Travel Ban and the Protection of Civilians in Wartime
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 evolved to protect both civilians and combat…
- The War in Ukraine: Rallying Point for the Left or New Neocon Adventure?
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, which were informed by neoconservative foreig…
- Bonus Episode: Is This the End? Wagner in Russia, Ukraine and Africa
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, the head of the Russian private security company know…
- Escalation in Northern Kosovo: Causes, Dangers and Prospects
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 decision to instal ethnic Albanian mayors, e…
- What to Expect from Five More Years of President Erdoğan in Türkiye
This week on War & Peace, Olga Oliker speaks with Crisis Group’s Türkiye Director Nigar Göksel about the Turkish elections and how President Erdo ğ an’s new term might shape the country’s domestic and foreign policy. Last Sunday, Tür…
- Increasingly At Odds: What’s Shaping the EU-China Relationship?
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 have choices to make, choices further complic…
- Protests and Far-Right Politics in Israel and Europe
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 protests, activism that has now gone on for month…
- Protests in Georgia and Tbilisi’s Complicated Relationships with Russia and the West
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 as foreign agents. Although the ruling Georgia…
- Bert Koenders on the War in Ukraine and the Future of Europe
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 defences and improve their own energy security.…
- Tribunal on the Crime of Aggression: Faint Prospect or Realistic Probability?
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. Brian Finucane regarding the prospects for a crime of ag…
- Ukraine’s Jews, Israel and the War
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 and fascist tendencies since the conflict bega…
- Kazakhstan One Year After "Bloody January"
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 arrests and left more than 200 people dead. In resp…
- Catherine Ashton on Diplomacy, Ukraine, and Her New Book
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 for some of the most important international…
- Understanding the Latest Escalation in Türkiye’s PKK Conflict
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 decades-long battle with the Turkish military.…
- Making Sense of Russia’s Changing Role in Africa
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, Russia has become the preferred partner for…
- A Closer Look at Ukraine’s Donbas after Russia’s Occupation
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 Crimea, undertook operations there in 2014. Sinc…