The quiet parts out loud
A convo with Kevin Rothrock about the dirty little secrets of Russia-watching
Memo to the execs over at NBC: no offense to Kier Simmons, but Kevin Rothrock — Tweeter extraordinaire and inimitable host of the The Russia Guy podcast — should have been the one to interview Putin.
I got the chance to sit down with Kevin a few weeks ago (virtually, of course), and he managed to get me to spill most of my secrets, including:
Whether political scientists are allowed to have emotions;
How to read more than is humanly possible;
The difference between “personified” and “personalized” power;
Why I hate it when people talk about “Russia” and “the Russians”;
How Putin manages to get anything done when he’s repressing the opposition all day; and
What separates British and American Russianists.
The resulting episode went live today and is ideal for passing the time before the news comes in from Geneva. Have a listen!