Misha
Co-Host of The Slavic Connexion
Mykhaylo (Misha) Simanovskyy is a first-year graduate student pursuing a dual Master’s degree in Global Policy Studies from the LBJ School of Public Affairs and Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies from the Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies at UT Austin. He obtained a B.S. in Political Science from Texas Christian University in 2021. Being a native of Donetsk, Ukraine, Misha is passionate about researching Russian foreign policy in its Near Abroad and the Middle East, US-Russia relations, and Ukrainian politics. He is a native speaker of Russian and Ukrainian and speaks Arabic and Polish at an intermediate level. After graduating from UT, Misha aspires to work in diplomacy, pursuing improvement of US-Russia relations and conflict resolution in Ukraine.
Misha has hosted 20 Episodes.
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Liberty After Liberalism: Post-Maidan Transformations in Ukrainian Media
April 27th, 2024 | Season 6 | 57 mins 51 secs
euromaidan, media, politics, russia, ukraine
On this episode, Taras Fedirko from the University of Glasgow joins us on the Forty Acres to share the multilayered story of post-Soviet media in Ukraine and its dramatic transformations from Kravchuk to Zelenskyy.
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Through American Eyes: Citizen Diplomacy and the Post-Soviet Market Economy
April 14th, 2024 | Season 6 | 51 mins 10 secs
business, culture, modern history, politics, russia
On this episode, returning guest Daniel Satinsky, attorney and business consultant, shares about his new book, which tells the story of American participation in the dismantling of the Soviet economy and the creation of the Russian market economy in the 1990s. Creating the Post-Soviet Russian Market Economy: Through American Eyes is based on more than 100 interviews with citizen diplomats, entrepreneurs, bankers, consultants, and aid program administrators active in Russia in those years.
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Demystifying Cyber: Building Resiliency in the Modern Technology Landscape
January 21st, 2024 | Season 6 | 48 mins 2 secs
civil society, counterterrorism, intelligence, national security, technology
On this episode, Francesca Lockhart, cybersecurity professor at The University of Texas at Austin, talks about her unique and forward-looking cybersecurity clinic that she developed on the Forty Acres after leading the Homeland Security Unit at the Texas Department of Public Safety. Thanks for listening!
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Ballistics and Ballots: The Ukraine War in 2024 and Beyond with Michael Kofman
January 4th, 2024 | Season 6 | 34 mins 27 secs
conflict, politics, strategy, ukraine russia war
On this first episode of 2024, we reflect on the War in Ukraine and Ukraine's prospects for continued political and military support in 2024 and beyond with Carnegie Endowment's senior fellow and renowned military analyst Michael Kofman.
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Battle Without Borders: Cyberwarfare and the Russian (Dis)advantage
December 17th, 2023 | Season 6 | 35 mins 21 secs
cyber, geopolitics, media, national security, propaganda, technology, war
On this episode, cyber expert Gavin Wilde joined us to talk all things cyberwarfare. He defined the term and its distinction from information warfare; shared the reasons why he believes studying Russia is important for this complex, actively developing, and hard-to-measure battlefront; and touched on the differences between the US and Russian military cyber and information operations and structures. Thanks for listening!
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Gravedigger of the Present: Memory Politics and the Weaponization of History
December 9th, 2023 | Season 6 | 45 mins 9 secs
conflict, history, politics, putin, stalin, ukraine russia war
In this episode, Bartek Gajos discusses his in-depth research into memory politics during the Soviet period and today, specifically the weaponization of history by the Russian regime, the past's influence on present actions taken by great powers, NATO expansion and EU enlargement, and the questions surrounding Polish-Ukrainian relations. Bartek appropriately quotes Nietzsche: "... the past must be forgotten if it is not to become the gravedigger of the present." Thanks for listening!
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The State of Investigative Journalism in Russia Today with Mikhail Rubin
December 2nd, 2023 | Season 6 | 37 mins 46 secs
journalism, politics, ukraine russia war
On this episode, Taylor and Misha speak with Mikhail Rubin, journalist and co-founder of Proekt Media, the lead investigative media outlet in Russia. Thanks for listening!
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Yellowing Paper: Russian Journalism, the New Proletarian Elite, and an Economy of Smugglers
November 4th, 2023 | Season 6 | 29 mins 13 secs
business, international relations, journalism, politics, russia, war
On this episode, we talk with Financial Times' Moscow bureau chief Max Seddon who speaks about his personal path to journalism in Putin's Russia, the state of the country's economic system, the political ineffectiveness of Russian oligarchs, and much more. Thanks for listening!
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A Matter of Defense: Russia's Arms Industry, Post-Soviet Wars, and American Pragmatism
October 14th, 2023 | Season 6 | 48 mins 25 secs
defense, military, politics, ukraine russia war
On this episode, Misha talks with Ruslan Pukhov, a Russian defense analyst and the director of the Moscow-based Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST). Mr. Pukhov shares about the activities of CAST, the current state of Russia's defense industry, and his views on the war in Ukraine. Thanks for listening!
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From Fallujah to the Forty Acres: History, Strategy, and Statecraft with Paul Edgar
September 30th, 2023 | Season 6 | 40 mins 45 secs
academia, international relations, national security, strategy, ukraine russia war
On this episode, we had an amazing conversation with Dr. Paul Edgar, the interim executive director of the Clements Center for National Security at UT Austin. Paul spoke about how he went from the military to academia, the Russo-Ukrainian War, and his goals for the Clements Center as a leading educational institution for discourse around history, strategy, and statecraft. Thanks for listening!
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From Russia to Hollywood: Bringing Slavic Culture to the Silver Screen
September 26th, 2023 | Season 6 | 37 mins 14 secs
cold war, culture, film, immigration, media, post-soviet
On this episode, Misha and Taylor speak with Lada Egorova, a Russian filmmaker in Los Angeles who has an ambitious and timely project, creating a TV comedy series about Slavic culture and people in the United States, specifically LA. Thanks for listening!
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Behind Black & White Frontlines: Literature Development in Wartime Ukraine, 2014-2022
July 8th, 2023 | Season 5 | 41 mins 45 secs
culture, history, literature, teaching, ukraine war
On this episode, Lera and Misha sit down with Dr. Alexander Chertenko, a professor of Ukrainian literature at the University of Giessen in Germany. Dr. Chertenko is uniquely positioned to trace the wartime development of Ukrainian literature in the country since 2014. He also illuminates the usually underdiscussed topic of literature in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts from 2014 until Russia's full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022. Thank you for listening!
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KAZKA: The Voice of Ukraine
March 23rd, 2023 | Season 5 | 51 mins 10 secs
conflict, music, politics, ukraine russia war
On this special episode, Sergio and Misha get the opportunity to speak with Sasha Zaritska, the lead singer of U-pop band KAZKA, and Andriy Urenov, producer and manager of the band. Their new single "Bez Kohannya" (Without Love) is out this Friday! Listen to the end of the episode for a sneak preview.
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The Other: Russian-American Relations Through the Centuries with Ivan Kurilla
December 30th, 2022 | Season 5 | 35 mins 57 secs
higher education, history, international relations, politics, russia, united states
On this episode, historian Dr. Ivan Kurilla from European University in St. Petersburg shares about his research on the rich and little-known history of US-Russia relations since the 18th century. Dr. Kurilla explains that the two countries are "constitutive others," using each other as both threats and positive models for achieving political and social goals. Thank you for listening!
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Compounding Conflicts: Russia in Ukraine, the Middle East, and Africa with Robert Freedman
December 23rd, 2022 | Season 5 | 45 mins 2 secs
africa, geopolitics, middle east, russia, security, ukraine, war
On this episode, venerated political scientist Dr. Robert Freedman joins us to expound on the various wars and conflicts that Russia has gotten into, not only in Ukraine, but also in Syria, Libya, Mali, and more. Dr. Freedman articulates Putin's current goals as he sees them, touches on the liberal use of the Wagner Group by Russia, and prognosticates on the future of the war in Ukraine and Ukraine's prospects in joining Western security organizations. Thanks for listening (and happy holidays to all)!
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"The Demise of the Multiethnic Soviet Union" with Brigid O'Keeffe
November 8th, 2022 | Season 5 | 46 mins 49 secs
culture, history, language, race, soviet union
On this episode, author and historian Brigid O'Keeffe joins Sergio and Misha to discuss her research and newly released work on the rise and fall of the multiethnic Soviet Union. Thanks for listening!