Tom
Co-Host of The Slavic Connexion
Tom is wrapping up a dual Master’s in Russian Studies and Global Policy at UT Austin. He is concentrating on the strategic interaction between global powers, with a focus on the future relationship between the United States and Russia. Tom’s attraction to cybersecurity buds from the growing use of non-military levers to conduct geo-political warfare, a strategy assumed to proliferate in the coming years. Tom graduated from Bowdoin College in 2016 with a degree in history. He spends way too much of his time on The Slavic Connexion but as one of the co-creators, how can he not?
Tom has hosted 47 Episodes.
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Russian Language Online! with Dr. Heather Rice
May 4th, 2019 | Season 1 | 21 mins 38 secs
fun and engaging language course, learning languages, online education, russian online course
Dr. Heather Rice, one of the nicest professors at the University of Texas, talks about the difficulties and successes of her now-famous (relatively-speaking) Russian online course that's taking the language instruction world by storm. Our very own Tom R. hosts as a former student of this very same class.
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The Monkey Cage
April 30th, 2019 | Season 1 | 55 mins 30 secs
communism's shadow, communist regimes, democracy, elections, gender equity, information wars, nonpartisan blogs, political science
Tom and Matt host a special guest of the Information Wars symposium: Dr. Joshua Tucker, director of NYU's Jordan Center for Advanced Study of Russia, and co-editor of the Washington Post independent political science newsletter "The Monkey Cage".
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Black Widows of the Black Sea
April 15th, 2019 | Season 1 | 25 mins 29 secs
azerbaijan, black widows, caucasus, chechen republic, chechnya, counterterrorism, ethnicity, female terrorism, georgia, religion, soviet union, twins of the caucasus
On this episode, Tom hosts half-Russian graduate student Lucia Winkeler as they talk all things Caucasus and how many times she has to explain to people that it's not Czechia, it's CHECHNYA as in the First and Second Chechen Wars.
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Inside Dugin's Beard with Tom & Matt
April 11th, 2019 | Season 1 | 32 mins 3 secs
alexander dugin, eurasianism, fourth political theory
On this installment of Matt and Tom (Tom and Matt) they talk about Eurasianism and Duginism. What exactly are these things? Well, it's kind of a long story... But hopefully this episode will help to break it down for you.
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The Currency of Diplomacy and State Department "1.0" with (the one and only) John Gleb
March 30th, 2019 | Season 1 | 34 mins 10 secs
dollar diplomacy, foreign service, human rights, state department history
Straight from the University of California, Berkeley to the Forty Acres of UT Austin, John Gleb gives us a comparative development of diplomacy, foreign policy, and human rights in the U.S. and Europe pre-World War II.
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Polls, Politics, and Presidents with Matt & Tom
March 23rd, 2019 | Season 1 | 28 mins 40 secs
corruption, elections, politics, russia, ukraine, united states
Beginning a new format, hosts Tom Rehnquist and Matt Orr bring to the studio current events and political debates ripe for discussion, and so today that means the Ukrainian presidential elections. Find out which candidate is Matt's chosen "horse" in this episode.
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David Foster Wallace Goes to Russia... in Print
March 21st, 2019 | Season 1 | 12 mins 57 secs
literature, politics, social media, society
Matt & Tom talk about the late American author David Foster Wallace who for the first time is being published in Russia in Russian.
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Brexit: An EU Insider's Perspective with Lorinc Redei
March 16th, 2019 | Season 1 | 54 mins 36 secs
brexit, british politics, current events, european union, josh tucker, uk, ukraine elections
Dr. Lorinc Redei, an expert on the foreign policy of the European Union, gives his insightful take on the current trajectory of the EU, the destructive influence of Brexit on the EU, and Ukraine's prospects of joining either the EU or NATO.
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From Radio Free Europe to the US Russia Foundation with Mark Pomar
March 12th, 2019 | Season 1 | 45 mins 46 secs
civics, democracy, education, elections, politics, putin, russia, trump, ukraine, voting
Dr. Pomar discourses on a full breadth of topics, including his experiences living in the Soviet Union under Brezhnev and the ideological bent of Radio Free Europe after the collapse of the USSR.
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Baltics and Basketball with Audrius Rickus
March 12th, 2019 | Season 1 | 21 mins 34 secs
basketball, current politics, history, lithuania
Grad student Audrius Rickus talks about the upcoming Lithuanian elections, his research, and... basketball.
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Let's Talk Nationalism with Jonathan Parker
March 12th, 2019 | Season 1 | 20 mins 34 secs
czech history, identity politics, nationalism
PhD candidate Jonathan Parker from the History Department at the University of Texas talks with Tom about his research on Czech nationalism.
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The Vietnam Connexion with Mark Lawrence
March 11th, 2019 | Season 1 | 38 mins 16 secs
history, politics, vietnam war
Vietnam expert Professor Mark Lawrence dialogues about Soviet-Vietnam relations during the Cold War.
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"Don't argue with a geographer" with Bella Bychkova Jordan
March 11th, 2019 | Season 1 | 34 mins
cultural geography, culture, geography, geopolitics, international affairs, languages, post-soviet, religion
Dr. Bella Bychkova Jordan chats about her amazing journey from Siberia to Austin, TX and her choice to become a cultural geographer, wherein all her many interests, talents, and languages intersected.
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"Soviet Union Lite" with Mark Pomar
March 11th, 2019 | Season 1 | 2 mins
cold war, communism, democracy, russia, voice of america
A brief snippet of the interview with Dr. Mark Pomar.
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All About Civics (with Matthew Orr)
March 11th, 2019 | Season 1 | 44 mins 44 secs
civics, democracy, elections
Graduate student and researcher Matthew Orr talks about civic education and discourse in modern-day Russia and Ukraine.