Joshua Yaffa is a correspondent for The New Yorker in Moscow, Russia. For his work in Russia, he has been a finalist for a Livingston Award, a Visiting Scholar at the Harriman Institute at Columbia University, and received a grant from the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting. He’s also written for the Economist, The New York Times, National Geographic, Bloomberg Businessweek, The New Republic, and Foreign Affairs, where he was also an associate editor prior to moving to Moscow and has taught magazine writing at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. He is a graduate of the Georgetown School of Foreign Service and holds master’s degrees in journalism and international affairs from Columbia University. He is originally from San Diego.
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Episode 121
Joshua Yaffa
Homo Sovieticus and the Wily Man: Truth, Ambition, & Compromise in Putin’s Russia | Joshua Yaffa
Joshua Yaffa is a correspondent for The New Yorker in Moscow, Russia. For his work in Russia, he has been a finalist for a Livingston Award, a Visiting Scholar at the Harriman Institute at Columbia University, and received a grant from the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting. He’s also written for the Economist, The New York Times, National Geographic, Bloomberg Businessweek, The New Republic, and Foreign Affairs, where he was also an associate editor prior to moving to Moscow and has taught magazine writing at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. He is a graduate of the Georgetown School of Foreign Service and holds master’s degrees in journalism and international affairs from Columbia University. He is originally from San Diego.
In Episode 121 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Joshua Yaffa, a Moscow correspondent for The New Yorker about what life is like in Putin’s Russia. Yaffa’s latest book on the subject is a fascinating inquiry into the Soviet and post-Soviet personality type that sustains the state’s power and Vladimir Putin’s place atop it.
Joshua Yaffa’s new book is titled, “Between Two Fires: Truth, Ambition, and Compromise in Putin’s Russia.” It’s a book about life in modern Russia that pulls both from the country’s history, as well as from a large body of sociological research into the Soviet and post-Soviet personality type whose “habits, inclinations, and internal moral calculations,” according to Joshua “elevated Vladimir Putin to his current position and which now perform the small, daily work that, in aggregate, keeps him there.”
This conversation is one of the more nuanced you are bound to hear on the subject of Russia, Putin, and Russian propaganda in American media. Yaffa speaks critically, but honestly, about a country that features prominently in American politics today. Demetri also shares insights from his own experience working at the Russian state media outlet RT (Russia Today).
For Patreon subscribers, this week’s rundown covers not only the subject of Demetri’s conversation with Joshua, but much of Yaffa’s book as well. You can access that rundown, the overtime segment, as well as a transcript to this week’s episode through the Hidden Forces Supercast Page. All subscribers also gain access to our overtime feed, which can be easily be added to your favorite podcast application.
Joshua Yaffa is a correspondent for The New Yorker in Moscow, Russia. For his work in Russia, he has been a finalist for a Livingston Award, a Visiting Scholar at the Harriman Institute at Columbia University, and received a grant from the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting. He’s also written for the Economist, The New York Times, National Geographic, Bloomberg Businessweek, The New Republic, and Foreign Affairs, where he was also an associate editor prior to moving to Moscow and has taught magazine writing at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. He is a graduate of the Georgetown School of Foreign Service and holds master’s degrees in journalism and international affairs from Columbia University. He is originally from San Diego.
Demetri Kofinas is a media entrepreneur and financial analyst whose mission is to help uncover the hidden forces and pivotal patterns shaping our lives. His contrarian perspective and critical-thinking approach has helped hundreds of thousands of people make smarter, informed decisions. This same methodology has helped guide Demetri’s decision-making as an early-stage investor and as a creator of several innovative media properties and live events.
Demetri Kofinas is a media entrepreneur and financial analyst whose mission is to help uncover the hidden forces and pivotal patterns shaping our lives. His contrarian perspective and critical-thinking approach has helped hundreds of thousands of people make smarter, informed decisions. This same methodology has helped guide Demetri’s decision-making as an early-stage investor and as a creator of several innovative media properties and live events.
Demetri Kofinas is a media entrepreneur and financial analyst whose mission is to help uncover the hidden forces and pivotal patterns shaping our lives. His contrarian perspective and critical-thinking approach has helped hundreds of thousands of people make smarter, informed decisions. This same methodology has helped guide Demetri’s decision-making as an early-stage investor and as a creator of several innovative media properties and live events.
Demetri Kofinas is a media entrepreneur and financial analyst whose mission is to help uncover the hidden forces and pivotal patterns shaping our lives. His contrarian perspective and critical-thinking approach has helped hundreds of thousands of people make smarter, informed decisions. This same methodology has helped guide Demetri’s decision-making as an early-stage investor and as a creator of several innovative media properties and live events.
Demetri Kofinas is a media entrepreneur and financial analyst whose mission is to help uncover the hidden forces and pivotal patterns shaping our lives. His contrarian perspective and critical-thinking approach has helped hundreds of thousands of people make smarter, informed decisions. This same methodology has helped guide Demetri’s decision-making as an early-stage investor and as a creator of several innovative media properties and live events.
