From Cold War to Hot Peace: An American Ambassador in Putin’s Russia Cover
Podcast Mentions

From Cold War to Hot Peace An American Ambassador in Putin’s Russia

Michael McFaul

NEW YORK TIMES —

Podcasts 2
Quotes 15
Freakonomics Radio

It is described as a book detailing the author's experiences as an American ambassador in Putin's Russia.

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...or how about this option? You can start making plans to attend the 2026 World Cup in America. That's right. It has just been announced that a joint bid by the US, Canada and Mexico has been selecte...

— Episode: 338. How to Catch World Cup Fever

Episode: 338. How to Catch World Cup Fever

It is described as a book detailing the author's experiences as an American ambassador in Putin's Russia.

"

...or how about this option? You can start making plans to attend the 2026 World Cup in America. That's right. It has just been announced that a joint bid by the US, Canada and Mexico has been selected by FIFA for the 2026 World Cup with 60 of the 80 matches to be played here in America. Anyone need a floor to sleep on in New York? Give me a shout. Coming up next time on Freakonomics Radio, is innovation overrated? Should we be spending more time and more money on maintenance? People always think more about how new ground can be broken than they think about how existing institutions can be sustained or existing facilities can be maintained. In praise of maintenance. That's next time on Freakonomics Radio. Freakonomics Radio is produced by WNYC Studios and Dubner Productions. This episode was produced by Matt Frasica with help from Greg Rizalski, Joel Meyer and Eliza Lambert. Our staff also includes Allison Hockenberry, Stephanie Tam, Merritt Jacob, Max Miller, Harry Huggins and Andy Meisenheimer. The music you hear throughout the episode was composed by Luis Guerra. You can subscribe to Freakonomics Radio on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts. Also check out our archive at Freakonomics.com. You can follow us on all the social media or write to us at radio at Freakonomics.com.

The Jordan Harbinger Show

It was discussed in the context of the author's experiences as a US ambassador to Russia during a challenging period of US-Russia relations, and how the KGB/FSB actions impacted him and his family.

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I write about it in my book. You know the kind of just overreaction to challenges to his regime and overreaction to actions that we took.

— Episode: 114: Michael McFaul | What It's Like to...

Episode: 114: Michael McFaul | What It's Like to Stand Up t...

It was discussed in the context of the author's experiences as a US ambassador to Russia during a challenging period of US-Russia relations, and how the KGB/FSB actions impacted him and his family.

"

I write about it in my book. You know the kind of just overreaction to challenges to his regime and overreaction to actions that we took.

I think that comes from being trained in the KGB.

his book is called from Cold War to hot peace the inside story of Russia and America it's a great read if you're interested in this sort of topic

In the book from Cold War to hot piece there are some stories

Episode: 114: Michael McFaul | What It's Like to Stand Up t...

It was discussed in the context of the author's experiences as an ambassador to Russia during a period of heightened tensions with the Russian government. The book also discusses the author's experiences living in Russia during the Cold War.

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I write about it in my book. You know the kind of just overreaction to challenges to his regime and overreaction to actions that we took.

And then in Russia of course because the intelligence officers now run the country.

his book is called from Cold War to hot piece the inside story of Russia and America it's a great read if you're interested in this sort of topic

In the book from Cold War to hot piece there are some stories there was one in particular where I think it was like 9 a.m.

And you know I'm on the sanctions list right now I can't travel to Russia because of the difficulties in our relationship and that we put so many of their people on the list.

Episode: 114: Michael McFaul | What It's Like to Stand Up t...

It was discussed in the context of the author's experiences as a US ambassador to Russia, with some discussion around the overreactions to challenges to Putin's regime, and Putin's paranoia stemming from his KGB background.

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I write about it in my book. You know the kind of just overreaction to challenges to his regime and overreaction to actions that we took.

His book is called 'From Cold War to Hot Peace: The Inside Story of Russia and America'.

In the book from Cold War to Hot Peace there are some stories there was one in particular where I think it was like 9 a.m. and they brought in vodka or something like that and you're going well guess I got to take part in this yeah there's got to be some areas where you go look I'm not doing this or or do you have to are there courses that you guys take where it's like look they're going to bring in vodka yes it's going to be 7 30 in the morning you just have to deal with it.

In the book there's sort of this tone of it seems like everyone thinks you're a spy except for your kind of old contacts that you'd met earlier. And I wondered if there was anything specific that you had to do to kind of either build trust with new people or shake off the reputation that preceded you even before you arrived.

Yeah, the Soviet Union back then was very different. You know, I lived there in '83, '85, '88, '89, '90, '91. So I lived a good chunk of time in the Soviet Union right before Russia emerged from the Soviet Union and it was a command economy, communist economy that led to, so prices were determined by the state.

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