#289 – Stephen Kotkin: Putin, Zelenskyy, and War in Ukraine

Stephen Kotkin is a historian specializing in Stalin and Soviet history. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors: - Lambda: https://lambdalabs.com/lex - Scale: https://scale.com/lex - Athletic Greens: https://athleticgreens.com/lex and use code LEX to get 1 month of fish oil - ExpressVPN: https://expressvpn.com/lexpod and use code LexPod to get 3 months free - ROKA: https://roka.com/ and use code LEX to get 20% off your first order EPISODE LINKS: Stephen's Website: https://history.princeton.edu/people/stephen-kotkin Stalin: 1878-1928 (Vol 1): https://amzn.to/3NvokpC Stalin: 1929-1941 (Vol 2): https://amzn.to/3wIYqsT PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ YouTube Full Episodes: https://youtube.com/lexfridman YouTube Clips: https://youtube.com/lexclips SUPPORT & CONNECT: - Check out the sponsors above, it's the best way to support this podcast - Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman - Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexfridman - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexfridman - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman - Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman OUTLINE: Here's the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time. (00:00) - Introduction (10:17) - Putin and Stalin (21:07) - Putin vs the West (43:59) - Response to Oliver Stone (55:05) - Russian invasion of Ukraine (1:34:33) - Putin's plan for the war (1:42:32) - Henry Kissinger (1:48:26) - Nuclear war (1:59:00) - Parallels to World War II (2:21:45) - China (2:29:54) - World War III (2:37:23) - Navalny (2:41:40) - Meaning of life