Pastime | Episode
Pastime

1. Cold War Lessons And Russian Collapse - MICHAEL MCFAUL

The John Batchelor Show | Sep 20 2026 | 00:37:31

1871 FRANCO PRUSSIA WAR 
Cold War Lessons And Russian Collapse
Michael McFaul, author of Autocrats vs. Democrats: China, Russia, America, and the New Global Disorder, Part One: Former ambassador McFaul examines global superpower dynamics, drawing lessons from critical Cold War events like the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. He contrasts the capabilities of the Soviet Union with the revolutionary ideological drive of Maoist China. Reflecting on the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, McFaul critiques American policy for prioritizing economic engagement over human rights principles. Having witnessed the street-level democratic revolution in Moscow in 1990 and 1991, McFaul argues that the United States correctly engaged with Boris Yeltsin but failed to make long-term economic and political investments to consolidate Russian democratic institutions. (1)