Soviet Armenia

Ambassador Jack Matlock - Did the West Fumble the Post-Cold War Peace? | Ep 580, Aug 28, 2026 [EP580]

Posted on Friday, Aug 28, 2026 | Category: Armenia, US, Russia, Geopolitics, History, Soviet Armenia, USSR | Series: cog, video

Groong Links:

Guest(s):

Amb. Jack Matlock

Topics:

Recollections from Soviet South Caucasus
Why the Soviet Union collapsed
How the Cold War ended
Reagan and Gorbachev’s diplomacy
America’s post-Cold War triumphalism
NATO expansion and Russian backlash
Great-power rivalry in the Caucasus
Armenia’s geopolitical choices today

Episode 580 | Recorded: Aug 27, 2026

#JackMatlock #ColdWar #SovietUnion #Reagan #Gorbachev #NATO #Russia #SouthCaucasus #Armenia

Ambassador Jack Matlock - Did the West Fumble the Post-Cold War Peace? | Ep 580, Aug 28, 2026 [EP580]

Posted on Friday, Aug 28, 2026 | Category: Armenia, US, Russia, Geopolitics, History, Soviet Armenia, USSR

Groong Links:

Guest(s):

Amb. Jack Matlock

Topics:

Recollections from Soviet South Caucasus
Why the Soviet Union collapsed
How the Cold War ended
Reagan and Gorbachev’s diplomacy
America’s post-Cold War triumphalism
NATO expansion and Russian backlash
Great-power rivalry in the Caucasus
Armenia’s geopolitical choices today

Episode 580 | Recorded: Aug 27, 2026

#JackMatlock #ColdWar #SovietUnion #Reagan #Gorbachev #NATO #Russia #SouthCaucasus #Armenia

Matlock Witnessed Stalin's Statue Fall in Yerevan [EP580]

Posted on Friday, Aug 28, 2026 | Category: History, Soviet Armenia

Ambassador Matlock recalls witnessing the removal of Stalin’s statue from Victory Park in Yerevan during Khrushchev’s denunciation of Stalin in the early 1960s.

Transcript: Ambassador Jack Matlock - Did the West Fumble the Post-Cold War Peace? | Ep 580, Aug 28, 2026 [EP580]

Posted on Friday, Aug 28, 2026 | Category: Armenia, US, Russia, Geopolitics, History, Soviet Armenia, USSR, Transcript

In this episode of Conversations on Groong, we speak with Ambassador Jack Matlock, the last US Ambassador to the Soviet Union, about whether the West missed a historic opportunity to integrate Russia into Western security architecture after the Cold War. We discuss the internal collapse of the Soviet Union, Reagan-Gorbachev diplomacy, NATO expansion and Russian backlash, and how Cold War-era decisions shape Armenia’s geopolitical choices today, including Matlock’s firsthand observations of Soviet Armenia during glasnost and the Nagorno Karabakh movement.

Groong News Digest — Week of August 3–9, 2026

Posted on Sunday, Aug 9, 2026 | Category: Digest, News Digest

One year after Trump-brokered peace, Armenia and Azerbaijan mark accord while Pashinyan faces mounting pressure from Russia, religious conflict, and domestic opposition challenges.

Groong Podcast Digest — Week of August 3–9, 2026

Posted on Sunday, Aug 9, 2026 | Category: Digest, Podcast Digest

Dr. Pietro Shakarian explores the parallels between Stalinist repression in Soviet Armenia and authoritarian practices under the Civil Contract regime, examining how incomplete historical reckoning leaves societies vulnerable to recognizing new forms of political control. We examine Armenia’s new parliament sworn in on August 2, 2026, the Armenia Alliance’s direct challenge to Civil Contract over Tigranashen’s territorial status, the government’s evasive responses on border red lines, Armenia’s challenge to Russia’s railway concession, and how TRIPP reshapes Read More

Incomplete Reckoning with Stalinism Opens the Door to Authoritarianism Today [EP573]

Posted on Monday, Aug 3, 2026 | Category: History, Politics

Without a complete public reckoning with Stalinist repression, Armenian society became permissive to authoritarian practices. Incomplete historical memory leaves a nation vulnerable to repeating its past.

Pietro Shakarian - Memory Under Siege: From Stalin to Pashinyan | Ep 573, Aug 3, 2026 [EP573]

Posted on Monday, Aug 3, 2026 | Category: Armenia, Politics, History | Series: cog, video

Groong Links:

Guest(s):

Pietro Shakarian

Topics:

Erasing memory across Yerevan
Great Purge in Soviet Armenia
Khanjyan’s assassination and Beria
Repression of Armenia’s national institutions
Remembering Stalinist repression
Historical parallels with modern Armenia
Attacks on memory and Church
Opposition strategy after the election

Episode 573 | Recorded: July 31, 2026

#Armenia #GreatPurge #AghasiKhanjyan #PietroShakarian #Artsakh #ArmenianChurch #PoliticalRepression #MemoryUnderSiege #Authoritarianism #SovietArmenia

Pietro Shakarian - Memory Under Siege: From Stalin to Pashinyan | Ep 573, Aug 3, 2026 [EP573]

Posted on Monday, Aug 3, 2026 | Category: Armenia, Politics, History

Groong Links:

Guest(s):

Pietro Shakarian

Topics:

Erasing memory across Yerevan
Great Purge in Soviet Armenia
Khanjyan’s assassination and Beria
Repression of Armenia’s national institutions
Remembering Stalinist repression
Historical parallels with modern Armenia
Attacks on memory and Church
Opposition strategy after the election

Episode 573 | Recorded: July 31, 2026

#Armenia #GreatPurge #AghasiKhanjyan #PietroShakarian #Artsakh #ArmenianChurch #PoliticalRepression #MemoryUnderSiege #Authoritarianism #SovietArmenia

The Great Purge in Armenia: Khanjyan's Assassination and the War on National Identity [EP573]

Posted on Monday, Aug 3, 2026 | Category: History, Armenian Church

Pietro Shakarian traces the origins and mechanics of the Great Purge in Soviet Armenia, explaining how Stalin and Beria systematically destroyed the Armenian intellectual and ecclesiastical elite.

Transcript: Pietro Shakarian - Memory Under Siege: From Stalin to Pashinyan | Ep 573, Aug 3, 2026 [EP573]

Posted on Monday, Aug 3, 2026 | Category: Armenia, Politics, History, Transcript

In this episode of Conversations on Groong, we speak with Dr. Pietro Shakarian about memory, repression, and state power in Armenia across Soviet and contemporary periods. We discuss the Great Purge in Soviet Armenia, the assassination of Aghasi Khanjyan, the suppression of Armenian national institutions under Stalin and Beria, and the parallels between Stalinist erasure and current efforts to control public memory, symbols, and mourning in post-Artsakh Armenia under the Civil Contract regime.