Groong Links:
Guest(s):
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
Groong Links:
Guest(s):
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 Matlock recalls witnessing the removal of Stalin’s statue from Victory Park in Yerevan during Khrushchev’s denunciation of Stalin in the early 1960s.
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 Links:
Guest:
Topics:
- Research journey, archives Moscow and Yerevan
- Mikoyanâs vision of confederation for the USSR
- Artsakhâs status within Soviet constraints
- De-Stalinization and Armeniaâs cultural thaw
- Mikoyanâs stance toward the Armenian Church
Episode 480 | Recorded on October 18, 2025
Groong Links:
Guest:
Topics:
- Research journey, archives Moscow and Yerevan
- Mikoyanâs vision of confederation for the USSR
- Artsakhâs status within Soviet constraints
- De-Stalinization and Armeniaâs cultural thaw
- Mikoyanâs stance toward the Armenian Church
Episode 480 | Recorded on October 18, 2025
Groong Links:
Guest:
Topics:
- USSR: A common Home & History
- Georgiaâs Foreign Agent Bill
- Armenia-Georgian Relations
Episode 330 | Recorded: May 17, 2024
Groong Links:
Guest:
Topics:
- USSR: A common Home & History
- Georgiaâs Foreign Agent Bill
- Armenia-Georgian Relations
Episode 330 | Recorded: May 17, 2024
Groong Links:
Guest:
Topics:
- The Life and Times of Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan
Episode 28 | Recorded on December 3, 2020
Groong Links:
Guest:
Topics:
- The Life and Times of Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan
Episode 28 | Recorded on December 3, 2020