Radio Vinternational

About Radio Vinternational

Everything we eat, think, wear, experience and even dream is influenced by global factors, but our news sources are often limited to our own (national) bubble. I am Vincent Hoffmans, and it puzzles me that ‘the international’ receives so little attention in our lives. That’s why I started Radio Vinternational! In each episode I interview experts and I try to learn something new about the world from them. The topics range from international art restitution to India's elections, and from fairness in AI to sports politics - as long as it's international, I'm up for it.

Publisher

Vincent Hoffmans

Category

history · news

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

25 May 2024

Latest episode

2 Mar 2025

Latest episodes

21 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   2 Mar 2025

   Russia’s Propaganda has reached The White House

   Russia’s Propaganda has reached The White House How Putin weaponizes history and narratives to justify war This week, I sat down with two experts who understand exactly how narratives shape war, attention, and global instability. Olena Snigyr from Ukraine and Salvador Lima from Argentina joined me to discuss how Russia manipulates narratives to justify its expansionist and totalitarian policies. After this conversation, I am more convinced than ever: the battle for Ukraine is the battle for liberal values and the international rule of law. Meet the guests My first guest is Olena Snigyr (https://www.eui.eu/people?id=olena-snigyr). She is a Jean Monnet Fellow at the EUI’s Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies. She is from Ukraine, and she is an expert on Russian foreign policy, European Security, and the role of narratives in international relations. You can find her on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/olena-snigyr-672b8343/). My second guest is from Argentina, his name is Salvador Lima (https://www.eui.eu/people?id=salvador-lima). He is a PhD-researcher at the EUI, and specializes in the study of empires, war history and colonialism. His PhD is on French and Spanish Foreign Legions in the Interwar Period, 1919-1939.  Find him on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/salvador-lima-0327092a2/) here. Recommendation of the WeekWith two guests, what else could I expect than an extensive list of recommendations! Olena and Salvador gave their favourite authors and sources to learn more about Ukraine, narrative wars and Russia’s foreign policy. To stay updated on the events in the Russo-Ukrainian war, read and follow the Kiev Independent (https://kyivindependent.com/news-archive/?utm_source=paid&utm_medium=ppc&utm_campaign=news&utm_term=news&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAoJC-BhCSARIsAPhdfShwv-yRBZewx0yQnfOkDrI6062NDLOdIQT7nJ4RHj93oj8lkQF0Z68aAgD2EALw_wcB), the English-language media outlet from Ukraine. Serhii Plokhii, (https://history.fas.harvard.edu/people/serhii-plokhii) Professor of Ukrainian History at Harvard University and the Director of the Ukrainian Research Institute. Timothy Snyder (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Snyder), one of the most famous historians of the world who has published numerous works on Freedom, Totalitarianism and on Ukraine specifically. He now is running a lot of projects on Ukrainian, and regularly writes about the country’s fight for freedom in his Substack (https://snyder.substack.com/) newsletter. Mikhail Suslov has just published a new book: “Putinism – Post-Soviet Russian Regime Ideology” - in which he answers the question “What is Putin’s ideology?” The work of sociologist Lev Gudkov, who defined the system of Putin’s Russia as “recurring totalitarianism”: Recurrent totalitarianism and Russia’s conservative shift (https://russiapost.info/society/recurrent_totalitarianism). The author lives in exile in Vienna, now. I hope you enjoy this episode. As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts! Saluti, Vincent

2. 

   1 Feb 2025

   The history of Veneto-Ottoman borderlands

   The history of Veneto-Ottoman borderlands What borders say about political power and nation states This episode is one for the lovers of history: I had the pleasure of speaking with historian Vuk Uskokovic about the hidden dynamics of early modern borderlands. His research focuses on the rural communes along the frontier between the Venetian Republic and the Ottoman Empire—places often seen as peripheral but, in reality, central to the workings of the two empires. Meet the guest Vuk Uskoković is a historian from Montenegro and his work focuses on rural communes on both sides of the early modern Veneto-Ottoman border. Vuk obtained his PhD from the History department European University Institute only a few weeks ago! Before his time at the EUI, he studied in Montenegro and at Cambridge. Currently, he is a Research Associate at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies. You can find more information about his current and former research projects on his EUI-page (https://www.eui.eu/people?id=vuk-uskokovic). Recommendation of the WeekVuk has various recommendations: For the London Review of Books, Alexander Clapp (https://pulitzercenter.org/people/alexander-clapp) wrote the article ‘Rip their skin off’ (https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/n08/alexander-clapp/rip-their-skin-off), in which he talks about the contemporary involvement of Montenegran drug syndicates and their relation to history and borderlands. If you check the website, you see that the Office of the Former President of Montenegro actually reacted to his piece, and it’s clear that they are not happy with his article…. Also, we discuss in our conversation the work ‘The Art of Not Being Governed (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_Not_Being_Governed)’ by James C. Scott (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_C._Scott), a fascinating exploration of how communities across Southeast Asia have historically evaded state control. The work of this historian fits very well into the subjects that Vuk studies! For the real history-lovers, Vuk recommends the Work of the Yugoslav historian Ivan Božić (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Bo%C5%BEi%C4%87_(historian)). He produced mostly short articles, about the late medieval history of the South-East Adriatic. Mostly working on the beginnings of the frontiers, the establishment of the Venetian presence and the arrival of the Ottomans. The origin story of Vuk’s frontier, so to say! Last, but not least: Vuk also points out i two different hiking regions, in Montenegro! One for the experienced/fanatic hiker, the other a bit more relaxed…. I hope you enjoy this episode, and as always feedback is very welcome! Saluti, Vincent

3. 

   21 Dec 2024

   Small states, Big influence

   Sarah Tegas, a PhD candidate at Sciences Po Paris, reveals how small island states are leveraging innovative strategies to transform their perceived weakness into diplomatic strength in global climate diplomacy.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Spotify

5.0 / 5

7 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 44 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

76

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

32

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Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.