Geopolitics Decanted with Dmitri Alperovitch
by Silverado Policy Accelerator
In-depth conversations on the conflicts and rivalries shaping our world, explored in the detail the subject deserves. Dmitri Alperovitch speaks with the military commanders, intelligence officials, diplomats, historians, and strategists who shape events and study them closely — on the war in Ukraine, strategic competition with China and the future of Taiwan, nuclear deterrence, sanctions and semiconductors, and the changing character of warfare. Throughout, the aim is to understand not merely what has happened, but why — and what is likely to follow. Geopolitics Decanted is hosted by Dmitri Alperovitch — chairman of the Silverado Policy Accelerator in Washington, D.C., national bestselling author of World on the Brink: How America Can Beat China in the Race for the Twenty-First Century, and co-founder of CrowdStrike.
Episodes
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The Miracle Is Over: Inside China's Slow-Motion Economic Decay
China's boom ran on the largest credit expansion ever recorded — roughly a third of global GDP in eight years. Rhodium Group's Logan Wright, who spent fourteen years tracking the financial plumbing from Beijing and Hong Kong, argues that engine has been shutting down since 2018 and the economy...
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How Russia Could Beat NATO, War of Attrition over Taiwan, and How Ukraine Turned the Tide
Franz-Stefan Gady just played the Russian Chief of General Staff in a German war game — and won. He joins Dmitri Alperovitch to explain how he manufactured a NATO crisis in the summer of 2026, why the U.S. is built for the wrong war over Taiwan, and how Ukraine quietly turned its fortunes around...
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How to Reopen the Strait of Hormuz
Three weeks into the US-Israel war with Iran, the Strait of Hormuz remains closed — and reopening it may be far harder and slower than many may realize. Dmitri Alperovitch talks to RADM Mark Montgomery (Ret.), who has transited the strait 25+ times and lays out what it will actually take, why…
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What Happens if the Supreme Court Kills Trump’s Tariffs?
Dmitri Alperovitch and Silverado trade experts Sarah Stewart and John Corrigan examine the implications of the upcoming Supreme Court ruling on Trump's reciprocal and fentanyl tariffs. They explore the stakes of this constitutional challenge, including whether the government might have to refund...
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Why The China Trade Truce Is Unlikely to Last
Dmitri Alperovitch talks with Sarah Stewart, CEO at Silverado and former senior US trade negotiator, about the Trump-Xi meeting in South Korea. They discuss the details of the agreement reached and why it is a temporary trade truce at best. 00:00 Introduction 01:13 US Objectives for the Trump-Xi...
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Keeping Russian Economy Afloat: Kremlin's Economic High Wire Act
Is Russia close to an economic collapse? Dmitri Alperovitch sits down with Chris Weafer, an expert on the Russian economy, to assess how long the Kremlin can keep this high wire act going. 00:00 Introduction 01:17 Current State of the Russian Economy 10:02 Budget Challenges and Military Spending...
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Why Drones Can’t Replace Traditional Firepower
Dmitri Alperovitch talks to air power expert Justin Bronk about why it's a bad idea for Western militaries to follow Ukraine's lead and overly invest in production of small drones like FPVs and other loitering munitions. They also dive into best counter-drone strategies, as well as the…
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Why America's Nuclear Deterrence Strategy Needs to Change
Dmitri Alperovitch talks with Vipin Narang, a former Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy, a portfolio which includes U.S nuclear weapons employment strategy, about why we are now entering the New Nuclear Age and the urgent changes that the United States has to make to its…
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Assessing the Damage to Iran’s Nuclear Program
Dmitri Alperovitch talks with Dr. Jeffrey Lewis, a nuclear nonproliferation expert, to assess the damage that has been inflicted upon the Iranian nuclear program over the course of the past 11 days and potential for reconstitution. 00:00 Introduction 00:49 Assessment of Damage to Each Part of the...
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The Israel-Iran War: Possibilities and the Dangers of Overreach
Dmitri Alperovitch talks with Israeli Gen Amos Yadlin (Ret.), perhaps the world's only person who has participated in the destruction of three Middle Eastern nuclear weapons programs: first, as an F-16 pilot in 1981 against Iraqi nuclear reactor at Osirak, as Head of Military Intelligence in 2007...
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Why North Korea Is Planning a Second Korean War and How to Stop It
Dmitri Alperovitch sits down with Andrei Lankov, one of the west’s foremost experts on North Korea, and Sergey Radchenko, a leading Cold War historian, for a deep dive into North Korea. They discuss the threats posed by North Korea's nuclear program and possibility of a new war, the chances of a...
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The One Factor That Could Crash the Russian Economy
Dmitri Alperovitch talks with Russian economy expert Chris Weafer about the state of the Russian economy in 2025. They talk about inflation and its impact on people and business, why the ruble is collapsing, which sanctions have been the most impactful, and the one thing that could potentially...
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Putin’s Nuclear Meltdown
Dmitri Alperovitch talks all things nukes with Dr. Jeffrey Lewis, an expert in arms control and nuclear and missile nonproliferation, currently a professor at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, and director of the...
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Inside the Drone War Arms Race in Ukraine
Dmitri Alperovitch talks with Andrey Liscovich (UkraineDefenseFund.org) about the latest updates in the evolution of drone warfare on the battlefields in Ukraine. They discuss: - How Ground Unmanned Vehicles (GUVs) are being used in battle - 3rd Generation FPV drones - Quadcopter bombers -...
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Ukraine Invades Russia: What’s Next? Interview with Ukrainian Combat Vet
Dmitri Alperovitch talks with Constantine Kalinovskiy (@Teoyaomiquu), a Ukrainian combat vet with friends currently in battle, about how the Ukrainian Armed Forces were able to achieve tactical surprise with their August 6th offensive into Russian Kursk oblast, the achievable objectives of this...
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Ukraine Finally Has F-16s. What Now?
After many months long wait, F-16s have finally arrived in Ukraine. How are the Ukrainians likely to use them and what are the challenges and opportunities presented by the introduction of this new weapons platform? Dmitri Alperovitch talks with Justin Bronk, Senior Research Fellow for Airpower…
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How China Might Invade Taiwan: A World on the Brink Scenario
Dmitri Alperovitch and his co-author Garrett Graff discuss their upcoming book “World on the Brink: How America Can Beat China in the Race for the Twenty-First Century” and include an exclusive audiobook excerpt from the book that lays out in great detail how China is likely to go about its...
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New Secrets From the Cold War and Lessons for Cold War II With China
Dmitri Alperovitch talks with Sergey Radchenko, one of the Cold War's preeminent historians, about the untold secrets of that period based on Sergey's unique access to recently declassified Soviet and Chinese archives. They discussed China's role in causing Khrushchev to initiate the Cuban…
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How the US Planned to Respond to Russia Using a Nuke in Ukraine
Dmitri Alperovitch talks with Bill Hennigan, a New York Times opinion writer currently publishing a series of articles called "At the Brink," focused on nuclear threats and the challenges our world faces in combating proliferation. They discussed the fears that the US intelligence community had…
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The Trinity Revolution in Warfare: Precision, Sensors and Comms
Dmitri Alperovitch talks with Shashank Joshi, Defense Editor for The Economist, about the changing nature of warfare and the impact of proliferation and affordability of precision munitions, sensor ubiquity and digital communications like Starlink. They discuss the still crucial importance of...
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Why North Korea is Probably Not Planning a War
Dmitri Alperovitch talks with Dr. Jeffrey Lewis, an expert in arms control and nuclear and missile nonproliferation, currently a professor at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, and director of the CNS East Asia...
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Why China Can’t Blockade Taiwan
Dmitri Alperovitch talks with Ivan Kanapathy, a former US military attache to Taiwan, about the looming threat of Chinese invasion and why a Chinese blockade or quarantine of Taiwan is unlikely to succeed. They discuss the implications of the recent Taiwan elections on the island's military...
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Battle of Wills: Ukraine’s Path to Victory
Dmitri Alperovitch talks with Yaroslav Trofimov, a Ukrainian-born Wall Street Journal’s chief foreign-affairs correspondent, about his new book "Our Enemies Will Vanish: The Russian Invasion and Ukraine's War of Independence." They discussed why the Russians lost any chance of capturing Kyiv in…
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The Drone Wars: How Consumer Tech Is Shaping the Ukraine War
Dmitri Alperovitch talks with Michael Kofman (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace), Rob Lee (Foreign Policy Research Institute) and Andrey Liscovich (UkraineDefenseFund.org) how the proliferation of FPV drones and countermeasures to them are changing the nature of warfare in Ukraine. They...
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All Things AI: An Interview With White House AI Guru Ben Buchanan
Dmitri Alperovitch comes to the White House to interview Dr. Ben Buchanan, the White House Special Advisor on AI, about: - The risks and benefits of AI - What the US government is trying to achieve with the President's Executive Order on AI - Why Terminator AIs are not coming to kill us but evil...
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Why Chinese Economy Is Heading For Stagnation, Not Collapse
Dmitri Alperovitch and guest co-host Patrick Gray interview Alicia García-Herrero, a Spanish-born economist based in the indo-Pacific and who specializes on China. They discussed why China has exhausted its growth potential and is now facing structured deceleration, which will be a major global...
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Why Quantum Computing May be Overhyped but AI isn’t: Interview with the NSA
Dmitri Alperovitch interviews Gilbert Herrera, Director of Research at the National Security Agency (NSA) and a member of the U.S. National Quantum Initiative Advisory Committee. They discussed the current state of quantum computing, why its current applications outside of breaking certain types…
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How Ukraine Can Benefit From ATACMS Missiles
ATACMS episode: - What variants of the missile exist - What unique advantages they offer over already provided Storm Shadows / SCALP-EGs from UK and France - How many missiles may exist in the US inventory and why some can be provided to Ukraine without jeopardizing US military readiness - Why…
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Starlink in Ukraine: Why the Story Is Not So Simple
Dmitri Alperovitch talks with Patrick Gray, host of Risky Business podcast, about why the Starlink-Elon saga is much more complicated than it might seem at first glance. Blaming Elon for his Crimea action is probably unfair, but he does deserve both praise and criticism for his contributions to...
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Why 702 is America’s most valuable intelligence program: Interview with the FBI
Dmitri Alperovitch sits down with Bryan Vorndran, Assistant Director of FBI's Cyber Division, to discuss why FISA Section 702 is by far the most valuable intelligence program in the US government's arsenal and is responsible for the majority of the most valuable intelligence the country collects....
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What the Death of Prigozhin Means for Wagner, Russia and Ukraine
Dmitri Alperovitch talks to Russian military analyst Rob Lee and Wagner Group expert Jack Margolin about the implications of reports of Prigozhin's fiery death in a plane crash in Russia. Where does Wagner go from here? What happens to Russian ambitions in Africa? Does this event help restore...
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How Russian Intelligence operatives have attacked Ukraine in cyberspace: Interview with Ukrainian Security Service
In this joint Geopolitics Decanted and Risky Business feature interview, Dmitri Alperovitch and Patrick Gray talk to Illia Vitiuk, the Head of the Department of Cyber and Information Security of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) about the cyber dimension to Russia's invasion. From turning off...
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Why Reports of the US Dollar’s Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated
Dmitri Alperovitch talks with geoeconomist Douglas Rediker (Senior Fellow at Brookings and formerly with the IMF Executive Board) about the enduring dominance of the U.S. dollar and why it won't change any time soon. Why the dollar continues to have no realistic alternatives and why Chinese...
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Why Europe’s Dependence on the US Military Will Not Change
On the train ride to Kyiv, Dmitri Alperovitch talks with Franz Stefan Gady, one of the premier European military analysts, about why American military involvement in Europe is unlikely to be significantly reduced in the coming years and the dangers that a US conflict with China may present to...
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How Drones Are Changing the Nature of Warfare in Ukraine
On the train ride back to Poland from Kyiv, Dmitri Alperovitch talks with Andrey Liscovich (President of Ukraine Defense Fund, a charity that provides non-lethal aid to the Ukrainian military) about how various types of drones are used for artillery correction, target identification and strike...
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Trip Report: What I Learned in Kyiv and Conversation with Mike Kofman and Rob Lee about Counteroffensive and Wagner
Guest host Patrick Gray interviews Dmitri Alperovitch about his recent trip to Kyiv and what he learned from his meetings with senior military and intelligence leadership there. Dmitri also interviews Mike Kofman and Rob Lee during their train ride to Kyiv about the current state of the Ukrainian...
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Mutiny in Russia: Who Won, Who Lost and What Caused It
In this edition of Geopolitics Decanted guest host Patrick Gray interviews Dmitri Alperovitch about Evgeny Prigozhin's so-called "March for Justice". What was it all about? Did it fail or succeed? What does Putin's reaction tell us about what will happen next in Russia? Music: Battle Hymn of PMC...
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Ukraine’s Offensive Has Begun: Analysis With Michael Kofman and Rob Lee
Dmitri Alperovitch talks with military analysts Michael Kofman and Rob Lee about this week's launch of Ukraine's counteroffensive: what are its objectives, how can we determine when it's successful, and what is likely to come next. Also covered: Why Kakhovka dam destruction is unlikely to have an...
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How AI Will Transform Future Militaries (And Societies)
Dmitri Alperovitch discusses the evolution of AI with Teddy Collins (former Assistant Director for Technology Strategy at the White House, Research Scientist at Google’s DeepMind and co-author of "Teams of Teams" with General Stan McChrystal): - The AI triad of Talent/Algorithms, Data and Compute...
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How China Plans to Win the Chip War
Dmitri Alperovitch talks with Chris Miller, author of the recent New York Times bestseller Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology, about one of the central elements of the US-China confrontation: semiconductors. Topics discussed include: - Which chips are more critical:...
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How Ukraine Can Survive the Exhaustion of Its Air Defense Stocks
Dmitri Alperovitch talks with Justin Bronk (Senior Research Fellow for Airpower and Technology at RUSI and Professor at Royal Norwegian Air Force Academy) and Dara Massicot (Russian military analyst at RAND) about the dire implications of the dwindling stocks of Ukrainian air defense interceptors...
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China and Russia: An Alliance, an Alignment or a Marriage of Convenience?
Dmitri Alperovitch talks with Alexander Gabuev (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace) and Sergey Radchenko (Johns Hopkins SAIS), two of the foremost experts on the true nature of the China-Russia relationship. Topics discussed: - The signs that the Xi-Putin summit in Moscow last month may...
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Why Taiwan’s Military Modernization Is Moving Too Slowly
Dmitri Alperovitch talks with Vincent Chao, a Taiwanese politician and former diplomat and national security strategist, about why Taiwan is moving so slowly to modernize its military and increase deterrence of an existential threat of Chinese invasion. They discuss Taiwan's messy identity...
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Myth Busting With Michael Kofman: Debunking Common Misperceptions About the Ukraine War
Dmitri Alperovitch sits down once again with Michael Kofman, Russian military analyst, who has just returned from visiting the frontline in Bakhmut, to talk about his observations on the fighting there, as well as common misperceptions about Wagner Group, impact of Western training programs on...
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How Russia’s Winter Offensive Could Backfire
Dmitri Alperovitch sits down with Michael Kofman to discuss the strategic mistakes of Russia's current offensive in the Donbas and the prospects of an upcoming Ukrainian counteroffensive. We also dive into the implications of the remarkable Prigozhin vs Shoigu gangland-style fight ('razborki' in...
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Interview: This American Spent 10 Months Fighting in Ukraine
Dmitri Alperovitch talks to David Bramlette, a former U.S. Ranger and Green Beret combat veteran, who has recently returned from fighting with the Ukrainian Foreign Legion in the Kharkiv, Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. David shares his experiences of the war, why he went over to risk his life for a...
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How Russia is Working Around Western Sanctions and Export Controls
Dmitri Alperovitch talks to Silverado's own experts - Sarah Stewart (CEO) and Andy David (Senior Director of Research and Analysis) about Silverado's new just published research report that dives deep into the analysis of Russian import trade flows to figure out how Russia is working around the...
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Why Ukraine May Try to Retake Crimea Next
Since the start of the Russian invasion last February, it has been a commonly accepted wisdom that Ukraine will not try to retake Crimea - an action that many in the West worry will trigger an escalation - until it has taken back all of the territory lost since February 2022. In this episode,...
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How Dwindling Ammunition Stocks Could Decide the Outcome of the War
Dmitri Alperovitch talks with Russian military expert Michael Kofman about: - Why this war may be decided by which side can stretch their ammunition supplies the longest - Putin's visit to Belarus and whether a new Russian offensive may be coming soon - 3 areas in which Russian military has been...
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New Phase of the War: Ukraine Faces Tough Decisions
Dmitri Alperovitch talks with Michael Kofman - The strategic impact of Russian terror strike campaign against Ukrainian critical infrastructure - Likelihood of a near-term Ukrainian offensive to retake the South - Is Ukraine trying to retake Kinburn Spit to control the Dniepier river? - Would…
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About this show
In-depth conversations on the conflicts and rivalries shaping our world, explored in the detail the subject deserves. Dmitri Alperovitch speaks with the military commanders, intelligence officials, diplomats, historians, and strategists who shape events and study them closely — on the war in Ukraine, strategic competition with China and the future of Taiwan, nuclear deterrence, sanctions and semiconductors, and the changing character of warfare. Throughout, the aim is to understand not merely what has happened, but why — and what is likely to follow.
Geopolitics Decanted is hosted by Dmitri Alperovitch — chairman of the Silverado Policy Accelerator in Washington, D.C., national bestselling author of World on the Brink: How America Can Beat China in the Race for the Twenty-First Century, and co-founder of CrowdStrike.
Hosted by
Silverado Policy Accelerator
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