Readers,
It’s been about a month since I relaunched my Substack and I hope you are enjoying it as much as I am! There is certainly no shortage of national security and geopolitical news to discuss.
Russia is once again at the center of some of the most consequential stories in the world. The war in Ukraine is entering another dangerous phase as winter approaches. Russia is intensifying its attacks on Ukrainian cities and critical infrastructure. At the same time, Ukraine has been striking deeper into Russia and putting increasing pressure on its energy sector - so much so, in fact, that Trump administration officials have attempted to blame Ukraine for the high fuel prices around the world. Putin is once again rattling the nuclear saber and there are reports that Gen. Sergei Surovikin, the ‘General Armageddon’ who ran Russia’s first winter campaign against Ukraine’s power grid, may be coming back from exile.
That being said, my most immediate concern is a bizarre and potentially serious story developing in Siberia, where an employee of an anti-plague research institute died after developing a rapidly progressing pneumonia of unknown origin. Russian authorities say testing has not identified plague, but quarantines and other precautions have been put in place. The bottom line upfront with Russia is that Moscow has a long record of concealing incidents like this, from Sverdlovsk to Chernobyl. This history gives us a reason for real skepticism about the official account. It’s pretty clear something is going on, but we don’t know what.
This is a time when expertise matters and, unfortunately, we have very few subject matter experts left in government service. One of the reasons I started Why It Matters was because I wanted a place where we could do more than react to headlines. As you know, I spent more than two decades working on national security, much of it focused on Russia and the former Soviet Union. One of the things I have found most rewarding since leaving government is helping people understand not only what is happening, why it matters, what to watch next, and how events fit into the larger picture. This requires deliberate conversations as opposed to five minute media hits.
This week, we’re going to do a lot of that live.
I’ll be continuing my series of Substack live election events with conversations with Brigadier General (Ret.) Leela Gray, who is running for Congress here in Florida, and Congressman Jason Crow of Colorado this Thursday, October 8th at 3pm ET.
There will also be an event with yet another Vindman!
My sister-in-law, Dr. Cindy Vindman, is a microbiologist with expertise in biosecurity, and she will join me for a special live conversation tomorrow, October 6th at 4pm about what’s happening in Siberia. What do we actually know? What don’t we know? What would scientists and public-health officials be looking for right now? How should we think about information coming from Russia, particularly when an incident involves a facility that works with dangerous pathogens?
This is exactly what I want Why It Matters to be: serious conversations with experts who know what they’re talking about, without requiring you to have a graduate degree in a specific field in order to follow along. I want to inform, not sensationalize.
And because this is going to be such a big week, I want to open the doors a little wider to grow our community. For the next 48 hours—through Wednesday night—paid subscriptions are $6 a month or $60 a year, down from $7 and $70.
Use this link to access this special discount pricing. This link for discounted membership is only available through this post, so be sure to join!
Paid subscriptions support the work I’m doing here and give me the ability to spend more time digging into these issues, bringing in knowledgeable guests, and having conversations that go deeper than the television-news version of events. There is an enormous amount of noise in our information environment. Understanding Why it Matters is even more important.
I hope you’ll join us this week.