Episode 19

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Published on:

10th Oct 2020

No More Nukes!

Black Diplomats is back to talk about nuclear non-proliferation with two experts from Eastern Europe - Polina Sinovits from Ukraine, and Ekaterina Mikhaylenko from Russia. Both women study, write, and teach about the way nuclear weapons affect international relations, and the massive, stupid threat they pose to the world.

Host Terrell J. Starr has interviewed many experts in the field and contributes his own analysis of the ways the so-called Nuclear Club contributes to maintaining white supremacy on a global scale. They discuss the absurd numbers of nuclear weapons around the world and the cost to maintain them, disarm the myth of deterrence, and talk about what steps must be taken to walk humanity back from the brink.

Ekaterina Mikhaylenko is Associate Professor at the Department of Theory and History of International Relations of Ural Federal University.

She has more than 18-years experience teaching the history of international relations, political and security issues at the Department of International Relations, Ural Federal University. Currently Ekaterina is teaching courses, related to contemporary issues of international relations and international security problems. Ekaterina has more than 20 publications, in Russian and English, on European regionalism and projects realized in the post-Soviet space.

Polina Sinovets is the head of the Odessa Center for Nonproliferation at the Odessa I. I. Mechnikov National University, Ukraine. She is also Associate Professor in the International Relations Department at ONU.

Previously Dr. Sinovets served as senior research associate at Ukraine's National Institute for Strategic Studies, as well as a fellow at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies and NATO Defense College. She is an expert in nuclear weapons policy  and published articles in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Russia in Global Politics, NATO Defense College Research Papers etc. 

Dr. Sinovets is currently a Fulbright Scholar at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Middlebury Institute International Studies, based at Washington DC.

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About the Podcast

Black Diplomats
The world is full of black people, but when the mainstream media talks about the world, we hardly ever hear from them. Black Diplomats—a podcast dedicated to international politics and culture from the perspective of people of color—is going to...
Founded in 2020 and led by Terrell Jermaine Starr, Black Diplomats is the go-to podcast for those who want relatable content on global affairs that doesn’t center the perspectives of white male experts.

Few foreign policy shows are led by Black people or center the opinions, experiences and expertise of people of color. Black Diplomats is one exception. Guests are mostly people of color and people who are indigenous to the regions the episodes focus on.
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Terrell Starr

Terrell Jermaine Starr is the senior reporter at The Root, where he writes about the 2020 election and foreign policy, mostly U.S. relations with Ukraine and Russia. He is also the The Root’s 2020 correspondent and is tasked with interviewing presidential candidates and traveling to communities around the country to see who voters are eyeing to cast ballots for during the 2020 primary and the general election.

Some of the people Starr have conducted sit-down interviews with include U.S. Senator Kamala Harris, entrepreneur Andrew Yang, former U.S. Congressman Beto O’Rourke, former HUD Secretary Julian Castro, U.S. Senator Cory Booker and former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, among other politicians.

Before working at The Root, Starr was at Foxtrot Alpha, a blog that focuses on military, technology and policy. Prior to that, he worked for FUSION as a national political correspondent covering the 2016 presidential campaign. He lived Ukraine as a Fulbright fellow, and Georgia as a Peace Corps volunteer. Starr has over four years of experience living in the former Soviet Union and more than eight years working as a reporter. Starr uses his media skills to break down Russia-U.S. relations in ways that make him not sound like a Washington hack. He is a frequent guest and co-host of the popular podcast In The Thick and his work has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Mother Jones and Buzzfeed.

Starr is a regularly sought after speaker on U.S.-Russian relations, Ukrainian politics and the intersection of race and politics in America.