3119 - A New Front In Russia/Ukraine Conflict w/ Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon

Happy Monday! Sam and Emma speak to Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon, History Ph.D candidate at the University of Pennslyvania, to discuss the recent developments in the Russian/Ukraine conflict that have transpired since Friday. Sam and Emma start off the week by checking in on the Faith & Freedom Coalition Conference in Washington D.C., where a Liberty University communications official said, out loud and on camera, that the right needs to act more like Hitler and Stalin did to seize control of education. Then Kimberly joins the show to discuss the absolute chaos that has been the last 48 hours in the Russia/Ukraine conflict. Kimberly explains why, after the last time she was on the Majority Report in March of 2022, she isn't surprised by how protracted the conflict has been, and emphasizes that, per her scholarship and research, that the United States is not the principle actor in the war, and that the U.S., particularly the Biden Administration, most likely would prefer a negotiated settlement so as to forestall conservative attacks on the amount of military aid going to Ukraine. They then dive into the complex web of associations between Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the mercenary Wagner Group, Sergei Shoigu, the head of the Russian army, and Valery Gerasimov, the head of the war effort in Ukraine, and why exactly Prigozhin took this moment to turn his forces back from Ukraine and into Russia, in order to briefly occupy the city of Rostov-on-Don, before negotiating with Vladimir Putin and Belarus's Lukashenko to stand down and defect to Belarus. Sam and Emma ask Kimberly what she thinks is next going forward, whether Prigozhin can survive the mutiny attempt after the settlement with Putin, and what the end goals of any supposed rebellion like this would be for Prigozhin. Kimberly also warns against observers who see this as potentially the end of Putin's leadership in Russia, noting that, due to the overwhelming control of state media in the country, it's very hard to determine how much of this is actually getting through to the Russian public.

And in the Fun Half, Emma and Sam break down some of Emma's legendary performance on the "Culture War" podcast live and in-studio with Tim Pool and the "Actual Justice Warrior" Sean Fitzgerald. Emma and the MR Crew watch the classic moment where Tim melted down when asked about the Allen, Texas shooter who had posted screenshots from an episode of "TimCast" on a personal social media profile. Emma then touches on racist man-on-the-street legend Jesse Watters officially getting Tucker's old spot on Fox News, the 2024 presidential primary war on words between Big Guys Chris Christie and Donald Trump, as well as their...divergent receptions at the Faith & Freedom Coalition Conference. Plus, your calls & IM's!

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