"Atomic Steppe": The Soviet Nuclear Legacy and the Global Arms Race

On this episode, Dr. Togzhan Kassenova joined Taylor and Nick for a conversation about the destructive impact of Soviet nuclear testing in Kazakhstan and the figurative fallout of the dissolution of the USSR which resulted in Russia providing security guarantees to "divorced" states in exchange for the surrender of Soviet weapons of mass destruction. Check out Dr. Kassenova's book for more about Kazakhstan's complex nuclear history under the USSR and beyond: https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=33596 Use code KASSENOVA20 to receive a 20% discount in North and South America and code CSFS22AS for all other regions of the world. Thanks for listening!

ABOUT THE GUEST
Dr. Togzhan Kassenova is a Washington, DC-based senior fellow with the Project on International Security, Commerce, and Economic Statecraft (PISCES) at the Center for Policy Research, SUNY-Albany and a nonresident fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. She is an expert on nuclear politics, WMD nonproliferation, strategic trade controls, sanctions implementation, and financial crime prevention. She currently works on issues related to proliferation financing controls, exploring ways to minimize access of proliferators to the global financial system. Kassenova holds a Ph.D. in Politics from the University of Leeds and is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS). From 2011 to 2015 Kassenova served on the UN secretary general’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters.

PRODUCER'S NOTE: This episode was recorded on December 3, 2023 at the 2023 ASEEES Convention in Philadelphia Marriott Downtown.

If you have questions, comments, or would like to be a guest on the show, please email [email protected] and we will be in touch!

PRODUCTION CREDITS
Host/Assistant Producer: Taylor Helmcamp
Host/Supervising Producer: Nicholas Pierce
Assistant EP: Misha Simanovskyy (@MSimanovskyy)
Associate Producer: Cullan Bendig (@cullanwithana)
Associate Producer: Sergio Glajar
Production Assistant: Faith VanVleet
Production Assistant: Eliza Fisher
SlavX Editorial Director: Sam Parrish

Main Theme by Charlie Harper and additional background music by Beat Mekanik, Alex Productions

Executive Producer & Creator: Michelle Daniel (@M_S_Daniel) www.msdaniel.com

DISCLAIMER: Texas Podcast Network is brought to you by The University of Texas at Austin. Podcasts are produced by faculty members and staffers at UT Austin who work with University Communications to craft content that adheres to journalistic best practices. The University of Texas at Austin offers these podcasts at no charge. Podcasts appearing on the network and this webpage represent the views of the hosts, not of The University of Texas at Austin.

Special Guest: Togzhan Kassenova.