Michael McFaul on the Threat of Autocracy at Home and Abroad

KQED's Forum

KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 12 November 2025

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Michael McFaul witnessed Russia’s slide into autocracy under Vladimir Putin. Now, the former ambassador to Russia warns the U.S. is also at risk. In his new book, “Autocrats vs Democrats: China, Russia, America, and the New Global Disorder,” McFaul lays out the internal threats facing American democracy, and argues that we may have misjudged the external threats as well – overestimating China’s strength while underestimating Russia’s. Guests: Michael McFaul, professor of political science; Director of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University - and former U.S. ambassador to Russia Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:35.2	From KQED.
0:43.7	Welcome to Forum. I'm Mina Kim. A German general is warning of Russian attacks on NATO countries and says a deterrence plan is urgent. Recent reports of increased drone incursions
0:49.2	and sabotage of undersea cables suggest a surge in Russia's efforts to probe NATO defenses. Michael McFal,
0:56.9	former U.S. ambassador to Russia, says the country's willingness to deploy military power makes
1:02.0	a real threat to the U.S. And as he writes in his new book called Autocrats v. Democrats
1:07.7	Democrats, relations between the two countries have never been as confrontational and
1:11.6	dangerous as they are today. Ambassador McFaul, welcome back to Forum. Sure, thanks for having me.
1:17.7	I do want to start by looking at the state of play between Russia and the U.S. First, why do you say
1:23.2	relations have never been more dangerous? Well, they were more dangerous in the early Soviet period.
1:29.3	So if you go way back decades ago, that's true.
1:32.3	But in post-Soviet Russia, this is the most dangerous time for the simple fact that Putin has
1:39.3	erected a dictatorship at home.
1:42.3	I think it's actually more autocratic today in Putin's Russia than it was
1:46.1	in this late Soviet period under Gorbachev. But now he's in a mood of imperial conquest.
1:52.5	And it started in Georgia in 2008. Then he invaded Ukraine in 2014, the first time, helped
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