The Edition: After Putin

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The Spectator

News Commentary, News, Daily News, Society & Culture

4.4 • 785 Ratings

🗓️ 29 June 2023

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week:

In the magazine we look at the Wagner Group’s failed coup and its implications for Putin’s reign. The Spectator’s Russia correspondent Owen Matthews examines why the Kremlin permits the existence of private armies such as Prigozhin’s Wagner Group, and joins the podcast alongside Jim Townsend, former deputy secretary of defence for European and NATO policy under the Obama administration. (01:15)

Also this week:

The Spectator’s special projects editor Ben Lazarus writes this week about the claims made in the recent Mirror Group phone hacking trial, and the man orchestrating many of the accusations, Graham Johnson. He is joined by Neil Wallis, commentator and former deputy editor of the News of the World, to investigate the convicted phone-hacker assembling complaints against the tabloids. (13:39)

And finally:

Harry Mount takes a look at the lewdness and lyricism of ancient Roman graffiti in the magazine, and takes us through some of the most rude and amusing examples that have been excavated in Rome and Pompeii. He joins the podcast alongside street artist Sarah Yates, aka Faunagraphic. (27:24)

Hosted by Lara Prendergast and William Moore.

Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is sponsored by Canacord Genuity Wealth Management,
0:03.7	experience wealth managers who go above and beyond to guide and support you.
0:08.2	Kandu is more than just an attitude. It's navigating today for a brighter tomorrow.
0:13.3	Visit kanduwealth.com.
0:31.9	Hello and welcome to the edition podcast from The Spectator, where each week we look at three pieces from the magazine with the writers behind them.
0:35.0	I'm Laura Prendergars, the Spectator's executive editor.
0:37.7	And I'm William Moore, the Spectator's Features Editor.
0:42.7	On this week's episode, we'll be talking about Russia's reliance on private armies,
0:47.7	investigating the convicted phone hacker assembling complaints against the tabloids,
0:52.1	and discovering the lewdness and lyricism of ancient Roman graffiti.
0:58.9	First up, in the magazine, we look at the Wagner Group's failed coup and its implications for Putin's regime. The spectators, Russia correspondent Owen Matthews, examines why the Kremlin
1:04.9	permits the existence of private armies, and he joins us now, along with Jim Townsend,
1:10.5	former Deputy Secretary of Defense for
1:12.4	Europe and NATO under the Obama administration. Owen, you write your piece in The Spectator
1:17.7	this week about Russia's private militaries. Now, I think if anyone listening hadn't heard of
1:23.0	the Wagner group before last weekend, they sure as hell have heard of them now. But as you point out in your
1:28.3	piece, Fagna is actually just one of many other private militaries that are in Russia. Could you
1:35.7	start by telling our listeners a little bit more about the other ones out there? Yes, the remarkable
1:41.3	fact is that there are dozens of private military companies, some of them founded by Gasprom, the oil and gas giant, others formed by private individuals.
1:53.2	Strangely enough, it's rather like sort of 18th century England.
1:57.4	Wealthy people would gather soldiers and lend them to the state. And of those, probably the
2:05.7	most dangerous, apart from Wagner itself, is the private military force that's associated with
	...

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