Russia

New Yorker writer Steve Coll says that though Tillerson has conducted billion-dollar international deals as an oil executive, he has no government experience

Leviathan follows a man who fights back after a corrupt mayor uses eminent domain to claim his house, and Red Army recounts the story of the Soviet Union's famous hockey team.

Brian Krebs' new book tells the story of how two companies groomed spammers, and then destroyed each other. In the process, Krebs got access to documents that illuminated how cybercriminals operate.

The New York Times' Sabrina Tavernise was among the first to arrive at the site of the downed flight in Ukraine in late July. She says it's hard to get the faces of the dead out of her mind.

For those who viewed the end of the Soviet Union as a tragedy, Crimea was a chance to showcase Russia's strength. Now Russia may have changed its relationship with the outside world for years to come.

According to Russian journalist Masha Gessen, the 2012 arrests were the start of a campaign by Vladimir Putin and his supporters against government critics. Gessen, who is also an LGBT rights advocate, recently moved to New York with her partner and their children in response to the anti-gay laws Russia passed in June.

Ukrainian novelist Andrey Kurkov writes short, surrealistic stories full of dark comedic surprises. His latest is The Case of the General's Thumb, but critic John Powers suggests starting with his 1996 novel, Death and the Penguin. It's a fast-paced, witty read and what Powers calls "an almost perfect novel."

Media suppression, corruption and murder have marked the regime of Vladimir Putin, who is running for hi third term as president in Russia's election next week. His rise to power is spelled out in journalist Masha Gessen's new book, The Man Without a Face.

Russia and Georgia have signed a cease-fire, but the conflict continues. Journalist James Traub, author of The Freedom Agenda: Why America Must Spread Democracy (Just Not the Way George Bush Did), discusses the latest developments.

With both the cost of and demand for oil rising, nations with large energy reserves are redrawing political and military alliances, and oil-rich countries like Russia and Venezuela are enjoying greater influence. Michael Klare, author of Rising Power, Shrinking Planet, calls it the "new international energy order."

Fresh Air music critic Milo Miles reviews music from Russian rock group Auktyon. The band is currently on tour in the U.S. Auktyon, like some other Russian rock groups, found their footing during the censorship-free period of glasnost in the former Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev.

Repression in Vladimir Putin's Russia, journalist Edward Lucas writes, is matched by a new aggression abroad. It amounts to what Lucas calls "a new Cold War" fought with cash, natural resources, diplomacy and propaganda.

Former Russian master spy Sergei Tretyakov and journalist Pete Earley reveal secrets of espionage in America after the fall of the Soviet Union. Tretyakov ran Russia's post-Cold War spy program — but also worked as a double agent with the FBI before his defection in 2000.

Journalists Peter Baker and Susan Glasser are with The Washington Post. From 2001 to 2004, the pair, who are married, served as the Moscow bureau chiefs for the Post. The two have collaborated on a new book, Kremlin Rising: Vladimir Putin's Russia and the End of Revolution.

Journalist Serge Schmemann is foreign editor and former Moscow Bureau Chief for The New York Times,and a Pulitzer Prize winner. He'll discuss the situation in Kosovo, and Russia's response. And he'll talk about his own family's exodus from Russia, pushed out by the Russian Revolution. His new book "Echoes of a Native Land: Two Centuries of a Russian Village." Schmemann is the descendant of several families of the higher Russian nobility. He was born in Paris.

Journalist Fred Hiatt is a member of the Editorial page staff for the Washington Post. He's also the paper's former Russia correspondent. He'll discuss Russia's position on the Serbs, and the NATO bombings.

Assistant Professor of Political Science, Sarah Mendelson. She spent a year in Moscow working for the National Democratic Institute. Her work helped the Russian reformist political parties in their preparation of the Parliamentary and Presidential elections. The goal of the Institute is to bring modern Western campaign techniques into Russian elections. Mendelson also talks to Terry about being a young American expatriate in the former Soviet Union. She currently teaches poltiical science at the State University of New York at Albany.

Foreign Correspondent Stephen Handelman He spent nearly six years in the former Soviet Union as chief of the Moscow Bureau of the Toronto Star, where he covered the final years of the Soviet regime. His new book Comrade Criminal: Russia's New Mafiya (Yale) examines and uncovers the intricate networking of the post-Soviet criminal underworld. Handelman is also the author of Uncommon Kingdom. He is currently an associate fellow at Columbia University's Harriman Institute.

Mystery Writer R.D. Zimmerman (real name Robert Alexander). He is a member of the Mystery Writers of America, and has written mystery jigsaw puzzles as well as short mysteries that appeared on the backs of 15 million boxes of Total Cereal. His new book Red Trance (Morrow), is a Russian mystery of hypnotic detection. Zimmerman also talks about his business dealings in Russia, and the corruption he faced as a result.

William Taubman is a political science professor at Amherst College. He is a frequent visitor to Russia and is currently working on a biography of Nikita Krushchev. Taubman talks to Terry about the status of the reform movement in Russia, the legacy of Communism and the mood of the Russian people.