In this episode of Conversations on Groong, we speak with Ambassador Jack Matlock, the last US Ambassador to the Soviet Union, about whether the West missed a historic opportunity to integrate Russia into Western security architecture after the Cold War. We discuss the internal collapse of the Soviet Union, Reagan-Gorbachev diplomacy, NATO expansion and Russian backlash, and how Cold War-era decisions shape Armenia’s geopolitical choices today, including Matlock’s firsthand observations of Soviet Armenia during glasnost and the Nagorno Karabakh movement.
Topics:
Recollections from Soviet South Caucasus
Why the Soviet Union collapsed
How the Cold War ended
Reagan and Gorbachev’s diplomacy
America’s post-Cold War triumphalism
NATO expansion and Russian backlash
Great-power rivalry in the Caucasus
Armenia’s geopolitical choices today
Guest: Jack F. Matlock Jr.
Hosts:
Episode 580 | Recorded: Aug 27, 2026
SHOW NOTES: https://podcasts.groong.org/580
#JackMatlock #ColdWar #SovietUnion #Reagan #Gorbachev #NATO #Russia #SouthCaucasus #Armenia
