Education and career
Diesen obtained a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Wollongong in 2001 and a Master of Business from the University of Sydney in 2004. He studied Russian language and literature at Saint Petersburg State University in 2004. Diesen went on to obtain a master's degree in international relations from Macquarie University in 2009 and a PhD in politics and international relations jointly from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Macquarie University in 2014,with a dissertation under the supervision of Wolfgang Wagner and Steve Wood [10] [11] entitled Inter-democratic Security Institutions and the Security Dilemma:EU and NATO relations with Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union. [12] His dissertation addressed the ideational and institutional influence on the rationality of EU and NATO decision-makers from a neoclassical realist perspective. [13]
Diesen worked as a lecturer and scholarly teaching fellow in the Department of Security Studies and Criminology at Macquarie University from 2011 to 2017, [14] as an adjunct research fellow in the School of Social Sciences and Psychology at Western Sydney University from 2016 to 2019 [15] and as a visiting scholar and subsequently a professor in the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow,Russia from 2018 to 2020. [16] [17] In 2020 he became an associate professor at the University of South-Eastern Norway,where he was promoted to professor in 2021. [18] He specializes in Russian foreign policy,political economy,conservatism and Eurasian integration. [19] He is affiliated with the Valdai Discussion Club [20] and since 2018 has been an editor of the Russia in Global Affairs journal. [21] [22]
Views on Russia and propaganda claims
Diesen has been a regular commentator on Russia Today (RT) and has faced criticism for promoting Russian propaganda. [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] He also writes for Steigan. [23]
The Swedish journalist Patrik Oksanen considers Diesen to be "part of the Russian propaganda machinery." [7] Aage Borchgrevink of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee said that Diesen has "an important role in RT as the Western expert,which gives legitimacy to what clearly appears to be the Kremlin's version [...] his writings are unreliable,the factual basis is doubtful,and characterized by the content and form of Russian propaganda,as expressed in RT and Sputnik." [6] Diesen has received the support of the rector of the University of South-Eastern Norway Petter Aasen,who defended the academic’s right to free expression. Diesen is opposed to Russia's military action against Ukraine. [9]
In 2020,Diesen wrote an op-ed in Aftenposten with convicted felon and former KGB agent Arne Treholt,that stated that Russia has "legitimate interests and security needs" and said that Russia was unfairly demonized as a security threat. [24] The paper's former foreign affairs editor Kjell Dragnes wrote that Diesen and Treholt promoted Russian propaganda. [8]
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