Geopolitical uncertainty and a looming United States election formed the backdrop for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s July summit in Washington, DC. The gathering marked the third summit since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Burden sharing, support for Ukraine, and deterring Russian aggression, main topics of the previous two summits, remained front and center this year. But the Washington summit also discussed growing concern over China, NATO’s cooperation with Indo-Pacific al...
Nov 05, 2024•41 min•Ep. 626
Some Canadian pundits argue that structural trends in the United States’ domestic politics, which in turn influence US foreign policy, create disproportionate risks for Canada. They suggest that Ottawa needs to be more deliberate about its relationship with Washington to avoid being left out in the cold. However, for a quarter century, Canadian politicians have gone against US policy on irregular migration, trade, Arctic security, North Atlantic Treaty Organization posture, and more. Can the Uni...
Nov 05, 2024•53 min•Ep. 626
Journalist Edward Wong’s new memoir At the Edge of Empire: A Family’s Reckoning explores the intersection of family, identity, and the rise of China as a global power in the current geopolitical landscape. The book covers the Wong family’s journey from rural China to urban America amid shifting United States–China relations and Wong’s experiences as a New York Times correspondent in Beijing. The family witnessed the transformation of China into an authoritarian regime and global empire—including...
Nov 04, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 625
Beyond merely guiding Americans to their destinations, the Global Positioning System is essential to the United States’ electricity grid, financial markets, and wireless networks. First responders rely on GPS to locate individuals in distress. Many US military systems rely on the position, navigation, and timing (PNT) functions of GPS, and systems similar to GPS have been central to new forms of warfare such as drones and precision guided munitions. But current US GPS technology is 51 years old ...
Nov 04, 2024•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 624
Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris offer vastly different visions of United States foreign policy, particularly toward the Middle East. What are the key distinctions in their approaches? What are the implications of the upcoming election for US allies in the region? And how might each candidate alter the US-Israel relationship? For a discussion of these questions, join Research Fellow Zineb Riboua, Senior Fellow Michael Doran, and Executive Director of the Alexander H...
Nov 01, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 623
Latin America’s authoritarian regimes have evolved, and so have their methods of controlling their societies and silencing dissent. Autocrats in the region are increasing their use of arbitrary detention and imprisonment, deploying new forms of transnational repression, and adopting a range of technologies, often in cooperation with other authoritarian regimes or criminal organizations. These new, increasingly effective forms of repression leave dissidents, journalists, and other democratic acto...
Nov 01, 2024•50 min•Ep. 623
The United States is in a new cold war with two nuclear-armed adversaries—Russia and China—that regularly threaten to cross the nuclear threshold to break the US-led international order. In her new book Duty to Deter: American Nuclear Deterrence and the Just War Doctrine , Hudson Senior Fellow Rebeccah L. Heinrichs makes the case that, in the current threat environment, strengthening the US nuclear deterrent complies with just war doctrine. Contrary to the arguments of many experts, failing to a...
Oct 23, 2024•38 min•Ep. 622
A new axis of authoritarian powers comprising China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea is using nuclear coercion and the threat of uncontrolled escalation to dissuade the United States from supporting its allies, undermining the credibility of the American security commitments that undergird the US-led world order. In a recent collection of essays, Relearning Escalation Dynamics to Win the New Cold War , nuclear policy experts explain how the US can adapt its strategic posture to make its security g...
Oct 23, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 622
At the halfway mark of his third term, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has reoriented Brazil’s foreign policy and restored its role as a leader in the region and on the world stage. But he has failed to deliver tangible results for the country. And despite important strategic and policy differences, Brazil and the United States have deepened cooperation on a range of issues during the bicentennial year of US-Brazil diplomatic relations. Join Hudson for an event that will examine Brazil’s res...
Oct 23, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 621
Wars in Eastern Europe and the Middle East and the rising threat of conflict in Asia demonstrate that American and allied militaries need to increase the scale and adaptability of their defense production. Deployed forces are emptying their munitions magazines, and allied demand for ships and aircraft far outstrips supply. Meanwhile, technology proliferation allows adversaries to render legacy weapons systems obsolete. The United States and its allies will need to combine their industrial effort...
Oct 23, 2024•2 hr 7 min•Ep. 620
China’s menacing behavior toward Taiwan should terrify the international community. First, the island is indispensable for world’s tech industry, and according to a Bloomberg Economics estimate, a Chinese blockade of Taiwan could cost the global economy $10 trillion—about 10 percent of global GDP. Second, a conflict over Taiwan would create geopolitical fallout, and a Chinese victory would upend the current world order. Lastly, Taiwanese freedom matters, and the example of Asia’s top-ranked demo...
Oct 23, 2024•48 min•Ep. 620
With a civil war tearing apart Sudan, terrorist threats escalating across Africa, tensions growing between Ethiopia, Somalia, and Egypt, and Russia deepening its involvement in the Sahel, Africa remains a hotbed of geopolitical turmoil. The United States military’s recent withdrawal from Niger and the Russia-China-Iran axis’s rising influence further exemplify the pressing foreign policy obstacles the US faces on the continent. How is great power competition reshaping Africa? What major terroris...
Oct 17, 2024•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 619
The US-India Business Council (USIBC), in partnership with the Hudson Institute, is pleased to present a panel discussion on the transformative impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the US-India economic relationship. As AI continues to reshape industries and drive innovation, it presents unique opportunities for deepening collaboration between two of the world's leading economies. This panel will explore the evolving role of AI in fostering economic growth, enhancing bilateral cooperation, ...
Oct 10, 2024•55 min•Ep. 618
On October 7, Hamas launched the deadliest assault on Jews since the Holocaust, marking a profound shift not only for Israel but for the entire Middle East. At the time, Iran and its proxies viewed the attack as a strategic opportunity to increase pressure on Israel and other American allies. How have things changed since then? How has the October 7 attack affected United States–Israel relations? And what strategies should the US adopt to counter Iran? Join Zineb Riboua and Michael Doran of Huds...
Oct 04, 2024•59 min•Ep. 617
The Chinese Communist Party made a seemingly sudden decision to end its international adoption program in late August. Then, in September, the State Department told American families who were matched with children in China that they would likely never be united with the children they were pursuing for adoption. The news was a devastating blow to the hopes and dreams of hundreds of Chinese children and their prospective families, many of whom had been waiting for their adoptions to be finalized s...
Sep 30, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 616
Technologies for advanced mobile communications are key to our global innovation economy, and the patents that protect these technologies are critical drivers of innovation. Patents create incentives to invest in development, and these public legal documents make it possible for companies to contribute their technologies to the creation of the technological standards for advanced mobile communications, such as 5G. Policymakers around the globe recognize the importance of balance in patent policy...
Sep 30, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 615
Any successful strategy to deter the People’s Republic of China from invading Taiwan will involve American military and diplomatic power. And the lattice of partnerships among partners and allies in the Indo-Pacific is playing an increasingly important role in the competition between Washington and Beijing. Representative Andy Kim (D-NJ) will join Hudson Japan Chair Kenneth Weinstein to discuss how the United States can build on multilateral economic and security initiatives among allies like Ja...
Sep 26, 2024•46 min•Ep. 614
China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea present a pressing threat to the United States and its allies. Russia’s war against Ukraine seeks to break the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s unity and render US defense commitments unreliable. Iran is waging a proxy war to destroy Israel and force the United States out of the Middle East. And China and North Korea are materially supporting these efforts while menacing their Indo-Pacific neighbors. This threat environment is teaching American defense pl...
Sep 26, 2024•1 hr 44 min•Ep. 613
Join renowned philosopher and author Bernard-Henri Lévy for a conversation with Hudson Senior Fellow Liel Leibovitz on how the attack of October 7 and the subsequent war in Gaza are likely to shape geopolitics for decades to come.
Sep 20, 2024•58 min•Ep. 612
The Commission on the National Defense Strategy released its bipartisan and unanimous report in July 2024. The commission concluded that the threats to American national security and interests are greater than at any time since World War II. The nature of the threats facing the United States also makes the security environment more complex than the Cold War. For a discussion of the report and how the US can respond to these threats, join Commissioners Eric Edelman and Mariah Sixkiller and Hudson...
Sep 20, 2024•51 min•Ep. 611
For nearly 25 years, the United States and India have achieved historic progress in deepening bilateral ties across domains. But important work that could shape global prosperity and security in remains ahead. Join Hudson’s Dr. Aparna Pande and Deputy Secretary of State Richard R. Verma, the former US ambassador to India, for a conversation on the progress the US and India have made and the major lines of effort ahead.
Sep 17, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 610
As Russia continues its criminal war against Ukraine, Europe should urgently deploy all the tools at its disposal to dismantle the Russia-linked state capture networks that have facilitated the Kremlin’s corrosive influence on international economic and political affairs. Europe’s lackluster sanctions enforcement mechanisms, the patchwork of weak anti–money laundering and criminal prosecution frameworks, and diverse networks of enablers who seek gains from transactional diplomacy have each embol...
Sep 17, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 610
The United States’ federal debt has nearly doubled under the last two presidents. It now equals America’s gross domestic product, and the Congressional Budget Office projects that it will reach as much as 138 percent of US GDP in the next decade. America spends more on annual debt service than national defense, and debt service obligations threaten to impose stringent limits on all other discretionary spending. Neither presidential campaign has offered a convincing program to mitigate this spira...
Sep 16, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 609
In recent years, more than 30 states, counties, and municipalities have filed lawsuits against energy companies under state public nuisance and consumer protection laws. These lawsuits, which seek damages for the alleged effects of climate change, have attracted the attention of the United States Supreme Court—particularly Honolulu v. Sunoco . In these cases, the Supreme Court will decide whether state law claims seeking climate-related damages are precluded by the Constitution and preempted by ...
Sep 16, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 609
While the United States and other advanced democracies are hardening their views of and position against China, Beijing is gaining ground in the developing economies of the Global South. In the Indo-Pacific, a region that will largely determine the future of the global strategic landscape, developing nations are absorbing Chinese norms and preferences and gradually adjusting their thinking and policies accordingly. Why is China making worrying progress in shaping and influencing the policies and...
Sep 10, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 608
Nicolas Maduro’s long struggle to strengthen his grip on power has created a criminal hybrid state in Venezuela. Kleptocratic patronage networks have plundered public assets, narcotrafficking has become a state enterprise, and the regime openly tolerates brutal criminal gangs in return for the gangs’ support. Now, Maduro’s refusal to concede defeat in Venezuela’s recent presidential election has plunged the country into a new spiral of political repression and economic crises. Join Hudson for a ...
Sep 09, 2024•48 min•Ep. 607
Egyptian and Somali relations with Ethiopia are at an all-time low, which has severe implications for an already unstable Sudan and the wealthier countries on the opposite side of the Red Sea. As Cairo and Mogadishu strengthen their bilateral ties, Ethiopia continues to antagonize the two countries by making progress on its Grand Renaissance Dam and continuing to support the breakaway region of Somaliland. Under such circumstances, policymakers should consider the possibility of yet another conf...
Sep 09, 2024•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 606
Foreign adversaries have long understood that American cultural and educational institutions are fertile ground for both individuals and states to whitewash their reputations, acquire valuable intellectual property, and stoke societal divisions within the United States. The Chinese Communist Party’s engagement includes not only the controversial Confucius Institutes but also billions of dollars’ worth of ongoing research contracts and partnerships. In the decade before Russia invaded Ukraine, Kr...
Sep 06, 2024•50 min•Ep. 605
In Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo , the Supreme Court punctuated its recent revolution in administrative law by overruling Chevron USA Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council . For 40 years, Chevron had been outcome determinative in a vast array of administrative law decisions because it required courts to defer to administrative actors’ interpretations of ambiguous laws. This sentiment was couched in “respect” to the agencies and their relative technical expertise, but it meant that age...
Sep 05, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 604
At the halfway mark of his presidency, Colombian President Gustavo Petro faces resistance in implementing his populist vision for the country. The erosion of the coalition that brought him to office in 2022 has led him to consider implementing “ people’s assemblies ” to advance constitutional reforms, which would risk further exacerbating tensions in the country. Petro’s efforts to negotiate a “ total peace ” agreement have not brought more security to Colombia, and criminal groups have exploite...
Aug 30, 2024•40 min•Ep. 603
