As the Israeli offensive in Gaza moves south toward Khan Younis, and as some hostages come home while many more remain captive, Natan Sachs joins the podcast from Israel to reflect on the public mood, Israel's operational goals, the ongoing threat of wider regional escalation, and what might come next. Show notes and transcript: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/taking-stock-of-the-ongoing-war-in-israel-and-gaza Follow The Current and all Brookings podcasts on Apple or Google podcasts, or on Sp...
Dec 07, 2023•16 min
Corrupt regimes around the world threaten global democracy and security. On this episode of The Current, Norman Eisen, senior fellow in Governance Studies and chair of the newly launched global Anti-Corruption, Democracy, and Security (ACDS) project at Brookings, talks about the project and explains why fighting corruption and promoting good governance are key to strengthen democracy and security. Show notes and transcript Follow The Current and all Brookings podcasts on Apple or Google podcasts...
Dec 06, 2023•21 min
President Biden and President Xi met on Wednesday in San Francisco during the APEC summit at a time of highly strained relations between China and the U.S. Patricia Kim discussed some of the outcomes of their meeting and stressed the ongoing need for Beijing and Washington "to depoliticize diplomacy and functional channels of communication and make them a regular feature of the U.S.-China relationship." Show notes and transcript: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/will-positive-momentum-from-the...
Nov 16, 2023•9 min
Thousands of migrants are heading north through Mexico toward the U.S. border. The number of Border Patrol encounters with migrants and asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border continues to be high. And for two years in a row, the number of illegal crossings has exceeded 2 million. Meanwhile, border security remains a hot political issue as Republicans in Congress and on the campaign trail accuse President Biden of having an “open border policy.” Vanda Felbab-Brown, a senior fellow in Foreign Po...
Nov 09, 2023•22 min
On October 30th, President Joe Biden issued an executive order on "safe, secure, and trustworthy artificial intelligence." The E.O. sets new standards for AI safety and security, has new privacy provisions, and much more. Nicol Turner Lee, a senior fellow in governance studies and director of the Center for Technology Innovation, joins The Current to talk about the scope and implications of the AI E.O. Show notes and transcript. Follow The Current and all Brookings podcasts on Apple or Google po...
Nov 03, 2023•17 min
A new Department of Labor rule aims to expand protections for retirement savers by updating standards on different types of financial investment advice. Ben Harris explains what the new rule does and other steps the Biden administration could take to increase Americans' retirement security. Show notes and transcript: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/what-does-new-rule-on-investment-advice-mean-for-retirement-security Follow The Current and all Brookings podcasts on Apple or Google podcasts, or...
Nov 03, 2023•12 min
Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) has served just six years in the House of Representatives before being elected as the new speaker of the House. Molly Reynolds explains how his relative inexperience could hurt or help, especially in upcoming negotiations to avert a government shutdown in November. Show notes and transcript: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/who-is-new-speaker-of-the-house-mike-johnson Follow The Current and all Brookings podcasts on Apple or Google podcasts, or on Spotify. Send feedba...
Oct 26, 2023•16 min
The war between Israel and Hamas militants operating out of Gaza has produced horrific images, but also misinformation and disinformation about actions on both sides. This mis- and disinformation spreads through social media like X, the former Twitter, and confuses our understanding of what’s happening. On this episode of The Current, Valerie Wirtschafter, a fellow in Foreign Policy and the Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technology Initiative at Brookings, discusses how disinformation spre...
Oct 25, 2023•17 min
President Biden visited Israel as a show of U.S. support and announced new humanitarian aid to Gaza, but subsequent Arab leader summit fell through in the wake of the al Ahli hospital bombing. Jeffrey Feltman weighs in on how Biden's show of empathy - but also caution - was received by Israelis, the urgent need for humanitarian relief in Gaza, and the dangers of escalation from Hezbollah in Lebanon. Show notes and transcript: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/biden-in-israel-and-us-diplomacy-on...
Oct 19, 2023•11 min
Hamas' surprise attack on Israel this weekend is drawing comparisons to 9/11 and the 1973 Yom Kippur War. In an online discussion, Brookings experts Natan Sachs, Shibley Telhami, Suzanne Maloney, and Molly Reynolds weighed in on Israel's response to the attacks, Iran's involvement, the regional repercussions, and how domestic politics will bear on the U.S. response, moderated by Michael O'Hanlon. Show notes and transcript: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/war-in-israel-and-gaza/ Follow The Cur...
Oct 10, 2023•1 hr
This week, the House of Representatives ousted Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House, a position he had held since January. The final vote was 216 to 210, with eight Republicans joining all voting Democrats and passing a motion to vacate, introduced by Florida Representative Matt Gaetz. Sarah Binder, senior fellow in Governance Studies at Brookings, joins the show to discuss what happened and what it means for governance in Congress. Show notes and transcript . Follow The Current and all Brooki...
Oct 04, 2023•16 min
The 2023 U.N. General Assembly saw increased calls from countries of the "Global South" for a greater role in global governance and the major multilateral institutions. Bruce Jones explains how the U.S., China, and Russia are competing for the Global South's attention, why calls to reform of the U.N. Security Council may now have a chance, and highlights a new multilateral framework called the Partnership for Atlantic Cooperation. Show notes and transcript: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/un-...
Sep 29, 2023•13 min
This past weekend, India hosted its first G-20 summit, the annual gathering of leaders from the world’s largest economies. To assess highlights from the summit and India’s global role moving forward, Tanvi Madan, senior Fellow in Foreign Policy at Brookings, joins the program. Madan is host of the new Global India podcast, debuting this month from the Brookings Podcast Network. Show notes and transcript . Follow The Current and all Brookings podcasts on Apple or Google podcasts, or on Spotify. S...
Sep 12, 2023•14 min
On Wednesday night, eight contenders for the Republican Party presidential nomination appeared on a Milwaukee stage together for the first GOP debate. Donald Trump, currently leading in the polls, was not among them. On this episode, Elaine Kamarck, founding director of the Center for Effective Public Management and a senior fellow in Governance Studies at Brookings, offers her analysis of what happened and what it portends moving toward the first primaries in January. Show notes and transcript ...
Aug 24, 2023•17 min
The coup that ousted Niger's President Mohamed Bazoum in a late July follows a string of similar military takeovers in Burkina Faso, Guinea, and Mali. Landry Signé discusses how Niger and other democracies in the Sahel have struggled to build systems of accountability and deliver public services, and the need for international, regional, and local alignment to strengthen economic security. Show notes and transcript: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/what-underlies-the-coup-in-niger Follow The C...
Aug 09, 2023•24 min
Israel's Knesset passed a bill that strips Israel's Supreme Court of the power to declare government decisions unreasonable. The so-called "reasonableness bill" passed with a 64 to 0 vote after all members of the Knesset's governing coalition voted for it and all members of the opposition left the chamber. Passage of the bill has sparked turmoil in the country. Natan Sachs, director of the Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings and a senior fellow in Foreign Policy, discusses what's happenin...
Jul 28, 2023•19 min
The Supreme Court's decision ending race-based admissions policies at colleges and universities leaves in place other forms of affirmative action like legacy preferences and early admissions — affirmative action policies that disproportionately benefit white students, says Katharine Meyer. Meyer looks at how underrepresented student enrollment dropped in states that previously banned race-based affirmative action, and how some have tried to increase student diversity through race-neutral methods...
Jun 30, 2023•11 min
This weekend's fast-moving but short-lived revolt by Wagner Group mercenaries led by Yevgeny Prigozhin leaves many unanswered questions about what this signals for Russian President Vladimir Putin's grip on power, what will happen to the Wagner Group after this, and the ramifications for Russia's war on Ukraine. In a discussion moderated by Susan Glasser, Angela Stent, Michael O'Hanlon, and Constanze Stelzenmüller try to make sense of what happened, how to interpret it, and the longer-term impli...
Jun 26, 2023•1 hr
Aaron Klein explains the U.S. SEC's lawsuit against cryptocurrency companies Binance and Coinbase, the current state of crypto regulation, and the continuing debate over cryptocurrency's core purpose. Show notes and transcript: https://www.brookings.edu/podcast-episode/what-do-the-secs-lawsuits-signal-for-the-future-of-cryptocurrency/ Follow The Current and all Brookings podcasts on Apple or Google podcasts, or on Spotify. Send feedback email to podcasts@brookings.edu . The Current is part of th...
Jun 14, 2023•13 min
The potential security implications of China's corporate control of TikTok's parent company ByteDance have scaled up in recent years as U.S.-China relations have soured and China has expanded its domestic social, political, and economic controls. But Congress' potential answer — the RESTRICT Act — has its flaws. Cam Kerry examines TikTok's challenges, other ways to address the security concerns beyond an outright ban, and the need for comprehensive privacy legislation. Show notes and transcript:...
Apr 17, 2023•11 min
With former President Jimmy Carter in hospice care, Bill Galston looks back at Carter's administration and his "exemplary and influential" post-presidential dedication to good works, and reflects on the dynamics that shape how we think about presidents' successes and failures. Show notes and transcript: https://www.brookings.edu/podcast-episode/how-will-we-remember-jimmy-carters-presidential-legacy Follow The Current and all Brookings podcasts on Apple or Google podcasts, or on Spotify. Send fee...
Mar 15, 2023•17 min
President Erdoğan "has been one of the symbols of democracy's global decline" and Turkey's upcoming elections will have consequences not only for Turkey, but the world, says Aslı Aydintaşbaş. In the latest episode of The Current, Aydintaşbaş assesses how public opinion of Erdoğan has shifted after the recent devastating earthquake and why the political opposition has coalesced around Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. Show notes and transcript: https://www.brookings.edu/podcast-episode/whats-at-stake-in-turkey...
Mar 10, 2023•13 min
Former CEO of MasterCard Ajay Banga has been nominated to be the next president of the World Bank following the early resignation of outgoing President David Malpass. Homi Kharas explains the challenges ahead for the World Bank to integrate climate change into its economic development agenda and how Banga's background in large-scale financial services may be brought to bear to expand the bank's efforts. Show notes and transcript: https://www.brookings.edu/podcast-episode/who-is-ajay-banga-us-nom...
Feb 28, 2023•12 min
In his visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued "a strident call for calm" over recent escalating violence, while also voicing concerns over Prime Minister Netanyahu's efforts to weaken Israel's Supreme Court. Natan Sachs discusses the new hardline government, what changes to the judiciary could mean for Israel's democracy, and where the U.S. could potentially have influence. Transcript and show notes: https://www.brookings.edu/podcast-episod...
Feb 04, 2023•19 min
After the U.S. reached its debt limit last week, Secretary Janet Yellen announced that the Treasury will engage in extraordinary measure to prevent the U.S. from defaulting on its debt, but it remains to be seen how and when Congress will take action. Brookings experts David Wessel, Bill Gale, Molly Reynolds, Wendy Edelberg explain the debt ceiling, the economic ramifications of default, and the politics of finding a solution. Transcript and show notes: https://www.brookings.edu/podcast-episode/...
Jan 25, 2023•27 min
On the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Élysée, Constanze Stelzenmüller and Tara Varma examine the French-German cooperative framework, and France and Germany's role as a driver for European partnership, leadership, and answering the challenge of Russia's war in Ukraine. Transcript and show notes: https://www.brookings.edu/podcast-episode/60-years-later-can-france-and-germany-fulfill-the-ambitions-of-the-treaty-of-elysee/ Follow The Current and all Brookings podcasts on Apple or Google podcasts...
Jan 24, 2023•21 min
In Moore v. Harper, the U.S. Supreme Court considers a case from North Carolina about whether state legislatures have unrestricted powers in how they administer federal elections, including the drawing of congressional district maps. Russell Wheeler explains the independent state legislature theory at the heart of the case, and what the Court's ruling could mean for partisan gerrymandering and the future of how states run elections. Show notes and transcript: https://www.brookings.edu/podcast-ep...
Dec 08, 2022•12 min
China's 20th Party Congress demonstrated that none of Beijing's recent troubles, from public anger over COVID lockdowns to economic slowdowns and rising international tensions, have dented President Xi Jinping's grip on power, says Patricia Kim. In this episode, Kim examines what leadership personnel changes and Xi's domestic focus on national security mean for China's near-term trajectory. Show notes: https://brook.gs/3Tw0ttk Follow Brookings podcasts on Apple or Google podcasts, or on Spotify....
Oct 25, 2022•9 min
Amid a host of challenges, the three major priorities of this year's United Nations General Assembly will be Russia's war against Ukraine, climate change, and food shortages. Bruce Jones explains the sideline diplomacy happening in New York, and the rising tension between Western countries' focus on geopolitics and the global South's need for progress on climate change. Show notes and transcript: https://brook.gs/3QKpJdj Follow Brookings podcasts on Apple or Google podcasts, or on Spotify. Send ...
Sep 16, 2022•10 min
One year after the U.S. troop withdrawal, Afghanistan faces a collapsed economy, humanitarian crisis, and a Taliban regime essentially unchanged from that of 1996-2001. Madiha Afzal discusses the Taliban's restrictions on civil society, the segregation of women and girls from public life, and the need for more creative policies to alleviate Afghan people's suffering without helping the Taliban. Show notes and transcript: https://brook.gs/3TuLZug Follow Brookings podcasts on Apple or Google podca...
Aug 30, 2022•15 min
