Why Should We Care if America Can Still Lead in the Indo-Pacific? with Robert Blackwill

Is the global order collapsing, or can renewed American leadership still secure the Indo-Pacific? In Episode 127, Jim Carouso and Ray Powell sit down with Robert Blackwill, Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and former U.S. Ambassador to India, to dissect his provocative new report, “America Revived: A Grand Strategy of Resolute Global Leadership”.

Ambassador Blackwill argues that the United States faces its most dangerous international landscape since World War II. With a rising, authoritarian China determined to displace the U.S. as the dominant power in Asia, Blackwill contends that current competing strategies - from Restraint to Nationalism to “Trumpism” - are failing to meet the moment. Instead, he proposes a bold, hybrid grand strategy which he labels “Resolute Global Leadership”.

We dive deep into what this strategy would mean for the future of the Indo-Pacific. Blackwill makes the controversial case for explicitly “containing” Chinese power and stopping the erosion of U.S. influence in the region. He offers a candid critique of the current administration’s “revolutionary” approach, warning that incoherent messaging is destroying allied trust and fueling dangerous debates about nuclear proliferation in capitals like Tokyo and Seoul.

Key topics discussed:

• The China Challenge: Why Blackwill believes we must label China a “hostile peer competitor” and what “containment” actually looks like in the 21st century.
• Grand Strategy 101: Breaking down the failures of Liberal Internationalism and Primacy, and why a fusion of the two is necessary to survive.
• The Trump Factor: How a personalized, transactional foreign policy undermines extended deterrence and how allies can effectively push back.
• Restoring Trust: Can Washington rebuild credibility with partners like Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines before it’s too late?

The future direction of U.S. grand strategy will define the security and economy of the entire Indo-Pacific for decades. Tune in to understand why the stakes have never been higher.

👉 Read the report: America Revived | Council on Foreign Relations

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👉 Follow Ray Powell on X, @GordianKnotRay, or LinkedIn, or check out his maritime transparency work at SeaLight

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👉 Sponsored by BowerGroupAsia, a strategic advisory firm that specializes in the Indo-Pacific