CSIS Podcasts

This week on Babel, Jon Alterman speaks with Dr. Hasan Alhasan, a research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) based in Manama, Bahrain. Prior to joining IISS, he served for five years on the staff of the Crown Prince of Bahrain as a senior analyst on foreign policy and national security. Together, they compare Gulf states’ foreign policies and their underlying strategies. Then, Jon continues the conversation with Will Todman and Leah Hickert to discuss how Gulf states handle shifts in U.S. strategies and what the Gulf expects from its Great Power partners.Transcript, "Hasan Alhasan: The Strategies of Gulf States," CSIS, July 23, 2024.

On this week's special episode of the Trade Guys, the Asia Society Policy Institute's Wendy Cutler joins to discuss post-election trade policy, IPEF, and USMCA review in front of a live audience at the U.S. Committee for the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (US-PECC) Policy Forum. This event was recorded on July 17th.

This week we discuss Mexico’s post-election landscape with Diego Rivera Rivota of Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy. In June, Claudia Sheinbaum won a resounding victory in Mexico’s presidential election. A climate scientist by background, Sheinbaum is expected to continue many of her predecessor’s energy and climate policies. But how might things shift?  

With the International AIDS Society’s 25th global conference taking place next week in Munich, Mark Lagon, Chief Policy Officer at Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria and Bennett Freeman, Associate Fellow with Chatham House, joined Katherine to discuss a new Friends report regarding the role of the private sector and civil society organizations in advocating for global health programs, including HIV services. Lagon and Freeman argue that in a period during which restrictions on civic space seem to be increasing in many countries around the world, there is a business case to be made for the private sector in defending civil society organizations’ efforts to promote respect for human rights, monitor for equitable access to services, and encourage transparency and accountability within global health programs and beyond.

In this episode of the ChinaPower Podcast, Dr. Victor Cha joins us to discuss his major takeaways from the June 2024 Putin-Kim summit and the significance of North Korea and Russia’s new mutual defense clause for the international community. Dr. Cha dissects how North Korea's relationships with Russia and China have evolved over time and notes that the new defense clause gives North Korea an opportunity to leverage its closer relationship with Russia to its advantage vis-a-vis North Korea-China relations. Dr. Cha explains the global and regional implications of the mutual defense agreement. Finally, Dr. Cha discusses his recommendations for how the United States, South Korea, and other and allies and partners should address this growing relationship. *This podcast was recorded prior to the 2024 NATO DC Summit. Dr. Victor Cha is a Senior Vice President for Asia and holds the CSIS Korea Chair. He is professor of government and holds the D.S. Song-KF Chair in the Department of Government and the School of Foreign Service (SFS) at Georgetown University. In July 2019, he was appointed vice dean for faculty and graduate affairs in SFS. While working for the White House between 2004-2007, Dr. Cha was the director for Asian affairs at the National Security Council. He was responsible primarily for Japan, the Korean peninsula, Australia/New Zealand, and Pacific Island nation affairs. Dr. Cha was also the deputy head of delegation for the United States at the Six-Party Talks in Beijing. He is the author of five books, including the award-winning Alignment Despite Antagonism: The United States-Korea-Japan Security Triangle. 

A short, spoken-word summary from CSIS’s Doreen Horschig on her report with Heather Williams, House of Cards? Nuclear Norms in an Era of Strategic Competition.

On this week's episode of the Trade Guys, we dive into the implications of the new digital service tax in Canada, unpack the latest news on EU Digital Markets Act (DMA) enforcement, and examine Speaker Mike Johnson's recent remarks on trade. 

Greg and Elina discuss ongoing tensions in the South China Sea with Jay Batongbacal. Japhet and Lauren cover the latest: from orangutan diplomacy to cyberattacks in Indonesia.                

In this episode of Pekingology, Freeman Chair in China Studies Jude Blanchette is joined by Rory Truex, Associate Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University. They discuss Timur Kuran’s seminal 1991 paper Now Out of Never: The Element of Surprise in the East European Revolution of 1989. (World Politics, October 1991)