Hudson Institute Events Podcast

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 the plight of the Uyghurs, as Wong’s father moved from Hong Kong to Xinjiang in the early years of Mao Zedong’s rule.Join Hudson for a discussion of the book with Wong, Japan Chair Kenneth Weinstein, and Senior Fellow Nury Turkel.

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 and grows increasingly fragile as new, more resilient American GPS satellites sit idle in warehouses. Hostile nations such as Iran and Russia frequently spoof GPS so that ships mistake their actual location. Airline pilots encounter GPS jamming in many parts of the world, especially near the Russia-Ukraine border. Perhaps worse, the US has no robust backup to GPS, which could prove catastrophic in a military conflict or a natural disaster.To explain the challenges facing GPS and how Washington can solve them, Hudson will host an event with several leading authorities on the system.

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 Hamilton Society Gabriel Scheinmann.

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 actors in perilous situations, stifling efforts to mobilize citizens. Moreover, the United States and other democracies have not kept up with the autocrats’ expanding playbook, so outside efforts to support democratic movements are often at a significant disadvantage.Join Hudson Adjunct Fellow Daniel Batlle for a conversation with Nicaraguan democracy leader and Freedom House Trustee Félix Maradiaga to examine how today’s autocrats exert control and why democracies need new tactics to support democratic leaders in the region.

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 adapt the American nuclear deterrent would violate the doctrine’s principles, she argues.Heinrichs will join Jeremy Hunt, a Hudson media fellow and the chairman of the Board of Directors of Veterans on Duty, to discuss the ethical implications of US nuclear policy and how policymakers can fulfill the moral imperative for a strong American nuclear deterrent.

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 guarantees more credible and why policymakers should overcome the fear of escalation that leads to unilateral restraint.Rebeccah L. Heinrichs, director of Hudson’s Keystone Defense Initiative and the editor of the booklet, will sit down for a conversation on the path forward for Washington in a new era of strategic competition with coauthors Kyle Balzer of the American Enterprise Institute, Matthew R. Costlow of the National Institute for Public Policy, and Ryan Tully of Hudson Institute.

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 responses to key policy challenges, the impact of municipal elections, and prospects for bilateral relations between Brasilia and Washington. Daniel Batlle will moderate an expert panel featuring Marcio Coimbra, Rafael Favetti, and Mark Langevin.

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 efforts to keep pace with these dynamic and intensifying security challenges.Join Hudson Senior Fellows Timothy Walton and Nadia Schadlow for an event exploring the opportunities and challenges in implementing a more unified allied industrial base with Representative Rob Wittman (R-VA), Ambassador Hyun-dong Cho of South Korea, senior US Navy and Army officials, and leaders of major Asian and European defense firms.

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 democracy would be lost if Beijing coerced 23 million Taiwanese into servitude. The United States therefore needs to create layers of deterrence among democratic allies and partners to deter China.Executive Director of the Alliance of Democracies Foundation Jonas Parello-Plesner, author of The Battle for Taiwan, will join Hudson’s Patrick Cronin to discuss Taiwan’s importance to the US and the world. 

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 terrorist organizations threaten African security, and why do these groups matter for America’s North Atlantic Treaty Organization  and Middle Eastern allies? And most importantly, what conclusions should policymakers draw from the Biden administration’s Africa policy?Join Hudson for an expert discussion on these critical issues.