Hudson Institute Events Podcast

In July 1999, the Chinese Communist Party launched one of the most severe acts of religious persecution since the Cultural Revolution—a violent campaign to wipe out Falun Gong, an indigenous spiritual group with tens of millions of Chinese practitioners. Twenty-five years later, this CCP campaign continues with large-scale imprisonments inside China as well as systematic propaganda and harassment in the United States.Beyond the horrific toll on the Falun Gong community, the CCP’s relentless repression campaign has had wide-ranging repercussions for China and the world. Executing the campaign has sharpened the CCP’s security apparatus, served as a blueprint for repressing other designated enemies, and honed the party’s ability to influence Western media.Join Hudson Institute as expert panels take stock of the Falun Gong crackdown over the past quarter of a century.

Cyber and emerging technology play a critical role in the strategic contest between the United States and the People’s Republic of China. The US needs to secure its advantages on computer networks, semiconductors, critical infrastructure, and artificial intelligence to avoid having its competition with the PRC devolve into crisis or conflict.National Security Council Director for Cyber Policy Israel Soong joins Hudson’s Miles Yu for a conversation on why technology is crucial to Beijing’s plans and how the US can maintain the lead in its cyber and technology competition with China.

After a monthslong investigation, the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition between the United States and Chinese Communist Party uncovered that China is actively subsidizing the sale of fentanyl precursors to Mexico. With 80,000–100,000 American citizens dying of fentanyl overdoses each year, the administration needs to comprehensively disrupt the finances and operations of Mexico’s drug cartels and their suppliers, launderers, and partners in crime: the Chinese Communists.David Asher and Raymond Donovan, former director of operations of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and a strategic law enforcement expert, will discuss how America should hold the perpetrators accountable by strategically targeting them from the top down.

Iran is a key player in the growing axis of revisionist powers threatening the United States–led world order. Yet the US and Europe have been hesitant to fully back Israel in its proxy war against Tehran, and the Islamic Republic is not meaningfully on the agenda for the seventy-fifth North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit.Former Congressman Ted Deutch, the CEO of the American Jewish Committee, will join Hudson to discuss what NATO militaries can learn from Israel’s fight against Iran-backed militias, the implications of a nuclear Iran for Europe, Tehran’s role in the rise of antisemitism in the West, and why aiding Israel is an important step to dismantle the China–Russia–Iran–North Korea axis.

Upon taking office as foreign minister of Lithuania in December 2020, Gabrielius Landsbergis quickly made a name for himself as one of Europe’s most effective diplomats. Early in his term, he announced that Lithuania would no longer participate in the Cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries (China-CEEC) format; Estonia and Latvia withdrew the following year. Moreover, since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Landsbergis has outspokenly defended Ukrainian sovereignty and denounced Russia’s occupation. In fact, his clarity on the threat Russia poses goes back years. As he put it in June 2024, “I’m Lithuanian, and we strongly disapproved of Russian imperialism before it was common to do so.”Furthermore, Foreign Minister Landsbergis has time and again made the case for the transatlantic alliance and underscored the importance of a strong American presence in Europe.Please join Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis as he sits down with Senior Fellow Peter Rough on the eve of the Washington summit to discuss the prospects for Ukraine and the outlook for Lithuanian security. He will be introduced by Hudson Visiting Fellow Tomas Janeliūnas of Vilnius University.

Moving the partnership between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and its Asia-Pacific partners from dialogue to cooperation is becoming increasingly urgent as Russia and China create a two-front challenge for the United States and its allies. But maritime security, hybrid warfare challenges, and increasing automation are ideal points of departure to get cooperation off the ground.Rapid technological change and global interconnection have changed the maritime threat environment and the capabilities that nations use to address it. Maritime hybrid warfare threats from Russia and China are on the rise. These operations are generally conducted in coastal waters and feature the use of civilian and coast guard vessels manned by non-uniformed personnel armed with off-the-shelf systems. Are the US and its allies prepared for these threats? Warships are expensive and should be built to last 30 years or more. But the frequent emergence of new threats involving complex actors challenges ships’ lifespans. In the Russia-Ukraine War and in Operation Prosperity Guardian in the Red Sea, allies and partner forces shoot down cheap enemy drones with missiles that cost millions.Should Washington and its allies build smaller and cheaper ships and create redundancy to reduce vulnerability? Can the defense industry develop laser technology to shoot down enemy drones and replace expensive missiles? Can greater flexibility, rather than specialization, guide the development of warships to prepare them for a variety of complex threats? Is US and allied ship production sufficient to meet the demand for affordable capabilities at a time when national defenses are stretched thin?Hudson’s Liselotte Odgaard will moderate a panel with Benedetta Berti, the head of policy planning in the Office of the NATO Secretary General, Tsuneo Watanabe, senior fellow at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, Senior Fellow Peter Rough, and Japan Chair Ken Weinstein to discuss these issues.

The threats to the United States and the US-led international order are growing increasingly hostile. The Chinese Communist Party seeks to supplant the United States as the preeminent global power is forming an economic bloc of partners and quickly building its up military to threaten and coerce the US and its allies. Russia initiated the largest land war in Europe since World War II with its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Iran launched an unprecedented direct attack against Israel and is funding proxy attacks against the United States and its allies. These authoritarian countries, and their proxies, have expansionist goals and are collaborating to harm the United States and subvert its global influence.Join Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Senior Fellow Rebeccah Heinrichs for a discussion about the speaker’s agenda to bolster the credibility of US deterrence, strengthen alliances, improve America’s hard power, and maintain freedom, security, and prosperity for the American people.

In the quarter century after the collapse of the Berlin Wall, reunified Germany grew steadily more confident and powerful as the preeminent country in Europe. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has shattered much of that confidence, forcing the country to undertake a pivot as expressed in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s announcement of a zeitenwende, or watershed moment.But what, exactly, has changed in Germany’s foreign policy outlook? Is the change in Berlin’s attitude toward Russia specifically, or in its stance on economic interdependence and dialogue as a pacifying force more generally? How applicable is zeitenwende to Germany’s attitude toward the Middle East, particularly Iran, or East Asia, particularly China? What about the military rearmament of the Bundeswehr?There are few Germans better placed to answer these and other questions than Ambassador Thomas Bagger, the state secretary of the German Foreign Ministry. Ambassador Bagger is the author of a much-discussed 2019 essay in the Washington Quarterly, “The World According to Germany: Reassessing 1989,” and is considered one of the country’s leading public intellectuals and foreign policy professionals.Please join Senior Fellow Peter Rough as he welcomes Ambassador Bagger to Hudson for a discussion on Germany’s foreign and security outlook today.

Building upon significant Japanese foreign direct investment across the United States, the US-Japan economic relationship is stronger and more consequential than ever. As affirmed by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s official visit this spring, the private sector has a significant role in deepening bilateral economic ties and strengthening America’s competitiveness. The automotive industry is critical to this dynamic. This event will focus on Japanese automakers’ commitment to innovation and progress, contributions to workforce development, and the development of community partnerships in the US.Hudson’s Japan Chair will welcome Hideaki Fujisawa, economic minister (METI) at the Embassy of Japan, for a keynote address on the state of the US-Japan economic relationship and the role that the private sector plays in deepening ties. The address will be followed by a fireside chat with Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) USA General Director Anita Rajan and Hudson Japan Chair Fellow William Chou on the importance of the Japanese automotive industry’s investments in the US and the launch of JAMA USA’s latest Impact Report.

Join Hudson for a conversation with Robert D. Blackwill and Richard Fontaine, who will discuss their new book Lost Decade: The US Pivot to Asia and the Rise of Chinese Power. The book argues that the United States should undergo a renewed pivot to Asia while maintaining commitments to Europe and the Middle East. As the international order becomes more unstable, Blackwill and Fontaine stress that the US has far less margin for foreign policy error today than a decade ago. They also say policymakers need to understand what the pivot aimed to achieve―and where it fell short―to muster the resources, alliances, and resolve to preserve an open order in Asia and elsewhere. Crafting an effective policy for the region, they contend, is crucial for preserving American security, prosperity, and democratic values.Ambassador Robert D. Blackwill is the Henry A. Kissinger Senior Fellow for US Foreign Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations and a senior fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. He served as deputy assistant to the president and deputy national security advisor for strategic planning under President George W. Bush, presidential envoy to Iraq, and US ambassador to India from 2001 to 2003. Richard Fontaine is the chief executive officer of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). Previously, he was foreign policy advisor to Senator John McCain and worked at the State Department, the National Security Council, and on the staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.Dr. Patrick M. Cronin, Asia-Pacific security chair and senior fellow at Hudson, will moderate the discussion. Ambassador Blackwill will join the conversation remotely.