Whether Russian President Vladimir Putin dies in office, is ousted in a palace coup, or relinquishes power for some unforeseen reason, the United States and its allies would face a radically different Russia with the Kremlin under new management. The geopolitical stakes mean that policymakers would be negligent not to plan for the consequences of a post-Putin Russia. Join Hudson Institute’s Center on Europe and Eurasia for a discussion on how US and allied policymakers can prepare for a Russia after Putin.

Patrick M. Cronin, Asia-Pacific security chair at Hudson Institute, will moderate a discussion with Ambassador Shin-wha Lee, South Korean ambassador for international cooperation on North Korean human rights. As North Korea’s nuclear buildup, political repression, and strengthening ties with Russia and China undermine peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in northeast Asia, Ambassador Lee will explore these issues and identify the most important avenues for bilateral cooperation in the United States–South Korea relationship as well as opportunities for multilateral cooperation throughout the region.

Over the past 22 years, the United States Department of Defense has optimized the American Special Operations Forces (SOF) for the Global War on Terror. While terrorist threats remain—especially from Iranian proxies—the DoD is now calling upon SOF to return to its irregular warfare roots to counter nation-states. Civilian control and leadership of special operations is key to expediting this transformation, and Congress has elevated the role of assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict (ASD SO/LIC) to include acting as the service secretary for special operations.Hudson Adjunct Fellow Ezra Cohen, who served as ASD SO/LIC, will be joined by two other previous ASD SO/LICs, Mark Mitchell and former Acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller, to discuss civil-military relations within the special operations community, the transition from counterterrorism to irregular warfare, and how to optimize intelligence forces and SOF for the next generation of challenges.

Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel caused the Jewish State to reevaluate the strength of its capabilities and its capacity to maintain border control. Israel has mobilized over 300,000 reservists to fight on the ground against Hamas. Although the Israel Defense Forces’ yearly budget of around $23.6 billion is more than the combined military spending of Egypt, Iran, Lebanon, and Jordan, Israel’s operation against Hamas may strain its finances. Since the beginning of the conflict, Israel has spent almost $246 million per day, according to Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. Join Hudson Senior Fellow Michael Doran for a discussion on Israel’s budget during the Israel-Hamas war with Noach Hacker, the minister of economic affairs representing Israel’s Ministry of Finance.

With the eruption of war in the Middle East and Europe and tensions flaring in the Taiwan Strait, the American-led international system seems to be at an inflection point. The number of geopolitical flashpoints from the Sahel to the South China Sea is increasing at an alarming rate, and many are beginning to doubt the United States’ ability to deter hostile, revisionist powers across the globe.Join Hudson Distinguished Fellow Walter Russell Mead for a discussion with critically acclaimed historian Andrew Roberts and General David Petraeus on their new book Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Ukraine, which provides a penetrating analysis of the last 70 years of military history, highlighting many of the critical lessons that we should draw from past wars. This insightful text helps explain how the US military can anticipate the rapidly evolving threat environment in an increasingly dangerous world to best prepare for the wars of the future.

With Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to the United States in June and President Joe Biden’s September visit to India, 2023 has been a landmark year for the India-US strategic partnership. But the world’s oldest democracy and the world’s most populous democracy have not always been such close friends. Through most of the Cold War, relations between the two countries were beset with challenges. Only within the last two decades have New Delhi and Washington become natural allies.Economic Times columnist Seema Sirohi’s new book Friends with Benefits: The India-US Story explores the slow development of the US-India relationship. Join Hudson Institute for a book talk with Sirohi and Ashley Tellis, the Tata Chair for strategic affairs at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, moderated by Hudson Research Fellow Aparna Pande.

Join Hudson Senior Fellow Jonathan Schachter for a discussion with Israel-based journalist Yonah Jeremy Bob on his new book, coauthored with Ilan Evyatar, Target Tehran. About the BookTarget Tehran describes how Israel was able to promote the normalization with Arab states like Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates by using its military might to thwart Iran’s nuclear weapons program. The writers recount the shadow between Iran and Israel—which sometimes operated in conjunction with the United States—by drawing on interviews with confidential Israeli and US sources, including from the Mossad and the Central Intelligence Agency.About the AuthorYonah Jeremy Bob is the senior military and intelligence analyst as well as the book review editor for the Jerusalem Post. Hailing originally from Baltimore, Maryland, Yonah has close connections with many Israeli intelligence figures and previously worked in the Israeli military international law division, at the Israeli Embassy to the United Nations, and in the Israeli Justice Ministry. He is the author of Justice in the West Bank? And the editor and translator of A Raid on the Red Sea, an intelligence thriller whose principal author is Amos Gilboa, a former Israel Defense Forces deputy chief of intelligence.

The fiscal year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act established the bipartisan Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States to review US nuclear weapons policy, strategy, and force structure and to conduct an assessment of America’s near-peer competitors. Earlier this month, the commission released its final report on America’s strategic posture, the first such report since 2009. Join commission members and Hudson Senior Fellows Rebeccah L. Heinrichs and Marshall S. Billingslea as they host commission Chair Madeline R. Creedon and commission members Rose E. Gottemoeller and Robert M. Scher for a discussion on the report’s findings and its implications for the future of America’s strategic posture.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is undergoing a profound change. At the Madrid summit in July 2022, the alliance ratified a new strategic concept that returned NATO to its roots: deterring Russian aggression. At that same meeting, NATO began the process of welcoming Sweden and Finland into the alliance, leading to Finland’s full accession in April 2023. At the Vilnius summit this past summer, NATO continued to adapt in response to Russia’s war on Ukraine. The alliance updated its military plans and established the NATO-Ukraine Council. It also eased Ukraine’s path to accession by announcing that it could join the alliance without completing a membership action plan (MAP).One hundred days after Vilnius, as the alliance begins its preparations for its seventy-fifth summit next year in Washington, join Hudson’s Peter Rough and Luke Coffey as they welcome two Lithuanian national security experts for a retrospective analysis of the Vilnius summit: Žygimantas Pavilionis, a member of the Seimas (Lithuania’s parliament), where he serves on the Committee of Foreign Affairs, and Tomas Janeliūnas, the chief research officer at the Eastern Europe Studies Centre and a professor at Vilnius University. 

Increasingly contested international waters threaten the security and prosperity of the United States and its Indo-Pacific allies and partners. The Coast Guard deploys a fleet that is equivalent to the world’s 15 largest navies combined, with some 38,000 active-duty forces and more than 240 cutters. Responsible for law enforcement, marine safety, and environmental protection, the Coast Guard patrols America’s 3.4 million miles of exclusive economic zone. But the Coast Guard is also working to strengthen its presence in the Indo-Pacific, training and conducting exercises with allies and partners throughout the region.Hudson Asia-Pacific Security Chair Patrick M. Cronin will sit down with Admiral Linda L. Fagan, commandant of the United States Coast Guard, to discuss the Coast Guard’s growing role in combatting China’s peacetime confrontation operations and protecting the marine environment and vital fisheries. Hudson President and CEO John P. Walters will deliver opening remarks.