Hudson Institute Events Podcast

The Quad members (the United States, Japan, Australia, and India) have committed to uphold peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific, and Taiwan is at the heart of this goal for the US and Japan. But Taiwan’s global partnerships extend beyond defense to technology cooperation, trade, investment, and more. What are the Quad members’ respective interests in Taiwan? How can cooperation through the Quad expand these relationships? And how can the Quad support Taiwan as it seeks to increase its collaboration throughout the region on trade, infrastructure building, and other areas?Join Hudson Senior Fellows Riley Walters and James J. Przystup for a conversation with Yuko Mukai of the Project 2049 Institute Dhruva Jaishankar of Observer Research Foundation, and Adam Leslie of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute on these questions and more.

Representative Mike Waltz (FL-6), a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), will moderate a panel on China’s influence operations in the United States with Hudson Senior Fellows John Lee and Miles Yu and Foundation for Defense of Democracies Senior Fellow Craig Singleton as part of the committee’s Beyond the SCIF series. Hudson President and CEO John Walters will deliver opening remarks. The panelists will discuss the scope of the Chinese Communist Party’s influence campaign and examine opportunities for the US and its allies to counter Beijing’s espionage and malign influence.How should Washington respond to Chinese influencers seeking to shape public opinion and manipulate American officials and business leaders into enacting Beijing’s policy preferences? How do the influence operations that China aims at the US differ from those it directs at our allies? Should Washington retaliate by amplifying the voices of Chinese dissidents as it did with dissidents in the Soviet Union?Join Hudson for a discussion on these and other questions about national security and the CCP.

Several Latin American nations are experiencing an erosion of democratic governance and a rise in populism. A combination of internal and external factors has caused this democratic recession, raising important questions for the region’s future and the United States’ interests.Join Hudson Institute and leading Latin America experts for a discussion of the causes of the current democratic recession, the role of citizens’ attitudes, and approaches to renewing the region’s democracies. The speakers will also consider implications for US policy in the region.

President Joe Biden has stated that Ukraine’s success in defending itself against Russian aggression is “vital for America’s national security.” Seventieth Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has argued that “the outcome of this war will have a direct impact on US national security.” Yet despite significant bipartisan support for Kyiv, the prospect of continued United States aid to Ukraine remains uncertain.What is the path forward for Ukraine aid in Congress? Can a bipartisan coalition hold in the face of a determined effort to cut off US aid? What would happen if the US ended military support for Ukraine? What policy changes are needed to help Ukrainian forces prevail, and what would success look like?Please join Hudson Institute and the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) for a discussion with Representatives Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) and Don Bacon (R-NE) on these critical questions. The event will be moderated by Hudson Senior Fellow Luke Coffey and Tamar Jacoby, who directs PPI’s New Ukraine Project, with brief opening remarks from Hudson President John Walters.

External actors have accelerated their efforts to shape public opinion in Latin America in order to sow distrust in democracy and undermine the United States’ interests in the region. Russia has waged a particularly effective campaign. According to the new US Institute for Peace report Russian Influence Campaigns in Latin America, Moscow has succeeded at amplifying anti-US narratives and neutralizing opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.Join Hudson Institute for a discussion with the authors of the report; Douglas Farah, the founder and president of IBI Consultants; and Román Ortiz, senior consultant with IBI Consultants. The speakers will discuss the strategy behind Russia’s disinformation efforts, the tools and tactics that have been most effective, and how the US and its allies can counter disinformation campaigns.

Alsu Kurmasheva is the most recent American journalist Russia has wrongfully arrested because of his or her profession and citizenship. On October 18, Russia accused Kurmasheva, a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) journalist based in Prague, of failing to self-register as a “foreign agent”—even though she was in Russia to visit her ailing mother. This is the first known instance of such a charge in Russia. The US government has not yet received official notification of Kurmasheva’s detention from Moscow, has not been granted consular access to Alsu, and has not yet declared Kurmasheva’s case a wrongful detention.Hudson Institute and RFE/RL invite you to join Pavel Butorin, Alsu Kurmasheva’s husband and the director of Current Time, RFE/RL’s Russian-language digital platform; RFE/RL Acting President Dr. Jeffrey Gedmin; and Wall Street Journal Assistant Editor Paul Beckett for a conversation about Russia’s escalating attacks on American journalists. The event will be moderated by Hudson Institute Media Fellow Jeremy Hunt, with comments from Senior Fellow Olivia Enos.

Last December, the United States Department of Defense unveiled the Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider, the newest American strategic bomber capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear munitions. Current planning has the US Air Force set to acquire at least 100 B-21s, with a few dozen of the bombers to be operational by the end of the decade.Hudson Institute Senior Fellow and Director of the Keystone Defense Initiative Rebeccah Heinrichs led an assessment of the crucial role the B-21 bomber will play in simultaneously deterring the two near-peer nuclear adversaries the United States now faces—the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation.The forthcoming report explores the B-21’s procurement process and lessons the DoD has learned for producing big-ticket items, the B‑21’s role in extended nuclear and conventional deterrence, the Raider’s role in facing the two-pronged threat, the number of B-21s the US should procure in an unprecedented threat environment, and more.Contributors Mackenzie Eaglen, Jennifer Bradley, Rebecca Grant, Christopher Bowie, and Kari Bingen will join Ms. Heinrichs to give a preview of the findings of the report.

Thomas J. Duesterberg, a Hudson Senior Fellow, discusses how China's economic weakness presents an opportunity for the US to push back on Xi Jinping's aggressive program. The podcast covers topics such as China's economic challenges, US-China relations, China's challenge to the international system, Europe's approach to China, and the need for restructuring approaches to address China's challenges.

The revelation that Russia has recruited hundreds of Cubans to fight in Ukraine underscores the desperation of Cuban citizens and the expansion of cooperation between Cuba and Russia. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel declared that Russia has Cuba’s “unconditional support.”Hudson Adjunct Fellow Daniel Batlle will moderate a panel examining the ramifications of the Cuba-Russia alliance and Havana’s decision to prevent more Cuban citizens from joining Russia’s war in Ukraine with Senior Fellow Can Kasapoğlu, Coordinator of the Assembly of Cuban Resistance Orlando Gutiérrez-Boronat, and Florida International University Adjunct Professor of International Relations Erich de la Fuente.

Pakistan is mired in a multidimensional crisis with political, social, economic, and security implications. General elections are scheduled for late January 2024, extending the caretaker government’s term by three months. The influential Pakistani security establishment appears more in control today than it has been in recent years.Inflation remains at an all-time high, and Pakistan’s economic growth has slowed as the agricultural and manufacturing sectors contract. The country’s domestic weakness is reflected in its foreign relations. Terrorist attacks by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) from safe havens in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan remain a challenge for Pakistan. Join Ambassador Husain Haqqani, senior fellow and director of Hudson’s South and Central Asia Program, for a conversation on this and more with Amber Rahim Shamsi, Asfandiyar Mir, Aqil Shah, and Uzair Younus.