Hudson Institute Events Podcast

The world continues to feel the impact of President Joe Biden’s precipitous withdrawal of United States forces from Afghanistan. During the evacuation, 13 American service members perished in the Kabul airport bombing, and afterward Afghanistan fell into chaos once again. The US left behind billions of dollars of military equipment and other antiterrorism tools. And the withdrawal may have contributed to Russia’s calculation that its full-scale invasion of Ukraine would be worth the cost. More than two years later, the US government has yet to conduct a fair accounting of the decision-making and intelligence failures that led to the disastrous withdrawal. Jerry Dunleavy and James Hasson accessed key government documents and conducted eyewitness interviews to answer these questions in Kabul: The Untold Story of Biden's Fiasco and the American Warriors Who Fought to the End. Join Hudson Senior Fellow Rebeccah Heinrichs as she sits down with the authors for a book talk.

As the global economy shifts toward Asia, India will play an increasingly prominent role in global affairs. India’s large population and high-tech industry, among other assets, make it a vital counterweight against China’s rise. The United States recently became India’s largest trading partner, but there is still much to be sorted out in this growing partnership. Policymakers in New Delhi and Washington will need to collaborate more closely than in the past to sustain India’s economic development and strengthen international partnerships like the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad). Moreover, both countries have important elections next year, which will affect both the nature and timing of shared initiatives.Join Hudson Institute and the India Foundation for an invitation-only event focused on the role Washington and the American business community can play in strengthening bilateral economic and strategic relationships between the US and India. American and Indian experts will discuss some of the most urgent issues facing the relationship. Then Hudson Distinguished Fellow Walter Russell Mead will interview Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar about India's role in the world and the future of the relationship.

The United States and its allies have frozen more than $300 billion in Russian sovereign assets as part of their response to the Kremlin’s illegal war against Ukraine.Ukraine’s reconstruction costs are estimated to be around $400 billion and counting. But there is no need for Ukrainians, let alone US taxpayers, to foot the bill for Russia’s unprovoked aggression.The bipartisan Rebuilding Economic Prosperity and Opportunity (REPO) for Ukrainians Act would authorize the US to seize and repurpose of frozen Russian funds to provide additional assistance to Ukraine. It would also bar the US from lifting sanctions unless Russian forces withdraw from Ukrainian territory and encourage the US administration to work closely with allies to develop robust international asset seizure and transfer mechanisms.Please join Hudson Institute for a foreign policy address by Senator Jim Risch, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and leading cosponsor of the REPO for Ukrainians Act. Following the address, Hudson Kleptocracy Initiative Research Fellow Nate Sibley and a panel of experts will discuss the act and its implications for the future of Ukraine.

Canada and the United States are quietly diverging on many important geopolitical issues. Yet any reasoned survey of the two neighbors’ interests would quickly conclude that Washington and Ottawa should be closely aligned on matters including national security, the future of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, opposition to authoritarian regimes, the Arctic, energy, critical minerals, and more. To put the US-Canada relationship back on sound footing, the nations should start by telling each other the truth and seeing the relationship as it really is. The Macdonald-Laurier Institute (MLI), Canada’s leading think tank, is launching a new project in Washington to take on this truth-telling task. This project—the Center for North American Prosperity and Security (CNAPS, pronounced “synapse”)—will go beyond clichés to drive an honest dialogue on the issues that matter most for the security and prosperity of citizens on both sides of the border.Hudson Institute, in partnership with MLI, is proud to host the launch of CNAPS. The event will highlight two urgent matters facing policymakers on both sides of the border: the lessons from Canada’s extensive experience with institutional capture by the Chinese Communist Party, and the potential for a continental energy policy that would keep prices low, ensure energy security for the liberal-democratic world, and reduce the flow of money to some of the world’s nastiest regimes.

Governor Chris Christie, presidential candidate and former governor of New Jersey, will give a foreign policy address at Hudson Institute. Following his remarks, he will sit down for a fireside chat with Hudson Senior Fellow Michael Doran. Hudson President and CEO John P. Walters will deliver opening remarks.About the Presidential Speech Series:The 2024 presidential election will coincide with a time of fundamental global transition. From the ongoing war in Europe to the Chinese Communist Party’s increasingly aggressive challenge to the US, the next president will need to demonstrate strong leadership, strategic thought, and the ability to craft clear policy and shape the national consensus. For more than 60 years, Hudson Institute has challenged conventional thinking and helped manage strategic transitions to the future through interdisciplinary studies in defense, international relations, economics, energy, and technology. Hudson is guided by the understanding that American leadership is vital to security, freedom, and prosperity.In that spirit, Hudson has invited leading presidential candidates to share their views on America’s role in the world and the principles that would guide their foreign and defense policies in the inaugural Presidential Speech Series.

In February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine for the second time in eight years. Despite the odds, Ukrainians gallantly defended Kyiv in the war’s early days and conducted a successful counteroffensive around Kharkiv and Kherson last year. However, as Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine enters its second winter, the stakes are high.Hudson’s Center on Europe and Eurasia will host Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak to discuss the state of the 2023 counteroffensive, the future of United States–Ukraine relations, and the status of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s peace formula.

The war in Gaza is much more than a conflict between Israelis and Palestinians; it is part of a broader Iranian plan to undermine the American-led order in the Middle East. As 3,000 Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas terrorists stormed over the border from Gaza and murdered 1,400 Israelis, Lebanese Hezbollah—another Iranian proxy—increased its pressure on Israel’s northern border. As Israel began its ground incursion, the Iranian-sponsored Houthis fired drones and missiles toward Israeli cities. Meanwhile, Iranian cutouts in Iraq and Syria have attacked American bases no fewer than 24 times since October 17.Join Hudson’s Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East for a discussion between Distinguished Fellow Michael R. Pompeo, the seventieth US secretary of state, and Senior Fellow Michael Doran on the ongoing Israel-Hamas war’s place in the Iranian strategy to undermine the United States.

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.