Global Summitry Podcasts

So, it was my great pleasure to sit down again with my colleague, Colin Bradford in the Virtual Studio to talk about the Indonesian G20 Summit and beyond. Colin has voiced concerns recently over the prospects for progress at this G20 Summit and beyond with the tensions over Russia’s war in the Ukraine and growing geopolitical rivalry between the US and China. These geopolitical tensions seem to ra...

I was so pleased to invite Oliver back into the Virtual Studio to discuss the Brazilian Presidential run off. That second round resulted in a narrow victory for the former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known as Lula over the current President Jair Bolsonaro. This podcast explores the Lula’s Presidential victory, and Bolsonaro’s loss, and then looks at the consequences for Brazilian democrac...

I was pleased to invite Jessica Chen Weiss into the Virtual Studio to discuss the outcomes of the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) held from October 16 to October 22, 2022. I was interested in exploring with her the consequences of the 20th on Chinese foreign policy and in particular on the US-China relationship. Jessica Chen Weiss is the Michael J. Zak Professor for Chi...

I was pleased to invite into the Virtual Studio former Chilean Ambassador Jorge Heine to discuss, first, the state of politics in Chile following the September 4th rejection of the proposed constitution and then to assess the impact on this rejection on the current government of Gabriel Boric of the Left in Chile. Finally, I wanted to assess the state of politics currently in Latin America. Jorge...

I am pleased to invite Zachary Paikin into the Virtual Studio to discuss the state of EU foreign policy. While the major countries in Europe – France, Germany and Italy maintain national foreign policies, the EU has continued to strive to promote an EU foreign policy under the leadership of the current High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security, Josep Borrel. This i...

I was pleased to invite Elizabeth into the Virtual Studio to discuss the state of South Africa both its foreign policy in the midst of the Russian War against Ukraine, its participation in the BRICS and the state of its politics under the continuing governance by the ANC. Elizabeth Sidiropoulos is the chief executive of the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA), which she has le...

It was great to invite Peter Draper back into the Virtual Studio to discuss the state of the WTO following conclusion of the WTO 12th Ministerial that took place in June finally after several lengthy delays. It was an opportunity to examine whether the WTO Ministerial had been able to make progress in resolving the many issues challenging this multilateral institution and to assess the leadership...

So, it is my pleasure to sit down with my colleague, again, Yves Tiberghien. I wanted bring Yves into the Virtual Studio to talk about the recently assassinated Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe. What was Abe’s impact on Japan and Japanese foreign policy of this long serving Japanese Prime Minister. Yves is the Director Emeritus of the Institute of Asian Research at the University of British Col...

We were glad to welcome back Matthew Goodman from CSIS in Washington to the Virtual Studio. As you can see from his short bio below, Matt has had both public and private sector roles and has been directly involved with the G7/8 and G20 in past U.S. administrations. it was great to catch up with him to focus our attention on the Indo-Pacific and Biden Administration policy in the region as well as...

We are entering a very busy ‘Summit Season’ and I thought I would kick off this Summit Season with a conversation with Paola Subacchi. I wanted to review with her the consequences of the just completed G7 Summit hosted by Germany at Schloss Elmau, the NATO Summit in Spain, and also look forward to the November G20 Leaders’ Summit hosted by Indonesia. Paola is a Professor of International Economics...

It was a great pleasure to invite Scott Kennedy back into the virtual studio. Scott has just recently returned from Asia after 5 weeks of travel and discussion and I wanted to get his insights into the how China is viewed in the Asia-Pacific but also how the United States is viewed following President Biden’s first Asian trip. Among other diplomatic steps Biden met with the new President of Korea...

I was pleased to sit down with Nick Bisley again in the virtual studio to explore the impact of a new Labour Government in Australia on its foreign policy and the views from Canberra of the Indo-Pacific and all the Biden Administration initiatives. Nick Bisley is the Dean and Head of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences and Professor of International Relations at La Trobe University in Mel...

So, it was my pleasure to sit down with my colleague, Lim Wonhyuk in the Virtual Studio. Lim Wonhyuk has just recently returned to the Republic of Korea (Korea) after two years of research and teaching at SAIS in Washington D.C. as a Visiting Professor. Given President Biden visiting the Asia-Pacific region for the first time since becoming President, it seemed opportune to sit down with my collea...

So, it was my pleasure to sit down with my colleague, Colin Bradford in the Virtual Studio to talk about the rising geopolitical tensions in the global order and the evident threats to the continuation of global governance, especially in the G20. There continues to be sharp relations between China and the United States. These relations have only become more difficult with the conflict between Russ...

It was my pleasure to welcome back into Virtual Studio our University of British Columbia (UBC) colleague, Yves Tiberghien. The order of the day was to examine closely China’s position, that is Xi Jinping’s and the Party and Government’s position on Russia. What is the impact of the April 4th partnership and then the Russian aggression against Ukraine? Also, I wanted Yves to describe for us the st...

I was pleased to invite Steven Slaughter into the virtual studio to discuss the Indo-Pacific and the changing role for Australia. I wanted to get Steven’s take on recent Australian foreign policy moves, Australia’s decision to join with the UK and the United States in Aukus whereby Australia will purchase nuclear submarines and nuclear technology from the UK and the US and displace an agreement wi...

I was pleased to have John Ikenberry back in the virtual studio with us to focus in part on current American foreign policy under the Biden Administration. The immediate occasion was the recently concluded ‘Summit for Democracy’ called for by the President when he ran against then President Trump. More broadly I wanted to explore with John the rising tensions in the US-China relationship and its i...

I was excited to invite back David Victor into the virtual studio to discuss the consequences of the COP26 Glasgow Summit on climate change and whether technology is the answer to our transition to a low carbon world. David was at Glasgow and he has been a voice for the importance of technologies in the effort to transition to a low carbon emission world. David G. Victor is a global thought leader...

I was pleased to invite Valerie Karplus into the virtual studio to examine the progress towards the upcoming COP26 Glasgow Summit scheduled for November 1 -12th. Many see this Summit as the best last chance to receive national commitments (NDCs) that will achieve the 45% cut based on 2010 levels, that scientists say is needed by 2030 to limit global heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. Wil...

Susan Thornton was good enough to join me in the Virtual Studio to examine closely the US-China relationship and the rising tensions between the two over Taiwan. The podcast interview was a perfect opportunity to examine more closely with Susan the current Biden foreign policy of ‘competition without catastrophe’ with China and to assess particularly the risks of conflict between the two over Taiw...

Ryan Hass joined me in the Virtual Studio to examine closely the US-China relationship and the rising tensions between the two. The podcast interview was a perfect opportunity to examine with Ryan early Biden foreign policy from a former US foreign policy official. Ryan brings real knowledge of the current players in the Administration and insights from his focus on China and Taiwan. Ryan Hass is...

I was pleased to invite Jonathan Luckhurst into the virtual studio to examine the progress toward the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Rome that occurs and the end of October. Jonathan has long been a student of the Informals including work on the G7 and the BRICS as well as the G20. He has worked with many in the G7 and G20 Research Groups at the University of Toronto. I wanted to get Jonathan into the Stu...

It was great pleasure to bring Michael Beckley into the Virtual Studio to discuss US-China tensions and rivalry and the consequences of these tensions for the evolving global order. Michael has written a dynamic series of articles in Foreign Affairs and Foreign Policy concerned with the US, China, and US-China relations. Michael has examined the threat, or not, of Xi Jinping’s China as well assess...

The new book by Cheng Li - Middle Class Shanghai: Reshaping US-China Engagement, published by Brookings was an excellent moment to bring Cheng Li into the Virtual Studio to explore the influence on the rise of the Middle Class but particularly Shanghai’s middle class on China’s foreign policy. There was so much to ask Cheng Li about the impact of the middle class on the Party and the Government. W...

I was pleased to invite into the virtual studio Stewart Patrick to discuss the many efforts to tackle the dramatic decline in biodiversity. Today, there are many summit initiatives underway to deal with the alarming decline in biodiversity. The need to reverse the decline in biodiversity is all too apparent. Humans have already transformed more than 70 percent of the planet’s ice-free land surface...