Coffee & Conflict

Today on Coffee & Conflict, Joshua Huminski is joined by Anthony Vinci, author of The Fourth Intelligence Revolution: The Future of Espionage and the Battle to Save America , to examine how intelligence has moved from a government function to something that now permeates everyday life. Vinci traces the evolution from earlier intelligence eras to what he describes as a fourth revolution, where...

Today on Coffee & Conflict, Joshua Huminski is joined by Madeline Hart, co-author of Mobilize: How to Reboot the American Industrial Base and Stop World War III, to examine the argument that the United States is already in a kind of undeclared emergency and whether its defense industrial base is prepared for what comes next. Hart traces how the U.S. moved from a system that once powered wartim...

Today on Coffee & Conflict, Joshua Huminski is joined by Seth G. Jones, author of The American Edge: The Military Tech Nexus and the Sources of Great Power Dominance, to examine whether the United States is prepared for an era of renewed great-power competition. Jones explains how military dominance has historically depended on the relationship between technological innovation and industrial c...

Today on Coffee & Conflict, Joshua Huminski is joined by Anna Arutunyan, author of Rebel Russia: Dissent and Protest from the Tsars to Navalny , to explore Russian history through the lens of rebellion and dissent. Arutunyan traces the recurring dance between rebels and rulers—from the Tsars to the Soviet era to the present—and explains why uprisings so often appear to fail, yet still leave la...

Season 2 Episode 5 - How the United States Would Fight China: The Risks of Pursuing a Rapid Victory with Franz-Stefan Gady Today on Coffee & Conflict, Joshua Huminski is joined by Franz-Stefan Gady, author of How the United States Would Fight China: The Risks of Pursuing a Rapid Victory , to examine how Washington imagines a future conflict with the People’s Republic of China—and why those ass...

Today on Coffee & Conflict, Joshua Huminski is joined by Emma Ashford, author of First Among Equals: U.S. Foreign Policy in a Multipolar World , to unpack what it means for the United States to operate in an international system it no longer dominates alone. Ashford traces how post–Cold War triumphalism gave way to today’s multipolar reality, explains when the U.S. unipolar moment truly began...

Starting off the year with a nuclear bang, Joshua Huminski is joined by Ankit Panda, author of The New Nuclear Age: At the Precipice of Armageddon , to unpack why nuclear weapons are once again at the center of global statecraft—and why today’s risks don’t map neatly onto the Cold War playbook. Panda explains what defines this new nuclear age, how a more crowded and technologically complex nuclear...

Season 2 Episode 2 - Homo Criminalis: How Crime Organises the World with Mark Galeotti Today on Coffee & Conflict, Joshua Huminski is joined by Mark Galeotti, author of Homo Criminalis: How Crime Organises the World, to examine how organised crime shapes, and is shaped by,  the modern state. Galeotti unpacks what “organised crime” actually is, why the boundary between the “upper world” an...

Today on Coffee & Conflict, Joshua Huminski is joined by Dr. Matthew Ford to explore the ideas behind War in the Smartphone Age and what it means for how we understand and fight modern wars. Ford breaks down how smartphones and the digital “stack” have reshaped power on today’s battlefields, from Ukraine to Gaza, and how constant connectivity blurs the line between combatant and observer. He e...

Today on Coffee & Conflict , Joshua Huminski speaks with General H.R. McMaster (ret.) about the emerging axis of aggressors—Russia, China, and others—and what their coordinated challenges mean for American power and global stability. They discuss how these regimes are pushing for a return to a multipolar world, exploiting perceptions of American weakness, and contesting U.S. leadership. He als...

Today on Coffee & Conflict , Joshua Huminski is joined by Sherri Goodman, former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Environmental Security and expert on climate and national security, to discuss her work exploring climate change as a "threat multiplier." Goodman shares insights from her career and explores how climate and environmental challenges increasingly shape U.S. military strategy and...

Today on Coffee & Conflict, Joshua Huminski speaks with Kathleen McInnis, Director, Smart Women, Smart Power Initiative and Senior Fellow, Defense and Security Department at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, about how her debut novel pulls back the curtain on the Pentagon—one of the most powerful yet misunderstood institutions in U.S. national security. Drawing from her backg...

Today on Coffee & Conflict, Joshua Huminski sits down with Bruce Hoffman and Jacob Ware, authors of God, Guns, and Sedition, to delve into the rise of far-right terrorism in America and its threat to democracy. They explore how conspiracy theories, white supremacism, and hostility to government have fueled a violent extremist movement, culminating in attacks like the Charleston church shooting...

Today on Coffee & Conflict , Joshua Huminski sits down with Keir Giles, author of Who Will Defend Europe? , to tackle Europe’s defense dilemma in a world marked by resurgent threats. They discuss why Europe’s decades-long reliance on the United States has left it vulnerable, and why, with a distracted and divided America, the continent must rethink its approach to security. Giles unpacks NATO’...

Today on Coffee & Conflict , Joshua Huminski speaks with Richard Fontaine, CEO of the Center for a New American Security, about his book The U.S. Pivot to Asia and the Rise of Chinese Power. They dive into the historic shift in U.S. foreign policy toward Asia, and evaluate its successes and shortcomings more than a decade later. They also explore why the Indo-Pacific is now central to global p...

Today on Coffee & Conflict , Joshua Huminski speaks with Mark Galeotti and Anna Aruntunyan about their new book Downfall: Prigozhin, Putin, and the New Future of Russia. They examine the rise and fall of Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner Group, his failed coup against Putin, and his mysterious death in a plane crash. Through in-depth research, they explore Prigozhin's criminal past, his...

Today on Coffee & Conflict, Joshua Huminski is joined by Major General Mick Ryan (Ret’d) AM, Senior Fellow at the Lowy Institute, to discuss his new book, The War for Ukraine: Strategy and Adaptation Under Fire . Ryan argues that the Russia-Ukraine war highlights the crucial role of sound strategy and adaptability in determining military success. He emphasizes how both nations’ pre-war reforms...

Episode 1: World on the Brink with Dmitri Alperovitch Today on Coffee & Conflict, Joshua Huminski is joined by Dmitri Alperovitch, NSI Advisory Board member and Chairman of the Silverado Policy Accelerator, to discuss his new book, World on the Brink : How America Can Beat China in the Race for the Twenty-First Century . Alperovitch argues that the U.S. is already in a new Cold War with China,...

Check out a preview from the first episode of NSI's latest podcast Coffee and Conflict. The clip features Dmitri Alperovitch, Chairman of the Silverado Policy Accelerator and NSI Advisory Board member, discussing his latest book, World on the Brink: How America Can Beat China in the Race for the Twenty-First Century. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.