Chain Reaction

Why does Russia play such an important role in geopolitics? If it's because of 'strength'... what does strength even mean? And why do conceptions of Russia's strength vary so extremely? Seva Gunitsky joins Aaron Schwartzbaum on this week’s Bear Market Brief podcast. Related Reading Russia is both weak and strong - that's the problem by Seva Gunitsky Get full access to FPRI Insights at fpriinsights...

How might combat collaborative aircraft be used to fight a war in Europe? Or the Indo-Pacific? To discuss these questions, and the latest from the YFQ-44A, President Aaron Stein sat down with Andrew Van Timmeren, the director of air dominance systems at Anduril Industries, about what he and the company are working on. FPRI’s new project, Behind the Front , analyzes current and future national secu...

Here on the Bear Market Brief , a lot of what we focus on is, simply put, risk: what might happen, and what might it mean? On this episode, geoeconomic and country risk expert Rachel Ziemba joins Aaron Schwartzbaum to delve in the discipline of Political Risk: how does one "do" the field? Bear Market Brief features a weekly newsletter and a monthly podcast that strives to be a resource for special...

Listen to Part 1 here. In this special two part episode of Chain Reaction , Senior Fellow Rob Lee interviews Yevgeniy Malik, a squad leader in Ukraine's 36th Marine Brigade. Malik fought in Mariupol during the beginning of the war and defended the Illich Iron and Steel Works. He spent more than two years in captivity in Russia as a prisoner of war from April 2022 to September 2024. In Part 2, Yevg...

In this special two-part episode of Chain Reaction , Senior Fellow Rob Lee interviews Yevgeniy Malik, a squad leader in Ukraine's 36th Marine Brigade. Malik fought in Mariupol during the beginning of the war and defended the Illich Iron and Steel Works. He spent more than two years in captivity in Russia as a prisoner of war from April 2022 to September 2024. During this time Malik faced daily bea...

This week technologist Joel Burke , author of the recently published Rebooting a Nation: The Incredible Rise of Estonia, E-Government and the Startup Revolution , joins Indra Ekmanis on the Baltic Ways podcast. He shares his insights on Estonia’s rise as a leader in e-government, technological exports in a globalized world, and what the US has to learn from Estonia in a moment of disruption. Balti...

Since November of last year, the small country of Georgia has seen daily protests against its increasingly authoritarian government. For over 150 straight days Georgians have been in the streets demanding that their country return to the path of European integration, and halt what they describe as its slide toward becoming a Russian client state. But the Georgian government has not budged, crackin...

In this episode of Report in Short Aaron Schwartzbaum speaks with András Tóth-Czifra about his recent report, “The Kremlin’s Balancing Act: The War’s Impact On Regional Power Dynamics . ” In the report, Tóth-Czifra explains the shift of government control, highlights instances of pushback, and identifies limitations on the Kremlin's strategy going forward. The Kremlin's centralization drive has ma...

Persistent reports indicate that the Trump Administration will de-emphasize the US commitment to European security in favor of an emphasis on defending the US homeland and shifting resources to the Indo-Pacific. This follows a long-running critique of America’s European allies for investing too little in their own defense, a critique that predates both Trump Administrations, but one that has gotte...

Ukrainians have resisted Russia’s aggression for years. Since the full-scale invasion of their country in 2022, Ukrainian women in particular have taken on important roles on the frontlines, in civil society, and at home. Gražina Bielousova ’s research examines how Ukrainian leftist feminists advocate for their causes at home and abroad, facing distinct challenges as they attempt to defend their c...

On November 1 2024, the roof of a newly €55 million renovated railway station in Novi Sad, Serbia’s second biggest city, collapsed and killed 16 people. The deaths sparked Serbia’s largest wave of student-led anti-government protests since Yugoslavia’s disintegration in 2000.Mid-March protests in Serbia saw roughly one in twenty Serbians participate. This week Mladen Mrdalj joins host Aaron Schwar...

The Trump Administration has thrown global financial markets into chaos with its massive but on-again, off-again tariffs against America's trading partners, both large and small. The White House has at times framed the tariffs as a revenue generation scheme, at other times framed them as an attempt to return manufacturing to the US, and at still other times has said they are an attempt to gain con...

This week on Chain Reaction, we feature an installment of the Baltic Ways podcast. Host Indra Ekmanis welcomes back professors Margarita Šešelgytė (Vilnius University), Daunis Auers (University of Latvia), and Andres Kasekamp (University of Toronto) for a roundtable discussion on the first two months of Donald Trump’s second term and the US administration’s impact on the Baltic countries and broad...

The two weeks after Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky’s Oval Office clash have precipitated drastic shifts in transatlantic relations and the potential trajectory of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Now a possible ceasefire is on the horizon. This week on the Bear Market Brief podcast, host Aaron Schwartzbaum and Maximilian Hess make sense of the Oval Office blow-up, discuss President Trump’s strategic...

Although NATO has survived - and even thrived - for over 75 years, its future looks more uncertain now than at perhaps any other time. The Alliance confronts not only a resurgent Russia, but serious questions over the US commitment to European security and the ability of European Allies to fill the gap a US withdrawal from Europe would leave. To discuss these and many other issues surrounding NATO...

While the military situation in Ukraine continues apace, with grinding Russian assaults gaining ground daily, but at a reduced pace and increasing rate of casualties, the diplomatic situation is changing rapidly. A flurry of US diplomatic activity aimed at ending the war has unnerved Ukrainians and America's allies, who fear the US is preparing to cut a deal with Russia over their heads. This acti...

Sometimes lost among analysis of Russian malign actions around the world - from invasions of its neighbors, to sowing chaos in democratic societies, manipulating democratic elections, and weaponizing corruption - is analysis of why Russia does what it does. In other words, what is it about the Russian model of how the world works that causes it to engage in these types of activities, and what narr...

In this episode of Report in Short, Aaron Schwartzbaum speaks with Lieutenant Colonel Denys Yurchenko , about his recent FPRI report “ Russian Strategic Culture and the War in Ukraine . " In the report, Yurchenko observes Russia's intentions through the lens of strategic culture theory and explains why understanding Russian strategic culture can help establish new policies and strategies to defeat...

This week on The Ties That Bind: NATO at 75 and Beyond: In this episode we look back at a defining year in NATO history and we look ahead to the challenges and the opportunities positioned to shape the alliance in the coming years and decades. Featured guests: * Nina Soljan , Head of NATO Affairs and Security Policy, NATO Headquarters * Susan Colbourn , Historian; Associate Director of the Program...

This week on the Bear Market Brief Where does the US stand in the world as Trump (re)assumes office? How is his approach towards Ukraine shaping up? Stephen Wertheim , Senior Fellow in the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, joins Aaron Schwartzbaum to explore the broader context and drivers of how policy towards Russia will, and will not, be made. Read S...

Rick Landgraf sits down with Representative Brendan Boyle (PA-02) to discuss the Congressman's role in the NATO Parliamentary Assembly's political committee, future challenges facing the alliance, and the relevance of NATO on a local level.  Explore from The Ties That Bind: NATO at 75 and Beyond Get full access to FPRI Insights at fpriinsights.substack.com/subscribe

Ben Gardner-Gill sits down with Lithuanian political scientist Andžej Pukšto to talk about the results of the 2024 European elections, with a focus on two Baltic members of the European Commission: Kaja Kallas of Estonia and Andrius Kubilius of Lithuania. Both former prime ministers, Kallas and Kubilius have unique challenges ahead of them as Russia’s war in Ukraine continues. Kallas will lead EU...

Between a Russian offensive and the reelection of Donald Trump, the war in Ukraine hangs in the balance. Janis Kluge joins host Aaron Schwartzbaum to explore how we got here and what might happen next. Explore more from the Bear Market Brief Get full access to FPRI Insights at fpriinsights.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode we explore the history and evolution of NATO’s relationships with its Indo-Pacific partners, the alliance’s role in the growing US-China rivalry, and look ahead to a new era of NATO engagement outside of the Atlantic in a time of increasingly interconnected global conflicts.  Featured guests: Gwendoline Vamos, Senior Officer, Asia-Pacific Global Partnerships at NATO Headquarters Ia...

This week on The Continent: FPRI's Eurasia Program Director Maia Otarashvili joins Aaron to talk through recent parliamentary election results in Georgia and delve into an interesting question: how does a broadly pro-EU, Russia-skeptical country wind up with a euroskeptic, Russia-friendly government? Get full access to FPRI Insights at fpriinsights.substack.com/subscribe