Danube Institute Podcast

Will Romania ever grant autonomy to Szeklerland? Why does Romania consider Russia an imminent threat to Europe’s security? Why do Hungary and Romania view Ukraine’s possible EU membership from different angles? We asked a Romanian foreign policy analyst and former presidential adviser about Hungarian-Romanian relations and the Russian threat. The Danube Lectures is a video podcast of the Danube In...

Inflation is a game we play with ourselves – and we always lose it. In a fiat money environment, for the system to work long term – then money has to keep the value it had when we earned and saved it. If its value declines, then we end up in a world of hard-to-notice theft. Savers are robbed. Asset owners rewarded more than their fair share. Banks lose the trust of their customers – and vice versa...

What is the significance of the Tusványos Fest? Howcan it be a catalyst for Hungarian-Romanian dialogue? Is Hungary's policytoward Ukraine effective? Can Hungary remain a friend of the US, Russia, andChina simultaneously?   We asked the President of the Committee for ForeignAffairs in the Hungarian Parliament about Hungary's regional and geopoliticalchallenges.   The Danube Lectures is a v...

Will Russia listen to Donald Trump's 50-day ultimatum? What burdens transatlantic relations? Are the Hungarian government's arguments on Ukraine reasonable? What's the current political landscape in Poland? We asked Liliana Śmiech, Director General for International Affairs at the University of Public Service, Hungary, about the geopolitical challenges of Europe. The Danube Lectures is...

What comes after the decline of the rule-based world order? What is the geopolitical weight of Europe? Is there any role for Christianity left in modern politics? We asked Timothy W. Burns, a professor of political science at Baylor University, about the crisis of Western civilization and the intellectual legacy of the West. The Danube Lectures is a video podcast of the Danube Institute, a Budapes...

John O’Sullivan, the President of the Danube Institute, our leading thinkers and guest expert Michael Doran — Director and Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute’s Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East — discuss the prospects for lasting peace in the Middle East. The panel explores the region’s shifting alliances, the impact of Trump-era policies, and whether U.S. intervention can reshap...

Is there a chance that Israeli casus belli (Iran was close to building nuclear weapons) was false? What's the purpose of military action: eliminating the nuclear threat or toppling the ayatollah regime? Is creating a peaceful Middle East a realistic idea? We spoke with Maya Kadosh, the Israeli Ambassador to Hungary, about the Israeli-Iranian war. The Danube Lectures is a video podcast of the D...

Dr John Pang is Senior Fellow at The Belt and Road Initiative Caucus for Asia Pacific. He's one of China's leading experts on Western political philosophy. In that sense, he sees Liberalism as the Chinese do: as a curiously Western product, with its own idiosyncrasies. Rather than how it is seen in the West: as the universal currency of political philosophy, a levelling force with an inevi...

In January of 2023, Florida’s governor Ron DeSantis announced six additions to the board of New College, a small liberal arts school in Sarasota.  In a just world, this should not have been a story.  But it was. Because, instead of appointing six liberal progressives, as had somehow seemed a constitutional duty for most colleges for most of the last 40 years, DeSantis instead appointed six conserv...

Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull has been at the forefront of trans-exclusionary women's rights for a decade. She is the founder of Let Women Speak, and, in 2018, began a poster campaign involving the slogan “Adult Human Female”. The seemingly innocuous definition of ‘a woman’ became a flashpoint for transgenderist activists in the UK. In 2021, she began a hugely controversial speaking tour of the Ant...

Metaphysics is back.  That’s the word from Nathan Levine, author of the hugely popular Substack, The Upheaval, and a Visiting Fellow at the Danube Institute.  Nathan is one of the most crisp thinkers in meta-politics today, and here he goes into depth with the DI’s Head of Research, Calum Nicholson. on what we can expect, as the old structures, the liberal order that has presided since 1945, begin...

Can India become a similar global player to China one day? Can it be a power for counterbalancing China? In which sectors is India already a leading power? And is its neutrality on world conflicts and its political parallelism sustainable? We spoke with Dr. Saroj Bishoyi, a Senior Fellow at the Vivekananda International Foundation, who delivered a lecture at the MCC Budapest Summit on Technology a...

When Benjamin Netanyahu flew into Budapest in April 2025, he triggered a political earthquake. Wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes in Gaza, the Israeli Prime Minister risked arrest in nearly every European capital. Yet here he was warmly welcomed: the red carpets rolled out, and within days, Hungary announced it would leave the ICC altogether, calling it a “political...

What does Budapest reveal about Europe’s past—and its possible future? And can the continent recover a sense of political seriousness before the next crisis hits? In this episode of The View From The Danube, Rod Dreher is joined by Matthew Goodwin, British political scientist and author; István Kiss, Executive Director of the Danube Institute; and Michael O’Shea, visiting...

What were the major factors that could allow the Trump campaign to win the 2024 presidential election? What mistakes did the Democrats make to become disconnected from reality? And what is the significance of CPAC? We asked Sean Nottoli, a campaign manager from the former Trump team and a visiting fellow at the Danube Institute. The Danube Lectures is a video podcast of the Danube Institute, a Bud...

In the race for the presidency, a right wing candidate faces off against the mayor of the country’s largest city.   In a rising country, the battle is between two identities: the global, liberal one. Versus a national conservative vision.   As with Romania, so now with Poland.  On Sunday June the first, Eastern Europe’s new powerhouse will decide its destiny.   Will Poland’s next President be the...

The battle against ‘progressive education’ is always ongoing. This week in Britain, Michael Gove’s successor as Education Secretary, Bridget Philipson, introduced a bill that will take British education back, to a decolonised, knowledge-light world that “centres the learners”, as the jargon goes.  Gove had established a more rigorous, conservative curriculum. It had proved astoundingly successful...

Is IMEC simply an anti-Belt and Road Initiative project, or something more? What can the economic and geopolitical benefits be for the US? Can America reclaim global leadership through soft power ? We spoke with Daniel F. Runde, the director of the Project on Prosperity and Development at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Danube Lectures is a video podcast of the Danube Institute...

As the Conclave begins to elect a new spiritual leader to a billion Catholics, Rod Dreher finds himself looking towards the deeper meaning and purpose of the Papacy, the Church, and religion, in a secular world. Do Catholics need a moderniser, or a traditionalist? Constancy, or renewal? The theme mirrors the great secular debate between populism and the establishment. How much do we need our leade...

What world order will emerge after the decline of American hegemony? What is China's big strategy, its foreign policy plan? Why is Hungary significant to China? We asked Yan Xuetong, a prominent Chinese foreign policy expert and the Director of The Institute of International Studies at Tsinghua University. Danube Lectures is a video podcast of the Danube Institute, a Budapest-based conservativ...

What is the geopolitical significance of Central Asia? Why did Turkic states form a regional organization? And what is Hungary’s role in it? We spoke with Kubanychbek Omuraliev, the Secretary General of the Organization of Turkic States about national identity, economic interests, and connectivity. The Danube Lectures is a video podcast of the Danube Institute, a Budapest-based conservative think...

The new Syrian administration began life with supreme tactical daring. But it will take more than military prowess to hold together this fractured state. To keep together a tapestry of Alawites, Kurds, Yazidis, Druze and others, it will require a grand pax between the region's biggest players. Hungary claims a certain status as a 'keystone state' in central Europe. In other words: a co...

Hugo Martin wants to turn Hungary into a linguistic superpower. Inspired by Balázs Orbán’s state strategy of ‘connectivity’, he foresees Hungary using its central place in Europe to leverage language-learning. He proposes creating a specialised diplomatic corps, to make Hungarians fluent in obscure languages and dialects, giving the country a prime advantage in small or obscure foreign markets tha...

How was Donald Trump's vice president discovered in 2016? Why did JD Vance go from critic to Trump supporter, and what led him into politics? We asked Rod Dreher, a senior fellow at the Danube Institute, about American conservatives' antipathy towards the EU elite, the threat of soft totalitarianism, and the film based on his book. The Danube Lectures is a video podcast of the Danube Institute, a...

In an environment of low interest rates and low returns, private equity was advertised as a clever means to increase returns in a difficulty investment environment. Private equity allows investors to get access to assets that are not traded on the public markets and so, in theory, can offer them exclusive, higher returns. But the private equity structure also risks that a lack of transparency can...