Diplomates – A Geopolitical Chinwag

Amb. Bi-khim Hsiao is Taiwan’s diplomatic representative to the United States. Bi-khim is a decorated Taiwanese politician, having served twice in Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan (Taiwan’s lower house) as an elective representative of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). She is a passionate advocate for a peaceful and open Indo-Pacific as well as a defender of democracy at home and...

Merry Christmas Diplomates fans!  It’s the Christmas Chinwag special with Hagar Chemali.   Thanks for all your feedback so far on this new format. We love that you love it! Or that you at least love Hagar. Please rate and review the show.    We’ve got a HUGE interview set for January, so keep your eyes peeled for it!   In this episode we talk:   Democ...

Brilliant news Diplomates fans, we've got more great foreign policy content for you as promised! Welcome to the Chinwag Episodes! We are pleased to announce Hagar Chemali as our second Chinwagger! Hagar will join Misha for a monthly chinwag. The Chinwag episodes will be shorter and more focused on what's happening around the world of foreign policy. Be sure to send your questions in if you've...

Dr. Claire Wardle is a leading expert on social media, user generated content, and verification. Her research sits at the intersection of technology, communications theory, and mass and social media. Dr. Wardle is the co-founder and leader of First Draft the world’s foremost nonprofit focused on research and practice to address misinformation and disinformation. First Draft is housed at the...

Dr. Thomas Mahnken is President and CEO of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. He currently serves as a member of the Congressionally-mandated National Defense Strategy Commission and as a member of the Board of Visitors of Marine Corps University.    His career in defence is extensive and includes service as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Policy Planning.&nbsp...

Ben Rhodes was the Deputy National Security Advisor for President Barack Obama.   A foreign policy expert, he is the host of ‘Pod Save The World’ and appears on MSNBC. His latest book ‘After the Fall: Being American in the World We've Made’ is a study of the rising tide of global authoritarianism, exploring why democracy did not prevail as expected after the fall of th...

Nathan Law is a young Hong Kong democracy activist, currently in exile in London.    A key figure in the Umbrella Movement in 2014, Nathan and other student leaders founded the pro-democracy Demosistō party in 2016. Nathan then became the youngest Legislative Councillor in history, but his election was overturned on spurious grounds by the Chinese Communist Party. He was later jaile...

Rob Wilcox is the Federal Legal Director at ‘Everytown for Gun Safety’, the leading gun safety movement in the United States. A qualified commercial lawyer, Rob’s life changed forever when his family was tragically touched by gun violence.  Misha Zelinsky caught up with Rob for a Chinwag about the US gun violence epidemic, the political polarisation underpinning this issue, what sensible reform lo...

Luke de Pulford is a global human rights campaigner, particularly in the areas of  modern slavery  and  human rights abuses in China   He is a co-founder of the  Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China  and the creator of ‘Arise’ an anti-slavery charity.   Luke sits as a Commissioner on the  Conservative Party Human Rights Commission  and advises the  World Uyghur Congress . In 2020 he was awarded t...

Chris Pyne was the Federal Member for Sturt for 26 years. He was Leader of the House and held a number of senior Cabinet ministries, including that of defence. Pyne's autobiography ‘The Insider’ is a fantastic account of life in the Canberra Bubble but also a deep dive into serious public policy and defence policy in particular.  Misha Zelinsky caught up with Chris for a chinwag about his career i...

Malcolm Turnbull was Australia’s 29th Prime Minister.  Before entering Federal Parliament, Malcolm had a distinguished career as a Rhodes Scholar, in law, media, tech, finance and public advocacy. He’s the author of several books, including his autobiography ‘A Bigger Picture’. Misha Zelinsky caught up with Malcolm Turnbull for a chinwag about his famous Spycatcher trial against the Thatcher Gover...

Clare O’Neil is the Labor Shadow Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services. A qualified lawyer with a background in business consulting, Clare is a Fulbright Scholar and a graduate from the John F Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.  Misha and Clare caught up for a chinwag about how we can make working work for people, why we need to rediscover class in our political d...

Nicole Hemmer is an associate research scholar at Columbia University. A prominent American historian, she is the author of Messengers of the Right: Conservative Media and the Transformation of American Politics. She is a columnist for CNN as well as the host of the podcast ‘Past Present’ and ‘This Day in Esoteric Political History’. Misha Zelinsky caught up with Nicole for a chinwag about the sho...

Professor Rory Medcalf is Head of the National Security College at the Australian National University.  A journalist, intelligence agency analyst, diplomat, academic and thinker - Rory is one of the world’s leading experts on geopolitical strategy and his work has contributed to recent Australian government defence policy including the Defence Whit Paper of 2016.  Rory is recognised as a thought l...

Ambassador Frank Lavin has been a fixture in Republican politics for the last 40 years. He worked for President Reagan as his head of politics, advised President George H.W. Bush and under President George W Bush, he was appointed US Ambassador to Singapore in 2001. A prolific author for global publications, Frank had a second career in Asian finance and is now CEO and founder of ‘Export Now’. A p...

Eric Schultz, is the founder of the Schultz Group and is currently a senior advisor to former President Barack Obama. He served in the White House as the Principal Deputy Press Secretary and Special Assistant to the president.  Recognized by Politico as the strategist “White House officials turn to in a crisis to handle communications,” Schultz advised the president, spoke on behalf of the Adminis...

Richard is the Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Labor’s Shadow Minister for Defence.  Misha Zelinsky caught up with Richard Marles for a chinwag about how COVID-19 has accelerated history’s timeline, the rising tensions in the Indo-Pacific, why the US is still a force for a good in the world, how Australia’s record defence procurement program can rebuild our manufacturing sector, the choices fa...

Laura Rosenberger is the director of the Alliance for Securing Democracy and a senior fellow at The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF). Laura is a global expert in foreign interference and misinformation campaigns.  Before she joined GMF, Laura was foreign policy advisor for Hillary for America where she coordinated national security and strategy for Secretary Clinton.  I caught up wi...

Mike Murphy is a legendary political consultant and one of the Republican Party's most successful ever campaigners.  Mike has handled media and strategy for more than 26 successful Republican campaigns including Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney and Arnold Schwarzenegger as well as leading John McCain's historic presidential race in 2000. Mike has advised political leaders all over the world. Mike is a promin...

This is a special content episode! Senator Kristina Keneally is the Shadow Minister for Home Affairs and Immigration and Citizenship. Senator Keneally is Labor's deputy leader in the Senate and also served as the first female premier of NSW. Misha Zelinsky and Senator Keneally appeared as guests on a NSW Young Labor panel session discussing the future of immigration and trade in a post COVID-19 wo...

Tarun Chhabra is a fellow at the Brookings Institution, and also with the Center for Security and Emerging Technology at Georgetown University. His current research focuses on U.S. grand strategy, U.S.-China relations, and U.S. alliances. Tarun is a global expert on the implications of China’s growing political and international influence. A Harvard, Oxford and Stanford graduate, Tarun has served...

Professor Ross Garnaut is one of Australia’s most distinguished economists and a global expert on climate change, trade, and energy policy. He was Prime Minister Bob Hawke’s principal economic advisor and was Australia’s Ambassador to China. He’s lead many government reviews, including the seminal though ill-fated Garnaut Climate Change Review into carbon emission reduction for the then Rudd Gover...

Richard McGregor is an internationally recognised expert on the Chinese political system and a senior fellow at the Lowy Institute. McGregor’s book, The Party, on the inner-workings of the Chinese Communist Party is considered the pre-eminent text for understanding the CCP and was called a “masterpiece” by The Economist and a must read” by the Washington Post. A former Bureau Chief for the Financi...

Dr Alexandra Phelan is a faculty member at the Center for Global Health Science & Security at Georgetown University School of Medicine, and Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center. A global expert in pandemics, Misha Zelinsky caught up with Alex to talk about all things related to COVID-19, including the nature of the threat we face from the virus, the challenges coordinat...

Dr Michael Fullilove is the Executive Director of the Lowy Institute. An adviser to Prime Minister Paul Keating, Rhodes Scholar and renowned foreign affairs expert, Dr Fullilove is a widely published author and a much sought after global commentator. Misha Zelinsky caught up with Michael Fullilove for a chinwag about how Australia should interact with a rising China under Xi Jinping, the madness o...