Foreign Policy Talks

In this episode, I talked to Prof. Laura Southgate, a lecturer in Politics and International Relations at Aston University, UK and an expert on Southeast Asia on the geopolitical dynamics affected by the United States election to ASEAN neutrality. Has either China or the United States won in the competition of gaining more influence in ASEAN? Is it correct to say that the ASEAN Outlook on Indo Pac...

This Foreign Policy in 5 Minutes by Willy Dwira episode covers the discussion on the largest trade pact signed on 15 November 2020 by 15 countries involving 2.2 billion people. What is the RCEP? What are the benefits of the RCEP? What are the concerns?

In this episode, I talked to Alhareth from Libya and Prathyusha from India on the challenges given by COVID-19 to the state of world’s democracy. Alhareth explores the perspective from a citizen of Libya, a country which arguably under the extreme fragile political order since it just had the transition to democracy and Prathyusha shared her thoughts on the the increasing Hindu nationalist grip on...

After Biden defeated Trump on the U.S. election, it has sparked a lot of questions afterwards. One of them is what would be the future of relationship between Indonesia and the United States? I talked to some young foreign policy enthusiasts to explore it. We also discussed the expectation on bilateral economic cooperation and the projection of dramatic shifts in the global climate change efforts....

In this special episode, I talked to Ambassador Dewi Wahab, the new Indonesian Ambassador to Denmark and Lithunia on her priorities in strengthening the Indonesia-Denmark bilateral relationship. We managed to discuss the challenges faced by both nations in terms of building a stronger economic and trade cooperation and how the COVID-19 pandemic affects the development. Moreover, as two countries e...

The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impact beyond global health. It gave us enormous political, social, economical and environmental consequences. Many assumed that during the COVID-19 time, global environment is in a better state. Is it true? How do policies imposed during this pandemic affect the global efforts in saving our environment?

There is no landslide victory for Biden, nor Trump’s severe lost for that matter. The progress has only been showing close margin that slightly in favor for Biden. Despite who will win the US presidential election, either Donald Trump or Joe Biden, here are the things that we should concern about.

This episode covers the world's current wealthiest monarch, King Maha Vajiralongkorn, the King of Thailand and the unprecedented call to reform the monarchy from his people. Another problem is that King Maha ruled the nation from Germany even during COVID-19 pandemic and only recently made his return after spending almost 6 months there. The German made some responses, concerning the problematic p...

In this episode, I talked to Prof. Mark Cogan based in Osaka, Japan on Thai’s democracy crisis and the recent escalating protests in Thailand. We discussed how significant the protests bring to the structural changes in the flawed Thai political system. How and when would we see the end of these protests?

This episode covers my conversation with Ericssen, an independent political analyst and elections expert on the upcoming U.S. election 2020. We had an interesting discussion on the U.S. election system including the differences between electoral college and popular vote. Moreover, we explored the most considerable aspects on the political minds and standings of the U.S. voters today and how likely...

Today's episode by Willy Dwira explores the foreign policy plan of Vice President Joe Biden who is competing with Trump for the US election this November. How likely he wins the election? Let's figure it out!

This episode by Birgitta Riani covers the foreign policy legacies of President Trump and also to answer what is the likelihood of Trump getting re-elected on this November election.

In this episode, I am talking to Tommy Aditya, one of Indonesian delegation to the Y20 Summit by Saudi Arabia about the messages delivered by young leaders from 20 countries to their national leaders and the challenges also opportunities of youth in post COVID-19 world. We also explore the impacts of COVID-19 on the future jobs and what skills youth must have to face this uncertain world. Check th...

This episode by Willy Dwira covers the dynamics of China's Belt and Road Initiative Deals in Italy. The deals which signed last year have some crumbles after Italy elected a new government who are harsher to China. Check this out!

This episode by Birgitta Riani covers the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s recent tour to Southeast Asia and the effects it might bring to the U.S.-China war of influence in the region. What is the purpose of this visit? Check it out!

Today’s episode by Willy Dwira will discuss the humanitarian aid shortage which brings back the threat of famine in Yemen. What has caused the humanitarian aid crisis in Yemen this year? Check this out!

In this episode, I talked to Gracia Paramitha, the co-founder of Indonesian Youth Diplomacy (IYD) on the state of global agendas in the post COVID-19 world. We explore the most important global issues to watch this year and how has COVID-19 pandemic made us forget about those issues. Moreover, we had a conversation on how to re-shape our efforts in anticipating the top global risks reported by Wor...

Today's episode by Birgitta Riani covers the discussion around the Quad, an informal strategic forum between the United States, Japan, Australia, and India. Recently, the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressed his vision to institutionalise Quad that aimed to counter China. This idea will arguably create more geopolitical dynamics in the region. So, will the Quad pose a threat towards ASEAN c...

This episode by our Thursday host, Willy Dwira is covering the recent diplomatic visit of the UK to South Korea and Vietnam. These visits are held amidst the ongoing dynamics on the UK-China relations and in an arguably shifting position of UK towards China caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Is this one of Boris's strategies to counter China?

This episode by our tuesday host, Birgitta Riani will discuss the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. This conflict is one of the world's oldest ongoing territorial disputes. Why is this conflict riskier now than it was in the past? And is this conflict just between two countries or actually there are more powers involved behind?

Thursday Episode by Willy Dwira Yudha. The recent publication of the first English-language biography of Joko Widodo titled “Man of Contradiction” raises the debate on the contradictions that surrounds Jokowi. Taking part on the debate, today’s episode would discuss about Jokowi’s Economic Ideology: The Pit Between Openness and Protectionism.

This episode will take you through the latest issue in the Korean Peninsula, which is the shooting of a South Korean official by the North Korean Military on September 24th 2020 - Tuesday Episode by Birgitta Riani

In this episode, I talked with a top career diplomat and distinguished foreign policy thinker, H.E. Dr. Hassan Wirajuda, Foreign Minister of the Republic of Indonesia (2001-2009) and member of the Indonesian Council of Presidential Advisors from 2009-2014. I asked his view on the geopolitical and geo-economical changes in the post-COVID-19 world and how should Indonesia reposition its foreign poli...

This year, ASEAN launched 2020 as a year of ASEAN Identity. ASEAN also has formulated a planned integration among its ten member nations and has challenged its citizens to embrace a regional identity. What is the importance of having ASEAN identity for ASEAN people? What is the current state of ASEAN integration and ASEAN as one community? and what are the roles of ASEAN young people in increasing...

Thousands of Thailand’s youth were rallying on the streets of Bangkok and claimed it as one of the biggest anti-governments protests in the last decades. Why are these young generations of Thai are protesting against the government? How to understand the roots of the repressive environment or lack of freedom of expression in Thailand? Furthermore, the protesters were shouting “Down with Dictatorsh...