Global I.Q. Podcast

Cyberspace is like the Wild West – a vast and lawless land. Both cyber warfare and cyberweapons have been used in the Russo-Ukrainian war. Rapid technology advancement and global dynamics challenge governments to protect military and critical infrastructures. Can the 2024 U.S. election occur without interference? Cyber expert Christopher Whyte joins us this January as we kick off our annual Intern...

Since Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin have been in power, Russia and China have been each other’s biggest cheerleaders. Director of China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies Bonny Lin notes that “the bond has been decades in the making, but Russia’s war in Ukraine has tightened their embrace.” Leading the BRIC alliance (Brazil, Russia, India, and China), they see the...

In 2023, 39.1% of all U.S. businesses were owned by female entrepreneurs. The number of women elected in congressional leadership has increased by 15% in the past 20 years. Today, women make up 28% of the 118th U.S. congress. That said, of the 193 member states of the United Nations, only 13 of those leaders are women. There is still much work to be done. Join the Council and Texas Woman’s Univers...

“America’s secret weapon is a blue note in a minor key,” proclaimed the New York Times. In the late 1950’s, President Eisenhower looked to fight the Cold War using the cool weapon of jazz. The State Department hoped that showcasing popular American music around the globe would not only introduce audiences to American culture, but also win them over as ideological allies in the cold war. Jazz, stru...

War is catastrophic for nations and can bring businesses to a complete halt. When Russia attacked Ukraine, U.S. companies such as McDonald’s and Starbucks closed their stores. Millions of dollars of Ukraine’s infrastructure has been destroyed. War’s cost can be simplified into three parts: the opportunity cost of resources, the destruction of physical and human capital, and the reduction of GDP. H...

Part of the Dialogues for Democracy Series Forty countries will hold major elections in 2024, including Taiwan, Russia, Mexico, and the U.S. As technology “improves” and cyber-attacks become more difficult to predict, elections have become more susceptible to meddling. At the same time, social media has transformed our news consumption – and it’s harder than ever to decipher what is real and trust...

Even though globalization has become a negative concept for some, the reality is that there is no going back. While the politics of globalization are debated, Professor Małgorzata Zachara-Szymańska says, “All social organizations have ‘gone global’ within the last several decades; they are more interconnected and more dependent on global processes, so the question of effective leadership strategie...

ABOUT THE SPEAKER General David Petraeus, U.S. Army (Ret.) served as director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 2011-2012 and as commander of U.S. Central Command from 2008-2010. His highly decorated 37-year military career included combat commanderships of the Surge in Iraq and the U.S./Coalition Forces in Afghanistan. He established the KKR Global Institute in 2013 and is a partner with th...

ABOUT THE PANELISTS: Sam Brownback currently serves as co-chair of the International Religious Freedom Summit, is a senior fellow at Global Christian Relief, and is chairman of the National Committee for Religious Freedom. While serving as ambassador-at-large for International Religious Freedom under the Trump Administration from 2018 until 2021, Brownback focused on highlighting cases of religiou...

In this year’s Gail Koppman History Lecture Series, the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) Summit just a few weeks ago revealed the ever-growing presence of nonwestern nations arraying themselves against NATO and the West. The BRICS nations share one common concern: U.S. sanctions on global trade and investment. New alliances and old enemies make understanding U.S. foreign poli...

ABOUT THE AMBASSADOR His Excellency, Jean-Arthur Regibeau, Belgian Ambassador to the United States The Ambassador represents His Majesty The King of the Belgians and Belgium’s federal government in the United States of America and in the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. He is responsible for the direction and work of the Embassy and its Consulates, including bilateral political and economic relations,...

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Kevin Cassidy is currently the director and representative to the Bretton Woods and Multilateral Organizations for the International Labour Organization (ILO) Office for the U.S. Prior to his appointment, Cassidy served as the senior communications and economic and social affairs officer for 11 years in the ILO office for the United Nations with additional responsibility for partnerships in North...

Each year, The Economist publishes “The World Ahead” series: an informed prediction of the major themes that will dominate the coming year. Spanning topics from politics to technology to sociology and more, this series edited by Tom Standage is as ambitious as it is awe-inspiring. On December 8, Standage rejoins the Council to discuss his publication’s analysis for 2024. “The World Ahead” is one o...

Boston College Professor of History Heather Cox Richardson supplies her 1.2 million Substack subscribers with her interpretation of history and current events in her daily newsletter called Letters from an American. In her new book Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America, Richardson argues that “America is at a crossroads. A country that once stood as the global symbol of democracy has...

Soft power – the ability to shape the preferences and behaviors of others through attraction and persuasion, rather than coercion, holds a significant place in today’s global landscape. Through a seemingly innocuous sport, the U.S. and China were able to thaw icy relations in the 1970s - “ping-pong diplomacy” - showcasing how cultural exchanges can bridge political divides. Korea has captured inte...

“To deeply know and understand others is a way of life,” observes New York Times bestselling author David Brooks in his upcoming book, How to Know a Person. Drawing on insights from psychology, neuroscience, theater, philosophy, history, and education, Brooks presents a comprehensive approach to fostering meaningful human connections that prioritize empathy and understanding. USA Today said, “Orig...

Congressman Colin Allred is currently serving his third term as the U.S. Representative for Texas’ 32nd Congressional District. Allred was born and raised in North Dallas where he was class president of Hillcrest High School and earned a full-ride football scholarship to Baylor University. He deferred his acceptance to law school to play in the NFL for the Tennessee Titans, where he was a lineback...

In 2018 word broke out that Alphabet Inc’s Google, reacting to employee outrage, would not renew its contract with the Pentagon for Project Maven. Project Maven involved AI analysis of aerial drone imagery and Google employees claimed this association with warfare violated their “do no harm” principle. Autonomous weapons expert Paul Scharre reports on the struggle to control AI in his new book Fou...

Every year the U.S. Department of State International Women of Courage (IWOC) Award recognizes women from across the globe who have demonstrated exceptional courage while advocating for everything from world peace to human rights. They bring great empowerment to women and girls, but often with personal risks and sacrifices. While the names of the awardees are kept confidential until just before th...

President & CEO of the Council on Foreign Relations Richard Haass joins the Council to discuss his latest publication The Bill of Obligations: The Ten Habits of Good Citizens. Haass argues that good citizenship is not only a right, but also a duty, and that individuals must actively participate in the democratic process in order to maintain a healthy and functioning democracy. Join us for this tho...

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Isabel Wilkerson argues in her best-seller Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents that race in America can be compared to the caste systems of India and Nazi Germany. The New York Times called the book “an instant American classic.” Her 2010 best-seller, The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration, was based on more than a thousand intervi...

The Honorable Mike Pompeo is the 70th Secretary of State (2018-2021). Previously, he served as the Director of the CIA from 2017-2018. Pompeo graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1986, and after leaving active duty received a law degree from Harvard Law school. He began his legal career in 1998, and later turned to entrepreneurship in aerospace and oil, funding Thayer Aerospace, wh...

In 2019, Marie Yovanovitch was serving as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. A seasoned diplomat, Yovanovitch watched the 1993 constitutional crisis and street fighting in Russia. For years, she witnessed Putin’s election meddling, cyberattacks, and vast misinformation in Ukraine. Yet, upon president Volodymyr Zelenskyy being democratically elected, then-President Trump suddenly recalled her from her pos...

Each year, The Economist publishes “The World Ahead” series: an informed prediction of the major themes that will dominate the coming year. Spanning topics from politics to technology to sociology and more, this series edited by Tom Standage is as ambitious as it is awe-inspiring. On December 14, Standage rejoins the Council to discuss his publication’s analysis for 2023. "The World Ahead" is one...