Kellogg's Global Politics

On this episode, we begin with some short updates on the situation in Ukraine and Israel. We also discuss the US House vote on TikTok and whether the social media platform is a propaganda tool of the CCP.  We then take a deep dive into life in the UK after Brexit. Were promises kept and who is better off?  Finally, we look at the extraordinary story of Poland’s democratic revival and examine its b...

On this episode, we are talking about several big wins for Putin over the past week, including Navalyny’s demise, the opportunity to spread his propaganda to Western audiences through Tucker Carlson, and Russia’s solid economic growth.  Another big win for Putin is Trump’s threats to withdraw from NATO by not respecting our treaty commitments were he to become the US’s next president.  The news ke...

Welcome to a New Year and a new season of Kellogg’s Global Politics! As funding for Ukraine has been held up by negotiations on the US Border Crisis, we take a deep dive into the recent history and the current status of immigration to the United States through its Southern border..  We then turn to the Middle East and concerns over the increase in military violence throughout the region and the im...

There have been several big stories since we last recorded. We begin with Ukraine and the fight over continued aid and military support in the U.S. Congress.  T hen, tensions have been heating up between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea. What does this mean for the U.S.? Tensions are also rising in South America over a territorial dispute between Venezuela and Guyana. Will the U.S....

Recent headlines have been focused on the Xi-Biden meeting at APEC in San Francisco this week. We talk about what happened and the implications for the future of U.S.-China relations. But first, we discuss the Israel-Hamas war, now in its sixth week of fighting. Can Israeli military actions achieve their objectives of destroying Hamas and recovering the more than 200 hostages? Are they doing enoug...

Last week, shortly before we recorded our episode, we woke up to the news of the Hamas attack on Israel. Very little was known at the time, and so we kept our reactions brief. We felt the need to go deeper into this significant conflict, however, and decided to record an episode just on the Israel-Hamas war. We hope this brings you greater insight into this terrible event in a very complicated reg...

On this episode, Anita interviews Dr. Carla Freeman, a senior expert on China at the United States Institute of Peace. They discuss a wide range of issues, including what has been accomplished through the flurry of high-level diplomatic talks between the U.S. and China and whether there will be a Biden-Xi meeting at APEC in California next month. They also talk about the importance of the U.N. and...

On this episode, we begin by exploring the future of the Wagner group given the death of its leader, Prighozin. We also look at the slow progress of Ukraine’s counteroffensive and whether the conflict is headed towards a stalemate. Then, have we reached peak China? We discuss the causes and implications of China’s weakening economy. Finally, we explain what is so concerning about Republican Presid...

On this episode, we begin with an update on Ukraine’s counteroffensive and its slow but steady progress to take back territory from Russia. We then discuss the Niger coup, delving into what happened, the impact on US foreign policy, and the expansion of Wagner and Russian influence in Africa. Finally, we look at Israel’s democratic crisis with recent passing of legislation that limits judicial ove...

On this episode, Anita speaks with Daniel Hamilton, a Non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and a Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute of Johns Hopkins University SAIS. He is also the President of the Transatlantic Leadership Network and a former senior State Department official. We discuss the ups and downs of the Transatlantic Alliance and how the war in Ukraine and st...

On this episode, I speak with Deborah Larson, a research professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. As a former student of hers, while undertaking my Ph. D. at UCLA, I found her research on Russia’s leaders very insightful. More recently, she has been writing about the China - Russia relationship, which we discuss. In particular, we look at what China gets from the relationship, how f...

On this episode, Anita interviews Dawn Murphy, an Associate Professor of National Security Strategy at the US National War College, specializing in research on China and the Global South. We talk about China’s Belt and Road Project, its relationships in the Middle East, and China’s use of multilateral organizations. We begin the episode by discussing the recent Turkish elections, where hopes were...

On this episode, we begin with South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol’s 6-day state visit to the United States. South Koreans have become increasingly concerned about the nuclear threat from North Korea. We discuss if South Korea got the security guarantees they desired. We also look at other key issues in the US-South Korea relationship. Fierce fighting in Sudan has been capturing headlines. But w...

On this episode, Anita speaks with Bates Gill, the Executive Director of the Center for China Analysis with the Asia Society Policy Institute. We discuss the troubling aspects of China’s military modernization, the rise of military-industrial technocrats to leadership positions in the Communist Party, and the importance of understanding China from the inside out. We begin the show with an update o...

On this episode, we begin by discussing China’s diplomatic blitz, having brokered a deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran to resume diplomacy and Xi’s visit to Russia to meet with Putin and promote its 12-point peace plan for the Russia-Ukraine war. We move on to the elections in Africa’s largest democracy, Nigeria, and what the controversial elections say about the state of democracy in the country....

On this episode, Anita speaks with David Maxwell, a retired US Army Special Forces Colonel, a Senior Advisor to the Center for Asia Pacific Strategy, and a Senior Fellow at the Global Peace Foundation. We talk about the various ways North Korea presents a national security threat to the United States that goes beyond its nuclear weapons program. We also discuss resetting the goal to place unificat...

On this episode, Anita speaks with Bonnie Glaser, who is the managing director of the German Marshall Fund's Indo-Pacific program. Our conversation is all about China as we discuss spy balloons, Taiwan, and the conditions that might spark China to risk war with the United States. We begin the show with the latest updates on the Russia-Ukraine war.  Ryan explains the conspiracy theory that pos...

W e begin with the latest updates on the Russia-Ukraine War and how Russia’s sheer numbers in manpower might help it regain momentum. We also discuss the debate over whether the US should support a Ukrainian offense in Crimea and why Western sanctions on Russia have had an underwhelming effect on the Russian economy and its ability to wage war. One of the biggest stories in the US this week was th...

On this episode, Anita spoke with Jonathan Fulton, a Professor at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi and a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. We discussed China’s relationships in the Middle East and how they go beyond seeing the region as a source of cheap oil. We also talk about the latest updates on the Russia-Ukraine war, including the flow of Western military equipment into Ukraine and Germany...

On this episode, as we begin to record, we find out the breaking news about Pro-Bolsonaro’s supporters breaking into government buildings, including the Supreme Court, the Presidential Palace, and Congress, in a clear echo of the US’s January 6th. We continue our conversation on the latest updates on the Russia-Ukraine war, including the significance of the continuing battle for Bakmut, increasing...

Today we are celebrating an important milestone for the podcast: our 25th episode. We thank all of our listeners for their support and hope that you continue to enjoy the show. On this episode, Anita talks with Emma Ashford, a senior fellow with the Reimagining US Grand Strategy program at the Stimson Center. We talk about her new book: Oil, the State, and War: The foreign policies of petrostates....

In this episode, Anita talks with Jason Hsu, chairman and CIO of Rayliant Global Advisors (RGA), a global investment management group that specializes in the Chinese market. We discuss the tradeoffs between investing in China and preserving the national security of Americans. Jason also shares his views on why he believes the U.S. will continue to out-innovate China. We also cover the latest on th...

In this episode, Anita talks with Sarah Bauerle Danzman of Indiana University, Bloomington. We discuss the Biden administration’s latest actions on preventing the transfer of intellectual property to China and creating high-paying union jobs at home.  We also dive into the latest on the Russia-Ukraine war and the missile that crossed into Poland, killing two people. Finally, we discuss the rise of...

In this episode, Anita interviews renowned China expert Dr. Shaun Breslin of Warwick University. We discuss the worrisome aspects of Xi’s consolidation of power. We also consider whether some of the rhetoric that perceives all Chinese activities as being a national security threat has gone too far. We begin the episode by assessing the surprising midterm results and what they suggest for the futur...

In this episode , we report on China’s 20th Party Congress , where Xi further consolidated his power. We also consider whether the U.S. is going down the right path with its own Industrial Policy to counter China. As usual, there is a lot on the Russia-Ukraine front, including Russia’s attack on Ukraine’s electrical grid. We then turn to Iran to discuss the resilience of their ongoing protests. Th...