The Global Agora

The United States has celebrated its 250th anniversary. On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia adopted the Declaration of Independence. Are American ideals just a political myth? Can the US truly be called an imperialist country? What would the world look like without the US? And what kind of president is Republican Donald Trump? Kurk Dorsey , a professor of history at th...

This is a special episode of The Global Agora. I was lucky enough to speak with Oana Lungescu , the longest-serving NATO Spokesperson and a Distinguished Fellow at RUSI, and Ben Hodges , former Commanding General of United States Army Europe. The interviews were recorded separately, but I decided to combine them because, I believe, they provide a very interesting and comprehensive preview of the u...

If 2025 had continued, Ukraine would have lost and Europe would have been at risk of a Russian attack. That is the view of military analyst Gustav Gressel . „We were actually in a very shitty phase,“ he claims. In this episode of The Global Agora, we discuss the situation on the battlefield, Ukraine's long-range strikes – or long-range sanctions as Kyiv calls them – and developments in the Cri...

There are still a lot of ifs, but if Andy Burnham wins the Makerfield by-election on June 18, he is highly likely to succeed the current Labour Prime Minister, Keir Starmer. Yet ten years after Brexit, is Britain even governable? Could the anti-migrant violence and riots – stirred up by figures like Elon Musk, as recently witnessed in Belfast – become the new normal in the UK? And could Nigel Fara...

US President Donald Trump will turn 80 on June 14. If he completes his second term, he will leave the White House in January 2029 at the age of 82, making him the oldest American president in history. Is Trump too old for the office? What does he want for his birthday? And to what extent is he trying to link his birthday and public persona with national symbols, and even with the approaching 250th...

Professor of Political Science at the University of Canterbury Anne-Marie Brady is a specialist on the Chinese Communist Party. We met in Prague at the GLOBSEC Forum 2026 and in this episode of The Global Agora we discuss the life and political endeavors of Chinese Communist leader Xi Jinping. Does he prefer Vladimir Putin or Donald Trump? Could he stop the Russian war against Ukraine if he wanted...

After many years of correspondence and phone calls, I finally met Cas Mudde in person last year at the GLOBSEC Forum in Prague. Our meeting resulted in the 235th episode of The Global Agora podcast. This year, we crossed paths again. The result? Another round of conversation. This time about the sanewashing of US President Donald Trump, the threat of the far right, the normalization of Italian PM...

When Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued a decree allowing Russia’s Victory Day military parade to proceed, it was clear that there would be a strong reaction from the Kremlin. “We knew there would be a response in terms of metal, as we always call it. A lot of metal flying through our skies and, of course, falling down on our heads. But it was really to the point and something very inn...

Bart Schuurman is a Professor of Terrorism and Political Violence at Leiden University. In this episode of The Global Agora, we discuss his latest research article , Russia’s low-level agents: characteristics, roles and organisational structure of covert operatives in Europe, 2022–2025. So, who are these low-level agents, how is Russia using them against Europe, and how can this security threat be...

A new Hungarian government led by Prime Minister Péter Magyar will take office on May 9. What will be its primary focus during the first 100 days? Unfreezing EU funds and “de-Orbanization”? And what lies ahead for Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz after the crushing defeat delivered by Magyar’s Tisza party in the elections held on April 12? In this episode of The Global Agora, I speak with Zsuzsanna Vég...

Many Europeans worry that U.S. President Donald Trump may be unwilling to help them in the event of Russian aggression. Does Taiwan have similar concerns regarding Trump’s commitment in the face of China? And why does it seem that Beijing has ultimately turned to coercion instead of trying to win Taiwanese hearts and minds? In this episode of The Global Agora, I speak with Jyun-yi Lee , Associate...

Seva Gunitsky is an associate professor of political science at the University of Toronto. In this episode of The Global Agora, I speak with him about his two articles – The Personalist Global Order and The Incel Global Order . We discuss how closely the personalist world order is connected to the rise of the manosphere and the incel phenomenon, what links Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and Xi Jinp...

As the Middle East's tensions escalated, Cyprus found itself unexpectedly in the line of fire. In this episode of The Global Agora, I speak with Professor James Ker-Lindsay , an expert on Cyprus and European security, about the drone attack on British bases, the island's shifting foreign policy, its relationship with Russia, its role in the European Union, and what small nations like Cypru...

Orsolya Ráczová is an analyst on Eurasia Group’s Europe team, covering Central and Eastern Europe. She is definitely the right person to speak with about the upcoming elections in Hungary, which will be held on April 12. Will Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his party, Fidesz, lose power after 16 years? Would he accept defeat if he loses? And would Orbán’s challenger, Péter Magyar, leader of the Ti...

Robert Hamilton is the President of the Delphi Global Research Center. He served for 30 years in the US Army, retiring as a Colonel, and during his career, he was deployed to Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Germany, Belarus, Georgia, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. He is the author of the book China-Russia Relations: The Dance of the Dragon and the Bear and holds a PhD in International Relations as...

What does the Iran war mean for Ukraine? And what are the Russians doing in Hungary? Julia Kazdobina is the head of the Ukrainian Foundation for Security Studies, so we talked about the ripple effects of the US-Israeli war against Iran on Ukraine's ability to defend itself, about the unique drone expertise Kyiv is bringing to the Gulf states and the US, about Russian political technologists wh...

Who is running Iran? And what can the Iran–Iraq War tell us about the current conflict? These were just two of the questions I asked Mateo Mohammad Farzaneh , a full professor and chair of the History Department at Northeastern Illinois University. We discussed his journey from Iran to the United States, what led him to study history, his perspective on the war against Iran launched by the United...

Michal Onderčo is a Full Professor of International Relations in the Department of Public Administration and Sociology at Erasmus University Rotterdam, and his most recent book is titled Europe's Nuclear Umbrella . The current global instability, ongoing wars, and the collapse of key arms control treaties provide a perfect – albeit grim – setup for our debate. We discussed who holds Europe's nucle...

Is Operation Epic Fury a punitive campaign – or a regime change war? Why is it even called Epic Fury? Could Iran become Donald Trump’s Iraq or Afghanistan? And what advice would national security expert Jonathan Schroden give the President to avoid such a scenario? My guest is the Chief Research Officer within the Office of the President at the CNA Corporation, with over 20 years of experience in...

In this episode of The Global Agora, I speak with Monika Sus , a professor at the Institute of Political Studies at Polish Academy of Sciences and expert on European security and EU foreign policy. Together, we explore whether Europe is already at war with Russia, and why the distinction between “war” and “hybrid warfare” may no longer hold. We discuss Poland’s view of Russia as an existential thr...

In this episode of The Global Agora, I speak once again with retired Australian Major General Mick Ryan . We have been having these conversations for over three years now. This time, we discuss Ukraine’s evolving strategy of cumulative attrition – targeting not only Russian troops, and Ukraine wants to destroy 50,000 Russians per month, but also oil revenues and political pressure points. We exami...

When I spoke with Minna Ålander in March last year, I asked her how far she thought American President Donald Trump could go in his hostility toward the European Union, on a scale from zero to ten, where ten represented the worst-case scenario. She said it would be around 8.5. Less than a year later, I asked her the same question again. “It’s probably 11,” she replied. Minna Ålander is an analyst...

The new UK Ambassador to Slovakia, Bilal Zahid , has Pakistani roots, has lived in Northern Ireland, and studied in Scotland. He explains why he chose a diplomatic career and why he focuses on the Central and Eastern European region. Most recently, he served as Minister-Counsellor at the UK Embassy in Kyiv, where he was also responsible for the embassy’s security and safety. How does he assess the...

Does US President Donald Trump have an endgame in Venezuela? Which Latin American leader should be most concerned about the Donroe Doctrine, and what could it mean in concrete terms for US foreign and security policy? And should Greenland and Canada really be worried as well? “I think Trump is trying to establish a sphere of influence in which the United States can do what it wants in the Western...

Tom Nichols considers Donald Trump's obsession with Greenland very dangerous. "I think that's his most dangerous fixation because if this turns violent or confrontational, it could blow up NATO. I think Putin and others will say it's time to start taking advantage," Tom told me when we spoke about the first year of Trump’s second presidency. He is a staff writer at The Atlantic and a contributor t...