The Global Agora

The Republicans want to send the military to... Mexico? It was quite a prominent topic of the first presidential debate of the GOP candidates. So what is behind this rhetoric? Is Mexico a functioning state taking into account the strong presence of drug cartels that are shipping highly lethal fentanyl to the US? I talked to  Vanda Felbab-Brown , a Director of the Initiative on Nonstate Armed Actor...

If this was a sort of deathmatch between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, the result is very clear now. Prigozhin was killed in a plane crash on August 23rd. But did Putin specifically order the killing of Prigozhin? I talked to political analyst Anton Barbashin who is an editorial director of Riddle , which is a website about Russia I can only recommend. Lis...

Lee Morgenbesser is an Associate Professor in Comparative Politics at the School of Government and International Relations at Griffith University.  His most recent book is titled The Rise of Sophisticated Authoritarianism in Southeast Asia , so he is a perfect match for the next episode of my podcast. We discussed how Prime Minister Hun Sen took over Cambodia and if his reign is somehow unique if...

Cristiano Ronaldo led the way, other big football stars, though many of them are aging stars, follow. Karim Benzema, N'Golo Kante, Roberto Firmino or Jordan Henderson, just to name a few. Why is Saudi Arabia spending crazy money on football players? Is this a clear example of sportwashing? Can the Saudis' effort be sustainable? I talked to James Dorsey , who is a Senior Fellow at the Middl...

I've got three recommendations for you. I recommend watching Oppenheimer. I recommend reading the book  American Prometheus : The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, co-authored by  Kai Bird and the late Martin Sherwin, on which the movie is based. And I recommend listening to this episode of my podcast as I had a chance to talk to Kai Bird. And I do believe we had a very interesting...

Franz-Stefan Gady is the founder and chief executive officer of Gady Consulting and also a consulting senior fellow with the Institute for International Strategic Studies. With the other experts he recently visited Ukraine's frontlines, so I am glad he agreed to discuss what he saw and what could be next for Ukraine's offensive and Russia's defense. Listen to our conversation. And if y...

The Spanish elections will take place on July 23rd and it seems we will witness the same situation as in some other European countries. It means that the mainstream right will have to collaborate with the far-right to govern. In the case of Spain, we are talking about the People's Party cooperating with Vox. But would the far-right Vox in government change the country? I talked to Alejandro Qu...

The current polls show that the far-right Alternative for Germany, in German Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), is the second most popular party in the country. While it is an extremely unlikely scenario, I wanted to know what would happen if the AfD would rule Germany. So I talked to Kai Arzheimer who is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Mainz. We have also discussed why the A...

As the NATO summit in Vilnius is approaching and the war intensifies, I talked to  Ben Hodges who is a former commanding general, United States Army Europe. He explained how he sees the Ukrainian offensive and what are Russians doing to counter it. We have also discussed what weapons Kyiv needs for the possible breakthrough and why the West is still not providing such systems. And what does he exp...

Should Iran face more sanctions if it continues helping Russia to wage a brutal war against Ukraine? I talked to Barbara Slavin , a distinguished fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington and a lecturer in international affairs at George Washington University. We also discussed how far would Russia go to help Iran and vice versa, how the Russian war affects the Middle East, China in the region, a...

John Sipher is a senior non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council, and the co-founder of Spycraft Entertainment, a production firm providing content to the entertainment industry. He retired in 2014 after a 28-year career in the CIA’s National Clandestine Service, which included serving in Moscow and running the CIA’s Russia operations. So I asked him if he would hire current  Russian President ...

Andrei Kolesnikov is a Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center. For now, he stays in Russia, although he was labeled as a foreign agent. According to Andrei, Russian society is basically the same if we compare pre-war times and the current situation. The group of Putin's non-supporters has always been around 15-20 percent and the invasion didn't change this. So can something pe...

Former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper cannot be clearer. He believes Donald Trump would try to pull the US out of NATO and South Korea in his second term. I talked to Esper at the annual GLOBSEC conference in Bratislava and we also discussed the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Republican Party, and China. Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank y...

What happens if Belarus' dictator Alexander Lukashenko dies? I talked to the opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya . And she has a plan. She fights for her country as her husband Siarhiej is imprisoned by the regime. We also discussed the dangers of the Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus, Ukraine and how she works hard to keep Belarus on agenda. Our debate took place at the annual GLOBSEC...

How can Ukraine plan its counteroffensive? Would the F-16 jets help Kyiv? And what can Russia do to counter the impending attack? I talked to Johan Norberg , a Senior Military Analyst from the Swedish Defense Research Agency ( FOI ). Why does he think that the West will decide the war? Listen to our conversation. And if you enjoy what I do, please support me on Ko-fi! Thank you. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://k...

She hates him because of his politics! It's all about money and fame! Is this why E. Jean Carroll sued Donald Trump? Not at all, a friend of Carroll Jennifer Taub explains. She is a Law Professor at Western New England University School of Law, author of the Substack newsletter Money & Gossip , and host of the podcast Booked Up with Jen Taub . In our debate, she dissected the verdict of th...

Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin is naming and shaming everybody. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov is offering his services but it's not clear if he really has something to offer. And the Russian President Vladimir Putin is... Is doing exactly what? About Prigozhin, Kadyrov, and Putin, I talked to political analyst Anton Barbashin who is an editorial director of Riddle , which is a website...

As Wikipedia says, Charles III, born Charles Philip Arthur George on November 14th, 1948 is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Last year, at the age of 73, he became the oldest person to accede to the British throne, also after having been the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales in British history. King Charles' coronation will take place on May 6th...

French President Emmanuel Macron was elected for his second term one year ago, on April 24th, 2021. How strong or weak is he now? I talked to  Georgina Wright , a Senior Fellow, and Director of Institut Montaigne's Europe Program. We discuss recent Macron's visit to China and its aftermath but also French domestic politics. Is Macron naive? And is there a danger that he is paving the way f...

The National Hockey League has a war crimes problem . Because of this piece, in the Globe and Mail, I contacted Mark Kersten . He is a Senior Consultant of the Wayamo Foundation and an Assistant Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of the Fraser Valley in British Columbia. So what's wrong with the NHL and with its superstar Russian player Alexander Ovechkin who is al...

The Good Friday Agreement that ended the conflict in Northern Ireland turned 25 on April 10th. What were the main factors that contributed to its success? I talked to Shaun Mcdaid , a Senior Lecturer in Politics from the Department of Behavioural and Social Sciences at Huddersfield University. We discussed the history of the Troubles, terrorists from the Irish Republican Army, and their internatio...

From April 4th, Finland is officially the thirty-first member of NATO . What does it mean for the country, for the Alliance, and for Russia? What are the pros and possible cons of Finland's membership? And why is Sweden still out? I talked to Charly Salonius-Pasternak , a leading researcher in The Center on US Politics and Power at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs. I also asked h...

Kacper Rerawek ⁠ is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Research on Extremism (C-REX) at the University of Oslo. His book ⁠Brown-Red Cocktail? Extremist Foreign Fighters in the War in Ukraine was published last year and for The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) he just released a report A Year of Foreign Fighting for Ukraine: Catching Fish With Bare Hands? So who are they and how do foreign figh...

Fred Wellman served in the Army for 22 years as an aviator and public affairs officer and he left the Armed Forces as a Lieutenant Colonel. He was a Blackhawk helicopter pilot, and completed tours during Operations Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom. So, in his own words, he invaded Iraq twice. He also was a spokesman for General David Petraeus, and General Martin Dempsey. I have asked Fred for an int...

Some people claim that the American invasion of Iraq 20 years ago started what could be called the post-truth world. Robert E. Kelley had been an International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA ) inspector in Iraq in 1992–93 and he was there also in the final months before the 2003 invasion. We talked about his experience, his work, and how his team had to deal with leaks to the press from the CIA that...