The Trialogue

Samuel Charap, Distinguished Chair in Russia and Eurasia Policy at RAND, joins us to discuss US policy toward Russia since 2008, the war in Ukraine, and the prospects of a settlement. *The Trialogue Podcast is hosted by the Stimson Center and produced by University FM. Time Stamps: 00:40 How did you get interested in Russia? 01:59 US-Russia relations since 2008 11:05 EU-Russia relations 15:41 The...

Maksim Suchkov, Director of the Institute of International Studies at MGIMO University in Moscow, joins us to discuss direct Russia-Ukraine talks, US-Russia relations, and Russia’s own “revolution of common sense”. *The Trialogue Podcast is hosted by the Stimson Center and produced by University FM. Time Stamps: 01:08 Evaluate the Russia-Ukraine talks and the Trump-Putin phone call 03:17 Why does...

What is a foreign policy of restraint? Are the Anglosphere and Western Hemisphere key to American interests? Will the transatlantic alliance endure? Do Russia or China pose substantial threats to the United States?  Time Stamps: 01:38 What is the restraint movement in US foreign policy? 06:28 Is military overextension a product of liberal internationalism? 12:35 Restraint as a function of generati...

Da Wei, Director of the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University in Beijing, joins us to discuss tariffs, the prospects of a trade deal, Russia’s global role, and the coming multipolar order.  Time Stamps: 00:53 Was China prepared for Trump’s tariffs? 02:55 Does Washington want to decouple from China or rebalance trade? 08:49 Is the US improvising or following a plan?...

Robert Agee, President of AmCham Russia, joins us to discuss American business in Russia since the 90s, who left and how after the start of the war in Ukraine, who suffered and benefited from Western sanctions, and the outlook for American (and Chinese) business in Russia going forward. Time Stamps: 00:45 What is AmCham? 02:29 How did you end up at Xerox in Russia in the 90s? 04:58 American busine...

Alexander Dynkin and Feodor Voitolovsky, President and Director of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations at the Russian Academy of Sciences, join us to discuss their return to Washington, the war in Ukraine, and Sino-Russian relations, among other subjects. Time Stamps: 00:59 Returning to Washington for the first time since 2019 03:28 Will US-Russia relations improve under Tru...

This episode is a recording of a live event held online on April 8. Lanxin Xiang, Andrey Kortunov, and Emma Ashford joined me to discuss the state of theUS-Russia-China trilateral relationship. *The Trialogue Podcast is hosted by the Stimson Center and produced by University FM. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal d...

Reinhard Krumm of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung joins us to discuss Germany’s reversal on Russia and a new American Ostpolitik. Time Stamps: 00:54 What is the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung? 02:00 How was Vance’s Munich speech received in Germany? 06:49 What is the future of the trans-Atlantic relationship? 16:45 Is Germany sovereign? 21:40 Nord Stream 26:17 German Ostpolitik since the 60s 31:23 Maidan a...

Writer Christopher Caldwell joins us to discuss the legacy of Ronald Reagan, the rise of a “New Right,” and the fate of the West. Time Stamps: 00:56 What is the New Right? 12:53 Revisiting Reagan’s legacy 17:24 Trump’s revolution 20:43 US foreign policy since Reagan 25:55 Whither the West 33:43 Immigration in Europe and the US 38:10 Russia and China 42:16 The limits of American autarchy? *The Tria...

This week, our guest is Zhao Long, Deputy Director of the Institute for Global Strategic and Security Studies at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies. We discuss the prospects of the US splitting Russia from China and China peeling Europe away from the US, among other subjects. Time Stamps: 00:55 Is Beijing worried about a US-Russia rapprochement? 24:36 Can China profit from a transatl...

This week, our guest is Anastasia Likhacheva, Dean of the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow.  Time Stamps: 01:48 Studying sanctions since 2016 03:27 Nord Stream and the abrupt change in European attitudes after February 2022 6:22 Western companies leaving (and returning) to Russia after February 2022 8:52 Inability of both Western and Ru...

This week, our guest is Fyodor Lukyanov, Editor-in-Chief of Russia in Global Affairs , Professor at the Higher School of Economics, and Research Director of the Valdai Discussion Club. What is it like to sit on stage with Putin? When did relations with the West go wrong? And what in the world is the “world majority”? Time Stamps: 00:53 Moderating Putin’s Q&A sessions 06:24 Perestroika and the unre...

This week, our guest is Andrew Roth, Global Affairs Correspondent at The Guardian. We discuss the twists and turns of Andrew’s ten-year career as a reporter in Moscow.  Time Stamps: 03:12 Arrival in Russia in 2011 08:04 The 2012 protests 12:39 Foreign journalists in Moscow 23:02 Reporting in East Ukraine in 2014-16 35:25 Covering Zelensky 45:30 Edward Snowden 49:19 Evan Gershkovich 57:27 Washingto...

This week, our guest is Zhou Bo, a retired senior colonel in the PLA and a senior fellow in the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University. We discuss China’s military presence in Africa, the Houthis, Ukraine, Taiwan, and the South China Sea. Time Stamps: 00:44 Zhou Bo’s studies in England and Australia 03:23 Chinese military relations with Africa 07:04 The Houthis and t...

This week, our guest is Philani Mthembu, Executive Director at the Institute for Global Dialogue in Pretoria. We discuss the South African perspective on the war in Ukraine, China, and BRICS. Time Stamps:   01:19 How many languages do you speak? 01:58 What is the purpose of the Institute for Global Dialogue? 03:29 What has changed since the ANC lost its majority? 05:12 To what extent are relations...

This week, our guest is Dmitry Stefanovich, a research fellow at the Center for International Security at the Russian Academy of Sciences. We discuss recent revisions to Russia’s nuclear doctrine, deterrence during the war in Ukraine, Russian red lines, and the evolution of Chinese nuclear policy. Time Stamps: 00:01:39 Dmitry’s Odesa origins and involvement in the Sochi Olympics 00:04:08 Deterrenc...

This week, our guest is Daniel Bessner, Associate Professor in American Foreign Policy in the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington and non-resident fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. We discuss Trump, American empire, Washington’s Asian fixation, and the possibility of “mutual ruin of the contending classes” among other subjects....

This week, our guest is Zhang Xin, Deputy Director of the Center for Russian Studies at East China Normal University. We discuss the history of Russia studies in the PRC, the Sino-Russian border area, and the logic of the US-China-Russia triangular relationship, among other subjects. Time Stamps: 00:00:51 Grad school at UCLA and interest in Russia 00:02:45 First visit to Moscow in 2005 00:05:04 Hi...

This week, our guest is Akram Umarov, First Vice Rector at the University of World Economy and Diplomacy and Deputy Director of the Institute for Advanced International Studies in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. We discuss Central Asian politics, Uzbekistan’s attitude toward the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and the country’s relations with Russia, China, and the USA, among other subjects. Time Stamps:...

This week, our guest is Stephen Wertheim, Senior Fellow in the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. We discuss the origins of “isolationism,” historical hypotheticals, the United States’ relative interests in the Middle East, Europe and Asia, Ukraine and Taiwan, and an “America first” policy for the Democratic party, among other subjects. Time Stamps: 00:0...

This week, our guest is Dmitry Novikov, Deputy Head of the School of International Relations at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, Russia. We discuss the difficulties of being an Americanist in Moscow, the sources of US-Russian conflict, and Russia’s future as a “Eurasian” power, among other subjects. Time Stamps: 00:00:38 What is like being an Americanist in Moscow right now? 00:04:22 Russ...

My guest today is DA Wei, Professor of International Relations and Director of the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University. We discuss Wei’s time at CICIR and Tsinghua, his recent visits to the US and Russia, Taiwan and the South China Sea, and the potential positives of partial decoupling, among other subjects. Time Stamps: 00:00:49 What is CICIR 00:04:13 Tsinghua’s...

This week, our guest is Charles Kupchan, Professor of International Affairs at Georgetown University and Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. We discuss Charlie’s first visits to China and the Soviet Union, naiveté and NATO expansion in the 1990s, the dangers of the current conflict with Russia and China, the possibility of a new American foreign policy paradigm, global interdependen...

This week, our guest is Alexander Pilyasov, a professor of geography at Lomonosov Moscow State University and the Higher School of Economics in Moscow. We discuss the Russian Arctic, cooperation in the region with China, and growing competition with the United States. We recorded the conversation in Belgrade, following a “Trialogue” on American, Russian, and Chinese interests in the Arctic. Time S...

This week, our guest is ZHAO Hai, Director of the International Politics Program in the National Institute for Global Strategy at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). We discuss US policy toward China, Sino-Russian relations, the war in Ukraine, and China’s vision of global order. Time Stamps: 00:01:00 Zhao’s family connections to the PRC Navy 00:06:37 Zhao’s graduate study in Chicago 00...