Women Leaders

During his gold plated visit to Saudi Arabia this week, Donald Trump made a speech in which he noted that the US would no longer be “giving you lectures on how to live” advising the people and states of the region to establish “your own destinies in your own way.” No more nation building and interventions, no more aid and business conditioned upon democracy and h...

The turmoil and changes of the past five years — from the coronavirus pandemic to the second Trump administration — make clear one basic fact: the post Cold War era is over. It could be that happened already in 2008, in the financial crisis, or it could be in 2014 when Russia invaded Ukraine and took the Crimean peninsula from it. It could be any consequential date that marked a change, a clear ch...

What happens when a politician faces an audience of people, of citizens? This episode of Women Leaders brings you that reality, in full. Full Circle, a Brussels based organization connecting ideas with the power to act, organised a great  Ideas to Action Day  in which over 80 people came together to discuss the state of the world and how to find ways to making it better. Issues were...

2 April 2025 will go down in history, of that there is no doubt. US President Trump and his team insist this is because it was, as they termed it, “Liberation Day” from the global intertwined trade system, in which the US imposed shockingly high tariffs on all its trading partners, excluding Russia and Belarus. Nearly every other state appear to be appalled by th...

Democracy and freedom, die in ignorance. There is wilful ignorance, as in not wanting to know; there is collateral ignorance, as in watching silly videos and media feeds rather than seeking information; and there is imposed ignorance, when sources of information are cut off and denied. The Trump administration is blatantly indulging in the latter, both internally and externally. Within the US...

The car crash of the Zelensky-Trump-Vance meeting in the White House on 28 February is still reverberating around the world. The specific realities have already been analysed, dramatised, satirised, and AI re-engineered with alternative outcomes. But the true implications are being assimilated more slowly, enhanced by the bizarre claims regarding Ukraine, Europe, Russia and the world made by Presi...

Politicians tend to aspire to a status quo: a clarity of positions and possibilities that deliver a semblance of stability. In a period of change, not to mention when things go wrong, there is a yearning for a  status quo ante  — a return to such clarity and stability, regardless of whether it is actually possible. It is significant that in the current world of radical cha...

Historians will spend eternity trying to explain why Donald Trump and his administration turned against Ukraine and Europe but one fact is clear: on 12 February 2025 the post Cold War era ended, and the post WWII international system came to a grinding halt. President Trump spoke at length to President Putin and they agreed to start negotiations immediately without Ukraine or the EU...

Trade is the backbone of the global economy, but its workings are a mystery to many. What is a tariff? What is a trade war? Why is trade so complicated? The chaos wrought by Donald Trump's decision to impose tariffs on China, Canada, and Mexico – despite a thirty-day reprieve negotiated for the latter two - makes these and many other questions imperative to answer. Ilana Bet-El is joined by&n...

There can be no doubt the world changed on 20th of January 2025. As a matter of fact, a new US President was inaugurated — a second time for President Trump — whose return to power has spooked global friends and enemies alike since his election last November. The  flurry of Executive Orders  issued from day one says much about the determination of this US Administration to not only disma...

As Women Leaders entered its fifth year (!!), it is apt to reflect on our turbulent world and the challenges that lie ahead. From wars in Ukraine, Gaza, and Sudan to the shifting power dynamics of global politics, there is a need to unpack the complexities of our current situation -- and look into the coming months with a strong dose of realism. Joined by Jessica Cox, Director of Defence Plans and...

“How did you go bankrupt?"  “Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.”  Novelist Earnest Hemingway put these words in the mouth of one of his characters in his 1926 breakthrough novel, The Sun Also Rises , and it seems they are as true to dictators as they are to a fictional gambler and drunk.  Last weekend, President Bashar al Assad of Syria, the cruel and brutal head of a corrupt dynas...

The political landscape in Germany seems anything but stable. From unresolved disputes and coalitions failing to the publication of Angela Merkel’s memoirs - a timely reminder of a past ideal era - the nation faced mounting challenges. Economic struggles, extremism on the edge and upcoming early elections: a worrying mix for one key European player. Tanit Koch Schneider, journalist, co-host o...

The 2024 US elections were unique. From the last minute candidacy of Kamala Harris through the assassination attempt of Donald Trump to the sheer amount of money involved -- over US$ 15 billion -- events moved at an amazing speed, resulting in an unexpected definitive win for Trump and the Republican Party. Understanding what truly happened and capturing the real atmosphere across the U.S. may sti...

Election results should never be a foregone conclusion, and democratic upsets are a healthy feature of the system. Nonetheless, when the incumbent pro-Russian governing party in Georgia declared itself the winner of national elections on 26 October, with some 54% of the vote, there was a massive outcry: polls had predicted a win for the opposition. This is a huge setback for the cause of democracy...

The speed of events in the disaster zone that is currently the Middle East is unrelenting. Just as attention was focused on Lebanon and refocused on Gaza, Israel announced the death of Yahiya Sinwar, head of Hamas and architect of the attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023. Across the West, and possibly beyond, this development was viewed with relief - if only because it may allow for a hos...

The constant escalation in the Middle East shows no signs of abating. October 7 marks a year since Hamas viciously invaded southern Israel, while October 8 is a year since Hezbollah started firing rockets into the north of Israel in support of Hamas. A year of unspeakable violence in Israel, Gaza and now Lebanon, rounded off by Iran firing some 200 ballistic miss...

Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine is in its third year, with no end in sight. The Russian offensive in the East of Ukraine grinds on, consuming a mass of men and materiel on both sides while its conquest proceeds in tiny paces. The only surprise of the past few months was the Ukrainian incursion into Russia, taking a small square of the Kursk region. It is no minor achievement, not least given...

Summer used to be a period of quiet. The sun shone — or not — and holidays were taken, events slowed to a nearly non-existent pace, and newsrooms had to deal with what was known as the “silly season”. No longer. Whether because events really have become more dramatic or whether because we know about them immediately due to the constant digital connections, this past summer was an example of consta...

We know some of you have been wondering where we've been. Rest assured, Women Leaders will be back very soon. Get ready for more extraordinary conversations with inspiring women experts this September. Stay tuned! Contribute to the conversation with a comment & a 5-⭐️ Reach us on our Instagram and follow for updates  @women_leaders_podcast Watch now our episode on Youtube Hosted on Acast...

July 2024 may end up being remembered for various reasons, such as wars in Ukraine, Israel and Gaza or the launch of the Arianne 6 rocket by the European Space Agency or the floods in Western Europe and the extreme heat in the eastern Mediterranean, all caused by climate change. At this point however, these are the backdrop to another set of events: elections and summits. In this ye...

The focus on the defence aspects of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine often draws attention from the economic war taking place in parallel. Every few weeks the US or the EU drop another packet of sanctions on Russia, in attempts to hinder its capacity to pursue the war — and in absolute lockstep a wave of analyses, data and disinformation will appear, largely rubbishing the s...

Between June 6th and 9th, 27 member states held elections for the European Union’s parliament. With over 300 million eligible voters, the European Union’s electorate is second only to India in terms of size. However, of these hundreds of millions of potential voters, only 51% voted, an unsurprising figure as democratic participation declines across the West. Equally unsurprising were the...

The third year of war often suggests two harsh realities: that the war is, by definition, long and that it is not yet over. Think 1917 in World War I or 1942 in World War II. Ukraine is in year three of defending itself against the full-scale Russian invasion that started in February 2022. It fended off the Russian forces at the start, but since then the war has been quite static with each side ac...

In a year of big elections, in which approximately half the global population is going to the polls at one time or another, the EU elections stand out: upwards of 300 million eligible voters out of a population of nearly 450 million people across 27 states. A transnational bonanza of democracy that will take place between 6-9 June. 720 seats are up for grabs in the European Parliament, and once th...