Wilson Center Now's Podcast

In this edition of Wilson Center NOW, we are joined by Robert Litwak, Senior Vice President and Director of International Security Studies at the Wilson Center. He discusses Russia’s decision to suspend participation in the New START Treaty, its last nuclear arms treaty with the United States. He also discusses increased nuclear sabre rattling by Russia since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine and highlights how China’s rapid nuclear arsenal expansion has only increased tensions with the West.

In this edition of Wilson Center NOW, we are joined by Sharon Burke, Global Fellow with the Environmental Change and Security Program and Founder and President of Ecospherics.  Also joining us is Claire Doyle, Program Assistant for the Environmental Change and Security Program.  They discuss ECSP’s new policy brief, U.S. Governance on Critical Minerals, which “offers an overview of key policy considerations in securing a reliable, sustainable, and affordable supply of some of the most important commodities of the 21st century: critical minerals.”

In this edition of Wilson Center NOW, we are joined by Rebecca Pincus, director of the Wilson Center’s Polar Institute.  Also joining us is Mathieu Boulegue, a research fellow at the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House, and Michael B. Petersen, director of the Russia Maritime Studies Institute and an associate professor at the U.S. Naval War College. They discuss challenges posed by Russia in the Arctic and High North, how the war in Ukraine has affected Russian operations and objectives in the region, and the prospects for cooperation in the Arctic with the United States and western nations moving forward.

In this edition of Wilson Center NOW, we highlight the Winter 2023 edition of the Wilson Quarterly, “Strategic Competition: Strengthening America’s Advantage in a Competitive World,” with the help of editor Stephanie Bowen.  Also joining us is contributor Daniel Covarrubias, director of the Texas Center for Economic and Enterprise Development at the Texas A&M International University (TAMIU) A. R. Sanchez Jr. School of Business. He discusses his article, “A Living Lab at the Southern Border,” which examines “how the Fourth Industrial Revolution is changing how businesses operate and the environments where they compete.”

In this edition of Wilson Center NOW, we are joined by Melvyn P. Leffler, Professor Emeritus of American History at The University of Virginia and Co-Chair of the History and Public Policy Program’s Advisory Board. He highlights his new book, Confronting Saddam Hussein: George W. Bush and the Invasion of Iraq.  Leffler “vividly portrays the emotions and anxieties that shaped the thinking of the president after the shocking events of 9/11 and shows how fear, hubris, and power influenced Bush's approach to Saddam Hussein's Iraq.”

In this edition of Wilson Center NOW, we are joined by Lauren Herzer Risi, Program Director of the Environmental Change and Security Program and Peter Schwartzstein, a Wilson Center Global Fellow and environmental journalist who reports on water, food security, and the conflict-climate nexus around the world.  They highlight three newly released reports written by Peter focusing on climate-related migration and its short and long-term impacts on Senegal, Bangladesh, and Moldova.

In this edition of Wilson Center NOW, we are joined by Jon Hilsenrath, Senior Writer for The Wall Street Journal and a former Wilson Center Public Policy Fellow. Jon is also the author of the new book, “Yellen: The Trailblazing Economist Who Navigated an Era of Upheaval.” The book is “an engrossing and deeply human chronicle of the past fifty years of American economic and social upheaval, viewed through the consequential life of the most powerful woman in American economic history, Janet Yellen, and her unconventional partnership in marriage and work with Nobel Laureate George Akerlof.”

In this edition of Wilson Center NOW, we discuss the new book, “Mapping Global Justice: Perspectives, Cases and Practice,” with authors Arnaud Kurze, Wilson Global Fellow, and Christopher Lamont, Assistant Dean, Tokyo International University. Also joining us for the discussion are Franz Baumann, Former Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations, and Sarine Karajerjian, Program Director, Environmental Politics, Arab Reform Initiative. The book offers a “broad and multidisciplinary survey of global justice, bridging the gap between theory and practice while examining persistent international conflicts, increasing inequality, and acute environmental and climate-related threats to humanity.”

In this edition of Wilson Center NOW, we highlight the Fall 2022 edition of the Wilson Quarterly, “As Strong as Our Weakest Link,” with the help of editor Stephanie Bowen.  Also joining us is journalist and contributor Alden Wicker, who discusses her article, “Could the Uyghur Human Rights Crisis Finally Force Fashion to Reveal Its Supply Chain?”  The article examines how blockchain technology might finally push the fashion industry into a new era of transparency.

In this edition of Wilson Center NOW, we are joined by Benjamin Gedan, Acting Director of the Wilson Center's Latin American Program and the Director of its Argentina Project. He discusses current U.S. policy approaches to Latin America and what shifts have occurred under the Biden administration.  Gedan also highlights how global competition with China has affected U.S. political and economic focus on the region.

In this edition of Wilson Center NOW, we are joined by Federico Borsari, Leonardo Fellow with the Transatlantic Defense and Security Program at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) and a NATO 2030 Global Fellow. He discusses the success of the right-wing coalition in Italy’s 2022 general election, setting the stage for the most conservative government in decades. Borsari also provides background on Giorgia Meloni, expected to become the next prime minister of Italy.

In this edition of Wilson Center NOW, we are joined by Bruce Jentleson, the William Preston Few Distinguished Professor of Public Policy and Professor of Political Science, Duke University. He discusses his new book, Sanctions: What Everyone Needs to Know, a “concise, authoritative overview of a little-understood yet extremely important phenomenon in world politics: the use of economic sanctions by one country to punish another.”

In this edition of Wilson Center NOW, we meet the new director of Wilson Center’s Polar Institute Rebecca Pincus.  She discusses the increasing interest in both the Arctic and Antarctic regions and provides insight into how climate change is rapidly changing environmental, political, and economic factors at the poles for nations and individuals.

In this edition of Wilson Center NOW, we are joined by Ruth Greenspan Bell, Public Policy Fellow with the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program.  She highlights her latest article, Wealth and the Climate Dilemma, which focuses on the crossroads that developing nations face when confronting increased development of fossil fuels and combating climate change.

In this edition of Wilson Center NOW, we discuss the latest on the Russian invasion of Ukraine with William Pomeranz, the Director of the Wilson Center's Kennan Institute, and Robin Quinville, Director of the Global Europe Program.  They provide insight on the state of Russia’s economy, unity among western powers facing energy supply threats, and where forces stand on the battlefield.

In this edition of Wilson Center NOW, we are joined by Southern Voices Network for Peacebuilding scholars Florence Odiwuor and Hyginus Banko Okibe.  They discuss their projects focused on food security in Africa entitled, “Food Security Systems as Drivers for Sustainable Peacebuilding in Africa: The Case of Kenya,” and “Herder-Farmer Conflicts and Food Security in Southeast Nigeria.”

In this edition of Wilson Center NOW, we discuss India and Pakistan marking 75 years since independence. Joining us are Akbar Ahmed and Nirupama Rao, both Wilson Center global fellows and former senior diplomats with a keen understanding of the India-Pakistan relationship and its complexities. They examine how the traumatic and tragic events of partition in 1947 continue to impact both countries today. They also assess what the future might hold, and consider the prospects for dialogue between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.

In this edition of Wilson Center NOW, we explore the Summer 2022 edition of the Wilson Quarterly, Ripples of War, with editor Stephanie Bowen.  Also joining us is documentary photographer and journalist Wil Sands.  He discusses his article, Weapons of a Hybrid War, a photographic essay on Europe's disparate approach to families fleeing crisis.

In this edition of Wilson Center NOW, we are joined by Robin Quinville, Director of the Wilson Center’s Global Europe Program.  We discuss the latest challenges in Europe including the resignation of Boris Johnson, political trends on the continent, NATO expansion, Ukraine, as well as how Europe continues to deal with the COVID pandemic.

In this edition of Wilson Center NOW, we speak with Duncan Wood, Vice President for Strategy & New Initiatives and Senior Advisor to the Wilson Center's Mexico Institute.  He discusses the Wilson Center’s continued focus on the critical importance of global and national supply chains, how current shortages and inflation are affecting government and private industry, and highlights the Center’s ongoing Strengthening America’s Supply Chains initiative.