Brussels Sprouts

Russian Foreign Policy, with Amb. Gaston Stronck, Amb. Mikko Hautala, and Amb. Jean-Arthur Régibeau

Ambassadors Gaston Stronck, Mikko Hautala, and Jean-Arthur Régibeau join Andrea Kendall to discuss Russian foreign policy and the state of Russia-Europe relations. H.E. Gaston Stronck became Ambassador of Luxembourg to the United States in September 2019. He has a longstanding diplomatic and professional career spanning four decades, and previously served as Secretary general at the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of Luxembourg from 2017 to 2019. H.E. Mikko Hautala became Ambassador of Finland to the United States in September 2020. He is a career diplomat, and previously served as Ambassador of Finland to Russia from 2016-2020. H.E. Jean-Arthur Régibeau became Ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium to the United States in September 2020. He joined the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1998 and previously served as the Ambassador to the Russian Federation, Armenia, Belarus, and Uzbekistan.

Europe–Russia Relations Today, with Kadri Liik and Dmitri Trenin

Kadri Liik and Dmitri Trenin join Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Jim Townsend to discuss the current state of Europe-Russia relations and how the United States should approach Russia during the Biden presidency.
Liik is a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, and Trenin is the director of the Carnegie Moscow Center, where he also chairs the research council and the Foreign and Security Policy Program.

Debating American Democracy Promotion, with Emma Ashford and Thomas Wright

Emma Ashford and Thomas Wright join Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Carisa Nietsche to discuss the future of America's democracy promotion efforts abroad and what the U.S. government can do to preserve American democracy at home.
Emma Ashford is a resident senior fellow with the New American Engagement Initiative in the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, where her work focuses on questions of grand strategy, international security, and the future of U.S. foreign policy. Thomas Wright is the director of the Center on the United States and Europe and a senior fellow in the Project on International Order and Strategy at the Brookings Institution.

German Foreign and Security Policy after Merkel, with Constanze Stelzenmüller and Sam Denney

Constanze Stelzenmüller and Sam Denney join Carisa Nietsche and Jim Townsend to discuss German foreign and security policy, upcoming German elections, and what might change after Chancellor Angela Merkel steps down.
Constanze Stelzenmüller is an expert on German, European, and transatlantic foreign and security policy and strategy. She is the inaugural holder of the Fritz Stern Chair on Germany and Transatlantic Relations in the Center on the United States and Europe at Brookings.
Sam Denney is a Senior Research Assistant in the Center on the United States and Europe at Brookings.

Vaccine Nationalism and the European Union, with Sarah Wheaton

Sarah Wheaton joins Carisa Nietsche and Jim Townsend to discuss vaccine nationalism in the EU, the ongoing vaccine rollout, and what both mean for the future of European integration and transatlantic relations. Sarah Wheaton is the chief policy correspondent for Politico Europe. In this role, she focusses on top policy news, in-depth reporting, and special projects in collaboration with Politico’s policy-reporting teams. Prior to this, she served as a senior policy reporter on Politico Europe’s health team, and before moving to Brussels. Sarah was a White House correspondent for Politico in the United States. She spent much of her career at the New York Times, where she reported on breaking news on the 2008 and 2012 campaign in print and online.

Pro-Navalny Protests and the Future of Putin’s Russia, with Joshua Yaffa

Joshua Yaffa joins Carisa Nietsche to discuss recent protests across Russia, Alexei Navalny, the future of Vladimir Putin’s regime, and U.S.-Russia relations. Yaffa is a Moscow correspondent for the New Yorker, and the author of Between Two Fires: Trust, Ambition and Compromise in Putin’s Russia. He has also written for the Economist, the New York Times Magazine, National Geographic, Bloomberg Business Week, the New Republic, and Foreign Affairs. For his work in Russia, he has been named a fellow at New America, a recipient of the American Academy’s Berlin prize, and a finalist for the Livingston Award.

The Future of Transatlantic Technology Policy, with Lindsay Gorman and Martijn Rasser

Lindsay Gorman and Martijn Rasser join Carisa Nietsche to discuss future priorities and approaches on technology policy within the transatlantic alliance. Gorman is the Fellow for Emerging Technologies at the Alliance for Securing Democracy at the German Marshall Fund, and a consultant for Schmitt Futures. She has spent a decade at the intersection of technology development and national security policy. Rasser is a Senior Fellow with the Technology and National Security Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). Prior to joining CNAS, Martijn served as a senior intelligence officer and analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency.

Understanding the EU and China’s Comprehensive Investment Agreement, with Noah Barkin

Noah Barkin joins Carisa Nietsche and Jim Townsend to discuss the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI), the new investment agreement between China and the European Union, and its implications for the future of the transatlantic alliance. Barkin is a senior visiting fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, managing editor in the China practice at the Rhodium Group, and former bureau chief for Reuters.

Engaging the Public on Foreign Policy, with Mayor Frank Scott and Alan Salazar

Mayor Frank Scott, Jr. and Alan Salazar join Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Jim Townsend to discuss how their communities in Arkansas and Colorado engage with foreign policy issues. Scott is the mayor of Little Rock, Arkansas. Salazar is the chief of staff to Michael Hancock, the mayor of Denver, Colorado.

Live: The NATO 2030 Report, with Wess Mitchell

Wess Mitchell joins Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Jim Townsend on a special, live episode of Brussels Sprouts to discuss the “NATO 2030” report’s findings on the future of the NATO Alliance. Mitchellc o-chaired the group of experts behind the NATO 2030 report unveiled last month. He is a co-founder of the Center for European Policy Analysis and former Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs.