Brussels Sprouts

Brussels Sprouts Live: NATO in the American Heartland

NATO marked its 75th anniversary this year – a testament to the strength and continued relevance of the alliance. Celebrations have been muted however, due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and increasing concerns from Europe about US commitments to transatlantic security. The role of NATO is as crucial now as it was 75 years ago but the security threats the alliance faces are evolving, and growing in complexity.   
To discuss these issues Ambassador Anniken Huitfeldt, Mark Newton, Maria Markowska, and John Deni joined Rebecca Moore for a live episode of Brussels Sprouts at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota.  
Ambassador Anniken Huitfeldt is the Norwegian Ambassador to the USA and was previously the Norwegian Foreign Minister from 2021 to 2023.  
Mark Newton is Minister Defence (Director USA) at the British Embassy in Washington DC.  
Maria Markowska is the First Counselor and Head of the Political Section at the Polish Embassy in Washington DC.  
Dr John Deni is a Research Professor of Joint, Interagency, Intergovernmental, and Multinational (JIIM) Security Studies at the U.S. Army War College's Strategic Studies Institute 
Dr Rebecca Moore is a professor of Political Science at Concordia College.  

Russia in the Middle East with Jonathan Lord and Hanna Notte

One year after the October 7 attacks by Hamas, the crisis in the Middle East has grown more and more complex. With the region teetering on the brink of broader conflict, the Biden administration is facing increasing pressure to mediate and prevent an all-out war. Meanwhile, regional dynamics are becoming more intertwined with broader geopolitics, as highlighted by Israel’s recent strike near a Russian air base in Syria. The nexus between the war in Ukraine and the Middle East crisis has also raised alarms about shifts in global alliances and resources, including concerns that Moscow may be assisting Tehran’s nuclear program amidst their deepening ties. To discuss these pressing developments and what they mean for the future of the region, Jonathan Lord and Hanna Notte join Andrea Kendall-Taylor on this week’s episode of Brussels Sprouts.
Jonathan Lord is a Senior Fellow and Director of the Middle East Security Program at the Center for a New American Security.
Hanna Notte is the director of the Eurasia Nonproliferation Program at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies and a Senior Associate in the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic & International Studies.

BONUS: Europe’s Take on Economic Security with EU Ambassador to the U.S. Jovita Neliupšienė

On this special episode of Derisky Business, CNAS's economic security podcast, Ambassador Jovita Neliupšienė, the European Union's Ambassador to the United States, joins Emily Kilcrease and Geoffrey Gertz for a wide-ranging conversation on Europe's growing role as a economic statecraft power, the importance of the transatlantic alliance in addressing the strategic challenges posed by Russia and China, and why all Americans should drink champagne
Ambassador Neliupšienė recommends listeners tune in to the Trade-Off podcast about the people, politics, and power inside Europe’s trade policy, Trade-Off Podcast.
Further Reading:
EU Competitiveness: Looking Ahead (The Draghi Report)
Containing Crisis: Strategic Concepts for Coercive Economic Statecraft from CNAS
Subscribe to Derisky Business! 
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Exploiting Russian Weakness: Moldova and Georgia at a Crossroads

Later this month, both Moldova and Georgia will hold crucial elections with the potential to profoundly shape their futures. As Russia attempts to reassert dominance along its periphery amid its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin’s actions have triggered different geopolitical reorientations in different countries across the region. Moldova and Georgia illustrate this two-directional trend—while the Georgian government has signaled more alignment with Russia, Moldova is strengthening its ties with the West. However, these shifts may not be final, and the elections this October could either cement or reverse their current trajectories. Given these stakes, Russia has already taken steps to interfere in these elections, and could employ additional coercive tactics threatening stability along NATO’s eastern border in the future. Yet this moment also presents an opportunity for the United States and European Union— while the war in Ukraine continues, the transatlantic partners can take advantage of Russia’s present weakness to rid the region of corrosive Russian influence and more firmly anchor Moldova and Georgia in the good governance, democracy, and economic prosperity that are cornerstones of the Euro- Atlantic space.
 
Laura Thornton is the senior director of global democracy programs at the McCain Institute. Prior to this, she served as senior vice president of democracy at the German Marshal Fund (GMF), and oversaw GMF’s transatlantic trusts.
 
Denis Cenusa is the European Integration Program Director at the Moldovan think tank, Expert-Grup and a lecturer at the University of Giessen.
 
Read the new report! Exploiting Russian Weakness: Leaning in to Support the Pro-Western Orientation of Moldova and Georgia
 

What Can We Expect from a Harris-Walz Foreign Policy?

As the 2024 presidential elections approach, there is increasing speculation about the potential implications for U.S foreign policy. Today on Brussels Sprouts, we will have the first discussion in a two-part series on this topic, focusing first on what we might expect from a Harris-Walz administration. In many respects, Kamala Harris’s foreign policy platform largely signals continuity from the Biden administration, including strong support for Ukraine in its war against Russia and focus on the long-term geopolitical rivalry with China. Nevertheless, there may be some areas where Harris differs significantly from Biden, such as by recalibrating the U.S. position on the Israel-Hamas war. To decipher what a Harris doctrine in foreign policy might look like, we’re very pleased to have Amy Mackinnon and Joshua Keating on the podcast today.  
Amy Mackinnon is a national security and intelligence reporter at Foreign Policy.  
Joshua Keating is a senior correspondent at Vox, where he focuses on world news and foreign policy. 

The Origins of Elected Strongmen: How Personalist Parties Destroy Democracy from Within

This week, CNAS hosted the book launch for The Origins of Elected Strongmen: How Personalist Parties Destroy Democracy from Within, a new book by Dr. Joseph Wright, Dr. Erica Frantz, and Dr. Andrea Kendall-Taylor. Moderated by Susan Glasser, this event discusses how democracies around the world are being weakened by the actions and efforts of their elected leaders, and how the rise of personalism in democratic politics has become the key culprit for democracy’s ills. Even in democratic systems, leaders are taking on outsized influence relative to the parties that support them to dismantle institutional checks on the executive, deepen political polarization, and weaken supporters’ commitment to democratic norms of behavior leading to democratic backsliding and collapse.  
 
Susan Glasser is a Staff Writer at The New Yorker, where she writes a weekly column on life in Washington, D.C. Prior to this, she served as the founding editor of POLITICO Magazine, the editor of POLITICO, and the editor-in-chief of Foreign Policy.  
Erica Frantz is an Associate Professor in Political Science at Michigan State University, where she focuses on authoritarian politics and the security and policy implications of autocratic rule.  
Joseph Wright is a Professor of Political Science at Pennsylvania State University. There, he examines how international factors influence autocratic rule and democratization.  

Splitting the Atom on U.S. Nuclear Strategy

Earlier this year, the Biden administration revised its nuclear strategy, the nuclear employment guidance, which is updated approximately every four years. This time, however, the administration seems to have made some significant changes, placing greater emphasis on China given its growing nuclear capabilities, as well as directing the United States military to prepare for coordinated nuclear confrontations with Russia, China, and North Korea. To help us understand the significance of these reported changes, James Acton and Jon Wolfsthal join Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Jim Townsend on this week’s episode of Brussels Sprouts.  
James Acton holds the Jessica T. Matthews Chair and is co-director of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. 
Jon Wolfsthal is the Director of Global Risk at the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) and an Adjunct Fellow with us at CNAS. 

Germany's Historic Elections and What Comes Next

Germany is currently at a critical juncture, balancing numerous challenges both at home and abroad. Just last weekend, populist parties including the far-right AfD scored substantial gains in two state elections in eastern Germany. Two major factors behind these results are the political salience of migration in the national debate, and discussions surrounding Germany’s support for Ukraine. While Berlin has reaffirmed its backing for Kyiv following its recent offensive in Russia’s Kursk region, long-term prospects for German support remain unclear. Simultaneously, the country is struggling with the issue of significant support for Russia-friendly political parties, and infighting among those in the governing coalition. To unpack all of these ongoing developments in German affairs, Daniela Schwarzer and Christopher Schuetze join Jim Townsend and Andrea Kendall-Taylor on this week’s episode of Brussels Sprouts.
Daniela Schwarzer is a member of the executive board of the Bertelsmann Foundation, where she oversees work on Europe in the world and democracy and societal cohesion. Prior to this, she served as the Executive Director of the Open Society Foundations in Europe and Central Asia and the Director and CEO of the German Council on Foreign Relations. She is also an honorary professor at Freie Universität Berlin.
Christopher Schuetze is a reporter for the New York Times based in Berlin. There, he covers politics, society, and culture in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, along with the rise of populism and the far right in Germany.

Assessing the Kursk offensive with Mike Kofman

The Russia-Ukraine war has recently entered a new phase with the Ukrainian military’s offensive in Kursk, marking one of the most significant battlefield developments in more than a year. Pushing steadily into Russia, the Ukrainian armed forces have reportedly seized more than 1,000 square kilometers of territory, capturing critical infrastructure and leading thousands of civilians to flee their homes. While this offensive seems to be placing new pressure on Moscow’s resources that could potentially even have repercussions for Russian political stability, there are nonetheless major questions about Ukraine’s ability to hold this territory as well as the implications for other areas of the battlefront. To help us understand the motivations for this bold move by Ukraine and what it could mean for the future of the conflict, Mike Kofman joins Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Jim Townsend on this week’s episode of Brussels Sprouts.
Mike Kofman is a senior fellow in the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he focuses on the Russian military and Eurasian security issues.
 

Brussels Sprouts from the NATO Public Forum on NATO's Ability to Fight Russia and the Importance of the European Pillar

As you might now from our last episode, At the NATO Public Forum in July, Brussels Sprouts roamed the halls of the Marriot Marquis hotel in DC interviewing Public Forum guests and attendees on the key issues that were being discussed both at the Forum, and next door at the historic 75th anniversary NATO Summit.
In our last episode we heard about the mood of the Summit, it’s successes and those areas where it fell short, and about the unsung deliverables-or important outcomes that didn’t get the attention they deserved.
In this episode we’ll hear from conference participants about the alliance’s readiness for a conflict with Russia and on the need to strengthen the European pillar within NATO.
Tune in for:
Steve Flanagan, adjunct senior fellow at the RAND Corporation
Damon Wilson, president and CEO of the National Endowment for Democracy
Beth Sanner, a resident distinguished fellow at GMF
Camille Grand, Distinguished Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.