Brussels Sprouts

Wess Mitchell on The Return of Diplomacy to Great Power Competition

On the surface, great power competition often seems driven by economic and military conflict, but diplomacy has always been central to great powers' engagement with the world. This is the argument made by Dr. Wess Mitchell in his forthcoming book, Great Power Diplomacy, The Skill of Statecraft from Attila the Hun to Kissinger. Covering 15 centuries of history, the book makes a powerful case that diplomacy is an essential tool of great power politics and leaders ignore diplomatic skill at their own peril. With the press of current events and especially the rise of cooperation across the Axis of Upheaval, the book is more relevant than ever.
We are very delighted to welcome the book's author, Wess Mitchell, to Brussels Sprouts.
A. Wess Mitchell is a scholar of international relations, a principal at the Marathon Initiative, and he served as the United States Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia from 2017 to 2019.

Moldova Chooses Its Future with William Hill and Laura Thornton

On September 28th, Moldovan voters went to the polls in parliamentary elections to choose between competing visions for their country's future. Despite intense efforts by the Kremlin to influence the information space, wage cyber attacks on election infrastructure, and even make bomb threats at diaspora polling places in Europe, the pro-EU party of action and solidarity clinched just over 50 % of the vote, defeating the pro-Russia patriotic electoral bloc's 24%. The pro-EU party will command a parliamentary majority without needing to form a coalition government. This, coupled with pro-EU President Maya Sandu's victory in last year's presidential election, maintains Moldova's path towards the EU. But persistent challenges remain. Economic growth remains sluggish, poverty remains high, and the pro-Russian enclave of Transnistria remains a challenge from Moldova's EU accession hopes.
To help us understand and decode the election results and what they mean for Moldova and the future of Russian influence in its periphery, we are very happy to welcome Bill Hill and Laura Thornton to the podcast.
William Hill is a retired Foreign Service Officer, was previously a fellow at the Wilson Center’s Kennan Institute, and is the former two-time head of the OSCE Mission to Moldova.Laura Thornton is the senior director for global democracy programs at the McCain Institute.

NATO’s Counter-Drone Conundrum

Over the last two weeks, Russia has repeatedly violated NATO airspace. Seventeen Russian military drones entered Polish airspace on September 10th, followed by another drone in Romania, three Russian jets flew into Estonian airspace for 12 minutes on September 19th, and drones of unknown origin shut down airports in Copenhagen and Oslo on September 22nd. In response to Russia's initial incursion, NATO launched Operation Eastern Sentry to increase and coordinate NATO efforts to counter Russia's drone threat. A new CNAS report released on September 10th details the tactics, techniques and procedures necessary to counter drones and finds current American drone capabilities lacking. NATO's counter-drone capabilities are not sufficient at present and urgent action is needed to prepare NATO militaries to counter Russian drone-based threats.
Here to discuss the way forward with us is CNAS's own Dr. Stacy Pettyjohn, who's the co-author of the new CNAS report, and a Brussels Sprouts regular, Michael Kofman.
Stacie Pettyjohn is a senior fellow and director of the defense program at CNAS
Michael Kofman is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Brussels Sprouts LIVE: Europe with Less U.S.: Preventing Russia Opportunistic Aggression in Europe

Despite the degradation of Moscow’s military in Ukraine, senior western officials estimate that it could reconstitute its forces within two to five years. A new CNAS report considers how a crisis in the Indo-Pacific could shape Russia’s willingness to test NATO. U.S. involvement in a major crisis in Asia would cause Washington to redeploy resources and would-be reinforcements for Europe to the Indo-Pacific, which would create meaningful gaps in NATO defenses. This, in turn, could lead Moscow to perceive a golden opportunity to accomplish its aims: divide the United States and Europe, expand its sphere of influence, and revise the security order in Europe.
To discuss the latest Russian provocations and how NATO can fill the gaps in its defenses, we are very fortunate to be joined by General (Ret.) Philip Breedlove and Admiral (Ret.) James Foggo.
General (Ret.) Philip Breedlove served as NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe and Commander, U.S. European Command from 2013-2016, capping a 39-year Air Force career.
Admiral (Ret.) James Foggo served as Commander, Allied Joint Force Command Naples and Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa from 2017-2020, capping a 39-year Navy career.

Drones over Poland with Doug Lute and Kurt Volker

In the early hours of September 10th, Polish authorities detected 19 Russian drones over Polish airspace. This incident represents a major escalation, with Poland triggering Article 4 of the NATO Treaty. At a minimum, this was an attempt by Russia to get European nations to back down from their support for Ukraine and to expose the Alliance as a paper tiger. The attack also provided the Kremlin with key insights into Poland and NATO's air defenses and its chain of response. So how do we understand what happened and what needs to happen?
To answer those very hard questions, we're very fortunate to have Doug Lute and Kurt Volker with us.
Ambassador (Ret.) Douglas Lute served as the United States Ambassador to NATO from 2013–2017.
Ambassador (Ret.) Kurt Volker served as the United States Ambassador to NATO from 2008–2009 and as the U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations from 2017–2019.

Ukraine Negotiations: Europe’s Perspective and the Next Steps

This week, we continue our assessment of the Trump-Putin and Trump-Zelensky meetings in August. European leaders can take solace in the fact that their presence at the Washington meeting means that their views are not being entirely ignored, but significant outstanding questions remain relating to how the discussions of western security guarantees for Ukraine could materialize. Now that any appearance of momentum from the meetings has petered out, we take stock of European leaders’ takeaways from the Washington meeting and where Europe goes from here in its efforts to support Ukraine.
To share their views on the future of the European security order, we are very happy to welcome Shashank Joshi and Janis Kluge.
Shashank Joshi is the Defense Editor at The Economist 
Janis Kluge is Senior Associate at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in Berlin, Germany

Ukraine Negotiations: Confusing Activity with Progress

The past week has seen a flurry of diplomacy from President Trump as he seeks to bring about a negotiated solution to Russia’s war on Ukraine. While activity has been undeniably high, what fruit has all this effort borne? Sam Charap and Angela Stent join Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Jim Townsend to help make sense of a whirlwind few days and the implications for the future of Ukraine and the transatlantic relationship writ large.
Samuel Charap is Distinguished Chair in Russia and Eurasia Policy and a senior political scientist at RAND.
Angela Stent is Professor Emerita of Government and Foreign Service at Georgetown University and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

Bonus: The Axis of Upheaval's Emerging Military Cooperation

One of the most transformative geopolitical developments in recent years has been the increasing alignment among Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea.  Accelerated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the deepening economic, military, and technological ties among these four countries have resulted in a new Axis of Upheaval—united by shared opposition to a U.S.-led global order.
On July 30, CNAS hosted a virtual panel discussing the new report, The Axis of Upheaval: Gauging the Growing Military Cooperation Among Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea. The panel featured:
Richard Fontaine, chief executive officer at CNAS
Andrea Kendall-Taylor, senior fellow and director of the transatlantic security program at CNAS
Karim Sadjadpour, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
The event was moderated by David McKenzie, director of communications at CNAS
Read the report!
https://www.cnas.org/publications/reports/the-axis-of-upheaval

Russia, Ukraine, and the Global Order with Fiona Hill

Jim and Andrea sit down with Fiona Hill, one of the leading thinkers on Russia, U.S.-Russia relations, and transatlantic affairs. The conversation takes place against a dizzying backdrop of issues, including Russia's escalating attacks on Ukraine and its civilian centers, and political unrest in Ukraine over moves by the Zelensky government to strip anti-corruption agencies of their independence. There are also questions about whether President Trump's 50-day ultimatum to Putin to get to a ceasefire represents a genuine change and a new, harder stance on Russia. Trump was across the pond in the UK over the weekend, and met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to finalize a trade deal with the bloc. But despite reaching a deal, the U.S. forced posture review in Europe, of course, still looms over the future of transatlantic affairs.
Fiona Hill is a senior fellow in the Center on the United States and Europe within the Foreign Policy program at Brookings. She is also the Chancellor of Durham University in the United Kingdom. 
 

Ukraine War Update with Ben Hodges and Jana Kobzova

During the past several weeks, and since around March of this year, Russia has increased the intensity of its attacks on Ukraine. Moscow is launching brutal aerial assaults on cities and civilian centers, amounting to the largest drone and missile attacks to date in this war. Many eyes are now on Washington as the Trump administration sends inconsistent signals that give onlookers whiplash. Additionally, the bipartisan Senate bill to sanction countries that are still purchasing Russian energy has gained momentum in Congress. But with the August recess fast approaching, it will be a race to get to a vote this month.  
To give us an update on the war in Ukraine, we're very pleased to welcome General Ben Hodges and Jana Kobzova. 
Ben Hodges is a retired Lieutenant General in the United States Army and the former Commanding General of U.S. Army Europe 
Jana Kobzova is the Co-Director of the European Security Programme and the European Council on Foreign Relations 
This episode was recorded on July 11, 2025