Turkey and NATO: Is there life after brain-death? (Commentary)

Asli Aydıntaşbaş - 05 December 2019

Rifts over Turkey were on full display in London this week, but the country’s place in NATO remains secure. Here’s why.

Open Skies: Trump’s next big blunder? (Commentary)

Gustav Gressel - 04 December 2019

Partisan argument in Washington is helping undermine the Open Skies Treaty. The US could lose one of the most useful instruments in its relations with Russia.

Will Europe Ever Trust America Again? (Commentary)

Ivan Krastev - 04 December 2019

As Western leaders gather in London this week, you might be able to detect a huge rupture beneath the surface.

Another NATO summit train wreck? Here’s hoping (Commentary)

Nick Witney - 02 December 2019

NATO leaders should put the US security guarantee at the heart of this week’s summit. The fractious meeting that results could even be a good thing for Europe.

A very American crisis: Why Trump is still NATO’s biggest problem (Commentary)

Jeremy Shapiro - 02 December 2019

To all appearances, Macron and Erdogan are NATO’s latest troublemakers. But it is US indifference that enables their antics.

The benefits of political fragmentation (Commentary)

Pawel Zerka - 29 November 2019

The EU's new pluralism has made public debate more political, as parties and groups have become careful to protect their distinct identities.

EU support for Lebanon: If not now, when? (Commentary)

René Wildangel - 29 November 2019

The Lebanese desire for change is not going to go away. The EU should place itself at the heart of smoothing this transition.

China's 1989

Anthony Dworkin stands in for host Mark Leonard to talk about how China experienced 1989 back then and today. In some ways, it is more comparable to the changes 1968 provoked in the West, claims podcast guest and China expert Jeff Wasserstrom. Looking beyond the dreadful Tiananmen Square Massacre, how did China change after 1989 politically and socially? And can we draw a line from the protests back then to the ones in Hong Kong right now?

This podcast was recorded on 2 December 2019.

Bookshelf:

• "Vigil: Hong Kong on the Brink" by Jeffrey Wasserstrom
• "Minjian: The Rise of China’s Grassroots Intellectuals" by Sebastian Veg
• Follow: Yangyang Cheng @yangyang_chen

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Iran: Calculating the cost of US sanctions

Over a year into the Trump administration's "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran, the re-imposition of sanctions have not only placed in jeopardy the Iran nuclear deal, but also hit the Iranian economy.
The panel consisting of Esfandyar Batmanghelidj(Founder, Bourse & Bazaar), David Ramin Jalilvand(CEO, Orient Matters), Tara Sepheri Far(Iran Researcher, Human Rights Watch and chaired by Ellie Geranmayeh (Deputy Head of the MENA Programme, ECFR) looked at all the costs associated with the US sanctions policy including the impact on ordinary Iranians, the Iranian leadership and how this ties into the recent wave of protests across the country.
The event on 3rd December considered the impact of the US sanctions on trade between Europe and Iran, particularly in the humanitarian sector.

Recorded on 3 December 2019 in Berlin.

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America's 1989

In the fourth episode on the events of 1989 and how they have shaped and may continue to shape our world in the years to come, host Mark Leonard is joined by Jeremy Shapiro. Jeremy Shapiro is research director here at ECFR, and is able to provide an account of the American experience of 1989, which was much less dramatic than European and Russian collective memories of the event. Nevertheless, 1989 is an interesting jumping-off point for thinking about the lenses of US foreign policy and the foreign enemy paradigm it appears to require. In dialogue with our previous contributors- Timothy Garton Ash and Fyodor Lukyanov- Shapiro analyses the neglect of Russia in American foreign policy thinking and addresses issues such as the rise of China. Did the EU ever really develop a security order accepted by the Russians? What could the US or Europe have done differently in the wake of the Cold War?

This podcast was recorded on 27 November 2019.

Bookshelf:

• "1989: The Struggle to Create a Post-Cold War Europe" by Marie Elise Sarotte

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The first beneficiaries of 1989

Host Mark Leonard has an intimate discussion with our heads of offices from Sofia and Warsaw, Vessela Tcherneva and Piotr Buras about their experiences, hopes and dreams during the transition times of the 1990s. How did their life and future change the minute the Berlin Wall fell? What are this generation’s thoughts 30 years later and predications for Europe in the coming 30 years?

This podcast was recorded on 21 November 2019.

Bookshelf:

• "The light that failed" by Ivan Krastev
• "Bulgaria under Communism" by Ivaylo Znepolski et al.
• "Reflections on a ravaged century" by Robert Conquest
• "Die Welt braucht den Westen" by Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff

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Russia's 1989

In the second in our series on the events of 1989 and how they will shape our world for decades to come, host Mark Leonard is joined by Fyodor Lukyanov. Lukyanov is Editor-in-Chief of Russia in Global Affairs, Chairman of the Presidium of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, and Research Director of the Valdai International Discussion Club. In this podcast, recorded in Dubai, the two discuss America's and Russia's differing views on the Cold War and its end. The trauma of 1989, but also the euphoria it generated in Europe, and Putin's development as a political actor, are set into context. This context allows for a multifaceted understanding of the events of 1989.It also allows the arc of Russian foreign policy to be traced to today, and in doing so provides a useful accompaniment to the Eurocentric 1989 celebrations.

This podcast was recorded on 4 November 2019.

Bookshelf:

• "Perestroika: New Thinking for Our Country and the World" by Mikhail S. Gorbachev

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Yemen - Seizing the moment of oppurtunity?

Recording of the Lunch Discussion analysing Yemen's role in the current Gulf crisis and how recent regional developments will have an impact on the UN-coordinated peace process.

Almost a year after the widely praised UN-sponsored Stockholm Agreement, there have been significant changes in the Yemeni war but peace appears no nearer. Focus has shifted away from the Hodeida front, leading to the UAE’s military disengagement from Yemen, and leaving Saudi Arabia in sole charge of the war at a time when finding an appropriate response to the September attacks on ARAMCO remains its priority. Within Yemen itself, in recent months, military action and negotiations have concentrated on the summer’s developments in the South, and Saudi attempts to solve the impasse created by southern separatist takeover of Aden, revealing serious differences between the two main members of the Saudi-led coalition.

Our speakers addressed the role Yemen plays in the overall Gulf crisis, including Gulf States perspectives resulting from US volatility, recent and potential developments in the UN-coordinated peace process and the implications of recent internal events in the country.

Recorded on 14 November 2019.

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ECFR - 13 November 2019