Hudson Institute Events Podcast

Hudson Senior Fellow Mario Mancuso sits down with Ambassador John Sullivan, who served as United States ambassador to Russia immediately before, during, and after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.One of America’s most distinguished public servants, Ambassador Sullivan has served under five US presidents, in leadership roles at four cabinet departments, and as deputy secretary of the Departments of State and Commerce. Amid the ongoing debate about additional US funding for Ukraine, Ambassador Sullivan gives a bird’s eye view of some of the most consequential geopolitical events in recent times, including the lead-up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the regime dynamics in the Kremlin and what they mean for Vladimir Putin’s future, Hamas’s brutal attack on Israel, and Iran’s proxy war in a changing Middle East.The conversation will continue in a second part coming soon.

Hamas terrorists’ October 7 invasion of southern Israel included the wide-scale rape of Israeli women as a weapon of war, which Secretary of State Antony Blinken said was “beyond anything that I've seen.” However, it has largely been met with silence from the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) to numerous other global women’s rights groups. Meanwhile, Israeli officials believe about 18 women remain in Hamas custody. And United States officials have publicly said that Hamas is not releasing the remaining women because it does not want them to speak publicly about the sexual violence they have endured.Please join Senators Joni Ernst and Marsha Blackburn and Representatives Beth Van Duyne and Julia Letlow for an event at Hudson with Senior Fellow Rebeccah L. Heinrichs, moderated by former State Department Spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus. The women will address Hamas’s use of sexual violence, the silence of global women’s rights groups, and the need for unequivocal moral and intellectual clarity in condemning rape as a weapon of war.Additional panelists will be announced as they are confirmed.

The Quad members (the United States, Japan, Australia, and India) have committed to uphold peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific, and Taiwan is at the heart of this goal for the US and Japan. But Taiwan’s global partnerships extend beyond defense to technology cooperation, trade, investment, and more. What are the Quad members’ respective interests in Taiwan? How can cooperation through the Quad expand these relationships? And how can the Quad support Taiwan as it seeks to increase its collaboration throughout the region on trade, infrastructure building, and other areas?Join Hudson Senior Fellows Riley Walters and James J. Przystup for a conversation with Yuko Mukai of the Project 2049 Institute Dhruva Jaishankar of Observer Research Foundation, and Adam Leslie of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute on these questions and more.

Representative Mike Waltz (FL-6), a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), will moderate a panel on China’s influence operations in the United States with Hudson Senior Fellows John Lee and Miles Yu and Foundation for Defense of Democracies Senior Fellow Craig Singleton as part of the committee’s Beyond the SCIF series. Hudson President and CEO John Walters will deliver opening remarks. The panelists will discuss the scope of the Chinese Communist Party’s influence campaign and examine opportunities for the US and its allies to counter Beijing’s espionage and malign influence.How should Washington respond to Chinese influencers seeking to shape public opinion and manipulate American officials and business leaders into enacting Beijing’s policy preferences? How do the influence operations that China aims at the US differ from those it directs at our allies? Should Washington retaliate by amplifying the voices of Chinese dissidents as it did with dissidents in the Soviet Union?Join Hudson for a discussion on these and other questions about national security and the CCP.

Several Latin American nations are experiencing an erosion of democratic governance and a rise in populism. A combination of internal and external factors has caused this democratic recession, raising important questions for the region’s future and the United States’ interests.Join Hudson Institute and leading Latin America experts for a discussion of the causes of the current democratic recession, the role of citizens’ attitudes, and approaches to renewing the region’s democracies. The speakers will also consider implications for US policy in the region.

President Joe Biden has stated that Ukraine’s success in defending itself against Russian aggression is “vital for America’s national security.” Seventieth Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has argued that “the outcome of this war will have a direct impact on US national security.” Yet despite significant bipartisan support for Kyiv, the prospect of continued United States aid to Ukraine remains uncertain.What is the path forward for Ukraine aid in Congress? Can a bipartisan coalition hold in the face of a determined effort to cut off US aid? What would happen if the US ended military support for Ukraine? What policy changes are needed to help Ukrainian forces prevail, and what would success look like?Please join Hudson Institute and the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) for a discussion with Representatives Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) and Don Bacon (R-NE) on these critical questions. The event will be moderated by Hudson Senior Fellow Luke Coffey and Tamar Jacoby, who directs PPI’s New Ukraine Project, with brief opening remarks from Hudson President John Walters.

External actors have accelerated their efforts to shape public opinion in Latin America in order to sow distrust in democracy and undermine the United States’ interests in the region. Russia has waged a particularly effective campaign. According to the new US Institute for Peace report Russian Influence Campaigns in Latin America, Moscow has succeeded at amplifying anti-US narratives and neutralizing opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.Join Hudson Institute for a discussion with the authors of the report; Douglas Farah, the founder and president of IBI Consultants; and Román Ortiz, senior consultant with IBI Consultants. The speakers will discuss the strategy behind Russia’s disinformation efforts, the tools and tactics that have been most effective, and how the US and its allies can counter disinformation campaigns.

Alsu Kurmasheva is the most recent American journalist Russia has wrongfully arrested because of his or her profession and citizenship. On October 18, Russia accused Kurmasheva, a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) journalist based in Prague, of failing to self-register as a “foreign agent”—even though she was in Russia to visit her ailing mother. This is the first known instance of such a charge in Russia. The US government has not yet received official notification of Kurmasheva’s detention from Moscow, has not been granted consular access to Alsu, and has not yet declared Kurmasheva’s case a wrongful detention.Hudson Institute and RFE/RL invite you to join Pavel Butorin, Alsu Kurmasheva’s husband and the director of Current Time, RFE/RL’s Russian-language digital platform; RFE/RL Acting President Dr. Jeffrey Gedmin; and Wall Street Journal Assistant Editor Paul Beckett for a conversation about Russia’s escalating attacks on American journalists. The event will be moderated by Hudson Institute Media Fellow Jeremy Hunt, with comments from Senior Fellow Olivia Enos.

Last December, the United States Department of Defense unveiled the Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider, the newest American strategic bomber capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear munitions. Current planning has the US Air Force set to acquire at least 100 B-21s, with a few dozen of the bombers to be operational by the end of the decade.Hudson Institute Senior Fellow and Director of the Keystone Defense Initiative Rebeccah Heinrichs led an assessment of the crucial role the B-21 bomber will play in simultaneously deterring the two near-peer nuclear adversaries the United States now faces—the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation.The forthcoming report explores the B-21’s procurement process and lessons the DoD has learned for producing big-ticket items, the B‑21’s role in extended nuclear and conventional deterrence, the Raider’s role in facing the two-pronged threat, the number of B-21s the US should procure in an unprecedented threat environment, and more.Contributors Mackenzie Eaglen, Jennifer Bradley, Rebecca Grant, Christopher Bowie, and Kari Bingen will join Ms. Heinrichs to give a preview of the findings of the report.

Thomas J. Duesterberg, a Hudson Senior Fellow, discusses how China's economic weakness presents an opportunity for the US to push back on Xi Jinping's aggressive program. The podcast covers topics such as China's economic challenges, US-China relations, China's challenge to the international system, Europe's approach to China, and the need for restructuring approaches to address China's challenges.