Post Archives

This week, Kelly and Tristen break down President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu’s 20-point Gaza peace plan and what it signals for U.S.-Israel relations, as well as the ongoing ceasefire negotiations. They then look at the Gen-Z-led protests spreading across Morocco and Madagascar — echoing Nepal’s youth uprising weeks ago — and close with Europe’s efforts to rein in Russia’s growing “shadow fleet” of sanction-dodging oil tankers. Finally, Kelly talks with former U.S. Ambassador to Moldova (2021 – 2024) Kent D. Logsdon about the country’s recent elections and its path toward Europe amid ongoing Russian pressure. Guest speaker Kent D.…

This week, Kelly talks with Stanford University professor and author Dan Edelstein about his new book, The Revolution to Come: A History of an Idea from Thucydides to Lenin, (Princeton University Press, 2025). The book looks at how political thinkers from Plato to John Adams saw revolutions as a grave threat to society and advocated for a constitution that prevented them by balancing social interests and forms of government. He traces how evolving conceptions of history ushered in a faith in the power of revolution to create more just and reasonable societies. Guest speaker Dan Edelstein is the William H.…

This week, Kelly talks with Reuters reporter and author Ernest Scheyder about critical minerals and his new book: “The War Below: Lithium, Copper, and the Global Battle to Power Our Lives.” Guest speaker Ernest Scheyder is a senior correspondent with Reuters covering critical minerals and the global energy transition. “The War Below: Lithium, Copper, and the Global Battle to Power our Lives,” was published in early 2025 by One Signal Publishers/Atria Books. It was longlisted for the 2024 National Book Award and was named the American Energy Society’s Energy Book of the Year. He previously wrote about the U.S. shale…

This week, Kelly talks with Reuters reporter and author Ernest Scheyder about critical minerals and his new book: “The War Below: Lithium, Copper, and the Global Battle to Power Our Lives.” Guest speaker Ernest Scheyder is a senior correspondent with Reuters covering critical minerals and the global energy transition. “The War Below: Lithium, Copper, and the Global Battle to Power our Lives,” was published in early 2025 by One Signal Publishers/Atria Books. It was longlisted for the 2024 National Book Award and was named the American Energy Society’s Energy Book of the Year. He previously wrote about the U.S. shale…

This week, Kelly and Tristen talk through Trump’s speech at the UN General Assembly, his visit last week to the UK, and the administration’s recent strikes on suspected Venezuelan cartels. They also provide some brief updates since the last episode: on Jair Bolsonaro’s conviction in Brazil and the new Saudi-Pakistan defense agreement. Kelly then talks with independent journalist Pranaya Rana about recent protests and political change in Nepal, where Gen-Z-led protests have upended the country’s politics. Guest speaker Pranaya Rana writes Kalam Weekly, a current affairs newsletter from Kathmandu, Nepal. He was Chief Editor of The Record, and Features Editor…

Kelly talks with Emma Ashford about her new book, First Among Equals: U.S. Foreign Policy in a Multipolar World (Yale University Press, 2025), where she proposes a return to a more pragmatic, realist set of strategic principles, ones better suited for the emerging multipolar world, that would pursue narrower U.S. interests, cultivate the capabilities of friendly states, and emphasize room for maneuver over rigid alliances. Guest speaker Emma Ashford is a senior fellow at the Stimson Center, where she is part of the Reimagining U.S. Grand Strategy Program. She is also an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University School of…

This week, Kelly and Tristan cover Israel’s unprecedented strike on Hamas leaders in Doha and the diplomatic fallout for Qatar and the Gaza ceasefire talks, the historic trial of Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro and what it means for democratic resilience, and Beijing’s memory-politics summit—complete with a military parade and a guest list signaling China’s preferred world order. Kelly is then joined by Sameer Lalwani for a deep dive on U.S.–India relations—why the partnership soared over the past decade, how new U.S. tariffs, the India-Pakistan war, and Modi’s optics-heavy outreach to Beijing and Moscow have strained ties, and what to…

This week, Kelly talks with former assistant administrator of USAID, Erin McKee, in light of the department’s gutting in recent months. She is now serving as the CEO of Nova Ukraina, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing humanitarian aid to the people of Ukraine and raising awareness about Ukraine in the United States and throughout the world. Guest speaker Erin McKee is a career US diplomat who served as assistant administrator of the US Agency for International Development for Europe and Eurasia from 2022 to 2025. She also served as the United States ambassador to Papua New Guinea, the Solomon…

This week, Kelly and Tristan cover the recent rounds of summit diplomacy between Presidents Trump and Putin and subsequent meetings with European leaders, the recent moves in Somaliland’s quest for recognition, and the new settlements in the West Bank approved by Israel’s finance minister. Kelly is then joined by Liam Karr of the Critical Threats Project for an update on the DRC-Rwanda peace process. Guest speaker Liam Karr is the Africa Team Lead at the Critical Threats Projects at the American Enterprise Institute. His team uses open-source intelligence to closely map the status of various conflicts from the Sahel and…