Geopolitics & Defense
Geopolitics, conflicts and defense: Ukraine and Russia, the Middle East, China and Taiwan, NATO, military industry, sanctions, trade and energy security.
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American Energy Strategy Post Hormuz
This session will explore the uncertain status of U.S. security assurances for the free flow of oil, the ongoing crisis in the Strait of Hormuz, and the ramifications of both for U.S. and global energy security. Speakers: Kelly Sims Gallagher: Dean, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy , Tufts University; CFR Member Ed Morse: Senior Advisor, Hartree Partners, LP; CFR Member Kevin Book: Managing Director, Research, ClearView Energy Partners, LLC ; CFR Member Presider: Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran: Philip D. Reed Senior Fellow and Director of the Energy and Climate Program, Council on Foreign Relations Subscribe to our channel: https://goo.gl/WCYsH7 This work represents the views and opinions solely of the author. The Council on Foreign Relations is an independent, nonpartisan membership organization, think tank, and publisher, and takes no institutional positions on matters of policy. Visit the CFR website: http://www.cfr.org Follow CFR on X: http://www.twitter.com/cfr_org Follow CFR on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/councilonforeignrelations/

How AI Is Reshaping Energy Policy Debates
This session will discuss how AI is reshaping energy policy debates, even as advances in technological innovation promise to improve energy security. Panelists will also explore priorities for policymakers in this rapidly emerging space. Speakers Kingsmill Bond: Energy Strategist, Ember Neil Chatterjee: Chief Governmental Affairs Officer , Palmetto Solar,LLC Mary Powell: Chief Executive Officer, Sunrun Kassia Yanosek: Managing Director and Head of Financial Partnerships, Bechtel Corporation; CFR Member Presider: David M. Hart : Senior Fellow for Climate and Energy, Council on Foreign Relations Subscribe to our channel: https://goo.gl/WCYsH7 This work represents the views and opinions solely of the author. The Council on Foreign Relations is an independent, nonpartisan membership organization, think tank, and publisher, and takes no institutional positions on matters of policy. Visit the CFR website: http://www.cfr.org Follow CFR on X: http://www.twitter.com/cfr_org Follow CFR on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/councilonforeignrelations/

Amory Lovins on "Energy Strategy: The Road Not Taken" 50 Years Later
Amory Lovins reflects on his seminal 1976 Foreign Affairs article, "Energy Strategy: The Road Not Taken." In the following discussion, panelists will discuss the lessons for today ’s energy system fifty years later and a path forward for U.S. energy policy. Introductory Keynote: Amory Lovins: Cofounder and Chairman Emeritus, Rocky Mountain Institute Panelists: Mekala Krishnan: Partner, McKinsey Global Institute, McKinsey & Company Suzanne Maloney: Vice President and Director, Foreign Policy, Brookings Institution Jigar Shah: Host, Energy Empire Podcast; Former Director, Loan Programs Office, U.S. Department of Energy Presider: Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran: Philip D. Reed Senior Fellow and Director of the Energy and Climate Program, Council on Foreign Relations Subscribe to our channel: https://goo.gl/WCYsH7 This work represents the views and opinions solely of the author. The Council on Foreign Relations is an independent, nonpartisan membership organization, think tank, and publisher, and takes no institutional positions on matters of policy. Visit the CFR website: http://www.cfr.org Follow CFR on X: http://www.twitter.com/cfr_org Follow CFR on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/councilonforeignrelations/

Lame Ducks, Black Swans, and the 2026 Midterm Elections | The Spillover
With the 2026 U.S. midterm elections just weeks away, Rebecca Patterson and Veda Partners Cofounder Henrietta Treyz discuss an impending confrontation over the debt ceiling in the lame-duck session. They warn that a 2011-style standoff could unfold if political brinkmanship and a lack of serious effort to stabilize the country’s debt trajectory continue. Host: Rebecca Patterson, Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) Guest: Henrietta Treyz, Co-Founder and Director of Economic Policy, Veda Mentioned on the Episode: “Direct Government Payments to U.S. Farm Producers, 2022–26F,” Economic Research Service USDA - https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/chart-gallery/82238 Anton Korinek, Charles I. Jones, Szymon Sacher, Tess Cotter, and Peter McCrory, “Economic Scenarios for Transformative AI,” The Anthropic Institute - https://www-cdn.anthropic.com/files/4zrzovbb/website/cf58f84d46a4a76bf5a5b039ac695fba6b80041c.pdf Pavan Acharya and Catherine Allen, “Here’s Why Republicans Are Worrying About High Gas Prices Ahead of the Midterms,” Politico - https://www.politico.com/news/2026/06/25/republicans-high-gas-prices-midterms-00974308 Want to keep up with The Spillover? Sign up to receive an email alert when new episodes are released at http://cfr.org/newsletters/#podcasts The Spillover is a production of the Council on Foreign Relations. The opinions expressed on the show are solely those of the hosts and guests, not of the Council, which takes no institutional positions on matters of policy.

CFR 10/13 Religion and Foreign Policy Webinar: Faith Based Humanitarian Aid and U.S. Foreign Policy
Margaret Schuler, senior vice president and chief impact officer at World Vision; Bill Steiger, chief executive officer of Malaria No More; and Michelle Strucke, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for global partnerships at the U.S. Department of War, will discuss the shifting landscape of U.S. foreign aid and the role of faith-based organizations. Sam Vigersky, CFR fellow, will moderate the discussion. Speakers Margaret Schuler Senior Vice President and Chief Impact Officer, World Vision Michelle L. Strucke Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Global Partnerships, United States Department of War William Steiger Chief Executive Officer, Malaria No More Presider Sam Vigersky Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations Subscribe to our channel: https://goo.gl/WCYsH7 This work represents the views and opinions solely of the author. The Council on Foreign Relations is an independent, nonpartisan membership organization, think tank, and publisher, and takes no institutional positions on matters of policy. Visit the CFR website: http://www.cfr.org Follow CFR on X: http://www.twitter.com/cfr_org Follow CFR on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/councilonforeignrelations/

What a Slow Acela Says About the Decline of U.S. Engineering
“I feel like the United States used to be an engineering state—when I’m walking around cities like New York, you know, it really feels like we’re walking through the ruins of a formerly great industrial civilization that our grandparents’ generation built. And so this is where I hope that we can do a little bit more thinking about how do we build better, a little bit more like the Chinese,” says Dan Wang, research fellow at the Hoover Institution. Subscribe to our channel: https://goo.gl/WCYsH7 This work represents the views and opinions solely of the author. The Council on Foreign Relations is an independent, nonpartisan membership organization, think tank, and publisher, and takes no institutional positions on matters of policy. Visit the CFR website: http://www.cfr.org Follow CFR on X: http://www.twitter.com/cfr_org Follow CFR on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/councilonforeignrelations/

Do Higher Taxes Really Kill Innovation?
“The idea that Mark Zuckerberg was sitting in his Harvard dorm room and would have been deterred from starting Meta if the capital gains tax rate was slightly closer to the ordinary income tax rate strikes me as categorically absurd,” argues Natasha Sarin, professor of law at Yale Law School. Subscribe to our channel: https://goo.gl/WCYsH7 This work represents the views and opinions solely of the author. The Council on Foreign Relations is an independent, nonpartisan membership organization, think tank, and publisher, and takes no institutional positions on matters of policy. Visit the CFR website: http://www.cfr.org Follow CFR on X: http://www.twitter.com/cfr_org Follow CFR on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/councilonforeignrelations/

Is the U.S. AI Lead Built on Chinese and Russian Talent?
“When I’m walking around in the AI labs in San Francisco, maybe like a third, maybe even half the folks have Chinese heritage. Many of them are Chinese nationals...” says Dan Wang, research fellow at the Hoover Institution. “There’s something that China and Russia [have] that fewer American students are interested in,” Wang continues, “and that is math.” Subscribe to our channel: https://goo.gl/WCYsH7 This work represents the views and opinions solely of the author. The Council on Foreign Relations is an independent, nonpartisan membership organization, think tank, and publisher, and takes no institutional positions on matters of policy. Visit the CFR website: http://www.cfr.org Follow CFR on X: http://www.twitter.com/cfr_org Follow CFR on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/councilonforeignrelations/

China Outpaced the U.S. on Drones and EVs. Robots Could Be Next
“We’re in the early stages of building out a humanoid robot industrial base, and we want that here, rather than waiting five or ten years where we’re going to have to pay tens of billions of dollars to replicate something that the Chinese have already done,” says CFR expert Peter Harrell while testifying before the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party. Subscribe to our channel: https://goo.gl/WCYsH7 This work represents the views and opinions solely of the author. The Council on Foreign Relations is an independent, nonpartisan membership organization, think tank, and publisher, and takes no institutional positions on matters of policy. Visit the CFR website: http://www.cfr.org Follow CFR on X: http://www.twitter.com/cfr_org Follow CFR on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/councilonforeignrelations/

So Long, Sebastian Mallaby: Funniest Spillover Moments
Sebastian Mallaby is departing The Spillover to write a new book on Dario Amodei and Anthropic. To celebrate his time cohosting the show, here’s a look at some of his funniest moments over the past nine months. But fear not! The Spillover will continue with Rebecca Patterson as host, and Mallaby is likely to return as an expert guest. Watch The Spillover here or wherever you get your podcasts: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/spillover Subscribe to our channel: https://goo.gl/WCYsH7 This work represents the views and opinions solely of the author. The Council on Foreign Relations is an independent, nonpartisan membership organization, think tank, and publisher, and takes no institutional positions on matters of policy. Visit the CFR website: http://www.cfr.org Follow CFR on X: http://www.twitter.com/cfr_org Follow CFR on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/councilonforeignrelations/

How China ‘Cheats’ U.S. Import Restrictions
“When Congress or an agency restricts a Chinese product from the U.S. market, how often do the Chinese sellers cheat their way through hubs like India?” asks Rep. André Carson (D-IN) during a hearing on import controls before the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party. “We have seen over the last 5–6 years what I think of as two different kinds of Chinese cheating—one of which is illegal and one of which is legal—and they’re both quite common,” responds CFR expert Peter Harrell in his testimony. Subscribe to our channel: https://goo.gl/WCYsH7 This work represents the views and opinions solely of the author. The Council on Foreign Relations is an independent, nonpartisan membership organization, think tank, and publisher, and takes no institutional positions on matters of policy. Visit the CFR website: http://www.cfr.org Follow CFR on X: http://www.twitter.com/cfr_org Follow CFR on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/councilonforeignrelations/

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