Podcast
Foreign Policy Live
Hosted by Foreign Policy · EN
Each week, Foreign Policy Live will feature a substantive conversation on world affairs. Host and FP editor in chief Ravi Agrawal will be joined by leading foreign-policy thinkers and practitioners to analyze a key issue in global politics, from the U.S.-China relationship to conflict and diplomacy. FP Live is your weekly fix for smart thinking about the world.
Foreign Policy magazine subscribers can watch these interviews live and submit questions and suggestions by going to https://foreignpolicy.com/live/.
38episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Is the U.S.-Israel Special Relationship Over?
1w ago00:39:53Tap to summarizeU.S. public opinion is undergoing a dramatic shift, with more and more Americans calling for less military support to Israel. So, is the “special relationship” between the two countries over? According to an essayist in Foreign Policy’s latest print issue, the partnership has peaked—and the only way to go is down. Why is that, and how did we get here? Joshua Leifer, a columnist for Haaretz and author of that essay, joins FP Live to explore trends in the U.S.-Israeli partnership. Plus, Ravi shares his read on the proposed U.S.-Iran cease-fire deal. Paul Musgrave: Iran Is a Bigger Defeat Than Vietnam Will Todman: Everyone Lost the War With Iran Menahem Merhavy: Iran’s Victory Is More Pyrrhic Than It Looks Joshua Leifer: The End of the U.S.-Israel Alliance FP’s Summer Print Issue: The End of the World as We Know It David E. Rosenberg: Netanyahu’s Reelection Could Hinge on Outcome of Iran War Steven A. Cook: Why the U.S. Should Wind Down Military Aid to Israel Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →
The Geopolitics of the World Cup
3w ago00:38:31Tap to summarizeThis week, the largest-ever World Cup will commence. Across the three host countries—Canada, Mexico, and the United States—48 teams will play 104 matches in 16 cities. But it also comes amid a particularly fraught geopolitical backdrop. Not only have the three hosts spent the last year sparring over immigration, trade, and even national sovereignty, but one of them, the United States, is at war with fellow participant Iran. Top soccer expert and Times economics editor Mehreen Khan joins FP Live to explore just how exceptional this World Cup is. Plus, Ravi shares his read on troubles for China’s solar industry. Financial Times: Adam Tooze: Wasting China’s solar panel surplus is madness The Economist: China’s world-beating solar industry is in turmoil FP Coverage of the World Cup Bobby Ghosh: Sleeping in Mexico, Playing in America Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →
How to End the Iran War
3w ago00:42:08Tap to summarizeWhat would it take to end the Iran war? What exit strategies are still available to the United States? Robert Malley, a former lead negotiator of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and the Biden administration’s special envoy for Iran, joins FP’s Ravi Agrawal to discuss the current talks to open the Strait of Hormuz. Plus, Ravi offers his read on why U.S. President Donald Trump is wavering between two extremes on a cease-fire deal. New York Times: Robert Malley and Stephen Wertheim: Of Course Trump Bombed Iran Wall Street Journal: Condoleezza Rice: What the U.S. Has Accomplished in Iran Ali Hashem: The World Keeps Asking Iran the Wrong Question Michael Hirsh: Why the U.S. Is Headed for a Long War With Iran Matthew Kroenig: Iran Does Not Have a Right to Enrich Uranium Sina Azodi: The Myth of Zero Enrichment Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →
How to Survive a Chaotic World
May 2700:41:13Tap to summarizeIf the rules-based order is broken, what comes next? And who will lead it? Mark Leonard argues in his new book, Surviving Chaos: Geopolitics When the Rules Fail, that the coming system will be “un-order,” governed not by China or the United States but by no one at all. Are states responding quickly enough? Leonard, who is the director of the European Council on Foreign Relations, joins FP Live’s Ravi Agrawal to explore how policymakers should adjust. Hal Brands: Three Scenarios for a Post-Trump World Stephen M. Walt: Chinese Hegemony Might Be Happening James Palmer: China Doesn’t Always Win When the U.S. Loses Michael Hirsch: After the Nation-State Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →
Trump, Xi, and a New Balance of Power
May 1900:48:20Tap to summarizeU.S. President Donald Trump arrived in Beijing for his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping to great fanfare but left with little to show for it. What does the Trump-Xi summit reveal about the balance of power between the world’s two biggest economies? Rana Mitter, a top historian of China, joins FP Live to discuss where the world’s most important relationship is headed. Plus, Ravi shares his read on why the Iran war may be Trump’s greatest failure. Ravi Agrawal: Iran Could Be Trump’s Greatest Failure James Palmer: The Trump-Xi Summit Was Remarkably Banal Fareed Zakaria: Trump’s China Pragmatism Is Welcome Stephen M. Walt: Chinese Hegemony Might Be Happening James Palmer: China Doesn’t Always Win When the U.S. Loses Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →
Is Russia the Unintended Winner of Trump’s Iran War?
May 1200:38:20Tap to summarizeThere’s little doubt that the conflict in Iran has hurt much of the world economy. But not Russia. Data suggests that the Kremlin has already made billions of dollars in additional oil revenue since the United States and Israel attacked Iran. But beyond just cash, how much will this change President Vladimir Putin’s broader strategy? And what does this mean for the fate of the war in Ukraine? Alexander Gabuev, the director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, joins FP Live to explain how Russia is navigating a moment of particular global flux. Plus, Ravi offers his read on U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing. Christian Caryl: Vladimir Putin Is Much Weaker Than You Think Sean Wiswesser: Don’t Fall for Rumors of Putin’s Weakness Keith Johnson: Russia Is Making Bank on Trump’s Iran War Christian Caryl: How Ukraine Benefited From Trump’s Iran War Alexey Kovalev: Russia’s War Boom Masks an Economic Implosion Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →
The surprisingly normal streets of Tehran
May 800:31:46Tap to summarizeWhile the conflict in Iran has dominated headlines in the last two months, accounts of ordinary life in the Islamic Republic are scarce. According to journalist Ali Hashem, who spent six weeks in Tehran and has visited several times in the last decade, life in the capital looks more normal than one might imagine. Shops and restaurants are largely open, and regular people seem to be rallying around the flag in the face of an external threat. And while the internet as we know it is shut down, an intranet of sorts—with access to local versions of Netflix, Uber, and WhatsApp—is allowing people a semblance of regular life. Hashem speaks with host Ravi Agrawal about his reporting from Iran. Ali Hashem: Iran Is More Unified Than Ever Ali Hashem: The Iran Cease-Fire Has Only Divided the War Ali Hashem: Waiting for the War to End in Tehran Ali Hashem: Iran Is Becoming America’s Ukraine Ali Hashem: Iran Is Built to Withstand the Ayatollah’s Assassination Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →
‘Ask Me Anything’—the Iran War Edition
May 500:41:15Tap to summarizeIt’s time for another ask-me-anything edition of FP Live. This one takes on the war in Iran from many angles: the economic impact, regional balance of power, the longer-term global impact, and much else. Producer Dana Sherne puts audience questions to FP’s editor in chief Ravi Agrawal. Ravi Agrawal: The World Is Paying the Price for America’s War Ravi Agrawal: Trump Is Losing the War in Iran Stephen M. Walt: The End of America’s Soft Power Amir Handjani: The Real Meaning of the UAE’s OPEC Exit Aaron David Miller and Daniel C. Kurtzer: Why Trump Might Come to Regret the Iran War Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →
Where the Iran War Goes From Here
May 200:51:00Tap to summarizeThe extension of a fragile cease-fire in the Middle East has left the region with no clear path forward. The Strait of Hormuz is still blocked, which means the global energy crisis will get worse. But Tehran’s new leaders are suffering too. What is their plan? Iran expert Karim Sadjadpour joins FP Live to discuss the shifting state of the war. Plus, Ravi shares his read on how the war’s economic fallout is worst in Asia. Ravi Agrawal: The World Is Paying the Price for America’s War David Ignatius: Both Sides Want a Deal. Both Keep Acting As if They Don’t. Menahem Merhavy: The Man Who Represents Post-Clerical Iran Bobby Ghosh: Tehran Can’t Count on Hormuz Philip H. Gordon and Rebecca Lissner: The Strategic Aftershocks of Trump’s Iran War Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →
How Much Will the Iran Conflict Hurt the Global Economy?
Apr 2900:31:55Tap to summarizeThe closure of the Strait of Hormuz is like a ticking time bomb for the global economy, disrupting the flow of energy and rippling through industries from agriculture to semiconductors. How bad could it get? The International Monetary Fund has cut its forecast for global growth this year from 3.4 percent to 3.1 percent in the best-case scenario and 2 percent in the worst case. What countries will be the most affected, and what can they do to protect themselves? Gita Gopinath, an economics professor at Harvard University who was formerly the first deputy managing director of the IMF, joins FP Live to discuss. IMF’s World Economic Outlook: Global Economy in the Shadow of War Ravi Agrawal: The World Is Paying the Price for America’s War Keith Johnson: Why Iran Isn’t Blinking Yet Jason Bordoff and Spencer Dale: Making the U.S. More Resilient to Oil Price Shocks Esfandyar Batmanghelidj: The Iran War Is Jeopardizing the Entire Global Economy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →