Brussels Sprouts

What are Russia’s goals are in their military posture in and around Ukraine, and how might the U.S. and NATO respond? General (Ret.) Curtis Scaparrotti and Lieutenant General (Ret.) Ben Hodges join Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Jim Townsend to discuss Russia’s military presence on the Ukrainian border, the drawdown of Russian troops, and NATO’s broader posture in Eastern Europe. General (Ret.) Curtis Scaparrotti is a senior counselor at the Cohen Group. In 2019, he completed a distinguished 41-year career in the US Army as the Commander, US European Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe, NATO. Lieutenant General (Ret.) Ben Hodges holds the Pershing Chair in Strategic Studies at the Center for European Policy Analysis. He previously served in the U.S. Army for 38 years, completing his last assignment as commander of U.S. Army Europe from 2014-2017 in Wiesbaden, Germany.

How can the transatlantic alliance manage the political and security challenges presented by the Nord Stream 2 pipeline? Daniel Fried and Steven Piferjoin Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Jim Townsend to discuss Nord Stream 2, diplomatic challenges, and more. Daniel Fried is a Distinguished Fellow at the Atlantic Council. He is also on the Board of Directors of the National Endowment for Democracy and a Visiting Professor at Warsaw University. He previously had a forty-year career in Foreign Service, where he played a key role in designing and implementing American policy in Europe after the fall of the Soviet Union. He became one of the U.S. government’s foremost experts on Central and Eastern Europe and Russia. Steven Pifer is a fellow at the Robert Bosch Academy in Berlin and a non-resident senior fellow with the Brookings Institution. In his previous career as a Foreign Service officer, his more than 25 years with the State Department focused on U.S. relations with the former Soviet Union and Europe, as well as arms control and security issues. His research focuses on nuclear arms control, Ukraine, Russia, and European security.

What does President Biden’s decision to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan mean for American allies? Federica Mogherini and Lisa Curtis join Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Jim Townsend to discuss the decision to withdraw, allied forces in Afghanistan, and more. Federica Mogherini is Rector of the College of Europe. She previously served as High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission from 2014-2019. Lisa Curtis is a Senior Fellow and Director of the Indo-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). She is a foreign policy and national security expert with over 20 years of service in the U.S. government, including at the NSC, CIA, State Department, and Capitol Hill.

Svein Efjestad and Janne Kuusela join Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Jim Townsend to discuss Nordic defense policy, Arctic security, and more. Janne Kuusela has served as the Deputy Director General for Defense Policy at the Ministry of Defense of Finland since January 2016, where he also performs the duty of Defense Policy Director. Svein Efjestad became Policy Director at the Norwegian Ministry of Defense in 2013. He is also currently chairing the Coast Guard Council, where he represents Norway at the Political Steering Committee of the Nordic Defense Cooperation.

Sara Bjerg Moller and Ian Brzezinski join Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Jim Townsend to discuss the future of NATO and its ability to balance security challenges from both China and Russia. Sara Bjerg Moller is an Assistant Professor at the School of Diplomacy and International Relations at Seton Hall University, where she directs the International Security specialization. Ian Brzezinski is a resident senior fellow with the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security and is on the Atlantic Council’s Strategic Advisors Group.

What is motivating Russia's recent military buildup on the Ukrainian border? On April 6, 2021, Maxim Samorukov and Michael Kofman joined Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Jim Townsend to discuss Russian military activity on Ukraine’s border, the international community’s response, and more. Mike Kofman is a Senior Research Scientist at the Center for Naval Analyses' Russia Studies Program, a Fellow at the Kennan Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center, as well as an adjunct senior fellow on the Transatlantic Security program at the Center for a New American Security. Maxim Samorukov is a fellow at the Carnegie Moscow Center and deputy editor of the Center’s website.

Frances Burwell and Tyson Barker join Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Carisa Nietsche to discuss transatlantic technology policy, the EU’s Digital Compass, and where the U.S. and European tech policies diverge. Frances (Fran) Burwell is a distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council and a senior adviser at McLarty Associates, and Tyson Barker leads the Technology and Global Affairs Program at the German Council on Foreign Relations.

Ambassadors Gaston Stronck, Mikko Hautala, and Jean-Arthur Régibeau join Andrea Kendall to discuss Russian foreign policy and the state of Russia-Europe relations. H.E. Gaston Stronck became Ambassador of Luxembourg to the United States in September 2019. He has a longstanding diplomatic and professional career spanning four decades, and previously served as Secretary general at the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of Luxembourg from 2017 to 2019. H.E. Mikko Hautala became Ambassador of Finland to the United States in September 2020. He is a career diplomat, and previously served as Ambassador of Finland to Russia from 2016-2020. H.E. Jean-Arthur Régibeau became Ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium to the United States in September 2020. He joined the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1998 and previously served as the Ambassador to the Russian Federation, Armenia, Belarus, and Uzbekistan.

Kadri Liik and Dmitri Trenin join Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Jim Townsend to discuss the current state of Europe-Russia relations and how the United States should approach Russia during the Biden presidency. Liik is a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, and Trenin is the director of the Carnegie Moscow Center, where he also chairs the research council and the Foreign and Security Policy Program.

Emma Ashford and Thomas Wright join Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Carisa Nietsche to discuss the future of America's democracy promotion efforts abroad and what the U.S. government can do to preserve American democracy at home. Emma Ashford is a resident senior fellow with the New American Engagement Initiative in the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, where her work focuses on questions of grand strategy, international security, and the future of U.S. foreign policy. Thomas Wright is the director of the Center on the United States and Europe and a senior fellow in the Project on International Order and Strategy at the Brookings Institution.

Constanze Stelzenmüller and Sam Denney join Carisa Nietsche and Jim Townsend to discuss German foreign and security policy, upcoming German elections, and what might change after Chancellor Angela Merkel steps down. Constanze Stelzenmüller is an expert on German, European, and transatlantic foreign and security policy and strategy. She is the inaugural holder of the Fritz Stern Chair on Germany and Transatlantic Relations in the Center on the United States and Europe at Brookings. Sam Denney is a Senior Research Assistant in the Center on the United States and Europe at Brookings.

Sarah Wheaton joins Carisa Nietsche and Jim Townsend to discuss vaccine nationalism in the EU, the ongoing vaccine rollout, and what both mean for the future of European integration and transatlantic relations. Sarah Wheaton is the chief policy correspondent for Politico Europe. In this role, she focusses on top policy news, in-depth reporting, and special projects in collaboration with Politico’s policy-reporting teams. Prior to this, she served as a senior policy reporter on Politico Europe’s health team, and before moving to Brussels. Sarah was a White House correspondent for Politico in the United States. She spent much of her career at the New York Times, where she reported on breaking news on the 2008 and 2012 campaign in print and online.

Joshua Yaffa joins Carisa Nietsche to discuss recent protests across Russia, Alexei Navalny, the future of Vladimir Putin’s regime, and U.S.-Russia relations. Yaffa is a Moscow correspondent for the New Yorker, and the author of Between Two Fires: Trust, Ambition and Compromise in Putin’s Russia. He has also written for the Economist, the New York Times Magazine, National Geographic, Bloomberg Business Week, the New Republic, and Foreign Affairs. For his work in Russia, he has been named a fellow at New America, a recipient of the American Academy’s Berlin prize, and a finalist for the Livingston Award.

Lindsay Gorman and Martijn Rasser join Carisa Nietsche to discuss future priorities and approaches on technology policy within the transatlantic alliance. Gorman is the Fellow for Emerging Technologies at the Alliance for Securing Democracy at the German Marshall Fund, and a consultant for Schmitt Futures. She has spent a decade at the intersection of technology development and national security policy. Rasser is a Senior Fellow with the Technology and National Security Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). Prior to joining CNAS, Martijn served as a senior intelligence officer and analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency.

Noah Barkin joins Carisa Nietsche and Jim Townsend to discuss the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI), the new investment agreement between China and the European Union, and its implications for the future of the transatlantic alliance. Barkin is a senior visiting fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, managing editor in the China practice at the Rhodium Group, and former bureau chief for Reuters.