Every week on FP Dwell, our flagship present affairs podcast and video present, host Ravi Agrawal explores key world points with politicians, policymakers, and lecturers.
This 12 months, European leaders joined this system to handle Russia’s battle in Ukraine, former international ministers from Iran and India took on the conflicts embroiling their nations, and human rights advocates and United Nations officers addressed humanitarian crises in Sudan and Gaza. FP Dwell additionally assessed U.S. President Donald Trump’s high-stakes conferences with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Chinese language President Xi Jinping.
Every week on FP Dwell, our flagship present affairs podcast and video present, host Ravi Agrawal explores key world points with politicians, policymakers, and lecturers.
This 12 months, European leaders joined this system to handle Russia’s battle in Ukraine, former international ministers from Iran and India took on the conflicts embroiling their nations, and human rights advocates and United Nations officers addressed humanitarian crises in Sudan and Gaza. FP Dwell additionally assessed U.S. President Donald Trump’s high-stakes conferences with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Chinese language President Xi Jinping.
FP Dwell continued to sort out what Trump’s “America First” agenda actually means, with essential conversations analyzing the Trump administration’s insurance policies on immigration, commerce, and diplomacy. Economists took on the main debates of our time: the power of the greenback, the impacts of globalization, the position of tariffs, and the longevity of synthetic intelligence-driven development. All year long, Agrawal additionally hosted discussions about shifting get together politics with a number one Democratic senator and a Republican influencer.
Listed below are 5 discussions value watching (or rewatching). If you happen to’re an FP Insider, you possibly can learn transcripts of them, too.
1. One-on-One With Europe’s Prime Diplomat
Trump’s posture towards Russia’s battle in Ukraine has advanced over the previous 12 months. On the sidelines of the U.N. Normal Meeting, Agrawal requested Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s excessive consultant for international affairs and safety coverage, how Brussels reads the USA’ altering angle on the battle.
“We have now been very clear on our personal plan. What we’re doing is pressuring Russia with sanctions,” Kallas mentioned. “We’re additionally serving to Ukraine—militarily, financially, additionally politically—as a lot as we are able to. We’re staying on that course. Anyone else who desires to affix is welcome.”
As Washington upends many long-standing alliances and shifts its commerce insurance policies, Europe is “making an attempt to have extra associates all over the world,” Kallas mentioned. “I have to say that contemplating the large image and the conduct of the world’s superpowers, we’re more and more extra standard.” Learn the transcript.
2. On Gaza and Morality
The worldwide north and world south have diverged sharply of their opinions of Israel’s battle in Gaza. As simply two examples, South Africa has referred to as the battle a genocide, whereas the USA thought of the navy marketing campaign a justified response to Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, assault on southern Israel.
One cause for this disconnect, in keeping with Indian author and public mental Pankaj Mishra, is “the colour line.” Agrawal interviewed Mishra on his new guide, The World After Gaza: A Historical past, to know the hyperlinks between colonization, race, and fashionable battle.
“The colour line, the racial divide, has lengthy been a actuality,” Mishra mentioned. “And in some ways, it has created the trendy world that we dwell in. Its reminiscence has not vanished for the many individuals who nonetheless see themselves as dwelling in a world made by and for white males. And clearly, that’s going to present itself in geopolitical relations and in the way in which we have a look at occasions like Gaza.” Learn the transcript.
3. FP on the Munich Safety Convention: Finland’s President Alexander Stubb
Earlier this 12 months, U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance surprised the foreign-policy neighborhood with a speech on the Munich Safety Convention, the place he questioned Europe’s democratic values and criticized its leaders’ dedication to free speech.
Agrawal requested Finnish President Alexander Stubb to reply: “The nice factor with free speech is that you may have totally different views. For me, free speech means accountability,” he mentioned. “It means fact-checking. It means an open dialogue between totally different ideologies and identities. And if that’s what Vice President J.D. Vance meant, it’s a great factor.”
Amid Europe’s more and more tense relations with the USA, Finland’s perspective as a brand new NATO member is especially attention-grabbing. On the time of this interview, the U.S. dedication to the alliance—and to Ukraine—was wavering. Whereas Stubb applauded Trump for participating with Russian President Vladimir Putin, he certified that he does “not assume you possibly can have peace with out Ukraine or Europe.” Learn the transcript.
4. How Gen Z Thinks About International Coverage
Protestors in entrance of Tennessee’s Capitol in Nashville, Tennessee, on April 3, 2023.Photograph by JOHN AMIS/AFP through Getty Photos
Era Z is coming of age at a tough time. Zoomers, as they’re identified, are aged between 13 and 28, they usually have already lived by means of a world monetary disaster, a historic pandemic, and a number of other wars. Now, lots of them confront an entry-level job market muddled by AI advances. Agrawal sat down with Kyla Scanlon, a 27-year-old creator and commentator who has been dubbed the “financial advisor to Gen Z” to learn how this has modified their political beliefs.
Scanlon reported a pervasive feeling of nihilism amongst younger People at present. “There’s this ingredient of, ‘I don’t actually consider sooner or later. I don’t assume I’ve a monetary future. I don’t consider I’m going to have the ability to retire,’” Scanlon mentioned.
In accordance with her, Trump has been capable of faucet into this angle. “Not solely is Trump promising to blow issues up, however he’s additionally wildly entertaining and humorous,” Scanlon mentioned. Learn the transcript.
5. Can Clear Vitality Repair the Local weather Disaster?
On FP Dwell, main environmentalist Invoice McKibben argued that advances in photo voltaic panels and batteries will make an actual dent in lowering the impacts of local weather change. “Ninety % of latest electrical technology all over the world final 12 months got here from solar and wind and batteries,” mentioned McKibben, creator of the latest Right here Comes the Solar. “This isn’t ‘different’ anymore. It’s the obvious technique to proceed.”
Nonetheless, McKibben emphasised that the USA has allowed for “voluntary self-surrender of world management.” In Could, China put in sufficient new wind and photo voltaic capability to generate extra annual electrical energy than all of what Poland’s sources generate mixed. Learn the transcript.
