100 episodes

Small bites on Transatlantic Security, NATO, the EU, Russia, and all things Europe. Hosted by Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Jim Townsend at the Center for a New American Security.

Brussels Sprouts Center for a New American Security | CNAS

    • News
    • 4.5 • 62 Ratings

Small bites on Transatlantic Security, NATO, the EU, Russia, and all things Europe. Hosted by Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Jim Townsend at the Center for a New American Security.

    Franco-German Tensions and the War in Ukraine

    Franco-German Tensions and the War in Ukraine

    Last week, French President Emmanuel Macon made waves when he said that he had not ruled out sending ground troops to fight in Ukraine. This statement prompted a strong reaction from Russian President Vladimir Putin, and for many of France’s NATO allies to distance themselves from Macron’s statement and potential escalation. One of the most notable instances of this came from German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who asserted that soldiers from NATO countries should not “actively participate in war events.” This latest Franco-German spat fits within a larger trend of disagreements between Paris and Berlin and comes at a time when unified European leadership is desperately needed to aid Kyiv. To discuss the implications of these recent events for the future of Western support to Ukraine, Camille Grand and Claudia Major join Andrea Kendall- Taylor and Jim Townsend on Brussels Sprouts.
    Camille Grand is a Distinguished Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. He leads the organization’s work on defense and disruptive technologies in European security.
    Claudia Major is head of the International Security Division at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs in Berlin. Her research focuses on European and transatlantic security and defense policy.

    • 1 hr 1 min
    German Politics and the Alternative for Germany (AfD) Party

    German Politics and the Alternative for Germany (AfD) Party

    Throughout January, Germany witnessed weeks of mass protests against the far-right in numerous towns and cities across the country. The immediate impetus for these demonstrations was the revelation that leaders of the Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, had met with neo-Nazis to discuss potential large-scale deportations of certain segments of the country’s population. While the scale of participation in these protests demonstrates backlash among many Germans against the far-right’s xenophobic ideology, the AfD nonetheless retains significant popularity, particularly in eastern Germany. As the country looks ahead to various regional elections this fall that could see the AfD come to power, as well as to national elections in 2025, how significant of a threat does the far-right represent? To discuss the implications of the increasing mainstreaming of the far-right both in Germany and in Europe more broadly, Liana Fix and Erika Solomon join Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Jim Townsend on this week’s episode of Brussels Sprouts.
    Liana Fix is a Fellow for Europe at the Council on Foreign Relations.
    Erika Solomon is the Berlin correspondent for the New York Times.

    • 41 min
    Discussing Two Years of War in Ukraine with Marie Yovanovitch and William Taylor

    Discussing Two Years of War in Ukraine with Marie Yovanovitch and William Taylor

    February 24 marks the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Heading into the third year of war, Ukraine faces a challenging outlook. No longer are U.S. and European leaders talking about Russia’s strategic failure in its invasion. Indeed, the Kremlin appears confident that things are heading in Russia’s direction after Ukraine’s 2023 offensive and signs of U.S. reticence to sustain military support to the Ukrainian effort.  Anxiety over this outlook was running high at the Munich security conference, where allies grappled with the reality of a rising threat from Russia underscored by the killing of Alexei Navalny, the disclosure of Russian plans to put a nuclear weapon in space, and the transatlantic community’s lack of preparedness to address Russia’s rising challenge. To discuss where Ukraine stands two years after Russia’s brutal invasion, two former U.S. ambassadors to Ukraine, Bill Taylor and Marie Yovanovitch, join Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Jim Townsend on this episode of Brussels Sprouts.
    William Taylor is the vice president for Europe and Russia at the U.S. Institute of Peace. Prior to this, he served as the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine from 2006 to 2009, and as the chargé d'affaires at the U.S. embassy in Kyiv in 2019.
    Marie Yovanovitch is a senior fellow in the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a nonresident fellow at the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy of Georgetown University. She served as the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine from 2016 to 2019, having previously held this post in the Republic of Armenia and the Kyrgyz Republic

    • 46 min
    Hal Brands on the Looming Threat of Global Conflict

    Hal Brands on the Looming Threat of Global Conflict

    During the past two years, the world has seen the eruption of two major conflicts in two different regions. In Europe, Russia has launched a war of aggression against Ukraine in an attempt to reclaim a sphere of influence, while in the Middle East, Iran’s longstanding policy of enabling proxies including Hamas has resulted in a major war in Gaza and widespread violence throughout the region. In the meantime, tensions continue to simmer in East Asia, where China’s ambitions of primacy have stoked fears of a potential future conflict over Taiwan. While these three regional competitions may seem separate, they are in reality becoming increasingly interconnected as ties among Eurasia’s revisionist powers become stronger—a dynamic similar to that observed in the prelude to World War II. What lessons should we draw from the past as we attempt to make sense of today’s global turmoil and its implications for the future? Hal Brands joins the podcast to discuss all of this and more.
    Hal Brands is the Henry A. Kissinger Distinguished Professor of Global Affairs at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

    • 53 min
    Russia's Election and Putin's Power

    Russia's Election and Putin's Power

    In March of 2024, Russia will hold a presidential election. While Vladimir Putin is nearly certain to win another term in office given the Kremlin’s efforts to control the outcome and repress the opposition, it is far from certain how domestic dynamics in the country more broadly will play out in the months and years to come. As we approach the two-year anniversary of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, how is the Russian public viewing the war, how is Putin exploiting the conflict domestically, and what might be the potential risks to regime stability going forward? Graeme Robertson and Sam Greene joined the podcast to discuss all of this and more.
    Graeme Robertson is a Professor of Political Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Director of the Center for Slavic, Eurasian, and East European Studies.
    Sam Greene is the Director for Democratic Resilience at the Center for European Policy Analysis and a Professor of Russian Politics at King's College London. 

    • 54 min
    Russia, Putin, and Ukraine in 2024 with Fiona Hill

    Russia, Putin, and Ukraine in 2024 with Fiona Hill

    This week’s Brussels Sprouts discusses expectations for Russia in the pivotal year ahead. As we approach the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine this February, how is the Kremlin viewing prospects for success going forward and the West’s capacity to sustain its support? Moreover, what is the potential impact of further instability in the Middle East, and how will Russia cultivate its relationships with China, Iran, and North Korea in 2024? With the upcoming elections in both Russia and the U.S., moreover, there is also much to consider regarding Putin’s domestic hold on power and the implications of American results for Russia. To address all of this and more, we’re pleased to have Fiona Hill with us on the podcast.
    Fiona Hill is a senior fellow in the Center on the United States and Europe within the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution. She also holds the position of chancellor at Durham University in the United Kingdom and was recently elected to the Harvard University Board of Overseers. 

    • 57 min

Customer Reviews

4.5 out of 5
62 Ratings

62 Ratings

Involved A2 ,

Someone other than Townsend

I wish there is someone else other than Townsend. He’s verbose and his comments are circular and repetitive. He’s on another podcast I listen to as a regular guest not host and he rarely has anything new to impart.

Jim from Silicon Valley ,

More Leftwing Foreign Policy

This podcast is full of liberal talking points. The intellectual rigor is freshmen college level and there is rarely if ever any time spent on original thought. If you are a fan of failed liberal foreign policy, this podcast is for you. If you live in the real world and look for intellectual rigor, original thought and potential solutions for global challenges, go somewhere else.

lvivianka ,

Andrea, let your cohost speak!

Andrea is really not a skilled host. It’s incredibly awkward how she asks a million questions then “lets” her cohost ask his questions at the end. Or she’ll like introduce guests then interrupt them while they are saying “thanks for having me” or whatever. And sorry it’s not like her questions and comments are super insightful— it sounds like everything is based on a few mainstream news articles. This show has some good guests and covers some important topics but I don’t come away from it feeling like the main host has any particular insight.

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