Independent Thinking

Guest host Leslie Vinjamuri is joined on the podcast this week by Ben Smith, the Editor-in-Chief of Semafor News and Professor Jennifer M Lind – an Associate Fellow with our US and Americas programme. Read our latest: How foreign policy might impact the outcome of the US election This time Haiti really is on the brink. The US and UN must act to restore order How geopolitical competition in the Black Sea is redefining regional order Presented by Leslie Vinjamuri. Produced by John Pollock. Follow Chatham House on Bluesky 🦋 Subscribe to Independent Thinking wherever you find your podcasts - please listen, review and subscribe.

Bronwen Maddox is joined on the podcast this week by Gregg Carlstrom, the Middle East correspondent for The Economist, Siavash Ardalan from BBC Persia and Dr Sanam Vakil – the Director of our Middle East and North Africa programme. Read our latest: The Gaza war is testing Hezbollah's strategic capability Sweden brings benefits for NATO but accession delay raises difficult questions Watch the keynote address by Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin Presented by Bronwen Maddox. Produced by John Pollock. Follow Chatham House on Bluesky 🦋 Subscribe to Independent Thinking wherever you find your podcasts - please listen, review and subscribe.

Bronwen Maddox is joined this week by Bill Browder – who for years has worked as a human rights and anti-corruption campaigner against the Putin regime. Alongside him is Nikolai Petrov, a Consulting Fellow with our Russia and Eurasia programme and Yulia Mineeva, an Academy Fellow with Chatham House, who was previously Head of News for Novaya Gazeta, the main independent newspaper in Russia. Read our latest: Alexei Navalny's most powerful legacy is urging Russians to imagine their country without Putin China's 'renminbi trap': The economy needs a weaker currency, but Beijing is unable to act Ukraine means enlargement is again the EU's priority – but not for the reasons it claims Presented by Bronwen Maddox. Produced by John Pollock. Follow Chatham House on Bluesky 🦋 Subscribe to Independent Thinking wherever you find your podcasts - please listen, review and subscribe.

Bronwen Maddox is joined this week from Jakarta by Professor Burhanuddin Muhtadi, executive director of the Indonesian polling organization Indikator Politik Indonesia, and Dewi Fortuna Anwar, a former advisor to Indonesia's Vice President and chair of Indonesian think tank, The Habibie Center. Joining them all is Ben Bland, the director of our Asia-Pacific program at Chatham House. Read our latest: 'Continuity' Prabowo means change for Indonesia Indonesia's Democracy Is Stronger Than a Strongman (Foreign Affairs) Indonesia's elections: new president, new parliament, same old politics? Presented by Bronwen Maddox. Produced by John Pollock. Follow Chatham House on Bluesky 🦋 Subscribe to Independent Thinking wherever you find your podcasts - please listen, review and subscribe.

Bronwen Maddox is joined this week by Ciaran Martin, the former Chief Executive of the National Cyber Security Centre; Nnenna Ifeanyi-Ajufo, Vice Chair of the African Union's Cyber Security Experts Group; Amy Hogan-Burney, General Manager of Cyber Security Policy at Microsoft and Joyce Hakmeh, the Deputy Director of our International Security Programme. Read our latest: Yes, China pressured Iran on Red Sea attacks – but only to protect its own ships A long war works against Ukraine – and the West's own security Pakistan must ensure free and fair elections to avert a meltdown Presented by Bronwen Maddox. Produced by John Pollock. Sound by Alex Moyler. Follow Chatham House on Bluesky 🦋 Subscribe to Independent Thinking wherever you find your podcasts - please listen, review and subscribe.

Bronwen Maddox is joined this week by Madiha Afzal, an author and Research Fellow at Brookings in Washington DC. Joining them are Dr Farzana Shaikh, an Associate Fellow with our Asia-Pacific Programme and Dr Chietigj Bajpaee, our Senior Research Fellow for South Asia. Read our latest: Pakistan must ensure free and fair elections to avert a meltdown February/March issue of The World Today Russia's withdrawal from its border agreement with Finland is an expansion of its hybrid warfare on the EU The world is already in Trump-induced chaos. Prepare for things to get worse Presented by Bronwen Maddox. Produced by John Pollock. Sound by Alex Moyler. Subscribe to Independent Thinking wherever you find your podcasts - please listen, review and subscribe.