logo
episode-header-image
Feb 2025
29m 16s

Hot and cold wars: How Eurasia shaped th...

ECFR
About this episode

Hal Brands argues that, while American power is often seen as dominating the modern era, it is in fact part of a long and violent Eurasian century. From world war one to today's geopolitical tensions involving the US and the authoritarian axis of China, Iran and Russia, the Eurasian landmass has consistently shaped global conflict.


This week Mark Leonard welcomes Hal Brands, the Henry Kissinger distinguished professor at the John Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and columnist for Bloomberg Opinion, to discuss his new book, The Eurasian Century: Hot Wars, Cold Wars, and the Making of the Modern World. What inspired him to write it? How is the second Eurasian century, driven by the authoritarian axis of Russia, China, and Iran, emerging? And how does Donald Trump change the equation between liberal powers and the authoritarian Eurasian heartland?


Bookshelf:


The Eurasian Century: Hot Wars, Cold Wars, and the Making of the Modern World by Hal Brands


By More Than Providence by Michael J. Green

 

This podcast was recorded on 10 January 2025



Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Up next
Jul 4
Hidden empire: How America wields economic power
This week, Mark Leonard is joined by Henry Farrell, ECFR council member and professor at John Hopkins University, to discuss Henry’s new book “Underground Economy”, co-authored by Abraham Newman. In their take, globalisation has brought interdependence—which is being weaponised a ... Show More
34m 26s
Jun 28
Live from Warsaw: Polling European politics under Trump’s shadow
Recorded live from ECFR’s Annual Council Meeting 2025, this week’s podcast features Mark Leonard in conversation with Ivan Krastev, Chair of the Centre for Liberal Strategies in Sofia and permanent fellow at the Institute of Human Sciences in Vienna, and Carl Bildt, former prime ... Show More
29m 55s
Jun 25
NATO summit 2025: How Europe can secure its future
This week, Mark Leonard is joined by Camille Grand, former NATO assistant secretary general and ECFR distinguished policy fellow, for a 15-minute Emergency Room episode dissecting the high-stakes NATO summit in The Hague. Against a turbulent geopolitical backdrop, world leaders n ... Show More
11m 15s
Recommended Episodes
Jun 9
Analyzing Ukraine’s Attack on Russian Airbases With Former Admiral Stavridis
Today on the show, Fareed is joined by former NATO Supreme Allied Commander James Stavridis to discuss Ukraine’s stunning attacks on Russian airbases. Next, Christopher Kirchhoff, a top military strategist, speaks with Fareed about the future of warfare, and how the US needs to a ... Show More
43m 14s
Sep 2024
Why We Should Be Worried About Iranian Nukes
Eric and Eliot pay homage to Daily Telegraph journalist and podcaster David Knowles who was the driving force behind the podcast, Ukraine: The Latest, on which Eliot has appeared several times. They also discuss the intensifying cooperation among Russia, China, Iran, and North Ko ... Show More
1h 1m
Oct 2024
The New Cold Wars: A Conversation with David Sanger
In this bonus episode, Jane Perlez sits down with New York Times national security and White House correspondent David Sanger. In this candid conversation, they talk about his new bestseller: New Cold Wars: China's Rise, Russia's Invasion, and America's Struggle to Defend the Wes ... Show More
53m 21s
Nov 2024
Trump and the Crisis of Liberalism
Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 U.S. presidential election comes at a moment of turbulence for global democracy. It’s been a year marked by almost universal backlash against incumbent leaders by voters apparently eager to express their anger with the status quo—and also an era ... Show More
35m 13s
Nov 2023
Charles S. Maier, "The Project-State and Its Rivals: A New History of the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries" (Harvard UP, 2023)
We thought we knew the story of the twentieth century. For many in the West, after the two world conflicts and the long cold war, the verdict was clear: democratic values had prevailed over dictatorship. But if the twentieth century meant the triumph of liberalism, as many intell ... Show More
50m 49s
Jan 2025
Season 4, Episode 3: Prof. Glenn Diesen, The Ukraine War and the Eurasian World Order
Send us a textJoin Professor Jeffrey Sachs and political scientist Glenn Diesen as they discuss Professor Diesen’s new book, The Ukraine War & the Eurasian World Order. Professor Diesen explains Europe’s fractured security framework which he believes has steered the continent tow ... Show More
58m 54s
Jun 3
Ep 121. Could Project Russia Destroy the West? with David Troy
From Gaddafi’s Green Book, to Mao’s Little Red Book, to Hitler’s Mein Kampf, ideological autocrats have frequently spelled out in plain sight their perverse world views and long-term plans to confront their adversaries and upend global order. Rather than engaging in deep study of ... Show More
59m 57s
Apr 21
America's Tariffs and Today's Global System | ClubGPF Preview with George Friedman
From the U.S., to Europe, China, the Middle East and Russia, relationships are being restructured due to changing geopolitical forces. As GPF Chairman George Friedman explained in our recent ClubGPF live discussion, we are now entering an age where America is taking on a pivotal ... Show More
6m 5s