Russian War Games, NATO Drills in the Baltics and the Cost of Readiness

This week, Staś Kaleta is joined by Noah Barkin to discuss the EU's strategy for China – after Donald Trump’s NATO ultimatum demanding China tariffs, as well as Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to Poland. Barkin is a Senior Advisor in Rhodium Group’s China practice and a Visiting Senior Fellow in the Indo-Pacific Programme at the German Marshall Fund.This podcast was recorded in Warsaw on the sidelines of our Europe Future Forum, a platform to explore the Polish perspective on key European issues. It invites the participation of 200+ policymakers, directors of public policies and other influential stakeholders: https://europefuture.forum/

This week, as media reports suggest that the US is considering withdrawing its troops from the Baltics, we break down what presence the US really has on NATO’s eastern flank. We look at the large-scale military exercises being led by other NATO allies in the Baltics – in symbolic opposition to the joint Zapad drills of Russia and Belarus – as well as the fiscal difficulties European countries now face trying to fund greater defence spending. We discuss this in the context of Russian sanctions, as Europe prepares a 19th package of measures, but many countries maintain business ties with Moscow via third-party countries.

This week, we look ahead to Karol Nawrocki’s visit to the White House, the first foreign trip of his presidency, which comes amid growing tensions between the presidential office and the government at home. We also comment on Robert Fico’s and Aleksandar Vučić’s expected attendance in Beijing for China’s military parade – siding with a revisionist alliance that forces countries like Poland to push record defence budgets.

In this episode, we break down a rollercoaster week for Ukraine – from the meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Alaska, to Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to Washington yesterday. We also try to explain why no leaders from central or eastern Europe were included in the group of heads of state to accompany Zelenskyy.

In this episode, we break down a rollercoaster week for Ukraine – from the meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Alaska, to Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to Washington yesterday. We also try to explain why no leaders from central or eastern Europe were included in the group of heads of state to accompany Zelenskyy.

In this week’s episode, we look at how Central European leaders are positioning themselves ahead of a pivotal meeting in Alaska – between Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, but no Volodymyr Zelenskyy. We also break down Karol Nawrocki’s first week as President of Poland, and what to expect from his visit to Washington on 3 September.

This week, as Karol Nawrocki completes his official inauguration, we look at what to expect from the next Polish President. We break down clues about what his foreign and domestic policy might look like, and how he changes the game for Donald Tusk – and Jarosław Kaczyński. We’re joined by Bartosz Wielinski, Deputy Editor in Chief of Gazeta Wyborcza, and Krzysztof Izdebski, member of the Board and Director for Advocacy and Development at the Stefan Batory Foundation. 

In this episode, we look at how Central Europe reacted to the new EU budget proposal, breaking down media and government responses – from Warsaw’s celebrations to Budapest’s anger. We hear from Magda Jakubowska, Director of Operations at the Res Publica Foundation, and several Visegrad Insight fellows from across the region, including Iván L. Nagy, Marco Németh, Pavel Havlíček and Radu Albu-Comǎnescu.

In this episode, we’re joined by Marcin Jerzewski 葉皓勤, Head of the Taiwan Office of the European Values Center for Security Policy, as we look ahead to the EU-China summit. We break down relations between different Central European nations and China, and why much can be learned from Taiwan – as Beijing and Moscow continue to consolidate their axis of malign influence, and a delegation from the Special Committee on the European Democracy Shield travels to Taipei.

This week, we react to Donald Trump’s major announcements during a White House meeting with Mark Rutte – including the threat of tariffs on Russia if no deal is struck within 50 days, and a promise of big money equipment for Ukraine. We also break down the hopes of Central and Eastern Europe for the EU’s next Multiannual Financial Framework.