Policy People

Explore the new frontiers of disinformation and disruption with futurist and policy expert Chris Kremidas Courtney. We discuss the threat of surveillance in the metaverse and how new metaverse technologies could supercharge disinformation, the fight for digital rights, how emotion overrides reason within immersive experience, the role of nation-states in this new space, how policymakers can get ahead of the private sector in defining norms for emergent technologies, the divergence of metaverses due to geopolitical competition, the politics of platform governance and many more topics.Chris Kremidas Courtney is a Senior Fellow, Peace, Security and Defense for Friends of Europe in Brussels and lecturer for the Institute for Security Governance in Monterey, California, Advisor for Governance and Societal ResilienceChris is a globally recognized thought leader, futurist, and policy influencer on addressing malign influence campaigns, defending democracy, and societal resilience. They lead efforts to develop policy approaches to protect and support democracy, equality, and the rule of law in a fast-changing world. You can follow Chris on LinkedIn or on Twitter @CKremidasCourt or check out the Extended Reality Safety Initiative’s Metaverse Safety Week, or Ready Hacker One.You can listen to the episode right away in the audio player embedded above, or right below it you can click “Listen in podcast app” — which will connect you to the show’s feed. Alternatively, you can click the icons below to get it on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Google Podcasts.If you enjoy this conversation and would like to help the show, leaving us a 5-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts is the easiest way to do so.To give us a review, just go to Policy People on Apple Podcasts and hit ‘Write a Review’. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit policypeople.substack.com

Delve into semiconductor geopolitics with Chris Miller, author of the new book Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology. We discuss chips evolution in modern warfare, the US-China tech race, Taiwan’s ‘Silicon Shield’, what could happen to the supply chains amid a war over Taiwan, the risk posed by Huawei and SMIC, the big players across each segment of the chip industry and their geopolitical weight, the CHIPS Act, the inefficiencies of state-led technology strategies, the Chip 4 Alliance and many more topics. Chris Miller is an Associate Professor of International History at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, Jeane Kirkpatrick Visiting Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and Eurasia Director at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. Besides Chip War, he has also the author of The Struggle to Save the Soviet Economy: Mikhail Gorbachev and the Collapse of the USSR and Putinomics: Power and Money in Resurgent Russia.Check out Chip War here on Amazon.You can follow Chris on Twitter @crmiller1 or check out his website at christophermiller.net.You can listen to the episode right away in the audio player embedded above, or right below it you can click “Listen in podcast app” — which will connect you to the show’s feed. Alternatively, you can click the icons below to get it on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Google Podcasts.If you enjoy this conversation and would like to help the show, leaving us a 5-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts is the easiest way to do so.To give us a review, just go to Policy People on Apple Podcasts and hit ‘Write a Review’. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit policypeople.substack.com

In this conversation, I discuss Taiwan’s international relations with Russel Hsiao. We discuss Taiwan’s current context of and its place in the world, the perception gap around the risk of a Chinese invasion on Taiwan, the role of think tanks in crafting American policy toward Taiwan, how Taiwan has managed to win strong support from both parties in the US, factionalism within the KMT and the future of the party, where Taiwan fits within the Indo-Pacific, and many more topics. You can listen to the episode right away in the audio player embedded above, or right below it you can click “Listen in podcast app” — which will connect you to the show’s feed. Alternatively, you can click the icons below to get it on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Google Podcasts.If you enjoy this conversation and would like to help the show, leaving us a 5-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts is the easiest way to do so.To give us a review, just go to Policy People on Apple Podcasts and hit ‘Write a Review’.Russell Hsiao is the executive director of Global Taiwan Institute, senior fellow at The Jamestown Foundation, and adjunct fellow at Pacific Forum. He previously worked as a senior research fellow at The Project 2049 Institute and national security fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Prior to those positions he was the editor of China Brief at The Jamestown Foundation and a special associate in the International Cooperation Department at the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy. You can connect with Russell on LinkedIn or check out his think tank’s work at globaltaiwan.org. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit policypeople.substack.com

In this conversation, I discuss cybersecurity battlefields with David Warshavski. We discuss how the digital and physical conflict are merging together, why threat actors are targeting manufactures, the problem of attribution and false flags, the geopolitics of cyberwarfare, how North Korea generates national revenue from cyber attacks, how private firms can take control of the cyber battlespace, how to build an impenetrable digital fortress or lure cyber criminals away with fake assets, and many more topics.You can listen to the episode right away in the audio player embedded above, or right below it you can click “Listen in podcast app” — which will connect you to the show’s feed. Alternatively, you can click the icons below to get it on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Google Podcasts.If you enjoy this conversation and would like to help the show, leaving us a 5-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts is the easiest way to do so.To give us a review, just go to Policy People on Apple Podcasts and hit ‘Write a Review’.David Warshavski is Vice President of Enterprise Security at Sygnia, a cyber tech firm. David has over 10 years of experience in cyber consulting and cyber security. He has led Sygnia’s Adversarial Tactics group, done vulnerability research, offensive tool development and assisted with complex forensic investigations. He holds a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from Tel Aviv University. Sygnia provides high-end consulting and incident response support for organizations worldwide and proactively builds cyber resilience to respond and defeat attacks within networks. It is the trusted advisor and service provider of technology and security teams, management and boards of leading organizations worldwide, including Fortune 100 companies. You can connect with David on LinkedIn or check out his firm’s work at sygnia.co. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit policypeople.substack.com

In this conversation, I discuss the case for an open world with Johan Norberg. We discuss cosmopolitanism in the 21st century, the importance of open systems throughout human history, why merchants were looked down upon in ancient times, whether polytheistic cultures are more open than monotheistic ones, the medieval ‘cacophony of Europe’ and why the continent birthed modernity, different interpretations of neo-civilizationalism, why China is closing after decades of opening, the threat of populism in the West, how humanity’s contradicting impulses to compete and cooperate fit together, whether US-China competition may be advantageous for the world, and many more topics.You can see the visual overlay that follows our conversation on YouTube. Some episodes are posted as videos before coming out in the podcast feed, so if you want to access new content early, be sure to subscribe to the channel.You can listen to the episode right away in the audio player embedded above, or right below it you can click “Listen in podcast app” — which will connect you to the show’s feed. Alternatively, you can click the icons below to get it on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Google Podcasts.If you enjoy this conversation and would like to help the show, leaving us a 5-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts is the easiest way to do so.To give us a review, just go to Policy People on Apple Podcasts and hit ‘Write a Review’.Johan Norberg is an award-winning author, lecturer and documentary filmmaker. Born in Sweden, he has an M. A. in the History of Ideas from the University of Stockholm and is now a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute in Washington D.C. He has written several books, the latest of which is Open: The Story of Human Progress. Open was one of the Economist magazine’s books of the year for 2020 which described it as “clear, colourful and convincing”. You can discover more about Johan through his personal website johannorberg.net or follow him on Twitter at the handle @johanknorberg. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit policypeople.substack.com

In this two-part conversation, I discuss civilizationalism as a new force in global politics with Anvesh Jain. Part 1 covers the Western half of Eurasia — the West and Russia, while Part 2 covers the Eastern half of Eurasia — India and China. In Part 2 we discuss why the state-society power balance is so different in India and China, whether civilizationalism in Asia is a new form of anti-colonialism, the role of religion in India and China, Confucianism and state ideology, how the British changed the caste system, tianxia as an inter-civilizational system, the dynamic between cultural Sinification and modern notions of Chinese ethnicity, the difference between civilizational capacity and civilizationality, whether Indic civilization is constitutional, why the BJP are rehabilitating Gandhi, whether Nepal is the ‘real Hindustan’, why East Asian civilizationalism is marred by geopolitics, where America fits within civilizationalism, why Western policymakers must get to grips with civilizational thinking, whether civilizationalism can contribute to world peace, and many more topics. You can see the visual overlay that follows our conversation on YouTube. Some episodes are posted as videos before coming out in the podcast feed, so if you want to access new content early, be sure to subscribe to the channel.You can listen to the episode right away in the audio player embedded above, or right below it you can click “Listen in podcast app” — which will connect you to the show’s feed. Alternatively, you can click the icons below to get it on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Google Podcasts.If you enjoy this conversation and would like to help the show, leaving us a 5-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts is the easiest way to do so.To give us a review, just go to Policy People on Apple Podcasts and hit ‘Write a Review’.Anvesh Jain is an international affairs analyst and a JD candidate at the University of Ottawa. He recently published a paper titled “Comparing Civilization-State Models: China, Russia, India” in the peer-reviewed Journal of Indo-Pacific Affairs and has also published in the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, the Stimson Center, The Hill Times, and the Mackenzie Institute, among other outlets. Anvesh is part of the NATO Association of Canada and is an emerging scholar at the Network for Strategic Analysis at Queen’s University. You can connect with him on LinkedIn or discover more of his work at his website, anveshjain.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit policypeople.substack.com

In this conversation, I talk with Brad Glosserman on why it is so hard for Japan and South Korea to put the past behind them, the ongoing effects of bilateral relations on the broader security context of the Indo-Pacific, Japan’s future within the region, the dynamic of the US-China rivalry and many more topics. You can listen to the episode right away in the audio player embedded above, or right below it you can click “Listen in podcast app” — which will connect you to the show’s feed. Alternatively, you can click the icons below to get it on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Google Podcasts.If you enjoy this conversation and would like to help the show, leaving us a 5-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts is the easiest way to do so.To give us a review, just go to Policy People on Apple Podcasts and hit ‘Write a Review’.Brad Glosserman is Deputy Director of and Visiting Professor at the Center for Rule-making Strategies, Tama University. He is also a Senior Adviser (nonresident) at Pacific Forum, in Honolulu, where he served for 13 years (2004-2017) as executive director. Brad is the author of Peak Japan: The End of Grand Ambitions (Georgetown University Press, 2019; a Korean edition was released in 2020 by Korean Copyright Center) and co-author (with Scott Snyder) of The Japan-South Korea Identity Clash (Columbia University Press 2015). He is the editor, with Tae-hyo Kim, of The Future of U.S.-Korea-Japan Relations: Balancing Values and Interests (CSIS, 2004). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit policypeople.substack.com

In this two-part conversation, I discuss civilizationalism as a new force in global politics with Anvesh Jain. Part 1 covers the Western half of Eurasia — the West and Russia, while Part 2 covers the Eastern half of Eurasia — India and China. In Part 1 we discuss the rise of civilizationalism across the world, civilizationalists as alternative intellectuals, the ignorance of elites on the movement’s appeal, Russia as a Eurasian civilization, whether Russia is the true inheritor of the Roman empire, why Western civilizationalists admire Russian conservatism today, whether civilizations threaten the principle of equality in international relations, why ‘Western civilization’ is shared among many states, the goal of civilizationalism, its cyclical timespans, and many more topics.You can see the visual overlay that follows our conversation on YouTube. Some episodes are posted as videos before coming out in the podcast feed, so if you want to access new content early, be sure to subscribe to the channel. You can listen to the episode right away in the audio player embedded above, or right below it you can click “Listen in podcast app” — which will connect you to the show’s feed. Alternatively, you can click the icons below to get it on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Google Podcasts.If you enjoy this conversation and would like to help the show, leaving us a 5-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts is the easiest way to do so.To give us a review, just go to Policy People on Apple Podcasts and hit ‘Write a Review’.Anvesh Jain is an international affairs analyst and a JD candidate at the University of Ottawa. He recently published a paper titled “Comparing Civilization-State Models: China, Russia, India” in the peer-reviewed Journal of Indo-Pacific Affairs and has also published in the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, the Stimson Center, The Hill Times, and the Mackenzie Institute, among other outlets. Anvesh is part of the NATO Association of Canada and is an emerging scholar at the Network for Strategic Analysis at Queen’s University. You can connect with him on LinkedIn or discover more of his work at his website, anveshjain.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit policypeople.substack.com

I talk with Mohamed Zeeshan on what the UN’s recent report on climate change means for us all, how Russia will reap geopolitical gains from global warming, weigh up China’s options in Afghanistan and ponder the dynamics of Japanese politics as the ruling party chooses its next leader. You can listen to the episode right away in the audio player embedded above, or right below it you can click “Listen in podcast app” — which will connect you to the show’s feed. Alternatively, you can click the icons below to get it on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Google Podcasts.If you enjoy this conversation and would like to help the show, leaving us a 5-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts is the easiest way to do so.To give us a review, just go to Policy People on Apple Podcasts and hit ‘Write a Review’.If you have any suggestions or questions, feel free to reply to this email, leave a comment or message me at my LinkedIn profile.Stay well and stay safe,- LiamFounder of Policy People This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit policypeople.substack.com

In this conversation, I discuss our new geopolitical reality ‘The Cold Peace’ with Erich Elkins. We discuss the importance of design thinking for policy problems, the roots of Western decline, Erich’s experience meeting Xi Jinping and how it shaped his thinking on the leader, the objective of China’s recent family-friendly reforms, the upcoming Philippines election, the country’s position in the Indo-Pacific, whether the first island chain can hold, why we are living in a ‘Cold Peace’ rather than a ‘Cold War’, the risk of conflict over Taiwan, and many more topics.You can see the visual overlay that follows our conversation on YouTube. Some episodes are posted as videos before coming out in the podcast feed, so if you want to access new content early, be sure to subscribe to the channel. You can listen to the episode right away in the audio player embedded above, or right below it you can click “Listen in podcast app” — which will connect you to the show’s feed. Alternatively, you can click the icons below to get it on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Google Podcasts.If you enjoy this conversation and would like to help the show, leaving us a 5-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts is the easiest way to do so.To give us a review, just go to Policy People on Apple Podcasts and hit ‘Write a Review’.Erich Elkins is the Co-founder and Director of the Sydney-based firm Next Real Ventures, which brings US and European technology solutions to the Indo-Pacific and is the primary representative in the region for HaptX, the world’s leader in dual-use robotics and VR wearables. Erich has been at the forefront of the design and deployment of innovative tech solutions, such as Extended Reality(XR) and Urban Mobility. He has a career spanning three decades working with Fortune 500 companies, startups, and government agencies throughout Europe, North America, and the Asia Pacific, which has given him deep insights into the creation of technology and innovation strategies and policies. This has formed his unique on-the-ground perspective surrounding the growing strategic rivalry between the US and China, and the new global geopolitical reality. Erich is currently based in Manila and you can connect with him on LinkedIn. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit policypeople.substack.com