In this week’s episode of Around the World, hosts Dhruva Jaishankar and Rachel Rizzo examine growing concerns around #AI safety, from recent cybersecurity breaches to the risks of recursive self-improvement and debates over regulating frontier AI models. They also cover the newly signed U.S.-Denmark-Greenland defense agreement and the #EU’s proposal to make #Canada its first “associate member” as the transatlantic landscape continues to shift. Finally, they turn to the recent #BRICS summit in New Delhi and #Trump and #Xi’s meeting in Washington this week, with #AIsafety, #trade, #Taiwan, and #Iran among the issues in focus. 

Image: Daniel Torok, via The White House

In this week’s episode of Around the World, Jeremy Shapiro, Director of Research at the European Council on Foreign Relations, joins hosts Dhruva Jaishankar and Rachel Rizzo to explain the rise of Germany’s far-right party, Alternative for Germany (AfD), following its victory in the Saxony-Anhalt state election, and its growing impact on the country’s political “firewall.” They then break down the Pentagon’s “NATO 3.0” review of U.S. troops in Europe, what it means for the transatlantic alliance, and the prospects for negotiations in Ukraine. The hosts also discuss the recent Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Kyrgyzstan, the upcoming BRICS summit in New Delhi, and the increasingly tangled dispute between Argentina, the United Kingdom, and Israel over the Falkland Islands, oil drilling, and Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Image: RONNY HARTMANN / Contributor, via ⁠Getty Images

In this week’s episode of Around the World, hosts Dhruva Jaishankar and Rachel Rizzo discuss the escalating trade conflict between the United States and Canada, highlighting the failed negotiations, retaliatory tariffs, and what the dispute could mean for the Trump administration ahead of the November midterm elections. They also cover shifting security dynamics in the Indo-Pacific as the U.S.-South Korea alliance faces new uncertainty, with the United States cutting short a joint military exercise and Trump’s renewed interest in meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. They end by recapping the Mecca Agreement, a new defense pact between Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan, and whether its NATO-style language will translate into meaningful security cooperation.

Image: The White House, Public Domain, via WhiteHouse.gov

In this week’s episode of Around the World, hosts Dhruva Jaishankar and Rachel Rizzo assess the political implications of the recent migration crisis in Ceuta, Spain as it tested the EU’s new pact on migration and asylum and renewed the broader immigration debate in Europe. They also break down Southern Pacific geopolitics, highlighting dependent economies, the growing impacts from climate change, and competition between the United States and its allies with China, before ending on India’s quiet but gradual engagement in the region.

Image: Mstyslav Chernov, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

In this week’s episode of Around the World, hosts Dhruva Jaishankar and Rachel Rizzo outline the latest developments in U.S. trade policy as President Trump’s renewed tariffs revive legal uncertainty over their implementation while also serving as leverage in ongoing trade negotiations. They also discuss the evolving situation in the Middle East, recent political shifts in the United Kingdom, France, and Ukraine, and Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Australia, before wrapping up with the 2026 FIFA World Cup and some of the tournament’s broader takeaways beyond the pitch.

Image: The White House, Public Domain, via WhiteHouse.gov

In this week’s episode of Around the World, hosts Dhruva Jaishankar and Rachel Rizzo unpack the recent Memorandum of Understanding between the Trump administration and Iran, examining what it signals for U.S.-Iran negotiations, regional dynamics, and the future of the U.S.-Israel relationship. They also discuss the political upheaval in the United Kingdom following PM Keir Starmer’s resignation, exploring the economic, political, and structural forces behind Britain’s latest leadership crisis. Finally, drawing on their participation in last week’s India-U.S. Forum in New Delhi, they reflect on the state of the U.S.-India partnership and its areas of growing cooperation as well as the challenges that continue to shape the bilateral relationship.

Image: Vincent Wei, via Pexels

In this week’s episode of Around the World, hosts Dhruva Jaishankar and Rachel Rizzo discuss ongoing developments in the Middle East conflict, focusing on recent military escalations, ceasefire efforts, and the broader economic and political implications of the conflict for the United States, Europe, and the Global South. They also examine the growing geopolitical significance of artificial intelligence, highlighting how frontier AI systems are reshaping national security and economic competitiveness, while raising questions about international cooperation and the challenge of governing rapidly advancing technologies.

Image: dee karen, via Shutterstock

In this week’s episode of Around the World, Veda Vaidyanathan, Fellow in Foreign Policy and Security Studies at the Centre for Social and Economic Progress, joins hosts Dhruva Jaishankar and Rachel Rizzo to break down the latest Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda — highlighting its implications for health governance and evolving India-Africa ties, as well as the recent cancellation of the fourth India-Africa Forum Summit. The hosts also recap U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s trips to Europe and India, assessing the outcomes of the NATO Foreign Ministers meeting and key developments in U.S.-India relations.

Image: © European Union, 2026, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

In this week’s episode of Around the World, hosts Dhruva Jaishankar and Rachel Rizzo unpack the high-stakes summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, outlining what each side is hoping to secure amid rising tensions over tariffs, critical minerals, Taiwan, and the conflict in Iran. The episode then turns to Europe’s mounting security dilemmas, from the future of NATO to the growing push for a more self-sufficient European defense strategy.

Image: The White House, Public Domain, via WhiteHouse.gov

In this week’s episode of Around the World, Mavis Owusu-Gyamfi, President and CEO of the African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET), joins hosts Dhruva Jaishankar and Rachel Rizzo to discuss Africa’s shifting economic landscape, from declining global aid and greater domestic resource mobilization to expanding opportunities with non-traditional partners. They also recap recent developments in Ukraine, including the European Union’s latest aid package and what it signals for the trajectory of the war with Russia.

Image: Divaris Shirichena, via Unsplash