Café Berlin

On this episode of Café Berlin, Ian and Lilla speak with Diane Furchgott-Roth, a Distinguished Fellow at the Energy Policy Research Institute (EPRI), to examine the rapidly changing geopolitics of energy. Recent events have renewed interest in oil and gas extraction in the U.S., brought hope for reopening Venezuelan oil to U.S. consumers and refiners, and dashed hopes of an easy end to the Hormuz crisis. Diana, Ian, and Lilla broadly discuss how these events affect climate policy at home. Is green energy activism dead or dormant? Where are America’s new energy leaders educated, and what are they learning?

If you enjoy Café Berlin, please consider making a tax-deductible donation so we can keep providing interesting conversations with interesting guests. You can contribute to our work at https://www.nas.org/cafe-berlin-donate/.

In this episode of Café Berlin, Ian Oxnevad and Lilla Nóra Kiss speak with Dr. Anne Rathbone Bradley, professor at the Institute of World Politics, economic educator, and former economic analyst in the CIA’s Office of Terrorism Analysis. The conversation examines how economics shapes our understanding of terrorism, foreign policy, and national security.

Topics include the relationship between poverty, economic opportunity, weak institutions, authoritarian rule, corruption, and radicalization, as well as emerging trends in terrorist financing. The discussion also considers how universities can prepare future foreign policy and national security professionals to understand incentives, trade-offs, and unintended consequences.

If you enjoy Café Berlin, please consider making a tax-deductible donation so we can continue to provide interesting conversations with interesting guests. You can contribute to our work at https://www.nas.org/cafe-berlin-donate/.

In this episode, we speak with Dr. Daniel Di Martino, an economist, founder of the Dissident Project, and a Venezuelan immigrant.

We discuss how those with firsthand accounts of authoritarian socialist regimes can strengthen civic education in the United States. Di Martino draws on his experience growing up in Venezuela and teaching American high school students to explore how new generations of Americans wrongly misunderstand and romanticize socialism and communism. We also explore why historical memory matters and how educators can equip students with a deeper understanding of economic freedom, political liberty, and authoritarianism.

The discussion also examines Latin America as a case study for understanding the relationship between economic policy, democratic institutions, and individual freedom, and considers what these lessons mean for schools, universities, and the future of civic education.

The NAS is a member-supported organization. If you enjoy Café Berlin, please consider making a tax-deductible donation so we may keep providing interesting conversations with interesting guests. You can contribute to our work at https://www.nas.org/cafe-berlin-donate/. 

In this episode of Café Berlin, Dr. Ian Oxnevad and Dr. Lilla Nóra Kiss speak with Dr. Anne Rathbone Bradley, a professor at the Institute of World Politics, an economic educator, and a former economic analyst in the CIA's Office of Terrorism Analysis. The conversation examines the role of economics in understanding terrorism, foreign policy, and national security. Topics include the relationship between poverty, economic opportunity, weak institutions, authoritarian rule, corruption, and radicalization, as well as emerging trends in terrorist financing. The discussion also considers how universities can prepare future foreign policy and national security professionals to understand incentives, tradeoffs, and unintended consequences.

The NAS is a member-supported organization. If you enjoy Café Berlin, please consider making a tax-deductible donation so we can continue to provide interesting conversations with interesting guests. Here is the donation link: https://www.nas.org/cafe-berlin-donate/.

Stephanie Slade, senior editor at Reason and author of Fusionism: Liberty, Virtue, and the Future of the American Right, joins Café Berlin hosts Ian Oxnevad and Lilla Nóra Kiss. They discuss how fusionism united liberty and moral virtue, why the lessons of the Cold War have faded, and what that loss means for a new generation. The conversation also explores young people's attraction to socialism and statist conservatism, the role of universities, and the enduring question: What is freedom for?

The NAS is a member-supported organization. If you enjoy Café Berlin, please consider making a tax-deductible donation so we can continue to provide interesting conversations with interesting guests. Here is the donation link: https://www.nas.org/cafe-berlin-donate/.

Books by Stephanie Slade:

• Fusionism: Liberty, Virtue, and the Future of the American Right
  https://a.co/d/0dJP7qSH 

Seth Cropsey of the Yorktown Institute discusses U.S. strategy in the 21st century, which should center on the New Axis: China, Russia, and Iran as a connected "Eurasian axis," united mainly by opposition to the United States. He argues that Washington should stop treating these as separate threats and instead respond with a broader maritime and alliance-based strategy.

A major theme is geography. The U.S. should strengthen partnerships with the "rimland" states around Eurasia, including Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, India, Australia, the Gulf states, and Israel, with the aim of containing the ambitions of the continental powers of the New Axis. He also emphasizes Latin America, Africa, and Europe as important strategic theaters, especially where Chinese, Russian, and Iranian influence can be checked at relatively low cost.

Cropsey argues that modern American leaders lack the formative wartime experience that shaped past generations of strategists, and that colleges and universities often fail to teach strategic thinking while sometimes weakening civic confidence. He supports stronger military-to-military ties with Taiwan, more defense cooperation with allies, and a renewed focus on strategy in education.

The discussion closes on AI and future warfare. Cropsey is cautious, saying AI's full implications are still unclear, and he ends by arguing that restoring American maritime strategy will require informed presidential leadership and promoting officers who truly understand strategy.

Café Berlin is a production of the National Association of Scholars. You can support this podcast by making a tax-deductible donation at this link: https://www.nas.org/cafe-berlin-donate/

Books by Seth Cropsey

• Breaking the New Axis: A U.S. Grand Strategy for Eurasia 
  https://a.co/d/03jNscVv
• Mayday
  https://a.co/d/0c2Lgbrl 

Brigadier General Robert S. Spalding III, USAF (Ret.), is the former U.S. Defense Attaché in Beijing and author of Stealth War and War Without Rules. He joins Ian Oxnevad and Lilla Nóra Kiss to discuss how Beijing turns American openness into strategic leverage.

Drawing on his military career, which includes extensive experience in China, Spalding argues that the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) competition with the United States reaches far beyond traditional military conflict. He explains how capital markets, supply chains, corporate access, digital infrastructure, university partnerships, AI research, and talent pipelines can become channels of influence, coercion, and technology transfer.

For higher education, the warning is clear. China's students and researchers working and studying in the United States cannot be treated as strategically neutral. Rather, the likelihood is high that they are acting as agents of surveillance, censorship, or military modernization. Academic exchanges and research must be protected from the malign influence of the Chinese Communist Party.

This episode of Cafe Berlin explores whether America can wake up to China's stealth war, strengthen deterrence over Taiwan's status, and preserve the openness that makes a free society worth defending.

The NAS is a member-supported organization. If you enjoy Cafe Berlin, please consider making a tax-deductible donation at nas.org/cafe-berlin-donate so we can continue to host interesting conversations with interesting guests.

Books by Robert Spalding

• Stealth War: How China Took Over While America's Elite Slept
  https://www.amazon.com/Stealth-War-China-While-Americas-ebook/dp/B07S3PYHH4
• War Without Rules: China's Playbook for Global Domination
  https://www.amazon.com/War-Without-Rules-Playbook-Domination-ebook/dp/B0951N41QY

In this episode of Café Berlin, Ian Oxnevad and Lilla Nóra Kiss are joined by Dr. Gregory J. Moore, Professor of Government at Patrick Henry College and Senior Fellow at the National Institute for Deterrence Studies. Dr. Moore explains why Taiwan may be the most dangerous flashpoint in U.S.-China relations—and why universities should pay attention.

In this episode of Café Berlin, Ian Oxnevad and Lilla Nóra Kiss are joined by David Shedd, former Acting Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, and co-author (with Andrew Badger) of The Great Heist: China's Epic Campaign to Steal America's Secrets (HarperCollins, 2025).

Their conversation explores how the Chinese Communist Party has pursued a long-term, whole-of-society strategy to acquire American technology, intellectual property, research, and strategic advantage across sectors ranging from academia and industry to artificial intelligence, telecommunications, energy, and advanced manufacturing.

Drawing on decades of intelligence experience, Shedd explains how China integrates cyber operations, talent recruitment, academic partnerships, commercial access, and industrial policy into a broader geopolitical strategy aimed at reshaping the global balance of power.

This discussion also examines foreign influence in U.S. higher education, research security, technology transfer, supply-chain dependency, energy policy, and the growing intersection between innovation and national security.

Café Berlin is a new podcast series of the National Association of Scholars, featuring Ian Oxnevad, Senior NAS Fellow for Foreign Affairs and National Security, and Lilla Nora Kiss, Senior NAS Fellow for International Affairs and Academic Integrity.