Carnegie Council Video Podcast

There is disturbing evidence that China is weaponizing North Korea, and it's time that Washington started asking Beijing some pointed questions, says Gordon Chang. The fact is, the United States has overwhelming leverage over China--we just don't use it enough--and China has overwhelming leverage over North Korea. "These two points lead to one conclusion, and that is, we can, without the use of force, disarm North Korea."

For many years Gordon Chang has been writing and speaking about Asia. Early on, the "Daily Beast" columnist recognized that Kim Jong-un's nuclear ambitions extended far beyond the possession of a few weapons and that North Korea's missile program would soon present an existential threat to not only America's Asian allies, but to the United States itself. In this clip, Chang adds another dimension to this discussion and presents tangible evidence that China may be providing North Korea with arms that could endanger the U.S. mainland, along with South Korea and Japan.

What has led to the rise of far-right parties across Europe and how have they evolved over time? Is immigration really the main issue, or is there a more complex set of problems that vary from nation to nation? What are the ideological and practical connections between the far right and Russia? Carnegie Council Senior Fellow Marlene Laruelle is an expert on Europe, Russia, Eurasia, and Europe's far right. Don't miss her analysis.

How does climate change play into Xi Jinping's larger strategy for China's economy and its role on the global stage? Xi has a vision for addressing climate change and pollution; but how is it implemented in practice, especially in the hinterlands far from the rich coastal provinces? Elizabeth Economy is an expert on Chinese domestic and foreign policy, especially related to environmental matters. She explores these questions and more.

Thucydides is not saying that the inevitable frictions between a rising power and a ruling one will always lead to war, says Allison. The danger is when "third-party actions become provocations to which one or the other feels obliged to react, to which the other primary actor feels obliged to respond, which then leads to a cascade, often dragging people where they do not want to go." Think North Korea.

"Plutopia" author Kate Brown describes how communities in Washington State and Southern Russia developed in order to mine and process dangerous plutonium for the American and Soviet nuclear programs.

Representative democracy in the UK has been corrupted by the three B's, says Grayling: blackmail, bullying, and bribery. There are similar problems in the United States. To make things worse, covert persuasion tactics via social media are rampant. Yet we can still make representative democracy work, he says. We need transparency, breaking of the grip of the party machine, and control of the amount of money spent on elections.

Half a decade after Arabs across the Middle East poured into the streets to demand change, hopes for democracy have disappeared in a maelstrom of violence and renewed state repression. How did things go so wrong so quickly across a wide range of regimes? What role can and should the United States play? Don't miss this conversation with Council on Foreign Relations' Steven Cook, an expert on Arab and Turkish politics as well as U.S.-Middle East policy.

Hurricane Sandy was the catalyst that impelled Miranda Massie to quit her job as a civil rights lawyer and found the Climate Museum. "I think that climate change is THE equality and THE civil rights issue of the 21st century," she says. Why open this museum in New York and what does it hope to accomplish? Find out more in this interview that covers not only the multi-faceted impacts of climate change, but also what we can do about it.

During his first six years in Congress in the 1990s, Republican politician Bob Inglis declared that climate change was nonsense. But before he successfully ran again in 2004, he changed his mind. What happened? Find out in this clip.