Coffee Talk Politics

From Claire-It's the Greens in this Battle of the Superfighters episode of the Cosmopolicast. 

Plus, Down with the Sun: Why the world needs nuclear power.

This is the first part of our Energy Week Cosmopolicast, which went on for two full hours. We’ll post the second half tomorrow. Robert Zubrin and the Lewises, père et fils, duked it out in an all-out brawl with Casey Handmer, Alexander Hurst, and Benjamin Wolf. Monique, Ron, Vivek, and I tried to keep our guests from punching below the belt. I know we always say, “This was our best Cosmopolicast yet!” but truly, this one’s a contender. If you think providing energy to the world’s 7.8 billion people must be a simple matter, listen to this one through.

If you would like to read more on the Robert Zubrin's case for nuclear, please have a look at his article in the Cosmopolitan Globalists.

Thanks for listening!
Claire & The Cosmopolitan Globalists

From Claire and the Cosmopolitan Globalists

Our conversation with Nicolas Tenzer, a senior French civil servant and the founding president of the Paris-based independent think tank, Centre d’étude et de réflexion pour l’Action politique (Center for Study and Research for Political Decision).  He is a visiting professor at Sciences-Po Paris.

This podcast will be of special interest to those who wonder how French foreign policy is made and which institutions must be strengthened—or created—to put it on a more consistent footing.

In the end, we ask: how must foreign policy be conducted in the future?  Nicolas offers passionate responses, making reference to such inhumane events in Syria, China and elsewhere.

We hope you enjoy our conversation, 
Claire & The Cosmopolitan Globalists

CTP is now into its 50th episode and to mark this occasion, we're taking on China and its Project of the Century. 

To help me understand what is happening with China, especially after the release of the Human Rights Watch Report "Crimes Against Humanity in Xinjiang," I asked  Reid Standish, editor of China in Eurasia (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) and Prof Scott Lucas (EA Worldview) to come on and we hope you'll enjoy the convo about  how China is moving across the world in their effort to gain great power status.

Reid is an expert on China, Central Asia, the Caucasus and has had experience in Moscow as well. He and Scott help us understand how the Chinese regime maintains its power and influence at home as well as abroad. What's the Belt and Road Initiative Belt and what are China's relations with international powers such as Russia and South East Asia as well as Europe.

Many thanks to CTP's senior researcher Davide Cortese without whom I wouldn't be able to get prepped for the chats.

I hope you enjoy it and thanks for listening,
Mo

From Claire- Henry signed off after the Cosmopolitan Globalists finished recording the China Cosmopolicast. (If you haven’t yet listened to that, we highly recommend it; it’s the best so far, except maybe for the Russia Cosmopolicast.)

But Adam, Monique, Vivek, and I hung around a while longer to chat.

We assumed we were done recording, so we were very relaxed. We’d planned just to throw the last part out, but when we listened to it, we liked it. So we decided to release it as a bonus. If you’ve ever wondered what Cosmopolitan Globalists say when they think no one’s listening, here’s your chance.

Enjoy and thanks for listening!
Claire & The Cosmopolitan Globalists

From Claire—We rounded up our favorite people from the former Soviet satellite states to discuss Russia, and as you might imagine, none of them are amused. Vladislav Davidzon—Scott Abel, Estonia’s former president, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, reinforces the Estonian contingent from his lonely farmhouse in the Estonian countryside and Jon from Vienna.

We ask just what, exactly, Putin thinks he’s doing. He’s now sent tanks, troops and long-range guns to loom, thuggishly, on Ukraine’s borders and in its stolen territories. Why? He couldn’t seriously be planning to gnaw off another chunk of Ukraine, could he? His last meal has been giving him serious indigestion. Is he testing to see what the EU will do? (The EU has already made it clear it is eager to beclown itself, as Toomas notes.)

Is this a test of the new US administration? Is Moscow angling to get control over the Crimean water supply? Or is Putin just keen to make of himself the maximum possible nuisance to any adult in the world who is trying to accomplish anything useful or constructive?

Tune in to find out! 
Thanks for listening,
Claire and the Cosmopolitan Globalists

From Claire—We think this is our best Cosmopolicast yet.

Do you remember Adam Garfinkle’s debate with Vivek about China, the 7th Fleet, and the future of US power? We brought Adam on the podcast to discuss this, and Henry Hill joined us. Is Chinese global hegemony inevitable? Vivek says yes. Adam says no. Who’s right?

We ask what the Chinese regime is really all about: Is it Marxist? Leninist? Maoist? Neo-totalitarian? Revanchist? Nationalist? Imperialist? How well does the West understand China? How well does China understand the West? What does China want? When does China want it? What should we do about it? Who would win a war for Taiwan? What would happen if the US didn’t fight—or lost? Is the US overreacting?

Thanks for listening,
Claire and the Cosmopolitan Globalists

Download the episode

Welcome to the Cosmopartycast...

We marvel at the weirdness of China’s recent diplomatic self-sabotage. We drink. We ask what Macron’s thinking about Russia. We wonder just who actually believes it. Does he? We gossip about Germany. We gossip about the Atlantic Council. We wander around looking for popcorn. We ask if the United States is really so broke that it should sacrifice Estonia. We miss smoking.

Vivek Kelkar weighs in from Mumbai. Jon Nighswander from Vienna. Rachel Motte from Houston. Owen Lewis from Alberta. Akshaya Jose from Paris—me, too, of course. Toomas Hendrik Ilves from Estonia. (We don’t know where in Estonia he is, exactly, but we understand it involves a promising herd of moose.) Monique Camarra, as usual, runs the Cosmopolicast out of Siena.

Check out the Cosmopolitan Globalist publication on Substack.

Thanks for listening!
Claire and the Cosmopolicasters

Grab a coffee and listen in on my chat with the Hon Carlo Calenda, founder of the Italian party Azione. He was Minister of Economic Development in the Renze and Gentiloni governments, the Italian Representative at the EU and now an MEP at the European Parliament.

Based on his experience and what he's seeing today, Hon Calenda has been very vocal against the populist wave in Italian politics. He wrote about what ails Italy in his books- Monsters and How to Defeat Them & Savage Horizons. It turns out these 'monsters' aren't just present in Italy- they represent what must be addressed in our modern democracies.

We also talked about the EU and its relations with China, Russia and Canada and what needs to happen in the EU for it to be a strong partner in the Transatlantic relationship.

Many thanks to CTP's senior researcher Davide Cortese who provided much needed help in the preparation of the pod.

We really hope you enjoy the pod and thanks for listening!
Monique

Buckle up!

The authors of the Cosmopolitan Globalists’ blueprint for ending the pandemic joined to howl in frustration with the world’s inability to do the obvious and end the pandemic. We’re beside ourselves. Claire and Monique are, anyway. Robert’s clearly at the end of his rope. Rachel is composed. Owen and Jon sound just fine.

From Vienna: Jon Nighswander. From Houston: Rachel Motte. From Paris, Claire Berlinski. From Canada: Owen Lewis. From Colorado (and one day, from Mars): Robert Zubrin. Hosted, again, by Monique in Siena.

Many thanks for listening in!
The Cosmopolitan Globalists

Welcome to the very first episode of the The Cosmopolicast!
 
From Claire:
Here we discuss everything that’s wrong with journalism, why it’s become so awful, and how the Cosmopolitan Globalist proposes to fix it. Do you hate the media? Do you wonder why you had to suffer through 260,000,000 stories (we counted) about Harry and Meghan, but didn’t see a single analysis of Britain’s new defense and foreign policy blueprint? Well, we explain.

Over the weekend, Monique Camarra—our Cosmopolitan Globalist in Siena—recorded the inaugural episode of the Cosmopolicast and is hosting it here for the time being.

We figured it would be incomprehensible if all 68 of us were on at the same time, so in this episode it’s me, Vivek, and Jon Nighswander—or “Vienna Jon,” for those of you who have trouble telling all the Jons apart. In future episodes, we’ll introduce you to everyone else—but not at once, obviously.

We hope you enjoy it, and thanks for listening in!
Claire & The Cosmopolitan Globalists

ps...If you're interested in finding out more about The Cosmopolitan Globalists, check it out!