Global I.Q. Podcast

When Emmanuel Macron became president of France in 2017, his party had existed less than a year. Macron has faced unique challenges as president in an era of disillusionment with the French state and the E.U. He has struggled to contain insurrection within his own country while simultaneously attempting to balance the growing frustration of Europeans with what Macron considers a need for a more united and self-sufficient Europe.

Standing at the international crossroads of a growing rivalry between the U.S. and China, increasing aggression from Russia and the aftermath of Brexit, Macron has been called “the last true champion of the European ideal.”

In this exclusive program for Global Forum members, William Drozdiak shares his personal conversations with the French president about his vision for Europe and the world at large.

William Drozdiak is a Senior Advisor on Europe at McLarty Associates, an international strategic consultancy firm, and Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. For more than 20 years, Drozdiak was a senior editor and foreign correspondent at the Washington Post. Drozdiak holds a master’s degree in economics from the College of Europe in Bruges and two bachelor’s degrees from the University of Oregon in political science and economics.

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Do you believe in the importance of international education and connections? The nonprofit World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth is supported by gifts from people like you, who share our passion for engaging in dialogue on global affairs and building bridges of understanding. While the Council is not currently charging admission for virtual events, we ask you to please consider making a one-time or recurring gift to help us keep the conversation going through informative public programs and targeted events for students and teachers.

Donate: https://www.dfwworld.org/donate

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer issued a warning to President Donald Trump prior to his inauguration in 2017: “You take on the intelligence community, they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you.” Since 1947, the Central Intelligence Agency has been the “eyes and ears” of presidents. The stakes of the relationship between the elite spy agency and the U.S.’ elected leaders are high, says “The Spymasters” author Chris Whipple: “The stakes range from starting wars to averting Armageddon.” In her conversation with Whipple, Lone Star Analysis’ director of competitive intelligence Laurie Young will explore this in-depth history of the CIA told through the Agency’s directors and how their interactions with our U.S. presidents have shaped history.

Chris Whipple is a writer, documentary filmmaker and speaker who has written for many publications including Newsweek, Vanity Fair and Politico. His previous book, “The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency,” was a New York Times bestseller in 2017. Former Secretary of State James Baker III called Whipple “an accomplished historian, hard-nosed journalist, and master storyteller.”

In conversation with Laurie Young

Trust - America's Best Chance With Pete Buttigieg by World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth

CNN’s chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward weighs in on her experience navigating devastation and destruction in the world’s most dangerous places, while finding a way to remain empathetic and in touch with the better side of humanity. With postings in Russia, China, Afghanistan and across the Middle East, Ward has spent her career telling the world’s most difficult and heartbreaking stories. In her book, “On All Fronts,” Ward will share insights with Elizabeth Souder of the Dallas Morning News from her unique perspective as a conflict reporter in the “age of extremism” – a time that has pushed humanity to redefine warfare as increasingly complicated geopolitics adapt to the modern world.

Clarissa Ward is Chief International Correspondent at CNN. She is a world-renowned and award-winning conflict reporter whose 15-year career includes work for Fox, CBS and ABC. Ward is a graduate of Yale University and the recipient of an honorary doctor of letter from Middlebury College in Vermont. She speaks seven languages and currently lives in London.

At the Dallas Morning News, Elizabeth Souder edits opinion commentary for the daily Viewpoints page and the Sunday Points section. She started with the Morning News in 2005 as the energy reporter and joined the editorial board in 2015. Souder worked for Dow Jones/Wall Street Journal in New York covering airlines and in Frankfurt covering German bonds and banks. She holds Plan II liberal arts and journalism degrees from the University of Texas.

In 2018, American fracking overtook Russia and Saudi Arabia to make the U.S. the world’s largest oil producer. But in the April throes of COVID-19, U.S. crude fell to a negative value for the first time in history. The foundations of energy, international politics and economics have shifted, but master storyteller and global energy expert Dr. Daniel Yergin has drawn a new map of what he calls a world “being shaken by the collision of energy, climate change, and the clashing power of nations in a time of global crisis.” Reg Manhas will talk with the man Fortune called “one of the planet’s foremost thinkers about energy and its implications.”

Daniel Yergin is the founder of IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates and Vice Chairman of IHS. Dr. Yergin won a Pulitzer Prize in 1992 for his bestselling definitive history of oil, “The Prize,” and “The New Map” is his fourth book. He was awarded the United States Energy Award for “lifelong achievements in energy and the promotion of international understanding.” He serves on the U.S. Secretary of Energy Advisory Board and chaired the U.S. Department of Energy’s Task Force on Strategic Energy Research and Development. Dr. Yergin is a director of the Council on Foreign Relations and a trustee of the Brookings Institution. Dr. Yergin holds a B.A. from Yale University and a Ph.D. from Cambridge University, where he was a Marshall Scholar.

In conversation with Reg Manhas

Reg Manhas is Principal at Purcell Global Strategies. He built and led the external affairs and sustainability functions at Talisman Energy and Kosmos Energy, and has two decades of experience managing complex above ground risks in over 25 countries on 5 continents. Reg has degrees in chemical engineering and law from the University of British Columbia.

Time Magazine called H. R. McMaster, the 26th U.S. National Security Advisor, "the Army's pre-eminent warrior-thinker." Now McMaster brings his long record of battleground engagement and foreign policy scholarship to an examination of America's place in the world and asks us if we are ready to reject party politics and educate ourselves about "the most significant challenges to national and international security."

Sarah Huckabee Sanders served as the White House press secretary from 2017-2019; she was the third woman and first mother to ever hold the position. The daughter of former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, Sanders has worked in leadership roles for U.S senators, governors, and presidential campaigns. Sarah has been recognized in TIME Magazine’s “40 under 40” as one of the best political operatives of her generation. She is a Fox News contributor, advises major companies, and serves on the Fulbright board as an appointee of President Trump. Sarah lives in Little Rock, Arkansas with her husband Bryan, their children Scarlett, Huck, and George, and their golden retriever Traveler.

In the 70 years following the introduction of the Marshall Plan, the world saw unparalleled prosperity – but Blair Sheppard argues this steady prosperity has now “unraveled.” Rising economic inequality, disruption caused by technology, polarization overcoming consensus, and a loss of trust in institutions are driving significant global challenges. Blair believes the current trajectories of prosperity, technology, institutional legitimacy and leadership have created an existential crisis, “But if we tackle them now, thoughtfully, imaginatively, creatively, and energetically, in ten years we could be looking at a dawn instead of darkness.”

Blair H. Sheppard is the global leader for strategy and leadership at PwC, a network of professional services firms committed to building trust in society and solving important problems. He is also professor emeritus and dean emeritus of Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. During his time at Duke, he was the founding CEO and chairman of Duke Corporate Education and was the principal force behind opening Duke’s campus in China. Five of the coauthors are directors in global strategy and leadership at PwC and one is a leading business journalist. - Bio provided by Berrett-Koehler Publishers

It takes several acts of Congress to set the federal budget. Presidential appointments are subject to congressional approval. The Supreme Court can overrule executive orders. Yet the President, acting alone, can push the nuclear button.

Operating within a system designed around checks and balances, the President of the United States possesses unchecked authority to order a nuclear strike – without any oversight. President Clinton’s Secretary of Defense William Perry and nuclear expert Tom Collina argue that “Presidents, like all of us, make mistakes. They are only human. So, why do we give so much power to one fallible human?” In “The Button,” the authors recommend what is needed to update U.S. nuclear policy.

William Perry, a self-styled “Prophet of Doom,” served as Secretary of Defense (’94-‘97) under President Clinton. He is the founder of the William J. Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies and currently serves as the Director of the Preventative Defense Project at Stanford University. Perry has been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He served in the U.S. Army of Occupation in Japan after World War II, where he witnessed the aftermath of the atomic bombs firsthand. He holds a B.S. and an M.S. in mathematics from Stanford, as well as a Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University.

Tom Collina is a nuclear policy expert. He is the Director of Policy at Ploughshares Fund, a global security foundation. He was previously the Director of the Global Security Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Executive Director and Co-Founder of the Institute for Science and International Security. He holds a degree in International Relations from Cornell University.

Jorge Castañeda was foreign minister of Mexico from 2000 to 2003. He has held teaching positions at Mexico's National Autonomous University, the University of California, Berkeley and New York University. He is a New York Times contributing opinion writer and a columnist for the Mexican daily El Financiero and the Spanish daily El País. Dr. Castañeda has authored more than seven books, including his newly published book, “America Through Foreign Eyes.”

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Do you believe in the importance of international education and connections? The nonprofit World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth is supported by gifts from people like you, who share our passion for engaging in dialogue on global affairs and building bridges of understanding. While the Council is not currently charging admission for virtual events, we ask you to please consider making a one-time or recurring gift to help us keep the conversation going through informative public programs and targeted events for students and teachers.

Donate: https://www.dfwworld.org/donate