Seth Moulton led a platoon into Baghdad, fought in Najaf, and commanded Marines trained to recover downed pilots. He now sits on the House Armed Services Committee. When two American jets went down over Iran, he said what most in Washington wouldn't: Iran is winning this war.

In a conversation with Suzanne Kianpour and Jim Stenman, Moulton makes the case that tactical success in the air is concealing a strategic collapse on the ground, that Trump's Truth Social posts are doing real damage to Gulf alliances, and that tearing up the nuclear deal set in motion everything that has happened since. He also explains why the biggest beneficiary of this conflict may not be Iran at all -- it may be Xi Jinping.

When Rouzy Vafaie tried to cross the border into Armenia during the war with the United States, he was looking for a way out. Instead, he was intercepted by the IRGC.

In this episode of Global Power Shifts, Suzanne Kianpour speaks with Rouzy about the reality of his detention, the beatings, the threats, and the unexpected reason he was finally let go. It turns out his release came with a price. He was expected to carry out a “service to the motherland” by spying for the regime while living abroad.

This is a first-hand account of the physical reality of escaping Iran and the psychological pressure that follows a person long after they have crossed the border.

What happens when the guardrails of Middle East diplomacy finally snap?

In this episode, we are joined by Jon Finer, former U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor and host of the Vox Media podcast ⁠The Long Game⁠. Finer joins Global Power Shifts to break down the collapse of the Iran nuclear deal and the regional chaos that followed.

Having sat at the table during the original JCPOA negotiations, Finer offers a candid look at the fallout of the Trump-era withdrawal and the hard lessons learned since.We dig into the "fantasy" of clean regime change, the danger of entering conflicts without a clear exit, and why military escalation rarely goes to plan.

From the stability of the Gulf to the volatile energy markets and the shifting balance of power from the Levant to the Horn of Africa, Finer explains why the old rules of engagement no longer apply.

Sir Bill Browder joins Global Power Shifts to discuss what his experience inside the Kremlin teaches us about the current state of global instability. Once the largest foreign portfolio investor in Russia, Browder has undergone a profound transformation. Following the death of his lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, in a Moscow prison, he abandoned his career in finance to become a leading human rights activist and a persistent critic of Vladimir Putin.

A central part of this episode focuses on the Magnitsky Act. This landmark legislation, which Browder pioneered, fundamentally changed international diplomacy by allowing governments to freeze the assets and ban the visas of specific individuals responsible for corruption or human rights abuses. Rather than sanctioning entire nations, this "follow the money" approach targets the personal wealth of autocrats and their enablers.

The conversation explores how Putin consolidated power through chaos, why Russia benefits from the current war in Iran, and what Ukraine’s drone expertise means for the future of the Gulf. Browder also shares his perspective on Donald Trump’s posture toward Russia, the breaking point of international law, and the precarious balance between global business and human rights.

Topics include: Putin’s Russia, Sergei Magnitsky, the Magnitsky Act, human rights activism, Ukraine, Iran, the Gulf, sanctions, corruption, Trump, NATO, and global power shifts.

In this emergency episode of Global Power Shifts, Jim Stenman and Suzanne Kianpour speak with award-winning journalist Tracey Holmes about the extraordinary story of Iran’s women’s football team at the Women’s Asian Cup. After refusing to sing the national anthem, several players were granted asylum in Australia, while others chose to return home amid fears for their families.

We discuss how the situation unfolded, the intense pressure from Iranian officials, why Donald Trump inserted himself into the story, and what this moment reveals about the collision of sport, state power, and human rights.

In a special edition of Global Power Shifts, Jim Stenman and Suzanne Kianpour unpack the fast-moving crisis around Iran, one week after the latest U.S. and Israeli strikes. Suzanne, an Iranian-American journalist who has covered Iran for most of her career, reflects on the deeply personal reality of watching her two countries move closer to open conflict. Together, they examine the fallout across the Gulf, the confusion around Trump’s endgame, the future of the Iranian regime, and why Iran cannot be understood through easy comparisons with other countries in the Middle East.

From refugee camps to the highest levels of U.S. diplomacy, Ambassador Tibor Nagy has spent decades at the center of America’s engagement with Africa.

In this episode of Global Power Shifts, Jim Stenman and Suzanne Kianpour sit down with the former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs to examine Africa’s role in a world where the rules-based international order no longer operates as it once did — and where power, leverage, and credibility increasingly matter more than language or ideals.

The conversation spans the Horn of Africa’s growing volatility, China’s expanding footprint, potential disruption in the Red Sea, and the intensifying competition for critical minerals. Nagy also offers a blunt assessment of why terms like “genocide” have lost much of their power in international politics, even as violence and instability persist.

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In our first episode of 2026, Jim Stenman speaks with Dr. Mohamed Hagi, Somaliland’s Presidential Advisor on Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, days after Israel became the first country to formally recognize Somaliland. Hagi argues recognition changes the operating reality of diplomacy, from trade and finance to security cooperation. We discuss what Somaliland says it wants from Israel, what Israel may gain in return, and how this recognition reverberates across the Red Sea corridor, from Yemen to the Horn of Africa. The conversation also covers Berbera port and the UAE’s footprint there, Ethiopia’s long-running push for sea access, and why Hagi says U.S. recognition remains the holy grail, including the roles of Donald Trump, Senator Ted Cruz, and Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.

In this episode:

• What recognition unlocks in practice
• Israel–Somaliland: interests on both sides
• Red Sea security and regional backlash
• Ethiopia, Berbera, and sea-access politics
• The Washington angle and diaspora politics

Authoritarian politics is rising, not just in the U.S., but across the West. In this episode, Jim Stenman and Suzanne Kianpour sit down with Saikat Chakrabarti, a Silicon Valley tech millionaire turned progressive strategist who is now running to replace Nancy Pelosi in San Francisco.

He is the son of an Indian immigrant who grew up in poverty, and he argues that the American Dream has been breaking for decades. His core claim is blunt: when democracy stops delivering a better life, voters start looking elsewhere, and that is where strongman politics thrives. He also makes the case that progressive politics is failing because it has not matched today’s affordability crisis with a big enough economic agenda.

We talk about what it would take to rebuild trust in democracy, how to regulate Big Tech and put AI to work for the public, and how to pair social justice with an economic program that can actually win. We also ask whether Zohran Mamdani’s win in New York signals a new opening for progressives, and what that could mean for the future of the Democratic Party.

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Eritrea is often described as “Africa’s North Korea” – a closed dictatorship where indefinite conscription, disappearances and repression push people to flee, feeding one of the world’s most desperate migration routes.

In this episode of Global Power Shifts, Jim Stenman and Suzanne Kianpour sit down with Vanessa Tsehaye, a Swedish Eritrean human rights activist, founder of One Day Seyoum, 2025 Magnitsky Award winner, and former Amnesty International campaigner and Al Jazeera journalist. Vanessa’s uncle, a photojournalist, has been imprisoned in Eritrea for more than two decades, and that personal story runs through her work. She explains the country’s human rights crisis, how it connects to migrant journeys across the Sahara and Mediterranean, and how Eritreans are still fighting for accountability – and quietly preparing for life after Isaias Afwerki.