The Trialogue

By Peter Slezkine

Peter Slezkine, the Director of the USA-Russia-China Trialogue project at the Stimson Center, hosts a series of conversations with experts and ex-officials from the United States, Russia, China and be... more

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FAQs about The Trialogue:

How many episodes does The Trialogue have?

The podcast currently has 36 episodes available.

The Trialogue episodes:

August 22, 2025Jana Kobzova: Europe’s Take on the Alaska Talks
Jana Kobzova, Director of the European Security Program at the European Council on Foreign Relations and former foreign policy adviser to the president of Slovakia, joins us to discuss the European perspective on the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska, the Washington meeting between Trump, Zelensky, and top European leaders, and the future of the war in Ukraine.
Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify to stay updated with the latest episodes!
*The Trialogue Podcast is hosted by the Stimson Center and produced by University FM.
Time Stamps:
04:21 Domestic Dynamics in Ukraine and Anti-Corruption Agencies
11:28 Europe’s Reaction to Shifts in U.S. Policy Under Trump
17:00 Origins of Alaska Summit
20:24 European Red Lines
27:42 Europe’s Take on Alaska Summit Outcomes
30:03 European Shock Over Trump’s U-Turn on Ceasefire
37:57 Any Evolution in Ukrainian and Russian Positions?
43:02 Trump Administration’s Objectives
48:05 European Goals: What is the Alternative to Russia’s Proposals?
57:13 Possibility of Putin-Zelensky Meeting
...more
1h 1min
August 21, 2025Dmitry Suslov: Russia’s Take on Alaska Talks
Dmitry Suslov, Deputy Director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, joins us to discuss the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska and Russia’s expectations for a settlement in Ukraine.
Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify to stay updated with the latest episodes!
*The Trialogue Podcast is hosted by the Stimson Center and produced by University FM.
Time Stamps:
01:30 US-Russia relations heading into the summit
03:26 Limits to future US-Russia cooperation
08:42 Failure of American pressure on India, China, Brazil
13:42 Witkoff’s visit to Moscow
17:07 Why Alaska?
19:31 Security guarantees
35:58 Russia-NATO
38:30 Likelihood of a Putin-Zelensky meeting?
43:48 EU membership for Ukraine?
47:24 “Denazification"
...more
53min
August 15, 2025Victoria Panova: Russia and BRICS
Victoria Panova, Vice Rector of HSE and Head of Russia’s BRICS Expert Council, joins us to discuss the history of BRICS, Russia’s attitude toward the association, and the differences between BRICS and other international formats, such as the G7 and the G20.
Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify to stay updated with the latest episodes!
*The Trialogue Podcast is hosted by the Stimson Center and produced by University FM.
Time Stamps:
02:01 Russia and the G7/G8
08:35 Origins of BRICS
09:50 Primakov and the idea of RIC
16:36 First meetings of BRIC in Russia
18:52 Adding South Africa to BRICS
21:34 China-India tensions
24:04 Changes in BRICS over the last 15 years
29:27 Global South, Global East, Global Majority?
31:31 How has the Ukraine war changed BRICS?
33:36 BRICS and the West
44:23 Could the US join BRICS?
45:55 BRICS expansion
...more
53min
August 02, 2025Curtis Yarvin (Part 2): The Empire of Love
Curtis Yarvin returns to discuss the logic of the “empire of love” and the possibilities of an American “perestroika.” He calls on Washington to shutter its foreign embassies, withdraw from the UN, and dissolve the transatlantic relationship.
Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify to stay updated with the latest episodes!
*The Trialogue Podcast is hosted by the Stimson Center and produced by University FM.
Time Stamps:
01:38 What is the American Empire?
03:12 The centrality of the State Department
06:10 The significance of withdrawing from the UN
08:10 Eliminate US embassies
12:37 Recentering the national interest
14:10 Afghanistan as a self-licking ice cream cone
16:03 The importance of dominating outer space
18:41 End the pursuit of global order
19:52 We don’t care about your conflicts
22:23 Trade surpluses as the outdated assumption of the “empire of love”
25:10 Parallels with perestroika
30:30 Dissolve the transatlantic relationship
...more
40min
July 25, 2025Xiang Lanxin: Is Trump Good for China?
Xiang Lanxin, Distinguished Fellow at the Stimson Center, joins us to discuss Trumpian “kayfabe,” the possibility of a grand bargain over Taiwan, and the US-Russia-China “grand strategic triangle,” among other subjects.
Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify to stay updated with the latest episodes!
*The Trialogue Podcast is hosted by the Stimson Center and produced by University FM.
Time Stamps:
01:27 China’s optimistic view of Trump 2
03:26 The promise of Trump 1
06:25 Danger during the Biden years
12:06 Trumpism as WWE
14:42 Trade negotiations
17:03 Grand bargain over Taiwan
23:52 Trump’s threat of 100% “secondary tariffs”
25:31 Iran-Israel
27:25 The US-Russia-China “grand strategic triangle”
31:15 China-EU relations
44:33 Modern-day McCarthyism
48:17 China doesn’t want to rule the world
...more
51min
July 18, 2025Sunjoy Joshi: The View from India
Sunjoy Joshi, Chairman of India’s Observer Research Foundation, joins us to discuss Indian philosophy, subtleties of the subcontinent, and India’s relations with the US, China, and Russia.
Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify to stay updated with the latest episodes!
*The Trialogue Podcast is hosted by the Stimson Center and produced by University FM.
Time Stamps:
01:29 What is the Observer Research Foundation?
05:21 Joshi’s government service
05:40 India’s vision of the world
11:50 The subcontinent
22:41 India-China
27:48 India-USA
43:57 India-Russia
52:57 BRICS
...more
58min
July 11, 2025Curtis Yarvin: The Empire of Love (Part 1)
Curtis Yarvin joins us to discuss the Anglo-American “empire of love,” the bohemian libertines of the ancien regime, Putin’s relative weakness, Xi’s advantages over Mamdani, and populism’s last chance.
Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify to stay updated with the latest episodes!
*The Trialogue Podcast is hosted by the Stimson Center and produced by University FM.
Time Stamps:
00:55 Alt-right? New Right? Modern Right?
02:36 Brief biography
06:26 From Westphalian order to Empire of Love
09:22 The tragedy of the French Revolution
11:04 Liberalism as an instrument of Anglo empire
17:55 Yarvin’s communist grandparents
20:51 Rebooting the US
23:00 The problem with populism
31:43 The potential strength of monarchy
34:41 Authority, popularity and prestige
40:30 The American Revolution is no longer sacred
43:08 Populism has one shot
...more
46min
June 20, 2025Samuel Charap: Russia Policy in Retrospect
Samuel Charap, Distinguished Chair in Russia and Eurasia Policy at RAND, joins us to discuss US policy toward Russia since 2008, the war in Ukraine, and the prospects of a settlement.
*The Trialogue Podcast is hosted by the Stimson Center and produced by University FM.
Time Stamps:
00:40 How did you get interested in Russia?
01:59 US-Russia relations since 2008
11:05 EU-Russia relations
15:41 The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
18:32 The Biden administration’s Ukraine policy
25:27 Should we have tried to negotiate sooner?
27:21 Has Trump made a deal more likely?
30:01 Is there a window for a deal in the fall?
33:16 How should negotiations be structured?
37:42 How far apart are US and Russian positions?
40:44 How to best combine carrots and sticks
44:04 Prospects of US-Russia normalization
...more
48min
May 30, 2025Maksim Suchkov: What Does Russia Want?
Maksim Suchkov, Director of the Institute of International Studies at MGIMO University in Moscow, joins us to discuss direct Russia-Ukraine talks, US-Russia relations, and Russia’s own “revolution of common sense”.
*The Trialogue Podcast is hosted by the Stimson Center and produced by University FM.
Time Stamps:
01:08 Evaluate the Russia-Ukraine talks and the Trump-Putin phone call
03:17 Why does Russia oppose an immediate ceasefire?
08:08 What are Russia’s core objectives?
10:54 What kind of military caps does the Kremlin want to put on Kyiv?
13:56 Three scenarios for US policy
19:43 Russian and Chinese perspectives on Europe
23:05 Russia as a conservative “civilization-state”
26:00 A positive US-Russia bilateral agenda
35:27 How long will the Trump movement last?
42:40 Ukraine v US-Russia normalization
45:51 What kind of Europe does Russia want?
51:46 Predictions for the summer
...more
56min
May 16, 2025Emma Ashford: Where do American interests end?
What is a foreign policy of restraint? Are the Anglosphere and Western Hemisphere key to American interests? Will the transatlantic alliance endure? Do Russia or China pose substantial threats to the United States?
Time Stamps:
01:38 What is the restraint movement in US foreign policy?
06:28 Is military overextension a product of liberal internationalism?
12:35 Restraint as a function of generational turnover
14:39 What do restrainers want in positive terms?
16:49 Progressive and nationalist visions of restraint
19:27 What is the influence of your Scottish origins?
20:42 A comparison of the British and American empires
23:10 The Soviet and Russian threat?
26:52 Advancing the US national interest as a Scot
29:06 The Anglosphere
33:08 A hemispheric foreign policy
36:46 Europe in or out?
40:44 Ukraine
54:42 China
1:02:12 Multipolarity
*The Trialogue Podcast is hosted by the Stimson Center and produced by University FM.
...more
1h 10min

FAQs about The Trialogue:

How many episodes does The Trialogue have?

The podcast currently has 36 episodes available.