“The stark reality is that the Russians really aren’t doing well on the battlefield, and their economy is also in pretty tough shape.” CSIS experts examined several indicators of Russia’s battlefield performance and found that it has been performing poorly since January 2024. Russia’s rate of advance on some fronts has been as slow as just 50 meters per day—the slowest rate since World War II. It has also only seized around 5,000 square kilometers, less than 1 percent of Ukrainian territory, over the same time period. Russia is also losing equipment at a significantly higher rate than Ukraine, and is nearing the 1 million casualty mark by summer 2025, including 250,000 fatalities—more than five times the number of fatalities in all Russian and Soviet wars between World War II and January 2022.

Seth G. Jones, director of the CSIS Defense and Security Department and Harold Brown Chair, joins the podcast to discuss the state of the war in Ukraine and break down the data on Russia’s battlefield performance, which is included in an upcoming CSIS report.

“Back in 2015, about $12.8 billion, or about 7.6 percent of DOD’s modernization, went to missile defense of some kind. Today it’s up to $25.5 billion, and 8.2 percent of DOD’s modernization budget.” As hypersonic missiles, cruise missiles, and unmanned aerial vehicles become increasingly more common on the battlefield,  focusing on the full spectrum of missile threats is crucial, especially as the missile threat from China and Russia grows. Developing next-generation missile defense capabilities like space-based interceptors and smart procurement and manufacturing strategies will make or break our ability to successfully build the Golden Dome.

Tom Karako, director of the CSIS Missile Defense Project and senior fellow in the CSIS Defense and Security Department, joins the podcast to discuss the development of the Golden Dome and how missile defense has evolved over the last decade.

“The Gulf is an absolutely critical player in critical minerals, because they’re all working on their goal of diversifying away from a reliance on oil…Each of these countries has adopted critical minerals as a central priority for their own economic development agenda, and that mirrors President Trump’s prioritization of minerals.” Minerals collaboration is already growing between the United States and Middle Eastern nations, including co-owned mining companies and high-level cooperation agreements. As countries like Saudi Arabia make development investments in emerging markets, these partnerships could become more important than ever.

Gracelin Baskaran, director of the CSIS Critical Minerals Security Program, joins the podcast to discuss potential minerals deals with the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar during President Trump’s trip to the Middle East.

“The economic costs were beginning to become much more obvious—not just in terms of the market volatility, but potential shortages, inflation, the rare earths restrictions that the Chinese imposed. Those were going to bite soon.” On May 12, the White House announced a 90-day pause in the trade war between the United States and China and a significant reduction in tariffs following talks in Geneva. However, the impacts of the tariffs are already being felt by American consumers.

Scott Kennedy, senior adviser and director of the CSIS Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and Economics, and Philip Luck, director of the CSIS Economics Program and Scholl Chair in International Business, join the podcast to discuss the suspension in trade measures and what might come next.

“Modern war is almost a new missile age.” Missiles have played a crucial role in the Russia-Ukraine war, with Russia beginning to send mass missile salvos at command and control nodes, political centers, and even civilian targets. The CSIS Futures Lab has launched an innovative new project, the Russian Firepower Strike Tracker, that uses AI and data analysis to determine the success of these attacks and ways for Ukraine to fight back.CSIS’s Benjamin Jensen, director of the CSIS Futures Lab and senior fellow in the CSIS Defense and Security Department, joins the podcast to discuss the CSIS Russian Firepower Strike Tracker and how to quantify wartime tactics. Learn more about the tracker here: https://www.csis.org/programs/futures-lab/projects/russian-firepower-strike-tracker-analyzing-missile-attacks-ukraine

CSIS’s Charles Edel joins the podcast to discuss the Australian elections and what it means for the Trump administration and the United States.  

CSIS’ Emily Harding joins the podcast to discuss observations from her recent visit to Ukraine including drone warfare, the state of the battlefield, U.S. and European support as well as the mining deal forged by President Trump and President Zelensky.  

CSIS’s Phil Luck joins the podcast to discuss the U.S. national debt, why it matters and what the Trump administration and Congress can do to address it. 

CSIS’s Ryan Berg joins the podcast to discuss the U.S. strategic interests in the Panama Canal, competition with China and potential outcomes.  

"There's some real concern that if U.S. companies back away from selling in China, Chinese companies like Huawei could become dominant in this space and outsell us all over the world, which then hurts our competitiveness." China and the United States have quickly taken the lead in the global AI race, each acting as a hub for innovation in its own hemisphere. Which country comes out on top could be determined by how the White House shapes the future of U.S. AI policy.

Josh Geltzer, former deputy White House counsel under President Biden and former legal advisor to the National Security Council, joins the podcast to discuss he similarities and differences between the Biden and Trump administrations' approaches to AI policy. He also explains the aspects of the global tech race that the federal government is most concerned about, including keeping the U.S. private sector at the forefront of AI innovation, how the government can use this technology both aggressively and responsively, and preventing the most advanced technologies from getting into the hands of adversaries.