In this week’s Trend Lines podcast, WPR’s editor-in-chief, Judah Grunstein, managing editor, Frederick Deknatel, and associate editor, Omar H. Rahman, discuss the collective expulsion of Russian diplomats from Europe and the United States, as well as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s secret visit to China. For the Report, Daniel Hurst talks with WPR’s senior editor, Robbie Corey-Boulet, about Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s mixed success in turning a personal rapport with U.S. President Donald Trump into tangible gains for Japan.

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Relevant Articles on WPR:

• Japan's Abe Is Trying to Make 'America First' Work for Tokyo. So Far, It's Been a Struggle
• Are the Expulsions of Russian Diplomats the Last Hurrah of Trans-Atlantic Solidarity?
• Kim's Offer of Talks Provides an Opening, but Capitalizing on It Won't Be Easy
• As the U.S. Disengages, Russia Ramps Up Aid and Arms Sales to Sub-Saharan Africa
• Looking for an Emblematic Figure for the Bolton Era? Try Ban Ki-moon

Trend Lines is produced and edited by Peter Dörrie, a freelance journalist and analyst focusing on security and resource politics in Africa. You can follow him on Twitter at @peterdoerrie.

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