In this episode of Hold Your Fire!, Richard Atwood speaks with Richard Gowan, Crisis Group’s Director for Global Issues and Institutions, and Daniel Forti, Head of UN affairs, ahead of next week’s UN General Assembly high-level week. They explore the mood at the UN, its shifting relations with Washington and its shrinking role in peacemaking worldwide, particularly in the Middle East. They assess current Secretary-General António Guterres’s legacy, the contenders to succeed him and whether new leadership can reinvigorate the organisation’s peacemaking while defending the UN Charter’s principles and rebuilding relationships with powerful states. They also discuss how UN peacekeeping missions can adapt to fragile ceasefires and how much Western and non-Western mid-sized powers, which appear increasingly drawn to other forums, will invest in the UN’s future.

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For more check out our special briefing “Ten Challenges for the UN in 2026-2027” and our multilateral diplomacy page.

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In this special episode of Hold Your Fire!, Richard is joined by Crisis Group’s senior Yemen analyst Ahmed Nagi to unpack the rapid Houthi advance along Yemen’s Red Sea coast near the Bab al-Mandab Strait and its implications for regional security and global shipping. They discuss how the 2022 truce between the Houthis, Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s internationally recognised government unravelled, the domestic and regional factors behind the latest offensive, and what enabled the Houthis to gain ground so quickly. They assess how these gains have strengthened the Houthis’ bargaining position and expanded their demands, and whether the group can consolidate its control and advance further. They also examine Saudi Arabia’s difficult choice between costly concessions and further military escalation, and what could prompt broader Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and beyond.

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For more, check out our Yemen page.

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In this first episode of a new season of Hold Your Fire!, Richard speaks with Crisis Group’s European Security Director Olga Oliker about the role of nuclear weapons in Europe. They examine how Russia’s nuclear threats have constrained but failed to halt Western support for Ukraine, why Trump’s questioning of NATO commitments has weakened European confidence in U.S. nuclear protection, and why Russian military planners still assume Washington could intervene in a war with another NATO member state. They assess efforts to reinforce the U.S. nuclear umbrella and expand the role of French and British arsenals. They also talk briefly about the latest round of U.S. diplomacy to end the war in Ukraine. They discuss U.S. special envoy’s Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner’s visits to Moscow and Kyiv, why hopes for diplomatic breakthrough remain dim and the latest developments on battlefield.

Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

For more, check out our Europe page.

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