In this episode of Today's Battlegrounds, H.R. McMaster and Ine Eriksen Søreide discuss the future of U.S.–Norway cooperation in the High North, Russia’s threat across the Arctic and North Atlantic, and what it will take for Norway to protect critical infrastructure and preserve democratic resilience in this more dangerous European security environment.

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Ine Eriksen Søreide is the Leader of the Conservative Party of Norway. Ms. Søreide served as Foreign Minister from 2017 to 2021 and as Defence Minister from 2013 to 2017. She has represented her party in the Storting, Norway’s national parliament, since 2001. She now leads Norway’s principal center-right opposition as Russia continues its war on Ukraine and is conducting a ‘shadow war’ against Europe of sabotage, intimidation, and subversion.

H.R. McMaster is the Fouad and Michelle Ajami Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He is also the Bernard and Susan Liautaud Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute and lecturer at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. He was the 25th assistant to the president for National Security Affairs. Upon graduation from the United States Military Academy in 1984, McMaster served as a commissioned officer in the United States Army for thirty-four years before retiring as a Lieutenant General in June 2018.

In this episode of Today's Battlegrounds, H.R. McMaster and Haider al-Abadi discuss the future of US–Iraq relations as the new Prime Minister al-Zaidi and his government endeavor to strengthen Iraqi sovereignty, fight corruption, improve security, recover from a regional war, and diversify its economy.

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Dr. Haider al-Abadi is the former Prime Minister of Iraq. Born in Baghdad in 1952, he earned a PhD in electrical engineering from the University of Manchester and spent twenty-seven years in exile in the United Kingdom, during which Saddam Hussein’s Ba’athist regime executed two of his brothers. He led the Dawa Party’s opposition from abroad and returned to Iraq in 2003, serving as minister of communications and first deputy speaker of parliament. As prime minister from 2014 to 2018, he served as commander-in-chief during the campaign that defeated ISIS, also known as Daesh, and restored Iraqi sovereignty over the territory the group had seized.

H.R. McMaster is the Fouad and Michelle Ajami Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He is also the Bernard and Susan Liautaud Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute and lecturer at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. He was the 25th assistant to the president for National Security Affairs. Upon graduation from the United States Military Academy in 1984, McMaster served as a commissioned officer in the United States Army for thirty-four years before retiring as a Lieutenant General in June 2018.

On the 100th episode of Today's Battlegrounds, join Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan, Singapore's Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Hoover Senior Fellow, H.R. McMaster, as they discuss how Singapore is charting its own strategy amid great-power competition, the future of the U.S.–Singapore strategic partnership in advancing regional security, and how the United States and its partners can preserve a free and open Indo-Pacific.

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Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan has served as Singapore’s Minister for Foreign Affairs since 2015 and is one of the Indo-Pacific’s longest-serving chief diplomats. As Foreign Minister, Dr. Balakrishnan chaired the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, in 2018, oversaw Singapore’s role as host of the Trump–Kim summit, and helped facilitate the negotiations that culminated in the Paris Climate Agreement. He has become one of the clearest voices explaining how small states can preserve their sovereignty amid intensifying competition between major powers. Before entering politics, Dr. Balakrishnan practiced as an ophthalmologist, leading the Singapore National Eye Centre as Medical Director and Singapore General Hospital as chief executive.

H.R. McMaster is the Fouad and Michelle Ajami Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He is also the Bernard and Susan Liautaud Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute and lecturer at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. He was the 25th assistant to the president for National Security Affairs. Upon graduation from the United States Military Academy in 1984, McMaster served as a commissioned officer in the United States Army for thirty-four years before retiring as a Lieutenant General in June 2018.