Key Topicas

• Canada’s resistance to U.S. tariffs and what it means for Prime Minister Mark Carney
• Whether economic pressure can succeed against Iran where military action has not
• The weakening of U.S. leverage when allies are no longer willing to cooperate
• How Trump’s approach is changing the transatlantic relationship
• What fragmentation in Europe and the Gulf means for future global power

Links

Prashant Rao - https://www.semafor.com/author/prashant-rao

Matina Stevis-Gridneff - https://www.nytimes.com/by/matina-stevis-gridneff

Anton La Guardia - https://mediadirectory.economist.com/people/anton-la-guardia/
Ivo Daalder - https://www.ivodaalder.com/

Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs — belfercenter.org
World Review with Ivo Daalder — belfercenter.org/world-review-ivo-daalder

Key Topics

• Artificial intelligence as a world-changing technology
• The promise and risks of AI
• AI’s potential to improve science and medicine
• Power, agency, and democracy in the AI era
• The US-China race for AI dominance
• China’s centralized approach to AI development
• Europe’s role in AI governance and sovereignty
• Why infrastructure and data centers matter for AI
• The tension between innovation and regulation
• Safety concerns from AI lab leaders themselves
• How AI could affect jobs, markets, and national security
• The need for transparency, accountability, and public oversight
• How political backlash could shape future AI policy
• The possibility of global AI guardrails and coordination

Links

• Sebastian Mallaby — https://www.cfr.org/experts/sebastian-mallaby
• Evan Osnos — https://www.evanosnos.com/
• Marietje Schaake — https://cyber.fsi.stanford.edu/people/marietje-schaake
• Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs — belfercenter.org
• World Review with Ivo Daalder — belfercenter.org/world-review-ivo-daalder

Show Notes

In this episode, Ivo Daalder is joined by Steve Erlanger, Christopher Miller, and Carla Anne Robbins for a wide-ranging conversation about three tests of U.S. power: Iran, Ukraine, and Cuba. The discussion begins with Iran, where the panel explores whether Tehran is outlasting Washington in a long war of patience and why sanctions and military threats may not produce the outcome the U.S. wants.The conversation then turns to Ukraine, where listeners hear how Ukrainians are adapting to modern warfare, why air defense remains critical, and how shortages of Patriot interceptors are reshaping the battlefield. The panel also examines the uncertainty around U.S. support and the broader lessons Kyiv is teaching the West about decentralized warfare.Finally, the episode looks at Cuba, where pressure, collapse talk, and regime-change logic collide with the reality of blackouts, shortages, and no clear post-collapse plan. Across all three cases, the central question remains: what happens when the U.S. escalates before deciding what success actually looks like?