Interview with Mona Yacoubian on Gaza: 28:20

This week, Kelly and Tristen unpack NATO’s defense ministers meeting in Brussels and the Trump–Zelenskyy visit to the White House—what it means for Ukraine aid, European drone-defense plans, and the Tomahawk debate. They then turn to political turbulence in Cameroon and Peru, give a quick update on Madagascar’s military-led transition, and close with with CSIS’s Mona Yacoubian on the Gaza ceasefire, the Sharm el-Sheikh declaration, and the risks of a post-conflict security vacuum.

Mona Yacoubian is director and senior adviser of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). She has more than thirty years of experience working on the Middle East and North Africa, with a focus on conflict analysis, governance and stabilization challenges, and conflict prevention.

The opinions expressed in this conversation are strictly those of the participants and do not represent the views of Georgetown University or any government entity.

Produced by Abdalla Nasef and Freddie Mallinson.

Recorded on October 21, 2025. Diplomatic Immunity, a podcast from the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, brings you frank and candid conversations with experts on the issues facing diplomats and national security decision-makers around the world.

Funding support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

For more, visit our website, and follow us on Linkedin, Twitter @GUDiplomacy, and Instagram @isd.georgetown

This week, Kelly talks with Stanford University professor and author Dan Edelstein about his new book, The Revolution to Come: A History of an Idea from Thucydides to Lenin, (Princeton University Press, 2025). The book looks at how political thinkers from Plato to John Adams saw revolutions as a grave threat to society and advocated for a constitution that prevented them by balancing social interests and forms of government. He traces how evolving conceptions of history ushered in a faith in the power of revolution to create more just and reasonable societies.

Dan Edelstein is the William H. Bonsall Professor of French and (by courtesy) professor of political science and of history at Stanford University. His many books include On the Spirit of Rights and The Terror of Natural Right: Republicanism, the Cult of Nature, and the French Revolution.

Link to the book: https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691231853/the-revolution-to-come

The opinions expressed in this conversation are strictly those of the participants and do not represent the views of Georgetown University or any government entity.

Produced by Abdalla Nasef and Freddie Mallinson.

Recorded on October 7, 2025. Diplomatic Immunity, a podcast from the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, brings you frank and candid conversations with experts on the issues facing diplomats and national security decision-makers around the world.

Funding support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

For more, visit our website, and follow us on Linkedin, Twitter @GUDiplomacy, and Instagram @isd.georgetown

Interview with Ambassador Kent Logsdon on Moldova: 33:25

This week, Kelly and Tristen break down President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu's 20-point Gaza peace plan and what it signals for U.S.-Israel relations, as well as the ongoing ceasefire negotiations. They then look at the Gen-Z-led protests spreading across Morocco and Madagascar — echoing Nepal's youth uprising weeks ago — and close with Europe's efforts to rein in Russia's growing "shadow fleet" of sanction-dodging oil tankers.

Finally, Kelly talks with former U.S. Ambassador to Moldova (2021 - 2024) Kent D. Logsdon about the country's recent elections and its path toward Europe amid ongoing Russian pressure.

Ambassador Kent D. Logsdon was the United States Ambassador to the Republic of Moldova from 2021 to 2024. He previously served as the Chief of Staff to the Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment and prior to that was Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Energy Resources. He was also the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Berlin, Germany, serving as Chargé d'Affaires, from January 2017 to May 2018.

The opinions expressed in this conversation are strictly those of the participants and do not represent the views of Georgetown University or any government entity.

Produced by Abdalla Nasef and Freddie Mallinson.

Recorded on October 07, 2025. Diplomatic Immunity, a podcast from the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, brings you frank and candid conversations with experts on the issues facing diplomats and national security decision-makers around the world.

Funding support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

For more, visit our website, and follow us on Linkedin, Twitter @GUDiplomacy, and Instagram @isd.georgetown

This week, Kelly talks with Reuters reporter and author Ernest Scheyder about critical minerals and his new book: "The War Below: Lithium, Copper, and the Global Battle to Power Our Lives."

Ernest Scheyder is a senior correspondent with Reuters covering critical minerals and the global energy transition. "The War Below: Lithium, Copper, and the Global Battle to Power our Lives," was published in early 2025 by One Signal Publishers/Atria Books. It was longlisted for the 2024 National Book Award and was named the American Energy Society's Energy Book of the Year. He previously wrote about the U.S. shale revolution – drawing on a two-year stint based in oil-rich North Dakota – as well as politics and the environment.

Find the book on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/War-Below-Lithium-Copper-Global/dp/1668011808/

Find more of Ernest's work here: https://www.reuters.com/authors/ernest-scheyder/

The opinions expressed in this conversation are strictly those of the participants and do not represent the views of Georgetown University or any government entity.

Produced by Abdalla Nasef and Freddie Mallinson.

Recorded on September 30, 2025. Diplomatic Immunity, a podcast from the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, brings you frank and candid conversations with experts on the issues facing diplomats and national security decision-makers around the world.

Funding support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

For more, visit our website, and follow us on Linkedin, Twitter @GUDiplomacy, and Instagram @isd.georgetown

Interview with Pranaya Rana on Nepal: 26:50

This week, Kelly and Tristen talk through Trump's speech at the UN General Assembly, his visit last week to the UK, and the administration's recent strikes on suspected Venezuelan cartels. They also provide some brief updates since the last episode: on Jair Bolsonaro's conviction in Brazil and the new Saudi-Pakistan defense agreement.

Kelly then talks with independent journalist Pranaya Rana about recent protests and political change in Nepal, where Gen-Z-led protests have upended the country's politics.

Pranaya Rana writes Kalam Weekly, a current affairs newsletter from Kathmandu, Nepal. He was Chief Editor of The Record, and Features Editor and Opinions Editor at The Kathmandu Post. Rana is also a professional translator. Read his substack here: https://kalamweekly.substack.com/

The opinions expressed in this conversation are strictly those of the participants and do not represent the views of Georgetown University or any government entity.

Produced by Abdalla Nasef and Freddie Mallinson.

Recorded on September 23, 2025. Diplomatic Immunity, a podcast from the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, brings you frank and candid conversations with experts on the issues facing diplomats and national security decision-makers around the world.

Funding support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

For more, visit our website, and follow us on Linkedin, Twitter @GUDiplomacy, and Instagram @isd.georgetown

Kelly talks with Emma Ashford about her new book, First Among Equals: U.S. Foreign Policy in a Multipolar World (Yale University Press, 2025), where she proposes a return to a more pragmatic, realist set of strategic principles, ones better suited for the emerging multipolar world, that would pursue narrower U.S. interests, cultivate the capabilities of friendly states, and emphasize room for maneuver over rigid alliances.

Emma Ashford is a senior fellow at the Stimson Center, where she is part of the Reimagining U.S. Grand Strategy Program. She is also an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and a columnist at Foreign Policy.

Link to First Among Equals: U.S. Foreign Policy in a Multipolar World: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300279542/first-among-equals/

Link to New Visions of Grand Strategy: https://www.stimson.org/project/new-visions-for-grand-strategy/

The opinions expressed in this conversation are strictly those of the participants and do not represent the views of Georgetown University or any government entity.

Produced by Abdalla Nasef and Freddie Mallinson.

Recorded on September 17, 2025. Diplomatic Immunity, a podcast from the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, brings you frank and candid conversations with experts on the issues facing diplomats and national security decision-makers around the world.

Funding support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

For more, visit our website, and follow us on Linkedin, Twitter @GUDiplomacy, and Instagram @isd.georgetown

Interview with Sameer Lalwani — 27:32

This week, Kelly and Tristan cover Israel's unprecedented strike on Hamas leaders in Doha and the diplomatic fallout for Qatar and the Gaza ceasefire talks, the historic trial of Brazil's former president Jair Bolsonaro and what it means for democratic resilience, and Beijing's memory-politics summit—complete with a military parade and a guest list signaling China's preferred world order.

Kelly is then joined by Sameer Lalwani for a deep dive on U.S.–India relations—why the partnership soared over the past decade, how new U.S. tariffs, the India-Pakistan war, and Modi's optics-heavy outreach to Beijing and Moscow have strained ties, and what to watch ahead of a potential Quad leaders' summit.

Sameer Lalwani is a Senior Fellow with the German Marshall Fund's Indo-Pacific Program, a Senior Advisor to the Special Competitive Studies Project, a Non-Resident Senior Fellow with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, and a research affiliate with MIT's Security Studies Program. His work focuses on deterrence, conventional military competition, technology alliances, and Indo-Pacific security, and he is a contributing editor at War on the Rocks.

Read more about Lalwani's work: https://www.gmfus.org/find-experts/sameer-lalwani

The opinions expressed in this conversation are strictly those of the participants and do not represent the views of Georgetown University or any government entity.

Produced by Abdalla Nasef and Freddie Mallinson.

Recorded on September 10, 2025. Diplomatic Immunity, a podcast from the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, brings you frank and candid conversations with experts on the issues facing diplomats and national security decision-makers around the world.

Funding support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

For more, visit our website, and follow us on Linkedin, Twitter @GUDiplomacy, and Instagram @isd.georgetown

This week, Kelly talks with former assistant administrator of USAID, Erin McKee, in light of the department's gutting in recent months. She is now serving as the CEO of Nova Ukraina, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing humanitarian aid to the people of Ukraine and raising awareness about Ukraine in the United States and throughout the world.

Erin McKee is a career US diplomat who served as assistant administrator of the US Agency for International Development for Europe and Eurasia from 2022 to 2025. She also served as the United States ambassador to Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu from 2019 to 2022 under both Presidents Trump and Biden. Her long career in USAID has spanned missions in Kazakhstan, Iraq, Peru, Bolivia, Israel, and Russia, and as Mission Director in Indonesia.

Read more about Erin's work with Nova Ukraine here: https://novaukraine.org/category/press/

The opinions expressed in this conversation are strictly those of the participants and do not represent the views of Georgetown University or any government entity.

Produced by Abdalla Nasef and Freddie Mallinson.

Recorded on August 28, 2025. Diplomatic Immunity, a podcast from the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, brings you frank and candid conversations with experts on the issues facing diplomats and national security decision-makers around the world.

Funding support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

For more, visit our website, and follow us on Linkedin, Twitter @GUDiplomacy, and Instagram @isd.georgetown