Brussels Sprouts

Center for a New American Security | CNAS

Small bites on Transatlantic Security, NATO, the EU, Russia, and all things Europe. Hosted by Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Jim Townsend at the Center for a New American Security.

  1. -3 j

    Ukraine's Command Shake-Up: Fedorov Out, Drapatyi In

    On July 15th, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed now–former Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, one of the architects of Ukraine’s technological transformation on the battlefield. His abrupt dismissal sparked protests in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, with demonstrators calling for the removal of Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi, whose more traditional approach to the war had increasingly clashed with Fedorov’s vision. Days later, Zelenskyy dismissed Syrskyi as well, replacing him with Mykhailo Drapatyi—a respected frontline commander who represents a younger generation of officers shaped by the war with Russia since 2014. The changes come during a time when Ukraine has regained some battlefield momentum, raising hopes that Kyiv may accelerate both military reform and offensive operations. The shake-up also raises broader questions about Ukraine’s wartime leadership. What does it reveal about civil-military relations and competing visions for how Ukraine should fight? Could the political fallout fuel calls for elections? And what might these leadership changes mean for the future course of the war? To answer these questions and more, we are excited to welcome Melinda Haring and Ambassador Bill Taylor to Brussels Sprouts. Melinda Haring is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center and an expert on Ukraine. Ambassador Bill Taylor is a distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center and former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine.

  2. 17 juil.

    Forecasting the Future of the Axis of Upheaval: The View from Moscow

    Today’s episode of Brussels Sprouts comes from a virtual panel discussion that the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) held on July 14 to mark the release of a report titled Forecasting the Future of the Axis of Upheaval: The View from Moscow. The report assesses the future of the “axis of upheaval,” or the deepening relationships among Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea, from Moscow’s perspective. The report is set amid growing doubts about Russia’s ability to support its partners abroad in Syria, Venezuela, and Armenia amid the crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh. Yet while Russia did little to help Iran during 12 days of punishing strikes from Israel and the United States in 2025, Russia provided more tangible support for Iran this year. These incidents raise important questions. How does Russia view its relationships with China, North Korea, and Iran? How far would Russia be willing to go to support its partners? What are the factors that drive its cooperation, and what are the limits Joining Andrea Kendall-Taylor on the panel to address all these questions are three distinguished experts: Nicole Grajewski, Marcin Kaczmarski, and Kadri Liik. Nicole Grajewski is a nonresident scholar in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a tenure-track assistant professor at Sciences Po in Paris. Marcin Kaczmarski is a lecturer of Central and East European studies in the School of Social & Political Sciences at the University of Glasgow. Kadri Liik is a visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe and was previously the first director of Estonia’s International Centre for Defence and Security.

  3. 10 juil.

    Europe Stepping Up and the United States Stepping Back

    This week, the Allies met for the NATO summit in Ankara, Türkiye, in what was billed as a summit of low expectations. President Donald Trump once again created headlines with public comments about Greenland and criticism of European allies for failing to support the United States during the Iran conflict—but by most accounts, the conversations behind closed doors were far more constructive, and the summit avoided the kind of transatlantic rupture that many feared. Outcomes were positive for Ukraine as the European allies and Canada made clear that they are now the backbone of support. Trump also told President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that the United States will license the production of Patriot missile interceptors in Ukraine. Overall, the biggest takeaway then wasn't politics at all, but procurement. Through the NATO Defense Industry Forum, the Allies announced more than $50 billion in new procurement and industrial agreements, signaling that NATO is moving beyond talking about defense spending to actually building the industrial capacity needed to sustain deterrence. Taken together, these developments raise a broader question about the future of the alliance. In many ways, the summit offers a glimpse of what some analysts are calling NATO 3.0, a model in which Europe assumes much greater responsibility for its own defense, while the United States remains the alliance’s strategic backstop. If that is indeed where NATO is headed, are we seeing the emergence of a more sustainable transatlantic bargain? Or are we creating new risks for deterrence and alliance cohesion? To answer these questions and more, Brussels Sprouts is excited to welcome Ian Brzezinski and Torrey Taussig to this week’s edition of the show. Ian Brzezinski is a resident senior fellow with the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security at the Atlantic Council and former deputy assistant secretary of defense for Europe and NATO policy. Torrey Taussig is the director of and a senior fellow with the Transatlantic Security Initiative at the Scowcroft Center and a former director for European affairs on the National Security Council.

  4. 26 juin

    Prospects for Ukraine and a Look Ahead to Ankara

    The past month has featured a series of major transatlantic gatherings that together tell an important story about where the alliance is headed. At the NATO Foreign Ministers meeting in Sweden, allies focused on strengthening Europe's role within NATO through higher defense spending, expanded defense industrial production, and continued support for Ukraine. But the meeting also underscored growing uncertainty about America’s long-term role in European security following the announcement of a U.S. review of its military posture in Europe, a move that reinforced allies’ concerns that the future of the U.S. military presence on the continent will shrink.  The G7 summit in France offered a more optimistic note. Leaders pledged additional military support for Ukraine, including air defense and long-range capabilities. And many came away encouraged that President Trump appeared to be taking a tougher line toward Vladimir Putin. But we've seen this movie before. Trump has repeatedly shifted between promises of greater pressure on Russia and renewed optimism about engaging Putin, making it far too early to conclude that a lasting change in U.S. policy is underway.  That brings us to the NATO summit in Ankara on July 7th and 8th, where those competing trends will be put to the test. Expectations are pretty modest. Allies will be looking for reassurances about America’s long-term commitment to Europe, greater clarity on the U.S. posture review, and evidence that recent optimism on Ukraine is warranted. At the same time, leaders will be trying to maintain alliance unity while advancing Europe’s growing role in its own defense.   To connect all these dots and look forward, we're very happy to have Benedetta Berti and Kurt Volker back on Brussels Sprouts.  Benedetta Berti is the Secretary General of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.  Ambassador Kurt Volker is the Advisory Board Co-Chair for BGR Group and former U.S. Ambassador to NATO and U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations.

  5. 22 juin

    Getting the Brits Ready to Fight

    On June 22, United Kingdom (UK) prime minister Keir Starmer announced that he would resign as leader of the Labour Party and leave the premiership. Starmer had faced mounting pressure to hand the position over to a new leader after local elections in May that were disastrous for the party, but the decision came after Labour’s Andy Burnham, popular mayor of Greater Manchester, won a special election for a seat in parliament and signaled on June 19 that he would use it to challenge Starmer for leadership of the country. All of this comes after both the UK’s defence minister, John Healey, and armed forces minister, Al Carns, announced on June 11 that they had resigned from their positions. Both former ministers cited funding for the military as the reason for their departures. Healey issued a letter warning that the level of military spending proposed by Starmer “falls well short” of what is needed. Carns stated that the government’s defense investment plan was “neither transformative enough nor sufficiently funded.” The plan, which lays out the funding for military equipment and services, has faced months of delays amid budget disputes within the government. Earlier this month, Chief of the Defence Staff Richard Knighton also said that the UK is running out of time to boost defenses in response to Russian threats, and that risks to the country are greater than at any time since the Cold War. The UK’s struggles highlight two questions that Europe has yet to answer:  Can governments generate the political support needed for significantly higher defense spending? And with the United States playing a smaller role, who will provide the leadership needed to organize and drive Europe’s security efforts? To discuss all of this and more, we are excited to welcome back to Brussels Sprouts Shashank Joshi and Tom Wright. Please note that this episode was recorded on Friday, June 19, before Starmer’s official resignation but when it was clear that he would be challenged.  Shashank Joshi is the incoming Washington bureau chief at The Economist and was previously the publication’s defense editor. Tom Wright is a senior fellow with the Strobe Talbott Center for Security, Strategy and Technology at the Brookings Institution.

  6. 17 juin

    Brussels Sprouts Live: Four Ambassadors Reimagine the Transatlantic Relationship

    Today's episode comes from the CNAS Annual Conference held last week in Washington, D.C. The theme of this year's conference was “New Rules,” and nowhere is that more evident than in the transatlantic relationship. As Europe takes on greater responsibility for its own security and Washington reassesses its role on the continent, both sides are grappling with fundamental questions. What should the next chapter of the transatlantic partnership look like? What principles, expectations, and responsibilities will define the relationship going forward? Those questions were at the heart of a conversation Andrea Kendall-Taylor moderated on reimagining the transatlantic relationship. Joining her were four distinguished ambassadors: Ambassador Laurent Bili of France, the European Union’s Ambassador Jovita Neliupšienė, Denmark's Ambassador Jesper Møller Sørensen, and Swedish Ambassador Urban Ahlin. We hope you enjoy the discussion. This episode was recorded on June 11th, 2026.

  7. 5 juin

    U.S. Posture Changes and the Future of European Defense Planning

    Over the last several weeks, European allies have been trying to interpret a steady stream of signals from Washington about the future of the U.S. military role in Europe, discussions we've covered on the last two episodes of Brussels Sprouts. Beyond the headlines about troop levels, the broader concern is that the United States may be preparing to scale back some of the critical capabilities that have long formed the backbone of NATO’s deterrence posture, including the forces and enablers needed to rapidly reinforce Europe in a crisis. The uncertainty has exposed deeper questions about how decisions on U.S. force posture are made, how allies should prepare for a potentially smaller American role, and whether Europe is moving fast enough to adapt to a more demanding security environment. These debates are particularly acute in Germany, where questions about deterrence, defense spending, and Europe’s long-term security architecture are increasingly central to the political conversation. To help us dig into these issues and what they all mean for the future of transatlantic security, we’re very happy to welcome Mara Karlin and Liana Fix to this week’s edition of Brussels Sprouts. Liana Fix is a senior fellow for Europe at the Council on Foreign Relations. Mara Karlin is a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution and a professor of practice at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies.

  8. 29 mai

    Window of Opportunity? Deterrence and Moscow’s Calculus

    In the last episode of Brussels Sprouts, we looked at the dizzying series of U.S. announcements about America’s military posture in Europe. Since then, new reporting has emerged. The Wall Street Journal reports that the Pentagon is preparing allies for a much larger reduction in the U.S. forces earmarked to reinforce Europe in a crisis—including reductions in bombers, naval assets, and refueling tinkers. In other words, this is not just about troop numbers on the continent today. It’s about whether the United States will still provide the critical enablers that have long underpinned NATO’s ability to deter and, if necessary, fight a major war in Europe. Moscow is watching all of this closely, and the timing matters. As Washington signals that it intends to do less, Russia is increasing pressure on NATO’s eastern flank.   In recent weeks, Moscow has threatened Latvia over false claims that it is allowing Ukraine to use its territory or airspace to launch drone attacks against Russia. Baltic officials have rejected those claims, but the pattern is familiar: Manufacture a grievance, amplify it, and use it to build the foundation to justify future aggression. At the same time, Russia is facing growing domestic strain, which we’ve talked about here on Brussels Sprouts as well, raising questions about whether Putin needs a permanent state of confrontation with the West to sustain his hold on power. So, with all of this, today we are asking a central question: Does Russia see opportunity in this moment, one in which the United States may be pulling back faster than Europe can fill the gap?  To help us understand the view from Moscow, we’re very pleased to welcome back to Brussels Sprouts a series of former intelligence officials: Nate Reynolds, Pete Schroeder, and Jeff Edmonds.  Peter Schroeder is an expert on Russian foreign and security policy with nearly two decades of experience working on Russia and Eurasia in various roles in the intelligence community. He is an adjunct fellow with the Center for a New American Security (CNAS).  Nate Reynolds is a senior fellow with the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and also a longtime intelligence official. Jeff Edmonds is the president of True North Policy, an adjunct fellow with CNAS, and also a very longtime intelligence veteran.

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Small bites on Transatlantic Security, NATO, the EU, Russia, and all things Europe. Hosted by Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Jim Townsend at the Center for a New American Security.

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  • Création
    Center for a New American Security | CNAS
  • Années d’activité
    2017 - 2026
  • Épisodes
    100
  • Classification
    Tous publics
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    © Copyright 2022 All rights reserved.
  • Site web de l’émission
    Brussels Sprouts

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