FEB 6

Iran at a crossroads with Roxane Farmanfarmaian

Iran is at a boiling point. In January mass protests broke out across the country and many thousands of people were wounded and killed — by their own government. US President Trump appeared to egg the protesters on, though no tangible aid or succour materialised. On the other hand the US has now moved an aircraft carrier and a number of destroyers close to Iran in a military threat which remains unclear in its aims. The immediate reason for the demonstrations was money: the Iranian economy is dire, and sliding still further into the abyss. But the context is broader and more complex: an autocratic and dictatorial regime that cares only for itself and its survival; and a regime unwilling to engage with the world efforts to curb its nuclear ambitions, and the resulting heavy sanctions burden. To untangle these and many other threads, and to gain a sense of the broader Iranian position — and the evolving regional interests — Ilana Bet-El welcomes back Iran specialist Roxane Farmanfarmaian, Senior Associate Fellow at ELN, for a deep and fascinating examination of Iran at a crossroads. This episode was recorded on 5 February 2026 Chapters Understanding the Iranian protestsThe role of the Revolutionary GuardsEconomic factors and aspirations of the Iranian peopleHow the Iranian regime functionsMentions New York Times opinion “In Counting the Dead in Iran, a Picture of Ferocity”Military.com “US Forces Headed to the Middle East as Tensions with Iran Rise"ELN “Europe and the end of New START Treaty”Follow Dr. Roxane Farmanfarmaian LinkedIn and articles on European Leadership Network websiteIlana Bet-ElInstagram @women_leaders_podcastListen this episode on our YouTube channelOur partner European Leadership Network Twitter LinkedIn Facebook websiteCredits Production: Florence FerrandoMusic: Let Good Times Roll, RA from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/ra/let-good-times-rollLicense code: ZXIIIJUU2ISPZIJTContribute to the conversation with a comment & a 5-⭐️ Reach us on our Instagram and follow for updates @women_leaders_podcast Watch now our episode on Youtube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

37 min

JAN 23

When dignity dies with Almut Möller & Signe Biering

The world is at a point of extreme discomfort, even pain. The first year of the second Trump administration was brutal, undermining the structures of democracy within the US and actively seeking to destroy the post WWII global order everywhere else. In the global south the cuts to US aid are clearly biting but also allowing a strong presence of.China and Russia. In Iran and Ukraine people feel abandoned by the US, as do the Kurds in Syria. And in Europe, historically the US’ strongest ally, there is a sense of betrayal: of trust, of shared values, of allied promises. Donald Trump poses a problem in himself: he is publicly rude about his allies — as people, as states — and he ignores protocol. He demands adulation, even when it is not due. He makes respect difficult, not least when he threatens to invade an allied state or demands territories as a matter of pure ownership. He denies dignity, not an easy prospect in international affairs and diplomacy. Almut Möller is Director for European and Global Affairs at EPC and Signe Biering is a former senior Danish diplomat And an expert on moderation and facilitation. Their combined experience and wonderful insights allow for a deep and fascinating reflection on how Europe is placed and feeling in this time of extraordinary change, and what it needs to seek going forward — as people, as states, as Europeans, as allies. This episode was recorded on 22 January 2026 Chapters Cultural perspectives in EuropeWhy dignity in diplomacy is importantNavigating modern diplomacyThe changing landscape of European alliancesMentions Mark Carney’s Davos speechBart de Wever at DavosFollow Signe Biering website & LinkedInAlmut Möller LinkedIn & ECP websiteIlana Bet-ElInstagram @women_leaders_podcastListen this episode on our YouTube channelOur partner European Leadership Network Twitter LinkedIn Facebook websiteCredits Production: Florence FerrandoMusic: Let Good Times Roll, RA from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/ra/let-good-times-rollLicense code: ZXIIIJUU2ISPZIJTContribute to the conversation with a comment & a 5-⭐️ Reach us on our Instagram and follow for updates @women_leaders_podcast Watch now our episode on Youtube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

46 min

JAN 9

A cracking start to the year with Rachel Ellehuus

2026 undoubtedly started with a spectacular show by the US in Venezuela; the question is -- what is it a show of?? Force, for sure. Planes, drones and soldiers all invaded Venezuela in a meticulously planned operation that focused on abducting President Maduro and his wife to the US, to stand drug charges. But beyond force, this was also a show of deep disregard for the world order and for international law. Moreover, in the passing days it has become clear it is a show of disregard for the people of Venezuela: if there existed a flimsy excuse for removing the leader of another country by force it was that Maduro was clearly not the legally elected president of Venezuela as the last election was completely corrupted and that the opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez won by a wide margin. But the Trump Administration has made clear they have no interest in helping him, or indeed 2025 Nobel Prize winner María Machado, in taking office. Ultimately, it is a show of force for greed: for the energy resources of Venezuela. This attack seems to reflect a brutal world of might is right such as existed in the pre-Westphalian era. An emperor wants a resource or a land or obedience, and uses force to get it. Will this now be the case in other states in Latin America, or in Greenland? Will the world order survive this attack? Will NATO? To understand this better, Rachel Ellehuus, Director General of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) joins Ilana Bet-El in a sober, deep and fascinating discussion on these and many other issues. This episode was recorded on 8 January 2026 Chapters Inside NATO: what does a defence adviser actually do?Venezuela: what US intervention signals (and what it breaks)The US and the world: Middle East, Africa, Ukraine, RussiaNegotiating with states: diplomacy vs deal-makingAre concerns over Greenland justified?Mentions Interview with former NATO DSACEURRUSI websiteFollow Rachel Ellehuus LinkedInIlana Bet-ElInstagram @women_leaders_podcastListen this episode on our YouTube channelOur partner European Leadership Network Twitter LinkedIn Facebook websiteCredits Production: Florence FerrandoMusic: Let Good Times Roll, RA from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/ra/let-good-times-rollLicense code: ZXIIIJUU2ISPZIJT Contribute to the conversation with a comment & a 5-⭐️ Reach us on our Instagram and follow for updates @women_leaders_podcast Watch now our episode on Youtube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

39 min

12/12/2025

Africa all around with Amaka Auku

Tittle: Africa all around There is a renowned inclination to view and discuss Africa largely in terms of failure and disaster. The horrendous civil war in Sudan, the coups in the Sahel, the never ending wars in the DRC, are excellent examples. More broadly, in the West the continent tends to be seen as a long project of democratisation, whilst to Russia and China it is largely a huge pit of natural resources and a useful instrument of anti west disorder. But Africa is a vast continent of 54 states, with a population of over 1.5 billion people. The differences between the north and the south are vast as are those between the east and the west — and it has vast potentials for production and investment. To understand both the issues and the potentials there can be no better guide than Amaka Anku, Head of the Africa Practice at the Eurasia Group. In a sharp, passionate and humorous discussion with Ilana Bet-El she takes us through a whistle stop tour of the continent past, present and potential futures. Bottom line: African states post colonialism are young, but they need to move on towards a positive narrative of their states. This episode was recorded on 11 December 2025 Chapters What are the key investors in Africa?Why Africa struggle for effective governance?Colonial legal and democracy industrialisationPopulation growth and economic challengesZoom on the Sahel region and the return of coupsWhy Russia and China are back in African countries?Mentions Eurasia GroupAfrica political mapBBC “Benin coup plot leader hiding in Togo”Follow Amaka Anku LinkedIn, Eurasia groupIlana Bet-ElInstagram @women_leaders_podcastWatch this episode on our YouTube channelOur partner European Leadership Network Twitter LinkedIn Facebook websiteCredits Production: Florence FerrandoMusic: Let Good Times Roll, RA from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/ra/let-good-times-rollLicense code: ZXIIIJUU2ISPZIJT Contribute to the conversation with a comment & a 5-⭐️ Reach us on our Instagram and follow for updates @women_leaders_podcast Watch now our episode on Youtube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

47 min

11/28/2025

Bad plans come unstuck with Hanna Shelest & Iryna Krasnoshtan

According to Wikipedia, 28 is “approximately the number of grams in an ounce, and used as such in commercial trade.” This may explain why there were 28 points in the US plan to end Russia’s war on Ukraine: it was drafted by people interested in commerce and trade, and the US stands to gain some US$ 300 billion from this deal. However, the US financial gain is the only original element in the plan, the rest being a list of Russian demands denying Ukraine sovereignty by taking land from it, defining its military, its constitution and its elections, and forcing cultural and religious issues upon it. That this draft was cooked up by US forces friendly to Russia is common knowledge, but that does not make the event, let alone the plan, less of an abomination: Ukraine was treated as no more than item, while the EU was not consulted — despite being listed as liable to underwrite much of the programme. At base, this is a plan to reward aggression and the taking of land by force while imposing penalties upon those who object. To understand what exactly is wrong with the proposals, and where Ukraine goes from here, Ilana Bet-El is joined by two true women leaders: Dr Hanna Shelest, Director of Security Programmes at the Foreign Policy Council "Ukrainian Prism (https://prismua.org/en/)", and Iryna Krasnoshtan, Programme Director at the International Center for Ukrainian Victory (https://ukrainianvictory.org/). With the facts at their fingertips and the passion of fighters, this conversation explains what is at stake for the world as well as Ukraine. This episode was recorded on 27 November 2025 Chapters Dissecting the 28 point “peace proposal”The international dynamics of the war in UkraineWhy Ukrainians and Europeans are left out of the conversation?What would a Ukrainian peace plan look like?Mentions Ukraine Analytica Ukraine Institute 28 point plan Washington roiled by leaked transcript of Witkoff-Ushakov call Agathe Demarais article on the US-Russia Plan , De Wever Overstates Belgium's Risks Follow Iryna Krasnoshtan LinkedIn Hanna Shelest LinkedIn Ilana Bet-El Women Leaders Instagram & YouTube ELN Credits Production: Florence Ferrando Music: Let Good Times Roll, RA from #Uppbeat Contribute to the conversation with a comment & a 5-⭐️ Reach us on our Instagram and follow for updates @women_leaders_podcast Watch now our episode on Youtube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

53 min

11/14/2025

Ukraine inside and out with Kristina Zeleniuk and Kim Barker

A long war is unimaginable to people in the developed world. Since WWII, most states in Europe have not experienced conflict in their lands, barring the Balkans in the 1990s, and the US has never really lived through such a reality, apart from the bombing of Pearl Harbour in December 1941 and the attacks of 9/11. And while some parts of Africa are mired in conflict as indeed is the Middle East, it is the success of the postwar order that war is largely not an ongoing backdrop to life across the globe. And then there is Ukraine: invaded in 2014 by Russia, that illegally annexed the Crimea then sent its “little green men” into the Donbas, where there has been fighting ever since. Then came the full scale invasion on 24 February 2022. Incredibly, Ukraine repelled most of the Russian invaders, but a deadly front line was established alongside ongoing vicious Russian attacks on cities and civilian infrastructure across Ukraine. How do you understand these events as a journalist inside Ukraine, trying to report the truth while not exposing your state at war? How do you cover these events as an international journalist, seeking the real story without endangering people? And what happens to truth and journalism in a long war in which civil society is a strong player and corruption rears its head? To answer these and many other questions Ilana Bet-El is joined by Kristina Zeleniuk of website TSN and Kim Barker of the New York Times. A fluid, fascinating and funny conversation with passionate journalists. This episode was recorded on 13 November 2025 Chapters The call for journalism: passion and purposeNavigating journalism in a war zoneThe current state in UkraineThe impact of corruption scandal on Western supportThe critical role of Ukrainian civil societyMentions TSN websiteDmytro KhyliukThe Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and PakistanWhisky Tango FoxtrotArticles on the corruption scandal: NABU & CNNFollow Kim Barker New York TimesKristina ZeleniukIlana Bet-ElInstagram @women_leaders_podcast & YouTube channelELN websiteCredits Production: Florence Ferrando Music: Let Good Times Roll, RA from #Uppbeat Contribute to the conversation with a comment & a 5-⭐️ Reach us on our Instagram and follow for updates @women_leaders_podcast Watch now our episode on Youtube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

44 min

10/31/2025

Talking about a revolution with Janice Stein

There are many aspects to our current events: trade wars, international realignments weakening democracies, strengthening autocracies, social discontent, wars kinetic and hybrid, a faltering international system and much more. Each element may be explained individually but taken together they add up to no less than a revolution: a change so fundamental that even after the wheels stop spinning there will be no return to the previous ways. Professor Janice Stein, founder of the Munk School of Global Affairs and one of the most fascinating experts ever on wars and global affairs joins Ilana Bet-El in a deep, fast moving and incredibly informative conversation on our age of revolution. From the US to China and Europe, and from the past to the future -- this episode explains how and why the world is in such turmoil. Chapters What are the challenges in global trade and economy?Canada’s economic strategyThe crisis of developed democraciesThe real European Union's strugglesThe role of experts and public trustMentions Munk School of Global Affairs & Public PolicyLawyers vs. engineers: Dan Wang sees U.S.-China dynamics in a new paradigmErza Klein, AbundanceIlana Bet-El & Rupert Smith, Le Grand désenchentement: Vivre à l'ère d'insécuritéTracy Chapman, Talkin Bout A RevolutionFollow Janice Stein Munk School of Global Affairs & Public PolicyIlana Bet-ElInstagram @women_leaders_podcastWatch this episode on our YouTube channelOur partner European Leadership Network Twitter LinkedIn Facebook, websiteCredits Production: Florence FerrandoMusic: Let Good Times Roll, RA from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/ra/let-good-times-rollLicense code: ZXIIIJUU2ISPZIJTContribute to the conversation with a comment & a 5-⭐️ Reach us on our Instagram and follow for updates @women_leaders_podcast Watch now our episode on Youtube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

40 min

10/17/2025

Mired in the Middle East with Tahani Mustafa & Miriam Rosman

As most international mediators know, Israel-Palestine is a conflict to avoid. Intellectually, it should be solvable, but in reality it is intractable. In this episode we bring together a Palestinian and an Israeli — Dr Tahani Mustafa of the ECFR and Dr Miriam Rosman of the Dvorah Forum — hoping to move beyond intractable, due to the Gaza ceasefire. It has heralded much hope for a better future, alongside deep confusion as to what such a future can and should hold. However, the discussion ended up reflecting the absence of trust, empathy, or understanding on both sides. This is an important and passionate episode that highlights the significant challenges in even establishing a common starting point for dialogue, let alone negotiation. From history to reality and from humanity to sympathy, there is a long way to go in creating the conditions for negotiation between Israelis and Palestinians. This episode was recorded on 16 October 2025 Chapters Diverging perspectives on the ceasefireIs any path forward?Building trust over traumasFollow Tahani Mustafa LinkedIn, European Council on Foreign RelationsMiriam Rosman LinkedIn, Dvorah ForumInstagram @women_leaders_podcastWatch this episode on our YouTube channelOur partner European Leadership Network Twitter LinkedIn Facebook, websiteIlana Bet-ElCredits Production: Florence FerrandoMusic: Let Good Times Roll, RA from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/ra/let-good-times-rollLicense code: ZXIIIJUU2ISPZIJTContribute to the conversation with a comment & a 5-⭐️ Reach us on our Instagram and follow for updates @women_leaders_podcast Watch now our episode on Youtube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

43 min

Women Leaders

Iran at a crossroads with Roxane Farmanfarmaian

When dignity dies with Almut Möller & Signe Biering

A cracking start to the year with Rachel Ellehuus

Africa all around with Amaka Auku

Bad plans come unstuck with Hanna Shelest & Iryna Krasnoshtan

Ukraine inside and out with Kristina Zeleniuk and Kim Barker

Talking about a revolution with Janice Stein

Mired in the Middle East with Tahani Mustafa & Miriam Rosman

Trailers

Women Leaders on their summer break

A glimpse of Women Leaders

About

Information

Women Leaders

Episodes

Iran at a crossroads with Roxane Farmanfarmaian

When dignity dies with Almut Möller & Signe Biering

A cracking start to the year with Rachel Ellehuus

Africa all around with Amaka Auku

Bad plans come unstuck with Hanna Shelest & Iryna Krasnoshtan

Ukraine inside and out with Kristina Zeleniuk and Kim Barker

Talking about a revolution with Janice Stein

Mired in the Middle East with Tahani Mustafa & Miriam Rosman

Trailers

About

Information