Counterbalance Hudson Institute

This week, Amos Hochstein, the Senior Advisor for Energy Security in President Biden's State Department, travelled to Lebanon where he attempted to broker an agreement between Lebanon and Israel over their maritime boundary. If successful, Hochstein's mediation will potentially allow Lebanon and Israel to exploit the offshore gas fields in currently disputed waters. Tony Badran, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and one of the most insightful Lebanon analysts in America, is a sharp critic of Hochstein's initiative, which he sees as the latest iteration of a bipartisan American strategic mistake. Tony joins Marshall and Mike to explain his thinking.

Host Marshall Kosloff is joined by Senior Fellow and Director of Hudson's new China Center, Miles Yu, and Distinguished Fellow, Ken Weinstein to react to the Biden administration's new China strategy and refreshed comments claiming the US would defend Taiwan. China will use all means necessary to gain and maintain regional power, but what is on the table for the US response, and what should be? Yu and Weinstein analyze what the Biden administration's recent comments mean for our relationship with the CCP, and how Xi Jinping is really looking at Taiwan in light of lessons learned in Ukraine and values established from a long line of communist dogma.

Svante Cornell joins the Counterbalance hosts to discuss the recent unrest in Kazakhstan and to argue that it’s in the best interest of the U.S. to engage with countries of Central Asia and the Caspian regions. If we are now in an era of competition with Russia and China, we should care about the interests of the countries sandwhiched between these two powers. Too few people look at this region as the economic and security asset that it could be. In light of the war in Ukraine, now might be the time to shift our eyes to new partnerships in Central Asia.

With the world still reeling from the fall of Afghanistan and the invasion of Ukraine, Host Marshall Kosloff talks with Hudson Senior Fellow Rebeccah Heinrichs to evaluate the state of American grand strategy. Moscow is acting. Europe is responding. Beijing is watching. But, is the United States leading? Heinrichs explains how the two monumental events are in fact closely linked, and together paint a worrying picture of American commitment to allies and security agreements in the face of Russian and Chinese aggression.

Hosts Marshall Kosloff and Mike Doran are joined by Visiting Fellow, Mohammed Khalid Alyahya, to evaluate how the U.S. strategy has evolved (or devolved) in the Middle East. Malign actors have been on the rise from Russia's involvement in Syria to a resurgent Iranian Regime empowered by the prospect of a new nuclear agreement with the Biden administration. Alyahya explains why U.S. engagement and cooperation with partners like Saudi Arabia and Israel are crucial to establishing order in the divisive region.

Host Marshall Kosloff talks with Hudson Institute Research Fellow, James Barnett, about his recent trip to western & southern Ukraine to discover what life in embattled Ukraine is like amidst the ongoing Russian invasion. Barnett’s dispatches from his stay in the country reveal that morale remains high among Ukrainians, and that (contrary to Putin’s desire) the war is becoming a nation-defining moment for the Ukrainian people as they unite against the oppressive and brutal actions of their neighbor.