Key Topics

• The Venezuela oil deal is framed as a huge geopolitical gamble, with claims of 65 billion barrels and a U.S. stake in a private Venezuelan company.
• Nahal Toosi explains why the deal is surrounded by legal, constitutional, and practical doubts, including questions about infrastructure, financing, and corruption.
• Alex Ward argues the deal reflects a Trump-era foreign policy that treats oil and regime change as spoils of victory, not just strategic assets.
• Shashank Joshi notes that Europeans see echoes of earlier resource anxieties, from Greenland to the Falklands, and worry about a broader collapse of principle in U.S. policy.
• The panel raises the possibility that the Venezuela arrangement could create incentives to delay democratic transition and keep an anti-democratic regime in place.
  The military segment focuses on the strain caused by extended deployments in the Middle East, especially the impact on munitions stockpiles, carrier availability, and long-term maintenance.
• Joshi cites the depletion of Patriot interceptors and the ripple effects in Ukraine, where reduced interceptor capacity may be affecting defense against Russian missile attacks.
• Toosi warns that the U.S. is simultaneously damaging its diplomatic, development, trade, and military advantages, leaving Congress and Pentagon leadership slow to respond.
• On Russia, Alex Ward says Ratcliffe’s Moscow trip appears to be both a warning and a broader attempt to preserve a back-channel with Russian intelligence.
• Joshi and Toosi discuss Russian hybrid risk, including the concern that Moscow may test NATO without triggering a classic Article 5-style response.

Links

Nahal Toosi - https://www.politico.com/staff/nahal-toosi

Alexander Ward - https://www.wsj.com/news/author/alexander-ward

Shashank Joshi - https://mediadirectory.economist.com/people/shashank-joshi/

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 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