Episode 6 | American Grand Strategy in West Asia

Episode 6 | American Grand Strategy in West Asia

In this episode of Shifting Ground, Nick Gvosdev and Larry Rubin are joined by Mohammed Soliman, Senior Fellow at the Middle East Institute and author of West Asia: A New American Grand Strategy in the Middle East. Soliman challenges our traditional geopolitical mental maps, arguing that the term "Middle East" no longer explains the realities of today’s integrated political and economic landscape. Instead, he proposes viewing the region from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean as a single, cohesive space: "West Asia". We dive deep into his thesis on how American grand strategy must adapt to an era where rigid, Cold War-style alliances are giving way to flexible, interest-based "minilateral" coalitions. Explore more on orbisjournal.org [https://orbisjournal.org/]

Episode 5 | Cyber is War

In this episode of Shifting Ground, hosts Larry Rubin and Nick Gvosdev are joined by Dmitri Alperovitch, Chairman of Silverado Policy Accelerator, co-founder of CrowdStrike, and author of World on the Brink: How America Can Beat China in the Race for the 21st Century. Alperovitch discusses the collision of cybersecurity and international affairs, arguing that the cyber "problem" is fundamentally a geopolitical issue driven by Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea.

Episode 4 | The Weaponized Economy

Geo-economic and country risk expert Rachel Ziemba joins Nick and Larry to discuss the intersection of government policy and global commerce. This episode explores how sovereign balance sheets and coercive tools like sanctions have become primary instruments of modern statecraft, fundamentally shifting the landscape of global commerce. You can read Rachel's portion of the Global Order After Ukraine Symposium here: Reassessing Sanctions Amid Shifting Global Order: Responding to Experimentation [https://orbisjournal.org/from-the-archives-the-global-order-after-ukraine/#heading-7]

Episode 3 | Technology and the Governance Gap

On this episode of Shifting Ground, Daniel Byman joins Nick and Larry to discuss the core challenge governments face in trying to regulate or shape emerging technologies today. The three discuss the national security risks associated with emerging technologies right now, and how policymakers think about the tradeoffs between innovation, economic competitiveness, and security. Read Daniel Byman's essay Governing Emerging Technologies [https://orbisjournal.org/commentary/governing-emerging-technologies/]here.

Episode 2 | Geopolitical Cycles and the Fragility of the Global Operating System

On this episode of Shifting Ground, Admiral James "Sandy" Winnefeld introduces his concept of the "global operating system" (GOS)—which includes the rules-based international order and the global economy—explaining that its foundation of international stability is at risk of catastrophic failure due to geopolitical cycles, political polarization, and the overextension of the prevailing power.  Read Admiral Winnefeld's essay The Principle Challenge: Arresting the Decline of the Global Operating System [https://orbisjournal.org/commentary/the-principle-challenge-arresting-the-decline-of-the-global-operating-system/] Explore more on orbisjournal.org [https://orbisjournal.org/]