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1. A cracking start to the year with Rachel Ellehuus
39:21||Season 3, Ep. 12026 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 2026ChaptersInside 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?MentionsInterview with former NATO DSACEURRUSI websiteFollowRachel Ellehuus LinkedInIlana Bet-ElInstagram @women_leaders_podcastListen this episode on our YouTube channelOur partner European Leadership Network Twitter LinkedIn Facebook websiteCreditsProduction: Florence FerrandoMusic: Let Good Times Roll, RA from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/ra/let-good-times-rollLicense code: ZXIIIJUU2ISPZIJT
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23. Africa all around with Amaka Auku
46:30||Season 2, Ep. 23Tittle: Africa all aroundThere 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 2025ChaptersWhat 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?MentionsEurasia GroupAfrica political mapBBC “Benin coup plot leader hiding in Togo”FollowAmaka Anku LinkedIn, Eurasia groupIlana Bet-ElInstagram @women_leaders_podcastWatch this episode on our YouTube channelOur partner European Leadership Network Twitter LinkedIn Facebook websiteCreditsProduction: Florence FerrandoMusic: Let Good Times Roll, RA from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/ra/let-good-times-rollLicense code: ZXIIIJUU2ISPZIJT
Bad plans come unstuck with Hanna Shelest & Iryna Krasnoshtan
53:25|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 2025ChaptersDissecting 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?MentionsUkraine Analytica Ukraine Institute28 point planWashington roiled by leaked transcript of Witkoff-Ushakov callAgathe Demarais article on the US-Russia Plan , De Wever Overstates Belgium's RisksFollowIryna Krasnoshtan LinkedIn Hanna Shelest LinkedInIlana Bet-El Women Leaders Instagram & YouTubeELNCreditsProduction: Florence FerrandoMusic: Let Good Times Roll, RA from #Uppbeat
21. Ukraine inside and out with Kristina Zeleniuk and Kim Barker
43:40||Season 2, Ep. 21A 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 2025ChaptersThe 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 societyMentionsTSN websiteDmytro KhyliukThe Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and PakistanWhisky Tango FoxtrotArticles on the corruption scandal: NABU & CNNFollowKim Barker New York TimesKristina ZeleniukIlana Bet-ElInstagram @women_leaders_podcast & YouTube channelELN websiteCreditsProduction: Florence FerrandoMusic: Let Good Times Roll, RA from #Uppbeat
20. Talking about a revolution with Janice Stein
39:57||Season 2, Ep. 20There 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.ChaptersWhat 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 trustMentionsMunk 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 RevolutionFollowJanice 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, websiteCreditsProduction: Florence FerrandoMusic: Let Good Times Roll, RA from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/ra/let-good-times-rollLicense code: ZXIIIJUU2ISPZIJT
19. Mired in the Middle East with Tahani Mustafa & Miriam Rosman
43:08||Season 2, Ep. 19As 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 2025ChaptersDiverging perspectives on the ceasefireIs any path forward?Building trust over traumasFollowTahani 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-ElCreditsProduction: Florence FerrandoMusic: Let Good Times Roll, RA from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/ra/let-good-times-rollLicense code: ZXIIIJUU2ISPZIJT
18. China watching with Lauren Gloudeman
43:39||Season 2, Ep. 18Donald Trump is everywhere: at the UN General Assembly, at special press conferences, at meetings of his military leadership and in the White House - condemning Europe and climate change one day, announcing a Gaza deal the next, doubling down on tariffs the third, doing nothing about Russia throughout. In the meantime the US seems to be ever more in turmoil, with the Federal government shut down, a sliding economy, intense political and social division.China is seemingly enjoying the show, lapping up the Global South and assembling world leaders for international meetings and a vast military parade to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of WWII. Backing Russia in its war of aggression against Ukraine, it is clearly happy to pick up world leadership as the new US seemingly sheds most vestiges of it. Yet all the while it is also negotiating a trade deal with the US, flooding the global market with over production and watching its own economy in turmoil.So what is China really doing? Can it survive the tariffs? Can it pick up where the US leaves off or is it just part of the turmoil? Lauren Gloudeman, Director, China at Eurasia Group joins Ilana Bet-El to talk through the current China challenge in all its aspects. A deep and interesting conversation with someone who knows people, language and culture!This episode was recorded 30 September 2025MentionsEurasia websiteLauren’s previous episode “Trade Wars”Trump at the UNGA - China commitments at the UN Climate conferenceOther episodes “China, the world, and power” “China All Around”ChaptersUnderstanding China's role in global affairsTrump's objectives with ChinaHow China's economic is doing?China's relationship with RussiaIs it a new Cold War between China and the West?FollowLauren Gloudeman LinkedInInstagram @women_leaders_podcastWatch this episode on our YouTube channelEuropean Leadership Network Twitter LinkedIn websiteIlana Bet-ElCreditsProduction: Florence FerrandoMusic: Let Good Times Roll, RA from #Uppbeat