Women Leaders

During his gold plated visit to Saudi Arabia this week, Donald Trump made a speech in which he noted that the US would no longer be “giving you lectures on how to live” advising the people and states of the region to establish “your own destinies in your own way.” No more nation building and interventions, no more aid and business conditioned upon democracy and human rights, and no more post WW2 values based international order. Money, deals and hard power is the new United States policy in the world. The local regimes lapped this up, and autocrats and dictators around the world no doubt clapped their hands in glee, but many in the west were far from amused, alongside another very significant player: China. Indeed, while the week had started relatively well for China, with a 90 day halt on the massive tariffs Trump had imposed on it, the news that the US was adopting its playbook for global influence — money without ideology or human rights — was bad news: China had long sold itself to the global south as the power that spoke only money, without conditions. China seeks to be a respected superpower, one that shapes and dominates the global order as an open rival to the US. Of that there is no doubt. However, little is really known about how it thinks about this ambition and what is its real relationship with states and continents around the world. A true woman leader on this issue as well as many aspects of China’s global policies is Dr Ivana Karásková of the Association for International Affairs. In a great conversation she not only gives a whirlwind tour of China in the world, she also explains how she came to found a Central European network of experts on China, as well as a network of women experts on China!ChaptersChina and US tarrif warChina and Russia relationsChinese perception of the USWhat are China ambitions on the world?MentionsAMOCHOICEWiCHFollowIvana Karásková AMO website, X/Twitter, LinkedInInstagram @women_leaders_podcastELN Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, websiteIlana Bet-ElCreditsProduction: Florence FerrandoMusic: Let Good Times Roll, RA from #Uppbeat

The turmoil and changes of the past five years — from the coronavirus pandemic to the second Trump administration — make clear one basic fact: the post Cold War era is over. It could be that happened already in 2008, in the financial crisis, or it could be in 2014 when Russia invaded Ukraine and took the Crimean peninsula from it. It could be any consequential date that marked a change, a clear change, from before and after. But whichever date or event is chosen, it is clear a change of times, of eras has happened — and that the cascade of events we are living through is an historic time.To explore the meaning of this term, as well as the reality of living through it, Ilana Bet-El is joined by Professor Marci Shore of Yale University — who is definitely someone who can help examine and explain these core issues. A cultural historian of Eastern Europe who also found and finds herself drawn to the current conflict in Ukraine and works to aid the Ukrainians. An American using her understanding of Europe to analyse events in the US. A writer and deep thinker who helps us all understand this period of time in another dimension.A strong sharp conversation about the past, the present, history and reality.This episode was recorded on 30 April 2025ChaptersWhat defines an historic time?The difference between historical eventsWhat does a real revolution feel like?Is Ukraine living in historic time?Reading the current US situation as an historianMentionsMarci Shore’s articles and essaysHer essay “With Shestov in Ukraine”, Liberties Journal of Culture and PoliticsHer book “The Ukrainian Night”Jan KarskiDocumentary Shoah“In Kyiv, we discuss philosophy, poetry and air raid siren protocol,” co-authored with Amelia M. Glaser, CNN (29 March 2024);Nataliya Gumenyuk, Angelina Kariakina, Janice SteinPoem “A song on the End of the World”, Czeslaw MiloszCreditsProduction: Florence FerrandoMusic: Let Good Times Roll

What happens when a politician faces an audience of people, of citizens? This episode of Women Leaders brings you that reality, in full.Full Circle, a Brussels based organization connecting ideas with the power to act, organised a great Ideas to Action Day in which over 80 people came together to discuss the state of the world and how to find ways to making it better. Issues were raised, problems discussed, and true angst revealed — often about the digital space, social media, isolation, alienation and the failures of both politicians and national institutions. So far so good for an opportunity to sound off, but then came the surprise: a real live politician came to answer all the questions raised, in front of the audience, and we hosted the exchange for this episode of Women Leaders.Viviane Teitelbaum, Member of the Belgian Senate, is the politician in question, and she gave a remarkably candid account of political life in democracies in the modern age. And let us be clear: she is a Belgian but her audience, as well as her answers, were true to all modern working politicians. From violence in life reflected in cyberspace to identity politics, from the complexity of reality to the complexity of explaining it, and from citizens assemblies to ways of voting, this is a conversation that really challenges a politician while also revealing modern political life as it really happens.This episode was recorded on 5 April 2025MentionsThe Digital Services Act (DSA)FollowViviane Teitelbaum X/Twitter, Instagram, Senate profile page, Women Political Leaders websiteFull Circle website, LinkedIn, Instagram, X/TwitterIlana Bet-ElInstagram @women_leaders_podcast European Leadership Network Twitter, LinkedIn & websiteCreditsProduction: Florence FerrandoMusic: Let Good Times Roll, RA from #Uppbeat

2 April 2025 will go down in history, of that there is no doubt. US President Trump and his team insist this is because it was, as they termed it, “Liberation Day” from the global intertwined trade system, in which the US imposed shockingly high tariffs on all its trading partners, excluding Russia and Belarus. Nearly every other state appear to be appalled by this move — because it will harm each of them and their people and they find it incredible that the US, the leader of the free world and the global trading system for the past eight decades, appears to be the one destroying it.The immediate effects of the tariff decision have quickly become obvious: global markets plunged, but especially those in the US; all states and regions are contemplating reactions, and retaliations. And above all, the credibility of the US has taken a big hit. Indeed, if there is a title to the Trump playbook it seems to be "How to Disrupt the World While Undermining Yourself, Potentially Strengthening Your Opponents and Alienating Your Allies."To discuss the tariffs, the playbook, the effects and the state of the global economy, Ilana Bet-El is joined by Rebecca Christie, Senior Fellow at Bruegel and Lauren Gloudeman, Director of the China programme at Eurasia Group. In a searching conversation, they clarify much about the tariff shock, the options open to the EU and China, the effects in the US, and potentials for the future.Recorded on 3 April 2025ChaptersA new global trade world launched by Trump?How US tarrifs impact China, EU and global markets?Are Trump’ tariffs a strategy or a gamble?China’s and Europe’s responses to TrumpWhat next for global trade?MentionsEurasia & BruegelThe Sound of Economics - last episode“Tariffs and trade wars”“Did tariffs contribute to the Great Depression?"NPR , 1930s tariff war Trump calculationsFollowLauren Gloudeman Eurasia group pageRebecca Christie  X/Twitter, BlueskyInstagramELNCreditsFlorence FerrandoMusic: Let Good Times Roll, RA from #Uppbeat

Democracy and freedom, die in ignorance. There is wilful ignorance, as in not wanting to know; there is collateral ignorance, as in watching silly videos and media feeds rather than seeking information; and there is imposed ignorance, when sources of information are cut off and denied. The Trump administration is blatantly indulging in the latter, both internally and externally. Within the US, the administration is hand picking the media outlets it will deal with, while also dismantling the Department of Education. Outside the US, it has chosen to defund and potentially close both Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and the Voice of America — two amazing organisations that have brought facts and news across the globe, notably those in non-democratic regimes.It seems that for the Trump administration journalism is a threat. In a world where the boundaries between media, politics and business continue to erode, the likes of Trump, Elon Musk, and Jeff Bezos have become central figures in shaping public discourse. Moreover, the rise of entertainment news, change of habits, explosive volumes of news pose significant challenges for journalism today.To explore these issues, Ilana Bet-El is joined by veteran BBC journalist Kate Adie. In a conversation rich with anecdotes from her storied career, she reflects on the evolution of media, the structural crises of today’s news industry and the fundamental role of journalism in society. Amid the explosion of information and the struggle to filter truth from noise, she argues that people basically seek real news and information, not propaganda. Because in the end, the truth still matters.This episode was recorded on 20 March 2025 and is part of the third edition of the Podcasthon, an initiative dedicated to raising awareness on various charities worldwide, thanks to (great!) podcasters. For this episode, we put the spotlight on the Committee to Protect Journalists: an independent, nonprofit organisation that promotes press freedom worldwide and defends the right of journalists to report the news safely.ChaptersWhat is journalism in an age of billionaires and power struggles?The decline of traditional media and the rise of digital chaosThe battle between real news and entertainment-driven coverageThe structural crisis of the media industryWhy people still want real journalism—and why it mattersMentionsCommittee to Protect Journalists Instagram X/Twitter Youtubewww.podcasthon.orgKate Adie reporting on Tiananmen SquareFollow Kate's BBC websiteInstagramELN Twitter LinkedIn websiteCreditsProduction: Florence FerrandoMusic: Let Good Times Roll, RA from #Uppbeat

Politicians tend to aspire to a status quo: a clarity of positions and possibilities that deliver a semblance of stability. In a period of change, not to mention when things go wrong, there is a yearning for a status quo ante — a return to such clarity and stability, regardless of whether it is actually possible. It is significant that in the current world of radical change no leader or decision-maker is talking about the status quo ante: all the cards are up in the air.To get a feel for the decision-maker’s dilemmas within this new reality, Ilana Bet-El is joined by Foreign Minister of Latvia, Baiba Braže. In a special short and sharp episode demanded by events, they focus upon the situation in Ukraine and the need to support it, the significance of upping European defence, the reality of life under Russian and Soviet occupation.This episode was recorded on 27 February 2025.ChaptersIs NATO still a solid pillar for European security?What are the discussions in the decision-making rooms?The horrific realities of Soviet and Russian occupationsMentionsPutin’s Ukraine: The End of War and the Price of Russian OccupationUN “Human rights 3 years into Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine”UN “Ukraine: Torture by Russian authorities amounts to crimes against humanity”Latvia Ministry of Foreign Affairs “Russia is using torture as a coordinated state policy against Ukrainian civilians and prisoners of war”Our previous episode with Olena Tregub & Inna PidluskaFollow our guest:Baiba Braže X/TwitterFollow usInstagram @women_leaders_podcastOur partner European Leadership Network Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and websiteIlana Bet-ElCreditsProduction: Florence FerrandoMusic: Let Good Times Roll, RA from #Uppbeat 

Historians will spend eternity trying to explain why Donald Trump and his administration turned against Ukraine and Europe but one fact is clear: on 12 February 2025 the post Cold War era ended, and the post WWII international system came to a grinding halt. President Trump spoke at length to President Putin and they agreed to start negotiations immediately without Ukraine or the EU. Subsequent events were no less surprising: an anti-European tirade by US Vice President JD Vance at the Munich Security Conference, a US demand of Ukraine to sign away most of its rare earth resources, a first US-Russia meeting in Riyadh and President Trump accusing Ukraine of starting the Russian war of aggression against it, and calling President Zelensky a dictator. Europe, and many other parts of the world, is still reeling from these developments but it is undoubtedly Ukraine that is in the eye of the storm: from trying to deny it a say over its own destiny to attempting to impose elections upon it, and from cutting defence assistance to undermining funding to its civil society, the Ukrainian reality has changed rapidly, and for the worse. To understand this reality better Ilana Bet-El is joined by two leaders of civil society in Ukraine: Olena Tregub Secretary General of NAKO - the Independent Anti-Corruption Commission in Ukraine, and Inna Pidluska Deputy Executive Director of the International Renaissance Foundation. In a brave no-holds-bar discussion they reflect on the sense of betrayal by the US and the opposing sense of Ukrainian dignity, and the deep-felt sense that might is not right.This episode was recorded on 20 February 2025.ChaptersHow is Ukraine reacting to Trump administration’s shift?What does Ukraine expect from Europe now?Is Ukraine’s civil society at risk?What kind of deal would be acceptable for Ukraine?MentionsJames Joll, Unspoken assumptionsUkraine civil societyBBC, Ukraine in maps: Tracking the war with RussiaFact-checking Trump claims about war in UkraineFollow our guestsOlena Tregub  LinkedIn, X/TwitterInna Pidluska LinkedInFollow usInstagram @women_leaders_podcastOur partner European Leadership Network Twitter LinkedIn websiteCreditsProduction: Florence FerrandoMusic: Let Good Times Roll, RA #Uppbeat

Trade is the backbone of the global economy, but its workings are a mystery to many. What is a tariff? What is a trade war? Why is trade so complicated? The chaos wrought by Donald Trump's decision to impose tariffs on China, Canada, and Mexico – despite a thirty-day reprieve negotiated for the latter two - makes these and many other questions imperative to answer.Ilana Bet-El is joined by Sylvia Chen, International Trade Policy and Compliance Consultant, and Sara Nordin, Partner in the Global Trade Practice of international law firm White & Case, to gain some understanding of how international trade works. Together, they outline the basics of trade law, how tariffs connect to policy measures, and how they influence modern trade and global supply chains. This episode is a necessary exploration of the actual trade underpinning any potential trade war on the horizon.This episode was recorded on 5 February 2025.ChaptersWhat does a trade lawyer do?Why are trade rules and laws necessary?What is a tariff?Why did Trump put tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China?MentionsTrade Experettes websiteWorld Trade statisticsOffice of the US Trade representative statisticsGATTWTOFollow our guestSylvia Chen  LinkedIn, Trade Policy Expert AdvisorySara Nordin LinkedIn, White & Case websiteFollow usInstagram @women_leaders_podcastOur partner European Leadership Network social media Twitter, LinkedIn & FacebookOur partner European Leadership Network websiteIlana Bet-ElCreditsProduction: Florence FerrandoMusic: Let Good Times Roll, RA from #Uppbeat License code: ZXIIIJUU2ISPZIJT