Friends Of Europe Podcasts

This week on Keeping an Eye on the Geopolitical Ball, Jamie Shea, Senior Fellow at Friends of Europe, looks back on von der Leyen’s State of the Union speech that focused on the achievements of her Commission. However, according to Jamie, von der Leyen has omitted one vital topic, namely that of security and defence. Indeed, security and defence have been at the core of recent EU politics with many new defence initiatives such as the creation of the DG DEFIS and the European Peace Facility. Jamie Shea pleads for these to be addressed in the next State of the Union speech, in order to strengthen European defence cooperation, avoid duplications and secure peace on the continent.

This week on Keeping an Eye on the Geopolitical Ball, Jamie Shea, Senior Fellow at Friends of Europe, focuses on what happened this Summer, especially the consequences of climate change that have been observed this summer. He details the dramatic temperature “records” reached in many parts of the world, for instance in the UK, but also the floods and forest fires happening in other parts of the world. Jamie suggests the creation of a Summer task-force to prepare countries to face and anticipate natural disasters, and thus make those countries more resilient.

This week on Keeping an Eye on the Geopolitical Ball, Jamie Shea, Senior Fellow at Friends of Europe, focuses on the outcomes of the 15th Annual Summit of BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, China, India, China and South Africa) which happened this week. Those 5 countries have announced the admission of 6 more countries to the group: Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Argentina and United Arab Emirates. Jamie details in this podcast the stakes of BRICS’ expansion and what would be the consequences of this expansion for the BRICS, the West and the Global South.

On 20 June 2023, Friends of Europe held its annual Peace, Security and Defence Summit. For the first time, the summit was organised simultaneously in two cities, Brussels and Vilnius, ahead of the NATO summit in the Lithuanian capital on 11-12 July. Welcoming government representatives, leaders from the private sector and NGOs, activists and researchers, the summit brought attention to the growing security challenges and threats faced by NATO's eastern border from Russia and introduced Friends of Europe’s latest study, ‘After the war: how to keep Europe safe’. In this episode of the Frankly Speaking Podcast, you will find the key messages and most relevant extracts of the summit’s discussions. -------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe! ► http://bit.ly/2n5HBDp Connect. Debate. Change. Website: http://www.friendsofeurope.org/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/FriendsofEurope LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/friends-of-europe Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/friendsofeu

15 June 2023: In this Frankly Speaking Podcast, host Chris Kremidas-Courtney is joined by Audrey Tang, Taiwanese Minister for Digital Affairs, to discuss Taiwan’s approach to digital democracy.

This week on Keeping an Eye on the Geopolitical Ball, Jamie Shea, Senior Fellow at Friends of Europe, focuses on the law passed by the U.S. Congress last week that suspended the debt ceiling of the U.S. She reminds us that the current U.S. debt reaches $31.4 trillion dollars. Thus, to avoid an economic catastrophe, the U.S. Congress, with a strong bipartisan support, has passed a law that suspends the debt ceiling as well as establishes a rule that allows to defer the federal debt limit for 2 years, allowing the State to borrow an unlimited amount of money to pay its obligations for instance. Jamie Shea also details that this bipartisan support, needed to vote this law, has led to some comprises from the Democrats, including the construction of a gas pipeline as well as less strong and powerful environmental laws.

25 May 2023: In this Frankly Speaking Podcast, host Chris Kremidas Courtney is joined by Nita Farahany, author of The Battle for Your Brain: Defending the Right to Think Freely in the Age of Neurotechnology, to discuss the ways in which neurotechnology can be harnessed for good and evil. Tune in to hear what our speakers have to say.

18 May 2023: In this Frankly Speaking Podcast, host Thomas Van Vynckt is joined by Robert Biedron, MEP with the S&D party and Chair of the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM), to discuss a vision for gender equality for Europe. Tune in to hear what our speakers have to say.

17 May 2023: In this episode of the Dark Matter Podcast, join Germain Garreau and Kaustubh Hakim, two researchers who detect and study exoplanets – or planets that orbit a star outside our solar system. The podcast details their new techniques and nulling interferometry , which involves using several small telescopes instead of one large one. However, reaching near-perfect symmetry between the beams of each telescope is a challenge. The podcast also delves into how scientists today can infer the chemical composition of exoplanets from a distance and a question that has many in the scientific community entranced: can we use bio-markers like the detection of ozone to tell us whether there is life outside our solar system? Germain Garreau is an engineer in optics and photonics at Grenoble INP-Phelma (France) and KTH (Sweden), and a PhD student at the Institute of Astronomy of KU Leuven. His work on instrumentation is dedicated to pushing the limits of exoplanet’s imaging and their characterisation using inter

11 May 2023: In this Frankly Speaking Podcast, host Thomas Van Vynckt is joined by Ece Temelkuran, award-winning Turkish novelist, political commentator and author of ‘How to Lose a Country: The 7 Steps from Democracy to Dictatorship’ and ‘Together’, to discuss the process by which our social contract has been eroding. Tune in to hear what our speakers have to say.

10 May 2023: In this episode of the Dark Matter Podcast, Nivedita Raju delves into the complex and fascinating world of space law and the challenges surrounding liability in space, focusing on the potential security risk in space debris interfering with satellites and other space-based assets. The podcast explores how a basic military test on Earth can have negative consequences for other stakeholders in space, the power imbalances in launchers between rival states, and the difficulty in distinguishing between military and peaceful activities in space. Nivedita Raju is a Researcher in the Weapons of Mass Destruction Programme at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), where she conducts research on space security and gender issues. Previously, she was the director of legal affairs at the non-profit Space Court Foundation, a fellow at Open Lunar Foundation and a research assistant on space law projects at McGill University, including the Manual on International Law Applicable to Military

3 May 2023: On our third episode of the Dark Matter Podcast, interdisciplinary researcher and social entrepreneur Sahba El-Shawa shares her journey and accomplishments, including founding the Jordan Space Research Initiative (JSRI) and her work with the Space Generation Advisory Council and the Moon Village Association. El-Shawa advocates for ethics, human rights and climate action in space and challenges the concept of dual-use in the space industry. She also discusses overlooked aspects of security in space and her passion for creating opportunities for underrepresented communities, and why, in her own words] “colonialism continues to propagate into outer space”. The episode explores the intersection of space and sustainability, including philosophical and ethical considerations related to space exploration and consciousness. JRSI dedication to joined-up thinking is also reflected in the phonetic coincidence of the Arabic word ‘jisri’ (جسري), meaning “my bridge”. A vocal advocate for decoupling defense and

27 April 2023: In this Frankly Speaking Podcast, host Jamie Shea is joined by Senior Fellows for Peace, Security & Defence at Friends of Europe, Paul Taylor and Chris Kremidas-Courtney, to discuss the latest developments in Ukraine’s security. Tune in to hear what our speakers have to say.

26 April 2023: The second episode of the Dark Matter Podcast welcomes Kyzzhibek Batyrkanova, a trailblazer for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls in STEM fields. Kyzzhibek is the Program Director of the Kyrgyz Space Program (KSP), a first-of-its-kind initiative in Central Asia that aims to empower girls and women to literally reach for the stars. She leads a passionate team working hard to launch Kyrgyzstan's first-ever satellite and pave the way for the development of the aerospace industry and STEM education in the country. Drawing on her TEDx presentation, Kyzzhibek shares her inspiring journey in this podcast: from studying economics and programming to leading a team of talented girls to assemble the country's first nanosatellite. There is something universally powerful about fighting for women’s emancipation by reclaiming fields of science from which they have been historically excluded. This episode of the Dark Matter Podcast is not only informative but also inspiring, as it showcase

20 April 2023: In this Frankly Speaking Podcast, host Dharmendra Kanani is joined by Dr. Natalia Kanem, Executive Director of UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, and Dubravka Šuica, Vice-President of the European Commission for Democracy and Demography, to discuss UNFPA's latest State of the World Population report entitled “8 Billion Lives, Infinite Possibilities: the case for rights and choices”. Tune in to hear what our speakers have to say.

19 April 2023: In this episode of the Dark Matter Podcast, Stephanie Tumampos speaks about her role as a scientist and a teacher, reflecting upon how she cultivated an appreciation for science from early childhood, and how space science such as geodata gathered from satellite technology can contribute to our abilities to monitor the world, improve our understanding of climate change and predict human-impacted behaviours on a global scale. Furthermore, the podcast seeks to understand how this data collection may eventually produce a ‘Digital Earth’, and how a digital copy of our world can be used as a model of our natural world, helping us anticipate irreversible climatic incursions. But overall, with an attitude of curiosity, the podcast questions the ethics of such a scientific mindset and whether a Digital Earth represents the endgame, or just one of many possible stories on the importance of geodata. Tumampos is a Filipino doctoral student at the Technical University of Munich, who currently serves as th

13 April 2023: In this Frankly Speaking Podcast, host Paul Taylor is joined by Chris Kremidas-Courtney, Senior Fellow for Peace, Security and Defence at Friends of Europe, and Jukka Savolainen, Director for Community of Interest – Vulnerabilities and Resilience at the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats (Hybrid CoE), to discuss the latest developments in seabed security. Tune in to hear what our speakers have to say.

6 April 2023: In this Frankly Speaking Podcast, host Paul Taylor is joined by Chris Kremidas-Courtney, Senior Fellow for Peace, Security and Defence at Friends of Europe, and Hanna Linderstål, CEO of the Earhart Business Protection Agency and Advisor at the Extended Reality Safety Initiative (XRSI), to discuss the latest developments in motion tracking, ChatGPT and TikTok.

23 March 2023: In this Frankly Speaking Podcast, host Seán Flynn discusses the need for a wholesale reform of the EU’s electricity market and the importance of Power Purchase Agreements. Tune in to hear what our host has to say. 27 March 2023 event: The European electricity market: fit for purpose? https://www.friendsofeurope.org/events/the-european-electricity-market-fit-for-purpose/

16 March 2023: In this Frankly Speaking Podcast, host Dharmendra Kanani is joined by Zarifa Ghafari, Founder of Assistance and Promotion for Afghan Women (APAW) and former mayor of Maidan Shahr, to discuss how to inspire women-led change in Afghanistan. Tune in to hear what our speakers have to say.