The Podcast
Events
Project
The Trialogue
A platform for constructive conversation among experts and ex-officials from the United States, Russia, and China
About the Project
Since the middle of the 20th century, the shifting relationship among the United States, Russia, and China has had a profound impact on each country separately and on the world as a whole. Yet political, cultural, and linguistic barriers have hindered the study of the full trilateral dynamic. At a time when even bilateral channels of communication have begun to break down, the Trialogue offers a new and necessary perspective on the defining geopolitical relationship of our time.
The Trialogue consists of Track II meetings among American, Russian, and Chinese experts in fourth countries of mutual interest and an interview series with guests from all three countries (and beyond).
The Trialogue was initiated by the Middlebury Institute of International Studies and transferred to the Stimson Center in 2025.
Project Team
Research & Writing
Chapter
China’s engagement during the Tigray crisis from November 2020 to November 2022 prioritized state stability and economic interests, clashing with African mediation norms.
April 6, 2026
Issue Brief
Considering the diplomatic opportunities and risks of hosting the world’s biggest sporting events.
March 20, 2026
Podcast Episode 🎧
The expiration of New Start on February 5 marks the end of over half a century of bilateral efforts to advance strategic arms control. On February 3, the Stimson Center and the Oppenheimer Project convened leading nuclear experts from the US and Russia to imagine what comes next. The American speakers were Scott Sagan (Stanford University), Rita Guenther (The National Academies), and Matthew Bunn (Harvard Kennedy School). The Russian side was represented by Feodor Voitolovsky (Institute of World Economy and International Relations), Dmitry Stefanovich (Institute of World Economy and International Relations), and Anton Khlopkov (Center for Energy and Security Studies). This episode was recorded as a live online event.
February 9, 2026
Podcast Episode 🎧
Fyodor Lukyanov, Editor-in-Chief of Russia in Global Affairs, returns to the Trialogue at the start of an already-eventful year to take stock of Russian strategy amid dramatic U.S. intervention in Venezuela, crisis in Iran, and negotiations over the future of Ukraine.
January 23, 2026
Podcast Episode 🎧
Zhou Bo, a retired senior colonel in the PLA and a senior fellow in the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University, returns to the Trialogue to discuss China’s calculations about recent events, including the release of the U.S. National Security Strategy, tense Sino-Japanese relations, the situation in Taiwan, and negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.
January 14, 2026
Report
Examining methods for utilizing U.S. culture for diplomatic engagement.
December 2, 2025
Podcast Episode 🎧
Mike Kuiken and Josh Hodges, two commissioners on the congressionally appointed US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, join us to discuss the recommendations of the Commission’s 2025 annual report and the state of US-China relations more broadly.
November 22, 2025
Commentary
As the U.S. steps back from Europe’s security, is the EU prepared and well placed to pick up the slack?
November 14, 2025
Podcast Episode 🎧
Glenn Diesen, professor at the University of South-Eastern Norway and host of the Greater Eurasia Podcast, joins us to discuss the current state of affairs in Europe, including the West’s approach to the war in Ukraine, the future of integration on the continent, and the militarization of Scandinavia.
November 10, 2025
Podcast Episode 🎧
Mathew Burrows, Program Lead of the Stimson Center’s Strategic Foresight Hub, joins us to discuss his career in the CIA and the National Intelligence Council, where he was the lead author of Global Trends, a non-classified report released every four years as an aid to incoming administrations. We also discuss transformative global events of recent decades, the mechanics of predicting trends, and what policymakers often get wrong in confronting the world.
October 24, 2025
Podcast Episode 🎧
John Mearsheimer, world-renowned scholar of international relations, joins us to discuss the state of play in the Middle East, East Asia, and Eastern Europe. We also examine the relationship between realism and morality, the nature of the China threat, and the origins of “offshore balancing.”
October 10, 2025
Podcast Episode 🎧
Leonard Benardo, Senior Vice President at the Open Society Foundations, joins us to discuss OSF’s emergence and evolution, defining values of open societies, and heterodox thinking for turbulent times.
October 3, 2025
Report
This conference summary report highlights gaps and opportunities for collaboration on challenges related to food and agriculture trade and investment.
September 26, 2025
Report
This conference summary report highlights gaps and opportunities for collaboration on challenges related to digital transformation.
September 23, 2025
Issue Brief
Examining possible directions for U.S. assistance and their geopolitical consequences.
September 19, 2025
Commentary
While U.S. hostility toward the United Nations ahead of the UN General Assembly has provoked a funding and identity crisis for the institution, it might also spark debate over reforming the UN to make it fit for a 21st century purpose.
September 19, 2025
Podcast Episode 🎧
Zhao Long, Deputy Director of the Institute for Global Strategic and Security Studies in Shanghai, returns to the Trialogue to discuss Beijing’s perspective on a slew of recent high-profile summits, in the context of China’s complex relations with Russia, the United States, India, and North Korea.
September 12, 2025
Podcast Episode 🎧
Samuel Moyn, the Chancellor Kent Professor of Law and History at Yale University, joins us to discuss the philosophical underpinnings of liberalism, its role in international relations, and the possibility of a multipolar liberal order emerging in a period of U.S. decline.
September 5, 2025
Podcast Episode 🎧
Jana Kobzova, Director of the European Security Program at the European Council on Foreign Relations and former foreign policy adviser to the president of Slovakia, joins us to discuss the European perspective on the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska, the Washington meeting between Trump, Zelensky, and top European leaders, and the future of the war in Ukraine.
August 22, 2025
Podcast Episode 🎧
Dmitry Suslov, Deputy Director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, joins us to discuss the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska and Russia’s expectations for a settlement in Ukraine.
August 21, 2025
Podcast Episode 🎧
Victoria Panova, Vice Rector of HSE and Head of Russia’s BRICS Expert Council, joins us to discuss the history of BRICS, Russia’s attitude toward the association, and the differences between BRICS and other international formats, such as the G7 and the G20.
August 15, 2025
Podcast Episode 🎧
Curtis Yarvin returns to discuss the logic of the “empire of love” and the possibilities of an American “perestroika.” He calls on Washington to shutter its foreign embassies, withdraw from the UN, and dissolve the transatlantic relationship.
August 4, 2025
Podcast Episode 🎧
Xiang Lanxin, Distinguished Fellow at the Stimson Center, joins us to discuss Trumpian “kayfabe,” the possibility of a grand bargain over Taiwan, and the US-Russia-China “grand strategic triangle,” among other subjects.
July 25, 2025
Podcast Episode 🎧
Sunjoy Joshi, Chairman of India’s Observer Research Foundation, joins us to discuss Indian philosophy, subtleties of the subcontinent, and India’s relations with the US, China, and Russia.
July 18, 2025
Podcast Episode 🎧
Curtis Yarvin joins us to discuss the Anglo-American “empire of love,” the bohemian libertines of the ancien regime, Putin’s relative weakness, Xi’s advantages over Mamdani, and populism’s last chance.
July 14, 2025
Podcast Episode 🎧
Samuel Charap, Distinguished Chair in Russia and Eurasia Policy at RAND, joins us to discuss US policy toward Russia since 2008, the war in Ukraine, and the prospects of a settlement.
June 20, 2025
Commentary
The Trump administration risks undermining U.S. security if it follows Israel into war.
June 18, 2025
Video
Amb. Lu discusses how his wide-ranging career led him to representing the United States at the United Nations.
June 2, 2025
Podcast Episode 🎧
Maksim Suchkov, Director of the Institute of International Studies at MGIMO University in Moscow, joins us to discuss direct Russia-Ukraine talks, US-Russia relations, and Russia’s “revolution of common sense”.
May 30, 2025
Podcast Episode 🎧
Emma Ashford, Senior Fellow at the Stimson Center, joins us to discuss the extent of American interests and the logic of a multipolar world.
May 16, 2025
Podcast Episode 🎧
Da Wei, Director of the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University, joins us to discuss tariffs, the prospects of a trade deal, Russia’s global role, and the coming multipolar order.
May 9, 2025
Podcast Episode 🎧
Robert Agee, President of AmCham Russia, joins us to discuss American business in Russia since the 90s, who left and how after the start of the war in Ukraine, who suffered and benefited from Western sanctions, and the outlook for American (and Chinese) business in Russia going forward
April 25, 2025
Podcast Episode 🎧
Alexander Dynkin and Feodor Voitolovsky, President and Director of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations at the Russian Academy of Sciences, join us to discuss their return to Washington, the war in Ukraine, and Sino-Russian relations, among other subjects.
April 18, 2025
Podcast Episode 🎧
Reinhard Krumm of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung joins us to discuss Germany’s reversal on Russia and a new American Ostpolitik.
April 11, 2025
Policy Memo
How Moldova and the United States can build a stronger partnership for a shared future.
April 10, 2025
Podcast Episode 🎧
Writer Christopher Caldwell joins us to discuss the legacy of Ronald Reagan, the rise of a “New Right,” and the fate of the West.
April 4, 2025
Report
This conference summary report highlights opportunities for collaboration through the Mekong-U.S. Partnership related to countering online scam operations.
April 2, 2025
Podcast Episode 🎧
We discuss the possibility of the US splitting Russia from China and China peeling Europe from the US with Zhao Long, Deputy Director of the Institute for Global Strategic and Security Studies in Shanghai.
March 21, 2025
Video
Amb. DeLaurentis details his part in the opening of Cuba and the consequences of the United States again cutting ties.
March 18, 2025
Video
Amb. Ted Osius discusses how connecting with people across Vietnam helped build ties with the country.
March 18, 2025
Video
Amb. Bodine speaks about the effort to coordinate an international response to attacks on tankers in the Persian Gulf
March 18, 2025
Podcast Episode 🎧
Anastasia Likhacheva, Dean at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, discusses strategies for surviving sanctions, the prospect of sanctions relief, and the appearance of a new generation of Russian elites.
March 14, 2025
Podcast Episode 🎧
We talk to Fyodor Lukyanov, editor-in-chief of Russia in Global Affairs, about Russia and global affairs.
March 7, 2025
Commentary
Experts outline insights to improve U.S. diplomacy and modernize State Department operations.
March 6, 2025
Podcast Episode 🎧
Andrew Roth discusses Western journalism in Moscow, chasing Edward Snowden, profiling Zelensky, and waiting for Evan Gershkovich.
February 28, 2025
Podcast Episode 🎧
Zhou Bo discusses China’s military presence in Africa, the Houthis, Ukraine, Taiwan, and the South China Sea.
February 21, 2025
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