Audacious Aotearoa

Liam Collins is the executive director of the Madison Policy Forum and a permanent member of the Council on Foreign Relations. As a former Colonel in the United States Army, Liam was a career Special Forces officer serving combat deployments in Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia, South America, and the Horn of Africa. He worked alongside now-retired General John Abizaid who was the Senior D

Marnie Lloydd is a lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington whose research looks into international law related to armed conflicts. Marnie worked for more than ten years as a Protection Delegate and Legal Adviser with the International Committee of the Red Cross, undertaking deployments in Ethiopia, Sri Lanka, Chad, Afghanistan and DR Congo. Today we talk about foreign fighter

Douglas Atkinson is a Postdoctoral University Assistant at the University of Salzburg. His line of research uses game theory to understand wars like the one playing out between Ukraine and Russia at the moment. Here we discuss costs, where they come from and how they influence a conflict. Discussing war as a political activity, Douglas talks about how actors impose costs on each ot

Professor Kenneth Cosgrove, at Suffolk University in Boston, has written extensively on branding and how it can be used effectively in politics. He has a lot to say about Republican and Democratic candidates and what is needed in order for them to market their message effectively to the American voter. Today we talk about the Biden Administration and how White House messaging is do

Frank Ledwidge is a Senior Lecturer in Military Strategy and War History at the University of Portsmouth in the United Kingdom. A former reservist officer and holding a doctorate from Kings College London in War Studies, he has written extensively on the subject of strategy and war. Today we talk about the conflict in Ukraine, the strategy of Ukrainian and Russian forces and what e

John Blaxland is a Professor of Intelligence Studies and International Security at Australian National University. A former director of Joint Intelligence Operations, John is an academic who has written prolifically about Australia's military history and strategy as it applies to strategic challenges in the Indo-Pacific. In this interview, I talk to him about tensions with China, e

Grant Newsham is a Senior Research Fellow at the Japan Forum for Strategic Studies and is a former Colonel in the United States Marines. He writes regularly for the Asia Times and has been involved in advising private corporations on a number of strategic matters. Today we talk about the relationship between Japan and Korea and how this relationship might turn a corner in the futur

Dr. Edward Elder is a Professional Teaching Fellow at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research looks at candidates through the lens of marketing. Playing close attention to key aspects of how candidates communicate with their constituents, his research looks to understand what makes a candidate's leadership style successful. We discuss here former Presidents of the U

Nigel Inkster is the former Director of Operations and Intelligence at MI6 and is a Senior Advisor in Cyber Security and China at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. He has recently published a book: The Great Decoupling: China, America and the Struggle for Technology Supremacy. In this episode, we discuss the rise of China and technology dominance, how the United St

Dr. Thomas Preston is a Distinguished Professor at Washington State University. He specializes in American Foreign Policy, with published research in political psychology and foreign policy decision-making in the White House. In this episode, I am going to be asking him about former President Trump as well as current President Biden and how they fit compared to historical president