BerlinsideOut

In this final regular episode of season 2 – partly recorded on the margins of the Lennart Meri Conference in Tallinn – Ben and Aaron first chat with a pan-European panel on how to implement the strategic change Europe needs...

In front of a special live audience in Tallinn, Ben and Aaron talk to world-renowned historian Timothy Snyder, Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna, Portuguese Secretary of State for Defence Ana Isabel Xavier, and Eliot Cohen, one of the top strategic experts in the world.

BerlinsideOut, the podcast that takes an expert look at international politics from Berlin – goes to Tallinn! From the International ‘Lennart Meri Conference’ Dr. Benjamin Tallis, Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Action Group Zeitenwende at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), and Aaron Gasch Burnett, a security analyst and journalist specialising in German politics, host a series of special editions of the podcast - TalinnsideOut!

BerlinsideOut, the podcast that takes an expert look at international politics from Berlin – goes to Tallinn! From the International ‘Lennart Meri Conference’ Dr. Benjamin Tallis, Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Action Group Zeitenwende at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), and Aaron Gasch Burnett, a security analyst and journalist specialising in German politics, host a series of special editions of the podcast - TalinnsideOut!

In the fourth episode of BerlinsideOut season two, Ben and Aaron sit down with Albrecht Ritschl, a renowned German economic historian, to trace the historical origins of Germany’s economic model – and how its current emphasis on geoeconomics and free riding on security has influenced German foreign policy towards Russia, Ukraine, and wider Europe.

In season two’s third episode, Ben and Aaron are joined by grand strategy expert Maximilian Terhalle, as well as the DGAP’s own Aylin Matlé and Jacob Ross, to discuss why Germany must move on from its reactive Zeitenwende to a more proactive grand strategy...

In the second episode of BerlinsideOut season two, Ben and Aaron sit down with Yaroslav Trofimov, the Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent for the Wall Street Journal and author of “Our Enemies Will Vanish: The Russian Invasion and Ukraine’s War of Independence”.

In BerlinsideOut’s second season premiere, Ben and Aaron dive into Germany’s recent foreign policy problems – driven by a Chancellery whose threat assessment of Russia is increasingly jeopardising European security. Together with parliamentarians Anton Hofreiter and Thomas Erndl, as well as regular panellists Minna Ålander and Britta Jacob, BerlinsideOut lays out how Germany can address its dangerous lack of strategy – and how it can start turning things around to help Ukraine win, deter Russia, and defend European security and democracy.

In this special episode of BerlinsideOut, Ben and Aaron take questions live at the 2024 Pirate Security Conference in Munich. They chat about how Germany needs to change its strategy to have a will to win in the systemic struggle between democracies and authoritarian regimes – and why that starts in Ukraine.

In this special episode of BerlinsideOut, Ben and Aaron head to the Munich Security Conference and talk about how Germany uses the world’s most well-known international security gathering to influence global foreign policy agendas. Ben, Aaron, and guests also chat about the themes influencing the hundreds of meetings happening in Munich...

In BerlinsideOut’s first season finale, Ben and Aaron identify key themes and talk through their highlights from the last few months focusing on how Germany’s Zeitenwende has progressed - or not - in that time, how allies see that, and why Germany needs a real grand strategy.

Ben and Aaron speak with Alexander Vindman – the man who literally wrote the book on Trump – Here, Right Matters – detailing his decision to report the phone call between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, resulting in Trump’s impeachment.

In the penultimate week of BerlinsideOut’s first season, Ben and Aaron take a look at the transatlantic relationship’s current strategic deficit, what’s in store for the relationship during either a Trump or a Biden win in 2024, and the China challenge that will come increasingly into view over the next few years.

Ben and Aaron pick up core BerlinsideOut themes with Anessa Kimball and Stephanie Carvin. They discuss how Germany and Canada both depend heavily on liberal ordering but, thanks to a strategic deficit in both countries, are currently not stepping up to take responsibility for this.

BerlinsideOut talks about Germany’s relationship with Aaron’s (other) home country of Canada, its potential role in helping to provide Germany and the rest of the democratic team with critical resources, whether both countries are underpricing Russian and Chinese threats, and how to leverage another transatlantic relationship amidst uncertain political times in the US.

Ben and Aaron look at Germany’s relationship with Ben’s native UK – and how Russia’s war against Ukraine has necessitated a move-on from the tension around Brexit to new ways of cooperating – particularly on security issues. Together with retired Air Marshal Edward Stringer Ben and Aaron look at the respective capabilities and posture...

Ben and Aaron look at Germany’s relationship with Ben’s native UK – and how Russia’s war against Ukraine has necessitated a move-on from the tension around Brexit to new ways of cooperating – particularly on security issues. They look at how the two countries should prepare for a possible Trump presidency in the US...

BerlinsideOut looks at current German strategy for European Security and why it needs to both finish its Zeitenwende and think bigger. Ben provides an update from Vilnius and, together with Aaron, they address the recent decision on Ukraine’s EU Accession talks and the keynote speech of HE Olha Stefanishyna.

Ben and Aaron take a look at how the French “Bratislava Agenda” of rapprochement with CEE and thus rebalancing European leadership complements – or clashes with – Germany's Zeitenwende, its supposed sea change in foreign and security policy.

Ben and Aaron take a look at the current dysfunction in what German foreign policy elites often refer to as the country’s most important bilateral relationship – and the “motor” through which Europe either moves or stalls.

In the second episode looking at Germany’s tough, but crucial relationship with Poland, Ben and Aaron are joined by former German Ambassador to Poland and author of Feinde, Fremde, Freunde (“Foes, Strangers, Friends”) – a book about Germany’s current relationship with Poland following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – to discuss the opportunities for reconciliation between Warsaw and Berlin following a pivotal Polish election, including by spotting ways to address German blind spots when it comes to Poland.

Ben and Aaron get into a particularly important, but historically difficult and tense relationship – the one that Germany has with its largest eastern neighbour in Poland. Recent elections have seen a new Polish coalition gain the numbers to oust the populist Law & Justice Party from power in Warsaw, leaving Berlin with an opportunity to recalibrate its relationship with Poland – if it decides to seize the moment.

In a very special BerlinsideOut, Ben and Aaron are joined by HE Olha Stefanishyna, Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration directly after her keynote speech at the DGAP on 24/11/2023 - in which she outlined not only why Ukraine must win, but also why EU and NATO accession would benefit all Europeans, including Germans.

From the EU’s northern enlargement to the euro crisis, Germany’s Nordic partners in the EU had often looked to Berlin as a champion of their interests. Now though, Berlin’s slow and indecisive handling of both support for Ukraine and NATO enlargement has raised concern in Helsinki and Stockholm...

Ben and Aaron are joined by Professor Ulrike von Hirschhausen for an extended discussion of the ties that bind the Baltic States and Germany and the opportunities that new ways of seeing each other offer for greater mutual understanding.

Ben and Aaron are joined this week by an all-star panel of Baltic politicians, including Marko Mihkelson and Žygimantas Pavilionis – who chair the Foreign Affairs Committees in Estonian and Lithuanian Parliament...

In this bonus episode, we speak with DGAP CEO Dr. Guntram Wolff and Natixis Chief Economist Dr. Alicia Garcia-Herrero about the scale of Germany’s exposure to an increasingly aggressive China in particular.

Ben and Aaron are joined on this episode by Oliver Moody, Berlin Correspondent for The Times and author of a forthcoming book entitled Baltic: The Future of Europe to be published by John Murray press. The book shows how the region is not only the frontier of our present security but of our better future.

Pivoting from key themes in German foreign and security policy to the country’s key relationships, BerlinsideOut takes the road, sadly, less travelled. Rather than ‘go West’ and look first to Paris or Washington, BerlinsideOut first heads east, to Central and Eastern Europe...

In the second part of our special report back from our high-level workshops in Berlin and Prague on Neo-idealism and grand strategy for liberal democracies, we look at why the stakes for Ukrainian victory against Russian aggression are so high – and what the outsize implications of the outcome might be.

This episode continues the discussion on Neo-idealism and grand strategy for liberal democracies, by examining the dangers of taking liberal democracy for granted and putting it “on cruise control”.

Are everyday Germans willing to pay the “National Security Premium” to be less dependent on authoritarian countries like Russia and China?

This episode looks at how Germany’s trade and economic model became so entangled with authoritarian countries.

In this bonus episode, we speak with Anna Vero Wendland, a historian specialising in both German technology and Eastern Europe, about a particular sacred cow in German politics – the role of nuclear energy.

This episode looks at how Germany long ignored the strategic and geopolitical implications of its energy policy.

Thousands of you have already listened to BerlinsideOut and each of you who has, has heard our opening theme tune. Some of you have asked: What is it and why do you use that? Well, it is good that you asked, because there's a reason for it...

This episode deals with grand strategy and why liberal democracies like Germany now need a new strategic approach. First with Alice Stollmeyer and then with Chris Alexander, we identify internal and extrernal threats to liberal democracies and how to counteract them.

Defence is fundamental to Germany's sea change in its foreign and security policy because Germany has been so fundamentally deficient in this area. This was a key point that the country's leaders conceded in February last year after Russia's full scale invasion of Ukraine. Having long underinvested in – and undervalued - its military, the country had been left unable to truly defend itself or play its full, proper role in NATO.

This bonus episode features a special conversation with Ukrainian researcher and Germany expert Stepan Rusyn that zooms in on how Berlin’s approach is viewed from Ukraine. It looks at Ukraine’s victory and why it matters – as well as why Berlin does not yet fully support it and still hesitates to send any new type of weapons, including Taurus cruise missiles.

This episode centers around Ukraine – the importance of its victory in Russia’s war, and its future in Europe and the wider Western democratic alliance. We talk with our expert guests about how failing to aim for Ukrainian victory has conditioned piece-meal support from Germany, undermining its credibility and hurting both Ukrainian and wider western interests.

Episode 1 looks at why it’s important to understand Germany when looking at international politics today. The country’s past policies put it under the spotlight when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. It drew further attention to itself when Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced a ‘Zeitenwende’ or epochal shift and the need for Germany to change with the times. Germany has come a long way but has moved slowly on weapons for Ukraine. By contrast, it has speedily replaced Russian gas supply, but has created new dependencies on authoritarian states. The national security strategy suggests geostrategic confusion rather than a clear vision for the future.

BerlinsideOut, the podcast that takes an expert look at international politics from Berlin. Hosted by Dr. Benjamin Tallis, Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Action Group Zeitenwende at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), and Aaron Gasch Burnett, a journalist specialising in German politics, we look at how Germany sees the world and the world sees Germany.

BerlinsideOut, the podcast that takes an expert look at international politics from Berlin. Hosted by Dr. Benjamin Tallis, Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Action Group Zeitenwende at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), and Aaron Gasch Burnett, a journalist specialising in German politics, we look at how Germany sees the world and the world sees Germany.