Berlin Policy Journal Podcast

Episode 7 - Coronavirus hits Europe’s Economy & Refugees in Greece

Thu, 09 Apr 2020 14:29:57 GMT

The seventh episode of the Berlin Policy Journal Podcast explores the impact of the coronavirus crisis on the European economy and its existing migrant situation.

We start with a conversation with Marcel Fratzscher, the president of the German Institute for Economic Research, or DIW Berlin. He is one of Germany’s leading economists, and joins Berlin Policy Journal executive editor Henning Hoff to discuss the economic impact and possible EU solutions.

With everyone focused on fighting the pandemic, it’s easy to forget that some crises at Europe’s borders are continuing, virus or no virus. The situation of refugees and migrants trapped at the Greek-Turkish border and on Greek islands has been made worse by the pandemic.

For a first-person look, we hear from Chiara Tormen, who works on the Greek island of Samos as a translator for the medical NGO Med’EqualiTeam. She sent us her impressions of the situation refugees find themselves in.

Finally, Mona Lou Günnewig who works with the German Council on Foreign Relations’ Migration Program explains what led to the escalation at the Greek-Turkish border, and what might come next in this dire situation.

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The Berlin Policy Journal is a bi-monthly digital magazine on European affairs, edited in Germany’s capital and published by the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP). It’s the sister publication of Internationale Politik, Germany’s leading foreign affairs magazine.

You can read the Berlin Policy Journal on our website, berlinpolicyjournal.com/ or receive it free of charge via our app for Android and iOS devices.

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Episode 6 - Russia, the Threatening Neighbor

Fri, 13 Mar 2020 15:51:44 GMT

For our sixth episode of the Berlin Policy Journal Podcast, we look at Russia’s role in the trouble spots surrounding Europe, and explore its actions as the threatening neighbor in international relations.

First, Swedish-American scholar Anders Åslund from the Washington-based think tank the Atlantic Council puts Vladimir Putin’s recent moves into perspective.

Then, Koerber Foundation’s Liana Fix assesses Emmanuel Macron’s attempts to take the fast lane to Moscow, and the effects this has on Germany’s Russia policy.

For the view from Europe, we turn to DGAP colleague Milan Nič, who gives us an overview of the next steps the EU is planning to take vis-à-vis its troublesome neighbor.

Finally, host and Berlin Policy Journal executive editor Henning Hoff speaks with BPJ editor Noah Gordon about how the decline of fossil fuels will fundamentally reshape geopolitics with Russia and other nations.

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You can read the Berlin Policy Journal on our website https://berlinpolicyjournal.com/ or receive it free of charge via our app for Android and iOS devices.

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Episode 5 - Germany in Active Mode?

Mon, 03 Feb 2020 11:00:06 GMT

In this fifth episode of the Berlin Policy Journal Podcast, we explore whether Germany is ready to take a more active role in foreign policy. Starting with January’s Berlin Libya Conference, looking forward to the Munich Security Council, and then ahead to summer when Germany will take over the rotating EU presidency, the country is being pushed to take the lead. In fact, the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell, went as far as to say, “Nothing can be done without Germany.”

To discuss whether the country is truly ready for action, host Henning Hoff sits down with the director of the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), Daniela Schwarzer, who also wrote the article “Weaponizing the Economy” in the current issue of the Berlin Policy Journal. We also have a chat with Rainer Rudolph, a German diplomat who worked on a previous German EU presidency; he’s currently on a think-tank sabbatical with DGAP.

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You can read the Berlin Policy Journal on our website berlinpolicyjournal.com/ or receive it free of charge via our app for Android and iOS devices.

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Episode 4 - Navigating the Landscape of Frenemies

Thu, 09 Jan 2020 14:45:40 GMT

In this fourth episode of the Berlin Policy Journal Podcast, we look at the idea of “Frenemies” in foreign policy. The term “Frenemies” sounds contemporary, but it’s actually about 70 years old, and was first coined as a comment on US-Russian relations.

The “World of Frenemies” is explored in the newest edition of the Berlin Policy Journal, available in our app and online at berlinpolicyjournal.com.

For the podcast, we speak first with Jörg Lau, foreign editor of weekly DIE ZEIT, who presents the lay of the Frenemies landscape from a German perspective.

Then, we broaden our view to explore a Frenemy a bit further from home. Some critics say Europeans are underestimating the threat from China. This view is becoming more pressing as the country is poised to take a leading role in developing the 5G mobile network technology in Germany. To decode this, we’re joined by Janka Oertel, Asia Director at the European Council on Foreign Relations, or ECFR.

Finally, we receive a New Silk Road audio postcard from our correspondent Jacob Mardell, who is traveling from Brussels and Beijing and back to document China’s massive Belt and Road initiative that links the Eurasian super-continent.

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You can read the Berlin Policy Journal on our website https://berlinpolicyjournal.com/ or receive it free of charge via our app for Android and iOS devices.

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Episode 3 - Measuring Merkel’s Legacy

Thu, 05 Dec 2019 09:41:26 GMT

In this third episode of the Berlin Policy Journal Podcast, we focus on Angela Merkel.

What will be the legacy of Germany’s long-serving chancellor? Who will be her successors, and what lies ahead for Germany at home and abroad?

To explore these questions, we spoke to Tyson Barker, program director and senior fellow at the Aspen Institute Germany. He explains that some of the policies and values we now associate with Germany are actually characteristics of Merkel herself.

For an additional perspective on Merkel’s legacy, we dropped in on Constanze Stelzenmüller of the Brookings Institution in Washington DC. She is perhaps the most prolific – and often entertaining – “Germany explainer” there is in the United States. She tells us how Angela Merkel served as a role model to many women, while at the same time she has disappointed recently on certain political issues.

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You can read the Berlin Policy Journal on our website berlinpolicyjournal.com or receive it free of charge via our app for Android and iOS devices.

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Episode 2 - A Geopolitical EU

Wed, 13 Nov 2019 13:15:14 GMT

In this second episode of the Berlin Policy Journal Podcast, we look at the possibility of a “geopolitical European Union”—as promised by incoming EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Host and Berlin Policy Journal executive editor Henning Hoff speaks with Jana Puglierin, head of the Alfred von Oppenheim Center for European Policy Studies at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), to find out what needs to happen to transform the EU into a player on the world stage.

Then, with the help of DGAP France expert Claire Demesmay, we decode Emmanuel Macron’s recent controversial interview where he predicted Europe “will disappear” if it “can’t think of itself as a global power,” as well as his recent jaunt to China.

Finally, we hear an audio postcard from Kyrgyzstan on the “New Silk Road” sent by Jacob Modell, who is traveling from Brussels to Beijing and back to document China’s massive Belt and Road Initiative, intended to link up Asia with Europe and Africa.

More dispatches from Jacob can be found at berlinpolicyjournal.com/on-the-new-silk-road

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You can read the Berlin Policy Journal on our website berlinpolicyjournal.com or receive it free of charge via our app for Android and iOS devices.

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Episode 1 - The Long Shadow/Nationalism & Gender

Thu, 17 Oct 2019 10:04:22 GMT

In this debut edition of the Berlin Policy Journal Podcast, we look at Central and Eastern Europe 30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and Iron Curtain, and explore the connection between nationalism and gender.

First, contributors Milan Nič who heads the Central and Eastern European, Russian, and Central Asian program at the German Council on Foreign Relations and The Economist’s Warsaw Correspondent Annabelle Chapman join Berlin Policy Journal Executive Editor Henning Hoff to discuss the long shadow of the iron curtain and Europe’s next chapter.

Then, Annabelle Chapman reads a section from her essay “Where Gender Meets Nationalism,” which won the inaugural Sylke Tempel essay prize for young women this fall. Annabelle joins Henning to talk about her inspirations for the piece. The entire essay can be read on our website: berlinpolicyjournal.com/where-gender-…-nationalism/

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You can read the Berlin Policy Journal on our website berlinpolicyjournal.com or receive it free of charge via our app for Android and iOS devices.

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Music from filmmusic.io

"Pamgaea" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

License: CC BY (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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