On December 4th, the Trump administration released its National Security Strategy—a document that warns of Europe's "civilizational erasure." In the leaked longer version, it proposes a "Core 5" with China and Russia while excluding Europe entirely, and declares "the days of the United States propping up the entire world order like Atlas are over."
What does this mean for Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa? How does Trump's pay-to-play diplomacy reshape global relations? And what's really happening in the Ukraine peace negotiations?
Pablo Rasmussen, Director at Brzezinski Global Strategies and former Peace Corps advisor, joins me to break down the strategy, the stakes, and what it means for partners, public and private, navigating this fractured landscape.
IN THIS EPISODE:
TRUMP'S NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY
Europe: "Civilizational erasure" and the leaked MEGA agenda
The Core 5 proposal: US, China, Russia, India, Japan—excluding Europe
Latin America: The "Trump Corollary" to the Monroe Doctrine
Asia-Pacific: Economic competition without strategic confrontation
Africa: From development aid to extractive investment paradigm
TRUMP'S TRANSACTIONAL FOREIGN POLICY
Pay-to-play dynamics reshaping US relations
$200 billion in tariff collections—who really pays?
How allies and adversaries navigate the new reality
UKRAINE PEACE NEGOTIATIONS
Where negotiations stand right now
What Ukraine needs for recovery and reconstruction
Security guarantees, frozen assets, and the road ahead
COMMERCIAL ADVISORY & SOFT POWER
Why geostrategic advisory matters for CEOs today
Brzezinski Global Strategies' approach to transatlantic risk
The gutting of American soft power—Peace Corps, USAID, democracy promotion
Long-term implications: Is Europe left to dry?
ABOUT PABLO RASMUSSEN: Pablo Rasmussen is a Director at Brzezinski Global Strategies, where he advises firms on geopolitical strategy. Prior to joining the firm, Pablo served in the Biden-Harris Administration as an advisor to the Deputy Director of the Peace Corps, where he supported enterprise strategy, global operations across 61 country posts, and portfolios including inter-agency cooperation and diplomacy.
Before his service in the Administration, Pablo worked at Albright Stonebridge Group. He advised Fortune 500 companies, foundations, and NGOs on trans-Atlantic affairs, EU policy, green transition strategies, and investment risk across 25+ markets.
Pablo currently co-leads a working group on Diplomacy for the NextGen Initiative at Foreign Policy for America and has contributed opinion pieces to outlets including Euractiv, The Brussels Times, and Harvard Political Review. He publishes his own Substack, The Adret, covering everything from culture to national security.
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And happy holidays to all!
In the relentless churn of global crises—from Ukraine to Gaza to Sudan—some horrors risk fading from view not because they've ended, but because our attention has simply moved on. Chief among these is the plight of ethnic minorities in China.
This week on The Neomedieval Ledger, host Samuel Dempsey talks with Alerk Ablikim about how China's systematic repression of Uyghurs, Tibetans, and Hongkongers continues—and how influential Western voices are now actively whitewashing these atrocities.
Alerk Ablikim is the founder of Alerkin Consulting, representing Chinese ethnic minorities in the Netherlands. As a Uyghur activist, policy advisor, and co-chair of the Europe working group of the Green Party in the Netherlands, Alerk has spent years documenting the Uyghur genocide.
They examine:
The attention deficit: Has the reality on the ground changed, or has this crisis simply fallen victim to the media cycle?
Daily life under repression: What existence looks like now for Uyghurs, Tibetans, and Hongkongers as surveillance and control intensify
The Hasan Piker phenomenon: How one of the internet's most influential political streamers whitewashed China's human rights record—and what it reveals about the far left's blind spots
The erosion of leverage: Why Western sanctions have failed, supply chains remain entangled, and Xinjiang's surveillance technology is now exported globally
Europe's complicity: The barriers and opportunities Alerk faces advocating in the Dutch Parliament—and whether there's still hope for meaningful action
If you want uncompromising analysis on the genocide in Xinjiang, the failure of Western pressure campaigns, and what leverage still exists to confront transnational repression—this conversation is essential listening.
This week marks a pivotal moment in the battle for Europe's future. The European Parliament has voted through the Green Omnibus—a sweeping deregulation package that undermines core environmental protections—with decisive support from the far right. Meanwhile, the Digital Omnibus is set to be unveiled on November 19th, threatening to dismantle fundamental GDPR protections under the guise of simplifying compliance. Behind both moves: unprecedented corporate lobbying and mounting U.S. political pressure on European governments.
In this episode of The Neomedieval Ledger, host Samuel Dempsey speaks with Professor Alberto Alemanno—Jean Monnet Professor of EU Law, Harvard Democracy Fellow, and one of Europe's most influential voices on democracy and citizen empowerment. They examine:
The Green Omnibus and the death of the cordon sanitaire—how the EPP empowered the far right to kill core Green Deal protections
The Digital Omnibus and the corporate lobbying campaign to gut GDPR
Why the U.S. and MAGA movement view the EU—not China—as their primary adversary
The coordinated ideological assault on Europe from U.S. mega-donors, tech billionaires, and think tanks like the Heritage Foundation and Orbán's MCC
Ursula von der Leyen's leadership and use of political capital to enable these shifts
Why the Council repeatedly blocks transnational lists and genuine EU-wide democracy
The crisis of participation—and why Brussels insiders prefer policymaking in obscurity
Whether European strategic autonomy is still achievable, or if dependence on the U.S. is now locked in
If you want clear, uncompromising analysis on the deregulation agenda reshaping Europe, the far-right's legislative leverage, and what real democratic reform would require—this conversation is essential listening.
Alberto Alemanno is founder of The Good Lobby, which works to democratize access to power in Brussels. Named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, an Ashoka Fellow, and Social Innovator of the Year by the Schwab Foundation, he was recognized by Politico Europe as one of the most influential voices in the EU and featured on Project Syndicate's inaugural list of Forward Thinkers in 2025.
We are now 721 days into the war in Gaza. According to Gaza health authorities, at least 65,000 people have been killed and over 166,000 wounded—with Israeli military data indicating that 83% of those killed are civilians. The New York Times headline on the day of shooting this podcast says it plainly: “Europe Talks Big on Gaza but Struggles to Act.”
In this episode of The Neomedieval Ledger, host Samuel Dempsey speaks with two of Europe’s most experienced foreign policy minds: Shada Islam, one of Brussels’ leading strategic thinkers on the EU’s global role, and Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff, former EU Ambassador to Palestine.
We examine:
Why the EU has been largely paralyzed on Gaza
The wave of European recognition of Palestine and what it really means
The EU’s unused economic and political leverage over Israel, including its Association Agreement and trade tools
Why Europe rarely pressures the United States, Israel’s main arms supplier
The debate over whether Israel’s actions meet the legal definition of genocide
What real European leadership could look like
If you want clear, hard analysis on the EU’s role and failures—and where it could act if there was the will—this conversation is essential listening.
Shada Islam is a renowned Brussels strategist and founder of the New Horizons Project, named by Politico among the Top 20 Women Who Shape Brussels and ranked #5 EUInfluencer 2024, on influence on EU policy.
Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff is a veteran EU diplomat and former EU Ambassador to Palestine, with decades of experience in various ambassadorial roles and in working on mediation at the European External Action Service.
In this episode of The New Medieval Ledger, host Samuel Dempsey speaks with leading European security analyst Maria Martisiute about what may already be war between Russia and NATO. From recent Russian drone incursions into Polish and Romanian airspace, to NATO’s reactive launch of Operation Eastern Sentry and the EU’s announcement of a Drone Wall by 2027, they examine whether Europe is responding with the urgency the moment demands. Maria warns that Europe has “not done its homework”—arguing that the continent’s lack of initiative, fragmented defense systems, and overreliance on the U.S. is creating dangerous vulnerabilities.Maria is a Policy Analyst at the European Policy Centre, specializing in defence, security, and foreign affairs. With over a decade of experience across NATO, the EU, national governments, and NGOs, she previously led reform efforts within NATO’s cooperative security trust funds and worked on defence sector reform with partners in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. She has also contributed to EU strategic infrastructure policy at the European Commission, supported crisis response efforts in Afghanistan and Ukraine, and promotes people-to-people diplomacyThe discussion also tackles the deeper strategic cracks in the transatlantic relationship: the presence of U.S. military observers at Russia’s Zapad 2025, the White House hosting Germany’s Kremlin-friendly AfD party, and the total absence of U.S. forces in NATO’s Eastern Sentry response. Maria and Samuel explore what it would take for Europe to stand on its own—arguing that Europe may need to spend 3–4x Russia’s defense budget to match its war economy. It's an important and timely discussion.
In this episode, I speak with Terrell Jermaine Starr—an independent American journalist based between Kyiv and Brooklyn. Terrell speaks Russian, Georgian, and is learning Ukrainian. With over 16 years of lived experience in Ukraine, he’s a leading voice on Ukraine–U.S. relations, democracy, and life in wartime Kyiv. He also runs the popular Substack, Terrell J-Star Official. Our conversation covers the recent Russian drone attacks and their impact on morale in Ukraine, what’s needed from the EU, U.S., and NATO to sustain Ukraine’s defense, the paradox of fighting for democracy abroad while it’s under attack at home, the links between the struggles of Palestinians and Ukrainians, and how race has been weaponized in narratives surrounding the killing of a Ukrainian refugee in North Carolina. It’s a candid and insightful discussion about war, democracy, solidarity, and the narratives that shape them.