Trump vs. Putin?, Multipolarity, U.S. Foreign Policy, & the Russia-Ukraine War w/ George Beebe

On this edition of Parallax Views, George Beebe — Director of Grand Strategy at the Quincy Institute, former director of the CIA's Russia analysis, and a former  staff advisor on Russia matters to Vice President Dick Cheney — about the shifting architecture of global power and its impact on U.S. foreign policy.

We begin by unpacking the rise of multipolarity: what it really means for America, why it could encourage balance and restraint, and why it also carries serious risks of miscalculation and instability.

From there, we turn to the surprising recent signs of frustration between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, and what that might portend for the grinding, entrenched nature of the Russia-Ukraine war.

We explore potential pathways to negotiation, asking what concessions would be unacceptable for either side — and what a settlement might look like from a realist perspective. Throughout, Beebe draws on his background in the realist school to argue for understanding geopolitical interests without morally excusing aggression.

It’s a conversation that moves beyond daily headlines to consider how shifting power dynamics, great-power rivalry, and hard strategic choices could shape the next phase of the war — and the world order that follows.