Latin America is experiencing a historic energy boom. Brazil, Guyana, and Argentina are collectively positioned to supply nearly half of global crude production growth through 2030, Venezuela is reentering world markets following the fall of the Maduro regime, and Argentina’s Vaca Muerta shale formation is on the verge of transforming the country into a major liquid natural gas exporter. The disruptions to Middle Eastern supply have focused new attention on Latin America’s potential as a stable, resource-rich alternative.

At the same time, Latin America’s rise as an energy powerhouse is far from assured. National oil companies in the region are burdened by debt and political interference, and governments from Bogotá to Brasília are struggling to balance the fiscal imperative of oil revenues with their commitments to a green energy transition. Whether this boom translates into greater energy security and lasting prosperity for the hemisphere will depend on the choices being made by the current governments in the region.

Join Hudson Institute as Adjunct Fellow Daniel Batlle interviews Francisco Monaldi, director of the Latin American Energy Program at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy and one of the foremost authorities on energy and political economy in the region, for a wide-ranging conversation on Latin America's energy future and what it means for the hemisphere and for US interests.

Not too long ago, Georgia was one of the United States’ most dependable strategic partners in the Black Sea region. Its commitment to Euro-Atlantic integration, substantial contributions to US-led missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, and cooperation on counterterrorism and energy transit made Georgia central to Washington’s regional strategy.

Today, however, Georgia is moving in a different direction. Led by the Georgian Dream party, the government has become more authoritarian while aligning more closely with US adversaries, particularly the Islamic Republic of Iran. In the aftermath of Operation Epic Fury, growing ties between Tbilisi and Tehran should be of particular concern to US policymakers. This activity directly threatens US national security interests in the South Caucasus, undermines Western influence, and strengthens a regime committed to exporting the ideology of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

As US adversaries escalate their investment in information warfare, the global contest for ideas has become a primary theater of great-power competition. Countering this challenge demands a public diplomacy strategy built for the speed, scale, and sophistication of the modern information environment.

Please join the Hudson Institute for a conversation with Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Sarah B. Rogers and Hudson Research Fellow Zineb Riboua on how the United States is adapting its public diplomacy tools to advance its interests abroad, counter censorship, promote free speech, and leverage artificial intelligence to deliver more effective, targeted messaging. Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee, will give opening remarks and introduce Under Secretary Rogers.

The American media landscape is undergoing rapid change. New technologies, shifting audience habits, and growing political polarization are reshaping how information is delivered, consumed, debated, and trusted. Journalists and commentators continually face renewed pressure to adapt to an increasingly fragmented environment.  

Join Hudson Institute Distinguished Fellow Mike Gallagher for a fireside chat with radio host and commentator Hugh Hewitt, whose career in media and politics has spanned more than four decades. The two will discuss Hewitt’s tenure in Washington and the evolution of the American media landscape.  

Many formal climate change organizations operating in Western countries spend significant resources and policy time promoting broader anti-West narratives. While proclaiming themselves as champions of the environment, many function in practice as tools for America’s adversaries — above all the Chinese Communist Party. By coopting the climate agenda, Beijing works to weaken energy security in the West and raise productions costs, while their own country moves full steam ahead with cheaper and more reliable energy.

Furthermore, climate organizations promoting anti-Western ideas and policies erode domestic cohesion, undermine energy independence, and weaken the United States diplomatically and economically. Some of the most radical have even called for eradication of the State of Israel.

To examine this emerging challenge, Senior Fellow Dr. Michael Doran will convene a conversation with Research Fellow Zineb Riboua, Professor Brenda Shaffer—Research Faculty Member at the US Naval Postgraduate School and Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council—and Sam Cooper, an award-winning investigative journalist focusing on China-Canada relations.

Together, they will explore how climate-linked institutions intersect with geopolitical competition with China and what this means for North American strategy moving forward.

Taiwan stands at the center of intensifying strategic competition between the United States and China—a flashpoint where uneasy peace could give way to global crisis. Xi Jinping has made “reunification” a defining goal, while longstanding deterrence strategies are being tested by rapid shifts in military, economic, and technological capabilities. Beijing is increasingly pursuing methods of coercion designed to isolate and pressure Taiwan without triggering open conflict, raising urgent questions about how to preserve stability in the region.

In Defending Taiwan, Eyck Freymann offers a comprehensive strategy to deter war and sustain peace. Drawing on Chinese-language sources, military analysis, and historical insight, Freymann argues that deterrence must extend beyond traditional military power. It requires a coordinated approach that integrates economic leverage, technological leadership, and diplomatic alliances. With Jason Hsu, Freymann will discuss how the United States and its partners can adapt to China’s evolving strategy and develop a coherent plan to prevent conflict while safeguarding Taiwan’s future.

China is waging genocide against the Uyghur and other Turkic Muslims. It subjugates Falun Gong practitioners and Tibetan Buddhists and continues its decades-long campaign to suppress and control Christians, turning their churches into state propaganda organs under the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Work Department. The CCP views religion as the last and greatest impediment to its total domination of Chinese cultural and civic life.

To address these concerns, former senator Sam Brownback, who served as ambassador at large for international religious freedom in the first Trump administration, will join Senior Fellow Nina Shea to propose new policies for the US government and actions for the American public. He will draw from his book, China’s War on Faith, which is scheduled for release on May 12.

Brownback and Shea will interview several survivors of CCP religious oppression, each of whom are profiled in the book, including a Buddhist high lama who was forced to flee Tibet and a Uyghur mother whose newborn son was killed by the CCP.  Former congressman Frank Wolf, who introduced the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, will also present. The legislation was key to institutionalizing religious freedom as a pillar of US foreign policy. 

Six decades after the Cuban revolution, despite a generational leadership transition, Cuba remains one of the most enduring challenges for US foreign policy. In a country where one of the few things that work is the state’s repressive machinery, the regime is keeping the Cuban people impoverished and deprived of basic freedoms.

The Trump administration has been turning up the pressure on Cuba, predicting the regime's imminent collapse and imposing a sweeping blockade on oil shipments. Earlier this month, Washington sent a senior delegation to Havana for talks, warning that the regime has limited time to comply with US demands for political and economic reform. Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel has been defiant, insisting Cuba will not negotiate over its political system and urging Cubans to prepare to defend the country.

Join Hudson Institute for a conversation with Frank Calzon, a veteran human rights advocate and one of the foremost authorities on Cuban civil society, as we examine the state of the island, lessons from democratic transitions elsewhere, and prospects for the Trump administration’s Cuba strategy.

After a landslide electoral victory in February and a successful trip to Washington in March, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is poised to introduce an energetic economic and security policy agenda. Recent developments, such as the conflict with Iran, have created new energy and security challenges, yet the strong US-Japan relationship remains constant.

On May 6, Hudson Japan Chair Kenneth R. Weinstein will welcome Yasutoshi Nishimura, former head of Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) to Hudson. Minister Nishimura will give remarks concerning the prime minister's successful March visit to Washington, her economic and diplomatic policies, and how Japan is responding to energy security challenges stemming from the Middle East. After a fireside chat between Minister Nishimura and Dr. Weinstein, the event will conclude with an audience Q&A.

Romania is intimately connected to the major infrastructure corridors shaping Southeast Europe and the Black Sea region, including the Three Seas Initiative, Vertical Gas Corridor, Middle Corridor, and Neptun Deep. These initiatives are indicative of the scale of investment underway as countries in this critical region build their future in the shadow of Russia’s war against Ukraine. 

Join Senior Fellow Matt Boyse and Minister of European Investments Dragoș Nicolae Pîslaru for a fireside conversation about how infrastructure investments are enhancing security and economic resilience in Romania and Southeast Europe.

The conflict between the United States, Israel, and the Islamic Republic of Iran is not over, but it is already shaping a new future for the Middle East. From commercial flows and energy exports to shifting diplomacy, the region is adjusting to Operation Epic Fury in ways that will open up new diplomatic and economic relations, enable alternative trade routes, and shuffle political relationships. What might these changes look like, and how lasting will they be?

Join Hudson Institute Distinguished Fellow Mike Gallagher for a fireside chat with Jared Cohen, president of global affairs at Goldman Sachs and co-head of the Goldman Sachs Global Institute, for a discussion on the future of the Persian Gulf.