United States Studies Centre
115 episodes listed below
Strategic context for a turbulent US-led order.
USSC Briefing Room brings policy specialists into careful conversations about American politics, defence, and foreign policy. Its strongest episodes connect headlines on Taiwan, Iran, AUKUS, tariffs, and India to the strategic choices facing Australia and other middle powers.
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USSC Briefing Room is a foreign-policy interview show for listeners who want the machinery behind the headline. Its focus is the United States, but rarely in isolation. The show keeps returning to the way American decisions reshape Australia’s options, Indo-Pacific security, alliance management, and the behaviour of other major powers. Recent episodes have examined Australia-Taiwan relations, AUKUS Pillar II, nuclear risk after New START, Iran, India’s changing partnerships, tariffs, Venezuela, Greenland, NATO pressure, and US military leadership. The result is a show about strategic consequence. It is measured, dense, and comfortable with unfinished answers. Episodes usually begin with a defined policy problem, then widen the frame through guests who bring reports, legal knowledge, defence experience, or regional expertise. A tariff case becomes a test of executive power and judicial constraint. A Taiwan conversation becomes a debate over status quo strategy, signalling, and whether fixed invasion timelines distort policy thinking. A nuclear-risk episode moves from arms control to Iran’s enrichment capabilities and the difficulty of verification. The show’s Australian base matters. It gives the conversations a distinct middle-power angle, especially when guests discuss how countries such as Australia, Canada, or India respond to pressure from larger strategic players. The pacing is calm rather than urgent. The language can be technical, but the format keeps returning to practical questions: what changed, what still holds, what governments can actually do, and where the risks sit. It is not a personality-led politics show. It is closer to a working briefing, shaped for people who already follow world affairs and want sharper context before forming a view.
Made for: For listeners who follow US politics, defence, and foreign policy through an Indo-Pacific and Australian lens. It suits people who prefer careful expert discussion over quick takes.
What sets it apart: The show’s strength is its middle-power perspective: US decisions are assessed through alliance management, regional balance, military capability, and legal authority. It consistently connects Washington’s actions to the choices facing Australia and its partners.
The USSC Briefing Room is a podcast from the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney. It gives you a seat at the table for a briefing on the latest US news and foreign policy. Co-hosts Mari Koeck, Jared Mondschein and Victoria Cooper talk to experts to cover what you need to know and what's beneath the surface of the news.
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
USSC Briefing Room turns major foreign-policy events into clear examinations of strategic choices, institutional limits and the narratives surrounding them.
USSC Briefing Room treats foreign policy as a set of contested choices rather than a procession of headlines. Mari Koeck, Jared Mondschein and Victoria Cooper guide conversations with guests through military strategy, diplomacy and political calculation, repeatedly asking what…
When headlines start sounding like acronyms with missiles, this is your Australian strategy table.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A steady discussion of Australia's Taiwan policy, focused on the status quo and the risks of overreading timelines.
The episode frames Australia's Taiwan policy as a balancing act between China and the United States, with pressure around Taiwan always in the background.
A sober briefing on nuclear risk, arms control, and uranium enrichment.
USSC Briefing Room treats the nuclear-risk picture with discipline, keeping New START's expiry, China's arsenal growth, and Iran's uranium enrichment in separate focus.
A measured foreign-policy briefing that weighs the strikes on Iran through justification, allied reaction, and MAGA politics.
USSC Briefing Room treats the strikes on Iran as a question of justification and consequence, moving from the attack itself to the political logic behind it, the reaction from allies, and the strain inside MAGA politics.
A grounded look at India's balancing act across the United States, China, Russia, and Australia.
India's ties with the United States, China, Russia, and Australia are presented as a careful balancing act rather than a sudden turn. The episode moves from the tariff standoff with the United States to Narendra Modi's meetings with Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin at the Shanghai…
A measured case for leadership that stays calm, joint, and ready under pressure.
The episode takes a steady look at military leadership under changing strategic pressure. It keeps returning to a few plain but useful habits: train the way you fight, make allied communications work, and stay calm when systems start to fail.
Strategic briefings from Asia’s pressure points.
Civics, books, history, and Hillsdale voices.
Foreign policy under pressure, explained clearly.
Antiwar geopolitics with institutional memory.
Mari Kirk opens the discussion by framing Australia between its economic ties to China and the United States.
Mari Kirk opens on the nuclear alarm bell.
The discussion opens with the United States and Israel beginning strikes on Iran, killing Ayatollah Khamenei and many of his top leaders.
This episode examines whether AUKUS Pillar 2, focused on advanced technologies like AI, is effectively addressing its goals amid geopolitical tensions and recent policy reviews.
This episode analyzes recent US foreign policy actions in Venezuela, Greenland, and Iran, and discusses how middle powers like Canada and Australia should respond.
USSC Briefing Room opens by framing 2025 as a year of significant movement in India’s relationships with key international partners.
Tom Corbin opens on a Pentagon in flux, pointing to the Department of Defense being renamed the Department of War, a shift toward the Western Hemisphere, and new media and public engagement rules.
This episode analyzes President Trump's use of tariffs declared under a national emergency, focusing on the Supreme Court's review of their legality and presidential authority.
This episode analyzes major shifts in U.S.
This episode interviews Bruce Wolpe about his updated book analyzing how a second Trump term could impact Australia through policies like protectionism and isolationism, and its effects on U.S.
This episode features an interview with New York Times journalist David Sanger about his book 'New Cold Wars,' discussing US foreign policy missteps regarding Russia and China.