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Assad's fall in Syria creates both opportunities & risks, says US national security advisor Jake Sullivan

When Assad fled Syria, shocking the world, President-Elect Trump made his thoughts clear on the region. In short, he said "stay out, America." But can the world's most powerful nation afford to ignore Syria's uncertain future? This is a good news story, says US national security advisor Jake Sullivan, that could turn bad very quickly.

"The minute Damascus fell, ISIS began to look for any opportunity it could take to reconstitute, grow, spread, and ultimately recreate a platform from which to threaten the United States and Americans around the world."

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- YouTube

A smooth Biden-Trump transition is vital to protect US interests, says Jake Sullivan

At a live event hosted by the 92nd Street Y in New York City, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan sat down with Ian Bremmer for GZERO World, Bremmer’s PBS global affairs TV series. Reflecting on the challenges of transitioning between administrations, Sullivan provided a rare behind-the-scenes look at how the outgoing Biden administration and the incoming Trump administration are working together to safeguard US interests during this critical period.

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- YouTube

Jake Sullivan on the biggest threats to US national security in 2025

From Russia to China to the Middle East, what are the biggest threats facing the US? On GZERO World, outgoing National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan joins Ian Bremmer in front of a live audience at the 92nd Street Y in New York City for a wide-ranging conversation on America’s view of the world, President Joe Biden’s foreign policy legacy, and how much will (or won’t) change when the Trump administration takes office in 2025. Despite major differences between the two administrations, Sullivan says he’s seen “more alignment” with his successor Mike Waltz than he expected and that they agree on “big ticket items” like making sure US adversaries don’t take advantage of the US during the presidential transition. Reflecting on his time and office and how the global threat environment has changed, Sullivan digs into risks and opportunities in Syria, the US-Israel relationship, China’s global ambitions, and Putin’s miscalculations in Ukraine.

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Foreign policy in a fractured world: US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on global threats and Joe Biden's legacy

Transcript

Listen: Outgoing US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan joins Ian Bremmer in front of a live audience at the 92nd Street Y in New York City for a rare and wide-ranging GZERO World interview about the biggest geopolitical threats facing the United States, Joe Biden’s foreign policy legacy, and how much will (or won’t) change when the Trump administration takes office in 2025. The world has changed dramatically since Biden entered the White House in 2021, and Sullivan has been the driving force behind some of the administration’s most consequential–and controversial–decisions over the past four years. The outgoing National Security Advisor reflects on his time in office, from managing strategic competition with China to supporting Ukraine in the face of Russia’s invasion to navigating the US-Israel relationship. He warns that bad actors see presidential transitions as moments of opportunity, so it’s imperative that we send a “clear and common message” to both friends and adversaries during what he calls “a huge, plastic moment of turbulence and transition” in global politics.

Subscribe to the GZERO World Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or your preferred podcast platform, to receive new episodes as soon as they're published.

- YouTube

Putin isn't winning in Ukraine, says US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan

Filmed live before an audience at New York City’s iconic 92nd Street Y, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan sat down for an in-depth conversation with Ian Bremmer as part of GZERO World, Bremmer's PBS global affairs TV series. Marking one of his final public interviews as President Biden's top foreign policy advisor, Sullivan offered a candid assessment of global geopolitics, with a sharp focus on the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and its broader implications.

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US National Security adviser Jake Sullivan speaks with GZERO founder and president Ian Bremmer at 92Y in New York City, on December 17, 2024.
Dan Martland/GZERO Media

EXCLUSIVE: An Interview with outgoing US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan

America’s adversaries are looking to exploit the transition period between the Biden and Trump Administrations, China has a fateful choice to make about its own role in the world, and the biggest challenge for US foreign policy might have more to do with clean energy than hard power, according to outgoing US National security Adviser Jake Sullivan.

Sullivan, speaking with Ian Bremmer before a live audience at 92Y in New York on Tuesday as part of a special episode of our nationally-syndicated television show GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, shared his views on key US foreign policy issues at what he said was “a huge, plastic moment of turbulence and transition” in global politics.

A few highlights:

On the transition to Trump. Despite huge differences of opinion about policy, he said, Team Biden has been working hard to ensure that with Team Trump everyone is “singing from the same song sheet” on key risks, in particular the prospect of a weakened Iran accelerating its nuclear program.

The unexpectedly swift collapse of the Assad regime, he said, is a moment of “promise but also profound risk” in which the US must work both with its Kurdish allies in the country as well as with other outside powers to ensure that the country doesn’t become a power vacuum and a haven for international terrorism.

A “just peace” in Ukraine should be “up to the Ukrainians.” He said he hoped Trump will “continue to provide Ukraine with the defensive capacity so that Ukraine's in the best possible position on the battlefield, which will put them in a better position at the negotiating table.”

Russia is more beat up than it looks. High inflation, unsustainable spending, and staggering combat losses in Ukraine are taking a toll, he said. “The conventional wisdom from a few months ago was ‘Russia's got it made in the shade economically, they can do this indefinitely’ – I don't think the economic signals we're seeing right now bear that out.”

China has a big choice to make. Does it want to slip deeper into an axis of reactionary powers like Russia, Iran, and North Korea, or does it want to assume a more constructive global role, even as it competes with the US? “The world,” he said, “should put the onus on China to make the right choice.”

What worries him most? “The one thing that makes me nervous,” he said, “is the need for us to deploy clean energy rapidly enough to power the computing power necessary to stay at the cutting edge of artificial intelligence.”

For more of the conversation: including what Sullivan learned from spending hundreds of hours with Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi, why he thinks Joe Biden’s foreign policy planted seeds that will bear fruit “for a generation”, and how an American invasion of Canada might compare with Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, keep an eye out for Ian’s GZERO newsletter, dropping later today.

And to catch the whole interview: tune in to GZERO World with Ian Bremmer airing on PBS-affiliates nationwide starting Friday. More info here.

U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan meets Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China August 29, 2024.

REUTERS/Trevor Hunnicutt/Pool.

Sullivan trip sets up Biden-Xi call

Chinese President Xi Jinping struck a conciliatory tone when he met with US national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Thursday, after three days of talks aimed at managing tensions in the US-China relationship. Sitting in the Great Hall of the People on Tiananmen Square in Beijing, Xi said, “In this changing and turbulent world, countries need solidarity and coordination … not exclusion or regress.” Their meeting was the culmination of efforts to communicate thoroughly over points of potential conflict, including Taiwan, Ukraine, and the South China Sea.

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U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan speaks during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S., March 18, 2024.

REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

US and China hold high-level talks in Beijing

Jake Sullivan is holding talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday during his first visit to China as US national security adviser. The two are expected to discuss a variety of issues, including Taiwan, Russia’s war on Ukraine, and US import tariffs on China, as well as Gaza, North Korea, and Myanmar. The meeting follows five previous bilaterals, including secret meetings in Malta, Austria, and Thailand, that aimed to restore high-level communications between Washington and Beijing.

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