5 Memorable Conversations in 2022

Every week, Foreign Policy subscribers get to tune in to FP Live, the magazine’s forum for live video journalism, in which reporters and editors interview top policymakers and experts to shed light on global affairs. Guests in 2022 have included top Biden administration officials, world leaders, and regional experts.

FP Live interviews are often tied to the news cycle. It’s no surprise then that many of this year’s discussions have centered on Russia’s war in Ukraine. But we’ve also had a chance to delve into the protests in Iran and the stalled nuclear deal with Tehran; China’s disastrous zero-COVID policy; press freedom and political corruption in the Philippines; Rishi Sunak’s rise to power in the United Kingdom; and how Pakistan is managing catastrophic flooding amid political turmoil and an economic crisis. 

Here are five conversations that are worth rewatching as we wind down the year. You can also read transcripts of these interviews in the links below.

1. Wally Adeyemo on Sanctioning Vladimir Putin

How does the United States impose financial pain on Russia without harming the global economy? Are Washington’s sanctions losing their efficacy? Wally Adeyemo, the No. 2 official at the U.S. Treasury Department, is the man responsible not only for devising U.S. sanctions but also securing the cooperation of allies in executing them. As Adeyemo told Foreign Policy in October, his goal is “to make clear to the Kremlin and to those who support Russia … that as they attempt to find ways to evade our sanctions, our sanctions and export controls are going to continue to make sure that Russia doesn’t have access to the revenues they need to fight this war.”

2. Jens Stoltenberg on Supporting Ukraine

Russia’s war in Ukraine thrust NATO into the center of the news cycle in 2022. While the trans-Atlantic military alliance has become more relevant than ever before, it has also faced the challenge of supporting Ukraine’s military in a long and expensive conflict. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg spoke with Foreign Policy in September to explain how he negotiates weapons supplies to Kyiv, where the war is headed, and why NATO recently declared China to be a strategic threat. 

3. Fiona Hill on Why Putin’s Running Out of Time

This summer, a narrative was beginning to develop that the West was running out of time in its battle to fend off Russia’s advances in Ukraine. The theory went that winter was coming, gas prices would become prohibitively expensive, and Western publics would tire of supporting Kyiv. 

Fiona Hill, a top Russia advisor to three U.S. presidents, made the opposite argument in July. It was, in fact, Russian President Vladimir Putin who was running out of time, she argued, making the larger point that the West should redouble its support for Ukraine. In the following months, Ukraine made significant battlefield advances, validating Hill’s prescribed approach. 

4. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya on the Fight for Belarus

As Ukrainians fight for their sovereignty, the fate of neighboring Belarus is also closely entwined with the outcome of the war. In June, Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya discussed how she is trying to fight longtime President Aleksandr Lukashenko while living in exile.

5. Frans Timmermans on How War Impacts Climate Change

When climate talks between the United States and China broke down earlier this year, Beijing was still engaging with at least one other major Western player: Brussels. The person on the other end of the line is often Frans Timmermans, Europe’s top climate negotiator. A week after the conclusion of the COP27 summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, in November, Timmermans spoke with Foreign Policy about the summit’s successes and failures and how he saw Brussels’s role evolving amid growing competition between the United States and China.