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The Dialectic is the flagship podcast of Fair Observer, an independent nonprofit that publishes nearly 3,000 authors from over 90 countries, including former prime ministers, retired diplomats, professors, noted authors and bright young minds from different fields.
Hosts Atul Singh, the editor-in-chief of Fair Observer, and Glenn Carle, a senior partner at the geopolitical risk advisory firm FOI, dive into some of the most important issues of our times. Atul is a Rajput who grew up in India and debated for Oxford while Glenn is a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) who grew up in Boston and played ice hockey for Harvard. Atul comes from the Gaharwar (or Gahadavala) clan while Glenn’s ancestors arrived in Plymouth in 1620 on the Mayflower.
Atul served as an officer doing counter-insurgency in India’s volatile border regions (Nagaland and Kashmir) and as a lawyer in the City of London. As editor-in-chief, he predicted Brexit, Donald Trump’s two election victories and the global rise of the far right. Glenn served the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in both strategic and operational roles. He also negotiated trade deals for the US, served in the White House and authored The Interrogator, a book about how he opposed torture as a CIA officer during the global war on terror.
The Rajput and the WASP are caricatures of stereotypes, and both are preparing to be mummies in the British Museum. These quirky characters examine issues through historical, economic and cultural lenses. Both of them have a passion for geopolitics and for making sense of the world.
Atul and Glenn seek to both inform and entertain. Let us know what you want them to cover. Join our community, and share this podcast with friends and family!
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Episodes
Saturday Feb 14, 2026
Saturday Feb 14, 2026
In this episode of The Dialectic, Editor-in-Chief Atul Singh and FOI Senior Partner Glenn Carle, a retired CIA officer who now advises companies, governments and organizations on geopolitical risk, turn their dialectic eastward to examine analyze the sharp escalation in China–Taiwan tensions following the People’s Liberation Army’s large-scale “Justice Mission 2025” exercise. The drills, which encircled Taiwan after a record US arms sale, form part of a broader pattern of air, naval and cyber pressure that has intensified since Xi Jinping consolidated power in 2012. The hosts examine how gray zone tactics and calibrated military displays are steadily shifting the status quo in the Taiwan Strait.
The discussion then turns to the deeper political and historical roots of the crisis. They dive deep into the Chinese Civil War of the previous century, the Kuomintang’s retreat to Taiwan in 1949 and Taiwan’s evolution from one-party rule to a vibrant democracy. They also explain the differences between the Kuomintang and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). The DPP is a left-leaning pro-independence party that struggled against the authoritarian rule of the Kuomintang in the past. Now, the DPP is the ruling party and political divisions between the two parties still run deep.
The hosts also explore how nationalism, regime legitimacy and the “One China” doctrine remain central pillars of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), especially as economic growth slows and demographic pressures mount. They also speak about how the CCP has become more aggressive over the last few years, making not only Taiwan but also Japan more nervous.
From there, the conversation moves to sovereignty and great power politics. Atul and Glenn make sense of US foreign policy, ranging from the Taiwan Relations Act and strategic ambiguity to recent signals of greater strategic clarity, placing the standoff within the framework of the Thucydides Trap.
Finally, they outline the choices Chinese President Xi Jinping, Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te and US President Donald Trump face as China’s power peaks. With Taiwan’s domination of high-end semiconductor production and economic prowess, the episode assesses the profound economic and geopolitical consequences of any miscalculation in the Taiwan Strait.
00:00 Justice Mission 2025
10:00 Wolf Warrior Diplomacy
15:00 Salami Slicing
21:00 Nationalists & Communists
32:00 The Democratic Progressive Party
44:00 The Chinese Communist Party
50:00 The Taiwan Strait
55:00 America’s Strategic Posture
1:05:00 China-Taiwan Tensions
1:15:00 What if China Invades Taiwan?
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