Lecture
Robert Fox
Monday 28.09.2026
Robert Fox
Optimism in Uncertainty
Monday 28.09.2026
How to watch
This lecture starts on 28 September at 7:00pm (UK).
Summary
In these uncertain times, where do we find points of optimism? I think there are ways to hope—but we must look at several flex points coming up in the next month:
- Elections now—the result from Moscow and the Duma were expected, but does it mean a path to further war or peace? It is in the balance and it is up to Europe now to engage diplomatically. I think it can.
- The Houthis and the Gulf, Israel’s elections and the local allies. Israel’s vote is too close to call—it could be momentous, but I think it will be more a matter of continuity. The region is particularly interesting as the GCC, including Saudi Arabia and Egypt must develop their own diplomacy.
- The midterms in the US—concentrating the minds in America and Europe. The big question is whether we have seen peak-Trump? I think the signs are that we have—what will come after? A short Hegseth presidency. But we will see a resurgence of congressional power pretty surely after the November elections.
- This means that Europe is beginning to shape its own coalition, as a way to make weight against Trump.
- The AI monster can be tamed—following an interview with the quantum physicist Carlo Rovelli.
Robert Fox
Robert Fox has been a professional reporter, commentator, author, and broadcaster for over 40 years. He has reported from the front in the Falklands conflict of 1982, the Middle East, including Iraq and the Palestinian territories, as well Bosnia, Kosovo, and Afghanistan. After leaving Oxford with an honors degree in history in 1967, he has worked as a staff reporter and correspondent for the BBC and the Daily Telegraph. He is currently defense correspondent for the Evening Standard and broadcasts frequently for the BBC, Sky, and Radio 24 in Italy. Among his books are Eyewitness Falklands (1982), Antarctica and the South Atlantic (1985), and Camera in Conflict(1995). Robert lectures frequently to the British Army and the diplomatic community in London. He is a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies and the Royal Institute for International Affairs, Chatham House.