CFR's Director of Studies James Lindsay and Director of the International Institutions and CFR.org Editor Robert McMahon preview major world events in the week ahead.

In this week's podcast: Iowa Republicans cast their ballots in the Ames Straw poll; Vice President Joe Biden visits Asia; The trial of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak resumes in Cairo; Germany marks the 50th anniversary of the construction of the Berlin Wall.

CFR's Bernard Gwertzman and Serge Schmemann of the International Herald Tribune discuss their role in reporting the fall of the Berlin Wall twenty years ago and the enduring significance of that day.

Secretary John Kerry and German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle held this press conference after their meeting on February 26, 2013. They discussed troops in Afghanistan, the Syria crisis, German-U.S. economic relations, and Iran.

Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Dr. Konrad Adenauer, and the President of the French Republic, Charles de Gaulle, signed this treaty on January 22, 1963 to mark the reconciliation of the two countries after World War II.

Joschka Fischer reflects on his career and the lessons he learned during his tenure as foreign minister and vice chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. 

Joschka Fischer, former foreign minister of Germany, reflected on issues of contingent vs. conditional sovereignty and "the responsibility to protect."

CFR's James M. Lindsay reflects on the signing of the Munich Agreement on September 30, 1938 and how the United States can apply the lesson learned to potential threats in the world today.

CFR's James M. Lindsay remembers Adolf Hitler's announcement in 1935 that he would reintroduce conscription in Germany, and discusses instances when a country should be confronted rather than accommodated.

Jonathan Steinberg, professor of modern European History at the University of Pennsylvania, discusses his book, Bismark: A Life.

This meeting is part of a series hosted with the National History Center featuring prominent historians who will examine the events and times that shaped foreign policy as we know it today.

Watch Joschka Fischer, former foreign minister and vice chancellor of Germany, reflect on his career as part of the Council's HBO History Makers Series.