NPR Central Europe Correspondent, former Shanghai Correspondent, author of Street of Eternal Happiness: Big City Dreams Along a Shanghai Road.
Berlin, Germany
Joined May 2010
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Rob Schmitz / 史明智 retweeted
How should we understand the Huawei trial? Last week US prosecutors wrapped up their arguments and Huawei’s defence lawyers began to lay out theirs. @NPR host @rob_schmitz asked me to share my views on All Things Considered (@npratc) over the weekend. Three key points: 1/8
My vantage point at the moment in Tirana, where police are using tear gas and water cannons against demonstrators:
How is the CIA reassessing what it shares w/Germany after the arrest of former German Intelligence Chief August Hanning ? A former CIA officer who worked with Hanning weighs-in & shares a story about him eating a lobster -shell & all- at a steakhouse. npr.org/2026/10/14/nx-s1-599…
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The day after the German intelligence chief under former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder was arrested for treason and espionage, Schröder is pictured in Moscow with Putin, celebrating the Russian leader's birthday.
Putin celebrated his birthday with former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder
According to the Kremlin, on October 7, Putin learned that his longtime friend was in Moscow on business for the Globus company and invited him to his home.
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Germany's former foreign intel chief August Hanning is still listed as chairman of the board of Pluteos AG on its website. The firm is based in Lucerne and consults government agencies and financial institutions, among others: pluteos.com/board
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Thanks, Julian, for sharing your insights. What an interesting week.
Glad to discuss the challenge of U.S.-China diplomacy with the great @rob_schmitz of @NPR: "I don't think Xi Jinping is going to fly back to Beijing and say, when he meets with the Politburo, hey guys, I was wrong, the United States is our friend. But I do think there is a version of diplomacy with China that could be used quite effectively to lower tensions and buy time—but everything depends on what the United States does with the time it buys."
Yet the unfortunate reality is: time bought can become time squandered.
And the Trump administration has largely used the time it bought with its China trade truce to launch a war of choice against Iran, not to shore up American strengths at home and alliances abroad.
npr.org/2026/09/25/nx-s1-597…
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Thanks for reaching out to us to share the State Department’s views, Mr. Pigott. For those who are interested , here’s the fuller conversation on NPR: npr.org/2026/08/15/nx-s1-593…
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Folk musician Jesse Welles fascinates me. He’s on a creative tear at the moment, writing songs about the news just hours after an event happens. I caught him in the midst of this to talk about his work: npr.org/2026/04/26/nx-s1-579…
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The General Secretary of the RSS -the Hindu nationalist group that is behind the rise of India Prime Minister Narendra Modi - rarely speaks to the international press, but his group reached out to us for this exclusive interview: npr.org/2026/04/25/nx-s1-579…
“He inspired other far-right political movements to think that they could also capture power through similar methods”
-My conversation with @anneapplebaum about the implications of Viktor Orban’s loss on the populist movement worldwide: one.npr.org/i/nx-s1-5786666:…
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Budapest, 1am, last night. A city celebrating the power of the people. Our team from NPR hosted All Things Considered here in Hungary’s capital to bring listeners closer to this historic moment: npr.org/people/493268904/rob…
Thanks for listening, Peter!
My dad, who died before Trump was reelected, was always so proud of his Danish heritage. He would have loved this story by @rob_schmitz (esp. the part about Danes gathering to sing old songs)! More power to PM Mette Frederiksen in her fight against Trump!
npr.org/2026/03/23/nx-s1-574…
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Rob Schmitz / 史明智 retweeted
We're on the air! And so pleased to have you along. Ahead: Carrie Kahn in Tel Aviv, with the latest news from the region. And @rob_schmitz on the views of European allies.
"Probably"? I doubt there is any stolen German IP in these particular machines. 20 years ago this might have been closer to accurate, but China's been innovating from its own tech for years. Your larger take about regs and bureaucracy, though, is spot-on.
The annual CCTV Spring Festival Gala has, in so many past years, been part propaganda, part wholesome humor skits. This year's marquee performance of these robots performing Kung Fu is about as good a soft power display as China has ever pulled off. Incredible.
In his speech that aimed to reunify US and Europe at the MSC, Marco Rubio praised German farmers, French fur traders, and Italian explorers for building America. He did not mention the Native Americans they encountered nor did he mention the contribution of slaves from Africa.
Listen to @npratc today to catch my interview with former National Security Advisor @AmbJohnBolton about President Trump's possible next moves in Iran and where he thinks these historic protests on the streets of Iran's biggest cities are headed: npr.org
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My latest w/NPR's Anas Baba on Gaza's unexploded ordnance and the plans to remove what is believed to be tens of thousands of unexploded bombs from the strip. instagram.com/reel/DQputzCEf…
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Your assignment: 153 books. 7 months. And you thought your book club was intense. This is what awaits the judges for the Booker Prize, which will be awarded on Nov 10. On @hereandnow I spoke to a judge about how he does it: wbur.org/hereandnow/2025/10/…
