Iran, North Korea, Syria, Brexit, Paris Agreement, China. Prime Minister Abe, Macron, Merkel, Xi, a fellow named Putin. At a time when U.S. foreign policy – when diplomacy itself – requires as much clarity and coordination and skill as it has in decades, ours has been going through – to put it diplomatically – a major transition.
You know the headlines: Thousands of State Department positions unfilled. Budgets slashed. Tillerson fired. One day we have the world’s biggest button; the next, we’re ready to travel across the world for a summit with a leader who just months ago was a madman.
How’d we get here?
That’s what Ronan Farrow has pieced together – through exceptional storytelling and just plain reporting – in his new book “War on Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence.” Farrow did the work, talking with every living Secretary of State. And what he’s pulled together is the story of not only the shrinking, but also the militarization, of U.S. foreign policy. And to be clear: It didn’t start with Trump.
You might have heard of Farrow. He’s a bit ubiquitous and, if you ask me, extraordinary. He just won a share of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for public service: his The New Yorker articles helped to uncover the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse allegations and played an important part in fueling the #MeToo movement. He has been a lawyer, diplomat, journalist, and a Rhodes Scholar. He worked in the Obama State Department as Special Adviser for Humanitarian and NGO Affairs in the Office of the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, among other roles.
And as you’ll hear, he’s also extremely gracious, which is not a bad quality, even if you’re no longer a diplomat.
Nicholas Burns: 'I Don’t Think He’s Fit for Office'
Brian Abrams: Understanding Obama
Dan Pfeiffer: What Comes Next for Democrats
Steven Brill: The Fifty-Year Fall of America
Scott Jennings: What's Happening to the Republican Party?
Harry Litman: Does President Trump Think He's a King?
Bill Browder: Vladimir Putin's Public Enemy No. 1
Gen. Michael Hayden: Trump's Assault on Intelligence
Amy Walter: Six Months Until Midterms… What Do We Know?
Mitch Landrieu: A White Southerner Confronts History
Stuart Eizenstat: Taking Another Look at the Carter Years
Asha Rangappa: How Will the Mueller Investigation End?
Jennifer Palmieri: Who Will Be the First Woman President?
Rick Hasen: How Antonin Scalia was the Donald Trump of the Supreme Court
David Wasserman: The House Outlook for 2018
Michael Isikoff and David Corn: The Inside Story of Putin's War on America
Chris Whipple: How the Trump White House Is the Most Dysfunctional Ever
Steve Coll: Inside America's Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan
How Democracies Die
Join Podbean Ads Marketplace and connect with engaged listeners.
Advertise Today
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free