American Prestige

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Official AP Taiwan Desk James Lin returns to the pod to give us a breakdown of the recent presidential election in Taiwan. The group discusses the three candidates, winner Lai Ching-te’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and its moves to avoid repercussions from the PRC (China), the international response to the election, the evolving diplomatic norms …

Derek and Danny report for duty. This week: Iran attacks targets in Syria, Iraq, and Pakistan (1:01); U.S. strikes on Ansar Allah (Houthi) targets fail to deter attacks on shipping (10:17); an Israel-Palestine update (12:55) including a Qatari medicine deal (15:26) and Netanyahu’s take on a Palestinian state (17:41); Taiwan’s presidential election (22:18); Kim of the DPRK (North Korea) lashes out at the South (25:16); tensions continue to escalate between Somalia and Ethiopia (27:06); a Ukraine War update featuring a drone strike on St. Petersburg (29:49); Guatemala’s Arévalo takes office after an apparent coup attempt (32:59); and Biden and Congress make progress on military aid for Ukraine, Israel, and border security (36:32).

Recorded Thursday, January 18, 2024

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John Gray, emeritus professor of European thought at the London School of Economics, joins Danny for a lively chat about liberalism, the powers that be, and what the duo calls “the bads”. Centering John’s recent book The New Leviathans: Thoughts After Liberalism, this wide-ranging discussion tries to make sense of the post-Cold War world, assess the threats posed by political and environmental factors, and reckon with what John sees as the extreme default condition of human life.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.americanprestigepod.com

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.americanprestigepod.com

Akbar Shahid Ahmed, senior foreign affairs reporter at HuffPost, returns to the podcast to discuss his recent pieces covering the post-Gaza plans of top White House official Brett McGurk and the imminent departure of the White House’s special Middle East envoy on humanitarian issues. Then, for subscribers, the group gets into the NSC’s attempts to discr…

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Danny chats with Frank Costigliola, Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Connecticut, about diplomat and historian George F. Kennan. They discuss his legacy as a realist with an unending belief in diplomacy, the “long telegram”, his wariness of the public holding sway in foreign relations, the emphasis on industrial …

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Derek Sits down with Guillaume Long, senior research fellow at the Center for Economic and and Policy Research (CEPR) and former foreign minister of Ecuador, to discuss the outburst of armed conflict there over the last several days and how this fits into a larger context of issues facing the country.

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Recorded Friday…

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Spencer Ackerman, journalist at various outlets including Forever Wars, chats with Derek about South Africa’s case charging Israel with genocide at the ICJ.

Check out Spencer’s piece on the matter.

Recorded Thursday, January 11, 2024

Danny and Derek come off the hottest year on record with the new year’s cold, hard facts. This week: South Africa brings a genocide case against Israel in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) (2:39) while Antony Blinken tours the region (8:48); Iraqi PM Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani is looking to request the withdrawal of U.S. forces (19:09); the Israel-Hizbollah border battles continue to escalate (22:23); the U.S. and U.K. launch strikes on Yemen (25:31); rebels in Myanmar take the border city of Laukkaing (28:49); Ethiopia looks to make a deal with the unrecognized state of Somaliland (33:56); Ukraine is running out of air defenses and shifting to a defensive posture (37:12); armed battles and chaos break out in Ecuador (40:23); 2023 was indeed the hottest year on record (43:55).

Recorded Thursday, January 11, 2024

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.americanprestigepod.com

Danny and Derek welcome Carolyn Eisenberg, professor of history at Hofstra University, to explore Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixon’s joint pursuit of war in Southeast Asia in the 1960s and 70s. Using Carolyn’s book Fire and Rain as a guide, the group gets into the duo’s relationship, their aims in escalating conflict in the region while pursuing diplomacy with China and the Soviet Union, military events like Operation Lam Son 719, and what this story reveals about U.S. foreign relations.

Carolyn also contributed to the edited anthology The Good Die Young: The Verdict on Henry Kissinger, which was released after his death in December 2023.

Be sure to also check out Danny and Derek’s special episode with Greg Grandin on the life and legacy of Kissinger.

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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.americanprestigepod.com

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.americanprestigepod.com

We’re back into our History of the Kurds series with Djene Bajalan, associate professor of history at Missouri State University. In this episode, the group explores changes in Kurdish nationalism during and after World War II (i.e. when it began to be framed in the context of decolonization), 1950s and 60s Kurdish politics in Iraq and Turkey, and the co…