Foreign Policy ProvCast

After the Saudi Arabia and the Jamal Khashoggi affair, should we sound the alarm or call for sobriety? Drew Griffin sits down with Sohrab Ahmari to discuss US-Saudi Arabia relations.

October marked the centennial of the start of the Meuse-Argonne campaign, the last great battle of World War I. Last month, Providence Executive Editor Marc LiVecche toured the battlefields of the Argonne with Col. Doug Mastriano, US Army (Ret.). They followed the movements of Medal of Honor recipient Sgt. Alvin York, whose extraordinary valor on October 8, 1918, helped turn the tide of the battle, and thereby the war. They discuss the battle and wider campaign, York's transition from pacifist to combat hero, and Doug's work researching and building the Sgt. York Commemorative Trail in France. Doug also wrote an article in our Summer 2017 issue of the print edition about Sgt. York, "Serving God or Caesar: Sergeant York and the Morality of War," which you can read at https://providencemag.com/2018/01/serving-god-caesar-sergeant-alvin-york-morality-war/

Faysal Itani, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, sits down with Providence Managing Editor Drew Griffin to discuss the latest news with Saudi Arabia, Jamal Khashoggi, and Syria.

Dr. Joshua Walker of the Eurasia Group sits down with Providence's managing editor Drew Griffin to discuss Japan, China and North Korea, as well as the precarious state of US relations with Turkey.

What is "kleptocracy," and what role does the United States play in it? Is the US a kleptocracy? What role do anonymous shell companies play? In this episode that we recorded late last summer, Ted Moorman answers these questions and more. Moorman has also written a brief primer on kleptocracy and America's role in it, which can be found at https://providencemag.com/2016/12/quick-primer-us-role-foreign-kleptocracy-corruption/. Those who would like to learn more about this topic, the Hudson Institute's Kleptocracy Initiative has several good papers and events. If you enjoy the podcast, please share our episodes on Twitter and Facebook, and we appreciate reviews on Apple Podcasts. On our website (https://providencemag.com/), we will publish an extended version of this conversation as a subscriber-only podcast. We also offer subscriber-only videos from our events. Subscriptions, which include our print edition, start as low as $12 a year and can be purchased here: https://providencemag.com/product/providence-magazine-year-subscription/.

Marc LiVecche hosts our first Im-ProvCast, an offshoot of Providence's regular Foreign Policy ProvCast where our managing editor interviews distinguished guests. This episode was recorded before a conference about the anniversary of the Tet Offensive at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, DC. Bing West speaks about his writing, the civil-military divide in America, the Tet Offensive, and the Burns-Novick The Vietnam War series on PBS. A longer version of this conversation will be published at ProvidenceMag.com as a subscriber-only podcast. To access, visit https://providencemag.com/podcast/ and log in, or subscribe for as little as $12 a year.

Will Christianity survive in the Middle East? Dr. Kent Hill, Executive Director of the Religious Freedom Institute and former President of the Institute on Religion & Democracy, discusses this question with Providence Magazine's Depute Editor Mark Melton. Hill shares about the threats facing Christians in the Middle East and argues why it is so important to preserve the presence of Christians in the region. Read Kent Hill's article from the print edition of Providence, now available in full online: https://providencemag.com/2017/06/will-christianity-survive-in-the-middle-east-a-christian-perspective/

In this episode, Matt Gobush talks about his article on Latvia, Russia, and NATO. He focuses in on Russian-speaking residents in Latvia and makes the case for why Americans should be concerned about this issue. Moreover, he offers both hard power and soft power foreign policy recommendations. This topic is especially relevant now because last week Russia launched its massive Zapad 2017 military exercise in Belarus and Russia. While we recorded this episode a couple months ago, Matt speaks briefly about this exercise and why it is relevant for Latvia and the United States. To read this article or subscribe to Providence, please visit ProvidenceMag.com.

Providence Managing Editor Marc LiVecche, Deputy Editor Mark Melton, and naval historian Tommy Sheppard review Christopher Noland's new film "Dunkirk" about the monumental WWII battle.

In this episode we will speak with Mark Royce about the church's role in the European integration project that has developed into the European Union. As part of his doctoral dissertation, Royce examined how the historic influence of the Roman Catholic Church and various Protestant denominations in Europe helped some countries accept integration while others resisted. Mark Royce currently teaches political science at George Mason University and NVCC Annandale. He has written previously for Providence as well as for The European Legacy, International & Comparative Law Quarterly, and the Journal of Church & State. When we first recorded this podcast late last summer, Palgrave Macmillan was considering Royce's dissertation for publication. I am happy to report that it was accepted and will be released in June of this year under the title The Political Theology of European Integration: Comparing the Influence of Religious Histories on European Policies. You can preorder at Amazon now, and we will provide a link to this page at ProvidenceMag.com/podcast. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast, whether through iTunes, SoundCloud, or elsewhere. Please leave us a review on iTunes since this will help more listeners find the podcast. If you have any comments, tweet at us @ProvMagazine. Also be sure to visit our website, ProvidenceMag.com. While there, you can subscribe to our print edition for $28 a year, or you can donate to help keep us going.