The new film A House of Dynamite offers a terrifying portrayal of how quickly a nuclear war might erupt and how the United States might respond. Looking beyond this Hollywood depiction, how real has the threat of nuclear war actually become, from adversaries’ expanding arsenals to warning-system vulnerabilities? What would a modern nuclear exchange actually look like? Are America’s defenses adequate for the world we live in today? And how can the U.S. deter adversaries without stumbling into escalation or miscalculation?

In this episode, Jacob Heilbrunn speaks with retired U.S. Air Force General Glen VanHerck. He most recently served as Commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) from 2020 to 2024. Gen. VanHerck retired from the Air Force in 2024 after more than 36 years of service.

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Moldova’s recent elections dealt another blow to Moscow’s influence, but can its fragile democracy withstand the Kremlin’s next moves? Across Eastern Europe, Ukraine fights for survival, Georgia teeters between Brussels and Moscow, and Russian interference looms over them all. What tools does Vladimir Putin still have to destabilize the region—and how can Europe and the United States help defend its newest democracies without overreaching?

In this episode, Jacob Heilbrunn speaks with Shelby Magid, Deputy Director of the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center. Magid previously served at the German Marshall Fund of the United States and at the International Federation for Human Rights’ office in The Hague, where she worked with the International Criminal Court and conducted research on human rights violations.

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Sunday’s parliamentary elections in Moldova delivered a clear victory for the pro-European Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS), led by sitting President Maia Sandu. Can economic incentives and Western investment now help transform Moldova's breakaway region of Transnistria from a Russia-leaning outpost into a partner in reconstruction and EU integration? Do the election results signal that the enclave’s oligarchs and younger voters are shifting toward Europe? And what options remain for Vladimir Putin as his traditional levers of influence in the region slip away?

In this episode, Jacob Heilbrunn speaks with Daniel Runde, a senior adviser at BGR Group and author of The American Imperative: Reclaiming Global Leadership Through Soft Power (Bombardier Books, 2023). Runde previously served as a senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and has advised the U.S. government, foreign ministries, international bodies, and Fortune 500 firms.

Calls to ban the Muslim Brotherhood have resurfaced in recent years, especially amid its links to Hamas and violent offshoots across the Middle East. Is it a political movement, a terrorist network, or both? How should the U.S. balance democratic principles with the need to confront groups that shift between ballots and bombs? And what tools exist to cut off its funding and influence?

In this episode, Jacob Heilbrunn speaks with Robert Silverman, the editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Strategic Tribune. Previously a senior Foreign Service officer, Silverman served in nine overseas assignments, including in Iraq, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Riyadh. From 2013 through 2015, he was the elected president and chairman of the board of the 16,000-member American Foreign Service Association.

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What does the life of William F. Buckley, Jr. reveal about the deeper currents shaping American politics? In this episode, Jacob Heilbrunn speaks with Sam Tanenhaus, a former editor of The New York Times Book Review and the author of the new biography “Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America” (Random House, 2025). Together, they examine how outsider campaigns, cultural backlash, and the performance of political authenticity have reshaped both the right and the left. Is Trump the culmination, or corruption, of Buckley's movement? Has the liberal establishment lost its hold not just on power, but on the language of ideas itself? And in a time of ideological confusion and institutional decay, is today's chaos a break from the past or its inevitable result?

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio has released the Trump administration's plans for reorganizing the State Department—a first step toward reducing what the White House calls a bloated and inefficient bureaucracy. The proposed reforms could reshape U.S. engagement with the world, ending America’s human rights advocacy, shuttering key diplomatic offices, and threatening the very infrastructure that supports global U.S. leadership. With Congress holding the purse strings and foreign governments watching closely, how far will these reforms go—and at what cost to American influence and values abroad?

In this episode, Jacob Heilbrunn speaks with Paul Saunders, the president of the Center for the National Interest. Saunders served in the George W. Bush Administration from 2003 to 2005 as Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs.

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President Donald Trump’s announcement of sweeping new global tariffs last week sent shockwaves through international markets, igniting fears of economic slowdown and triggering retaliatory measures from major trading partners like China. The consequences are already reverberating through the global energy system: oil and gas prices are sliding, producers are under pressure, and the clean energy transition faces fresh headwinds as tariffs hit solar panels, EVs, and battery components. With geopolitical tensions simmering and economic uncertainty rising, could Trump’s tariff gamble reshape the global energy landscape for years to come? And how vulnerable is Russia’s oil-dependent economy in this new low-price era?

In this episode, Paul Saunders speaks with Tatiana Mitrova, a Research Fellow at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy and Director of the New Energy Advancement Hub. Mitrova has twenty-five years of experience in dealing with global energy markets, including production, transportation, demand, energy policy, pricing, and market restructuring.

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What should America's grand strategy look like in a world shaped by resurgent great powers, regional conflict, and rising multipolarity? As China pushes to dominate the Asia-Pacific and Russia asserts itself in its near abroad, the stakes for global order—and for U.S. leadership—have never been higher. Meanwhile, the Trump administration faces the challenge of distinguishing first-order priorities from second-order distractions. Should Washington continue pursuing global primacy, or shift toward a leaner, more focused strategy rooted in realism? In this episode, Jacob Heilbrunn speaks with Ionut Popescu, Associate Professor of Political Science at Texas State University. Dr. Popescu is the recent author of No Peer Rivals: American Grand Strategy in the Era of Great Power Competition.

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The second Trump administration is moving at breakneck speed to reshape American foreign policy, with Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin holding an extended phone call on Tuesday over a provisional 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine. Meanwhile, Trump continues to escalate threats of sweeping tariffs on foreign goods, rattling global markets and further cementing his “America First” economic doctrine. These rapid shifts underscore the dominance of the MAGA movement, as the old guard of the Republican Party has been swept aside. What does an unbound Trump presidency mean for America’s role in the world? In this episode, Jacob Heilbrunn speaks with Curt Mills, executive director of The American Conservative. Mills previously worked at The National Interest, U.S. News & World Report, Washington Examiner, and The Spectator. He was a 2018-2019 Robert Novak Journalism Fellow.

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President Donald Trump has thrown another curveball into global politics, seemingly reversing course on Ukraine negotiations and threatening new sanctions on Russia in a Truth Social post—just as he hints at potential diplomatic talks with Tehran. Such abrupt shifts in recent weeks have left Washington and America's allies scrambling, raising urgent questions about the future of U.S. commitments in Europe and elsewhere. As Europe begins to step up its defense ambitions, will Trump's unpredictability push the continent toward greater strategic independence? And with some Republican lawmakers growing uneasy about his Ukraine stance, is there real resistance within the GOP, or just political posturing? In this episode, Jacob Heilbrunn speaks with long-time Republican strategist Antonia Ferrier. Ferrier has extensive experience on Capitol Hill, including as a staff director in the office of former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

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