Interview recorded - 7th of November, 2024

On this episode of the WTFinance podcast I had the pleasure of welcoming on Former Ambassador Chas Freeman. Chas is a well know diplomat with an array of experience. Examples include being the main interpreter for Richard Nixon during his 1972 China visit and the US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 1989 to 1992, during the Gulf war.

During our conversation we spoke about the US driving together China and Russia, Biden escalating tensions, US fighting Russia, sustainment of global hegemony, 

0:00 - Introduction
2:06 - Driving China and Russia together?
5:28 - Biden escalating tensions
11:22 - Should NATO have been ended when Soviet Union collapsed?
15:32 - US fighting Russia?
17:50 - Sustainment of global hegemony
20:56 - How has the Middle East evolved?
24:20 - Anyway to get back to two state solution?
31:39 - Axis of evil
36:09 - Further escalation?
39:19 - Madman theory
40:29 - Normalise relations with adversaries?
49:49 - One message to takeaway from our conversation?

Ambassador Freeman has recently retired from Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs. He was Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs from 1993-94, earning the highest public service awards of the Department of Defense for his roles in designing a NATO-centered post-Cold War European security system and in reestablishing defense and military relations with China. He served as U. S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia (during operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm). He was Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs during the historic U.S. mediation of Namibian independence from South Africa and Cuban troop withdrawal from Angola.

Chas Freeman served as Deputy Chief of Mission and Chargé d’Affaires in the American embassies at both Bangkok (1984-1986) and Beijing (1981-1984). He was Director for Chinese Affairs at the U.S. Department of State from 1979-1981. He was the principal American interpreter during the late President Nixon’s path-breaking visit to China in 1972. In addition to his Middle Eastern, African, East Asian and European diplomatic experience, he served in India.

Ambassador Freeman earned a certificate in Latin American studies from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, certificates in both the national and Taiwan dialects of Chinese from the former Foreign Service Institute field school in Taiwan, a BA magna cum laude from Yale University and a JD from the Harvard Law School. He is the recipient of numerous high honors and awards. He is the author of three books on U.S. foreign policy and two on statecraft. He was the editor of the Encyclopaedia Britannica entry on “diplomacy.”  He is a sought-after speaker on a wide variety of foreign policy issues.

Ambassador Freeman is Chairman of the Board of Projects International, Inc., a Washington-based business development firm that specializes in arranging international joint ventures, acquisitions, and other business operations for its American and foreign clients. After his retirement from government, he served concurrently as co-chair of the United States China Policy Foundation, president of the Middle East Policy Council, and vice chair of the Atlantic Council of the United States.

Chas Freeman is married to the Hon. Margaret Van Wagenen Carpenter.  He has three children by a previous marriage, eight grandchildren, and two great grandchildren.

Chas Freeman:

Website - https://chasfreeman.net/

WTFinance: 

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