Robert Wright's Nonzero

Nikita's experience having Covid ... The state of the pandemic in Russia ... Differences between how Russians view Ukraine and Belarus ... Why Putin isn't rushing to rescue Belarus's strongman president ... Who poisoned Navalny? ... How Putin has handled the pandemic (with soothing lo-fi beats) ...

Mickey wants to know what PEDs Biden is taking ... The state of the race ... The state of the pandemic ... The president of Princeton gets hoist by his own antiracist petard ... Bob: The NYT's over-the-top anti-Trumpism helps Trump ... Trump's mafia-like TikTok play ... Bob pops the "Abraham Accords" bubble ... Epstein update: Is Barr compromised? ... Assessing Biden's hawkishness ... RIP RBG. What happens next? ...

Bob K., who call himself a "liberal realist," defines the term ... In praise of the post-WWII American security umbrella ... Bob K.'s preferred China policy ... Have spheres of influence returned? ... How great powers treat international law ... Bob K.: Mainstream American realists are actually moralists ... Bob W.: America would be better off if it consistently respected international law ... Should democracy promotion be a US foreign policy goal? ...

Paul Krugman says Americans took 9/11 "pretty calmly" ... Bob: America's overreaction to 9/11 paved the way for Trump ... Would Biden just bring back the pre-Trump foreign policy status quo? ... Mickey on the Woodward book: Trump bullshits everyone ... Mickey's new "mafia" theory about the secret Epstein tapes ... Considering Matt Yglesias's new book (without having read it) ... The anti–Jeffrey Goldberg line that Trump failed to use ... Americans are falling in love with Joe "Cadaver" Biden! ... Why there hasn't been a second round of stimulus ...

Paul Krugman says Americans took 9/11 “pretty calmly” ... Bob: America’s overreaction to 9/11 paved the way for Trump ... Would Biden just bring back the pre-Trump foreign policy status quo? ... Mickey on the Woodward book: Trump bullshits everyone ... Mickey’s new “mafia” theory about the secret Epstein tapes ... Considering Matt Yglesias’s new book (without having read it) ... The anti–Jeffrey Goldberg line that Trump failed to use ... Americans are falling in love with Joe “Cadaver” Biden! ... Why there hasn’t been a second round of stimulus ...

How Sharon became one of the first Americans to study Buddhism in India ... Sharon's new book, Real Change: Mindfulness to Heal Ourselves and the World ... Does meditation seal you off from the world? ... Mindfully coping with anger on social media ... There's more political diversity among meditators than you might think ... Sharon explains lovingkindness meditation ... The difficult work of finding compassion for your enemies ... Planting seeds in a garden you never get to see ...

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Why the polls may be significantly understating Trump’s support ... Bob and Mickey offer Biden some "Sister Souljah" options ... Anonymous sources say Trump calls dead soldiers losers ... What did Trump mean by "dark shadows"? ... Are things so screwed up that a second Trump term could usefully “heighten the contradictions”? ... Mickey: Democrats are about to flip-flop on mail-in voting ... Bob fears an escalation in violent confrontation between left and right ... Possible pandemic October surprises ... Bob and Mickey on Ben Smith on Andrew Sullivan ... NYT anti-Trump bias (cont’d) ...

Defining "liberal internationalism" ... Should US policy toward another nation depend on its internal character? ... Tensions within liberal internationalism ... The club of democracies, Rooseveltian internationalism, and neoconservatism ... Debating whether liberal democracies are more likely to play by the rules ... How John would shape US policy toward China ... Bob: Our main task should be making America a shining city on a hill ... John's advice for the next administration ... Bob nominates John for Secretary of State ...

Defining "liberal internationalism" ... Should US policy toward another nation depend on its internal character? ... Tensions within liberal internationalism ... The club of democracies, Rooseveltian internationalism, and neoconservatism ... Debating whether liberal democracies are more likely to play by the rules ... How John would shape US policy toward China ... Bob: Our main task should be making America a shining city on a hill ... John's advice for the next administration ... Bob nominates John for Secretary of State ...

Mickey’s unfavorable review of Trump’s speech ... Why Trump is far from doomed ... Does Trump have anything to brag about in his foreign policy? ... How much blame does Trump deserve for the pandemic's toll? ... The open-carry shooting in Kenosha ... What Jerry Falwell Jr. and Jimmy Swaggart have in common ... Both parties have unstable coalitions, so why hasn't there been a realignment? ... Bob and Mickey both attempt to claim the mantle of Ricky Ricardo ...