The Bottom Line

Climate action was a major pillar of President Joe Biden’s election campaign, and he started his presidency by bringing the United States back into the Paris Agreement and promising to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

But hit with declining popularity, mainly due to inflation, his administration is encouraging more oil and gas drilling with hopes of lowering fuel prices.

Host Steve Clemons asks climate activists Jamal Raad and John Paul Mejia whether climate action has taken a back seat to Biden’s bigger concerns.

American-born British businessman Bill Browder did not set out to expose Russian money laundering operations and link President Vladimir Putin to those schemes. But after Browder’s Russian lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, was arrested and found dead in his jail cell, the gloves were off.

Browder lobbied Congress for years until the Magnitsky Act was passed in 2012, allowing the United States to sanction individuals suspected of human rights abuses, including Russian judges, Saudis involved in the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and Chinese officials linked to the abuse of Uighurs.

In this episode, host Steve Clemons speaks to Browder about his latest book, Freezing Order.

The Vienna talks aim to bring an end to the US sanctions on Iran in exchange for limits on Iran’s nuclear programme.

The original agreement between Iran and world powers - the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action - was signed in 2015, offering Iran sanctions relief at the time in exchange for Iran reining in its nuclear programme.

In 2018, former US President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled his country out of it and imposed harsh sanctions on Iran. The Biden administration decided to head back to the negotiating table with Iran in 2021.

Host Steve Clemons asks Cambridge University Professor Roxane Farmanfarmaian and Quincy Institute Co-founder Trita Parsi about when, and if, we can expect a renewed JCPOA.

A perfect storm of circumstances is helping dismantle the global economic system that the United States built over the past few decades.

The list of US-sanctioned countries and individuals gets longer all the time. The coronavirus pandemic and supply chain disruptions triggered Americans to wonder why more essential needs were not produced at home. And Biden’s “Buy American” agenda aims to “reshore” jobs and manufacturing and protect US industries – the opposite of globalisation.

Host Steve Clemons asks trade experts Inu Manak and Bruce Stokes if we are witnessing the end of the post-World-War-II financial order.

When Francis Fukuyama wrote the book The End of History and the Last Man after the Soviet Union was dissolved 30 years ago, he argued that the West’s version of liberal democracy had triumphed over all other ideologies.

Since then, an increasing number of countries are becoming more authoritarian or illiberal democracies.

Fukuyama tells host Steve Clemons that the Ukraine war is a turning point for Western-style democracy, and institutions such as NATO are getting a boost in popularity. People will eventually turn their backs on authoritarian, populist and nationalist ideologies and leaders, in his estimation, and relearn how to tolerate differences.

Washington is imposing harsh sanctions on Russia and supplying Ukraine with weapons, real-time intelligence and humanitarian aid. But the United States refuses to enter into a direct military confrontation with Russia, and Moscow has been careful to not expand the war beyond Ukraine.

Will these efforts lead to a ceasefire in the near term, or just create a long, drawn-out war that has no end in sight?

Host Steve Clemons speaks to former US Department of State official Margaret Peterlin and Eurasia Group founder Ian Bremmer about the likely scenarios for Ukraine, China’s strategy and the effects of US domestic policies on the war.

Anatol Lieven wrote a book in 1999 warning that, "Any attempt by ... Russia or the West to take Ukraine fully into an alliance with either of them would disastrously split Ukraine."

As the war with Ukraine enters its second week, Lieven says that the only solution in sight is for Ukraine to declare itself a neutral country, preventing it from joining any Western-led or Russian-led alliances.

Barring a deal of that nature, Russia and Ukraine could find themselves in a long-term quagmire. Join host Steve Clemons for a wide-ranging conversation on the possibilities for war and peace in the region.

In response to the war in Ukraine, the United States and Europe launched a barrage of sanctions barring Russia from accessing its hundreds of billions of dollars of reserves worldwide.

But sanctions have been imposed on other countries for decades - North Korea, Cuba, Iran, Venezuela, among others - without much change in course for those governments.

Host Steve Clemons speaks with Lee Jones, a professor of international relations at the University of London; and David Asher, an adviser to the US government on economic warfare strategies, whose work has ranged from Hezbollah in Lebanon to mobster John Gotti in New York.

Within years, China will overtake the United States as the world’s number one economy, and China’s influence is spreading worldwide - mostly at the expense of US global leadership.

Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd tells host Steve Clemons that this is the “decisive decade” in relations between the two powers. Either they find a way to share wealth and power, or they head down a collision course.

But with today’s political climates in the West and East – where politicians are rewarded for nationalistic tough-talk and zero compromise – is there hope for better relations between Beijing and Washington?

Inflation in the United States has hit its highest level since 1982 as prices jumped 7.5 percent between January 2021 and January 2022.

While some blame unabashed corporate greed or disrupted supply chains for the extra cost of everything from food to rent, Harvard University economist Jason Furman says the real reason is much simpler: it is you.

As long as demand for everything is high, and people are willing to pay steeper prices for the things they want, prices will continue to rise. It is simple supply and demand, argues Furman, who was the top economic adviser to the White House under former President Barack Obama.