Things That Go Boom

Long before there was a catchphrase called “foreign policy for the middle class,” a Vermont mayor was on C-SPAN fighting for exactly that thing.

Now he’s a US Senator.

And Bernie Sanders has pretty much spent his entire career in Washington questioning whether government decisions really serve working people … or, the 1%.

On this episode of Things That Go Boom, we sit down with Sanders’ Foreign Policy Advisor Matt Duss, because we wanted to know, from the perspective of someone whose boss has been thinking about these ideas for such a long time...

Is Biden’s foreign policy for the middle class anything more than a slogan?

GUESTS: Matt Duss, Foreign Policy Advisor, Senator Bernie Sanders

ADDITIONAL READING:

Who Is Matt Duss, and Can He Take On Washington’s ‘Blob’?, David Klion, The Nation

Obaidullah Baheer has built his career promoting progress in Afghanistan: He’s a university lecturer on intractable conflicts and who advocates for women’s and minority rights online.

But his life could have wound up very different. As the grandson of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar — the leader of Islamist rebel group Hezb-i-Islami — he was once taught to hate the West and everything it stood for.

So how did he turn toward peace instead of war? And, as the Taliban take control of Afghanistan, what can his story tell us about the country’s future?

GUESTS: Obaidullah Baheer, Lecturer at the American University of Afghanistan

ADDITIONAL READING:

My Family Fought Alongside the Taliban. Now, I’m Afraid for My Friends, Obaidullah Baheer, The Economist.

What To Make Of the Taliban’s ‘Exclusive’ Caretaker Government, Obaidullah Baheer, Al Jazeera.

Bin Laden: The Road To 9-11, Tam Hussein, Channel 4.

We turn our attention to the narrow strait that divides China and Taiwan, which some analysts believe is the most likely flashpoint for another far-away conflict involving the US military.

If President Biden reconfigures foreign policy to focus more on threats at home, will that leave us unprepared to defend US interests abroad? Or should we rethink which battles we’re willing to fight?

GUESTS: Oriana Skylar Mastro, Fellow at Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute; Michael Mazarr, Senior Political Scientist at the RAND Corporation.

ADDITIONAL READING:

The Taiwan Temptation, Foreign Affairs.

Time for a New Approach to Defense Strategy, War on the Rocks.

Biden Backs Taiwan, but Some Call for a Clearer Warning to China, New York Times.

Conversations about downsizing America’s defense budget almost immediately stall out in a Catch-22: Reallocating those tax dollars to invest in domestic priorities would be devastating to the many small cities where a manufacturing plant, ICBM silo, or military base is the lifeblood of the local economy.

If Biden begins to shift some money away from defense, or even just, away from some of the big weapons systems a lot of defense towns are tasked to build, does that mean a whole lot of middle class jobs might get cut?

What if there’s a better option? One that fits more closely with Biden's plans for the middle class?

GUESTS: Natalie Click, PhD student at Arizona State University; Taylor Barnes, Journalist; Miriam Pemberton, Institute for Policy Studies

ADDITIONAL READING:

From Arms to Renewables: How Workers in This Southern Military Industrial Hub Are Converting the Economy, Taylor Barnes, Southerly Magazine.

‘Honk for Humane Jobs’: NC Activists Challenge Subsidies for Weapons Maker, Taylor Barnes, Facing South.

Let’s Turn Our Military Resources To Building a Post-COVID Industrial Base for All Americans, Miriam Pemberton, Newsweek.

Study Says Domestic, Not Military Spending, Fuels Job Growth, Brown University.

How Much More Expensive Can the F-35 Actually Get? Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics.

On this episode of Things That Go Boom, we look at some of the ways civilian and military cultures are merging — and diverging — after two decades of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. If Americans are distanced from the messy work of national security, how can the Biden administration have an honest conversation with them about priorities?

GUESTS: Lacey Hopper, rucking aficionado; Timur Nersesov, US Army Reserve Officer; Loren DeJonge Schulman, Center for a New American Security.

ADDITIONAL READING:

Who signs up to fight? Dave Philipps and Tim Arango, The New York Times.

Biden’s Foreign Policy Starts at Home, Peter Nicholas, The Atlantic.

// This episode comes at a chaotic and frightening time in Afghanistan, as Taliban fighters pour into the capital and US troops rush to evacuate allies. The following organizations are just a few providing aid to those in Afghanistan who need help:

Doctors Without Borders

International Rescue Committee

No One Left Behind

Washington and Beijing have been increasingly at odds -- over human rights, trade, maritime boundaries, you name it. Does this tension help Biden at home? And what does it mean for Asian Americans?

GUESTS: Samuel Chu, Hong Kong Democracy Council; Nina Luo, Writer and Organizer; Adrian De Leon, University of Southern California; Rui Zhong, Wilson Center

ADDITIONAL READING:

The American Victims of Washington’s Anti-China Hysteria, Nina Luo, The New Republic.

Why Is China Coming After Americans Like Me in the US? Samuel Chu, The New York Times.

Here in the US, we’re just catching on to the idea of creating a foreign policy that lifts up our middle class, but China’s been at it for decades. On this episode, we dig into China’s rise. What’s worked, what hasn’t, and where it might go next.

GUESTS: Ethan Lee, Stanford University (Student); Ali Wyne, Eurasia Group; Scott Rozelle, Stanford University; Peter Lorentzen, University of San Francisco.

ADDITIONAL READING:

The World China Wants, Rana Mitter, Foreign Affairs.

Invisible China: How the Urban-Rural Divide Threatens China’s Rise, Scott Rozelle, University of Chicago Press.

Foreign Policy Lessons From Brown v. Board of Education, Ali Wyne, Inkstick Media.

'Mulan' and China's Approach To Soft Power Through Hollywood, Ethan Lee, Inkstick Media.

One of Biden's biggest foreign policy moves so far has been sticking with Trump's Afghanistan withdrawal plan. The move comes after 20 years of war, which killed more than 241,000 people on all sides according to Brown University estimates. But how does it fit into Biden's foreign policy for the middle class? And what does our exit mean for the lives of middle-class Afghan women who fear a Taliban resurgence?

GUESTS: Metra Mehran, Institute of Diplomacy at Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kabul; James Traub, Foreign Policy

ADDITIONAL READING:

Biden’s ‘Foreign Policy for the Middle Class’ Is a Revolution, James Traub, Foreign Policy.

The People We’re Leaving Behind in Afghanistan, Steve Coll, The New Yorker.

US Troops Are Packing Up, Ready or Not, Thomas Gibbons-Neff, Najim Rahim and Fatima Faizi, New York Times.

Quick, give me the first answer to this question that comes to your head: What TV character is the archetype of the American middle class? Archie Bunker? Homer Simpson? Roseanne Conner? What about Cliff Huxtable? Dre Johnson? Or Jane Villanueva? On this episode, we dig into the huge, diverse swath of people that make up America’s middle class. And we ask if it’s possible to create one overarching policy that makes life better for them all — especially if you, yourself, only represent a small piece. Or may even have fallen out of touch entirely.

GUESTS: Emily VanDerWerff, Vox; Anne Helen Petersen, Culture Study; Mari Faines, Physicians for Social Responsibility; Lori Latrice Martin, Louisiana State University

ADDITIONAL READING:

What TV Says About Race and Money, Salamishah Tillet, New York Times

10 Episodes That Show How Cheers Stayed Great for 11 Seasons, Emily VanDerWerff, AV Club

America’s Hollow Middle Class, Anne Helen Petersen, Vox

America in Denial: How Race-Fair Policies Reinforce Racial Inequality in America, Lori Latrice Martin, SUNY Press

The Biden administration says it’s focused on creating a “foreign policy for the middle class,” But what does that really mean? Keeping on keeping on with the way things have always been done? Slapping a little lipstick and climate change on Trump’s, “America First” agenda? Or creating something truly revolutionary? Ask around in Washington, and you’ll get ten different answers to the same question, if you get an answer at all. So this season, Things That Go Boom set out to decide for itself: What even is the middle class? What does it have to do with foreign policy? And, are we sitting on the precipice of a major change in the way we live our lives?