The Summer of 2024 will go down in American history as one of the most exciting, if not consequential, summers in modern history. The way I’ve been putting it to people is that it’s like we’ve taken the political violence, economic turmoil, and geopolitical tensions of the 1960s, that whole decade, and just squeezed it into one summer. That’s intense.

quick review of domestic politics in the Summer of 2024 and look ahead to what’s in store for this publication in the coming months.
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When you hear people talk about World War III do you typically envision nuclear armed superpowers slinging nukes at hordes of robot soldiers until human civilization is blasted into a post-apocalyptic desert? Or maybe you imagine something akin to the last World War with millions of soldiers fighting on every continent and in every domain.

My guest today argues that in reality, World War III may have already started and it’s not what we typically imagine. 

Joseph Epstein is the Legislative Analyst at the Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET), a Washington DC think tank, and is an expert on foreign policy, terrorism, and the Middle East. In a fascinating discussion that starts with the war in Gaza, we broaden the scope to consider one of Epstein’s many articles exploring the possibility that World War III has already begun, and we discuss its different dimensions and implications for US policy.

Rather than an all-consuming conflict, Epstein argues that this current “World War” is being fought in the “gray zone” - a domain just below the threshold of declared war where countries seek to preserve plausible deniability and avoid direct conflict while still inflicting harm on their adversary. Think America “fighting” Russia by arming Ukraine, or Iran “fighting” Israel through its region-wide network of terror proxies. Gray zone tactics also emerge in the information domain in the form of propaganda and information warfare, and in economics via sanctions and heightened trade barriers. 

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This past semester, I had the opportunity to explore the Arab-Israeli conflict, its history and politics, with a class of undergraduate students. During that class, I brought in my good friend, and former TTP podcast guest, Judith Rood to discuss her personal background and its connection to the Arab-Israeli conflict and to explore some of the more complex elements that animate Israeli-Palestinian relations.

This is Part 2 of that guest lecture. In it, we discuss the contentious issues surrounding Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the oft overlooked issue of sovereignty in determining national claims in this contested corner of the world.

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October 7, 2023 marked a fresh round of warfare between Israel and Hamas, the terrorist organization governing the Gaza Strip. I had the opportunity to explore the broader Arab-Israeli conflict, its history and politics, with a class of undergraduate students this last semester. During that class, I brought in my good friend, and former TTP podcast guest, Judith Rood to discuss her personal background and its connection to the Arab-Israeli conflict and to explore some of the more complex elements that animate Israeli-Palestinian relations. This is a recording of that guest lecture and it's been divided into two parts, the second of which will air next week.

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One of the major demographic trends pollsters and politicos have been watching for the past few decades is the growing electoral clout of Hispanic voters in America. Traditionally, this trend line has been read as translating into an almost one for one electoral advantage for Democrats. Then Donald Trump happened... and a pandemic... and a President-Biden induced inflationary period... and an increasingly unstable southern border. Over the course of the last three election cycles, a steady stream of Hispanic voters started leaving the Democratic Party. As we approach the 2022 midterms, that stream has turned into a recognizable river with potential long term consequences for Democrats. But will it automatically translate into gains for Republicans? 

My guest today is a freelance writer and one of those Hispanic voters. Joe Laughon lives, reads, and writes on the topic of Hispanic voters in America, and he joins the podcast today to explore where this trend line is headed. It is a wide ranging discussion full of the kind of nuance, historical perspective, and personal insight that guests routinely bring to this podcast. I hope you find it an enjoyable and insightful listen.

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In this episode, I’m going evaluate several questions related to the Dobbs ruling and abortion more broadly. There is a LOT of misinformation/misinterpretation on this ruling out in the media ecosystem, so I think a little Q&A clarification may be in order.

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In this episode, I sketch a rough outline of America's complicated relations with Iran prior to 1979, then provide an overview of the confrontational period of US-Iran relations in the revolutionary period post-1979. Unlike China, Iran is a smaller country that is very careful about how it chooses to confront a world superpower. The nagging presence of Iran in the Middle East forces America to confront, but never to the point of an all out war. What's a superpower to do? 

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We’re almost a month past America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, and it is shocking to see how quickly the conflict and the debacle of the withdrawal has faded already in the public square. Today on the podcast, I unpack the history of the Afghanistan war, the withdrawal and its effects with two veterans of the Afghanistan conflict, Joseph Lake and Matt Said. Besides being personal friends and all around great guys, I asked Joseph and Matt to be on the podcast at the same time so that listeners can get an idea of the complexity of war. They were in the country at different points in time, in different regions, doing different things, which informs their thinking on the subject. 

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We conclude our read through of the UN Charter by evaluating the International Trusteeship System (yeah, I hadn’t heard of it either), the International Court of Justice, and the Secretariat.

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In Part 2 or our read-through of the UN Charter, we cover Chapters VII-XII, which explore the roles envisioned for the Security Council and other UN organs in facilitating conflict resolution, economic development and social exchange. How best to interpret these articles? Are they goals? A strategy? Or, a strategy made up of more goals?

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