Podcasts about strategic international studies

Our guest on the podcast today is Mellody Hobson. She's the author of a new book for children called Priceless Facts About Money. In addition, she's co-CEO of Ariel Investments, where she is responsible for management, strategic planning, and growth for all areas of Ariel outside of research and portfolio management. Additionally, she serves as chairman of the board of trustees of Ariel Investment Trust, the company's publicly traded mutual funds. Prior to being named co-CEO, spent nearly two decades as the firm's president. Outside of Ariel, Mellody has been active on corporate boards, including Starbucks, JPMorgan Chase, Estee Lauder, and DreamWorks Animation.BackgroundAriel InvestmentsBioAriel Community AcademyGratitude and Appreciation to Mellody Hobson, Starbucks“Just one Chicagoan made list of the 100 most powerful people in business,” by Jack Grieve, Crain's Chicago Business, Nov. 12, 2024“Why Sheryl Sandberg, Bill Bradley, and Oprah Love Mellody Hobson,” by Bethany McLean, Vanity Fair, March 30, 2015Book and MorePriceless Facts About Money“Mellody Hobson: ‘Most parents would rather talk about a condom than a credit card' ” by Madison Darbyshire, Financial Times, Dec. 10, 2024Oprah's Favorite Things 2024 List Is Here!“What Parents Get Wrong About Money and Their Kids” | The Oprah Podcast, Jan. 28, 2025Investing Discussions“Ariel Investments Starts New Fund to Tap Into Women's Sports,” by Miranda Davis, Bloomberg, Jan. 30, 2025“Mellody Hobson, Co-CEO & President, Ariel Investments,” The Economic Club of Chicago, Dec. 18, 2024.“Market Lessons from a Legendary Career of Doing Well by Doing Good,” 2024 Prime Quadrant Conference | Moderated by Mo Lidsky, Dec. 11, 2024“Solving the World's Hardest Problems with Mellody Hobson: Closing the Racial Wealth Gap,” Center for Strategic & International Studies, Aug. 28, 2024“Mellody Hobson on Taking Tough Feedback,” Ted Talk, June 15, 2021.“A Conversation with Mellody Hobson & Melonie Parker,” Catalyst Awards 2024, March 21, 2024.

Tommy and Ben discuss President Yoon Suk Yeol's sudden declaration of martial law in South Korea, how Trump and his team will approach the Syrian civil war, and why Kash Patel, Trump's pick to lead the FBI, is so dangerous. They also talk about Trump's nepotism hires, more troubling news reports about Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth, Trump's threats to levy tariffs on BRICS countries, UNRWA closing a crucial aid route into Gaza due to looting, a former Israeli defense minister's declaration that Israeli is engaging in ethnic cleansing, protests in Georgia, and elections in Romania and Ireland. Finally, Tommy speaks with Natasha Hall, Senior Fellow in the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic & International Studies, to unpack what's happening in Syria, who all the players are, and how we got here. For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast. 

The same people who are telling us to celebrate Women's history during March are the same ones who are telling us that not only are people like Bruce Jenner and Dylan Mulvaney women, but that there isn't really a definition of what a woman is in the first place. Fight back against their lies, and celebrate real women with us this month by donating today: https://app.hubspot.com/payments/purchase/hscs_lR4xOJwZZrxGgSZ7rTNYszqWTBmLJ5zfZZ5lYbcd6ex0BTAiBAGWiGUsaVHUNgsr?referrer=PAYMENT_LINK   Refute the Top 5 Gay Myths with this free eBook: https://ruthinstitute.org/top-5-myths   Get the full interview by joining us for exclusive, uncensored content on Locals: https://theruthinstitute.locals.com   Paul Kengor, Ph.D., is professor of political science at Grove City College in Grove City, Pennsylvania, and a New York Times bestselling author of over 20 books. He is senior director and chief academic fellow at the Institute for Faith & Freedom and former visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. His articles have appeared in publications from the Washington Post and USA Today to the Wall Street Journal and New York Times. He is a longtime columnist for The American Spectator and was named editor in chief of the magazine in 2022. He is an internationally recognized authority on several subjects, particularly Ronald Reagan, the Cold War and communism, and the American presidency.  Dr. Kengor is frequently interviewed by the BBC, Fox News, MSNBC, C-SPAN, NPR, EWTN, the Christian Broadcasting Network, and many others.  He is a frequent public speaker, at venues such as the Ronald Reagan Library, National Press Club, Heritage Foundation, American Enterprise Institute, the Center for Strategic & International Studies, the John Paul II National Shrine, and at colleges from the University of Virginia to William & Mary to the Naval Academy to Notre Dame University to Princeton University.  His books include “A Pope and a President: John Paul II, Ronald Reagan, and the Extraordinary Untold Story of the 20th Century,” “The Communist,” “God and Ronald Reagan,” “The Devil and Karl Marx,” “The Devil and Bella Dodd,” “Takedown: How The Left Has Sabotaged Family and Marriage,” and, “Dupes: How America's Adversaries Have Manipulated Progressives For A Century.” Dr. Kengor received his doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public and International Affairs and master's degree from The American University's School of International Service. He holds an honorary doctorate from Franciscan University. He and his wife, Susan, have eight children, two of which are adopted.   The Institute for Faith and Freedom (formerly the Center for Vision and Values): https://www.faithandfreedom.com/   The American Spectator: https://spectator.org/   Dr. Kengor previously on The Dr J Show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zeSEenLhEw   Dr. Kengor's article on Eldridge Cleaver of the Black Panthers: https://spectator.org/eldridge-cleaver-black-conservative/   Dr. Kengor's article explaining the Marxist origins of “International Women's Day”: https://spectator.org/marxist-womens-day-marx/   Mallory Millett on the Dr. J Show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKowRibfZP4   Dr. Morse's two-part article, Gender Ideology's Verbal Engineering: https://www.ncregister.com/commentaries/gender-ideology-s-verbal-engineering and https://www.ncregister.com/commentaries/gender-ideology-s-verbal-engineering-part-2-an-irrational-agenda-that-few-want   Black Pro-Life Voices on The Dr J Show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0EGlkfwzIk&list=PLSi2OoPf_APuG2jEaZ7zITPUO7z6a6Li0   Dr Kengor's article, Planned Parenthood (Sanger) and the Soviet Model: https://spectator.org/planned-parenthood-and-the-soviet-model/   The Atlantic article, The Russian Abolition of Marriage: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1926/07/the-russian-effort-to-abolish-marriage/306295/   The American spectator, recommended colleges issue: https://spectator.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Spectator-Summer-2023-Full-Magazine.pdf   This Dr J Show is also on the following platforms:   TheRuthInstitute.Locals.com   https://rumble.com/c/TheRuthInstitute   https://www.bitchute.com/channel/MXkWgTk4Brwr/   https://odysee.com/@TheRuthInstitute:7   Sign up for our weekly newsletter here: https://ruthinstitute.org/newsletter/   Be sure to subscribe, and check out ALL the Dr J Shows!   +

In power for nearly a quarter century, Vladimir Putin, 71, is a modern-day tsar -- an autocrat largely unaccountable to his people -- except he has no known successor. Whether the Russian president rules for another week or another decade, there will come a time when he's gone. Who might replace him is a mystery. Also unclear is how Putin might be replaced: by a violent coup? Some legal way under the Russian constitution? In this episode, Liana Fix of the Council on Foreign Relations and Maria Snegovaya of the Center for Strategic & International Studies use the Soviet past as a guide to understanding possible scenarios under which a successor may emerge -- and what new leadership in the Kremlin means for Russia, Europe, and the United States.

During APEC, President Xi Jinping reminded world leaders that China is “open for business.” So what does the next era of US-China relations look like? Ivan Kanapathy, Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic & International Studies, joins Ray Suarez to unpack the stakes of the Biden-Xi sideline talks, and just how far the two leaders will go to reestablish ties.   Guest:   Ivan Kanapathy, Senior Associate, Freeman Chair in China Studies at the Center for Strategic & International Studies   Host:     Ray Suarez   If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

In recent months, there has been a notable escalation in China's economic coercion of various countries and private companies, prompting a pressing need for a deeper examination of this phenomenon and China's global strategy. Our panel will delve into the repercussions of actions taken by China in multilateral institutions and its use of debt-trap diplomacy, examining their effects on international relations and trade dynamics. The discussion will also shed light on how the United States and its like-minded partners can effectively deter China's coercive tactics, paving the way for a more stable and secure global landscape. Ivan Kanapathy, Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic International Studies, and DJ Nordquist, Former US Executive Director of the World Bank joined us to discuss these issues and more. Featuring: Ivan Kanapathy, Former Deputy Senior Director, National Security Council; Senior Associate (Non-resident), Center for Strategic International Studies; Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service DJ Nordquist, Former US Executive Director, World BankModerator: Daniel B. Pickard, Chair, International Trade & National Security Practice Group, Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney

How can America regain its position as a global leader? According to Dan Runde, author of "The American Imperative" and a a senior vice president at the Center for Strategic International Studies, the answer lies in the strategic use of soft power. For more information on upcoming episodes and to sign up for our mailing list, visit the Devex Book Club here: https://pages.devex.com/devex-book-club.html

Today's episode of The Aid Market podcast features Michael as the host, joined by Shannon Green, a senior advisor to the administrator for the USAID's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance, and Barbara Smith, who manages democracy, human rights, conflict resolution, and rule of law programs at the Carter Center.    In this episode, they delve into prominent issues and explore the actions taken in response. Additionally, they discuss the current administration's priorities, election integrity, AI's role, and localization efforts and retrospectively examine our past and present progress.   IN THIS EPISODE: [00:00] Mike begins by sharing who is on today's podcast and an update from Dean Fritz Meyer of the Denver Democracy Summit [09:06] Shannon discusses what her role is at the USAID's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Governance and what is happening there [19:28] Barbara shares how this administration is currently prioritizing this work that Shannon shared and compares where we were to where we are [26:15] Discussion of USAID Forward and localization and the role AI plays [38:38] Discussion of the National Security Council [44:08] Question from a partner regarding Save the Children and the Global Fragility Act [46:47] Question from a listener on how the DRG is promoted versus what is done on counter-authoritarianism [50:41] Questions from two listeners regarding traditional humanitarian and USAID priorities [55:12] Barbara and Shannon leave the listeners with important thoughts    KEY TAKEAWAYS:  People from all over the world hunger for freedom. The USAID is harnessing its development assistance to promote accountable states, active citizens and rights-respecting societies. Brazen attempts at stealing elections are a problem in Africa.    RESOURCES:   Shannon Green - USAID website Barbara Smith - Carter Center Website Fritz Mayer LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/frederick-mayer-11862b3b   ABOUT THE GUESTS:   Shannon N. Green :Assistant to the Administrator Shannon N. Green serves as the Assistant to the Administrator of the Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance (DRG). In this role, she leads USAID's efforts to invigorate democracy, enhance human rights and justice, and bolster governance that advances the public interest and delivers inclusive development. Previously, Ms. Green was the Senior Advisor to the Administrator and Executive Director of the Anti-Corruption Task Force where she led USAID's historic elevation of anti-corruption and aligned the Agency's policies, programming, and resources to counter corruption at a global scale. Before returning to public service in 2021, Ms. Green was the Senior Director of Programs at the Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC) and Director and Senior Fellow of the Human Rights Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), where her research focused on addressing threats to democratic institutions and norms, enhancing justice and accountability, and improving security forces' respect for human rights. From 2004 - 2015, Ms. Green held a number of positions in the U.S. Government, including as the Senior Director for Global Engagement on the National Security Council. In that role, she spearheaded efforts to deepen and broaden U.S. engagement with critical populations overseas, including the President's Stand with Civil Society Agenda and young leader initiatives around the world. Prior to that, Ms. Green served in the DRG Center, where she developed policies, strategies, and programs to advance political reform and human rights in the Middle East and North Africa. Ms. Green received her B.A. in Political Science and History from the University of Georgia and her M.A. in International Peace and Conflict Resolution from American University, and has served as an adjunct professor for Syracuse University Maxwell School.   Fritz Mayer Dean of Josef Korbel School of International Studies Frederick ‘Fritz' Mayer, Ph.D., is the dean of the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver. Dean Mayer's research interests include international trade and economic globalization and the role of storytelling in politics and collective action. He has published two single-author books, four educational publications, and numerous articles and chapters. He is affiliated with the American Political Science Association, the International Studies Association, and the Association of Public Policy and Management. Prior to DU, Dean Mayer served as professor of public policy, political science and environment; associate dean; director of the Center for Political Leadership, Innovation and Service; and director of the Program on Global Policy and Governance at the Terry Sandford School of Public Policy at Duke University. Barbara Smith, M.S. Vice President, Peace Programs Barbara Smith oversees the Carter Center's democracy, human rights, conflict resolution, and rule of law programs, which operate projects and observe elections in countries across the globe. Before coming to The Carter Center in September 2020, Smith was principal and founder of the international development consulting firm Mountain Time Development. She also was a senior associate at the Center for Strategic & International Studies, focused on the Human Rights Initiative, conducting field work and research on civil society. Her wide-ranging career also includes assignments at the United States Agency for International Development and with the National Security Council in the White House. At USAID, Smith held a number of positions, most recently as deputy assistant to the administrator in the Bureau of Policy, Planning, and Learning. She also co-led the team that created the seminal USAID 2013 Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance Strategy, which is applied across the approximately 100 countries where USAID works. Other positions she held at USAID included senior policy analyst, deputy coordinator for Middle East Transition Response during the Arab Spring, and senior field advisor for democracy and governance. Smith served on the National Security Council as a director for Afghanistan and Pakistan affairs and as senior director for governance and law at the Asia Foundation. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, she was a spokesperson for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. In Afghanistan, she was assistant country representative for the Asia Foundation, where she also directed the foundation's efforts to assist Afghanistan in holding its first post-Taliban elections. Smith earned a bachelor's degree in government from the University of Texas and a master's degree in political science from Texas State University.

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Longtermism and alternative proteins, published by BruceF on June 27, 2023 on The Effective Altruism Forum. I spoke at EA Global London 2023 about longtermism and alternative proteins. Here's the basic argument: 1) Meat production is a significant contributor to climate change, other environmental harms (pretty much all of them), food insecurity, antibiotic resistance, and pandemic risk - causing significant and immediate harm to billions of people. 2) All of these harms are likely to double in adverse impact (or more) by 2050 unless alternative proteins succeed. 3) Their X risk level is sufficiently high (Ord chart) that they warrant attention from longtermists. Especially for longtermists in policy or philanthropy, adding alt proteins to the portfolio impactful and tractable interventions that you support can allow you to do even more good in the world (a lot of it fairly immediate). In the talk, I cite this report from the Center for Strategic & International Studies' director of global food security & director of climate and energy, as well as a report from ClimateWorks Foundation & the Global Methane Hub (1-pager w/r/t the points I made in the talk here). Below are the recording and transcript - comments welcomed. Here's a link to the slides from this talk. Introduction The observation is that we have been making meat in the same way for 12,000 years. Food is a technology. Making meat is a technology. The way we do it now is extraordinarily inefficient and comes with significant external costs that do indeed jeopardize our long-term future. This is Johan Rockström after the EAT-Lancet Commission called on the world to eat 90 percent less meat back in 2018 and 2019. He said, "Humanity now poses a threat to the stability of the planet. This requires nothing less than a new global agricultural revolution." That's what I'm going to be talking about, and I'm going to situate it in terms of effective altruism. There are five parts to the talk. The first one is that meat production has risen inexorably for many decades, and there is no sign of that growth slowing. The second is that our only strategy for changing this trajectory is support for alternative proteins - there's not a tractable plan B. The third point is that alternative proteins address multiple risks to long-term flourishing and they should be a priority for longtermists. I'm not going to try to convince you. They should be the priority - they're on par with AI risk or bioengineered pandemics. But I am going to try to convince you that, unless you are working for an organization that is focused on one thing, you should add alternative proteins to your portfolio if you are focused on longtermism. Fourth, I want to give you a sense of how GFI thinks about prioritization so that what we're doing as we expand is the highest marginal possible impact. Then we'll have some time for a discussion which Sim will lead us through. Meat Production has risen by 300% since 1961. The first observation is that, since 1961, global meat production has risen 300 percent. In China, it has skyrocketed by 1,500 percent. It's 15 times up since 1961, and meat production and consumption is going to continue to rise through 2050. There have been 11 peer-review articles looking at what meat production and consumption are going to look like in 2050. The lowest production is 61 percent more. One of the predictions is 3.4 times as much, so 340 percent more. Most of the predictions hover at about double. Most of that growth is not in developed economies. Developed economies have leveled off. They're going up a little bit. Most of that growth is in developing economies and in Asia. The world doesn't have tractable solutions to this. Bill Gates when he released How to Avoid a Climate Disaster, on his book tour was talking about how the cl...

How can America regain its position as a global leader? According to Dan Runde, author of "The American Imperative" and a a senior vice president at the Center for Strategic International Studies, the answer lies in the strategic use of soft power. For more information on upcoming episodes and to sign up for our mailing list, visit the Devex Book Club here: https://pages.devex.com/devex-book-club.html

To understand the upcoming, or possibly started, Ukrainian counteroffensive to push back Russian gains, NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with Max Bergmann of the Center for Strategic & International Studies.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine sapped its dominance as an energy and battery metals superpower, putting the energy transition at risk as countries scramble to source key resources elsewhere. While traders are still moving Russia's gas, nickel, and aluminum around the globe, prices for energy and key metals have jumped, wreaking havoc on the energy and mining industries in Europe and raising questions about global dependence on Russia for crucial supplies. On this episode, Energy Evolution shares some insights from experts we talked to on a recent live webinar hosted by S&P Global. Our guests on the webinar were Melanie Kenderdine, principal at Energy Future Initiative; Morgan Bazillian, director of the Payne Institute and professor of public policy at the Colorado School of Mines; Ben Cahill, senior fellow with the energy security and climate change program at the Center for Strategic & International Studies; and Georg Zachmann, senior fellow at Bruegel, a think tank focused on economic and policy issues.  Energy Evolution co-hosts Dan Testa and Taylor Kuykendall are veteran journalists with broad expertise covering the energy and mining sectors. Subscribe to Energy Evolution on your favorite platform to catch our latest episodes! Check out the full webinar mentioned today here: https://pages.marketintelligence.spglobal.com/Russia-war-and-the-energy-transition-Registration-February-2023.html   

Russia's invasion of Ukraine sapped its dominance as an energy and battery metals superpower, putting the energy transition at risk as countries scramble to source key resources elsewhere. While traders are still moving Russia's gas, nickel, and aluminum around the globe, prices for energy and key metals have jumped, wreaking havoc on the energy and mining industries in Europe and raising questions about global dependence on Russia for crucial supplies. On this episode, Energy Evolution shares some insights from experts we talked to on a recent live webinar hosted by S&P Global. Our guests on the webinar were Melanie Kenderdine, principal at Energy Future Initiative; Morgan Bazillian, director of the Payne Institute and professor of public policy at the Colorado School of Mines; Ben Cahill, senior fellow with the energy security and climate change program at the Center for Strategic & International Studies; and Georg Zachmann, senior fellow at Bruegel, a think tank focused on economic and policy issues.  Energy Evolution co-hosts Dan Testa and Taylor Kuykendall are veteran journalists with broad expertise covering the energy and mining sectors. Subscribe to Energy Evolution on your favorite platform to catch our latest episodes! Check out the full webinar mentioned today here: https://pages.marketintelligence.spglobal.com/Russia-war-and-the-energy-transition-Registration-February-2023.html   

Today we're traveling back to the 1970s with Blackkklansman! Join us as we learn about the real Ron Stallworth, women in the KKK, whether or not Flip Zimmerman was a real guy, and more! Sources: Ron Stallworth, Black Klansman: Race, Hate, and the Undercover Investigation of a Lifetime (New York: Flatiron Books, 2018) Johnny Brayson, "Here's The Real Story Behind Adam Driver's 'BlacKkKlansman' Character," Bustle (9 August 2018). https://www.bustle.com/p/where-is-flip-zimmerman-in-2018-the-blackkklansman-character-played-a-key-role-in-a-wild-true-story-10015280   Chuck Arnold, "Meet the real detective behind 'BlacKkKlansman'" New York Post (9 August 2018). https://nypost.com/2018/08/09/meet-the-real-detective-behind-blackkklansman/   VIBE Magazine, "Spike Lee Explains How BlacKkKlansman Was Made | VIBE" YouTube (7 August 2018).  https://youtu.be/pKRslSc-wNw  CBS Mornings, "Spike Lee, real-life Ron Stallworth talk new film "BlacKkKlansman"" YouTube (10 August 2018). https://youtu.be/BkkTLULVMCo   SAG-AFTRA Foundation, "Conversation with BLACKKKLANSMAN," YouTube (12 Novermber 2018). https://youtu.be/XslaWRgKoFE   Rotten Tomatoes, https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/blackkklansman  Mark Kermode, "BlacKkKlansman review - a blistering return to form for Spike Lee," The Guardian (26 August 2018). https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/aug/26/blackkklansman-review-spike-lee-blistering-return-to-form  A.O. Scott, "Review: Spike Lee's 'BlacKkKlansman' Journeys Into White America's Heart of Darkness," The New York TImes (9 August 2018). https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/09/movies/blackkklansman-review-spike-lee.html   Richard Brody, ""BlacKkKlansman," Reviewed: Smike Lee's Vision of Resistance to White Supremacy," The New Yorker (10 August 2018). https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/blackkklansman-reviewed-spike-lees-vision-of-resistance-to-white-supremacy  Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BlacKkKlansman  "'Free the Pendleton 14' podcast shines new light on issue of white supremacy among active duty military," AirTalk KPCC. https://www.kpcc.org/programs/airtalk/2019/01/24/64114/free-the-pendleton-14-podcast-shines-new-light-on/  Lois Beckett, "How the US military has failed to address white supremacy in its ranks," The Guardian (24 June 2020). https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/24/us-military-white-supremacy-extremist-plot  Seth G. Jones, Catrina Doxsee, Grace Hwang, and Jared Thompson, "The Military, Police, and the Rise of Terrorism in the United States," Center for Strategic & International Studies (12 April 2021). https://www.csis.org/analysis/military-police-and-rise-terrorism-united-states  Kathleen Belew, "The White Power Movement at War on Democracy," HFG Research and Policy in Brief (January 2021). https://www.hfg.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/WhitePowerVersusDemocracy.pdf  Kathleen Belew, "There Are No Lone Wolves: The White Power Movement at War," in A Field Guide to White Supremacy, 312-24 (University of California Press, 2021). https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1xbc21c.26  Kathleen Belew, Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America (Harvard University Press, 2018). https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv24w659z.6  Kathleen Blee, "Women in the 1920s Ku Klux Klan Movement," Feminist Studies 17, 1 (1991) Kathleen Blee, "Becoming a Racist: Women in Contemporary Ku Klux Klan and Neo-Nazi Groups," Gender and Society 10, 6 (1996) William F. Pinar, "White Women in the Ku Klux Klan," Counterpoints 163 (2001)

An award-winning international attorney and civic leader bridging sectors to partner alongside business, government, and NGOs to promote international security, democracy and shared prosperity. As Northern California co-managing partner of a leading global law firm, he advises multinational companies on key strategic and legal issues related to growing their business internationally, having counseled on more than US$40 billion in cross-border transactions.Dean also serves in leadership capacities to various civic organizations, including CEO business groups, NGOs, and think tanks, and has advised and convened government leaders and politicians around the world - from the NATO Secretary General, to the Mayor of Seoul to the Justice Minister of India - on a range of international public policy issues. He is a founding member of the Halifax International Security Forum, a Washington, D.C., the premier nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening strategic cooperation among democratic nations. Dean is also co-founder of Transatlantic West, a community of leaders promoting stronger ties between Europe and Silicon Valley.Passionate about service and public policy, Dean has advised three presidential campaigns on foreign policy and represented the State of California in trade and investment missions around the world. He serves as a governor's appointee on the California Workforce Development Board, promoting job quality, worker voice, equity, and environmental sustainability for the state's 18 million workers. He is past chair of the Northern California District Export Council, appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to represent and advocate on behalf of the region's diverse array of exporters, resulting in $75 billion in annual in exports. He has also advised the U.S. trade representative on international trade issues impacting the technology and innovation ecosystem.Recognized for his leadership in public diplomacy, Dean has been designated a Fulbright Scholar to Korea, an Honorary Senator of the German Economy, an Eisenhower Fellow to China, a Presidential Leadership Scholar, a Marshall Memorial Fellow to the EU, a US-Spain Council Young Leader, an International Fellow of Center for Strategic International Studies, a Truman National Security Fellow, and a Carnegie New Leader. Dean is an elected life member of the Council on Foreign Relations --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/toby-usnik/support

NOTE: This is the last week of The Realignment's daily Ukraine programming. For Day 22 of The Realignment's Daily Ukraine coverage, Marshall spoke with Dr. Seth G. Jones, author of Three Dangerous Men: Russia, China, Iran and the Rise of Irregular Warfare and Senior VP and Director of the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic & International Studies. They discussed how the conventional military strength of great powers such as the United States and Russia are increasingly challenged by irregular warfare approaches: cyber attacks, the use of proxy forces, propaganda, espionage, and disinformation. While Three Dangerous Men focused on how China, Iran, and Russia favored irregular warfare to challenge the United States, the Ukraine war has demonstrated that irregular warfare presents a serious challenge to any nation's ambitions. SEND US A TIP: https://app.swapstack.co/tips/the-realignment REALIGNMENT NEWSLETTER: https://therealignment.substack.com/ BOOKSHOP: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment

Väst står enat i sitt fördömande av Putins krig i Ukraina. Men runt om i världen är bilden en annan. Flera inflytelserika länder vill inte riskera sina goda relationer med Ryssland. Medverkande: Jan Eliasson, tidigare ordförande för FN:s generalförsamling, Jude Blanchette, Kinakännare vid tankesmedjan Center for Strategic & International Studies, Tong Zhao, tankesmedjan Carnegie i Peking, Alexander Gabuev, tankesmedjan Carnegie i Moskva, Arun Mohan företagare Delhi, Shyam Saran, tankesmedjan Center for Policy Research i New Delhi, Jitendra Nath Misra professor vid Jindal School of International Affairs, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, docent vid Chulalongkorn University i Bangkok, Kantathi Suphamongkhon, Thailands tidigare utrikesminister, William Gumede, docent vid University of the Witwatersrand i Johannesburg.Programledare: Robin Olin robin.olin@sr.seReportrar: Björn Djurberg, Naila Saleem, Arnab Dutta, Peder Gustafsson, Yasmin Coles Tekniker: Lisa AbrahamssonProducent: David Rasmusson david.rasmusson@sr.se

Russia has amassed troops along the border of Ukraine as part of a pressure campaign.  As events in Ukraine continue to unfold, Fox's International Correspondent, Simon Owen is on the ground in the capital of Kyiv.  Simon has spent the past few days in Ukraine talking to residents and describes the mood of the moment.  NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is a political and military alliance between nations who have pledged to defend one another in the event of an attack by the Soviet Union or another threat. Since its creation, the organization has grown to include 30 countries.  Ukraine, however, is not one of them.  Senior Advisor with the Center for Strategic International Studies and former US Ambassador to NATO, Kay Bailey Hutchinson joins Jared to discuss NATO's response to Russian troops moving into Ukraine and why strong financial sanctions should be imposed.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Russia has amassed troops along the border of Ukraine as part of a pressure campaign.  As events in Ukraine continue to unfold, Fox's International Correspondent, Simon Owen is on the ground in the capital of Kyiv.  Simon has spent the past few days in Ukraine talking to residents and describes the mood of the moment.  NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is a political and military alliance between nations who have pledged to defend one another in the event of an attack by the Soviet Union or another threat. Since its creation, the organization has grown to include 30 countries.  Ukraine, however, is not one of them.  Senior Advisor with the Center for Strategic International Studies and former US Ambassador to NATO, Kay Bailey Hutchinson joins Jared to discuss NATO's response to Russian troops moving into Ukraine and why strong financial sanctions should be imposed.  

Russia has amassed troops along the border of Ukraine as part of a pressure campaign.  As events in Ukraine continue to unfold, Fox's International Correspondent, Simon Owen is on the ground in the capital of Kyiv.  Simon has spent the past few days in Ukraine talking to residents and describes the mood of the moment.  NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is a political and military alliance between nations who have pledged to defend one another in the event of an attack by the Soviet Union or another threat. Since its creation, the organization has grown to include 30 countries.  Ukraine, however, is not one of them.  Senior Advisor with the Center for Strategic International Studies and former US Ambassador to NATO, Kay Bailey Hutchinson joins Jared to discuss NATO's response to Russian troops moving into Ukraine and why strong financial sanctions should be imposed.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode Notes:Today, we're going to talk about US-China relations, the upcoming Sixth Plenum , Xi Jinping, and what we might expect for the next year heading into the 2022 20th Party Congress among other topics. I'm really pleased that our first guest for the Sinocism Podcast is Chris Johnson, CEO of Consultancy China strategies Group, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic International Studies and former senior China analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency. 4:45 on US-China relations - I think their assessment is that it's working. In other words, by maintaining that sort of very strict line, they've gotten Madam Meng of Huawei fame home. They've gotten the trade discussions going again. They've got the US saying, "Well, we might lengthen the timeline for you to implement phase one." In other words, it's working from their perspective.13:30 on the 6th Plenum - The first I think is that, it would represent, I think the net evolution in what I call Xi Jinping's further development of his leadership supremacy. And, I use those terms very deliberately because often times, the shorthand we see in describing this as references to Xi's consolidation of power. Well, in my mind that took place very early on in his tenure. 30:00 on the economy and heading towards the 2022 20th Party Congress - Equally important in my mind is how little the leadership and the economic technocrats seem to be rattled by that fact. In other words, we're not seeing the stimulus wave. We're not seeing monetary policy adjustments in a significant way. There's a lot of study as she goes. And, that could change. We've got the central economic work conference, obviously in December, which will give us a sense of how they're thinking about next year. But like so many other things, I think we as watchers and the investment community and others, we're slow to sometimes break with old narratives. One of which is you must welcome a party Congress with very high growth. And every signal coming out of the leadership is that, they're not playing that game anymore. I think that's fairly strong.37:00 On US-China relations - I think if you're a senior US policymaker, your working assumption has to be that China's more likely to get it right than to get it wrong, even if they only get it 30% right or 40%, something like that…Chris Johnson:Xi is here and will be here for the foreseeable future. And therefore there won't be any change in the policies largely that he's articulated.Links: More about Chris Johnson and his China Strategies Group here.Transcript:Bill Bishop:Today, we're going to talk about US-China relations, the upcoming Sixth Plenum , Xi Jinping, and what we might expect for the next year heading into the 2022 20th Party Congress among other topics. I'm really pleased that our first guest for the Sinocism Podcast is Chris Johnson, CEO of Consultancy, China strategies Group, senior fellow at the center for strategic international studies and former senior China analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency. Welcome, Chris.Chris Johnson:Great to be here, Bill.Bill Bishop:Chris, welcome. I think today, what I really like to start out with is just an overview where you see the state of US-China relations and how the new administration, I mean it's 10 months now or thereabouts, but how the new administration is doing and how the Xi Jinping administration is reacting.Chris Johnson:Great. Yeah. Well, it's obviously a unique time in US-China relations. I guess, if I had to characterize it in a phrase, I would say, things are a bit of a mess. I think, if we start, it's useful to start at a sort of high order level and then work our way down in terms of thinking about the relationship. So I think at the highest order, one of the things that strikes me is that arguably for the first time, since normalization of relations, really, we're in this strange position where I think both countries, both leaders and perhaps increasingly, even both peoples, aren't overly keen to engage with one another.Chris Johnson:I think, we've had times in the past during the last several decades where maybe one side or the other was feeling that way, but not both. And the sense that I get in terms of the leader to leader view is, both Xi Jinping and President Biden are kind of looking at each other and saying, "I've got a lot going on at home. I'm very focused on what's happening domestically. I know the other guys out there and I need to pay attention to what he's doing, and right now it's all just his. But, if I can kind of keep him at arm's length, that's okay with me." And I think we're kind of seeing that really on both sides of the fence.Chris Johnson:I think for Xi Jinping, it's a little more intense in that it's hard to see where the good outcomes are for him and trying to lean in toward the relationship and so on, because he's kind of getting what he wants to some degree without doing. So, as to your question about how the administration is doing, I think to be fair, I think we have to say probably about as well as they could given both the domestic constraints, what we might call China's own attitudes and approach toward the relationship right now.Chris Johnson:On the domestic side, by constraints, I mean, the administration from my perspective seems to have an almost neurologically fearful stance of being seen as weak on China. Obviously that comes out of four years of the Trump administration and its approach toward China, stories and tales and recreations of history about how engagement was a failure and how the Obama administration was somehow a main sort of group that failed to understand the reality of the relationship and therefore blew it and a lot of those people are back now. And I think that contributes to this fear. And I think the practical impact of that is that, it's inhibited the administration from doing what I think they need to do, which is to have sort of an objective racking and stacking of what they believe China's global ambitions actually are. And then I think critically beyond that, which of those ambitions the US can live with, because in my assessment, we're going to have to live with at least some of them.Chris Johnson:And then to be fair to the administration, I think that same needed exercise has been hamstrung by China's own approach, which at least so far, I think we could probably characterize as an unflinching resistance that the US must adjust it's as they like to call it hostile attitude, if progress is going to be made. And, it's my sense that there's really little chance of progress of China's unwilling to move off of that stance. But at the same time, I think their assessment is that it's working. In other words, by maintaining that sort of very strict line, they've gotten Madam Meng of Huawei fame home. They've gotten the trade discussions going again. They've got the US saying, "Well, we might lengthen the timeline for you to implement phase one." In other words, it's working from their perspective.Bill Bishop:And, they presented two lists to Deputy Secretary of State Sherman. And, it certainly seems like there are some of the things on that list that are being worked through. To follow up though, what do you think the administration is doing around Taiwan? Because it seems like over the last couple of weeks, we've had quite a push from Secretary of State Lincoln and others on Taiwan and sort of whether or not it's giving them, returning them to the UN or in a seat or at least giving them more participation in UN bodies. What do you think is driving that and what do you think realistically, the administration believes the outcome's going to be because it certainly seems to be touching the most sensitive point on the Chinese side?Chris Johnson:Yeah. Well, my sense of it is that, regardless of the administration's intention, and I'm not entirely sure what the intention is, the results in Beijing are the same, which is to say that there would be a perception there that the US is unilaterally making a change to what they see as the cornerstone of the bilateral relationship, which is the US adherence to the One China Policy. And, if you're sitting in Beijing's shoes and you're hearing, you're seeing things in the press, you're hearing the president himself say, "Well, we will defend Taiwan." Oops. We didn't mean to say that, but it wasn't, but I didn't misspeak, and these sort of things, and a lot of that has to do with the domestic. Look, the Chinese have never doubted that the US would probably mount some kind of a defense. So, it's not really that issue if the Chinese were to attack. It's the accumulation of what they see as salami slicing erosion of the US commitment to the One China Policy.Chris Johnson:And so in my mind, the only relevant element here is not really the motivations, but what's going on in Xi Jinping's mind. Can he see all of this activity and basically respond by making the appropriate judgment about this erosion in the One China Policy and then quietly taking the appropriate adjustments on war planning and on other things? Or does he feel that with the accumulation of these things, whether it's the debate over whether or not to break with strategic ambiguity, changing the name of Taiwan's defacto embassy in Washington, all these sort things, does he feel that he needs to do something demonstrative now to kind of reset the balance, which was really the motivation behind their military exercises in 1995, '96, for example, when [inaudible 00:07:53] came to the United States?Bill Bishop:And of course back then, they had far less capability as they do now. I mean, certainly, I've heard different things and looked at different reports, but it does sound like the PLA has advanced quite rapidly around in areas that they would be able to bring to bear, to deal with Taiwan from their perspective. And that the US, I think is ... One of the things I worry about is just that there's certainly in some quarters in DC, it seems like there's a belief in the US military power that may not be fully rooted in the new realities of the sort of PLA modernization campaign that really has, I think, dramatically accelerated and did much more efficient under Xi Jinping.Chris Johnson:Yeah, definitely. And primarily to the degree, there's been a chief innovation under Xi's leadership. They've finally taken the steps to address what we might call the software issues. In other words, the technology, the hardware, the shiny kit has been being developed since that '95, '96 period. And they've got some very interesting and capable systems now. But the software, the ability to actually conduct joint operations, these sort of things was always a fall down point for them. And then massive restructuring of the PLAs force structure, much along the lines of sort of Goldwater-Nichols that Xi launched early in his tenure is now bearing a lot of fruit and making them more capable from that sort of software side of things as well.Bill Bishop:And that restructuring, that was something that the PLA or that they talked about doing before but had never, no other leader had been able to push it through.Chris Johnson:Correct.Chris Johnson:Even Deng Xiaoping, who himself tried to do sort of a similar restructuring in the aftermath of Tiananmen and in the aftermath of the Yang period.Bill Bishop:That's interesting. I remember we talked when she convened the second Gutian meeting with all the generals that look clearly in retrospect was the kickoff to I think, a massive corruption crackdown inside the PLA.Chris Johnson:No. I call it political shock and awe which was the twin aspect of force restructuring and the anti-corruption campaign in the military, which basically the back of the PLAs political power in the system from my perspective.Bill Bishop:Interesting. So, well now moving on to politics, we have the Sixth Plenum. That starts in on the 8th of November, I believe. Can you talk a bit about why those plenums are important and what might be especially interesting about this one? Because, one of the things that we keep hearing about, and certainly there are rumors, but there's also, I think, some certainly the way they describe the agenda for the plenum in the official Xinhua release a couple weeks ago. It sure sounds like they're going to push through a third historical resolution.Chris Johnson:Yeah. No, my sense is that's a forgotten conclusion pretty much at this point. To your first question about why plenums are important. In my mind, I think they're employing both mechanically and substantively. Mechanically, having one once a year, since the reform and opening period started really, and really per the requirement in the party's constitution, that happened once a year. That has been fundamental, I think, to signaling both domestic audiences and international audiences that things in China are relatively stable. So, just look at the brouhaha that that occurred, for example, in this current central committee cycle that we're in the 19th central committee where Xi Jinping snuck in effectively an extra plenum early in the process in early 2018 to get the changes to the constitution about term limits put out there, which then meant they had to advance the third plenum from its normal position in that fall, after a party Congress to the usual second plenum, which manages the national people's Congress changes, personnel changes and so on.Chris Johnson:And then, a perception that the fourth plenum therefore had been delayed because it was more than a year before it actually took place. And you'll recall as well. And we talked a about it at the time, all the speculation. Oh, this means Xi Jinping's in trouble and so on and so forth, non-sense from my point of view. So, that's the mechanical aspect.Chris Johnson:Substantively, obviously I think they're important because outside of the political work report that the sitting party general secretary delivers at the five yearly party congresses, the decision documents as they're usually called that come out of the plenums really reflect the most authoritative venue for the party leadership to signal their priorities, their preoccupations and the policies, of course. And of course, there have been some very important plenums in the party's history, most notably the third plenum of the 11th central committee, which at least the official version is that's when reform and opening was launched. There's a lot of debate about whether that's true or not.Chris Johnson:But, turning to the upcoming six plenum, I think they have made it, as I said, a moment ago, pretty clear that there will be a history resolution. Obviously, there's only been two previous ones in the history of the party. One in 1945 and the other by Mao Zedong and the other in 1981 from Deng Xiaoping, largely closing the book on the mount period, and the culture revolution and so on. So from my perspective, if they do do it this time and I think they will, it it's important for several reasons. The first I think is that, it would represent, I think the net evolution in what I call Xi Jinping's further development of his leadership supremacy. And, I use those terms very deliberately because often times, the shorthand we see in describing this as references to Xi's consolidation of power. Well, in my mind that took place very early on in his tenure.Chris Johnson:I think, he's been there for a good long while. And so, this is just about further articulating his leadership supremacy. And indeed I think, his genius really from the beginning was to frame the party's history in these three distinct eras, each roughly 30 years from the founding of the PRC to Mao's death, Deng's reform, an opening period, and now Xi Jinping's so-called new era. And in fact, I think his signature political achievement, among many political achievements that he's had, has been to canonize that framing these three epics under the banner of Xi Jinping thought with on Chinese characteristics for the new era, so long I can never remember. Let's just call it Xi Thought for shorthand. Yes. And I think, he used it to both effectively erase his two immediate predecessors Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao from history, which is important and also simultaneously to vault past Deng Xiaoping in the pantheon of ideology by getting the autonomous thought. And of course, the next iteration will be to truncate Xi Jinping thought for horribly long name.Bill Bishop:Well, and there are multiple variants. There's thought on diplomacy. There's thought on economics. There's thought on law. Chris Johnson:All of that. And I think, the other thing is this ideological crowning, obviously, the significance of it lies in the codification and probably the legitimization then of the sum of all of his actions and pronouncements since he came to power and the equating of those developments and those statements with the party's line. And as you and I have discussed many times, to criticize Xi now then is not just to attack the man, but to attack the party itself. That's very dangerous. And if you're going to do it, you better get it right.Bill Bishop:To that point, isn't that part of his political genius, because he must have, that must have been by design, right?Chris Johnson:Oh, absolutely. It was completely by design and there was a reason I think why Xi, amongst recent leaders, was the one who, if you spoke to people for example, in the party, the central committee department for party history research, they would say when he was vice president leader in training, he actually cared about party history. Jiang and Hu didn't really care, or at least it wasn't a priority for them. It was very meaningful for Xi Jinping, I think for those reasons. And so, this new history resolution, I think, is important in helping him continue this process toward the next revolution, which is to truncate Xi Jinping thought.Chris Johnson:I think, in terms of the substance of a new resolution, it's my sense that there's a tension, not just in Xi's mind, but perhaps in the leadership circles of the people who are working on this thing, between a desire to make that document, only celebratory and forward looking, in other words, why the new era is so amazing versus a desire to tidy up, if you will, some of the bits from history that he doesn't like with criticism, which of course in a very similar fashion to say, Deng Xiaoping 1981 when criticizing the excesses of the cultural revolution. So in my mind, there's two aspects where that criticism could come to the fore, which are very valuable. The first is, will he do in effect to Deng what Deng did to Mao, which is to criticize the excesses of Deng Xiaoping's reform and opening policies.Bill Bishop:Which would be including criticizing then at least indirectly Hu and Jiang who are still alive.Chris Johnson:Well, we'll come back to that in a minute because I think it's a separate animal, but on the reform and opening piece, it very much relates obviously to common prosperity, to the new development concept. I'm seeing right over the last several months, but I think there's a separate aspect from that kind of economic excesses. There is this line. It was a very fascinating. You never want to put too much emphasis on one piece of propaganda, but I believe it was the 24th of September, People's Daily had their latest iteration in the Xi Jinping thought question and answer series. And, it was about kind of party leadership and so on and so forth. And there was a fascinating line in there in my mind, which was the quote was especially after the 18th party Congress in view of quote, the neglect dilution and weakening of the party's leadership for a period of time.Chris Johnson:Now, what period of time is he talking about? He's talking about the tenures of Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao. So once again, further re-raising them from history, boosting his own stature and creating a justification for him to certainly rule for a third term. And, who knows beyond that?Bill Bishop:And, having a historical resolution, the third one then really does create the third era, right?Chris Johnson:No. It formalizes the kickoff, if you will, of that new era. Yeah.Bill Bishop:And that's why, I struggle with sort of lots of the rumors. Xi's weak. Xi's up or he's down or there's the latest one is he won't travel abroad because he is worried about a coup. "Hey, it's Chinese politics." Maybe it's true, but it seems a little bit of a stretch to me. But, I look at, again, back to his ... You hear lots of things. And certainly, when I was in Beijing and sort of the, probably not now but back then, the Beijing chattering class. He was never the smart guy. He was always kind of slow. And yet, here we are. And here he is. And so I think, he may not be the best educated of Chinese leaders in some formal perspective, but he certainly seems to be as politically savvy as Deng or Mao.Bill Bishop:I mean, he certainly seems to have surpassed Jiang and Hu, but I think one of the things too, back to this question of, is he weak or will he be around? What's going to happen to the 20th plenum? One of the things I go back to is, when he got, Xi Jinping fought and appended, whatever you want behind it, it's a 19 party congress. Doesn't that basically mean though, that as long as Xi's alive, he's kind of the man? [crosstalk 00:20:16] Even, if someone else has the job title, unless the party changes his line and gets rid of Xi's thought, which seems like it would be extremely difficult for a whole bunch of reasons, ultimately as long as he's breathing, isn't he caught up kind of running the show.Chris Johnson:Yes.Bill Bishop:Or, is that too simplistic?Chris Johnson:Very much the case. And in fact, again, his interest in not just Chinese communist party history, but the communist movements history, you can have no Khruschev secret speech. If you do these sort of things, at least while he's alive, to your point. And I think, that's a very important aspect of what he's trying to do here. He's creating the conditions for him to be able to engage in, to steal Barry Naughton’s term for the economy, grand steer edge of the entire system, and I think, that's a very, very important aspect. And just to your point on the intellectual stuff, because I think it's important, there's a difference between book smarts and political street fighting skills. And probably, his education was disrupted. So probably, he may not be God's gift to intellect, but there's no question in my mind that from a political acumen point of view, he's a genius, a tactical genius.Bill Bishop:And, if you think about what his primary book education was when he was in his most formative years, it was Mao thought.Chris Johnson:Yeah. No, definitely. And, I just want to come back to that too, because I think it's so important on what could be the meaning, if you will, of this new history resolution, which is that Xi Jinping clearly has a problem with the period of the nineties and what I actually like to call the early naughties in both of their-Bill Bishop:Otherwise known as the Go-Go Years..Chris Johnson:and being naughty. Yeah. The wild west days. And I think, he feels also that the period in the run up to when he took power ahead of the party Congress in 2012, he in many ways saw that as the period of maximum danger for the party. And so, this will be criticized. There's no way in my mind there won’t be some mention of our friends Bo Xilai,and the characters that were purged at that time, maybe not specifically, but in the sideline propaganda and so on, I'm sure will come up.Bill Bishop:So, because one thing when you talked about the resolution, I mean, and what will be in it and sort of how do you balance the sort of criticism or judgment on the past 30 years with forward looking, I found it interesting in yesterday's People's Daily. I had it in the newsletter yesterday, was that very long piece by the sort of the pen name for the People's Daily theory department on Chinese style modernization, which was very forward looking, but also very global looking in terms of talking about how China has created this new style modernization and how it can be a sort of applicable to other countries. And so, tying that back a little bit to your earlier comment about sort of trying to understand, as you said, the administration's rack and stack, how do we sort of go through what we think they're global, the PRCs global ambitions are and what can we live with what we can, what do you think their global ambitions are?Chris Johnson:Well, there are a series of them in their region, certainly, and we can talk. There's endless debate about whether it extends globally and if so, on what timeline, but they certainly want to be seen as a major superpower. No question. I often like to say that their goal in the region certainly, and I think increasingly globally, is that they want countries when a country is thinking of doing something significant in terms of its policies, the leadership and Xi Jinping himself would like that country's leadership to think about how Xi Jinping's going to react to this in the same moment that they think about how will the US react to this? That's what they're after.Chris Johnson:And in my mind, as to whether it is a desire to subvert the rules based global international order and so on, I'm much more skeptical, I think, than a lot of our colleagues on that in part, because implicit in that is this notion of them sitting around in the Politburo meetings, stroking long beards and looking 50 years into the future. They have an inbox too, and they're not infallible nor are they press the end all the time. And, I just think that, it's too much of a teleological view, from my point of view, but that's certainly one of them.Chris Johnson:And I think, this ties to the history resolution bill, because, Xi, in my mind, needs or wants kind of three things from that. The first is, he too needs to create a justification for staying in power. The reality is, no one can stop what he's trying to do next year, or at least that's my opinion, but what they can do is build leverage for the horse trading for all the other positions that will be in play. If he can be criticized, as someone I spoke to about this situation put it to me, even Mao had to launch the cultural revolution to take control over the party again. In other words, even someone of his stature had to do that.Chris Johnson:Second, and it touches on what we were just discussing is his obsession with China breaking through the middle income trap to further prove the legitimacy of the country. And that means breaking from the old economic model. And third, also relevant to our comments just now is, he sees all of this as intimately bound to what we might call the global narrative competition with the US. In other words, if he can be seen as breaking through the middle income trap, doing a better job than the west on income and equality and so on, he sees that paying tremendous dividends for elevating China system.Bill Bishop:At least so for on dealing with COVID. It's paid dividends.Chris Johnson:Absolutely. Yeah. And, indeed further legitimizing the notion that they have found some third way between capitalism and socialism that not just works for them, but increasingly could be exportable.Bill Bishop:Right. So, it's not like everyone has to become a Marxist, Leninist exactly country, or people's dictatorship, but we have this China, this China solution, I think they call it. And certainly, one thing that's interesting too, I think is, and it hasn't gotten a lot of attention yet in more mainstream media, is this global development initiative that she announced at his speech to the UN in September, which now he is regularly bringing up in his calls with developing countries.Bill Bishop:And, it looks to me like it's effectively taking, it's a way of packaging up their lessons from the poverty alleviation campaign that they declared victory in early this year, and trying to take that global. And quite honestly, the world needs more positive development and if China's offering something that's reasonably attractive in the US or Europe isn't, then how can the US criticize these countries for signing onto it?Chris Johnson:No. I'm mean, increasingly, we always want to say, "Well, nobody wants to sign on to their model" or "It doesn't work in other places", but increasingly, what's the narrative that they're touting? One of it is, "Hey, we brought X hundred million people out of poverty." That's very attractive to some other countries. We have a system that works. We have a system that is tolerant of various and sundry approaches, doesn't insist that you change your governance structure or that you support human rights or avoid graft, and things like this. It's very attractive. But the global development initiative, I think in my mind, increasingly, it's sort of an agglomeration of the BRI aspects. And then, there's been so much attention of recent weeks about, particularly Wang Huning's dream weaving of cultural hegemony and all of these sort of//.Bill Bishop:I think people are a bit overindexing a bit on Wang Huning. [crosstalk 00:28:22] important.Chris Johnson:I know they are. I mean, the line I like to use is they're confusing the musician with the conductor.Bill Bishop:Okay. Oh, so you must be up to date on Xi Jinping thought on music. That's good.Chris Johnson:Exactly. Eventually.Bill Bishop:So, I mean, back to the plenum, moving forward from the next year to the 20th party Congress. I mean, normally, the year before a party Congress is a very, very politically sensitive and difficult year where you have the entire system is geared towards the party Congress and basically one not screwing up. And two, anticipating where the people or persons making the decisions on promotions want you to go in terms of policies. And so, in some way, usually it kind of freezes the system. Is there some risk of a fairly difficult year with China? Because, you've got clearly the economy is, I don't want to say struggling, but it's clearly not doing as well as they hoped.Bill Bishop:They seem to continue to be pushed pretty hard on the third tough battle of reducing financial risks. And specifically, I think evergrande is the poster child of that right now. But, what do you think she believes needs to happen over the next year? And what do you think that means for sort of the stuff, a lot of investors feel worried about around real estate, common prosperity? I mean, it just feels like for the first time in a while, things on the economic side at least look a little bit rickety right now.Chris Johnson:No. I agree with that general assessment. Equally important in my mind is how little the leadership and the economic technocrats seem to be rattled by that fact. In other words, we're not seeing the stimulus wave. We're not seeing monetary policy adjustments in a significant way. There's a lot of study as she goes. And, that could change. We've got the central economic work conference, obviously in December, which will give us a sense of how they're thinking about next year. But like so many other things, I think we as watchers and the investment community and others, we're slow to sometimes break with old narratives. One of which is you must welcome a party Congress with very high growth. And every signal coming out of the leadership is that, they're not playing that game anymore. I think that's fairly strong.Chris Johnson:This also comes back to the issue though of what I mentioned earlier about the politics. It's been quite striking to me given what a momentous occasion is happening next year, how little in the analysis of the crackdowns, the tech lash, these sort of things, property sector, how little attention's being paid to the political dimension. So for example, if you look at sort of this issue that I raised a moment ago of the danger for Xi is not someone's going to stop him or unseat him, but this issue of ... I think, my sense is he views the model of the changeover next year as being the ninth party Congress where I believe there was something like 80% turnover in the central committee.Bill Bishop:This was the 1969 during the middle of the cultural revolution.Chris Johnson:Yeah, in the midst of cultural revolution.Bill Bishop:And, the eighth party Congress was not five years before it was. There was quite a gap.Chris Johnson:Yeah. Huge gap. Yeah. And so, if he would like to sweep away that kind of level of changeover, that means getting rid of a lot of the dead wood of the other constituent groups, let's call them. And I think, his ability to do that is closely tied to whether they can criticize and what are the KPIs that he has put out for himself for this current term, and you just raised them. It's poverty alleviation, environmental improvement, and "guarding against financial risk". I think, we can say on the first two, he's done very well. On the third, it's a bit of a disaster.Chris Johnson:So the message, and I'm told that this was sort of some of the discussion on the margins of Beidaihe this year was that, you've got a year or arguably eight months because of the way the system does these things to get that grade on financial risk from a C-, D+ to an A, and poor Liu He in the role of having to figure out how to make that happen operationally. And I think to your point, oftentimes, we do get that paralysis as everybody's kind of looking over their shoulder. But if anything, I think these guys are more inclined to show they're overfulfilling the plan, if you will, in terms of representation and implementation. So, the risk in my mind is not that the various crackdowns will calm down or smooth out, it's that in their zeal to look like they're doing what the boss wants them to do to hopefully be promoted, they might badly over correct. And that I think, has applications for how they handle Evergrande and many of the other associated crackdowns.Bill Bishop:That's an interesting point. And, one of the things I wonder about because it just seems like she has been quite skillful at finding opportunity and what looks like messes. And, if we're looking at an evaluation in the last 30 years, sort of the historical resolution idea, certainly there's a lot to criticize about the economic model. I mean, they criticize it on a regular basis in terms of trying to transition the new development concept. It's an effectively saying the old model doesn't work anymore. And, one of the biggest problems we created was this massive debt problem for China. Is there a cynical way of looking at it and saying, "Okay, if we have this, we being sort of see the top of the party, we have a fair amount of confidence because we've done a lot, so much work on hardening the system and the stability maintenance system that we can tolerate more stress than people think"?Bill Bishop:And, by letting these things get really stressed, does that help remove some of the dead wood in terms of sort of surfacing officials who might be promotable to actually look like they were somehow culpable for some of the decisions that led to things like ever grand or some of these other messes, and then that clears the way for other personnel moves?Chris Johnson:I think, that's certainly part of it. I think, that might be adopting to sort of micro of a frame on it. I think where it's important is, from the perspective of, again, this is Xi's political genius, from my perspective, is the layering of these narratives in the buildup toward a major change or a major development. So, why in the depths of the trade war? Did you start talking about a new long march? And hardship and sacrifice and all of these things, they're preparing the ground. In some reason, why are they maintaining a COVID zero approach? There's lots of reasons. But one of the reasons in my mind is if indeed you feel you must fundamentally break with that old, dirty economic model, which was largely export led, and you want dual circulation to work and you want these things, why not keep the border closed and force the system to transition because it must?Chris Johnson:So, there's a number of these things where I think, again, I don't like to claim that it's all some master plan, but I think there's a lot of thought that's gone into some of these things.Bill Bishop:But clearly, things like the energy crisis, I mean, they clearly have ... There are a lot of moving parts that can blow up pretty quickly. And so I think, to your earlier point, the politics are always in command in China. I think they're more in command now, but it does just feel like the risks or the downside risks on the economy are greater than they've been in a while.Chris Johnson:Yeah. I mean, my sense is, again, what do the officials and particularly the economic technocrats see as the greatest risk? I think they think the great as risk is overdoing it, not underdoing it at this stage.Bill Bishop:Interesting. So, well, thanks. Anything else you want to talk about?Chris Johnson:No, I think I kind of covered the waterfront. I mean, I guess in summation, I would just say and it maybe kind of comes back nicely to US-China relationship and so on. Discussing what we've just been discussing, I think if you're a senior US policymaker, your working assumption has to be that China's more likely to get it right than to get it wrong, even if they only get it 30% right or 40%, something like that.Chris Johnson:Xi is here and will be here for the foreseeable future. And therefore there won't be any change in the policies largely that he's articulated. And if we have those as our working assumptions, I think we will find ourselves framing a better policy. And I guess, if it doesn't go that way, you could be "pleasantly surprised" or whatever you want to say. But is it really a pleasant surprise if you have a leadership crisis in China?Chris Johnson:I mean, this is another thing I think just in conclusion that I find very striking in the absence of information. And I think, one of the challenges for us as watchers, when a collective leadership system like we had before goes away, each one of those collective, all seven or nine, depending on the timeframe of the standing committee members, they all had coteries under them and so on and so forth. In other words, there was a lot of places to tap in to get insight and compare notes. And so, with Xi Jinping, it's a very small circle, clearly. Even Kurt Campbell and other US officials have discussed their frustration with not being able to get in the inner circle.Chris Johnson:And therefore, people just find themselves going to these memes such as, well, they're will inevitably be a succession crisis when Xi Jinping leaves the scene. In my mind, the biggest opportunity for a massive succession crisis in the history of the PRC was Mao's death. And yet, they managed to find a way largely through Deng Xiaoping. But I think in general, because there was a collective understanding that this whole thing's going to unravel if we don't get it together, China's not so worried about that, nor am I worried about an imminent invasion of Taiwan, but that's probably another podcast.Bill Bishop:That was a whole different podcast. And so ... No. Well, look, thank you so much. It's really great as always to talk to you. And, I do hope I can get you back on as a guest at some point.Chris Johnson:Always glad to do so. Anytime, Bill. And, your newsletter in my mind is the best thing out there in terms of keeping me up to speed and subsequently informed every day.Bill Bishop:Thank you. I didn't pay him to say that just to be clear. But, great. Thank you, Chris. Get full access to Sinocism at sinocism.com/subscribe

Listen now (37 min) | Episode Notes: Today, we're going to talk about US-China relations, the upcoming Sixth Plenum , Xi Jinping, and what we might expect for the next year heading into the 2022 20th Party Congress among other topics. I'm really pleased that our first guest for the Sinocism Podcast is Chris Johnson, CEO of Consultancy China strategies Group, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic International Studies and former senior China analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency.

American President Joe Biden has said the war in Afghanistan cost more than $2 trillion. Todd Harrison, a senior fellow at the Centre for Strategic International Studies helps us unpick what's included in this figure.

For the past ten days, we have watched the events unfolding in Afghanistan with a mixture of alarm and sadness. Unfortunately, the situation on the ground remains dangerous and unresolved.For guidance, today's main segment features two former State Department officers whose expertise ranges from counterterrorism and human rights to the geopolitics of the energy transition. We are very lucky to welcome back our friend Frank Fannon, Managing Director of Fannon Global Advisors, Senior Advisor at the Center for Strategic International Studies and the Inaugural Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources. Through Frank, we also got to visit with Nathan Sales, Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, Former Acting Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights and Former Ambassador-at-Large for Counterterrorism. It was a fascinating discussion with multiple side alleys. The world suddenly feels like a less predictable place again. With their thoughtful perspectives, Frank and Nathan help us to understand the geopolitical ramifications a little better.The associated human tragedy is no less unsettling. We also include the personal story of Corey Mazza, a Harvard football player, U.S. Marine and former platoon leader in Afghanistan. Earlier this week, from his home in Los Angeles and managing around his current job in a private wealth management business, Corey worked the phones to help achieve the successful evacuation of his former unit's Afghan translator. He describes the ongoing efforts to get our friends and allies out of Afghanistan by August 31st and gave us visibility on how veterans and others are mobilizing here at home and abroad to do anything they can to help.Mike Bradley and Colin Fenton kick in some good things to get us going. Mike talks about oil and the recent rally and what's been helping turn the screen green. Colin provides the data on China's engineered economic slowdown, which the PBOC is now starting to reverse. He also discusses Monday's announcement of crude oil sales from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (whose negative effect on sour crude prices has been more than offset by the shut-in of one quarter of Pemex production) and the ballooning U.S. public debt (now 125% of GDP), as another game of political chicken gets played with the debt ceiling. The US debt stats are sobering and we need to de-lever, at least that's what my CFO friends would tell me.We hope you find this episode as informative and inspirational as we did. What's happening in Afghanistan is devastating and we're all praying it ends as well as possible. We also know these events will be affecting our future in ways we just can't anticipate yet. One thing we do know... we all need people, like Corey, who put public service first.----------Copyright 2021, Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. The information contained in this update is based on sources considered to be reliable but is not represented to be complete and its accuracy is not guaranteed. This update is designed to provide market commentary only. This update does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities. Nothing contained in this update is intended to be a recommendation of a specific security or company nor is any of the information contained herein intended to constitute an analysis of any company or security reasonably sufficient to form the basis for any investment decision. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co., and its officers, directors, shareholders, employees and affiliates and members of their families may have positions in any securities mentioned and may buy or sell such securities before, after or concurrently with the publication of this update. In some instances, such investments may be inconsistent with the views expressed herein. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. may, from time to time, perform or

Do current “development” structures work? If not, why? And what solutions are out there that place greater agency in low-income countries to shape these development structures and results?Hannah Ryder is the CEO of Development Reimagined, an international development consultancy in China, which provides strategic advice and practical support to African, Chinese, and international stakeholders on issues ranging from the Belt and Road Initiative to Africa’s growth markets to green growth and China’s aid and investments. Hannah is an economist and former diplomat, and Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic International Studies in Washington DC. She is also a member of the UAE’s International Advisory Council on the New Economy and sits on the Executive Board of the British Chamber of Commerce in China.Development Reimagined’s Decolonising Global Health Report  What COVID19 informs us about on risk perceptions of Africa African Debt narratives and structures Blueprint for decolonising the development sectorChina-Africa in 2021 Twitter: Hannah RyderDevelopment Reimagined Dan BanikIn Pursuit of Development https://in-pursuit-of-development.simplecast.com/

Janani Mohan is Executive Director and Co-Founder of Dweebs Global. She is a policy analyst and received a Stanford University fellowship in the Masters in International Policy Program. She served as a representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency at the United Nations in Vienna, Austria at age 17. She has researched nuclear, defense technology, and social issues policy for leading think tanks and U.S. government agencies including the U.S. Department of State and Sandia National Labs. She earned the U.S. President's Volunteer Service Award Gold Medal, and has volunteered to teach immigrant teenagers English and to put together mental health resources for victims of torture. She has published articles with the U.S. Smithsonian Institution and Center for Strategic & International Studies, and has presented at conferences hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy and Nehru Memorial Museum in India. Dweebs Global offers free mentorship to anyone around the world. Dweebs Global unites good people from every corner of the planet to provide free mentorship and brainstorm solutions to today's most pressing problems. They offer advice that's tailored for you for free. The mentorship program pairs you with a mentor in your field who can provide tailored expertise. So far, with 400 mentors, Dweebs Global has interacted with thousands of mentees. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/tyrideius-brownlow/support

Links1. “Sea Control 153 – USS Constitution with Angry Staff Officer and Dr. Claude Berube,” Claude Berube, Angry Staff Officer with Jared Samuelson, CIMSEC (2020).2. “Sea Control 156 – Sink the Montana!,” Claude Berube with Jared Samuelson, CIMSEC (2020).3. The Preble Hall Podcast by the USNA Museum.4. Maritime Private Security: Market Responses to Piracy, Terrorism and Waterborne Security Risks in the 21st Century, edited by Claude Berube and Patrick Cullen, Routledge (2012).5. “Blackwaters for the Blue Waters: The Promise of Private Naval Companies,” by Claude Berube, Orbis (2007).6. “Standup a Joint Interagency Task Force to Fight Illegal Fishing,” by Claude Berube, CIMSEC (2020).7. Taste of War: World War II and the Battle for Food, by Lizzie Collingham, Penguin Books, (2013).8. “Sea Shepherd: The Evolution of an Eco-Vigilante to Legitimized Maritime Capacity Builder,” by Claude Berube, U.S. Naval War College (2020).9. “Leveraging NGOs and Volunteerism for Maritime Surveillance Against IUU Fishing,” by Walker Mills, Dylan Philips-Levine and Trevor Philips-Levine, CIMSEC (2020).10. “Advantage At Sea,” U.S. Tri-Service Maritime Strategy (2020).11. “Competition Continuum,” U.S. Department of Defense (2020).12. “Thunder Road: Outsourcing the Fight Against Illegal Fishing,” by Claude Berube, War on the Rocks, (2015).13. “Trump’s Gunboats: Achieving the Goal of 350 or 355 Ships will be Challenging,” by Claude Berube, The National Interest (2016).14. “Online Event: Strategic Perspectives on Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing,” panel discussion with Craig Faller and Karl Schultz, Center for Strategic & International Studies (2020).  15. “The Maritime Story Missing in “Civilian Warriors,” Claude Berube interview with Erik Prince, CIMSEC (2013).16. The Aden Effect: A Connor Stark Novel, Claude Berube, Naval Institute Press (2012).17. Syren’s Song: A Connor Stark Novel, Claude Berube, Naval Institute Press (2015). 

As part of our "Forbes Feature" series, spotlighting thought-provoking Forbes videos and their key takeaways, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover explores Julie Sweet's recent Forbes video, "Accenture CEO's Advice To Women: Stand Out." See the video and details here: https://youtu.be/KHq_EDi2PE8.   Video Overview: "Lessons in reinvention, self-confidence and the power of embracing your fears from Julie Sweet, CEO of Accenture North America." Julie Sweet (https://www.linkedin.com/in/julie-sweet/) is chief executive officer of Accenture and serves on the company's board of directors. Prior to becoming CEO in September 2019, Julie served as chief executive officer of Accenture's business in North America, the company's largest geographic market. Previously, she was Accenture's general counsel, secretary and chief compliance officer for five years. Prior to joining Accenture in 2010, Julie was a partner for 10 years in the law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP. Outside of Accenture, Julie is a leader on topics including innovation, technology's impact on business, and inclusion and diversity. She is a member of the World Economic Forum's International Business Council, the Business Roundtable and the TechNet Executive Council. Julie also serves on the board of directors for Catalyst, the board of trustees for the Center for Strategic & International Studies and the board of trustees for the Marriott Foundation for People with Disabilities - Bridges from School to Work. In 2019, she was named to FORTUNE's list of “Most Powerful Women” for the fourth consecutive year. Julie holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Claremont McKenna College and a Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School. Ranked in the Top 10 Performance Management Podcasts: https://blog.feedspot.com/performance_management_podcasts/ ; Ranked in the Top 10 Workplace Podcasts: https://blog.feedspot.com/workplace_podcasts/ ; Ranked in the Top 15 HR Podcasts: https://blog.feedspot.com/hr_podcasts/ ; Ranked in the Top 15 Talent Management Podcasts: https://blog.feedspot.com/talent_management_podcasts/ ; Ranked in the Top 15 Personal Development and Self-Improvement Podcasts: https://blog.feedspot.com/personal_development_podcasts/ ; Ranked in the Top 30 Leadership Podcasts: https://blog.feedspot.com/leadership_podcasts/

Welcome to today's episode of the Migration & Diaspora Podcast, a podcast about all things migration, with me your host Loksan Harley, and boy do we have a show for you today! Today I was joined by a good friend of mine, and seriously one the most inspiring and hardworking people I know, Hannah Ryder. Hannah is the CEO and founder of Development Reimagined, a pioneering international development consultancy in China. Development Reimagined advises Chinese businesses how to invest in Africa sustainably; they advise sustainable African businesses on how to enter the Chinese market; and they work with governments, UN bodies and NGOs to strengthen their China–Africa policies. Development Reimagined also happens to be the first Kenyan Wholly Foreign Owned Enterprise in China - a marvellous achievement I'm sure you'll agree. Hannah is a former diplomat and economist, and her understanding of international relations was honed as one of the youngest negotiators for the UK in climate change talks. With close to 20 years of experience, she is also Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic International Studies, and sits on the Executive Board of the British Chamber of Commerce in China. Hannah has won several awards for leadership in China and Africa as well as for her contributions to gender and racial diversity and youth development. She's also played various advisory roles for the UN, and is regularly cited in and invited to write/talk on a number of Chinese, African and global media outlets like Bloomberg, Quartz Africa, the Diplomat, the Guardian, and CGTN . You need only to Google "Hannah Ryder" or "Development Reimagined" to discover the extraordinary breadth of her work. Hannah and I met while she was head of the United Nations Development Programme's Policy team in China, and we had so many common areas of interest, as many of you listening may recall that I've lived and worked across Africa and China, and China-Africa relations are a huge passion and research interest of mine. I also have great admiration for Hannah and her team's work to collect and share data widely and in an accessible way on China-Africa-related topics, including on some migration issues. Hannah was therefore the ideal guest to talk about China-Africa migration. In our fascinating talk we touched on Hannah's migration experience as an entrepreneur in China. We talk about some of the trends of Africa-to-China migration and the challenges and opportunities faced by African migrants in China, including in the context of COVID-19. We also talk about China-to-Africa migration, which is a topic some of you may know I've written about too for the Migration Policy Institute. If anyone has any questions about today's podcast, then feel free to get in touch with either of us via our websites which you can find in the show notes. Thank you very much for tuning in and we hope you enjoy the show. Useful links Development Reimagined: www.developmentreimagined.com Twitter: @devreimagined @hmryder Book recommendation: China's Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa, by Howard W. French Development Reimagined's analysis of African student migration: https://developmentreimagined.com/2020/09/08/where-africans-study-abroad-post-covid19/ Some of my recent research on African visa requirements for Chinese nationals: https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/african-countries-relax-short-term-visa-policies-chinese Thanks for listening! Feel free to visit loksanharley.com/podcast, where you can subscribe to the mailing list and get in touch!

Paul Kengor, Ph.D., is professor of political science at Grove City College in Grove City, Pennsylvania, and a New York Times bestselling author of over a dozen books. He is senior director and chief academic fellow at the Institute for Faith & Freedom and formerly served as visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. His articles have appeared in publications from the Washington Post andUSA Today to the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times; he is a longtime columnist and senior editor for The American Spectator. Dr. Kengor is an internationally recognized authority on (among other topics) Ronald Reagan, the Cold War, communism, socialism, and conservatism. This is an audio podcast of The Dr J Show. Full video episode is available here. Dr. Kengor is frequently interviewed by the BBC, Fox News, MSNBC, C-SPAN, NPR, EWTN, the Christian Broadcasting Network, by radio hosts such as Glenn Beck, Mark Levin, and Bill Bennett, and by TV personalities like Megyn Kelly, Bill O’Reilly, and Joe Scarborough. He often writes for National Catholic Register and Crisis Magazine. Dr. Kengor’s books have been published by HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Harvard University Press, Oxford University Press, Ignatius Press, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, HarperPerennial, and many others. In 2017, he released what has been described as his “magnum opus,” A Pope and a President: John Paul II, Ronald Reagan, and the Extraordinary Untold Story of the 20th Century. Among his bestsellers are the 2012 book, The Communist, and his 2004 classic, God and Ronald Reagan. Several of his books are the basis for major films, including the film The Divine Plan (Robert Orlando, producer), which screened in theaters nationwide in 2019. In the summer of 2020, he will be publishing The Devil and Karl Marx (St. Benedict Press/TAN Books). Kengor is a frequent public speaker, at venues such as the Ronald Reagan Library, the Reagan Ranch Center, National Press Club, Heritage Foundation, Princeton University’s James Madison Program, American Enterprise Institute, the Center for Strategic & International Studies, the Gerald Ford Library, the National Presbyterian Church, the Fulton Sheen Cultural Center, and at colleges including the University of Virginia, the College of William & Mary, the Naval Academy, and Notre Dame University. Kengor received his doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs and master’s degree from The American University’s School of International Service. He holds an honorary doctorate from Franciscan University. He and his wife, Susan, have eight children, two of which are adopted. Readings & Resources "Teen Vogue to Teen Girls: Marx Good, Reagan Bad," by Paul Kengor, American Spectator The Devil and Karl Marx: Communism's Long March of Death, Deception, and Infiltration, by Paul Kengor (TAN Books) "Cultural Marxism and Its Conspirators," American Spectator series by Paul Kengor (part one & part two) Resources from the Ruth Institute "Toxic ideologies and how to detect them," Dr J’s FB chat, May 6, 2020 (full text here on Dr J's blog) "Why power mongers love impossible goals," Dr J’s FB Chat, May 7, 2020 (full text here) "Scapegoats in paradise," Dr J’s Chat, May 8, 2020 (full text here)

The consequences of this will likely last years. In the midst of a price war, global oil demand is in a free fall. The spread of the coronavirus has left 3 billion people worldwide unable to get on a plane, drive to work or go anywhere, really, at all. In response, global oil demand is plummeting. The International Energy Agency says as much as 20 million b/d of oil demand may be lost this year. On today's Capitol Crude podcast, Sarah Ladislaw, senior vice president and director and senior fellow of the Center for Strategic & International Studies' energy security and climate change program, answers a few questions about where the US oil sector is headed. What is the Trump administration doing to bail out the struggling shale industry? They say they're pressing the Saudis to work to stabilize the market, but how serious is that effort? And with Texas regulators contemplating oil alliances with Saudi Arabia, has the US oil industry entered a new, unpredictable chapter?

On May 16, 2019, DC police stormed the Venezuelan embassy, arresting the last remaining members of the Embassy Protection Collective. The collective was charged by the Venezuelan government with ensuring the embassy’s safety after diplomatic relations between Venezuela and the United States broke down. Over the course of a month, Guaido’s most militant, right-wing supporters in DC besieged the embassy on behalf of his appointed so-called ambassador, Carlos Vecchio. Among the ranks were employees of the World Bank, the NATO-backed pro-regime change think tank Center for Strategic & International Studies, and weapons manufacturer Raytheon. The Guaido supporters shouted homophobic and racist insults at the Embassy Protection Collective, while threatening to kill and rape journalists and collective members. They stole food from peace activists, engaged in violence against those trying to deliver the food, flashed strobe lights into the Embassy, and blasted air horns inches from the ears of the collective. They attempted to break into the building on several occasions. During the siege, the police, Trump’s Secret Service, and later the U.S. Marshals intervened to give Guaido’s supporters the strategic advantage. When a month of siege warfare failed to break the collective’s resolve, the police illegally entered the building, violating key articles of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. The excerpts you just heard were from the heavily protested press release by Guaido’s appointees, one day after the seizure of the embassy, as recorded by Anya Parampil of the Grayzone Project. They wasted no time in heartily thanking Donald Trump, the State Department, and the U.S. forces of regime change for their so-called victory. Because the Guaido puppet regime does not control any territory or government position in Venezuela, the embassy building under the control of Vecchio will not be able to fulfill any of the diplomatic functions that an embassy is tasked to carry out. This is a hollow victory for Guaido and Trump. The fallout from this violation of international law has consequences far beyond the U.S. war on Venezuela. It puts U.S. embassies across the world at risk of similar seizure if diplomatic relations were to break down.On this two-part episode of Empire Supernova, we speak with organizers who were on the ground during the siege of the embassy. First we hear from Claire Cook, an organizer with the ANSWER Coalition. Later, we speak with Kevin Zeese, a political activist and the co-director of Popular Resistance. Kevin was part of the collective that legally maintained the embassy from the beginning of the siege until the police raid on May 16. We talked to Claire only two days before the seizure of the Embassy, so the interview reflects the urgency of the situation. The process of resistance to this U.S. seizure exposed the farce that is the U.S. propping up of Guaido’s claim to the presidency of Venezuela.

In a conversation between Paul Pope and Seth Jones, Jones talks about his latest book, A Covert Action: Reagan, the CIA, and the Cold War Struggle in Poland. He discusses Reagan's approach to the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe and how the CIA aided Poland's opposition movement by helping it to run an underground media campaign, which, ultimately, helped it survive the onslaught from the regime. Pope and Jones also discuss the conditions that set up covert action for success. Here's a hint: Don't try to bake the whole cake. This event was co-sponsored by the Intelligence Studies Project, the Clements Center, and the Strauss Center. Seth Jones is the Harold Brown chair at the Center for Strategic & International Studies, where he is also director of the Transnational Threats Project and senior adviser for the International Security Program. Dr. Jones teaches at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies and the Center for Homeland Defense and Security at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School.   Produced by Tre Hester

We knew it was coming, and now it's here: A coup is in progress in Venezuela. In this follow up episode to CD176 (Target Venezuela: Regime Change in Progress), learn additional backstory and details about the recent events in Venezuela, including the proclamation by Juan Guaido that he is now the President of Venezuela and all of the efforts being made by the Trump administration to get this regime change to stick. Please Support Congressional Dish – Quick Links Click here to contribute monthly or a lump sum via PayPal Click here to support Congressional Dish for each episode via Patreon Send Zelle payments to: Donation@congressionaldish.com Send Venmo payments to: @Jennifer-Briney Send Cash App payments to: $CongressionalDish or Donation@congressionaldish.com Use your bank's online bill pay function to mail contributions to: 5753 Hwy 85 North, Number 4576, Crestview, FL 32536 Please make checks payable to Congressional Dish Thank you for supporting truly independent media! Recommended Congressional Dish Episodes CD186: National Endowment for Democracy CD176: Target Venezuela: Regime Change in Progress Sound Clip Sources Hearing: U.S. Africa and Southern Command Operations, Senate Armed Service Committee, C-SPAN, February 7, 2019. Witnesses: Admiral Craig Fuller - U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) Commander Sound Clips: 16:10 Fuller While Russia and Cuba and China prop up the Maduro dictatorship, the reminder of the world is united. SOUTHCOM is supporting diplomatic efforts and we are prepared to protect U.S. personal and diplomatic facilities, if necessary. 53:44 Sen. Rick Scott In the Venezuelan military, have you -- have you seen any cracking from the standpoint, what we've been doing over the last -- especially the last two weeks, has any thing changed? Fuller - Certainly, there's been readiness aspects of their military that we watch very closely. It's a degraded force, but it is still a force that remains loyal to Maduro, and that makes it dangerous. We're looking for signs of those cracking, and we can talk in the closed session on some more details in trends we're seeing. 1:00:00 Sen. Tom Cotton (AR) - He said earlier Cuban guards completely surround the Maduro government. Does that mean that Maduro is dependent on the Cuban security and intelligence forces for his continuation in office? Fuller - Senator, I think it's a good sense of where the loyalty of the Venezuelan people are that to his immediate security forces made up of Cubans. Cotton  - So the men that surround Maduro, like our Secret Service, are Cubans not Venezuelans. Fuller - That's my understanding and assessment. 1:01:54 Fuller - I would also mention that the presence of China, China has not been helpful in a diplomatic way. I will leave that to the diplomats. China is there and involved in cyber in ways that are absolutely not helpful to the democratic outcome. 1:18:47 Sen Tim Kaine (VA) - If the world wants to see a democracy versus a dictatorship challenge Venezuela is just like the perfect test case for circa 2019, what do democracies care for an what dictatorships care for, Venezuela government of Maduro is supported by Russia, Cuba, and Iran. And they are enabling him to do all kinds of horrible things economically and in violation of human rights. The interim government, which has a constitutional claim in the vacancy of a president, the speaker of the legislative assembly becomes interim president supported by the United States and the EU. You really can see what the difference between democracy and the aspirations of democratic governments and dictatorship and what they care about very clearly int eh Venezuela circumstance now. Here's the reality, we are dealing with regional institutions like the OAS, every nation has one vote. The U.S. has a hard time to get the UA asked firmly come out against the Maduro government because many Caribbean nations still support the Maduro government. They've been bribed to do so with low-price oil. But it's very hard for us to do something like this on our won and when a principal regional institution like the LAS is not completely with us it's hard to put the appropriate pressure on. Interview: Mnuchin says Trump's economic plan is working and 'we're not going back to socialism', CNBC, February 6, 2019. 00:58:37 Steven Mnuchin : I’ve always watched the stock market a lot. I’ve been in the investment business since I graduated from Yale and I’ve tended to watch the stock market every day since then... As the President talked about last night, his economic program is working. We’re not going back to socialism. We’re going on an economic plan for America that works. 2019 State of the Union Address: Trump appeals for unity to end political gridlock, February 5, 2019. 2019 State of the Union Address: Trump Praises the Venezuela Coup, February 5, 2019. 1:05:28 President Donald Trump - Two weeks ago, the United States officially recognized the legitimate government of Venezuela, and its new interim President, Juan Guaido. We stand with the Venezuelan people in their noble quest for freedom -- and we condemn the brutality of the Maduro regime, whose socialist policies have turned that nation from being the wealthiest in South America into a state of abject poverty and despair. Here, in the United States, we are alarmed by new calls to adopt socialism in our country. America was founded on liberty and independence --- not government coercion, domination, and control. We are born free, and we will stay free. Tonight, we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country. Interview: President Trump on "Face the Nation," CBS News, February 3, 2019. 00:42:58 MARGARET BRENNAN: What would make you use the U.S. military in Venezuela? What's the national security interest? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well I don't want to say that. But certainly it's something that's on the- it's an option. MARGARET BRENNAN: Would you personally negotiate with Nicolás Maduro to convince him to exit. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well he is requested a meeting and I've turned it down because we're very far along in the process. You have a young and energetic gentleman but you have other people within that same group that have been very very - if you talk about democracy - it's really democracy in action. MARGARET BRENNAN: When did he request a meeting? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We're going to see what happened. A number of months ago he wanted to meet. Interview: National Security Adviser Ambassador John Bolton, interviewed by Hugh Hewitt, Hugh Hewitt Book Club, February 1, 2019. Transcript Sound Clips: 01:20:23 Hugh Hewitt: There are reports of Venezuela shipping gold to the United Arab Emirates. The UAE is a very close ally of ours. Have you asked the UAE to sequester that gold? John Bolton: Let me just say this. We’re obviously aware of those reports consistent with what we did on Monday against PDVSA, the state-owned oil monopoly where we imposed crippling sanctions. Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury Secretary, is implementing them as we speak. We’re also looking at cutting off other streams of revenue and assets for the Maduro mafia, and that certainly includes gold. And we’ve already taken some steps to neutralize gold that’s been out of the country used as collateral for bank loans. We’ve frozen, and our friends in Europe, have frozen a substantial amount of that. We want to try and do the same here. We’re on top of it. That’s really all I can say at the moment. Council Session: Political Situation in Venezuela, Atlantic Council, January 30, 2019. Witnesses: Ed Royce - Former Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Carlos Alfredo Vecchio - Voluntad Popular Co-Founder, Interim Venezuelan Charge d’Affaires to the U.S. Julio Borges - Former President for the National Assembly of Venezuela David O’Sullivan - European Union Ambassador to the United States Sound Clips: 11:30 Carlos Alfredo Vecchio (via translator): What do we want to do? What is what we are asking the international community to support us with? First, to put an end to the usurpation of power by Nicolas Maduro. We cannot resolve the political and economic and social crisis as long as the dictatorship is in place. And this is something that we have to make clear. That is my priority, is to put an end to that and to help orchestrate international support to put an end to Maduro's dictatorship. 13:30 Carlos Alfredo Vecchio (via translator): Just to make very clear, I mean, from an economic point of view, we believe in an open market, an open economy. We believe in the private sector, we believe in the international and the national sectors, though, often, of course, our main source of revenue is the oil sector. So that would be a key element to recover our country, and we need to open that market. We need to increase our oil production. 39:15 David O’Sullivan: I think we absolutely share the same objective here. The European Union has always believed that the situation in Venezuela is unsustainable. We did not accept the results of the so-called elections last year. We declined collectively to attend the inauguration. And we are wholly supportive of the efforts of the National Assembly and Guaido to restore true democracy and free and fair elections. 48:00 Representative Ed Royce (CA): And a few years ago when the people in Venezuela elected the National Assembly, over two-thirds opposition to Maduro, he doubled down by asking China to bring the ZTE Corporation in and do a social credit system inside Venezuela on the same basis that it's done in China, which means that you now need that card in order to get food or medicine or your pension or your basic services. 48:30 Representative Ed Royce (CA): The fact that this ZTE-type arrangement exists in Venezuela, and now it exists in North Korea, and there's one other country where they have a contract—they're putting it in the Republic of Iran—this represents a new challenge to democracies. 1:15:00 Carlos Alfredo Vecchio: Just to make very clear, I mean, from an economic point of view, we believe in an open market, an open economy. We believe in the private sector, we believe in the international and the national sectors, though, often, of course, our main source of revenue is the oil sector. So that would be a key element to recover our country, and we need to open that market. We need to increase our oil production. 1:23:30 Carlos Alfredo Vecchio: Those agreements that has not been recognized by an international examiner, who has been illegal, we will not recognize illegal agreements. The rest, yes, we will comply with that. And let me send a clear message. For example, the only way that bond holders will not get paid, if Maduro remains in power. Nobody will complain with them. And China has to understand that, and Russia has to understand that. Discussion: Political Situation in Venezuela, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), January 29, 2019. Witnesses: Gustavo Tarre - George Washington University, CSIS Americas Program member, Designated Venezuelan Ambassador to the Organization of American States (appointed by Juan Guaido William Brownfield - Former US Ambassador to Venezuela, Chile, and Columbia during the George W. Bush administration and Obama administration Michael Matera - Center for Strategic & International Studies, America’s Program Director Sound Clips: 3:30 Michael Matera: In what is shaping up to be a very unstable and potentially explosive situation in Venezuela, the leading authoritarian nations of the world have stood by Maduro. Russia, Iran, Turkey, China, and Cuba, among a few others, have stated their continued recognition of Maduro. The future of Venezuela is turning more clearly than ever into a proxy struggle between the authoritarian regimes and the democratic nations. Venezuela could easily become the active front on which this struggle is defined. 8:15 Gustavo Tarre: Not only because his knowledge of Venezuela— Madea Benjamin: Not easy because you are here representing a coup. You are totally illegitimate. Nobody elected Juan Guaido, and nobody legitimate appointed you. You are taking Venezuela down the path of a civil war— Unknown Male Speaker: Excuse me. Excuse me, ma’am. Madea Benjamin: How dare you go to a civil war? What kind of patriot are you that allow yourself to be manipulated— Unknown Male Speaker: Out. Get out. Madea Benjamin: —by Donald Trump, John Bolton, and now Elliott Abrams, the ultra hawk. It is a very dangerous situation. We need negotiations, which is why we should be supporting Mexico and Uruguay in their call for negotiations. You don't follow the coup collaborators, like this man right here. Say no to coup. Unknown Male Speaker: See ‘ya. Ambassador— Madea Benjamin: We’re in the 21st century. 1:08:50 William Brownfield: What is the Cuban interest? It's 50,000 barrels of oil a day to an energy-starved nation. What is the Chinese approach? It is very much an economic approach, which is to say there are raw materials of great importance to the Chinese economy that are located in Venezuela, and they have a long-term economic interest in having access to them, driven by economics. Russia is more complicated. They do not need oil. They are, in fact, one of the three largest oil producers in the world right now, who produce more than their national need. It is geostrategic politics. I would offer everyone two thoughts—because I have taken this question from excellent representatives of the media over the last week with some frequency—first, don't listen that closely to the words that you hear from the governments of China or Russia. See if they put another billion or two or three billion investment into Venezuela. Money talks, and I have not seen evidence of that, which suggests that they, too, are pausing and taking a look at what happens. And second, if I could be Russia-specific briefly, I would note, and we all realize this, that over the last 10 years or so, Russia annexed the Crimea, and the Western democracies criticized and protested. Russia created two new republics—one in South Ossetia, the other in North Georgia, I believe—and the Western world protested. Russia at least supported, and I would argue actually infiltrated, large numbers of security personnel into the two easternmost provinces of Ukraine, and the Western world criticized. But at the end of the day, geography and history determined the Crimea is still under Russian control, South Ossetia and North Georgia still exist as independent states, and Russian influence is still quite visible in and whatever the other province is called. All right. That is geographic reality. We are now in the Western Hemisphere. If Brazil and Colombia and Argentina and Canada and the United States take a position, those same geographic realities will, in fact, move in the other direction. Of course we must listen to the Russian and Chinese governments—they are two of perhaps the three most important governments in the world—but we're entitled to use our brains as we calculate what they are saying and how we respond to it. 1:16:30 William Brownfield: What if Maduro hangs on yet once again, which by the way, ladies and gentlemen, is not inconceivable; it's happened before. We had not quite this much of a conversation, but in 2017 some sensed that things might be happening, and they did not happen. Is it possible again? Of course, it is. That is why we talk about a strategy, an international community strategy with two elements: one element being focused on the Maduro de _____(00:35) esta, the removal of that government, and that strategic component is not eliminated until someone new has moved into Miraflores Palace; and the second, related but separate element of planning for the day after. Hearing: Hearing to Consider Worldwide Threats, Select Committee on Intelligence, U.S. Senate, January 29, 2019. C-SPAN Report Video Witnesses: Dan Coats - Director of National Intelligence Christopher Wray - FBI Director Gina Haspel - CIA Director Lt. General Robert Ashley - Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Director General Paul Nakasone - National Security Agency Director Sound Clips: 1:11:00 Senator Marco Rubio (FL): We know they have openly and repeatedly, at least Maduro has, invited the Russians and Putin to establish either a rotational or a permanent presence somewhere in Venezuela, thereby creating a Russian military presence in the Western Hemisphere. In fact, they flew, about three weeks ago or a month ago, two Russian nuclear-capable bombers into the Caribbean Sea. 1:12:15 Senator Marco Rubio (FL): Is it not in the national interest of the United States of America that the Maduro regime fall and be replaced by a democratic and more responsible government? 1:15:15 Lieutenant General Robert Ashley: The reference you made to the Tu-160 Blackjacks that flew those strategic bombers, third iteration of that—first time was in '08, and then '14, and we've seen it again. As far as presence on the ground, we can talk a little bit more detail in a closed session about where we see Russia and China going with that greater instability. But in the open press, what you've seen thus far really is nothing more than just vocal support that's coming out of Moscow and that's coming out of China as well, but there is relationship there. From the military standpoint in the way of training, lots of Venezuelan officers go to Russia for training, and there's a reciprocal relationship for equipping them as well. 1:16:00 Senator Angus King (ME): In light of Senator Rubio's comments, I'd just like to note of caution, he listed refugee flows, human rights abuses, and corruption. There are lots of countries in the world that meet that description, and our right or responsibility to generate regime change in a situation like that, I think, is a slippery slope. And I have some real caution about what our vital interests are and whether it's our right or responsibility to take action to try to change the government of another sovereign country. That same description would have led us into a much more active involvement in Syria, for example, five or six years ago, other parts of the country. I just wanted to note that. Fox Business Video: John Bolton on Regime Change in Venezuela, Iraqi Christian HRC, Twitter, January 28, 2019. White House Daily Briefing: Trump Administration sanctions against Venezuela's state-owned oil company, January 28, 2019. Speakers: Steve Mnuchin - Treasury Secretary John Bolton - National Security Advisor Sound Clips: 1:26 John Bolton: As you know, on January the 23rd, President Trump officially recognized the president of the Venezuela National Assembly, Juan Guaido, as the interim president of Venezuela. Venezuela's National Assembly invoked Article 233 of the country's constitution to declare Nicolas Maduro illegitimate. This action was a statement that the people of Venezuela have had enough of oppression, corruption, and economic hardship. Since then, 21 other governments in the region and across the world have joined the United States in recognizing Guaido as Venezuela's interim president. 3:53 John Bolton: I reiterate that the United States will hold Venezuelan security forces responsible for the safety of all U.S. diplomatic personnel, the National Assembly, and President Guido. Any violence against these groups would signify a grave assault on the rule of law and will be met with a significant response. 4:24 Steven Mnuchin: Today Treasury took action against Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, PDVSA, to help prevent the further diversion of Venezuela’s assets by former President Maduro. 5:21 Steven Mnuchin: The path to sanctions relief for PDVSA is through the expeditious transfer of control to the interim president or a subsequent democratically elected government who is committed to taking concrete and meaningful actions to combat corruption. 5:40 Steven Mnuchin: Today OFAC also issued a number of general licenses that authorize certain transactions and activities with PDVSA for limited periods of time to minimize any immediate disruptions and support of ongoing humanitarian efforts. 6:00 Steven Mnuchin: Citgo assets in the United States will be able to continue to operate provided that any funds that would otherwise go to PDVSA instead will go into a blocked account in the United States. 6:10 Steven Mnuchin: Refineries in the United States have already been taking steps to reduce the reliance on imports from Venezuela. Those imports have fallen substantially in recent months. We have also issued general licenses to ensure that certain European and Caribbean countries can make an orderly transition. 6:20 Steven Mnuchin: We continue to call on all of our allies and partners to join the United States in recognizing Interim President Guaido in blocking Maduro from being able to access PDVSA funds. 7:10 Reporter: Is there any circumstance under which American forces would get involved? John Bolton: Well, the president has made it very clear on this matter that all options are on the table. 7:43 Steven Mnuchin: But effective immediately, any purchases of Venezuelan oil by U.S. entities, money will have to go into blocked accounts. Now, I've been in touch with many of the refineries. There is a significant amount of oil that's at sea that's already been paid for. That oil will continue to come to the United States. If the people in Venezuela want to continue to sell us oil, as long as that money goes into blocked accounts, we'll continue to take it. Otherwise, we will not be buying it. And again, we have issued general licenses, so the refineries in the United States can continue to operate. 9:06 Steven Mnuchin: The purpose of sanctions is to change behavior. So when there is a recognition that PDVSA is the property of the rightful rulers, the rightful leaders, the president, then, indeed, that money will be available to Guaido. 9:52 John Bolton: And the authoritarian regime of Chavez and Maduro has allowed penetration by adversaries of the United States, not least of which is Cuba. Some call the country now Cubazuela, reflecting the grip that Cuba’s military and security forces have on the Maduro regime. We think that’s a strategic significant threat to the United States, and there are others as well, including Iran’s interest in Venezuelan’s uranium deposits. 15:56 Steven Mnuchin: We're dealing with Venezuelan oil that is a rather modest part of our overall supply. Again, we're a net exporter of energy. We are particularly concerned that there were a handful of refineries that had a dependence on Venezuelan oil. I think they read the tea leaves. They reduced that dependence significantly along the way. Most of them have in the neighborhood of 10% or less of their dependent on Venezuelan oil. So, I don't expect that people will see an impact on the gas pumps. 17:10 Steven Mnuchin: I’m sure many of our friends in the Middle East will be happy to make up the supply as we push down Venezuela’s supply. Meeting: Secretary Pompeo Speaks at U.N. Security Council Meeting on Venezuela, January 26, 2019. Speaker: Mike Pompeo - Secretary of State Sound Clips: 2:20 Mike Pompeo: Let’s be crystal clear: The foreign power meddling in Venezuela today is Cuba. Cuba has directly made matters worse and the United States and our partners are the true friends of the Venezuelan people. 16:40 Mike Pompeo: Such scenes of misery are now the norm in Venezuela, where millions of children are suffering from malnutrition and starvation, thanks to a socialist experiment that caused the economy to collapse. 20:24 Mike Pompeo: And now it’s time for every other nation to pick a side. No more delays. No more games. Either you stand with the forces of freedom or you’re in league with Maduro and his mayhem... But no regime has done more to sustain the nightmarish condition of the Venezuelan people than the regime in Havana. For years, Cuban security and intelligence thugs, invited into Venezuela by Maduro himself and those around him, have sustained this illegitimate rule. They have trained Maduro’s security and intelligence henchmen in Cuba’s own worst practices. Cuba’s interior ministry even provides former President Maduro’s personal security... Some countries have publicly taken former President Maduro’s side. China, Russia, Syria, and Iran are just four of them. Just this morning, we tried to find a way for this council to speak in one voice in support of the Venezuelan people and our democratic ideals through a presidential statement not this council. But our Russian and Chinese colleagues refused to let this move forward. It’s not a surprise that those that rule without democracy in their own countries are trying to prop up Maduro while he is in dire straights. Meeting: U.N. Security Council Meeting on the Situation in Venezuela, January 26, 2019. Speakers: Jorge Arreaza - Venezuelan Foreign Minister Elliott Abrams - U.S. Special Envoy to Venezuela Sound Clips: 00:10 Jorge Arreaza: So 2002 is a direct precedent to what is happening. They were behind the coup d’etat. They weren’t as much in the vanguard or in advance as this time. They recognized Carmona, the dictator for the 72 hours that it lasted... It was on the 22nd, where Vice President Pence basically in a tweet gave a green light for a coup d’etat in Venezuela. As Under Secretary General said the interim President is self proclaimed. There was no ceremony. It was self proclamation by a member of Parliament at a public rally, at a peaceful public rally, one of many that there have been over the past years... If one of you can tell me in which article and which provision of the United Nations charter you can find the legal basis for self proclamation who wasn’t elected by anyone as President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, then we can open a discussion on the legal aspects, but I don’t think that will happen... At last we have a chance to speak. We have a written text but before that I wanted to share some thoughts with you. Indeed, we can even thank Mr. Mike Pompeo because in the face of failure at the Organization of American States on the 24th of January, they didn’t have enough weight to impose a resolution, well they convened a meeting of the Security Council. In fact, we - President Maduro - thought of appealing to this body not only to debate the case of Venezuela but rather the blatant and gross intervention, and mechanisms of interference by the United States in our country. In this case, the United States is not behind the coup d’etat, it is in advance in the vanguard of the coup d’etat. It is dictating the orders not only to the Venezuelan opposition but also to the satellite governments in the region, and it seems it Europe and in other parts of the world. 31:47 Elliot Abrams: I can not respond to every attack that was made on every country here. The insults that were made by calling many countries here “satellites”. In fact, it was interesting that every single country that was attacked - or criticized - was a democracy. Every single one that you criticized was a democracy... Today there is a satellite present here and it is Venezuela, which is unfortunately has become a satellite of Cuba and Russia... The regime is hiding behind, and it’s spokesman is hiding behind, the laws and constitution of Venezuela. Hearing: Defense Department Nominations, Senate Armed Services Committee, January 25, 2019. Witness: Vice Admiral Craig Faller - US Southern Command Commander Sound Clips: 1:37:00 Senator Bill Nelson (FL): What do you think that is the proper role of SouthCom in supporting the Venezuelan people now, in this time of exceptional chaos? Craig Faller: Senator, the Southern Command is focused on supporting our partners—Brazil, Columbia, those that have been most affected by the migrants, the spillover of some one-million-plus in Columbia. Recently, visited Columbia was the secretary of defense. President Duque is keenly aware and sharply focused on all his security challenges, and this is at the top of that list. As a result of the Columbian government's request, we intend to deploy the hospital ship Comfort—it will be underway shortly. It was delayed because of the hurricane—to the region to help our partners offset some of the impacts of this, particularly with the medical care that's been required and the strain that's placed on the resources. Fox Business Video: Vice President Mike Pence Tweet about US recognizing Guaido as Venezuelan President, Twitter, January 23, 2019. 00:33:32 Vice President Mike Pence: Today, freedom broke out in Venezuela with the recognition of a new interim president in Juan Guaido, a courageous man who stepped forward, the President of the National Assembly who took the oath of office, and I couldn’t be more proud that at President Trump’s direction, the United States of America became the first country in the world to recognize President Guaido, and now many other nations join us as well. Video: Vice President Mike Pence Tweet about Venezuela, Twitter, January 22, 2019. Vice President Mike Pence: Hola. I’m Mike Pence, the Vice President of the United States, and on behalf of President Donald Trump and all the American people, let me express the unwavering support of the United States as you - the people of Venezuela - raise your voices in a call for freedom. Nicholas Maduro is a dictator with no legitimate claim to power. He’s never won the Presidency in a free and fair election and he’s maintained his grip on power by imprisoning anyone who dares to oppose him. The United States joins with all freedom loving nations in recognizing the National Assembly as the last vestige of democracy in your country, for it’s the only body elected by you, the people. As such, the United States supports the courageous decision by Juan Guaido, the President of your National Assembly, to assert that body’s constitutional powers, declare Maduro a usurper, and call for the establishment of a transitional government. As you make your voices heard tomorrow, on behalf of the American people, we say to all the good people of Venezuela, estamos con ustedes. We are with you. We stand with you and we will stay with you until democracy is restored and you reclaim your birthright of libertad. Muchas gracias y vayan con Dios. Hearing: Foreign Policy in the Western Hemisphere, House Foreign Affairs Committee, July 11, 2018. Witnesses: Kenneth Merten - Deputy Assistant secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Sarah-Ann Lynch - USAID Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator for Latin America and the Caribbean Sound Clips: 27:30 Chairman Ed Royce (CA): And meanwhile, despite sitting on the world's largest oil reserves, Venezuelan oil production has fallen by half in the last few years. Venezuela in the meantime has been sending several hundred thousand barrels of oil every day to China as repayment on the tens of billions of dollars it has borrowed. And more recently, China's development bank announced a new quarter-billion dollar investment to shore up Venezuela's struggling oil production. Video: You're Welcome, Duane Johnson, Moana, YouTube, November 28, 2019. Hearing: The Collapse of the Rule of Law in Venezuela, Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Transnational Crime, Civilian Security, Democracy, Human Rights, and Global Women's Issues, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, July 19, 2017. Witness: Luis Almagro - Secretary General of the Organization of American States Sound Clips: 07:15 Senator Marco Rubio: I also know this, and I do not speak for the president, but I’ve certainly spoken to the president, and I will only reiterate what he has already said, and I’ve been saying this now for a number of days: it is my—I have 100% confidence that if democracy is destroyed once and for all in Venezuela on the 30th in terms of the Maduro regime, the president of the U.S. is prepared to act unilaterally in a significant and swift way. And that is not a threat; that is the reporting of the truth. Hearing: Full Committee Hearing Venezuela: Options for U.S. Policy, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, March 2, 2017. Witnesses: Dr. David Smilde - Professor at Tulane University & NYT writer Dr. Shannon O’Neil - Council on Foreign Relations Former equity analyst at Indosuez Capital and Credit Lyonnais Securities Member of the Board of Directors at Rassini, an multinational auto parts manufacturers that make parts for US auto companies Senior advisor for Latin America at Macro Advisory Partners, a multinational consulting firm founded in 2013 Mark Feierstein - Center for Strategic and International Studies Senior Advisor to the Albright Stonbridge Group CLS Strategies GBA Strategies Special assistant to President Obama and Senior Director for Western Hemisphere Affairs Former Assistant Administrator for Latin America and the Caribbean at USAID Worked in State Dept and USAID in Clinton Administration Former principal at Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, an international political consulting firm Sound Clips: 21:53 Shannon O’Neil: Multilateral initiatives are perhaps more important and potentially more fruitful as a means to influence Venezuela. This will mean working behind the scenes to galvanize opposition and condemnation for the Maduro regime. This’ll be more effective than U.S. efforts alone as it will be much harder for the Venezuelan government to dismiss the criticisms and the actions of its South American neighbors as imperialist overreach. And such a coalition is much more possible today than in any time in the recent past, due both to the accelerating repression and the breaking of the last democratic norms in Venezuela, and due to the very different stances of South America’s recently elected leaders, particularly in Peru, in Brazil, and in Argentina. 41:12 Senator Bob Menendez: I’m pleased to have led a bipartisan and bicameral letter of my colleagues, urging the administration to take actions against the administration, and I look forward for a continuing engagement. But I hope we can work together to hold human-rights violators and drug traffickers, send a clear message, “If you’re going to violate rights of others inside of Venezuela, know that you’re next. Know that you’re next.” And while the Maduro regime may have sanctioned me and forbidden my entry into Venezuela, it will not stop me from pursuing this issue. Video Compilation: Either With Us or With the Terrorists - President George W. Bush, YouTube, May 26, 2013 Additional Reading Article: How Washington funded the counterrevolution in Venezuela by Tim Gill and Rebecca Hansen, The Nation, February 8, 2019. Statement: Pelosi statement on the situation in Venezuela, Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, February 8, 2019. Article: Venezuela says plan from Miami delivered weapons for use by enemies of Maduro by Tim Johnson, McClatchy DC, February 7, 2019. Article: Senators fail to reach deal on recognizing Venezuela's Guaido, aide says by Daniel Flatley, Bloomberg, February 7, 2019. Article: Bipartisan Venezuela legislation fizzles over use of military force by Leigh Ann Caldwell and Josh Lederman, NBC News, February 6, 2019. Article: Spotify podcast acquisitions will bring a lot of money into tiny industry by Taylor Telford, The Washington Post, February 6, 2019. Article: Spotify technology S.A. announces financial results for fourth quarter 2018, Spotify Investors, February 6, 2019. Article: Trump's Venezuela envoy to testify to U.S. House panel amid crisis by Patricia Zengerle and Arshad Mohammed, Reuters, February 6, 2019. Article: Russia starts to worry Maduro's grip is slipping in Venezuela, The Moscow Times, February 6, 2019. Article: French, German farmers destroy crops after GMOs found in BAyer seeds by Sybille de La Hamaide, Reuters, February 6, 2019. Article: Venezuela opposition will name new Citgo board this week: WSJ, Reuters, February 6, 2019. Article: How the neocons captured Donald Trump by Brian D'Haeseleer, The Washington Post, February 5, 2019. Article: Lima group warns against Venezuela military intervention, France 24, February 5, 2019. Article: Maduro's allies: Who backs the Venezuelan regime? by Rocio Cara Labrador, Council on Foreign Relations, February 5, 2019. Article: What does it mean for the United States to recognize Juan Guaido as Venezuela's President? by Scott R. Anderson, Lawfare, February 1, 2019. Article: Venezuela opposition leader outlines plan to revive nation by Ryan Dube and Kejal Vyas, The Wall Street Journal, January 31, 2019. Article: Elliott Abrams, Trump's pick to bring "democracy" to Venezuela, has spent his life crushing democracy by John Schwarz, The Intercept, January 30, 2019. Article: U.S. push to oust Venezuela's Maduro marks first shot in plan to reshape Latin America by Jessica Donati, Vivian Salama, and Ian Talley, The Wall Street Journal, January 30, 2019. Article: The real reason why those foreign powers are so interested in Venezuela by Melik Kaylan, Forbes, January 29, 2019. Article: How Citgo, a U.S. oil company, became Venezuela's lifeline by Adam Taylor, The Washington Post, January 29, 2019. Article: US diplomat convicted over Iran-Contra appointed special envoy for Venezuela by Julian Borger, The Guardian, January 26, 2019. Tweet: America stands by the people of #Venezuela... Nancy Pelosi, Twitter, January 24, 2019. Article: Russia warns U.S. not to intervene in Venezuela as military backs Maduro by Ana Vanessa Herrero and Neil MacFarquhar, The New York Times, January 24, 2019. Tweet: The citizens of Venezuela have suffered for too long at... Donald J. Trump, January 23, 2019. Tweet: Today @POTUS announced the U.S. officially recognizes Juan Guaido as... Vice President Mike Pence, January 23, 2019. Tweet: .@POTUS & the US stand w/ the Venezuelan peopl eas they seek to regain their liberty from... Vice President Mike Pence, January 22, 2019. Article: Brazil's Bolsonaro pledges action to 'restore democracy' in Venezuela, Reuters, January 17, 2019. Article: Venezuela is in crisis. So how did Maduro secure a second term? by Ana Vanessa Herrero and Megan Specia, The New York Times, January 10, 2019. Article: Lima group says it won't recognize Maduro's new term as president of Venezuela by Jim Wyss, Miami Herald, January 4, 2019. Article: Trump taps ex-Boeing executive Patrick Shanahan as acting Defense Secretary by Darko Janjevic, DW, December 23, 2018. Article: Russia sends 2 nuclear-capable bombers to Venezuela by Vladimir Isachenkov, Navy Times, December 10, 2018. Article: Russia signs $6 billion investment deals with Venezuela, Maduro says, The Moscow Times, December 7, 2018. Press Release: Rubio, Van Hollen urge administration to investigate ZTE business with Venezuelan government, Marco Rubio Newsroom, November 28, 2018. Article: How ZTE helps Venezuela create China-style social control by Angus Berwick, Reuters, November 14, 2018. Article: Trump administration tightens sanctions gains Cuba, Venezuela by Courtney McBride, The Wall Street Journal, November 1, 2018. Article: Canada's Rusoro Mining reaches $1.3B deal with Venezuela by Cecilia Jamasmie, Mining.com, October 12, 2018. Article: Rusoro Mining has received a settlement proposal from the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Rusoro Mining News, October 11, 2018. Article: Venezuela hands China more oil peresence, but no mention of new funds by Ben Blanchard and Alexandra Ulmer, Reuters, September 14, 2018. Article: Trump administration discussed coup plans with rebel Venezuelan officers by Ernesto Londono and Nicholas Casey, The New York Times, September 8, 2018. Article: A record-breaking market doesn't matter to most Americans by Helaine Olen, The Washington Post, August 22, 2018. Article: The politics of food in Venezuela by Ana Felicien, Christina Schiavoni, and Liccia Romero, Monthly Review, June 1, 2018.html) by William Neuman and Nicholas Casey, The New York Times, May 20, 2018. Article: Regional leaders call on Venezuela to suspend 'illegitimate' election by Eli Meixler, Time, May 15, 2018. Article: [Venezuela election won by Maduro amid widespread disillusionment](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/20/world/americas/venezuela-election. Article: US media ignore - and applaud - economic war on Venezuela by Gregory Shupak, Common Dreams, March 22, 2018. Article: Rusoro mining wins key U.S. court ruling confirming arbitration award, Rusoro Mining News, March 14, 2018. Article: Venezuela's Maduro calls for 'mega-election' that could cement his power by Rachelle Krygier, The Washington Post, February 22, 2018. Article: Venezuela opposition will boycott election, and Maduro tightens his hold by Ana Vanessa Herrero and Kirk Semple, The New York Times, February 21, 2018. Article: Venezuela launches virtual currency, hoping to resuscitate economy by Kirk Semple and Nathaniel Popper, The New York Times, February 20, 2018. Tweet: The world would support the Armed Forces in #Venezuela if they decide to... Marco Rubio, February 9, 2018. Article: Few challengers in sight, Venezuela sets April 22 for presidential vote by Nicholas Casey, The New York Times, February 7, 2018. Briefing: Background briefing on the Secretary's travel to Austin, Texas; Mexico City, Mexico; San Carlos Bariloche, Argentina; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Lima, Peru; Bogota, Colombia; and Kingston, Jamaica, Senior State Department Officials, U.S. Department of State, January 29, 2018. Article: Venezuela calls for early elections, and Maduro aims to retain control by Kirk Semple, The New York Times, January 23, 2018. Article: Tired of regional critics, Venezuela looks to Russia and China by Ernesto Londono, The New York Times, December 27, 2017. Article: Venezuela puts up roadblock for opposition in next presidential vote by Ana Vanessa Herrero, The New York Times, December 20, 2017. Article: As Venezuela opposition shuns vote, leader's party tightens grip on power by Kirk Semple, The New York Times, December 10, 2017. Article: Putin extends lifeline to cash-strapped Venezuela by Patrick Gillespie, CNN Business, November 15, 2017. Article: Venezuela's two legislatures duel, but only one has ammunition by Kirk Semple, The New York Times, November 3, 2017. Advisory: Reports from financial institutions are critical to stopping, deterring, and preventing the proceeds tied to suspected Venezuelan public corruption from moving through the U.S. financial system, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, September 20, 2017. Article: White House raises pressure on Venezuela with new financial sanctions by Clifford Krauss, The New York Times, August 25, 2017. Article: Venezuela's new, powerful assembly takes over legislature's duties by Nicholas Casey, The New York Times, August 18, 2017. Report: Vladimir's Venezuela - leveraging loans to Caracas, Moscow snaps up oil assets by Marianna Parraga and Alexandra Ulmer, Reuters, August 11, 2017. Article: Trump says military is 'locked and loaded' and North Korea will 'regret' threats by Peter Baker, The New York Times, August 11, 2017. Article: Venezuela's new assembly members share a goal: Stifle dissent by Nicholas Casey and Ana Vanessa Herrero, The New York Times, August 3, 2017. Article: Venezuela vote marred by violence, including candidate's death by Nicholas Casey, Patricia Torres, and Ana Vanessa Herrero, The New York Times, July 30, 2017. Article: Goldman buys $2.8 billion worth of Venezuelan bonds, and an uproar begins by Landon Thomas Jr., The New York Times, May 30, 2017. Article: Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela President, calls for a rewrite of the constitution by Nicholas Casey, The New York Times, May 1, 2017. Article: Venezuela says it will leave pro-democracy organization by Nicholas Casey, The New York Times, April 26, 2017. Article: Crisis-ridden Venezuela gave $500k to Trump inauguration by Patrick Gillespie and Flora Charner, CNN Money, April 20, 2017. Article: Venezuelan court revises ruling that nullified legislature by Nicholas Casey and Patricia Torres, The New York Times, April 1, 2017. Article: As criticism mounts, Venezuela asks high court revisit power grab by Nicholas Casey, The New York Times, March 31, 2017. Article: Venezuela muzzles legislature, moving closer to one-man rule by Nicholas Casey and Patricia Torres, The New York Times, March 30, 2017. Article: An actual American war criminal may become our second-ranking diplomat by Eric Alterman, The Nation, February 2, 2017. Article: What happened when Venezuela outlawed its own currency by Jeremy Ashkenas and Quoctrung Bui, The New York Times, December 30, 2016. Article: Venezuela: three opposition lawmakers resign in concession to Maduro, Reuters, November 15, 2016. Article: Venezuelan lawmakers vote to put President Nicolas Maduro on trial by Ana Vanessa Herrero and Elisabeth Malkin, The New York Times, October 25, 2016. Article: Venezuelan electoral panel halts effort to recall President Nicolas Maduro by Patricia Torres and Elisabeth Malkin, The New York Times, October 21 2016. Article: Venezuela's supreme court consolidates Nicolas Maduro's power by Elisabeth Malkin and Nicholas Casey, The New York Times, October 12, 2016. Article: O.A.S. issues rebuke to Venezuela citing threats to democracy by Nicholas Casey, The New York Times, May 31, 2016. Article: Venezuela panel clears the way for a process to oust Nicolas Maduro by Patricia Torres and Nicholas Casey, The New York Times, April 26, 2016. Article: Venezuela's court deals another blow to opposition lawmakers by Nicholas Casey, The New York Times, April 12, 2016. Article: In power struggle, Venezuela's high court declares parliament in contempt by Mery Mogollon and Chris Kraul, Los Angeles Times, January 11, 2016. Article: Venezuela: Court held lawmakers in contempt by Nicholas Casey, The New York Times, January 11, 2016. Article: Venezuela opposition takes reins of assembly as tensions rise by William Neuman and Nicholas Casey, The New York Times, January 5, 2016. Article: 9 opposition candidates barred from Venezuela's December ballot by William Neuman, The New York Times, August 23, 2015. Article: Venezuelan court rejects challenge to Presidential election results by William Neuman, The New York Times, August 7, 2013. Article: Kerry encourages Venezuela recount by William Neuman, The New York Times, April 17, 2013. Report: Study mission of the Carter Center in 2013 Presidential elections in Venezuela, The Carter Center, April 14, 2013. Article: Venezuela coup linked to Bush team by Ed Vulliamy, The Guardian, April 21, 2002. Article: Uprising in Venezuela: The government; Venezuela's chief forced to resign; civilian installed by Juan Forero, The New York Times, April 13, 2002. Article: 12 years of tortured truth on El Salvador by Guy Gugliotta and Douglas Farrah, The Washington Post, March 21, 1993. Article: Bush pardons Weinberger, 5 others in Iran-Contra;Act called cover-up by Robert Jackson and Ronald J. Ostrow, The Los Angeles Times, December 25, 1992. Article: Elliot Abrams admits his guild on 2 counts in Contra cover-up by David Johnston, The New York Times, October 8, 1991. Article: Aide says U.S. planes carried contra arms, Archives, The New York Times, August 15, 1987. Resources Bio: Elliot Abrams, Council on Foreign Affairs National Endowment for Democracy: Elliott Abrams, Council on Foreign Relations Community Suggestions See more Community Suggestions HERE. Cover Art Design by Only Child Imaginations Music Presented in This Episode Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio)

During President Obama's second term, the military was scaled back.  Brian talks about being impacted by the drawdown and what life is like after serving twelve and a half years in the Marines.   Additional resources Center for Strategic & International Studies, "What Has the Budget Control Act of 2011 Meant for Defense?" The Washington Post, "Obama announces new, leaner military approach" The New York Times, "Is It Wise to Cut Military Spending?" PBS News Hour, "Fact-checking GOP candidate claims on Obama’s military spending" PoliFact, "PolitiFact Sheet: Military spending under Obama and Congress" The Washington Post, "U.S. military budget inches closer to $1 trillion mark, as concerns over federal deficit grow"

As the American president does a victory lap feeling he convinced NATO nations to up their defence spending, what is the reality of the situation and Canada's participation in NATO?  Rob chats with Jeffery Rathke, Senior Fellow and Deputy Director, Europe Program at the Centre for Strategic + International Studies.

Southern Sense is conservative talk with Annie "The Radio Chick" Ubelis. Informative, fun, irreverent and politically incorrect, you never know where we'll go, but you'll love the journey! Southern-Sense.comValerie L. Greenfeld, Author: Backyard Jihad How Parents Can Detect the Threat of Radicalization is an expert on ISIS targeting certain youth on America's college campuses and trying to radicalize them!International Security Expert, Valerie formerly worked in the Reagan White House for Dr. Kissinger’s Center for Strategic & International Studies, and The Investigative Project on Terrorism. She is trained in Counter-Terrorism from the IDC, Herzliya , Israel at the Counter-Terrorism Institute. Trevor Loudon - Subversive Candidates - is about to launch an exciting new project. Starting soon, and continuing until the elections and beyond, Trevor will be launching a series of short, professionally produced videos exposing domestic enemies of the Constitution with research compiled at KeyWiki.org. They will be mobile-phone friendly and designed for mass distribution before the 2018 elections. trevorloudon.comDedication: Police Officer Rodney Scott Smith, Hickman Police Department, KY, EOW: Friday, March 2, 2018

Southern Sense is conservative talk with Annie "The Radio Chick" Ubelis. Informative, fun, irreverent and politically incorrect, you never know where we'll go, but you'll love the journey! Southern-Sense.comValerie L. Greenfeld, Author: Backyard Jihad How Parents Can Detect the Threat of Radicalization is an expert on ISIS targeting certain youth on America's college campuses and trying to radicalize them!International Security Expert, Valerie formerly worked in the Reagan White House for Dr. Kissinger’s Center for Strategic & International Studies, and The Investigative Project on Terrorism. She is trained in Counter-Terrorism from the IDC, Herzliya , Israel at the Counter-Terrorism Institute. Trevor Loudon - Subversive Candidates - is about to launch an exciting new project. Starting soon, and continuing until the elections and beyond, Trevor will be launching a series of short, professionally produced videos exposing domestic enemies of the Constitution with research compiled at KeyWiki.org. They will be mobile-phone friendly and designed for mass distribution before the 2018 elections. trevorloudon.comDedication: Police Officer Rodney Scott Smith, Hickman Police Department, KY, EOW: Friday, March 2, 2018

Southern Sense is conservative talk with Annie "The Radio Chick" Ubelis, as host and "CS" Bennett, co-host. Informative, fun, irreverent and politically incorrect, you never know where we'll go, but you'll love the journey! Visit our website at http://www.Southern-Sense.com2:15 International Security Expert, Valerie Greenfeld. Valerie formerly worked in the Reagan White House for Dr. Kissinger’s Center for Strategic & International Studies, and The Investigative Project on Terrorism. She is trained in Counter-Terrorism from the IDC, Herzliya , Israel at the Counter-Terrorism Institute. Her blog is The Backyad Caliphate3:00 Maria Espinoza, is the National Director of The Remembrance Project, which honors and remembers Americans and legal residents who have been killed by illegal aliensDedication: To the United States Marine Corps on their 242nd Birthday. Sempre Fi Marines

Southern Sense is conservative talk with Annie "The Radio Chick" Ubelis, as host and "CS" Bennett, co-host.  Informative, fun, irreverent and politically incorrect, you never know where we'll go, but you'll love the journey!  Visit our website at http://www.Southern-Sense.com2:15 International Security Expert, Valerie Greenfeld. Valerie formerly worked in the Reagan White House for Dr. Kissinger’s Center for Strategic & International Studies, and The Investigative Project on Terrorism. She is trained in Counter-Terrorism from the IDC, Herzliya , Israel at the Counter-Terrorism Institute.  Her blog is The Backyad Caliphate3:00 Maria Espinoza, is the National Director of The Remembrance Project, which honors and remembers Americans and legal residents who have been killed by illegal aliensDedication: To the United States Marine Corps on their 242nd Birthday. Sempre Fi Marines 

Southern Sense is conservative talk with Annie "The Radio Chick" Ubelis, as host and "CS" Bennett, co-host.  Informative, fun, irreverent and politically incorrect, you never know where we'll go, but you'll love the journey!  Visit our website at http://www.Southern-Sense.com 2:15 International Security Expert, Valerie Greenfeld. Valerie formerly worked in the Reagan White House for Dr. Kissinger’s Center for Strategic & International Studies, and The Investigative Project on Terrorism. She is trained in Counter-Terrorism from the IDC, Herzliya , Israel at the Counter-Terrorism Institute.  Her blog is The Backyad Caliphate 3:00 Maria Espinoza, is the National Director of The Remembrance Project, which honors and remembers Americans and legal residents who have been killed by illegal aliens Dedication: To the United States Marine Corps on their 242nd Birthday. Sempre Fi Marines  

Southern Sense is conservative talk with Annie "The Radio Chick" Ubelis, as host and "CS" Bennett, co-host. Informative, fun, irreverent and politically incorrect, you never know where we'll go, but you'll love the journey! Visit our website at http://www.Southern-Sense.com2:15 International Security Expert, Valerie Greenfeld. Valerie formerly worked in the Reagan White House for Dr. Kissinger’s Center for Strategic & International Studies, and The Investigative Project on Terrorism. She is trained in Counter-Terrorism from the IDC, Herzliya , Israel at the Counter-Terrorism Institute. Her blog is The Backyad Caliphate3:00 Maria Espinoza, is the National Director of The Remembrance Project, which honors and remembers Americans and legal residents who have been killed by illegal aliensDedication: To the United States Marine Corps on their 242nd Birthday. Sempre Fi Marines

On the podcast, James pretends like he actually did some work during a trip to Toronto this week, by sharing some excerpts from his interviews at the annual Sibos conference. First up, Alan Marquand, director of strategy at CLS, tells James about the risk-mitigation utility’s move into blockchain early next year. Next, James speaks with Paula da Silva, head of transaction services at SEB, about balancing innovation with the need to keep crucial business units running. Finally, William Carter of the Center for Strategic International Studies tells the audience at Sibos about one particularly unfortunate bank CEO’s encounter with Russian intelligence. 3:50 Why CLS is running a technology play with blockchain. 5:50 Partnerships and business cases, from da Silva. 8:20 Carter talks about how firms can’t rely on the government to protect them. You can find all of James’ articles from Sibos—including exclusive stories covering blockchain, AI, cybersecurity and robotics—here. https://www.waterstechnology.com/organisations/sibos

On August 2nd, President Trump signed a new law that passed Congress with the overwhelming support of both political parties, which imposes sanctions on three countries: Russia, North Korea, and Iran. In this episode, we examine the new sanctions and the big-picture motivations behind them. In the process, we jump down the rabbit hole of the U.S. involvement in the 2014 regime change in Ukraine. Please support Congressional Dish: Click here to contribute using credit card, debit card, PayPal, or Bitcoin Click here to support Congressional Dish for each episode via Patreon Mail Contributions to: 5753 Hwy 85 North #4576 Crestview, FL 32536 Thank you for supporting truly independent media! Recommended Congressional Dish Episodes CD041: Why Attack Syria? CD067: What Do We Want In Ukraine? CD068: Ukraine Aid Bill CD108: Regime Change CD150: Pivot to North Korea Episode Outline H.R. 3364: Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act Title I: Iran Sanctions Gives the Executive Branch additional power to block property or exclude from the United States both companies and people who materially contribute to Iran's ballistic missile program. Orders the President to enact sanctions that block property and financial transactions for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard-Corps Quds Force and it's affiliates starting 90 days after enactment, which is November 1, 2017. Orders the President to block property and prohibit from the United States any person or company that materially contributes to the transfer to Iran any battle tanks, armored combat vehicles, artillery systems, combat planes, attack helicopters, warships, missiles, or parts of those items. Sanctions prohibiting travel to the United States and financial transactions are exempted for humanitarian purposes. The President can waive the sanctions for two 180-day periods by notifying Congress. Title II: Russia Sanctions Subtitle A: Sanction related to terrorism and illicit financing Sense of Congress "It is the sense of Congress that the President should continue to uphold and seek unity with European and other key partners on sanctions implemented against the Russian Federation, which have been effective and instrumental in countering Russian aggression in Ukraine" Part 1: Trump Report Orders the President to submit reports outlining his reasons to Congress before terminating or waiving sanctions relating to Russia, Ukraine, and Syria The President can not terminate or waive the sanctions on Russia, Ukraine, and Syria within 30 days of submitting his report unless a branch of Congress passes a resolution to allow it. Part 2: Sanctions on Russia Makes state-owned companies in the rail, metals, and mining sectors subject to sanctions. Limits financial loans to Russian industries. Prohibits the transfer of goods & services (except banking) that support new Russian deepwater oil drilling, Arctic offshore drilling, or shale projects. Russians need to be have a 33% share or more in the company for the sanctions to apply. Forces the President to enact sanctions in situations when it was previously optional. Gives the President the option to enact sanctions on companies and individuals who provide materials to Russia for energy export pipelines valued at $1 million or more. Forces the President to block property and deny visas to anyone who provides the government of Syria financial, material, or technical support for getting almost any kind of weapon. The sanctions do not apply to products for Russia that are for space launches. Subtitle B: Countering Russian Influence in Europe and Eurasia Appropriates $250 million for a "Countering Russian Influence Fund" which will be used for "protecting critical infrastructure and electoral mechanisms" for members of NATO, the European Union, and "countries that are participating in the enlargement process of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization or the European Union, including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Macedonia, Moldova, Kosovo, Serbia, and Ukraine." The money can also be used to information distribution. There is a list of nongovernmental & international organizations eligible to receive the money. The Secretary of State will work with the Ukrainian government to increase the amount of energy produced in Ukraine. This will "include strategies for market liberalization" including survey work need to "help attract qualified investment into exploration and development of areas with untapped resources in Ukraine." The plan will also support the implementation of a new gas law "including pricing, tariff structure, and legal regulatory implementation." and "privatization of government owned energy companies." American tax money is contributing $50 million for this effort from the 2014 Ukraine aid law and $30 million more from this law. The money will be available until August 2022. Title III: North Korea Sanctions Subtitle A: Sanctions to enforce and implement United Nations Security Council sanctions against North Korea Expands existing mandatory sanctions to include anyone who provides North Korea with any weapons or war service, aviation fuel, or insurance or registration for aircraft or vessels. Also expands sanctions to include anyone who gets minerals, including gold, titanium ore, vanadium ore, copper, silver, nickel, zinc, or rare earth minerals from North Korea. Expand optional sanctions to include anyone who purchases above-the-U.N.-limited amounts of coal, iron, textiles, money, metals, gems, oil, gas, food, or fishing rights from North Korea. Also sanctions anyone who hires North Korean workers, conducts transactions for the North Korean transportation, mining, energy, or banking industries, or participates in online commerce, including online gambling, provided by the government of North Korea. Prohibits North Korean ships from entering US waters. Additional Reading Article: Iran could quit nuclear deal in 'hours' if new U.S. sanctions imposed: Rouhani, Reuters, August 15, 2017. Article: The Nation is reviewing a story casting doubt on Russian hack of DNC by Erik Wemple, The Washington Post, August 15, 2017. Article: Iranian Parliament, Facing U.S. Sanctions, Votes to Raise Military Spending by Thomas Erdbrink, The New York Times, August 13, 2017. Article: A New Report Raises Big Questions About Last Year's DNC Hack by Patrick Lawrence, The Nation, August 9, 2017. Article: North Korea's missile tests by Joshua Berlinger, CNN, August 7, 2017. Article: Iran Says New U.S. Sanctions Violate Nuclear Deal by Rick Gladstone, The New York Times, August 1, 2017. Article: Iran Reports Successful Launch of Missile as U.S. Considers New Sanctions by Thomas Erdbrink, The New York Times, July 27, 2017. Article: Trump Ends Covert Aid to Syrian Rebels Trying to Topple Assad by David E. Sanger, Eric Schmitt and Ben Hubbard, The New York Times, July 19, 2017. Article: Trump Recertifies Iran Nuclear Deal, but Only Reluctantly by Peter Baker, The New York Times, July 17, 2017. Article: Russians targeted election systems in 21 states, but didn't change any results, officials say by Joseph Tanfani, Los Angeles Times, June 21, 2017. Article: Top-Secret NSA Report Details Russian Hacking Effort Days Before 2016 Election by Matthew Cole, Richard Esposito, Sam Biddle and Ryan Grim, The Intercept, June 5, 2017. Article: The $110 billion arms deal to Saudi Arabia is fake news by Bruce Riedel, Brookings, June 5, 2017. Article: Iran Nuclear Deal Will Remain for Now, White House Signals by Gardiner Harris and David E. Sanger, The New York Times, May 17, 2017. Report: Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent US Elections, National Intelligence Council, January 6, 2017. Article: Obama Strikes Back at Russia for Election Hacking by David E. Sanger, The New York Times, December 29, 2016. Article: Murphy leads CT delegation in official overseas travel by Ana Radelat, The CT Mirror, March 13, 2015. Article: Major Study Finds The US Is An Oligarchy by Zachary Davies Boren, Business Insider, April 16, 2014. Article: Ukraine wins IMF lifeline as Russia faces growth slump by Natalia Zinets and Elizabeth Piper, Reuters, March 27, 2014. Article: Ukraine orders Crimea troop withdrawal as Russia seizes naval base by Marie-Louise Gumuchian and Victoria Butenko, CNN, March 25, 2014. Article: Defense Ministry: 50% Of Ukrainian Troops in Crimea Defect to Russia, Ukrainian News Agency, March 24, 2014. Article: European Union signs landmark association agreement with Ukraine by Adrian Croft, Reuters, March 21, 2014. Article: Crimea applies to be part of Russian Federation after vote to leave Ukraine by Luke Harding and Shaun Walker, The Guardian, March 17, 2014. Article: The February Revolution, The Economist, February 27, 2014. Article: Ukrainian MPs vote to oust President Yanukovych, BBC News, February 22, 2014. Article: Ukraine: Yulila Tymoshenko released as country lurches towards split by Conal Urquhart, The Guardian, February 22, 2014. Transcript: Ukraine Crisis: Transcript of leaked Nuland-Pyatt call, BBC, February 7, 2014. Article: Putin: Russia to buy $15 billion in Ukraine bonds by Vladimir Isachenkov and Maria Danilova, USA Today, December 17, 2013. Article: EU suspends trade talks with Ukraine, crowds rally against govt, Reuters, December 15, 2013. Article: Senators McCain, Murphy join massive Ukraine anti-government protest, threaten sanctions, Fox News, December 15, 2013. Article: Ukraine parliament rejects proposed laws to release Tymoshenko by Richard Balmforth and Pavel Polityuk, Reuters, November 21, 2013. Article: Ukraine suspends talks on EU trade pact as Putin wins tug of war by Ian Traynor and Oksana Grytsenko, The Guardian, November 21, 2013. Article: Ukraine signs $10 billion shale gas deal with Chevron by Pavel Polityuk and Richard Balmforth, Reuters, November 5, 2013. Article: Exclusive - EU, IMF coordinate on Ukraine as Russia threat looms by Luke Baker and Justyna Pawlak, Reuters, October 31, 2013. Press Release: Statement by IMF Mission to Ukraine, International Monetary Fund, October 31, 2013. Article: Ukraine's EU trade deal will be catastrophic, says Russia by Shaun Walker, The Guardian, September 22, 2013. Article: U.S. Repeals Propaganda Ban, Spreads Government-Made News to Americans by John Hudson, ForeignPolicy.com, July 14, 2013. Article: Ukrainian tycoon Firtash takes over bank Nadra, Reuters, May 4, 2011. References GovTrack: H.R. 3364: Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act Overview House Vote Senate Vote GovTrack: H.R. 4152: Support for the Sovereignty, Integrity, Democracy, and Economic Stability of Ukraine Act of 2014 Overview GovTrack: H.R. 5859: Ukraine Freedom Support Act of 2014 IMF Report: Ukraine 2012 Article IV Consultation CSPAN Video: Iran's Response to U.S. Sanctions, July 18, 2017. CSPAN Video: British Prime Minister Camerson Question Time, December 18, 2013. CSPAN: Victoria Nuland Profile CSPAN: Anne W. Patterson Profile Executive Orders Executive Order 13757: Taking Additional Steps to Address the National Emergency With Respect to Significant Malicious Cyber-Enabled Activities, December 28, 2016 Annex to Executive Order 13757 Executive Order 13694: Blocking the Property of Certain Persons Engaging in Significant Malicious Cyber-Enabled Activities, April 1, 2015 Executive Order 13685: Blocking Property of Certain Persons and Prohibiting Certain Transactions With Respect to the Crimea Region in Ukraine, December 19, 2014 Executive Order 13662: Blocking Property of Additional Persons Contributing to the Situation in Ukraine, March 20, 2014 Executive Order 13661: Blocking Property of Additional Persons Contributing to the Situation in Ukraine, March 16, 2014 Executive Order 13660: Blocking Property of Certain Persons Contributing to the Situation in Ukraine, March 6, 2014 Visual References Image source Sound Clip Sources House Debate: House Debate on Russia, Iran and North Korea Sanctions, July 25, 2017. Timestamps & Transcripts 1500 Rep. Pete Sessions (TX): The bill that was passed by the Senate risked giving Russian energy firms a competitive advantage across the globe by inadvertently denying American companies access to neutral third-party energy markets where there would simply be a small or diminished Russian presence. The bill before us today prevents Russia from being able to weaponize these sanctions against U.S. energy firms. And I want to thank Chairman Royce for his hard work on this issue. I also want to ensure that we have an understanding of the definition of the word controlling in Section 223(d) of H.R. 3364. For purposes of clarification and legislative intent, the term controlling means the power to direct, determine, or resolve fundamental, operational, and financial decisions of an oil project through the ownership of a majority of the voting interests of the oil project. 1515 Rep. Tim Ryan (OH): What’s happening with these sanctions here in the targeting of Russian gas pipelines—their number one export—I think is entirely appropriate. The Nord Stream 2, which carries gas from Russia through the Baltics to Germany—and I know Germany isn’t happy about it, but this is something that we have to do. And the point I want to make is we have to address this issue in a comprehensive way. We must continue to focus on how we get our gas here in the United States, our natural gas, to Europe, to our allies, so they’re not so dependent on Russia. We’ve got to have the sanctions, but we’ve also got to be shipping liquid natural gas to some of these allies of ours so they’re not so dependent on the Russians, which is part and parcel of this entire approach. Senate Session: "Skinny Repeal" vote down, July 27, 2017. Transcript Sen. Chuck Schumer (NY): Mr. President, and last year we know the United States was victim of an attack by a foreign power on the very foundation of this dear democracy: the right of the people to a free and fair election. The consensus view of 17 agencies is that Mr. Putin interfered in the 2016 election. Hearing: North Korea Policy, Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific and International Cyber Security, July 25, 2017. Witnesses Bruce Klingner: Senior Research Fellow of the Heritage Foundation Leon Sigal: Director of Northeast Asia Cooperative Security Project at the Social Science Research Council (SSRSC) Susan Thornton: Acting Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Screenshot: No other Senators in the room Timestamps & Transcripts 3:48 Sen. Cory Gardner (CO): Last Congress, I lead the North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act, which passed the Senate by a vote of 96 to nothing. This legislation was the first stand-alone legislation in Congress regarding North Korea to impose mandatory sanctions on the regime’s proliferation activities, human-rights violations, and malicious cyber behavior. According to recent analysis from the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, North Korea’s sanctions have more than doubled since that legislation came into effect on February 18, 2016. Prior to that date, North Korea ranked 8th behind Ukraine, Russia, Iran, Iraq, the Balkans, Syria, Sudan, and Zimbabwe. Even with the 130% sanctions increase after the legislation passed this Congress, North Korea is today still only the 5th most sanctioned country by the United States. 21:22 Sen. Cory Gardner: Could you talk a little bit about the timing of the travel ban? Susan Thornton: Yeah. So, we believe that within the coming week we will publish a notice in the Federal Register, outlining the period of consultation and what we’re proposing, which is a general travel restriction, that will be in the Federal Register for a 30-day comment period. And the proposal is to, I think as you know, make U.S. passports not valid for travel into North Korea unless you get—an application is made for a one-time trip, and you get a license or sort of a permission to make that trip. And so that’ll be in the Federal Register for 30 days. Gardner: Is that trip allowable under a humanitarian exemption? Is that the purpose of that allow— Thornton: Right, right. For the subsequent appl— you’d have to make an in-person application for a trip to— Gardner: And are we encouraging other nations to do the same, and have others made the same decision? Thornton: We have encouraged other people to make decisions about restricting travel and other—because tourism is obviously also a resource for the regime that we would like to see diminished. I don’t think so far there are other people that have pursued this but this will be sort of the initial one, and we will keep talking to others about that. 1:12:32 Leon Sigal: A policy of maximum pressure and engagement can only succeed if nuclear diplomacy is soon resumed and the North’s security concerns are addressed. We must not lose sight of the fact that it’s North Korea that we need to persuade, not China, and that means taking account of North Korea’s strategy. During the Cold War, Kim Il Sung played China off against the Soviet Union to maintain his freedom of maneuver. In 1988, anticipating the collapse of the Soviet Union, he reached out to improve relations with the United States, South Korea, and Japan in order to avoid overdependence on China. That has been the Kims’ objective ever since. From Pyongyang’s vantage point, that aim was the basis of the 1994 Agreed Framework and the September 2005 six-party joint statement. For Washington, obviously, suspension of Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs was the point of those agreements, which succeeded for a time in shuttering the North’s production of fissile material and stopping the test launches of medium- and longer-range missiles. Both agreements collapsed, however, when Washington did little to implement its commitment to improve relations, and, of course, Pyongyang reneged on denuclearization. That past is prologue. Now there are indications that a suspension of North Korean missile and nuclear testing and fissile material production may again prove negotiable. In return for a suspension of its production of plutonium and enriched uranium, the Trading with the Enemy Act sanctions imposed before the nuclear issue arose could be relaxed for yet a third time, and energy assistance unilaterally halted by South Korea in 2008 could be resumed. An agreement will require addressing Pyongyang’s security needs, including adjusting our joint exercises with South Korea, for instance by suspending flights of nuclear-capable B-52 bombers into Korean airspace. Those flights were only resumed, I want to remind you, to reassure our allies in the aftermath of the North’s nuclear tests. If those tests are suspended, B-52 flights can be, too, without any sacrifice of deterrence. North Korea’s well aware of the reach of U.S. ICBMs and SLBMs, which, by the way, were recently test launched to remind them. The U.S. can also continue to bolster, rotate, and exercise forces in the region so conventional deterrence will remain robust. The chances of persuading North Korea to go beyond another temporary suspension to dismantle its nuclear missile programs, however, are slim without firm commitments from Washington and Seoul to move toward political and economic normalization; engage in a peace process to end the Korean War; and negotiate security arrangements, among them a nuclear-weapons-free zone that would provide a multilateral legal framework for denuclearization. In that context, President Trump’s willingness to hold out the prospect of a summit with Kim Jong-un would also be a significant inducement. 1:23:06 Sen. Ed Markey (MA): We “convinced” Qaddafi to give up his nuclear-weapon program, we “convinced” Saddam Hussein to give up his nuclear-weapon program, and then subsequently we participated in a process that led to their deaths. Emergency Meeting: U.N. Security Council Meeting on North Korea Sanctions, August 5, 2017. Timestamps & Transcripts 3:47 Nikki Haley (US Ambassador): This resolution is the single largest economic sanctions package ever leveled against the North Korean regime. The price the North Korean leadership will pay for its continued nuclear and missile development will be the loss of 1/3 of its exports and hard currency. This is the most stringent set of sanctions on any country in a generation. 6:30 Matthew John Rycroft (British Ambassador to the U.N.): Make no mistake: as North Korea’s missile capabilities advance, so too does their contempt and disregard for this security council. We must meet this belligerence with clear, unequivocal condemnation and with clear, unequivocal consequences. Today, Mr. President, we have banned North Korean exports of coal, iron ore, lead, and seafood. These are the lifeline exports that sustain Kim Jong-un’s deadly aspirations. In simple terms, should the North Korean regime continue its reckless pursuit of an illegal missile program and a deadly nuclear program, they will have vastly less [unclear]. We’ve also capped the number of foreign workers from North Korea. Every year, DPRK sends thousands of ordinary workers overseas. They often endure poor conditions and long hours, and their toil serves to provide critical foreign currency for North Korean government coffers. This is undoubtedly a form of modern slavery, and today we have taken the first step to ending it. The world will now monitor and curtail work authorizations for these desperate ex-patriots. 28:11 Vasily Nebenzya (Russian Ambassador): We share the feeling of neighboring states in the region. The ballistic missiles, which were launched without warning from North Korea, pose a major risk to marine and air transit in the region as well as to the lives of ordinary civilians. We call upon the North Korean government to end the banned programs and to return to the NPT, nonproliferation regime, and the IAEA oversights as well as to join the Chemical Weapons Convention. All must understand that progress towards denuclearization of the Korean peninsula will be difficult so long as the DPRK perceives a direct threat to its own security, for that is how the North Koreans view the military buildup in the region, which takes on the forms of frequent, wide-ranging exercises in maneuvers of the U.S. and allies as they deploy strategic bombers, naval forces, and aircraft carriers to the region. Another destabilizing factor in the region is the scaling up in North Korea of the THAAD, the U.S. antimissile defense elements. We repeatedly noted not only this constitutes an irritant, but this also undermines the overall military balance in the region and calls into question the security of neighboring states. We would like to hope that the U.S. secretary of state’s assurances were sincere, that the U.S. is not seeking to dismantle the existing DPRK situation or to forcibly unite the peninsula or militarily intervene in the country. However, we are concerned that our proposed, our paragraph in the draft resolution was not supported. The possible military misadventures by any side are liable to cause a disaster for regional and global stability. Discussion: Senator John McCain on Ukraine, December 19, 2013. Witness Frederick Kempe: President & CEO of the Atlantic Council Transcripts Frederick Kempe: Russian president, Vladimir Putin, on Tuesday said he had agreed to loan Ukraine $15 billion and cut the price of critical natural gas supplies. Ukraine’s Prime Minister Azarov called the deal historic. In Brussels a draft EU document, reported this morning by the Wall Street Journal, indicated Ukraine could have gained even more from the West, though with different conditions and perhaps not as plainly put. Had it signed the EU pact, it might have had $26 billion of loans and grants from the EU over the next seven years, and if it had also agreed to the IMF package. While the Ukraine pivots economically eastward, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians continue to pivot westward, standing together in protest for their continued desire to be part of a Europe, whole and free. And it’s in that context that we welcome back a great friend of the Atlantic Council, Senator John McCain, who visited these protestors over the weekend with Senator Chris Murphy, and continues to play a consistent and leading and principled role in supporting democratic change both in Eastern Europe and around the world and thinking through what role the United States should be playing in these challenging times. Sen. John McCain (AZ): If Ukraine’s political crisis persists or deepens, which is a real possibility, we must support creative Ukrainian efforts to resolve it. Senator Murphy and I heard a few such ideas last weekend. From holding early elections, as the opposition is now demanding, to the institution of a technocratic government, with a mandate to make the difficult reforms required for Ukraine’s long-term economic health and sustainable development. Sen. John McCain (AZ): And eventually, a Ukrainian president, either this one or a future one, will be prepared to accept the fundamental choices facing the country, which is this: while there are real short-term costs to the political and economic reforms required for IMF assistance and EU integration, and while President Putin will likely add to these costs by retaliating against Ukraine’s economy, the long-term benefits for Ukraine in taking these tough steps are far greater and almost limitless. This decision cannot be born by one person alone in Ukraine, nor should it be. It must be shared, both the risks and the rewards, by all Ukrainians, especially the opposition and business elite. It must also be shared by the EU, the IMF, and the United States. YouTube: Victoria Nuland call with the US Ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt, February 7, 2017. Click here to see the full transcript Transcripts Victoria Nuland: What do you think? Geoffrey Pyatt: I think we’re in play. The Klitschko piece is obviously the complicated electron here, especially the announcement of him as deputy prime minister. And you’ve seen some of my notes on the troubles in the marriage right now, so we’re trying to get a read really fast on where he is on this stuff. But I think your argument to him, which you’ll need to make, I think that’s the next phone call you’ll want to set up, is exactly the one you made to Yats. And I’m glad you sort of put him on the spot on where he fits in this scenario, and I’m very glad he said what he said in response. Nuland: Good. So, I don’t think Klitsch should go into the government. I don’t think it’s necessary, I don’t think it’s a good idea. Pyatt: Yeah, I mean, I guess. In terms of him not going into the government, just let him sort of stay out and do his political homework and stuff. I’m just thinking in terms of sort of the process moving ahead, we want to keep the moderate Democrats together. The problem is going to be Tyahnybok and his guys, and I’m sure that’s part of what Yanukovych is calculating on all of this. I kind of— Nuland: I think Yats is the guy who’s got the economic experience, the governing experience. What he needs is Klitsch and Tyahnybok on the outside. He needs to be talking to them four times a week, you know? I just think Klitsch going in—he’s going to be at that level working for Yatsenyuk; it’s just not going to work. Victoria Nuland: Can’t remember if I told you this or if I only told Washington this, that when I talked to Jeff Feltman this morning, he had a new name for the U.N. guy, Robert Serry. Did I write you that this morning? Geoffrey Pyatt: Yeah. Yeah, I saw that. Nuland: Okay. He’s not gotten both Serry and Ban Ki-moon to agree that Serry could come in Monday or Tuesday. Pyatt: Okay. Nuland: So that would be great, I think, to help glue this thing and have the U.N. help glue it, and, you know, fuck the EU. Pyatt: No, exactly. And I think we’ve got to do something to make it stick together because you can be pretty sure that if it does start to gain altitude, the Russians will be working behind the scenes to try to torpedo it. Geoffrey Pyatt: I think we want to try to get somebody with an international personality to come out here and help to midwife this thing. And then the other issue is some kind of out reach to Yanukovych, but we probably regroup on that tomorrow as we see how things start to fall into place. Victoria Nuland: So, on that piece, Geoff, when I wrote the note, Sullivan’s come back to me VFR, saying, you need Biden, and I said, probably tomorrow for an “atta-boy” and to get the deets to stick. Pyatt: Okay. Nuland: So, Biden’s willing. Pyatt: Okay, great. Thanks. Briefing: State Department Daily Briefing, February 6, 2014 Witness Jen Psaki: State Department Spokesperson Timestamps & Transcripts 0:19 Male Reporter: Can you say whether you—if this call is a recording of an authentic conversation between Assistant Secretary Nuland and Ambassador Pyatt? Jen Psaki: Well, I’m not going to confirm or outline details. I understand there are a lot of reports out there, and there’s a recording out there, but I’m not going to confirm a private diplomatic conversation. Reporter: So you are not saying that you believe this is a—you think this is not authentic? You think this is a— Psaki: It’s not an accusation I’m making. I’m just not going to confirm the specifics of it. Reporter: Well, you can’t even say whether there was a—that this call—you believe that this call, you believe that this recording is a recording of a real telephone call? Psaki: I didn’t say it was inauthentic. I think we can leave it at that. Reporter: Okay, so, you’re allowing the fact that it is authentic. Psaki: Yes. Reporter: “Yes,” okay. Psaki: Do you have a question about it? 7:40 Female Reporter: This was two top U.S. officials that are on the ground, discussing a plan that they have to broker a future government and bringing officials from the U.N. to kind of seal the deal. This is more than the U.S. trying to make suggestions; this is the U.S. midwifing the process Hearing: Ukraine Anti-Government Protests, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, January 15, 2014. Witnesses Zbigniew Brzezinski Carter’s National Security Advisor 77-81 Center for Strategic & International Studies, counselor & Trustee Thomas Melia: Deputy Assistant Secretary for Human Rights & Labor at the Department of State Victoria Nuland: Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Timestamps & Transcripts 32:27 Thomas Melia: Our approach to Ukraine complements that of our EU partners and what they sought in their association agreement, a Ukraine that is more responsive to its citizens, that offers its people opportunities that a growing free-market economy would provide based on the rule of law. 34:19 Victoria Nuland: The point that we have made repeatedly to Russia, and that I certainly made on my trip to Russia between two trips to Ukraine in December, was that a Ukraine that is economically stable and prosperous should be no threat to Russia, that this is not a zero-sum game that we are playing here, and that, in fact, the same benefits that the EU was offering to Ukraine—benefits of association and economic integration—are also available to a Russia that wants to take the same market opening and democratic reform steps that Ukraine has already taken, 18 pieces of legislation having already been completed. 58:43 Senator John McCain (AZ): This is a country that wants to be European. They don’t want to be Russian. That’s what this is all about. 59:52 Senator John McCain (AZ): I’m somewhat taken aback by your, “well, it’s sort of up to the Ukrainian people.” We ought to be assisting morally the Ukrainian people for seeking what we want everybody on this earth to have, and so it’s not just up to the Ukrainian people. They cry out for our assistance. Panel: Internet and Democracy, Aspen Ideas Festival, June 26, 2017. Witnesses Ory Rinat: White House Interim Chief Digital Officer Farhad Majoo: New York Times Correspondent Transcripts Ory Rinat: What drives social engagement? What drives Internet engagement? It’s shares. And that’s not a social-media thing; that’s back to forwarding chain emails. It’s when people share, that’s the source of engagement. And what drives people to share? It’s anger. It’s sadness. It’s inspiration. It’s really rare; it happens, but it’s rare that somebody says, wow, I just read an objective, fascinating piece that represents both sides; let me share it on Facebook. That’s not what people share. And so what happens is we’ve incentivized, as a society, sensationalism in journalism. I was giving an example earlier: during the transition, there was an article in a publication that should not be named that said something along the lines of, Trump transition website lifts passages from nonprofit group. Okay. Doesn’t sound that great. Couple of paragraphs in, they mention that the website actually sourced and cited the nonprofit. Couple of paragraphs later, they quote the CO of the nonprofit saying it was okay. Couple of paragraphs later, they quote a lawyer saying even if it wasn’t okay, even if they didn’t have permission, and even if they didn’t cite it, it was probably still legal. But that headline was so sensationalized, and people want to click on something that makes them angry, and so everybody just needs to take a breath, and it’s not the Internet’s fault. Farhad Manjoo: Well, it’s the Internet ad model’s fault, right? It’s the fact that those sites—Facebook, every news site you can think of—is getting paid based on clicks. So is sort of the fundamental fix here some other business model for online news and everything else? Ory Rinat: Sure, I just can’t think of one. Farhad Manjoo: Right. Panel: U.S. Global Leadership, The Aspen Institute, August 4, 2017. Witnesses Nick Burns: Former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (Bush) Condoleezza Rice: Former National Security Advisor (Bush) Tom Donilon: Former National Security Advisor (Obama) Stephen Hadley: Former National Security Advisor (Bush) Susan Rice: National Security Advisor Timestamps & Transcripts 9:00 Condoleezza Rice: The liberal order was born, it was an idea, designed after World War II, when people looked out at the world that they had inherited after World War I and said, let’s not do that again. And it had two important elements, and it had one important fact. One element was they really believed that the international economy did not have to be a zero-sum game. It could be competitive, but it could be a growing economy and a positive-sum game, so my gains were not your losses, and that’s why they wanted to have free trade, and they wanted to have a comparative advantage among countries. And as you said, they set up institutions to do it, an International Monetary Fund and exchange rates, a World Bank eventually starting as a European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, which would rebuild economies and actually would become a source of capital for countries coming out of colonialism. And in some ways the most remarkable one, the general agreement on tariffs and trade, which was not a set of trade agreements but rules of the road to level the playing field so that the international economy could grow. So it was by its very nature supposed to get us away from conflict in the international system. They hated the fact that there’d been beggar-thy-neighbor trading policies and competition over resources. It was violent. So they weren’t going to do that again. Then, the important fact: they were going to try to create the democratic peace where they could, so they rebuilt Germany as a democracy, Japan as a democracy, and it was all going to be protected by American military power. And so that was the liberal order. 12:00 Condoleezza Rice: It is being challenged by Russia because Russia unfortunately doesn’t really have a foot in the economic side and, therefore, uses its military power for its respect. But it’s also being challenged by the four horsemen of the Apocalypse—populism, nativism, isolationism, and protectionism—and they tend to run together. And so one of the questions that we ought to be asking is not just the challenge to the liberal order from transnational terrorism or cyber warfare or from big powers like Russia and China but how do we deal with the fact that it does seem that there are those who believe that they were left behind by the global order, and they’re fighting back. They found people who will give them an answer as to why they didn’t succeed. Populists always have an answer: it’s the other—the Chinese; the illegal immigrants; if you’re from the Left, the big banks. And, oh, by the way, the other this time around is not just taking your jobs; the other is dangerous—so refugees and immigrants—and so I think the challenge is this time not just one that we foreign-policy people can understand but one that has to go internally to these societies and see what’s happening. That’s why I’m glad for the Aspen Strategy Group, that we are having this wonderful session that _____(01:30) will help to lead, because this is a really big challenge from the inside and from the out. And, yes, I’m worried that the liberal order might not survive it. 31:00 Condoleezza Rice: Leading differently obviously means finding a role for others—that’s very important—but it also means—and I know we can’t retire from this role, but there is a weariness among the American people, and we can’t ignore it. We can’t as foreign-policy people simply say, look, we’ve had to get back there and lead. We have to say, we’re going to lead because it’s in our interests, it’s with our values, and our allies have to appreciate it, right? And they have to be a part of it. That’s my point. I think we really haven’t gotten from the allies. What we get mostly from the allies is criticism for not leading, because the only thing the world hates more than unilateral American leadership is no American leadership, but we do need our allies to step up, and some of them have. On Minsk, for instance, the Germans stepped up to try and settle the Ukrainian circumstances. But let’s not underestimate outside of foreign-policy leads, the degree to which the American people are asking questions about how much more we can do. Unknown Speaker: Well, this is a good transition point to Russia. Let me just frame it this way: since Putin’s invasion and annexation of Crimea, 20 of the 28 allies have raised their defense spending, and they feel the threat. And I would even say right now, Merkel is leading NATO, not so much the United States; she’s leading NATO on this. So, Condi, you studied the Russians and the Soviets your life; we’ve got a dilemma here. Putin attacked our election and tried to discredit our democracy. We know he did that. Putin annexed Crimea. He still has troops in the Donbass and Eastern Ukraine, dividing that country. He has been a malevolent force in Syria. So, what’s the strategy for President Trump here? How does he respond to this? And we saw this extraordinary situation where the president was essentially repudiated by the Republicans in Congress on this big vote in the Senate and House to sanction Russia. If you were to give advice to him, what would it be? Not to put you on the spot too much. Rice: Well, thanks. Well, the first advice I would give is, be sure you know who Vladimir Putin is, right? And Vladimir Putin is someone who likes to humiliate, someone who likes to dominate, and someone who essentially understands power. And so don’t go into a room with Vladimir Putin unless you are in a pretty powerful position, and that means when you go to talk to Vladimir Putin, first let’s continue the policy that the Obama administration began, maybe even accelerate the policy of putting forces, at least on a rotating basis but possibly on a permanent basis, in places like Poland and the Baltic states so that you say to him, this far and no further. Secondly, I like raising the defense budget as a signal to the Russians. Third, I think you have to say to the Russians, we know you did it on the electoral process; we will, at a time of our choosing, by means of our choosing, we will deal with it, but we have confidence in our electoral system, so don’t think that you’re undermining American confidence by what you’re doing, because he feeds on the sense that he’s succeeding in undermining our confidence. And the final thing I’d say to him is, stop flying your planes so close to our ships and aircraft; somebody’s going to get shot down, because once you’ve established the kind of ground rules with Vladimir Putin, now you can talk about possible areas of cooperation. By the way, there’s one other thing I’d do: I’d arm the Ukrainians. I think that you have got to raise the cost to the Russians of what they’re doing in Ukraine, and it’s not on the front pages anymore, but in Eastern Ukraine, people are dying every day because of those little Russian green men, the Russian separatists, who, with Russian military training and Russian military intelligence and Russian military capability, are making a mess of Eastern Ukraine and making it impossible for Kiev to govern the country. And so I think it’s time to arm them. 33:30 Nick Burns: I think President Obama actually put in place a lot of what Condi’s saying. Is there bipartisan agreement on this tough policy? Susan Rice: I think there’s certainly bipartisan agreement on the steps that Condi described that we characterized as the European Response Initiative, where we got NATO with our leadership to put in those four countries, the three Baltics, plus Poland, a continuous, rotating, augmented presence and _____(00:26) deployed not only personnel but equipment, and we have reversed the trend of the downsizing of our presence in Europe, and that’s vitally important. 36:00 Tom Donilon: It’s important to recognize some of the fundamentals here, right, which is that we are in an actively hostile posture with the Russians right now. And it’s not just in Europe; it’s in Syria, it’s in Afghanistan, it’s in Syria, and it was in our own elections, and it’ll be in the European elections going through the next year as well, and it’ll probably be in our elections 2018 and 2020 unless we act to prevent it. So, we’re in, I think, in an actively hostile posture with the Russians, coming from their side. 40:00 Stephen Hadley: We’re putting battalions—we, NATO—putting battalions in the three Baltic states and in Poland and in Bucharest. Battalions are 1200 people, 1500 people. Russia is going to have an exercise in Belarus that newspaper reports suggest maybe up to 100,000 people and 8,000 tanks—I think I’ve got that number right— Unknown Speaker: This month. Hadley: —more tanks than Germany, France, and U.K. have combined. And we have to be careful that we don’t get in this very confrontational, rhetorical position with Russia and not have the resources to back it up. 58:00 Condoleezza Rice: Democracy promotion—democracy support, I like to call it—is not just the morally right thing to do, but, actually, democracies don’t fight each other. They don’t send their 10-year-olds as child soldiers. They don’t traffic their women into the sex trade. They don’t attack their neighbors. They don’t harbor terrorists. And so democracies are kind of good for the world, and so when you talk about American interests and you say you’re not sure that we ought to promote democracy, I’m not sure you’ve got a clear concept, or a clear grasp, on what constitutes American interests. Speech: Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton National Security Address, Council of Foreign Relations, November 19, 2015. Transcript Hillary Clinton: So we need to move simultaneously toward a political solution to the civil war that paves the way for a new government with new leadership and to encourage more Syrians to take on ISIS as well. To support them, we should immediately deploy the special operations force President Obama has already authorized and be prepared to deploy more as more Syrians get into the fight, and we should retool and ramp up our efforts to support and equip viable Syrian opposition units. Our increased support should go hand in hand with increased support from our Arab and European partners, including Special Forces who can contribute to the fight on the ground. We should also work with the coalition and the neighbors to impose no-fly zones that will stop Assad from slaughtering civilians and the opposition from the air. Hearing: U.S. Policy and Russian Involvement in Syria, House Foreign Affairs Committee, November 4, 2015. Witnesses Anne W. Patterson: Assistant Secretary Department of State, Near Eastern Affairs Transcript Rep. David Cicilline (RI): Who are we talking about when we’re speaking about moderate opposition, and do they, in fact, include elements of al-Qaeda and al-Nusra and other more extremist groups? Anne Patterson: Well, let me take the civilian moderate opposition, too, and that’s the assistance figure that you’re referring to, and that is groups within Syria and groups that live in Turkey and Lebanon and other places; and what that project is designed to do is to keep these people, not only alive physically, but also keep them viable for a future Syria, because we have managed to, even areas under control of ISIL—I won’t mention them—but we have managed to provide money to city councils, to health clinics, to teachers and policemen so these people can still provide public services and form the basis for a new Syria. So that’s—a good portion of that money goes into efforts like that. There’s also the opposition on the ground, and I think they’ve sort of gotten a bum rap in this hearing because I think they are more extensive than it’s generally recognized, particularly in the south, and they, yes, of course, in the north, some of these individuals have affiliated with Nusra because there was nowhere else to go. Anne Patterson: Moscow has cynically tried to claim that its strikes are focused on terrorists, but so far eighty-five to ninety percent of Syrian strikes have hit the moderate Syrian opposition, and they have killed civilians in the process. Despite our urging, Moscow has yet to stop the Assad regime’s horrific practice of barrel bombing the Syrian people, so we know that Russia’s primary intent is to preserve the regime. Music Presented in This Episode Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio) Cover Art Design by Only Child Imaginations