Turn off the I-90 Interstate in South Dakota at the Hamlet of Wall and you compare into

a 25-meter concrete hole. The Delta 9 missile site is open to visitors.

In the 1970s, there were more than 1,000 of these silos scattered across the Midwest,

containing nuclear warheads. These days, 400-minute-men missiles still lurk beneath the plains.

This is Checks and Balance.

I'm John Fudo, the economist's US editor. Each week, we take one big theme shaping American

politics and explore it in depth.

Today, how will Joe Biden seek to maintain America's superpower status?

President Biden has reassured our lies that America is back, and that its model of liberal

democracy isn't a relic of history. Many of his fellow Democrats would like to reverse

the militarization of foreign policy since 9-11, but America's alliances are built on

hard power. Can Joe Biden live up to his own rhetoric as he tries to re-engage with the

world? In this episode, we'll discuss America's

aging nuclear arsenal, pay tribute to Ronald Reagan's Secretary of State George Schultz,

who'd help bring an end to the Cold War, and here from Fiona Hill, a former presidential

advisor on Russia.

With me as ever to discuss all of this, our Charlotte Howard, the economist's New York

bureau chief and John Fasman, the US digital editor, Charlotte, what's going on in New

York?

Also in New York, I wanted to make two small comments on last week's episode. One is that

I misspoke about hydrogen blended with methane for all of the people who really care about

this distinction listening, and that pretty soon you don't want to have any methane as

...