Welcome to our special second dispatch podcast of the week.

I'm your host, Sarah Isger joined by Steve Hayes and our own Tom Jocelyn,

who writes our vital interest newsletter about foreign policy.

This podcast is brought to you by the dispatch.

Visit the dispatch.com to see our full slate of newsletters and podcasts,

and make sure to subscribe to this podcast so you never miss an episode.

Today we'll talk China and Tom will break down what they mean by discourse power.

The Afghanistan peace deal, what a Biden administration might mean in our foreign policy.

And we have a special appearance by my cat at some point,

and some discussion about James Bond versus Jack Ryan.

Let's dive right in today. We have along with Steve Hayes, of course.

Special guest Tom Jocelyn, who writes the vital interest newsletter for the dispatch.

Tom, we're pumped to have you with us today because I don't feel like

you get enough attention from all of us.

You're writing this incredible newsletter. It's long and detailed.

I learned stuff from it every single time I read it.

It's like, I have to crunch through it.

I have to concentrate and it's good. It makes my brain scratch at new places.

How did you get here? Where did you come from?

Well, I appreciate that. I appreciate the praise for the newsletter.

I tried to work on these complex issues and hopefully,

don't make you scratch your brain too hard,

...