Mounting Risk of a New World War | Walter Russell Mead

Hidden Forces

Demetri Kofinas

Government, Business

4.8 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 30 October 2023

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In Episode 334 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with famed historian of American Foreign policy Walter Russell Mead about the evolving war in the Middle East and why we are living through the most dangerous period in international affairs since the 1930s. Professor Mead is a Distinguished Fellow in Strategy and Statesmanship at the Hudson Institute, the Global View Columnist at The Wall Street Journal, and the James Clarke Chace Professor of Foreign Affairs and Humanities at Bard College in New York.

How have we found ourselves on the cusp of another war in the Middle East when the Biden administration’s explicit goal coming into office in 2020 was to get the United States out of this region so it could focus on China? This is the question that Mead and Kofinas look to answer in the first hour of their conversation. They also discuss the historical parallels and differences between the present moment and previous periods of immense danger in the international system, the apocalyptic strain in American politics and foreign policy, and how political ideology and the culture war inform people’s opinions about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the escalating war in Gaza.

In the second hour, Walter Russell Mead speculates about how international events may evolve, the possibility of outright collusion among America’s adversaries, as well as further avenues of escalation that could lead to direct U.S. involvement in Israel’s war against Hamas. The two also discuss how the war in Ukraine, as well as Chinese military provocations in the Pacific factor into American policy in the Middle East, why U.S. adversaries no longer seem deterred by American power, and what can be done to change that before it’s too late.

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Episode Recorded on 10/26/2023

Transcript

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0:00.0	What's up everybody? My name is Demetra Gafinas and you're listening to Hidden Forces,
0:06.0	a podcast that inspires investors, entrepreneurs and everyday citizens to challenge consensus narratives
0:13.6	and to learn how to think critically about the systems of power shaping our world.
0:18.6	My guest in this episode of Hidden Forces is famed historian of American foreign policy
0:23.6	Walter Russell Mead. Professor Mead is a distinguished fellow in strategy and statesmanship
0:28.8	at the Hudson Institute, the global view columnist at the Wall Street Journal,
0:32.9	and the James Clark Chase professor of foreign affairs and humanities at Bard College in New York.
0:38.4	And he also hosts his own podcast with tablet studios titled What Really Matters with Walter
0:44.4	Russell Mead. Walter and I spend the first hour of our conversation today discussing how it is
0:49.6	that we find ourselves on the cusp of another war in the Middle East. After this administration
0:54.5	came into office with the explicit goal of extricating the United States from this part of the world,
1:00.7	so could focus its national resources and attention on China and the pivot to Asia.
1:06.0	We discussed the historical parallels and differences between the present moment and previous
1:11.1	periods of immense danger in the international system, the apocalyptic strain in American politics
1:17.2	and foreign policy, and how political ideology and the culture war informed people's opinions
1:23.0	on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the escalating war in Gaza. In the second hour,
1:28.4	we look at how international events could evolve from here, the possibility of outright collusion
1:33.6	among America's adversaries and avenues of escalation that could lead to more direct U.S.
1:38.8	involvement in Israel's war against Hamas. We also discussed how the war in Ukraine,
1:44.1	as well as Chinese military provocations in the Pacific, factor into American policy in the
1:49.1	Middle East, why U.S. adversaries no longer seem deterred by American power and what can be done
1:55.0	to change that. You can access that part of the conversation at hiddenforces.io-subscribe
	...

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