Risks of Nuclear War & the Escalation Ladder | Jon Wolfsthal

Hidden Forces

Demetri Kofinas

Government, Business

4.8 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 24 March 2022

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In Episode 240 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Jon Wolfsthal, a veteran of the national security establishment who has served as both special assistant to the President of the United States for National Security Affairs and senior director at the National Security Council for arms control and nonproliferation. He’s been involved in almost every aspect of U.S. nuclear weapons, arms control, nonproliferation and security policy during his 30-years of working on issues of national security.

This episode is an exploration of US and Russian nuclear doctrine and decision-making protocols. It’s a conversation about how people and institutions in both the United States and Russia think about nuclear war and escalation management, acknowledging that nuclear war would be an unimaginable horror that no rational person would actually want.

Today’s conversation is meant to give you the information you need to wrap your arms around what may instinctively feel like a hopelessly scary and irrational situation, so that you can develop the composure you need in order to deal with it.

You can access the full episode, transcript, and intelligence report to this week’s conversation by going directly to the episode page at HiddenForces.io and clicking on "premium extras." All subscribers gain access to our premium feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application.

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Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas

Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou

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Episode Recorded on 03/21/2022

Transcript

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0:00.0	What's up, everybody? My name is Demetric Afinas and you're listening to Hidden Forces,
0:06.0	a podcast that inspires investors, entrepreneurs, and everyday citizens to challenge consensus
0:13.0	narratives and to learn how to think critically about the systems of power shaping our world.
0:19.0	Before I introduce today's guest, I want to just acknowledge for a second the anxiety
0:24.0	that I think many of us have been feeling around some of the issues that we're going to
0:28.0	talk about today. I mean, I didn't even know that there was a term for this, but apparently
0:33.0	nuclear anxiety is a thing, and it's been a very long time since most of us have felt it.
0:40.0	So I want to just say that you are not alone in feeling nervous and apprehensive right now.
0:46.0	Okay, so then you might be thinking, then why are you doing an episode on nuclear war?
0:51.0	And the short answer is that that's not exactly an accurate description of what
0:56.0	this episode is about. Rather, it's an exploration of how people and institutions
1:02.0	on both sides of this conflict think about nuclear war and position themselves accordingly
1:08.0	in order to try and prevent it from happening.
1:11.0	Acknowledging that this would truly be an unimaginable horror that no one in his
1:17.0	or her right mind would ever actually want.
1:21.0	Now, there is a short list of people who would be appropriate to talk to about this subject
1:26.0	and John Wolfstahl is one of them. He's a veteran of the national security establishment
1:31.0	having served as both a special assistant to the President of the United States
1:35.0	for national security affairs and senior director at the National Security Council
1:40.0	for arms control, non-proliferation, and security policy.
1:44.0	During his 30 years of working on issues of national security
1:48.0	and we are very fortunate to have him on the podcast today.
	...

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