I'm John Besser with Peter Berkowitz, my colleague he's at the Hoover Institution

writing at real-clear politics about an essay by Robert Gates, former Secretary of Defense for both parties,

former head of the CIA, an esteemed diplomat

as well as a policy maven.

And he's writing an essay in recent foreign affairs, a magazine I highly recommend people

involved in making decisions about the America in the world.

The name of the article is the dysfunctional superpower and if I understand it

having not read the article but I've read Peters peace is that Gates is

exhausted at the culture wars how to describe it Peter the food fight the battling

over issues in the United States compared to the challenges in the world mr

gate you've read the essay and you know Mr Gates.

Has he addressed how it is that the State Department struggles to address these matters,

but there are partisan issues that keep us apart.

Exactly right John.

He emphasizes that the United States is facing challenges, the likes of which it hasn't seen since

since World War II.

We face a combination of authoritarian adversaries, China, Russia, North Korea and Iran.

We face a combined nuclear arsenal that is enormous.

We find we face Russia in Eastern Europe or at least Ukraine does and we've been supporting Ukraine and and

we find it we face a China that is expanding throughout the world through its

economic might and Gates published this article before the Iran-backed Hamas jihadist

attacked Israel on October 7th.

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