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Welcome to the commentary magazine daily podcast. Today is Wednesday, February 23,

2022. I'm John Pobbord, the editor of commentary with me is always executive editor,

a Greenwald hi-ape. Hi, John. Associate editor, Noel Ruffman. Hi, Noah. Hi, John.

Christine Rosen is out for the rest of the week joining us today, commentary contributing

editor, New York Times Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and author of an important piece

in the fall of 2021 in commentary that we are going to describe today for its prophetic qualities,

the post-packs Americana world. Brett Steven, Thai Brett, thank you for joining us.

John, good to see you. In light of the events of the past 24, 48 hours, and indeed the last two or

three months, you also have a column today in the New York Times in which you discuss how

nation-build a statesmanship and sort of world leadership often stems from intangibles

like whether you believe that you should do what you're going to do and whether you believe that

the things that you want to do are going to bear fruit that will make you a world historical figure

and that this is a belief that Putin has about himself and that this is a belief that America has

lost about itself over the last, I don't know, 12, 15 years, tying that together with the idea that

basically known in America, or no major leader in America seems committed to the idea that it is

the responsibility obligation and indeed let's say the privilege of the United States to be

the leader of a Packs Americana, the guarantor of a world order that allows freedom and free

markets and the free exchange of goods and services not only to survive but to thrive that we find

ourselves at this past right now where you have the West with a lot of harumphing but no real moral

swation and force behind their view that what is going on in Ukraine cannot stand and Putin

basically now invoking ancient Russian nationalism to explain why it is that he is going into

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