Know Your Enemy
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Trump the Dove? (w/ Stephen Wertheim)
🕑 Added 2020-12-26 17:15:15 +0000 UTCSam speaks with historian Stephen Wertheim, author of Tomorrow, the World: The Birth of U.S. Global Supremacy, about Trump's weird foreign policy record, the prospects for left-right unity on non-intervention, and whether Joe Biden's administration augurs a return to the days of 'humanitarian intervention' and America as the Good Bully on the world stage. In the eyes of mainstream foreign policy experts, Trump has perilously tarnished America's reputation as leader of the liberal world order; should those of us who aspire to a just and peaceful world hope that reputation is restored?
As Deputy Director of Research and Policy — a "trans-partisan" think tank seeking to recenter American foreign policy on diplomatic engagement and military restraint — Wertheim is particularly well-positioned to answer these questions. Enjoy!
Further Reading:
David Klion, "Can a New Think Tank Put a Stop to Endless War?" The Nation, July 29, 2019.
Stephen Wertheim, "The Only Way to End ‘Endless War," NY Times, Sept 14, 2019.
Stephen Wertheim, "America Has No Reason to Be So Powerful," NY Times, Oct. 15, 2020.
Comments
Sam Murphy
Thanks for this. As an environmentalist (and admittedly NOT a foreign policy wonk), I have always interpreted our foreign policy as an extension of our imperialist tendencies coupled with our energy policies, and energy "security" fears. I cannot separate the domestic energy policies (oil/gas focus) from our foreign policy. I see our endless wars and strange bedfellows as (perhaps oversimplified) way to secure oil routs. We have exasperated climate migration due to these wars. So I just see an endless loop of poverty creation and environmental degradation. How does a "Trans-Partisan" group reconcile a one sided refusal to acknowledge climate change & a love of austerity and isolation, with the foreign aide it would require to create some stability? I see the disengagement part as important, but I have a hard time envisioning what comes next. One could see carbon internationally regulated like nuclear power, but we are not great at that. [I say this, and I do have the belief that the GOP will have to acknowledge climate change at some point, but I fear their MO in combating it]
