Selective Hypocrisy
Hungary, a self-described illiberal democracy. Neighboring Slovakia, with a snap election coming in September. Will Slovakia elect the next Orban? What does that mean for the Western alliance? What if...
17 Aug 202344min
Israel "Reforms"
The news fist broke weeks ago but now the human stakes have reached the front pages, with thousands of Israelis taken to the streets. Are Israel's judicial "reforms" simply a way for Netanyahu to ski...
11 Aug 202336min
Now's the Time in Ukraine - Gen. Spider Marks
Ukraine: a nation fighting for its life. Russia's military: leaderless, feckless, inept, but well armed and with lots of conscripts willing to die. With Putin weakened (think, attempted Wagner coup),...
3 Aug 202335min
Go For It!
Margaret Riccardelli, an airline employee in her 40s, stumbled into the foreign service thinking it would be great to serve in Italy. But where did she end up? Bangladesh, where nothing ever happens. ...
27 Jul 202323min
Wagner's Ascent to Control in Central Africa
The Central African Republic: a vulnerable democracy with a weak president, failed by the West. Wagner mercenaries arrive in flip flops offering military support and quickly set up lucrative mineral b...
21 Jul 202341min
The Stars Over the Red Sea
Alan Eaton helps us appreciate exactly where high level policy meets the work of diplomats on the ground as he works from a Saudi military vessel to evacuate Americans from the war in Sudan.
13 Jul 202343min
Party on John's Gunboat! Happy Fourth!
Why don't the Panamanians hate us? We sliced their country in two to build the Panama Canal, owned and controlled the Canal Zone, disallowed Panamanians from visiting the Canal Zone, and even attacked...
5 Jul 202325min
Impeached and Arrested and In Good Company
Pedro Castillo, recently ousted in Peru, is the latest of a succession of Peruvian presidents to be jailed or disgraced. Could this apparent chaos be in fact a sign that the judicial system is working...
29 Jun 202341min
