In this episode, I speak to Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman, long time American diplomat, now a fellow at the Brookings Institution to find more about how U.S. foreign policy is made, what are its limitations and its possibilities as well as the highs and lows of his career. From meeting Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to a scary meeting in North Korea, Ambas ... Show More
Apr 2023
Introducing Dynamite Doug
This week on People Like Us, we’re sharing a preview of Dynamite Doug, the latest investigative podcast from Project Brazen. Hosted by Ellen Wong (of Netflix’s GLOW and Scott Pilgrim), the 6-part series delves into the alleged crimes of Douglas Latchford, an art dealer who collab ... Show More
15m 39s
Feb 2023
A mystery begins at the US Embassy in Havana
This is a preview of Project Brazen's latest investigative podcast, The Sound: Mystery of Havana Syndrome. To listen to the rest of this episode, search for THE SOUND: Mystery of Havana Syndrome, wherever you get your podcasts.
In December 2016, a US official in Havana reported a ... Show More
16m 34s
Feb 2023
Gabriel Glickman, "US-Egypt Diplomacy Under Johnson: Nasser, Komer, and the Limits of Personal Diplomacy" (Bloombury, 2021)
What happens to policies when a president dies in office? Do they get replaced by the new president, or do advisers carry on with the status quo? In November 1963, these were important questions for a Kennedy-turned-Johnson administration.Among these officials was a driven Nation ... Show More
1h 23m
Sep 2019
U.S. Diplomacy in the Middle East
In our first episode, Jon Alterman sits down with Ambassador Bill Burns about the role of the United States in the Middle East. Amb. Burns is the president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the former deputy secretary of state, and the author of The Back Channel: ... Show More
23m 39s
Jan 2021
America in the World – A Conversation on the History of U.S. Foreign Policy with Amb. Bob Zoellick
In this episode, Dan speaks with Ambassador Bob Zoellick, an American public official who most recently served as the 11th President of the World Bank. He is the author of a fascinating new book, America in the World: A History of U.S. Diplomacy and Foreign Policy. In the traditi ... Show More
51m 51s
Oct 2020
American entanglement in the Middle East
Philip Gordon, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, is a long-time Washington insider who worked on Middle East policy for the Obama administration and is now an informal adviser to the Biden campaign. In this episode, Gideon Rachman talks to him about the US pres ... Show More
24m 51s
Dec 2021
In and Out of the Ivory Tower
This week on Babel, Jon talks with Ghassan Salamé, a Paris-based academic and former UN mediator with over three decades of experience moving between academia and public policy. They talk about how he started his UN career, the role and limitations of the United Nations as a conf ... Show More
42m 22s
Sep 2021
9/11 anniversary: in conversation with US diplomat Sean Murphy
The deadly 9/11 terror attacks reshaped US foreign policy with regards to the Middle East. Its consequences continue to be felt, 20 years on. In this special episode, The National’s Assistant Editor in Chief, Mustafa Alrawi, and Sean Murphy, Charge d’Affaires at the US Embassy in ... Show More
20m 34s
Oct 2018
Ep. 8: Putting the Diplomacy Back in D.C.
Historically, stereotypes about women focused on the frailties of the “weaker sex.” But many women running for office this year prove those notions false. Candidates have held positions in the military, intelligence agencies, and the State Department. This is the third of three e ... Show More
37m 14s