When the world's at stake,
go beyond the headlines.

Chris, Zack, and Melanie get together to talk about a new assessment of President Biden’s foreign policy two years into his administration. Using “A Better Biden Doctrine” by Stephen Wertheim and Matthew Duss as the foundation, the team looks at how well Biden has kept the foreign policy promises he made on the campaign trail, whether he has made incremental or fundamental changes, and what he might be able to accomplish in the next two years. They also consider what policies progressives might hope are given more attention the rest of this term. Chris and Zack have complaints about negligent handling of classified materials by high level officials and the excuses for it, and Melanie gives a shout out to Canada for some new defense initiatives.

Episode Reading:

• Stephen Wertheim and Matthew Duss, “A Better Biden Doctrine,” The New Republic, January 4, 2023.
• Democratic Party 2020 Platform, Democratic National Committee, August 2020,
• Joseph R. Biden, Letter to the Speaker of the House and President Pro Tempore of the Senate Consistent with the War Powers Resolution, The White House, February 27, 2021.
• Oklahoma Legislature, Senate, A Concurrent Resolution Directing the Pentagon and US Department of Defense to Not Send Foreign Soldiers to Oklahoma; and Encouraging the Executive Branch and State’s Law Enforcement, SCR 2, 59^th Leg., 1^st sess.
• “The destructive new logic that threatens globalisation,” The Economist, January 12, 2023.
• Does International Trade Create Winners and Losers?, St. Louis Federal Reserve, November 2017.
• The End of History? Global Implications of the War in Ukraine, Stimson Center.
• Zack Cooper and Eric Sayers, “Japan’s Shift to War Footing,” War on the Rocks, January 12, 2023.