Ambassador Michael McFaul helped launch the Obama administration’s reset in U.S.-Russian relations, which fostered new and unprecedented collaboration between the two countries. As U.S. ambassador to Russia from 2012 to 2014, he had a front-row seat as the relationship began to unravel in the wake of Vladimir Putin’s return to the presidency. In his new book, From Cold War to Hot Peace, he talks about what happened and what went wrong. McFaul sat down in the DiploPod studio with Lauren Dueck to discuss his new book, U.S.-Russian relations, and where Putin’s foreign policy is headed.
Ambassador James B. Story most recently served as U.S. Ambassador for the Venezuela Affairs Unit, located at the United States Embassy in Bogotá, Colombia. Previously, Ambassador Story served as Chargé d’Affaires at the Venezuela Affairs Unit and, prior to mid-2019, the United States Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela.
Stephen Wertheim is a historian, strategist, and author of Tomorrow, the World: The Birth of U.S. Global Supremacy. He joins Jon Bateman, host of The World Unpacked, to assess what this historic document can tell us. Will Trump follow it? Which GOP factions were behind it? And how will it shape the battle of ideas in 2028 and beyond?
Author, podcaster, publicist, and one of AI's biggest critics joins The World Unpacked to discuss the AI bubble and his own research into AI finances with Jon Bateman.
In a lively new episode of The World Unpacked, Alicia Wanless and host Jon Bateman discuss what 2025 has in common with 1625, how novels spark civil wars, and why our frantic efforts to tame information often do more harm than good.
Peter Harrell is a top trade expert and lawyer fighting the tariffs on behalf of 207 members of Congress. He joins host Jon Bateman on The World Unpacked to take stock of the ever-changing tariffs, peer into the Justices’ decision-making process, and predict the fallout for America and the world.