China

The rallying cry of many pro-Palestinian protestors is “divest from Israel.” University administrators and donors have so far rebuffed that demand. Many investment analysts argue that it’s not feasible for universities to alter their portfolios and sell all assets linked to particular countries. And, this week, the Chinese coast guard fired water cannons at two […]

More trucks carrying aid are crossing the border into Gaza, and the relief group World Central Kitchen is resuming operations there, four weeks after Israeli soldiers killed seven of the group’s aid workers. Still, the situation in Gaza remains dire. And, Maori poet Tayi Tibble released a new collection of poems, “Rangikura” earlier this month […]

Can the country rebound from the social, cultural, and economic toll of COVID-19? Now we know what happens while we’re sleeping; have we woken up? And what will it take to right the ship?

GUESTS: Gigi Kwik Gronvall, Senior Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; Sherri Goodman, former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Environmental Security and a Senior Fellow at the Wilson Center and the Center for Climate Security; Travis L. Adkins, lecturer of African and Security Studies at the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University; Marissa Conway, Co-founder of the Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy.

ADDITIONAL READING:

Foreign Policy Begins at Home, Council on Foreign Relations.

At the Intersection of Domestic and Foreign Policy, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Is American Foreign Policy the Key to Economic Growth?, The Washington Post.

The Legacy of American Racism at Home and Abroad, Foreign Policy.

The Scientific Response to COVID-19 and Lessons for Security, Survival.

As the US reckons with systemic racism and a less-than-democratic past, China is doubling down on its authoritarian ways. Meanwhile, research on the health of democracy from across the globe indicates the patient is not well.

We trace China’s rise from the 1990s, when American pop music held a place alongside patriotic education, to its more recent political assertiveness– not to mention its chokehold on civil rights in Hong Kong and Xinjiang. As China moves to assert itself on the world stage, is democracy losing?

GUESTS: Connie Mei Pickart, writer and educator; Yascha Mounk, associate professor at Johns Hopkins University and senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund

ADDITIONAL READING:

How the World Views American-Style Democracy, Eurasia Group Foundation.

Nationalism Ruined My Chinese Friendships, Connie Mei Pickart.

In Hong Kong, Defiance Gone Quiet, The New York Times.

Are we in the middle of a new Cold War? Or have we rewritten the game? With old nuclear arms treaties expiring, and no new ones being signed, are we adapting to the times or playing with fire?

In this episode, we look at the past and present of civil defense and nuclear arms control and ask what we can do — as individuals and as a nation — to prevent the existential threat of nuclear war.

GUESTS: Alex Wellerstein, professor at the Stevens Institute of Technology and historian of nuclear weapons; Alexandra Bell, Senior Policy Director at the Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation.

ADDITIONAL READING:

NUKEMAP.

Trump Will Withdraw From Open Skies Treaty, New York Times.

Time Running Out on the Last US-Russia Nuclear Arms Treaty, Defense News.

Will Donald Trump Resume Nuclear Testing?, The Economist.

The US spends more than $700 billion on defense every year, more than healthcare, education, and all the rest of our discretionary spending combined. And yet the coronavirus slipped silently and invisibly across our borders, and even onto our aircraft carriers. You could say we were preparing for World War III, when we got hammered by World War C.

This season we ask, “What else are we missing?”

GUESTS: Alden Wicker, Sustainable Fashion Journalist; Kathleen Hicks, CSIS; John Blocher, Dave Ahern, Mia Herrington, and Larry Rubin, who shared their personal views with us at Defense One 2020.

ADDITIONAL READING:

Getting to Less, Foreign Affairs.

The Lessons of Y2K, 20 Years Later, Washington Post.

Nuclear Spending vs. Healthcare, ICAN.

Want to calm your inner critic? Our guest tries a practice to find more self-compassion during uncertain times.

Could the rise of China and Russia spell the end of the US as the dominant world power? Are we on an irreversible path toward military confrontation? Are we prepared for life in a multilateral world?

Military spending is growing, and the Pentagon says it’s in service of something called “great power competition” — but are the biggest threats to US power military? Or, something else. 

This next season of Things That Go Boom will explore how our national security has refocused on threats that require traditional military might — things like carriers and fighter jets — at a time when some of the biggest threats to our security are silent, agile, economic, and even viral. We’ll ask if our main adversaries — Russia and China — are really a threat, and we’ll examine just how strong, or weak, a position the US holds in this new geopolitical reality.

President Trump’s State of the Union: Immigration, Economy, 2020 Elections

The President avoided one major topic: impeachment.

Fear of the Coronavirus Spurs Surge in Xenophobia and Anti-Chinese Sentiment

The long standing stereotype of the sick foreigner is playing into how we are dealing with the Coronavirus.

Veteran Journalist Diane Rehm on the Right-to-Die Movement

In her new book “When My Times Comes,” Rehm explores the highly divisive field of medical aid in dying. 

The Growing Support for Aid-in-Dying Legislation

But there is a lot of confusion around what aid-in-dying actually entails, and what it means for the rights of patients who are terminally ill and their families. 

Can There Be Redemption for the Accused in the #MeToo Movement?

On Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, one rabbi explains what the Jewish faith can teach men trying to redeem themselves following allegations of sexual misconduct.

Trump’s Trade War with China Hits a Fever Pitch 

President Trump’s escalating trade war with China ratcheted up another notch this week.

Community Health Workers and Churches Band Together After Florence

We talk to a director at a community health center in North Carolina, about how elderly residents and those with limited resources, have been coping after Hurricane Florence.

“I Will Fight Colonialism Until My Last Breath”: Longtime Political Prisoner Oscar Lopez Rivera Speaks Out, One Year After Maria

Oscar Lopez Rivera, long-time Puerto Rican independence activist, talks about the effects of U.S. colonialism.

Guests:

Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg

Amber McKinney

Anna Kinsey 

Oscar Lopez Rivera

You can connect with The Takeaway on Twitter, Facebook, or on our show page at TheTakeaway.org.