Podcast Archive

Earlier this month, Sudan’s ruling military council and the opposition pro-democracy movement reached agreement on the broad outlines of a power-sharing deal. The document lays out a three-year roadmap toward free elections and permanent civilian rule. But the two sides have yet to agree on key details, and the opposition is continuing to demand accountability for a bloody crackdown by the military in June that left more than 100 people dead. In a sign of the process’ shakiness, a planned negotiating round was canceled this week in response to the killing of five schoolchildren by security forces during a peaceful […]

In this week’s editors’ discussion on Trend Lines, WPR’s editor-in-chief, Judah Grunstein; managing editor, Frederick Deknatel; and associate editor, Laura Weiss, talk about Boris Johnson’s investiture as the U.K.’s new prime minister. They also look at U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s four-country tour of Latin America and the surprisingly warm reception he received. If you like what you hear on Trend Lines and what you’ve read on WPR, you can sign up for our free newsletter to get our uncompromising analysis delivered straight to your inbox. The newsletter offers a free preview article every day of the week, plus […]

In this week’s Trend Lines interview, WPR’s associate editor, Elliot Waldman, talks with Jake Sullivan about the damage being done to America’s global standing under Trump, how domestic issues tie in with the perception of the United States overseas, and the challenges Democrats face in crafting an effective foreign policy message as they vie to take Trump on in 2020. A former national security adviser to Vice President Joseph Biden and director of policy planning at the State Department, Sullivan is currently a visiting fellow at Dartmouth College. If you like what you hear on Trend Lines and what you’ve […]

This week, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to block President Donald Trump’s effort to bypass Congress and complete major arms deals with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The resolution will almost certainly be vetoed by Trump, but it nonetheless demonstrates an emerging consensus in Washington on the need to reevaluate close U.S. ties with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf monarchies in the wake of human rights abuses like the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. How durable might this shift be? And how else is the U.S. foreign policy consensus evolving in the Trump era? In this week’s […]

Ursula Von der Leyen, the former defense minister of Germany, was narrowly confirmed as the next president of the European Commission this week. She will take the helm in Brussels at a difficult time, with widening fissures among European Union member states and a rising challenge from far-right, euroskeptic political movements across the continent. Von der Leyen and other top EU leaders will need to tackle these internal challenges while navigating the tumultuous Brexit process, addressing the crisis in U.S.-Iran relations, and managing the EU’s difficult relationship with the Trump administration. In this week’s Trend Lines interview, WPR’s associate editor, […]

Britain’s ambassador to the United States, Kim Darroch, resigned this week after a leak of confidential memos he wrote that described the Trump administration as “dysfunctional” and “clumsy and inept.” In this week’s editors’ discussion on Trend Lines, WPR’s editor-in-chief, Judah Grunstein, and associate editor, Elliot Waldman, talk about Darroch’s resignation and what it says about the state of the “special relationship” between the U.S. and the United Kingdom, as well as the changing face of diplomacy in the Trump era. If you like what you hear on Trend Lines and what you’ve read on WPR, you can sign up […]

Reports of overcrowded and inhumane conditions in detention centers that the Trump administration is using to house migrants and asylum-seekers, mostly from Central America, have given rise to a fierce debate in the United States. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York has repeatedly referred to the camps as “concentration camps,” which critics say is inappropriate given that term’s association with the Holocaust. Yet while the uniqueness of the Nazi extermination camp system must be recognized, concentration camps are not out of the ordinary. They can be found all over the world at various times in history, as the journalist Andrea […]

In this week’s editors’ discussion episode of the Trend Lines podcast, WPR’s editor-in-chief, Judah Grunstein, and associate editor, Elliot Waldman, talk about whether a slew of recent actions by President Donald Trump reveal a fundamental flaw in his approach toward foreign policy. Will adversaries see Trump’s concessions to China and Mexico on trade issues and his last-minute cancellation of a planned military strike on Iran as signs of weakness? And what could that mean for his potential successor in the White House? Judah and Elliot also discuss the significance of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s recent meeting with Japanese Prime Minister […]

When North Korea’s young dictator, Kim Jong Un, came to power in 2012, many observers thought his days at the top would be numbered. Yet despite numerous predictions of an imminent coup or even regime collapse, Kim defied all odds by ruthlessly purging potential rivals and consolidating power. Now, he sits securely atop one of the most reclusive and repressive governments in the world. Few official details are available about Kim’s life, but a new book aims to peel back the layers of secrecy around him. In “The Great Successor: The Divinely Perfect Destiny of Brilliant Comrade Kim Jong Un,” […]