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Episodes
Each episode of The President’s Inbox explores a foreign policy challenge facing the United States.
Episodes

Apr 9, 2024
Apr 9, 2024
32 min
Michael Kimmage, a history professor at the Catholic University of America and a senior associate with the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss the origins of Russia’s war in Ukraine and its repercussion for the global order.
Mentioned on the Episode
Michael Kimmage, Collisions: The Origins of the War in Ukraine and the New Global Instability
For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The President’s Inbox at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/russia-ukraine-and-global-instability-michael-kimmage

Apr 2, 2024
Apr 2, 2024
34 min
Steven A. Cook, the Eni Enrico Mattei Senior Fellow for Middle East and Africa Studies at CFR, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss the state of the conflict in the Gaza Strip, the prospects for an end to the fighting, and the tensions in U.S.-Israeli relations.
Mentioned on the Episode
Steven Cook, “Five Months of War: Where Israel, Hamas, and the U.S. Stand,” CFR.org
Steven Cook, The End of Ambition: America’s Past, Present, and Future in the Middle East [forthcoming]
For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The President’s Inbox at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/war-gaza-steven-cook

Mar 26, 2024
Mar 26, 2024
29 min
W.J. Hennigan, a correspondent for the Opinion section of the New York Times, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss the risk of nuclear war in an era of growing geopolitical competition.
Mentioned on the Episode
"At the Brink," New York Times
J. Hennigan, "How America Made Nuclear War the President's Decision," New York Times
J. Hennigan, "Nuclear War Is Called Unimaginable. In Fact, It's Not Imagined Enough," New York Times
For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The President’s Inbox at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/confronting-nuclear-threat-wj-hennigan

Mar 19, 2024
Mar 19, 2024
38 min
Stephen Wertheim, a senior fellow in the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss whether and where the United States should be less involved in the world. This episode is the first in a special The President’s Inbox series on U.S. grand strategy.
Mentioned on the Episode
Stephen Wertheim, “Internationalism/Isolationism: Concepts of American Global Power [PDF],” in Rethinking U.S. World Power: Domestic Histories of U.S. Foreign Relations, ed. Daniel Bessner and Michael Brenes
Stephen Wertheim, Tomorrow, the World: The Birth of U.S. Global Supremacy
Stephen Wertheim, "Why America Can't Have It All: Washington Must Choose Between Primacy and Prioritizing," Foreign Affairs
For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The President’s Inbox at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/new-us-grand-strategy-case-us-retrenchment-overseas-stephen-wertheim

Mar 12, 2024
Mar 12, 2024
37 min
Dara Lind, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss the record surge in migrants and asylum seekers crossing the U.S. southern border.
Mentioned on the Episode
Dara Lind, "What We Know About the Senate Negotiations That Could Wreck Asylum in the U.S.," Immigration Impact
The Weeds, Vox
For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The President’s Inbox at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/crisis-us-southern-border-dara-lind

Mar 5, 2024
Mar 5, 2024
28 min
Ann Norris, a senior fellow for women and foreign policy at CFR, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss International Women’s Day and the challenges facing adolescent girls around the world and the solutions to address them.
Mentioned on the Episode
Ann Norris, Renewing the Global Architecture for Gender Equality
United Nations, "SDG 5: Achieve Gender Equality and Empower all Women and Girls"
For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The President’s Inbox at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/international-womens-day-ann-norris

Feb 27, 2024
Feb 27, 2024
31 min
Kate Schecter, president and CEO of World Neighbors, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss progress and setbacks in promoting economic development in some of the world’s poorest countries.
For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The President’s Inbox at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/combating-global-poverty-kate-schecter

Feb 20, 2024
Feb 20, 2024
33 min
Miriam Elder, the Edward R. Murrow press fellow at CFR, and Carla Anne Robbins, a senior fellow at CFR and co-host of CFR’s The World Next Week podcast, sit down with James M. Lindsay to discuss where the war between Russia and Ukraine is headed as it enters its third year.
Mentioned on the Episode
“House Republicans Fear Trump Too Much to Aid Ukraine,” Economist
Simon Shuster, The Showman: Inside the Invasion That Shook the World and Made a Leader of Volodymyr Zelensky
The World Next Week, Council on Foreign Relations
“Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief on the Breakthrough He Needs to Beat Russia,” Economist
For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The President’s Inbox at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/year-three-ukraine-war-miriam-elder-and-carla-anne-robbins

Feb 13, 2024
Feb 13, 2024
35 min
Kat Duffy, a senior fellow for digital and cyberspace policy at CFR, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss the capacity of the U.S. government to lead in creating a framework for regulating artificial intelligence (AI).
Mentioned on the Episode
Kat Duffy and Katie Harbath, "Defending the Year of Democracy," Foreign Affairs
For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The President’s Inbox at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/governance-artificial-intelligence-kat-duffy

Feb 6, 2024
Feb 6, 2024
34 min
Ray Takeyh, the Hasib J. Sabbagh senior fellow for Middle East studies at CFR, and Robin Wright, a contributing writer and columnist for the New Yorker, sit down with James M. Lindsay to discuss the ramifications of U.S. retaliation against Iranian-backed militias after the killing of three U.S. service members in Jordan on January 28.
Mentioned on the Episode
Ray Takeyh, The Last Shah: America, Iran and the Fall of the Pahlavi Dynasty
Robin Wright, Rock the Casbah: Rage and Rebellion Across the Islamic World
For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The President’s Inbox at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/us-airstrikes-iraq-and-syria-ray-takeyh-and-robin-wright
