Does Soft Power Actually Matter?
This week, Walter and Jeremy discuss Kamala Harris’ price control plan, America’s new class of Pacific missiles, the reemergence of ISIS in Syria and Iraq, and why soft power isn’t what it used to be
This week, Walter and Jeremy discuss Kamala Harris’ price control plan, America’s new class of Pacific missiles, the reemergence of ISIS in Syria and Iraq, and why soft power isn’t what it used to be.
Each week on What Really Matters, Walter Russell Mead and Jeremy Stern help you understand the news, decide what matters and what doesn’t, and enjoy following the story of America and the world more than you do now. For more, check out tabletmag.com/whatreallymatters. You can read Walter Russell Mead’s Tablet columns here and check out more from Tablet here.
- What Really MattersBiden’s Magical Unicorn DiplomacyThis week, Walter and Jeremy discuss Zelensky’s visit to Washington, why Gen Z men are more religious than their female peers, how U.S. airstrikes are helping the Houthis, and what exactly President Biden and his national security team still don’t understand about diplomacySeptember 27, 2024
- What Really MattersAmerica Is Sleepwalking Into World War IIIThis week, Walter and Jeremy discuss exploding Hezbollah pagers, the Fed’s interest rate cut, Gavin Newsom vs. AI, and how the United States is stumbling blind into world warSeptember 20, 2024
- What Really MattersHow Sept. 11 Still Shapes Our PoliticsThis week, Walter and Jeremy discuss the Harris-Trump debate, Iran selling ballistic missiles to Russia, Europe’s never-ending decline, and how Sept. 11 continues to shape American and world historySeptember 13, 2024
- What Really MattersTucker Finds HitlerThis week, Walter and Jeremy discuss Joe Biden’s move to block the sale of U.S. Steel, Chinese spies in New York state, the Hamas massacre of Israeli hostages, and the larger meaning of Tucker Carlson’s crank historical revisionismSeptember 6, 2024
- What Really MattersBibi the GreatThis week, Walter and Jeremy discuss the arrest of Pavel Durov in France, the revision of U.S. job growth statistics, RFK Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard endorsing Donald Trump, and how Benjamin Netanyahu secured his place in Jewish and world historyAugust 30, 2024
- What Really MattersKamala’s Economics and Alexander HamiltonThis week, Walter and Jeremy discuss U.S. military plans for a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, Democratic criticisms of Kamala Harris’ economic plan, the darkening political picture in East Germany, and why Hamiltonianism is the best way forward in American domestic and foreign policyAugust 23, 2024
- What Really MattersDoes Soft Power Actually Matter?This week, Walter and Jeremy discuss Kamala Harris’ price control plan, America’s new class of Pacific missiles, the reemergence of ISIS in Syria and Iraq, and why soft power isn’t what it used to beAugust 15, 2024
- What Really MattersWalz, Sinwar, Biden, StocksThis week, Walter and Jeremy discuss stock market trouble, Ukraine’s incursion into Russia, the Israel-Iran escalation ladder, and what Kamala Harris’ VP pick does and doesn’t meanAugust 9, 2024
- What Really MattersDing Dong! Haniyeh and Shukr Are DeadThis week, Walter and Jeremy discuss Biden’s plan to remake the Supreme Court, why housing is the most important political issue in the United States, Russian paramilitaries getting hammered in Africa, and how Israel’s assassination of Hamas and Hezbollah’s top dogs could change the region and U.S. policyAugust 2, 2024
- What Really MattersThe Foreign Policy of Kamala HarrisThis week, Walter and Jeremy discuss Chinese and Russian warplanes off the coast of Alaska, Kamala Harris’ snub of Benjamin Netanyahu, whether the artificial intelligence bubble might pop, and what foreign policy would look like under a President Kamala HarrisJuly 25, 2024
- What Really MattersTrump, Vance, and the Shot Heard Round the WorldThis week, Walter and Jeremy discuss the rise of J.D. Vance, America’s nervous allies in Europe and Asia, Silicon Valley’s break right, and the near-slaying of Donald TrumpJuly 18, 2024
- What Really MattersPutin, Xi, Modi, KimThis week, Walter and Jeremy discuss unemployment figures, the GOP’s new Trump-era stance on abortion, the rise of the far left in France, and how China, Russia, India, and North Korea are making new moves on the Indo-Pacific chessboardJuly 11, 2024
- What Really MattersThe Geopolitics of Biden’s DeclineThis week, Walter and Jeremy discuss the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity decision, the collapse of the political center in France, the Haredi military conscription debate in Israel, and the international repercussions of Biden’s disastrous debateJuly 2, 2024
- What Really MattersAbout Last NightThis week, Walter and Jeremy discuss the historic presidential debate and two new landmark Supreme Court decisionsJune 28, 2024
- What Really MattersBiden’s Fearful Foreign PolicyThis week, Walter and Jeremy discuss postelection India, Biden’s new immigration orders, China’s wealth exodus, and why Iran has nothing to fear from WashingtonJune 21, 2024
- What Really MattersOn the Front Lines in UkraineThis week, Walter and Jeremy discuss pro-Hamas mobs in D.C. and New York, France’s snap elections, Thursday’s Supreme Court decisions, and what Walter saw and heard on the front lines in UkraineJune 14, 2024
- What Really MattersThe Trump VerdictThis week, Walter and Jeremy discuss NATO’s air defenses, the China-led shadow global economy, South Africa’s election results, and the hush money conviction of Donald TrumpMay 31, 2024
- What Really MattersThe Sino-Russian-Iranian AllianceThis week, Walter and Jeremy discuss Gantz’s ultimatum to Netanyahu, the death of Ebrahim Raisi, a failed unionization push in the American South, and how China, Russia, and Iran went from an Axis of Weevils to a legitimate alliance of revisionist powersMay 24, 2024