28 July 2021
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Why did Hezbollah intervene in Syria?
In a conversation with Robert Wright, Rania Khalek argues that the decision had less to do with Iran than most people think.
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In this video:
- Last year’s Beirut port explosion
- The roots of Lebanon’s economic crisis
- Sectarianism and the dueling narratives of the Lebanese civil war
- Why did Hezbollah intervene in Syria?
- Rania: US policy in Syria helped lead to the rise of ISIS
- What if outside powers had stayed out of Syria?
- The effect of US sanctions on Syria
- How popular is Assad’s government?
- Why Qatar, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia intervened in the conflict
Pushing back against “disinformation”
Glenn Loury and Richard Epstein discuss critical race theory and the legal history of racial redress in the US.
Is Putin a mystic?
Following the revelation that Putin owns a float tank, Nikita Petrov and John Horgan speculate that he may be the Übermensch.
“In this Ohio diner…”
Aryeh Cohen-Wade speaks with DougJ, who runs the parody Twitter account New York Times Pitchbot, about a lazy trope of reporting on Middle America.
Empire state of mind
International relations scholars John Ikenberry and Patrick Porter debate whether America is an empire.
Defining CRT
Glenn Loury and John McWhorter discuss the rhetoric and politics of the critical race theory debate.
Who is the main aggressor in the culture war?
Bill Scher and Matt K. Lewis discuss a spate of recent pieces suggesting that the left, more than the right, has escalated the culture war.
Is there anything to Eric Weinstein’s theory of everything?
Mathematician Timothy Nguyen, in conversation with Robert Wright, critiques Weinstein’s grand theory of physics.
Culturally Determined
What Babe Ruth’s mother’s adultery teaches us about the history of profanity
Aryeh Cohen-Wade speaks with John McWhorter, author of the new book Nine Nasty Words: English in the Gutter: Then, Now, and Forever.
The Wright Show
Are we stuck with Covid?
Robert Wright and Mickey Kaus discuss the possibility that Covid vaccines will become a permanent part of life.
The Wright Show
Law and Order: Global Edition
Robert Wright and Eli Lake debate whether autocracies violate international rules and norms more than democracies.
The Wright Show
Why are we sanctioning Cuba (or anyone)?
Robert Wright and Mickey Kaus debate US foreign policy.
Talkin’ bout a revolution (in US foreign policy)
Stephen Wertheim of the Carnegie Endowment and Thomas Wright of the Brookings Institution debate whether the US should fundamentally reevaluate its military engagement abroad.
Culturally Determined
The absurd exercise of ranking presidential greatness
