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Uncommon Knowledge: Trump, China, and the Geopolitics of a Crisis
Stephen A. Kotkin is a professor of history at Princeton and a fellow at the Hoover Institution. Kotkin is one of the nation’s most compelling observers of foreign affairs, past and present, and is now working on the third and final volume of his definitive biography of Josef Stalin. From that perspective, Peter Robinson and Kotkin discuss Trump’s response to the COVID-19 crisis, Kotkin’s thoughts on the Chinese leadership class and the advantages they may seek to exploit, and which country—China or the United States—will come to represent the more successful or compelling model to other nations.
Recorded on April 1, 2020.
Published in General
Outstanding interview, Peter. Prof. Kotkin is brilliant and expresses his ideas clearly. I learned a tremendous about our relationships with the Soviet Union/Russia and with China. Thank you!
I’m surprised that, on the one hand, Kotkin identifies himself as a pessimist and, on the other hand, seems to believe American culture can be unified without one side defeating the other. Democrats and Republicans no longer share any foundation beyond the constant political appeal of graft and action by empowerment of bureaucracy. One side seeks to recover what has been lost and the other wants to obliterate the remnants.
Americans can be unified by conversion, but not by compromise. To trust in that potential is daringly optimistic. Severe economic hardship could dull the cultural extravagances of affluence. But it could also empower tyrants.
If Hong Kong and Taiwan are threats to mainland Chinese politics, how might the US exploit them; or should we?