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Though James-less once more, the founders are back with yet another fascinating discussion about the dizzying crisis in Eastern Europe. With us from his home in Budapest is John O’Sullivan, former advisor to Margaret Thatcher, to discuss the reignited Cold War. He gives us the mood in Hungary, considers the longevity of the West’s newfound resolve, and elaborates on the NATO debate.
Peter and Rob talk shop about writing, deadlines and compartmentalization; plus there are some members events you’ll be excited to hear about!
Music from this week’s podcast: Russians by Sting
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Wait, Jon Gabriel is going to personally make and test the nightcap recipes himself? In that case I have suggestions…
This was an electrifying podcast, one of the best, given what’s going on in Ukraine. Well worth the listen.
Please don’t wait until August for another podcast with John. He has made more sense in this hour than anyone else has in my reading these past two weeks.
Thank you for a great podcast.
That is definitely the best thing I have heard about this so far.
Rob voted for Mondale?
O’Sullivan is very good, but it’s hard to understand how Peter can be so naïve about the Russian people and what it was like over there in the 90s…Even so, why are there only 5 comments on this podcast? I know the number of comments has been going down over the past couple years but they’ve never been this low.
I suspect O’Sullivan knows the European leaders will waffle once Ukraine settles down. If Johnson and Macron are the leaders we have to depend on then there’s little hope for a sustained revival of any kind of meaningful Atlantic alliance. Biden and his groupies obviously aren’t going to lead.
I skipped over the O’Sullivan part, because I don’t think any of the “talking heads,” even if they’re supposed to be the best on “our side,” really know what Putin is thinking or has planned. And perhaps not Macron and the others either. They can spin out endless possibilities, but so can I.
John never said or inferred that he knows what Putin is thinking nor did we book him for that purpose. The point of booking him is that he is 150 miles from the Ukrainian border and as such has a perspective that most of us who are many thousands of miles from Ukraine don’t have. He also knows and talked a lot in this interview about what European/NATO leaders are thinking because he communicates with them every day. Which you’d know a lot more about too if you hadn’t wrongly assumed that you knew what John was going to say.
This is just my opinion. I think there were few comments because foreign policy is very hard to understand and this conversation covered both sides of it thoroughly.
Seriously, I think it’s a waste of time for the average person to figure it out. You are mostly a victim of what the ruling class is going to do. F’ing China is nothing but mafia with nukes. We never, ever should have started trading with them except to keep them alive. Russia is mentally ill mafia with nukes.
It’s the same thing with the financial system and the Fed. It’s very hard to stay the hell out of the way of the ruling class screw ups.
Act accordingly.
I also wouldn’t assume that European/NATO leaders are completely honest with someone they know will be repeating what they said.
John O’Sullivan has been reporting and writing on European politics for over 40 years and has deep and longstanding relationships with key players in numerous European governments and in the E.U. He understands the dynamics of reporting quite well and also has many if not more off the record conversations. I’m quite sure he knows when he is being spun and when he is being dealt with honestly.
To dismiss what he says because you think you’re smarter or more informed than he is on this subject is….Well, I won’t say what I think it is.
Haven’t you been paying attention to co-founder Rob Long? “Nobody knows anything.”
When NATO people talk to John O’Sullivan, are they telling him the truth? Maybe.
Are they telling him the whole truth? Probably not.
Are they telling him nothing but the truth? Highly doubtful.
Also, it’s likely to be more up to Biden than to Europe/NATO, and even Biden doesn’t know what Biden thinks. Even if we hadn’t already seen him bumbling around for the last almost half-century, just the foolishness about the Polish jets is proof of that.
Thanks, Tucker.
Bopped in to this podcast thread to comment how GREAT I thought the guest was, and through that the whole podcast. Really entertaining, and I felt like I grew intellectually and learned. Look forward to more O’Sullivan in the future!
And I agree with Blue Yeti – Kedavis’ comment was very Tucker: He started his comment with a foundation of agreed on facts (in this case from our founder – a very humbling statement indeed), moved through in three short statements the obvious nature of communications coming from any political interest group – that these communications are to be always remembered to come from an interested party that will likely hold back on things they don’t like communicated, push those they want, and are rarely being 100% straightforward.
This is also why I like Tucker and laugh deep belly laughs at those who attempt skew, twist, contort, or otherwise misrepresent the obvious truths he often bestows on his audience.
Nice to see Kedavis get the props!
Zing!