Reconsider

Is Venezuela's government going to fall? Is North Korea going to fire nukes? Is the US going to fire nukes? Are Maduro and Kim just madmen? Is Trump? Two dictatorial regimes, both of which hate the US, both entering crises and both facing substantial constraints about how they can try to navigate them. And the US, attempting to deal with the North Korean crisis, has its own constraints as well. In this episode you'll understand the forces that are pushing Venezuela into a domestic crisis and North Korea into conflict with the US. You'll learn what options are available to everyone and why they're limited. And you'll learn a little more about how to analyze the global stage beyond the rhetoric.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

President Trump has had a lot of trouble getting a legislative win, and he's pressing Congress harder than ever to deliver one. The GOP has both the House and the Senate--what are the forces keeping them from getting things done?  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Politics gets emotional. However the emotional part of our brain was designed not for rational thought, but for knee-jerk survival mechanisms. How can we train our brain to think more clearly about politics in our daily lives? In this episode, Erik and Xander talk Stoicism, a philosophy and thought strategy that has been used for thousands of years by everyone from slaves to emperors to get a grip on the turbulent world around them. You'll learn why Stoicism is so powerful, and you can apply it in your life and conversations today.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

HEY! The sound quality on this is junk. Really sorry. Technical issue that we didn't realize was there until we were done. We've figured out how to keep it from happening again. The US and the world seem like they're in a really odd, perhaps dangerous place right now. Throughout history, people have felt like their own time defines the status quo, and all history going forward is either a path from that moment, or a departure from it. Getting a sense of the big picture from the perspective of the past--and the big trends that emerge--can give us a sense of where we really sit in history, and what we might be able to expect next. This episode is mostly answering a bunch of questions from our last ReConsider Cabinet meeting! For those of you who are higher-level Patreon patrons, remember you can send us questions to answer and we'll take 'em on!  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

AKA, "The Bromance of the Bad Hombres" In this episode we interview Prof. Stephen Sestanovich, a Colombia professor, think tank big wig, and prolific writer. Formerly ambassador-at-large and special advisor to Madeleine Albright.  Prof. Stestanovich puts the Putin-Trump relationship in context by warming us up with understanding the evolving US/Russia Presidential relationship since the end of the Cold War. Strap in for this info-packed episode!  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

AKA: My Homie, Comey Welp. Trump fired Comey. If things weren't crazy enough in the White House right now. There's a pretty incredible amount of speculation about why he did it and what it could mean. How much do we actually know? And where is all the speculation getting us?  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

What is Russia's current interest on its borders, and what considerations will shape its behavior over the next 20 years? Prof. Mitchell Orenstein is the Professor of Central and East European politics in the Slavic Department at the University of Pennsylvania and an associate of the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard. We're thrilled to have him and as always we learn a ton.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Much hubbub over the Syrian airstrike--everything from patriotic fervor to seemingly-genuine terror about World War 3. What happens when we take a step back from the hype and political spin, and look at the strike in the context of geopolitics, international relations, and history?  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We're joined by Mark Schauss to give us a whirlwind tour of Russian history. Mark is the host of the Russian Rulers History Podcast: http://russianrulers.podhoster.com/ Mark attended Queens College in New York, studied Russian History and Economics, got his doctorate in Business. Lecturer on cognitive function, environmental health, other medical issues, and also Russian History! We walk through how Russia has dealt with its neighbors and the world, through the Mongols, the Great Northern War, the Napoleonic War, the later 1800s, WWI, WWII, the Cold War, and post-Cold War. It's a ton of fun.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

(Not the news source.) Joining us is Sean Guillory of Sean's Russia Blog and Podcast, at seansrussiablog.org. He has a PhD in Russian History from UCLA. Sean helps us dive into the nitty gritty about what's actually going on with Russia today. We ask: -Who's in charge? How does Russia's leadership work? -Why is United Russia so popular? -What's the economy really look like? -How corrupt is Russia? -How do Russians feel about the world? -What's the plan in Ukraine? How's it going? -What about the Syria intervention? -Did Russia manipulate US elections? -Why is Russia picking a fight with NATO? -What common narratives about Russia just don't make sense? Enjoy!  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Russia is a scary place--and very misunderstood. We decided it deserves 4 whole episodes unto itself. We'll be teaming up with 4 big-wigs that know their stuff about Russia to help you dive deep and understand Russia a whole lot better.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Or, "How'd punching Nazis work out last time?" People in the United States are starting to talk about using political violence in response to perceived dangerous political extremism and violent rhetoric. We look through history to see how the use of violence had worked or not worked to suppress unwelcome political ideologies. We look purely at the results and consequences of the violence, rather than discussing the morality or ethics of it.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

If we want to learn a little bit more about Trump's path to the Presidency, we can look to recent history. It's not actually totally unprecedented. Spain, going through its own very tough economic times, has vaulted the populist-left Podemos to the fore, out of nowhere at all. Podemos is a bunch of political outsiders with a Marxist approach to campaigning--and they adopted this style very deliberately. They have a lot to teach us about what might become the new politics of the 21st century. We're joined by author, campaign adviser, and VisualPolitik director Fonseca Porras to learn more about Podemos and discuss the parallels with Trump in this particularly exciting episode!  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

There's a play called Sir Thomas More that is _not_ Shakespeare... but scholars have agreed that its most awe-inspiring monologue was indeed written by Shakespeare himself. In Sir Ian McKellen's words: "you'll know when you hear it." Xander delivers a special episode today: he reads the famous monologue from the play, on refugees. He does it first in modern English so you can understand it well, and then follows up with the Original Pronunciation, which was the English used in Shakespeare's time. the OP dramatically improves the rhyme and rhythm of the reading. In this monologue, More appeals to angry Englishmen about their treatment of immigrants. Normally I would summarize it, but I would do it no justice--this simply has to be heard. Sir Ian McKellen also delivers this monologue in a 2013 performance and totally kills it. Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjEAeOshUGQ Link to your youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_MfONE3jNBTMY8xo78k0_A Video of the 2 dudes who...

People of another religion are showing up, and not all of them are friendly--some are even kinda terrorists. The economic situation is pretty tough  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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But seriously, why on earth do we have the Electoral College? Something about having to travel in carriages? It's a question a lot of people are asking after an election with a pretty big gap between the popular vote and the outcome. So why on earth does it exist? What's the point? Is it fulfilling its purpose? What alternatives are there, and how would we get to them? Learn all this and more, including why you don't kill your admirals, on today's episode!  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

"I'm gonna drain the swamp." Love him or hate him, Donald Trump's rise and agenda are a political revolution. But revolutions are hard, even after you win. Most have failed miserably. What will it take for Trump to fulfill his vision, rather than fall apart?  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

English King Richard III was a bad bad dude, right? If you're a fan of Shakespeare, you know this is true. But what if there's more to the story? We subbed in for the English Renaissance History podcast a ways back and asked that question. Today we take a look at a guy that's gotten no love of history.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

It happened. It's a shocker, but it happened. There's a lot of pain and frustration across the country--and no matter what, half of it was going to be really upset today. How did Trump pull the upset? Where do we go from here? How do we understand each other better and heal the divide?  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.