None Of The Above

The World Cup is heating up  here in the United States  as teams head into the quarter finals.   It  has had its fair share of controversies :  immigration crackdowns, exorbitant ticket prices, and  a cozy relationship between FIFA President Gianni Infantino and President Trump.  But t h is year's  tournament  has also provided some of the  most magical and memorable moments in World Cup history ....

There is  feeling  that the era of American  dominance  in the world is  coming to an end . But what is the view from other countries?  That ' s  what a new collection of essays from  The Dial   seeks  to answer. Each essay offers a glimpse  from  another country  and  what we can learn about the United States by viewing  it ,  with all its faults and  enduring  promise,  through  someone else's e...

The wealthy countries of the  Persian   Gulf  have steadily become  some of the United States' closest partners , through  investment,  technology , and military   relationships .  But  Israel's assault on Gaza and US-Israeli attacks against Iran have  brought  turbulence   to  the region .  Now targeted by Iran, the Gulf states find themselves stuck in the middle of a conflict they did not  choos...

For decades ,  American air power  dominated the skies. But , as  we' ve  se en with the Iran war,  the advent  of cheap drone technology is rapidly changing  the dynamic .  The United States has invested in billions in a military that was designed for  traditional warfare , but h ow is it adapting  to the present and preparing for  wars of the  future?   In this episode, the  Institute for Global...

How does  geopolitics  play out  on one street ?   T he residents of Istanbul  carry  on  with their daily routines while  reckon ing  with   complex  foreign-policy  dynamics , which affect  the entire neighborhood .   Turkish  President   Recep Tayyip  Erdoğan's  authoritarian  rise   —  against the backdrop of the US war on terror and the Syrian  c ivil  w ar   —  has  forced  the country    to...

In  Trump 2.0 ,   China has  surprisingly  taken a backseat   to a  renew ed focus on the Middle East.  A nd a s the United States becomes less predictable and reliable, China has position ed itself as a stable partner on the international stage .   In this episode, the  Institute for Global Affairs ' Jonathan Guyer is joined by Kaiser Kuo, host of the China current affairs podcast Sinica. They di...

W ar in the Middle East keeps expanding, oil prices are rising, and  an unpredictable American   president   has everyone trying to guess his next move .  As trust in media institutions hits an all-time low and  disinformation spreads online, how can we begin to make sense of things? The proliferation of open-source intelligence, or O SI NT ,  offers one answer . While  it's  possible to glean cer...

After   Venezuela and Iran, many are asking if Cuba is next .  T he island  is  endur ing  energy blackouts,  food  and medi cine shortages, and halting public services.  But while the most vulnerable Cubans are hit hardest,  Secretary of State  Marco Rubio's  apparent   dream of toppling the regime does not appear close to fruition.   In this episode, the  Institute for Global Affairs ' Jonathan...

Representative  Alexandria Ocasio - Cortez  gave her first major foreign policy  remark s  at  this  year's Munich Security Conference to  lay out   her vision of progressive foreign policy . Many are  speculating  that  she is preparing for   a  presidential run  in  2028 . She has called for a reckoning with the United States' history of intervention and repression abroad and  attempt ed  to off...

Food doesn't often enter conversations about foreign policy , but it  is integral  to  it . Our relationship to food  shap es  ideas of   identity  and nationalism  a nd is continuously   impacted  by the forces of history . T echnological, social, and political change s   inform and alter global foodways over time .  And i n  today's   interconnected world,  food supply chains  are  inextricable...

The  United States  largely misunderstands  Iran .  H istoric anti-government protests  rattled  Iran  this winter — and were met with  lethal  state repression  and intensifying  calls for regime change in Washington.  Now,   President   Trump  is  again  considering military  strikes on the country , even  as his envoys have  sought  to negotiate with Iranian leaders .   Throughout,  Iran has  l...

President  Trump campaigned on promises of peace and  putting America  first , and  heavily criticized past involvement in foreign wars.  But  o ne  year into his second term,  the United States has bombed Iran, kidnapped Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, and threatened NATO allies.  So, what exactly are his foreign policy goals? And who is shaping those decisions?   In this episode, the  Insti...

On January 3rd, 2026,  the United States   seized  Venezuelan  P resident Nicolás Maduro  —  and shocked the world .   The Trump administration  has  made no bones about   its   intent to  dominate  the  Western Hemisphere ,  and t he raid  was a brazen  show of force.   B ut  with the same regime still in place, it is unclear what exactly will change in Venezuela .   In this episode, the  Institu...

Mohammed  Mhawish  did  not   set out to be  a journalist .  But studying   Shakespeare  while enduring  Gaza 's wars , he was moved   to convey  the   stories  all around him .  Mohammed  fled the strip with his family in 2024, after receiving death threats and surviving   Israel 's  bombing of their apartment building.  Now based in  the  United States , h e continues to report  on  Palestine ....

American  foreign policy   is in crisis. The   bipartisan  consensus that  emerged  after the Cold War  has collapsed after   a  string of  American   failures ,  like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan . Now, with the rise of China and the  new  ascendance  of   middle powers ,   the United States must rethink its  engagement with  the world .   But where to start?   In this episode, the  Institute...

The United States is  wealthy ,  powerful ,  and a democracy.    T hat means  there are many avenues for foreign  countries   vying to influence   it s   politics  and  policy.   Though many  forms of foreign lobbying are  legal  and  totally above-board ,  those efforts  are  largely misunderstood  and a ll too understudied.  But understanding the geopolitics of  influence can help us understand...

Trump embodies many contradictions when it comes to foreign policy . IGA's newly released study , " Reckless Peacemaker ? How Americans See Trump's Foreign Policy , " tries to make sense of these contradictions by polling Americans on the biggest geopolitical challenges of today . We found that Americans think Trump is performing poorly overall, but there are wide partisan splits on almost every i...

The 1990s were a pivotal decade for the United States and the world. This season on None Of The Above, we rewinded to the '90s to cover the breakup of the Soviet Union, America's unipolar moment, and the rise of China. We explored civil war in Afghanistan, the spread of nuclear weapons, South Africa's transition to democracy, and much more. The '90s also gave rise to free trade, globalization, and...

The military and the very idea of national security changed a lot in the 1990s. Politicians promised a new period of peace and prosperity after the Cold War, but the military would not draw down from the international arena. On the contrary, the United States turned to policing the world, and the military carried out new types of missions meant to advance new ideals, ambitions, and interests. In t...

When the Cold War ended, many imagined a more peaceful world. Yet the 1990s were marked by humanitarian crises in Somalia, Rwanda, and former Yugoslavia. Images of mass atrocities and genocide reached wide audiences on newly available 24/7 TV news channels, as humanitarians increasingly advocated for military intervention. The United States under Bill Clinton took up the mantle of protecting human...

China's violent Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989 marked a turning point in US-China relations. After two decades of slowly but steadily nurturing friendly relations, the United States would choose to develop economic ties without insisting on democratic reforms. The prevailing hope was that China's economic growth would inevitably lead to political change. That hope, however, was never fully rea...

Sudan's civil war recently entered its third year . It has claimed the lives of around 150,000 people and displaced around 13 million. In this archival episode , we revisit the outbreak of violence that erupted in April 2023 between the Sudanese Army, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and a paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces, led by Lt. Gen. Mohamed Hamdan–known also as Hemedti....

In the 1990s, South Africa ended apartheid, a brutal system of racial segregation, and became a democracy. During the Cold War, the United States supported South Africa's apartheid government because it was anti-communist. But American civil rights activists pushed Washington to reassess its support – which it did as the Cold War wound down. Nelson Mandela won the first democratic election in 1994...

The 1990s witnessed a turning point in one of the world's most intractable disputes. After four decades of conflict, the 1991 Madrid Conference opened the door for peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians. A flurry of negotiations and agreements followed. The Camp David Summit in 2000 was the Clinton administration's last-ditch attempt to produce a final deal but it failed to deliver on that...

Nightmares of mushroom clouds and fears of mutually assured destruction plagued many during the Cold War. But by the early 1990s, both the United States and Russia promised a world with fewer nuclear weapons. Together, they agreed to dismantle 80% of their strategic nuclear warheads. Meanwhile, other countries such as North Korea and Pakistan saw value in nukes amid a less balanced world, and race...