The DSR Network

Steve Bannon was indicted for contempt of Congress but currently remains free awaiting trial. Kyle Rittenhouse stood trial in front of a judge who is barely trying to conceal his pro-defendant bias and now we await the jury's decision. Also this week, alleged assailant Travis McMichael took the stand in an effort to defend his killing of Amaud Arbery. To understand this busy week, David Rothkopf a...

Russian troops are building up along the Ukraine border. Russia's close ally Belarus has provoked a crisis on its European borders by directing refugee flows at its neighbors. Tensions are rising. Are the Russians counting on the US and our NATO allies to be reluctant to respond strongly? Do they not realize that the Biden team is much more inclined toward a tough stance toward Russia than the las...

Gerald Seib wrote in a recent column in the Wall Street Journal that the greatest threat to American national security is our own divisions. However, that isn't the only existential threat that the United States faces. Russia and China are testing the United States's cyber defenses and Climate Changes continues to be a central focus as COP26 moves forward in Glasgow. Can America have a strong fore...

Anne-Marie Slaughter, CEO of the New America Foundation, former head of policy planning at the State Department, has written a new book entitled "Renewal: From Crisis to Transformation in Our Lives, Work and Politics." It could not be more timely, using an experience from Slaughter's professional life to begin an investigation into the honesty required to grow not just as individuals but as a coun...

The Democrats had a bad night on Tuesday as Glenn Youngkin won the governorship in Virginia and Phil Murphy was barely able to hang on in New Jersey. However, what those results mean remains very unclear. Did Congress's failure to pass the Build Back Better agenda lead to apathy amongst the party faithful? Do Democrats need better candidates? Was this just a thermostatic turn against the party in...

While in Europe and in Congressional negotiations, President Biden has brought the global minimum corporate tax closer to reality. Congressional Democrats are debating SALT cap repeal and taxing unrealized capital gains. The Federal Reserve is tapering bond purchases. How should we see these developments? What will their consequences be? How will this impact the political climate in 2022 and beyon...

President Biden is on his second international trip. He started this weekend at the G20 in Rome and is now in Glasgow for the COP26. The trip has already proven productive with President Biden advancing the global corporate minimum tax and striking a new US-EU Steel and Aluminum trade deal. He smoothed over relations with France. And made it clear the US wants to lead on climate. But what more sho...

The President and Democratic leaders announced that they are on the verge of transformative legislation that will help children, elders, the environment, our infrastructure, and our growth as a country. When will being on the verge became signed legislation? And will that be accompanied on a parallel track with finally beginning to see some accountability on the January 6 coup attempt? We discuss...

Opportunity Zones sounded like a great idea, provide tax benefits for wealthy Americans to invest in 8,000 areas in the United States that don't receive enough investment and development and everyone wins. Unfortunately, as David Wessel describes in his new book "Only the Rich Can Play: How Washington Works in the New Gilded Age", the vast majority of the benefits of these zones went to the wealth...

As the Biden Administration shifts the focus of U.S. foreign policy to emerging issues and how America can lead in the century ahead, certain megapowers loom as complex threats. One is China. Another is Big Tech and how, if at all, its destabilizing and dangerous tendencies can be managed. Ed Luce of the Financial Times and Kori Schake of the American Enterprise Institute discuss. And then we move...

The Biden Administration, it seems, is on the verge of winning approval for its Build Back Better Package. If the deal is roughly as reported it will be between $1.5 and 2 trillion in fully paid for investments in America. Which means that in this year alone the Biden Administration will have overseen investments of $5 Trillion in the economy, the creation of 5 million jobs (more than the last thr...

Mossad’s got a killer new boss and the US is buying China-made drones. Jeff Stein and Jeanne Meserve drill down on both. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/deepstateradio. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fiona Hill may have risen to public prominence during Donald Trump's first impeachment but there is much more to her story than just her time in the White House. In her new book "There is Nothing for You Here: Finding Opportunity in the Twenty-First Century", she describes her journey from a coal-mining town in Northern England to studying in Moscow and ultimately to serving three different Presid...

America's nuclear weapons submarine fleet has the capability to produce something like 40,000 Hiroshimas. But it is just one leg in our nuclear forces. What possible reason, asks our guest Joe Cirincione of the Quincy Institute, for possessing that kind of destructive force? For giving the president sole authority to launch a first strike? We discuss these and other nuclear modernization choices f...

The first report from the commission looking at ways to change the Supreme Court is out and its conclusions are...well, they seem to be thoughtful but unlikely to produce change in the near future. For folks concerned about the politicization of the court, that's a problem. Where do we go from here? We discuss with the Media Editor of SCOTUSblog & host of the "Words Matter" podcast, attorney and j...

Washington Post intelligence reporter Shane Harris discusses odd happenings in the spook world with Jeff Stein, and former Secret Service Special Agent Jonathan Wackrow analyses a new report on tanking morale in the uniformed division with Jeanne Meserve. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/deepstateradio. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad...

President Biden is on the verge of a transformational victory... or is he. We discuss the state of the negotiations around his Build Back Better agenda and how Democrats can get this legislation on the President's desk with political commentator Karen Finney and Kavita Patel, former senior Obama White House official. This is a pivotal time and these negotiations will impact the lives of Americans...

Legendary ‘Condor’ author James Grady discusses James Bond’s evolving cinematic villains with Jeff Stein, and Jeanne Meserve digs into the massive hack of a far-right server with extremist expert Heidi Beirich. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/deepstateradio. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tom Nichols has become an essential voice for audiences trying to make sense of current trends in American politics. His book "The Death of Expertise" was a landmark volume offering key insights into why our society was faltering. His latest, "Our Own Worst Enemy" continues the journey. For those hoping for a magical solution, a white knight, a top down solution for American political dysfunction,...

Trump China policy architect Peter Navarro was described by one of his colleagues as a "fucking sociopath." Trump China policy included looking the other way from human rights abuses, seeking trademarks for Ivanka's businesses and extreme Tweets. Biden's is evolving as something very very different--mature, multilayered and reflecting the complexity of the evolving relationship between the world's...

The Washington debate over whether and how much to invest in our infrastructure and our people has reached a telling and pivotal moment. We discuss the moment and where it is likely to lead with EJ Dionne of the Washington Post, Norm Ornstein of AEI and Dr. Kavita Patel, former of the Obama White House. Much hangs in the balance here and the real story is not coming out in the media or, often, out...

From Vietnam to Vienna, reported cases of Havana Syndrome are on the rise. Diplomats, intelligence officials and their families are experiencing debilitating symptoms including headaches, dizziness, nausea and memory loss. Dr. James Giordano, Professor of Neurology and Biochemistry at Georgetown University Medical Center, has been investigating Havana Syndrome since the first cases were reported a...

Most Americans don't give much thought to German politics--and that's a good thing given that when we once did it was because those politics were a disaster. But with the departure of Germany's chancellor of the past 16 years, Angela Merkel, it is time we did. Germany is not only a vital ally but thanks in large part to Merkel's leadership, it is a global leader of significance. What comes next in...

Time after time, COVID has delivered worst case scenarios. So why, now, would we rely on our hope that those scenarios--new variants, failures of leadership, new outbreaks--will not occur? Will the holidays bring people back together? Or will they see a worsening situation? What should our leaders be doing that they're not? What should we be doing to take care of ourselves? We talk with Pulitzer P...

Chinese espionage expert Matthew Brazil and Jeff Stein break down the controversy about Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley’s backchannel contact with his Chinese counterpart, and Jeanne Meserve and transnational crime expert Tom Sanderson discuss the emergence of Talibani Afghanistan as a terrorist state.  Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/deepstateradio. See acast.com/privacy for privac...