The DSR Network

January 6, 2021 is a date few of us will ever forget. On that day, the president of the United States incited a mob to storm the U.S. Capitol. Five people died. Thousands more were terrorized. And now the nation holds its breath to see if the violence has been quelled or new chapters await. Donald Trump now seems certain to become the first president in U.S. history to be impeached twice and to fo...

From a year that began with January 6th to the American Rescue Plan, Build Back Better, and Beyond, 2021 has been an especially vital year for American democracy, health, and economic renewal. The review the year in politics and advise the Biden administration as to what should come next, DSR Host David Rothkopf spoke with Jennifer Rubin and E.J. Dionne of the Washington Post. Is there any hope th...

From January 6th to the Democracy Summit, 2021 has been an eventful year fore foreign policy and national security. To throughly review the year, adjudicate President Biden's performance, and discuss what you might have missed, DSR host David Rothkopf talked with Rosa Brooks of Georgetown University, Ed Luce of the Financial Times, Kori Schake of the American Enterprise Institute, and David Sanger...

The first episode of the Beltway Black Box series was a timely conversation on whether zero trust thinking represents a breakthrough in cyber-security, the hidden risks associated with it and how it is likely to impact companies and the government. Participating were an exceptional group of experts including:  Dmitri Alperovitch, Co-Founder of CrowdStrike and Executive Chairman of the Silverado Po...

Former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows' text messages from January 6th were released by the January 6th commission and their contents revealed members of Congress and Fox News hosts begging Meadows to get Trump to make a statement. In the courts, Judge Dabney Friedrich ruled that Jan. 6 cases invoking the law against corruptly obstructing an official proceeding has been properly invoked. This opens to...

President Biden promised to hold a Summit of Democracies in the first year of his Presidency and he delivered with a 110 country virtual summit that ended last week. Ambassador Derek Mitchell, President of the National Democratic Institute, joined David Rothkopf, Rosa Brooks of Georgetown University, Ed Luce of the Financial Times, and Kori Schake of the American Enterprise Institute to discuss th...

The court is poised to overturn Roe V. Wade which will change forever not only the way abortion rights are treated across the country but the way that the American public views the Court. Are the Justices just political hacks? Has it always been like this? Will President Biden's commission lead to the structural reforms necessary to fix it? Host David Rothkopf sits down to discuss these and other...

Jon Karl's first interview with Donald Trump was 27 years ago. Looking back, he is surprised by how little Trump has changed. It's a striking observation when seen in light of the chaos and controversy of the final year of the Trump presidency. Karl's new book on that final year sheds new, often shocking light, not just on how Team Trump oversaw the mishandling of the COVID epidemic and later the...

The massive Russian troop build up along the border of Ukraine might be just posturing on the part of Russia's President Vladimir Putin designed to build support for him at home. Or it might be the prelude to a dangerously destabilizing invasion. Increasingly, intelligence reports are suggesting the latter. The options for the US and the West to stop Russia or to penalize it should it act are limi...

Big tech today rivals in influence many nation states. Even the largest and most powerful countries are debating how to contain and control tech giants who have the ability to influence their politics, their economies and their standing in the world. To explore how the coming power struggle between big technology firms and nation states will play out, we present a debate between the Eurasia Group'...

We may be at another dangerous inflection point in the nearly two year long COVID pandemic. The first Omicron variant cases are appearing in the US. This new mutant version of the virus has many disturbing differences with prior iterations of COVID. President Biden has launched new steps to help contain a resurgence of the disease...but are they enough? Do we have a strategy? How will the anti-sci...

Martin Indyk, distinguished fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, former Ambassador of the United States to Israel, and former U.S. special envoy for the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations has written a new book entitled "Master of the Game: Henry Kissinger and the Art of Middle East Diplomacy." In the book, Ambassador Indyk examines how Henry Kissinger worked to ameliorate conflict in the Mid...

Once upon a time, the Israeli government urged the US to get out of the Iran deal. The American president at the time, Donald Trump, obliged. Now, Israeli officials are calling the decision the worst in the past decade of Iran policy and their intel community is whispering to the US that Iran may be getting very close to the ability to produce nuclear weapons grade uranium. Meanwhile, negotiations...

While Americans are turning their attention towards the upcoming holiday, the news from Washington and around the world is not slowing down. Today, President Biden announced his intent to nominate Jerome Powell to serve as the chairman of the Federal Reserve for a second term, the Russian military buildup continues apace, and Chinese Tennis Star Peng Shuai's disappearance from public life followin...

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...