Q & A, Hosted by Jay Nordlinger

David Luhnow is the Latin America bureau chief of the Wall Street Journal – and one of Jay’s favorite journalists. Luhnow is immensely knowledgeable, and he imparts his knowledge in clear, balanced terms. Though an American, he was born and raised in Mexico. His brother Jeff has an interesting job, and he’s very good at it: general manager of the Houston Astros. David and Jay start out by talking... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

All eyes are on Venezuela — to the extent they’re on Latin America at all. But spare a glance for Nicaragua. The Nicaraguans are going through hell right now as the dictator, Daniel Ortega, has cracked down hard. He has made a special villain out of Felix Maradiaga — Jay’s guest on this “Q&A.” The regime has good reason to fear and hate Maradiaga: He is a bold and thoughtful advocate of democracy. Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Asma Khalifa is a young woman from Libya — a Berber. She is also a human-rights activist and democracy leader. She is one of Jay’s favorite people. He says he considers her a heroine. Jay recorded this “Q&A” with her in Mexico City, where she was participating in a meeting of the Oslo Freedom Forum. During the Libyan Civil War, she sided with the rebels, against Qaddafi. She volunteered to be a... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Madeleine Kearns is a young journalist from Scotland. She works at National Review. She has recently been on an unusual beat: transgenderism as it relates to children. She has written, “… some American children are on irreversible cross-sex hormones as young as 12 and have double mastectomies as young as 13.” When you hear about these cases, she says, you want to ask, “Is this really happening?”... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

In an earlier episode, Jay talked with Charles Hill. Now he talks with another Grand Strategist at Yale, Professor John Lewis Gaddis, who is best known for Cold War history. His biography of George F. Kennan won the Pulitzer Prize. Jay talks with him about Kennan, of course — and about Paul Nitze and many another Cold War figure. They also talk about figures more recent, including George W. Bush. Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Jay’s guest is a legendary teacher at Yale University: Charles Hill, a retired Foreign Service officer and a diplomat-in-residence, among other things, at Yale. He is especially known for Grand Strategy. In previous times, he was an aide to Kissinger, Shultz, and, at the United Nations, Boutros-Ghali. With Jay, he talks about his upbringing in New Jersey, his life in the arena, his career in the... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Jay does a sportscast — but with a twist at the end: a discussion of Star Wars, Star Trek, etc., with two experts on the subject: David French and Sopan Deb. David is one of Jay’s regular sports gurus, and so is Vivek Dave. They are both present. Sopan is a ringer, a guest guru: a writer for the New York Times, a stand-up comedian, a musician, and more. The gang talks about the NBA... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Otto Reich is a former U.S. ambassador to Venezuela. He’s also one of Jay’s favorite people. They talk about the current crisis: where it stands, how it developed, and what might happen next. Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Eric Edelman is one of our top diplomats (retired though he may be) and one of our top foreign-policy thinkers. In a long career, he was ambassador to Finland and ambassador to Turkey. Before that, he was an assistant to George P. Shultz. Some years before that, he was a doctoral student at Yale, writing about post-war Italy. Jay reviews some pressing concerns with him, past and present... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Megha Rajagopalan is a foreign correspondent for BuzzFeed News. She is one of Jay’s favorite reporters. She grew up in Maryland, and for years reported from China. She is now in the Middle East. She and Jay talk mainly about China: the pleasures and perils of reporting from there; the mass round-up of the Uyghurs; the ability of ordinary Chinese to find out the truth about their country; and so on. Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe