Q & A, Hosted by Jay Nordlinger

Ryan Crocker is one of the outstanding U.S. diplomats of our time. In addition to his other posts, he was ambassador to Lebanon, Kuwait, Syria, Pakistan, Iraq, and Afghanistan. He has had some of the most challenging assignments on offer. George W. Bush, in the last days of his presidency, hung the Presidential Medal of Freedom around Crocker’s neck. In this “Q&A,” Jay asks Crocker about the State... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Ash Carter is a physicist and a defense-policy expert, having served in government periodically for decades. He was secretary of defense from 2015 to 2017. He has spent his academic career at Harvard, where he is today. In this “Q&A,” Jay asks him about some of the biggest issues: nuclear proliferation, North Korea, Iran, the size of the U.S. military. He also asks about the relation between our... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Victor Davis Hanson’s new book is “ The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won.” Jay asks him a slew of questions, including: What caused the war? Was Hitler dumb to declare war on America? Was Japan dumb to attack America? How was FDR as wartime leader? And Truman? Were we right to drop the A-bomb(s)? Was Yalta a crime, committed by the West? Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Anne Applebaum is a historian and journalist, a columnist for the Washington Post. She is a particular expert on the former Soviet Union and its bloc. Her latest book is “Red Famine: Stalin’s War on Ukraine.” With Jay, she discusses this book: the “terror-famine” that killed so many Ukrainians. She also discusses contemporary issues, such as the war going on in eastern Ukraine. A lady who knows a... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

In this second episode of his new “Jaywalking” podcast, Jay Nordlinger plays some music from Massenet’s “Thaïs,” including the Meditation, which is how the episode gets its name. Jay also talks about Fritz Kreisler and Fritz Crisler (a legendary violinist and a legendary football coach, respectively). Then he’s got Nazis, slavery, North Korea, and other cheerful stuff. He ends with genuine cheer... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

This week, Daniel Hannan, the one and only, dropped by National Review headquarters in New York. Taking advantage, Jay sat down with him for a “Q&A.” Hannan, as you know, is the British writer-politician extraordinaire. With Jay, he discusses the nature of America. And then the question of national self-determination: What right do the Catalonians and Kurds have? Everyone can’t have his own... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

The Chinese Communist Party has just conferred on its leader, Xi Jinping, the status of Mao Zedong. He is the most powerful boss in China since Mao. His status is virtually god-like. Having Xi’s number, and the CCP’s number, is Stein Ringen, a professor emeritus at Oxford University. Ringen is the author of The Perfect Dictatorship: China in the 21st Century. For the Washington Post recently... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

A year or two ago, a colleague of Jay’s said, “If you want to know anything about Russia and Europe – if you want to know anything about Putin’s influence worldwide – you MUST consult Mark Galeotti.” He never forgot it. And Jay has now done a “Q&A” with Galeotti. He is a British scholar working in Prague. He does indeed know everything, or an enormous amount. With Jay, he talks about Putin, Russia... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Catalina Serrano is a Colombian and the wife of Andrés Felipe Arias, a minister in the cabinet of President Álvaro Uribe. Arias was, in fact, Uribe’s chosen successor. But Arias was railroaded in the Colombian judicial system. His case is positively Kafkaesque. With his family, he fled to the United States to seek political asylum. He is now in federal detention, scheduled to be extradited. Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Angela Gheorghiu is a Romanian soprano, and one of the starriest, and most controversial, opera singers in the world. She is a legend in her own time. Jay interviewed and wrote about her in 2012 (here). For this “Q&A,” she is in Palermo and he is in New York. They discuss a variety of issues, including Gheorghiu’s new album, “Eternamente.” Listeners to this podcast may need a cheat sheet... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe