Q & A, Hosted by Jay Nordlinger

Herbert Blomstedt is one of the leading conductors in the world. He was born in America, in 1927. But his family was Swedish, and they moved back to Sweden when Herbert was a child. He has since conducted in Dresden, San Francisco, and many other places. He is in New York this week, guesting with the New York Philharmonic. Jay sat down with him in his dressing room, for a leisurely, rich “Q&A.”... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

James Kirchick is the author of an important new book: “The End of Europe: Dictators, Demagogues, and the Coming Dark Age.” He and Jay talk it over: the nationalist-authoritarians and their “pope,” Vladimir Putin; Madame Le Pen in France; the role of Germany; the importance of Ukraine. Is Greece a goner? Is the EU anything but a menace? What about the Americans? Toward the end of the podcast... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Ben Shapiro is the editor-in-chief of The Daily Wire. He is one of the most prominent conservative journalists in America. The 2016 cycle was a wild ride for him, as for many. He has the distinction – is that the word? – of being the No. 1 target for anti-Semitic hate in his field. And, as Jay notes, the guy has a spine of steel. (Also a stomach of iron.) With Jay, Shapiro talks about politics... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Michael McFaul is one of the outstanding Russianists in America. A boy from Montana, he made Russia his life’s occupation, and preoccupation. He is a professor at Stanford. And he was U.S. ambassador to Russia. With Jay, he talks about being a student in the Soviet Union. And developments thereafter (personal, national, and international). He talks about Putin and his rule. About NATO and the West. Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Years ago, Radek Sikorski was the chief foreign correspondent of National Review. Later, he was a major politician and statesman in Poland: first the defense minister, then the foreign minister. With Jay, he talks about some of the most important issues facing Europe and the world: NATO, the EU, the Kremlin, the United States, and so on. He is a man of immense learning and experience... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Alexandra DeSanctis is a colleague of Jay’s at National Review. A recent graduate of Notre Dame, she is a William F. Buckley fellow at NRI (the National Review Institute). She is especially knowledgeable about the “life” issues. About abortion in particular. Also, she has been on the beat of Planned Parenthood, doggedly. She and Jay talk about that organization, and about abortion, etc. Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Ildar Dadin is a political prisoner in Russia. He has the unwelcome distinction of being the first person imprisoned under an onerous new law: a law that effectively bans protests of the government without permission from that same government. Dadin has been tortured. He feared that he would be killed. Just recently, he was transferred from one prison, in Karelia, near Finland, to another... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Piotr Anderszewski is one of the leading pianists in the world. He paid a visit to New York, where Jay caught up with him in the offices of the Steinway company (in the Lady Gaga conference room, specifically). (Really.) Anderszewski has recently returned to concert life from a short sabbatical. During this sabbatical, he made a film about Warsaw. He and Jay talk about this and many other issues... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

The Venezuelan situation is hard to believe: hunger, violence, a reversion to the primitive. Yet there is beauty there too, and human goodness. Hannah Dreier is on the scene for the Associated Press. And, once again, she is Jay’s guest on “Q&A.” They talk about parents who give their children away, or even kill them. And people who rob and murder with impunity. You need to have “bricks of cash,”... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Kimberley Motley is an American attorney and human-rights activist. She has been working in Afghanistan. She has been of particular help to girls and women. Last week, she traveled to Cuba, where she hoped to represent Danilo Maldonado. Maldonado is a dissident and street artist nicknamed “El Sexto” (which means, “The Sixth”). Jay wrote about him here. He has been in and out of prison: and he is... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe