Robert Wright's Nonzero

At long last, Bob enters the DMZ ... The big changes afoot at the DMZ and Bloggingheads ... Staying alive in a hyper-competitive media environment ... Are we going to see a Biden-Trump rematch in 2024? ... Can DeSantis mount a successful challenge to Trump? ... Is Biden sharp enough to make it through another campaign? ... Is Kamala the Democrats’ best alternative to Biden? ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nonzero.org/subscribe

What Putin means by “de-Nazifying” Ukraine ... Do most Russians support the war? ... The nature of Putin’s nationalism ... What is fascism? Is Russia fascist? ... Are Russia and China creating an alliance of autocracies? ... Sizing up the far right in Ukraine ... Assessing Putin’s turn against liberalism ... Marlene: The West could have averted the Russia-Ukraine war ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nonzero.org/subscribe

Bob turfs out in a round of “Name That Tune” ... Mickey: Why do trans and immigrant artists seem mostly to make art about trans and immigrant issues? ... Marine Le Pen’s surprising popularity among young French voters ... A possible upside of Putin getting what he wants in Ukraine ... Is the war outlasting Americans’ attention spans? ... What’s really behind Putin’s aggression in Ukraine? ... The search for a Democratic presidential candidate who isn’t Joe Biden ... Biden is not not saying he’ll send troops to Ukraine ... Can anyone stop Elon Musk from buying Twitter? ... The siloing effects of blue checks ... Bob: Wimbledon’s exclusion of Russian tennis players is disgusting ... The massive number of US weapons on their way to Ukraine ... Parrot Room preview: The dismal fate of CNN+, Disney and DeSantis, Mickey’s latest paranoid refundable child tax credit fantasy, the craziness of natalists, Marc Andreessen and Elon Musk on censorship, “the s**t hits the fan” for high-achieving white high school students, the Ritter-Lira-Nuland rabbit hole, the weirdness of Elon Musk, Everything Everywhere at the Same Time, the weirdness of Jimmy Webb, and why are so many golfers evangelicals? ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nonzero.org/subscribe

A Wright Show/Culturally Determined crossover! ... Pros and cons of the term "cognitive empathy" ... Aryeh sees a flaw in trying to put yourself in Putin's shoes ... The real threats to Putin ... Is Bob overlooking the Ukrainians' point of view? ... Is Mickey Kaus infecting Bob's brain? ... Does Bloggingheads.tv still have a reason for being? ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nonzero.org/subscribe

Why there’s no Mickey gag… and no Mickey ... The charmingly subversive Elon Musk ... The scarily destabilizing Elon Musk ... The New York subway shooter’s disturbingly familiar psychology ... The Ukraine War: armaments update ... Why Russians continue to back the war ... American missteps that may have led to war ... A few kind words about ‘Putin apologists’ ... The week in comets and meteors ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nonzero.org/subscribe

Where did Marianne get the confidence to run for president? ... What childhood travels taught Marianne about people ... How “A Course in Miracles” transformed Marianne’s life ... Can unconditional love save our species? ... Changing individual consciousness vs. changing policy ... Liberation through surrender ... Marianne: Think of yourself as one of civilization’s immune cells ... If you want change, get better at forgiveness ... What exactly would a “Department of Peace” do? ... Is Marianne eyeing a 2024 presidential re-run? ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nonzero.org/subscribe

Mickey’s French election update ... What Macron and Biden (should) have learned re: Ukraine ... Bob’s brilliant idea for a Biden ceasefire proposal ... Bob vs. Anne Applebaum on negotiating with Russia ... How prolonging the war could make Putin more dangerous ... Will Elon Musk end Twitter’s reign of blue-check terror? ... Is AOC the 2024 candidate we’ve been waiting for? ... Bob comes to collect on his New Year’s covid prediction ... Disney’s “niche sexuality” promotion and other signs of Dem midterm doom ... Sarah Palin—and her totally human hands—run for congress ... Parrot Room preview: Bob and Mickey agree in disagreeing with a recent Richard Hanania essay, David McCormick campaign update, Jan. 6 seven hour gap discussion part two, are electric cars really the future?, the Tiger Woods comeback, mystery Ukrainian soldier rabbit hole, William Burns memoir, exercising cognitive empathy for Trump, Bob’s underappreciated Will Smith take, and does Ray Dalio pass Mickey’s BS test? ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nonzero.org/subscribe

Bob asks Joe: What are the chances this war goes nuclear? ... Joe lays out Russia’s and America’s nuclear arsenals ... What would make Putin roll the nuclear dice? ... Why atrocities in Bucha could make for a longer, bloodier war ... Joe: The US withdrawal from Cold War-era treaties led to the current nuclear arms race ... How US foreign policy laid the ground for Putin’s invasion ... Bob searches for silver linings. Joe sees a darkening cloud. ... Assessing the Biden administration’s foreign policy record ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nonzero.org/subscribe

Mickey admits he was wrong about everything ... Four takes on the Chris Rock-Will Smith Oscars incident ... Bob: Biden shouldn’t be riffing about regime change ... The Russian redeployment in Ukraine ... Attack of the (alleged) ATV-riding Ukrainian techies ... Will Biden try to draw out the war or push for a deal? ... The roadblocks standing in the way of a peace deal in Ukraine ... Mickey: The press is going easy on Biden because the alternative is Kamala ... Will Mitt Romney make Joe Manchin irrelevant? ... The growing movement to restore standardized testing in California schools ... Parrot Room preview: Should Mickey get the fourth Covid vaccine shot, the Bob Saget saga, Eric Schmidt takes over huge chunks of the government, ringing the dinner bell for the extraterrestrials, Eric Garcetti’s aborted ambassadorship to India, a survey of international elections, the Vladimir Putin bio, Bob’s two theories about what was going on in Will Smith’s head, and the gaps in Trump’s January 6 phone records ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nonzero.org/subscribe

Update: Nikita exits Russia ... How big and costly is the Russian exodus? ... The state of peace talks ... “Russian QAnon” and the landscape of lay opinion in Russia ... Lamenting the logic of great power competition in light of Ukraine ... Is Russian state media as tightly controlled as Westerners think? ... Is Putin's hold on power slipping? ... What remains of independent media in Russia? ... Nikita’s hopes (and fears) for the future of Russia ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nonzero.org/subscribe