The Burn Bag Podcast

In our latest episode, A'ndre and Ryan speak with Justin Scheck, the co-author of Blood and Oil: Mohammed Bin Salman's Ruthless Quest for Power, about the Saudi Crown Prince whose ambitious and swift rise portends significant developments for the Middle East. Justin discusses how MBS, initially thought to be a reformer, has courted many prominent leaders in the United States and elsewhere, highlighting the importance of financial power coupled with political power in Saudi Royal politics. He then talks about bin Salman's brutal tactics in consolidating power and the type of political repression that MBS employs -- touching on the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Justin provides an analysis on the relationship between MBS and President Donald Trump, in the context of a broader assessment on U.S.-Saudi relations in the past and looking to the future -- especially as we grapple with questions on the state of bin Salman's true power.

In this week's episode, A’ndre and Ryan breakdown the recent anti-government protests in Cuba, new developments in the assassination of Haiti's president, and advancements made by the Taliban. They also discuss the riots in South Africa and reported concerns within the U.S. military that Donald Trump may attempt a coup in the last days of his presidency. 

This week, A'ndre and Ryan speak with Anja Manuel, former diplomat and advisor on emerging markets, about the rise of India and China in a conversation largely based on her critically acclaimed 2016 book, This Brave New World: India, China, and the United States. Anja contextualizes the conversation by discussing how India and China's 'glorious distant past' coupled with a more recent history of foreign exploitation has shaped each country's self-perception in the 21st century. Anja provides an updated assessment on whether an optimistic path for cooperation between the United States and China exists, and whether the U.S. is underestimating India. We then dig into the key challenges facing each country, while providing a template for how and why the U.S. might want to involve itself in issues such as income disparities, corruption, demographic shifts, climate change, and anti-democratic trends. Anja also talks China's Belt and Road Initiative and whether India has a comprehensive global economic strategy. We conclude the wide-ranging conversation with a key question: does the international order and the global rules have to be changed to accommodate India and China's rise?Anja currently serves as a principal of Rice, Hadley, Gates & Manuel LLC, a strategic consulting firm that helps US companies navigate international markets, which she co-founded with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley and former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.

In this week's episode, A'ndre and Ryan breakdown the assassination of Haiti's President Jovenel Moisi, new developments in the U.S. withdrawal of Afghanistan, and the causes of Kim Jung Un's significant weight loss. They also discuss COVID, regional insecurity in the Middle East, and Russia's latest aggressive move in the Baltics. 

In the last episode of our miniseries on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we speak to Yossi Klein Halevi, famed Israeli author and journalist, on  'myths' and 'realities' around the Jewish people, the State of Israel, and Zionism. Yossi talks about the idea of Israel and 'historic' Israel before the founding of the modern day state, and what Israel means to Jewish people -- drawing on the intersection of history, religion, and culture. Discussing the expulsion of Jews around the world before, during, and after the creation of the State of Israel, Yossi discusses how Israel is perceived as more than just a country, providing his take on what Zionism means, in his perspective. Yossi dispels critiques that Israel is a 'white' state and talks about the diversity present within Israel's population, and then dives into relations between the Israelis and Palestinians. Yossi, the author of Letters to my Palestinian Neighbor, acknowledges and refutes criticisms of Israel, delineating between 'legitimate' criticisms of recent actions around Sheikh Jarrah and more 'existential' criticisms around overarching anti-Zionism -- providing his rationale on why he believes those existential criticisms are anti-Semitic.

In this episode, A’ndre and Ryan talk with Will Carless about the Proud Boys and the January 6th attack on the US Capitol. Will, who is a USA Today national correspondant covering extremism and emerging issues in the United States, has gained unprecendented access to former Proud Boys who detail the recruitment and self-perpetuating extremism tactics. This illuminating episode delves into the ideologies, development and activities of the Proud Boys, as well as broader trends within the far right. Will also highlights his experiences on January 6th, where he witnessed the hysteria that led to one of the darkest days in American history. The conversation concludes with Will’s perspective on the future of the Proud Boys as an organization given de-platforming and prosecutions. This conversation was based on Will’s recent article in USA Today. 

In this special conversation with Fiona Hill, Brookings Institution Senior Fellow and former senior director for European and Russian affairs on the National Security Council from 2017 to 2019, we dive into Russia and its modern day leader Vladimir Putin. Fiona, who served as deputy assistant  to President Trump and was present at the notorious Helsinki Summit between Presidents Trump and Putin provides her reaction to President Biden's meeting with President Putin in Geneva, and her observations on Putin's relationships with past U.S. Presidents. The conversation then digs deep into Fiona's views on Vladimir Putin and his leadership style, drawing comparisons and contrasts between Putin and the Tsars of Russia and the leaders of the Soviet Union. Fiona, who was a co-author of the seminal Putin biography Mr. Putin, does suggest that there are certainly weaknesses in Putin's armor, and details why Putin may have reason to fear opposition figures like Alexei Navalny. We also dig into Russia's foreign policy -- especially regarding its position given its prominent neighbor to the south, China.

In this week's episode, A'ndre and Ryan discuss Biden's plan to grant visa's to Afghan interpreters and recent developments in the U.S. Afghanistan withdrawal. They also talk about the discovery of mass graves of indigenous children in Canada, the UK-Russia spat off the coast of Crimea, and the border crisis. 

In this episode, A'ndre and Ryan speak with Steve Blank, serial entrepreneur (often referred to as the 'Father of Modern Entrepreneurship') and Silicon Valley guru, about his thinking on defense innovation and how a civil-military alliance can help the U.S. maintain its technological edge. Steve, who spearheaded the creation of the 'Hacking 4 Defense' class at Stanford which soon became sponsored by the Department of Defense, provides us with examples for how business and government have worked together in the past to drive defense innovation, and how organizational structures in start-ups can and cannot work with the public sector. Steve also provides his thoughts on the security of Research & Development and corporate espionage, and how the U.S. Government needs to adapt to address new and emerging threats from the rise of technologies.

In the latest episode of our miniseries focusing in on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we speak to Dr. Rashid Khalidi, a Palestinian American historian who currently is the Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University, on the history of the Palestinian people and Palestinian nationalism. Dr. Khalidi, the author of The Hundred Years' War on Palestine (2020) and Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness (1997), discusses the origins of Palestinian Nationalism and provides a primer on the development of the Palestinian identity, dispelling the myths and talking the realities of Palestinian Nationalism in both the Mandate and Pre-Mandate period (the 'Mandate' referring to British governance of the Palestinian region in the years preceding 1948). Dr. Khalidi discusses why early attempts at creating a Palestinian state failed, and what agency the Palestinians actually had in their own fate amidst the involvement of regional and foreign powers. Dr. Khalidi goes on to talk about the Palestinians as a political entity, with the rise of the PLO, and gives his take on why the Oslo Peace Process failed -- drawing on his own personal experience as an advisor to the Palestinian delegation to the Madrid and Washington peace negotiations between 1991 and 1993.