

Call Me Back - with Dan Senor
Ark Media
Presenting the challenges and dilemmas facing Israelis to a global audience.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Feb 20, 2023 • 1h 1min
Niall Ferguson: How Cold War II Turns Hot
Historian Niall Ferguson returns to the podcast to look at how the current Cold War could turn hot.
Niall has taught at Harvard, Cambridge, Oxford and New York University. He’s authored 17 books. He’s currently at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University where he is the MIllbank Family Senior Fellow, and Managing Director of Greenmantle, a macroeconomic and geopolitical advisory firm. Order Niall’s most recent book, “Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe” here: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/doom-niall-ferguson/1137713414
Learn more about the University of Austin here: https://www.uaustin.org/
Learn more about Greenmantle here: https://www.gmantle.com/
Email me questions, comments and ideas at Dan@unlocked.fm.

Feb 16, 2023 • 34min
Bonus Episode: Check-in on the Abraham Accords - with Aryeh Lightstone
The Abraham Accords were signed in September 2020. This agreement between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, marked the first full normalization agreement between Israel and an Arab country since the 1994 Jordan-Israel agreement. Soon after the September 2020 signing, Morocco and Sudan joined the Accords as well.
Since these historic breakthroughs, Israel has been through wild political swings, from a left-right coalition government that included Naftali Bennett from the Right, Yair Lapid from the center-Left, and Mansour Abbas from a Muslim-Arab party. Fast forward to today, there is a government of the Right led by Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been on this podcast.
And through it all, the Abraham Accords have endured. One of the architects of the accords was Aryeh Lightstone, who served as Senior Advisor to the U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman from 2017 to 2021. On a recent trip to Israel, I sat down with Aryeh to hear the latest and also discuss his book, "Let My People Know: The Incredible Story of Middle East Peace―and What Lies Ahead."
Aryeh played a critical role in the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem and he was a U.S. Government point person in the Middle East for the actualization of the Abraham Accords.
Aryeh Lightsone's book: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/let-my-people-know-aryeh-lightstone/1140125201

Feb 13, 2023 • 54min
Mike Murphy on the 2024 presidential primaries
In this episode, we go deep on 2024 presidential primaries with Mike Murphy, who has worked on 26 gubernatorial and US Senate races across the country.
Murphy was a top strategist for John McCain, Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. He’s a political analyst for NBC and MSNBC. He’s co-host of the critically acclaimed "Hacks on Tap" podcast. Mike is also co-director of the University of Southern California’s Center for the Political Future.
Articles we discuss in this episode:
“Biden is as good as it gets for the Democrats”, by Michael Brendan Dougherty: https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/01/bidens-as-good-as-it-gets-for-democrats/
“Biden's State of the Union Was a Feisty Return to '90s Politics. Republicans Should Be Afraid,” by Josh Barro: https://www.joshbarro.com/p/bidens-state-of-the-union-was-a-feisty

Feb 11, 2023 • 30min
Bonus Episode: Super Bowl & Beyond - with Mike Tanenbaum
Mike Tannenbaum has more than 2 decades of experience in NFL team front offices. He was an executive vice president of football operations for the Miami Dolphins (2015-18), and executive vice president and general manager for the New York Jets (2006-12).
Under Mike’s leadership, the Jets advanced to the playoffs in three seasons, won four playoff games and made two AFC Championship game appearances. Mike’s tenure as general manager of the Jets marked the most successful seven-year period in franchise history.He’s also worked with legendary NFL coaches, from Bill Parcells to Bill Belichick.
Today Mike is an ESPN analyst – ESPN’s NFL Front Office Insider.
In addition to his ESPN role, Tannenbaum is the founder of football think tank and news and commentary platform, The 33rd Team, and he teaches Football Business Management: The Inner Workings of the NFL at Columbia University.
Mike began his NFL career as an intern for the New Orleans Saints in 1994.
Discussed on the show: The33rdteam.com

Feb 6, 2023 • 40min
Maggie Haberman on 2024
Are we actually headed for a replay of Trump vs Biden in 2024?
How strong is Trump heading into the GOP primaries?
Is Biden certain to be the Democratic nominee?
Do Biden and Trump need each other?
And what role will Trump play in 2024 if he’s NOT the Republican nominee?
Maggie Haberman, senior political correspondent for The New York Times, returns to the podcast. For the entirety of the Trump administration, Maggie Haberman was a White House correspondent for The New York Times. She joined The Times in 2015. Maggie is part of a team at The Times that won a Pulitzer, and she is the author of the book Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America.
Before joining The New York Times, Maggie was a reporter at Politico, The New York Post and The New York Daily News.
Maggie Haberman's book, Confidence Man: www.barnesandnoble.com/w/confidence-man-maggie-haberman/1140985472
Articles discussed in this episode:
"Some Democrats are worried about Harris’s political prospects" - https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/01/30/harris-democrats-worry/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
"Few Americans are excited about a Biden-Trump rematch, Post-ABC poll finds"
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/05/poll-biden-trump-2024/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Jan 30, 2023 • 60min
US Foreign Policy in 2023 - with Congressman Mike Gallagher
Congressman Mike Gallagher returns to our podcast, this time to look ahead at American foreign policy in 2023. Congressman Gallagher -- of Wisconsin's 8th CD -- has a unique perspective, since he’s just been tapped to lead the newly created House Select Committee on China.
Congressman Gallagher served for seven years on active duty in the Marine Corps, including two deployments to Iraq. He served as a top staffer on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Congressman Gallagher has a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University, a master’s degree in Security Studies from Georgetown University, a second master's in Strategic Intelligence from National Intelligence University, and a PhD in International Relations from Georgetown.
Rep. Gallagher has served on the House Armed Services Committee and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
In addition to foreign policy, in this episode, we also wound up talking about the new Congress and the reforms made during the Speaker's election.
In this episode, we discussed Yuval Levin's "Some Good Can Come Out of the Kevin McCarthy Fiasco" -- https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/10/opinion/kevin-mccarthy-speaker-house.html

Jan 23, 2023 • 1h 7min
Our new media diets - with John Podhoretz
In this episode, we break down changes in our media diets that have been changed as a result of the pandemic and the tech market boom, and what will revert back to VERY pre-pandemic habits. John Podhoretz returns to our conversation. He’s been a prolific TV and film critic for over four decades. John is editor in chief of Commentary Magazine and host of Commentary’s award-winning daily podcast, he’s a columnist for the New York Post, a book author, and was film critic for the Weekly Standard and television critic for the New York Post.

Jan 16, 2023 • 55min
The Economy in 2023 -- with Mohamed El-Erian
Is there any precedent for combating inflation that doesn’t end in recession or depression? This is one of many questions we have for Dr. Mohamed El-Erian as we look ahead to 2023. What should we expect this year in the markets and the economy?
Mohamed El-Erian is President of Queens' College at Cambridge University. He serves as part-time Chief Economic Advisor at Allianz and Chair of Gramercy Fund Management. He’s a Professor at The Wharton School, he is a Financial Times contributing editor, Bloomberg Opinion columnist, and the author of two New York Times best sellers. He serves on the board of the National Bureau of Economic Research, and of Barclays and Under Armour.
From 2007-2014, Mohammed was CEO/co-CIO of PIMCO and was chair of President Obama's Global Development Council. He also served two years as president and CEO of Harvard Management Company, the entity that manages Harvard’s endowment. He has been chair of the Microsoft Investment Advisory Board since 2007.
Essay discussed in this episode: "Not Just Another Recession: Why the Global Economy May Never Be the Same"
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/world/not-just-another-recession-global-economy

Jan 9, 2023 • 55min
Speaker McCarthy - with Matthew Continetti
“Democrats fall in love. Republicans fall in line." So said former President Bill Clinton. But it didn't seem that way last week, as House Republicans struggled to select a new Speaker. A band of rebels wasn’t getting in line for anyone - not for the most recent leaders of the House Republican Conference, not for the leaders of their own House Freedom Caucus, and not even for former President Trump. What happened? What does it tell us about the current state of Republican politics heading into 2024, and about Republican governance in Congress, as Washington has to take up issues like the Debt Ceiling.Matt Continetti is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, founding editor of The Washington Free Beacon, and a columnist for Commentary Magazine. He’s also the author of several books. His most recent book is called “The Right: The Hundred-Year War for American Conservatism”.Also read Matt's most recent Washington Post piece "House Republicans, There you go again".And, for our next two episodes, send a question for Congressman Mike Gallagher or Mohamed El-Erian by emailing a voice memo to dan@unlocked.fm (please keep the question to under 30 seconds).

Jan 3, 2023 • 45min
Understanding Netanyahu’s new government - with Yaakov Katz
WIth Prime Minister Netanyahu's new government now sworn in, and also developments for Israel at the UN, Yaakov Katz – Editor-in-Chief of The Jerusalem Post – returns to our podcast.
Earlier, Yaakov was an advisor to former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. He served as The Jerusalem Post’s military reporter and defense analyst. He is the author of "Shadow Strike: Inside Israel's Secret Mission to Eliminate Syrian Nuclear Power" and co-author of two books: "Weapon Wizards - How Israel Became a High-Tech Military Superpower" and "Israel vs. Iran - The Shadow War"
"Shadow Strike: Inside Israel's Secret Mission to Eliminate Syrian Nuclear Power" – shorturl.at/adioS
"Weapon Wizards - How Israel Became a High-Tech Military Superpower" - shorturl.at/fhIJ3