Talk Cocktail

Former Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren joins me on the WhoWhatWhy podcast to decode this historical inflection point. A historian, former Knesset member, and veteran of Israeli government service, Oren offers a unique perspective from someone who has spent his life at the intersection of scholarship and statecraft. Hours before Israel’s first strike, he published a prescient piece asking whether this was Israe...

$500 drones destroyed $100M Russian bombers.

Last month (it seems so long ago) Ukrainian forces achieved what seemed impossible: Commercial drones costing less than a smartphone successfully struck Russian strategic bombers worth $100 million each, deep inside enemy territory. This isn’t tactical innovation—it’s the emergence of warfare where David doesn’t just defeat Goliath, but renders him obsolete.

On this WhoWhatWhy podcast, ...

When the Soviet Union collapsed, it wasn't the end of history—it was the beginning of capitalism's most seductive experiment.

Russia became a Wild East where Big Macs symbolized freedom and suitcases of cash ruled reality. Western corporations flooded Moscow with intoxicating chaos, chasing astronomical returns that seemed too good to be true. They were!

Charles Hecker, talks to me about his provocative book "Zero Sum: The Arc of ...

When we stop thinking, we enable harm. In this WhoWhatWhy podcast Elizabeth Minnich warns us that systemic evils don’t need monsters — “it takes all of us” through everyday compliance.

I talk with moral philosopher Elizabeth Minnich, who delivers a timely warning about collective thoughtlessness. Building directly on her experience as Hannah Arendt’s long-time teaching assistant, Minnich reverses Arendt’s famous “banality of evil”...

The “Golden Dome” that Trump is promising is a fantasy at best.

Back in February, on the WhoWhatWhy podcast, I explored the seductive dream of an impenetrable missile defense — and the sobering reality behind it.

I spoke with Marion Messmer, a senior research fellow at Chatham House’s International Security Program in London. She lays bare the hard truths behind the rhetorical hype of space-based defense systems. In an age of hy...

In this latest podcast I talk with Emmy-winning journalist Gianna Tobani about "The Volunteer." Gianna Tobani takes me through the harrowing story of Scott Dozier, a death row inmate who volunteered for execution but was ultimately driven to suicide after the state repeatedly failed to carry out his sentence.

Through intimate conversations with Dozier, Tobani unveils a broken death penalty system where pharmaceutical companies ref...

America once built highways and reached the moon. Now we can’t even fix a bridge. The reason? The reforms meant to improve government have paralyzed it.

In this recent WhoWhatWhy podcast I talk with Marc Dunkelman, whose recent book, Why Nothing Works: Who Killed Progress — and How to Bring It Back, uncovers the real reasons why America has lost its ability to build and manufacture.

The culprit? A fundamental shift in progressive ...

In this WhoWhatWhy podcast, I talk with China expert Dinny McMahon who explains how Beijing is desperately racing to innovate its way out of demographic disaster — replacing construction-led growth with advanced manufacturing and automation. But as the collapsing property market exposes mountains of municipal debt, and rising global trade barriers threaten China’s export-driven strategy, the sustainability of this economic pivot h...

David Denby, long time New York Magazine film critic and acclaimed New Yorker writer, joins me to discuss his captivating new book "Eminent Jews." He examines how Leonard Bernstein, Mel Brooks, Betty Friedan, and Norman Mailer—all born within eight years of each other—wielded their Jewish heritage as a creative weapon in post-WWII America. In our conversation, Denby reveals how these boundary-breaking figures transformed American ...

In this recentWhoWhatWhy podcast, I talk with John Lechner, author of Death Is Our Business. He details how private armies increasingly blur the lines between state power and mercenary force. The prospect of billionaires and politicians commanding their own military forces is no longer just a dystopian idea.

John Lechner’s five-year investigation into Russia’s notorious Wagner Group reveals a disturbing template for what privatize...

Americans see Canada as that friendly neighbor up north. Canadians now see America as their greatest threat. How did we get here, and what does it mean for both nations?

Joining me on this week’s WhoWhatWhy podcast is veteran political analyst and Globe and Mail columnist Andrew Coyne. Trump’s talk of annexation and punitive tariffs has profoundly transformed Canada’s relationship with the US, creating a mixture of bewilderment, f...

For over two centuries, the American experiment has weathered crises that would have toppled lesser democracies — a resilience celebrated as uniquely American. But what if this story of perpetual reinvention through adaptation has reached its limits, our Constitution stretched too thin by the democratic achievements we cherish most?

In this WhoWhatWhy podcast, Yale professor Stephen Skowronek talks to me about his “adaptability pa...

There was a time when geographic mobility defined America — one-third of the population relocated each year, chasing better jobs and brighter futures. But today, historian and journalist Yoni Appelbaum argues in his new book, Stuck: How the Privileged and the Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity, that America’s once-robust engine of upward mobility is grinding to a halt.

Appelbaum challenges the long-held belief tha...

What if Donald Trump’s strange fixation on William McKinley isn’t just historical trivia, but the key to understanding what happens next?

On this WhoWhatWhy podcast, long-time journalist and author Chris Lehmann argues we’re not necessarily headed for authoritarian collapse — we’re rewinding to the Gilded Age.

How might McKinley’s transformation from economic nationalist to global imperialist more than a century ago foreshadow T...

The sports betting explosion has unleashed a $500 billion monster that engulfs everything game its path. Since the Supreme Court opened the floodgates in 2018, betting and its betting apps bombard fans during every game, turning each play into another chance to wager. As millions will trade their paychecks for the dopamine hit of a winning bet during March Madness, the same leagues that banned Pete Rose now cozy up to sportsbooks....

How did America transform from a nation of self-aware optimists to one of angry cynics in less than two decades?

In this recent WhoWhatWhy podcast I talk with political scientist Yascha Mounk, an associate professor at Johns Hopkins’s School of Advanced International Studies. He witnessed this cultural metamorphosis first hand after arriving in the US in 2005; his insights on this podcast paint a startling picture of how our socie...

David Pakman, host of his eponymous podcast and program, joins me to talk about his book "The Echo Machine" and how right-wing extremism has methodically undermined America's shared information ecosystem over decades. Pakman and I discuss the deliberate fragmentation of media from talk radio through social media, explaining how this has eroded critical thinking and created parallel realities in American politics.

Drawing from hi...

Renowned evolutionary biologist Neil Shubin joins me for an epic journey to Earth's most extreme polar frontiers.

The author of the new book 'Ends of the Earth, explains why scientists are willing to brave bone-chilling environments where flesh freezes in seconds. Shubin shares with me stories of daring historical expeditions, cutting-edge climate research, and how these frozen landscapes hold the keys to our planet's past and fut...