Podcast
What Really Matters with Walter Russell Mead
Hosted by Tablet Magazine · EN
Walter Russell Mead, a historian, pundit, and popular author, is encyclopedic about politics, culture, and history. On What Really Matters, Mead and Tablet deputy editor Jeremy Stern help you understand the news, decide what news matters and what doesn’t, and enjoy following the story of America and the world more than you do now.
Check out Walter Russell Mead’s Tablet column at https://www.tabletmag.com/columns/via-meadia.
38episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
The Global Crisis
2d ago01:09:19Summary readyThis week, Walter gives a lecture and Q&A at the Hamilton School at the University of Florida on "The Global Crisis." The recording is from December 1st and is republished here with the permission of the Hamilton School.
SummaryTrump's Very Own Iran Deal
1w ago00:30:13Summary readyThis week, Walter and Jeremy discuss Finland's reversal of its prohibition on nuclear weapons, what it means for AI doctors to outperform human physicians, Hezbollah's supposedly newfound resolution, and how to interpret Trump's Memorandum of Understanding with Iran.
SummaryThe Cuban Quagmire
2w ago00:37:28Summary readyThis week, Walter and Jeremy discuss the mounting crisis in Lebanon, Russia's setback in Armenia's elections, the sources of North Korea's strength, and why Cuba is unlikely to be an easy victory for Trump.
SummaryUS Foreign Policy in the Age of Trump
3w ago01:32:04Summary readyThis week, Walter gives a lecture and Q&A at the London School of Economics on American foreign policy in the Trump era. The recording is from February 19 and is republished here with the permission of the LSE.
SummaryWhy Peace With Iran Is Elusive
4w ago00:23:39Summary readyThis week, Walter and Jeremy discuss the Pope's AI encyclical, the UAE's role in the Iran war, new concerns about the divide between labor and capital, and why America and Iran's minimum requirements for a peace agreement are unlikely to be met.
SummaryA Visit to Ukraine
May 2200:32:35Summary readyThis week, Walter and Jeremy discuss Iran's stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, Trump's creation of a $1.8 billion slush fund, the noose tightening around Cuba, and what Walter saw and heard on a recent trip to Ukraine.
SummaryThe Rise of Islam and the Radicalization of America
May 1200:30:39Summary readyThis week, Walter and Jeremy discuss the greater global influence of Muslim-majority societies, the state of political radicalization in America, and to what extent the US is actually in decline.
Summary25 Years of Putin
May 500:26:50Summary readyThis week, Walter and Jeremy discuss Trump's flirtation with regulating AI, Narendra Modi's big election victory in Bengal, reports of a potential coup plot in Russia, and what a quarter-century of Vladimir Putin has done to the world.
SummaryGod Save the King
May 100:29:17Summary readyThis week, Walter and Jeremy discuss the US national debt, the Supreme Court's decision on a provision of the Voting Rights Act, the UAE's exit from OPEC, why Trump doesn't believe the Iran war is the catastrophe the establishment thinks it is, and King Charles' very successful visit to America.
SummaryTrump v. Pope
Apr 2200:27:35Summary readyThis week, Walter and Jeremy discuss the Iran ceasefire and negotiations, the meaning of Japan's decision to open its military technology market, the global rise of clean energy sources and decline of coal, and how Pope Leo XIV's roots in Latin American Catholicism explain his particular distaste for Donald Trump.
Summary