Dec 14, 2023
Following the October 7 attacks on Israel by Hamas terrorists, President Joe Biden began to refer to America's support for the Israeli offensive into Gaza as one that was equally aligned with US support for the war in Ukraine. This was a narrative that proposed that in both cases evil forces had attacked the innocent, and that it was America's role to help them both defend themselves.
But the analogy is only partly legitimate, and also opens up room for quite a lot of criticism of the direction of American foreign policy generally in the post Cold War period. This brings up difficult questions about what Washington is trying to accomplish in these conflicts, and also points to the weakening level of public and moral support for those goals.
Today we are featuring a very special and distinguished guest, Samuel Moyn, who is the Chancellor Kent Professor of Law and History at Yale University. Moyn is the author of the recent book, "Humane: How the United States Abandoned Peace and Reinvented War."
During this podcast interview, we discuss his most recent article for Prospect Magazine, titled, "America’s undoing."
That article can be viewed here: https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/world/united-states/64135/americas-undoing