Stephen Wertheim: Realism and restraint in US foreign policy

This week, our guest is Stephen Wertheim, Senior Fellow in the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. We discuss the origins of “isolationism,” historical hypotheticals, the United States’ relative interests in the Middle East, Europe and Asia, Ukraine and Taiwan, and an “America first” policy for the Democratic party, among other subjects.Time Stamps:00:00:45 PhD in history and pivot to policy00:07:38 Charges of “isolationism” from the 1930s through Trump00:15:54 Should the US have done anything differently during WWII or the Cold War?00:19:43 The collapse of the Communist bloc and American primacy unbound00:25:00 Need to draw down in the Middle East00:26:48 Let Europeans take greater charge of their own security00:36:00 How should the US react to the rise of China00:41:12 Taiwan and Ukraine00:51:47 An “America first” policy for the Democratic party*The Trialogue Podcast is hosted by the Stimson Center and produced by University FM.**The first twelve episodes of this podcast were published by the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.