Podcast / The Time of Monsters / Sep 14, 2025

The Failures of the Foreign Policy Elite

On The Time of Monsters: Matt Duss on the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.

The Nation Podcasts
The Nation Podcasts

Here's where to find podcasts from The Nation. Political talk without the boring parts, featuring the writers, activists and artists who shape the news, from a progressive perspective.

The Failures of the Foreign Policy Elite | The Time of Monsters with Jeet Heer
byThe Nation Magazine

Matt Duss, vice-president of the Center for International Policy, wrote an excellent review for The Nation of Bob Woodward’s book War, which is a celebration of Joe Biden as a foreign policy sage. Duss is rightly skeptical of the book. We discuss Biden’s actual record on Ukraine and especially Gaza. Matt’s essay on this topic for Foreign Policy is also worth reading.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Joe Biden speaks at a Department of Defense Commander in Chief Farewell Ceremony in Arlington, Virginia, on January 16, 2025.

(Roberto Schmidt / AFP via Getty Images)

Matt Duss, vice-president of the Center for International Policy, wrote an excellent review for The Nation of Bob Woodward’s book War, which is a celebration of Joe Biden as a foreign policy sage. Duss is rightly skeptical of the book. We discuss Biden’s actual record on Ukraine and especially Gaza. Matt’s essay on this topic for Foreign Policy is also worth reading. 

Subscribe to The Nation to support all of our podcasts: thenation.com/podcastsubscribe.

The Nation Podcasts
The Nation Podcasts

Here's where to find podcasts from The Nation. Political talk without the boring parts, featuring the writers, activists and artists who shape the news, from a progressive perspective.

Palestine and the Iran War w/ Yousef Munayyer | The Time of Monsters with Jeet Heer
byThe Nation Magazine

As negotiations proceed in ending the Iran War, the question of the relationship between the US

and Israel becomes more salient. I spoke with Middle East expert Yousef Munayyer on the

agenda of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose interest in a securing his country’s

hegemony in the region is now in conflict with efforts to end the war.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Subscribe to The Nation to Support all of our podcasts

Your support makes stories like this possible

From illegal war on Iran to an inhumane fuel blockade of Cuba, from AI weapons to crypto corruption, this is a time of staggering chaos, cruelty, and violence. 

Unlike other publications that parrot the views of authoritarians, billionaires, and corporations, The Nation publishes stories that hold the powerful to account and center the communities too often denied a voice in the national media—stories like the one you’ve just read.

Each day, our journalism cuts through lies and distortions, contextualizes the developments reshaping politics around the globe, and advances progressive ideas that oxygenate our movements and instigate change in the halls of power. 

This independent journalism is only possible with the support of our readers. If you want to see more urgent coverage like this, please donate to The Nation today.

Jeet Heer

Jeet Heer is a national affairs correspondent for The Nation and host of the weekly Nation podcast, The Time of Monsters. He also pens the monthly column “Morbid Symptoms.” The author of In Love with Art: Francoise Mouly’s Adventures in Comics with Art Spiegelman (2013) and Sweet Lechery: Reviews, Essays and Profiles (2014), Heer has written for numerous publications, including The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, The American Prospect, The GuardianThe New Republic, and The Boston Globe.

More from The Nation

Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., during the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday, January 22, 2026.

The Problem With “CEO Said a Thing” Journalism—With Karl Bode The Problem With “CEO Said a Thing” Journalism—With Karl Bode

Paris Marx and Karl Bode discuss how tech journalists and corporate interests are irresponsibly raising the profile of tech CEOs, damaging public trust in institutional journalism...

Paris Marx

Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA) (R) participates in a discussion during a National Press Club Headliners Newsmaker event on April 14, 2026, in Washington, DC.

Ro Khanna: AI for the People—Plus, Trump’s Downward Spiral Ro Khanna: AI for the People—Plus, Trump’s Downward Spiral

On this episode of Start Making Sense, the member of Congress from Silicon Valley presents an “AI Manifesto,” and Harold Meyerson reports on Trump’s continuing decline.

Jon Wiener

How Unionization Can Solve the Crisis in College Football 

How Unionization Can Solve the Crisis in College Football  How Unionization Can Solve the Crisis in College Football 

Jason Stahl joins Edge of Sports to talk about the campaign to unionize college football.

Dave Zirin

Peter Magyar (C), lead candidate of the Tisza party, speaks to supporters after polling stations closed during Hungarian parliamentary elections on April 12, 2026, in Budapest, Hungary.

How Hungary Fought Its Fascists—With Zack Beauchamp and Jennifer McCoy How Hungary Fought Its Fascists—With Zack Beauchamp and Jennifer McCoy

Podcast / Sep 14, 2025 The Failures of the Foreign Policy Elite We have, of course, always been experts on Hungary… but just in case we’re missing something, we brought on two…

Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu visits an Israeli military unit stationed in the occupied territory of southern Lebanon on April 12, 2026.

Palestine and the Iran War Palestine and the Iran War

Yousef Munayyer on the divergence between the US and Israel.

Jeet Heer

Cybertrucks Are a Safety Disaster—With Dara Kerr

Cybertrucks Are a Safety Disaster—With Dara Kerr Cybertrucks Are a Safety Disaster—With Dara Kerr

Paris Marx and Dara Kerr discuss how Elon’s prioritization of aesthetics over safety created a safety crisis, causing people to burn alive in their Cybertrucks.

Paris Marx

x