Podcast / The Time of Monsters / Mar 23, 2026

After the Iran War, Can America Still Be Trusted?

Annelle Sheline on alienating allies.

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After Iran War, Can America Still Be Trusted? w/ Annelle Sheline | The Time of Monsters with Jeet Heer
byThe Nation Magazine

The US/Israel war against Iran has been devastating to many US allies, both in the Middle

East and the wider world. It could easily lead to a Global Depression. Even before the

war, Annelle Sheline of the Quincy Institute noted that countries such as Qatar and

Saudi Arabia had good reason to wean themselves away from a close reliance on the

US. I talked to Annelle about the current state of the war and why it will only intensify

the alienation of traditional US allies.

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People clear rubble in a house in the Beryanak District after it was damaged by missile attacks two days before, on March 15, 2026 in Tehran, Iran.

(Majid Saeedi / Getty Images)

The US/Israel war against Iran has been devastating to many US allies, both in the Middle East and the wider world. It could easily lead to a global depression. Even before the war, Annelle Sheline of the Quincy Institute noted that countries such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia had good reason to wean themselves away from a close reliance on the United States. I talked to Annelle about the current state of the war and why it will only intensify the alienating of traditional US allies.

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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.

Fighting Monopoly Power w/ Zephyr Teachout / The Time of Monsters with Jeet Heer
byThe Nation Magazine

Donald Trump is practicing crony capitalism on an unprecedented scale, with the government greenlighting major mergers that benefit the president’s friends (most notably the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger). I spoke to Zephyr Teachout, who teaches constitutional law at Fordham, about this worrying development. We take up the long history of anti-monopoly politics going back to the American revolution and the trust battles of the late 19th century as well as the possibility state governments can fight the new wave of consolidation. Zephyr has often written on his subject for The Nation, notably in two recent articles

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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.

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