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Podcast: Defending democracy at home and abroad

Podcast: Defending democracy at home and abroad

Robert Kagan is a foreign policy expert who turned his focus to the United States last fall in a Washington Post column titled "Our Constitutional Crisis Is Already Here" that became one of the Post's most-read pieces of 2021. Kagan discusses the ongoing crises of democracy at home and abroad as Russia's war on Ukraine continues to unfold on this episode of "Democracy Works."

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Bullies and the World Order

March 30, 2014: A sign made up of a photo composite of Vladimir Putin and Hitler looms over protesters who have gathered in the main square in Vienna to protest Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

Getty Images, Benstevens

Bullies and the World Order

We’ve all heard the saying: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” We know the truth of this: we have lived it, and watch in horror as it plays out now, as it has throughout history.

February is a banner month for Vladimir Putin and his regime, marking the anniversaries of three grim and illegal maneuvers led by the Russian President.

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Loyalty, Democracy, and the Future of American Politics

Vice President-elect JD Vance and President-elect Donald Trump arrive at the 60th inaugural ceremony where Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 47th president on January 20, 2025, in the US Capitol Rotunda in Washington, DC.

(Photo by Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Loyalty, Democracy, and the Future of American Politics

The place of loyalty in this country’s political system has been at the forefront of political conversations since the November election returned Donald Trump to the Oval Office. Loyalty has long been seen as what the president values most in his relationship with others.

In his 2024 presidential campaign Trump did not try to hide any of that. “We love loyalty in life,” he said. “Don’t you think? Loyalty?”

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Two Minutes . . .

For This and Future Generations

Sunset over cracked soil in the desert. Global warming concept

Getty Images//Anton Petrus

Two Minutes . . . For This and Future Generations

I want to offer you a different lens through which to better understand the climatological and environmental crises that we—indeed all of humanity—are facing. I would like you to view these crises through the long lens of our planet’s geologic and evolutionary history.

From the beginning of our planet’s formation, some 4.6 billion years ago, to the present there have been five major extinction events which destroyed anywhere from70% (during the Devonian Period) to 95% (at the end of the Permian Period) of all living things on earth. These extinctions were natural events: caused by some combination of rapid and dramatic changes in climate, combined with significant changes in the composition of environments on land or in the ocean brought on by plate tectonics, volcanic activity, climate change (including the super cooling or super heating of earth), decreases in oxygen levels in the deep ocean, changes in atmospheric chemistry (acid rain), changes in oceanic chemistry and circulation, and in at least one instance, a cosmological event—the massive asteroid strike inChicxulub, near what is now the Yucatan peninsula.

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The Power of Outrage and Keeping Everyone Guessing

Question marks on a stack of small blocks.

Getty Images / Sakchai Vongsasiripat

The Power of Outrage and Keeping Everyone Guessing

Donald Trump loves to keep us guessing. This is exactly what we’re all doing as his second term in the White House begins. It’s one way he controls the narrative.

Trump’s off the cuff, unfiltered, controversial statements infuriate opponents and delight his supporters. The rest of us are left trying to figure out the difference between the shenanigans and when he’s actually serious.

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