Just here to add that I really appreciated Katie Potts (if misspelled, very sorry!) asking, “what do you think people should be asking about this topic?” Far too few hosts do, and as here, it’s usually enlightening. Asking good questions is almost always much harder than giving good answers! And here is one of the great questioners.
Fire a missile, get a pod
Ankit mentioned recently that the pod is only a few short of 150 reviews. This addition probably won’t count, since I had one on record, but I will say that the recent convergence to another pod’s standard of “fire a missile, get a pod” is welcome because I enjoy hearing multiple opinions on the same event from open source wonks and from policy wonks.
Analysis by Gentlemanly Scholars
Ankit Panda is a gentleman and a scholar. Other wonks envy his dapper dress and his comprehensive understanding of Indo-Pacific issues. He is a complement to almost any expert on geopolitics of the region, and especially on arms control issues. His recent interview with Robert Farley about the US withdrawal from the INF is typical. While both have strongly held views that are in conflict, they expose their agreements as well as their disagreements to the light of analysis from differing viewpoints, informing the listener about the roots of both ideas, the trunk of agreement, and the diverging branches. At the end, Ankit gracefully concedes the last word to Robert, who responds in kind by admitting uncertainty about some of his views, while taking advantage of the opportunity to go off on a bit of a tangent about Trump’s foreign relations efforts. All in all, a copacetic podcast. You don’t always get such a nicely contrasting guest, but you can count on the host to ensure a listenable, highly informative conversation.
