American Prestige Daniel Bessner & Derek Davison

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We’re back with the fifth episode of the collaboration between AP and Nonzero Newsletter! Paid subscribers get a discounted membership to Nonzero— just scroll below the paywall near the bottom of the description, where you’ll also find the video for the Overtime segment.
00:07 The Nonzero-American Prestige apocalypse aversion project
1:29 Are Bob, Derek, and Danny surprised the Gaza war is still going on? 
4:31 Biden’s simple political calculus on Gaza 
13:08 Would Trump greenlight the ethnic cleansing of Gaza?
25:12 Israel’s plan (or lack thereof) for post-war Gaza  
31:49 Heading to Overtime

We all know about the United States’ deep commercial ties with China in this day and age, but has this been the case since America’s inception? Danny and Derek are joined by Stuart Rollo, postdoctoral research fellow at the Centre for International Security Studies at the University of Sydney, for a discussion of his book Terminus: Westward Expansion, China, and the End of American Empire. The group examines the United States’ imperial evolution alongside China’s parallel trajectory, considering the (sometimes oblique) role of China in major US conflicts, domestic Chinese milestones’ effect on the US-China dynamic, the watershed change in their trade relations in the 1970s, and how America is trying to manage its current imperial decline.
Note: Stuart was unfortunately ill with Covid when recording this episode, but said that the show must go on!


This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.americanprestigepod.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.americanprestigepod.com

Bryan Pitts, assistant director of the Latin American Institute at UCLA, once again sits down with Danny and Derek to help us make our way through Brazil’s history. The discussion picks up in the postwar era, covering Getúlio Vargas’ fall from power, his famous “Carta Testamento” letter, the country’s rural-to-urban migration, President Juscelino Kubits…

Danny and Derek return with the news roundup. This week: a Gaza update (0:35), three countries recognize Palestine (10:47), the ICC pursues arrest warrants (14:17), and an ICJ hearing wraps up (18:07); Yemeni Ansar Allah / Houthi forces down two US drones, plus the US admits its bombing campaigns have been futile (20:19); the death of Iranian president Embrahim Raisi (25:16); Taiwan inaugurates a new president and sees protests at the parliament while China conducts military drills nearby (27:38); protests and riots in France’s New Caledonia colony territory, prompting a visit from Macron (29:49); the US finally sets a date for withdrawing troops from Niger (33:52); Kenya’s William Ruto visits the US, with the former country’s mission to Haiti starting soon (34:40); an update on the Kharkiv offensive in Ukraine (36:58); and the UK schedules an election for July 4 (39:22).



This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.americanprestigepod.com/subscribe

Danny and Derek speak with Katherine Zubovich, associate professor of history at SUNY Buffalo, about her book Moscow Monumental: Soviet Skyscrapers and Urban Life in Stalin's Capital. The discussion broaches what distinguishes Soviet design in the history of monumental architecture, the ill-fated Palace of the Soviets project, postwar Soviet skyscrapers, how ideology is reflected in the architecture, the challenges of ambitious urban planning in Moscow, and more.



This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.americanprestigepod.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.americanprestigepod.com

Danny and Derek chat with AP Iran expert Sina Toossi, senior non-resident fellow at the Center for International Policy, about the late Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash on Sunday along with foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian. The group delves into Raisi’s background and ideology, the next steps to find a new p…