Clearer Than Truth

Nathan Kiker & George Bogden

The wisdom of former Secretary of State Dean Acheson inspires our podcast. It emphasizes clarity while examining the intricate global issues of today for a diverse audience. In a world where time is limited, this podcast aims to distill complex ideas into straightforward narratives, making them not just comprehensible but in Acheson’s words, “clearer than truth.” The podcast, much like other news-oriented shows, is committed to keeping listeners updated on breaking global events; it dissects the latest news, featuring insights from experts around the world. From discussions on significant geopolitical developments to the passage of controversial laws, this podcast provides concise yet comprehensive analyses.

  1. Oct 23

    Karen Elliot House | Former Publisher, The Wall Street Journal | Pulitzer Prize Recipient

    Karen Elliott House, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and former publisher of The Wall Street Journal, returns to Clearer Than Truth to discuss Mohammed bin Salman’s leadership and the future of Saudi Arabia. Drawing on decades of firsthand experience in the kingdom, House examines the tension between Saudi Arabia’s sweeping social transformation and its continued political repression, MBS’s ambitions to become a global powerbroker, and the economic and security pressures created by regional conflict. She also explores Saudi Arabia’s relationships with the United States, Iran, Israel, and other regional powers, the risks of a wider war, and whether the kingdom can sustain its modernization ambitions amid instability. Looking decades ahead, House weighs Saudi Arabia’s prospects against the shifting balance of global power and explains why she remains pessimistic about the near term but more optimistic about America’s long-term position. 00:00 Introduction: Karen Elliott House on Saudi Arabia 00:58 How Mohammed bin Salman Has Changed 01:57 Modernization Without Political Freedom 04:44 Can the West Trust MBS? 07:59 Saudi Arabia’s Regional Partnerships 09:53 MBS’s Ambitions and the War’s Economic Cost 11:54 The Saudi Relationship With Trump 13:45 Could the Conflict Threaten MBS’s Rule? 16:13 Saudi Youth and the Limits of Political Opposition 18:08 How Secure Is the Saudi Monarchy? 19:16 Vision 2030 and the Future of NEOM 21:40 The Economic Impact of Regional Instability 23:21 Can Saudi Arabia Get Its Economy Back on Track? 25:02 MBS’s Security and the Risk of Escalation 27:36 Oil Revenue and Saudi Arabia’s Economic Vulnerability 29:36 The Risk of a Wider Regional War 32:03 Saudi Arabia and the Global Balance of Power 35:05 Why House Remains Optimistic About America 36:05 What Makes MBS Different? 39:34 Where to Follow Karen Elliott House’s Work 40:54 Closing Remarks Support the show

    Karen Elliot House | Former Publisher, The Wall Street Journal | Pulitzer Prize Recipient

  2. Oct 15

    Richard Fontaine | CEO of the Center for a New American Security

    Richard Fontaine, CEO of the Center for a New American Security, joins Clearer Than Truth to examine the strategic challenges facing the United States in an increasingly contested world. From the Trump administration’s approach to military force and the future of American alliances to defense spending, the competition with China, and the growing role of artificial intelligence, Fontaine explores whether the United States has a coherent strategy to match its global power. He also explains why Washington has repeatedly struggled to prioritize the Indo-Pacific, how allies are reassessing American reliability, and why he remains cautiously optimistic about America’s long-term advantages. 00:00 Richard Fontaine on America's Changing Foreign Policy 00:32 Is America's Grand Strategy Fundamentally Changing? 01:53 The Lasting Shift Toward Protectionism 03:12 Does Trump's Foreign Policy Have Historical Precedents? 05:28 What Would John McCain Think of America Today? 07:04 Has America Become an Overextended Superpower? 09:40 Can America Still Trust Its Alliances? 11:52 Trump's Way of War vs. the Powell Doctrine 13:41 Why Clear Military Objectives Matter 15:05 The Problem With Trump's Flexible War Strategy 17:32 What the Powell Doctrine Would Say About Iran 18:51 Can America Afford Another Major War? 19:19 Could America Defend Taiwan Against China? 21:17 America's Defense Industrial Base Problem 22:16 How AI Will Reshape Global Power 24:16 Should America Stay Ahead of China in AI? 25:46 Can America and China Agree on AI Safety? 28:57 What Nuclear Arms Control Can Teach Us About AI 30:06 Why Crises Sometimes Force International Cooperation 32:34 Why America Keeps Failing to Pivot to Asia 34:10 How Middle East Wars Derail America's Asia Strategy 35:21 Is China Still America's Biggest Strategic Rival? 36:36 What CNAS Is Working on Now 37:42 Can America Rebuild the International Order? 38:45 What Still Makes America Powerful? 40:38 Why Richard Fontaine Remains Optimistic 41:13 Where to Follow Richard Fontaine Support the show

    Richard Fontaine | CEO of the Center for a New American Security

  3. Oct 13

    Michael McFaul | Former US Ambassador to Russia | Author of "Autocrats vs Democrats"

    Ambassador Michael McFaul, former U.S. ambassador to Russia and author of Autocrats Versus Democrats, joins Clearer Than Truth to examine how Vladimir Putin transformed Russia’s relationship with the West and why the war in Ukraine remains so difficult to end. McFaul argues that Putin’s greatest fear is not NATO expansion but the spread of democracy, which threatens the legitimacy of his autocratic rule. He reflects on the achievements and failures of the Obama administration’s Russia reset, contrasts Putin’s leadership with Mikhail Gorbachev’s approach to Eastern Europe, and discusses the uncertain prospects for political change inside Russia. The conversation also explores Ukraine’s nuclear disarmament and security guarantees, the risks of leaving Ukraine outside NATO, China and India’s limited roles in seeking peace, and why McFaul believes stronger military support for Ukraine and tougher sanctions offer a better path toward a negotiated settlement than appeasing Putin. 00:00 Michael McFaul on Russia and Putin 01:13 Why Putin Fears Democratic Expansion 02:07 What the Russia Reset Was Really About 03:45 What U.S.–Russia Cooperation Achieved 05:01 Why Dual-Track Diplomacy Failed 06:37 Could Russia Have Taken a Different Path? 08:22 How Putin Became More Paranoid and Imperial 09:36 Gorbachev, Eastern Europe, and Nuclear Secrets 11:23 Why Individual Leaders Shape History 12:35 Gorbachev vs. Putin on Democratic Movements 14:02 Why Arms Control Requires Verification 15:12 Could Putin Lose the Support of His Elites? 16:06 How Putin Tightened His Grip on Russia 18:19 Why Revolutions Seem Impossible—Until They Happen 19:15 Ukraine’s Independence and the Nuclear Question 20:27 Putin’s Early Political Years 22:16 The Budapest Memorandum and Ukraine’s Security 23:24 Should Ukraine Join NATO? 24:59 Why China and India Aren’t Helping End the War 26:27 Russia’s War as an Imperial Project 27:19 Why Appeasing Putin Won’t Work 29:06 What Putin Really Wants From Ukraine 30:37 Why Putin Wants the Donbas 31:56 Is Russia Trying to Break Ukraine’s Will? 32:20 The People Who Turned to Putin 34:33 How Propaganda Becomes a Business 35:28 The Dinner That Revealed Putin’s Worldview 37:07 Why Putin Thinks Everyone Can Be Bought 37:35 Michael McFaul’s Latest Book and Writing Support the show

    Michael McFaul | Former US Ambassador to Russia | Author of "Autocrats vs Democrats"

  4. Oct 13

    Julius Krein | Founder and Editor-In-Chief of American Affairs

    Julius Krein, founder and editor of American Affairs, joins Clearer Than Truth to examine why the United States has struggled to rebuild its industrial base even as the case for reindustrialization has entered the mainstream. Krein argues that tariffs alone cannot restore American productive capacity: the country needs strategic investment, skilled workers, coordinated supply chains, permitting reform, and institutions that can help critical industries become commercially viable. He explains why the goal should not be to centrally plan the entire economy, but to open opportunities for private investment in sectors weakened by decades of underinvestment. The conversation explores the political costs and potential benefits of rebuilding manufacturing, whether a more productive economy could narrow class divides, and how the United States might redirect its financial resources to compete with China. Krein’s broader message is that America has made progress in recognizing the problem, but the real test is whether it can overcome institutional bottlenecks and deliver tangible results before political support fades. 00:00 Julius Krein on Rebuilding American Industry 01:01 Has Industrial Policy Finally Gone Mainstream? 02:08 Why Rebuilding Industry Could Take Decades 03:24 From Fringe Idea to National Priority 04:07 The Problem With Tariff-First Economics 05:04 Why Tariffs Alone Won’t Rebuild Manufacturing 06:22 The Real Costs of Trade Policy 07:35 What a Real Reindustrialization Strategy Requires 08:30 Why Critical Industries Lost Their Investment 09:31 The Missing Pieces: Workers, Buyers, and Permits 10:00 Why America Struggles to Coordinate Economic Policy 11:00 Why Supply Chains Are Harder to Map Than They Look 12:16 What Happens When Everything Becomes Strategic? 12:48 Why America Needs More Than Free Markets 13:54 The Industries America Can Rebuild First 14:57 Industrial Policy Without Central Planning 15:31 Who Pays for Reindustrialization? 16:49 The Political Trade-Offs of Rebuilding Industry 18:08 The Long-Term Cost of Deindustrialization 18:57 Will Working-Class Americans Actually Benefit? 20:21 Can Manufacturing Narrow the Class Divide? 21:48 Building an Economy That Works Across Classes 22:16 What Does American Economic Nationalism Mean? 23:03 Why Different Political Camps Support Industrial Policy 24:14 Why Practical Needs Can Matter More Than Ideology 25:10 Is Pragmatism Driving American Industrial Policy? 26:34 Can America Compete With China’s Economic Model? 27:13 Why American Finance Could Help Rebuild Industry 28:28 China’s Manufacturing Strength—and Its Limits 28:55 What the U.S. Must Prove to China 30:19 Can America Fund Long-Term Industrial Growth? 31:07 How Realistic Is American Reindustrialization? 32:08 The Bottlenecks Still Holding America Back 32:59 The Race to Deliver Results 33:46 Why American Affairs Matters Support the show

    Julius Krein | Founder and Editor-In-Chief of American Affairs

  5. Oct 12

    Barbara Keys | Author of "Super K: The Making, Breaking, and Remaking of Henry Kissinger's Legacy"

    Historian Barbara Keys joins Clearer Than Truth to examine the making, breaking, and remaking of Henry Kissinger’s legacy. Drawing on her book Super K: The Making, Breaking, and Remaking of Henry Kissinger’s Legacy, Keys explores how Kissinger cultivated journalists, managed his public image, used personal relationships and behind-the-scenes pressure to influence coverage, and maintained extraordinary influence for decades after leaving office. She examines the gap between his private policy positions and public presentation, his support for repressive anti-communist governments, and the role of the human rights movement in reshaping how his record is judged. The conversation also considers Kissinger’s diplomatic relationships across political divides and the media’s role in sustaining his reputation, raising a broader question about how power, access, and storytelling shape the way history remembers political leaders. 00:00 Barbara Keys on Henry Kissinger’s Legacy 00:53 Why Reexamine Kissinger Now? 01:47 Why Criticism Bothered Kissinger 03:08 How Powerful Figures Edit Their Own Histories 04:00 When Kissinger Could Influence the Media 04:50 The Myth of the Grand Strategist 06:28 How Kissinger Entered Nixon’s Circle 07:29 How Kissinger Won Over Journalists 08:30 Charm, Threats, and Media Pressure 09:48 When Kissinger Demanded Special Treatment 10:51 Kissinger’s Private Views on Ukraine 12:56 How Kissinger Changed His Public Positions 14:41 The Power of Strategic Ambiguity 15:59 Kissinger’s Private Position on Cambodia 17:13 How Kissinger Leaked Secrets to the Press 18:07 The Lost Art of International Diplomacy? 19:36 How Kissinger Built Global Relationships 20:57 How Kissinger Stayed Influential for 46 Years 21:27 The Memoirs That Shaped His Reputation 22:20 Kissinger’s Celebrity Persona 23:47 Why Kissinger Opposed Human Rights in Foreign Policy 24:52 How the Human Rights Movement Challenged His Legacy 26:32 Why Kissinger Won the Nobel Peace Prize 27:25 Kissinger’s Late-Life Fascination With AI 28:51 How Kissinger Wanted History to Remember Him 29:43 Why His Reputation Changed After the Cold War 30:45 Will Kissinger’s Legacy Change Again? 31:52 What Future Biographies May Reveal 33:50 The Most Dangerous Lesson of the Kissinger Myth 34:16 How the Media Helped Build Kissinger’s Reputation 35:24 What Kissinger’s Legacy Teaches Us About Media Influence 35:51 Where to Find Barbara Keys’s Work Support the show

    Barbara Keys | Author of "Super K: The Making, Breaking, and Remaking of Henry Kissinger's Legacy"

  6. Oct 5

    Vali Nasr | Dean Emeritus of Johns Hopkins SAIS | Author of "Iran's Grand Strategy"

    Vali Nasr joins Clearer Than Truth to explain why Americans often misunderstand the forces shaping the Middle East. Nasr argues that the region cannot be understood simply through religion, terrorism, or ancient sectarian divisions; instead, geopolitics, competition for power, contested borders, resources, and outside intervention are central to understanding its conflicts. He examines the evolution of terrorism, explaining why it has never been exclusively a product of poverty or religious extremism, before turning to Iran’s grand strategy and the legacy of Ayatollah Khamenei’s resistance to American influence. Nasr also assesses the failures and constraints of U.S. policy toward Iran, the consequences of a potential Iranian nuclear capability, and the possibility of a broader nuclear race across the Middle East. He closes with a warning that the current war may fundamentally reshape the regional order—and that the United States needs to prepare for a Middle East that may look very different when the fighting ends. 00:00 Vali Nasr on the Middle East 00:58 What America Gets Wrong About the Middle East 02:42 Why Sectarianism Doesn't Explain Everything 04:28 How Americans Misunderstand the Region 05:29 The Borders That Created Modern Conflict 07:12 Why Israel-Palestine Is More Recent Than You Think 08:23 What Americans Get Wrong About Terrorism 09:14 The End of the War on Terror 10:59 Terrorism Before Al-Qaeda 12:28 The Strategy Behind Terrorist Violence 13:46 Why Wealthy People Join Terrorist Groups 16:04 Why So Many Terrorists Studied Science 17:57 Iran's Grand Strategy 20:05 Where Iran's Strategy Has Failed 21:23 Why Iran Keeps Resisting the U.S. 22:19 Iran's Forever War With America 23:12 What Obama Got Right—and Wrong—About Iran 25:18 The Limits of American Influence 27:11 Why Obama Chose the Nuclear Deal 28:35 Obama Was More Realist Than Idealist 29:45 What If Iran Gets a Nuclear Bomb? 31:11 India, Pakistan and the Nuclear Lesson 33:14 Why Iran Might Want Nuclear Deterrence 34:21 Could Iran Trigger a Middle East Nuclear Race? 36:01 How Nuclear Iran Changes the Region 37:18 The Risk of a Wider Nuclear Order 37:46 The Middle East May Never Go Back 38:36 Could This War Get Much Worse? 39:26 How the Middle East Could Reshape the West 40:28 What Comes After the War? 41:40 What America Can Learn From History 42:34 Closing Support the show

    Vali Nasr | Dean Emeritus of Johns Hopkins SAIS | Author of "Iran's Grand Strategy"

  7. Sep 29

    James M. Lindsay | Distinguished Senior Fellow | Council on Foreign Relations

    James M. Lindsay joins Clearer Than Truth for a wide-ranging conversation about the future of American power and the international system the United States helped build. Lindsay is a longtime scholar of U.S. foreign policy and the policymaking process at the Council on Foreign Relations, where he previously served as senior vice president and director of studies and where he hosts The President's Inbox. For roughly eight decades, American foreign policy has operated around an assumption that U.S. security and prosperity depend on an active role in the world. Lindsay argues that consensus is now under enormous strain, but says the story did not begin with Donald Trump. The American-led system has evolved through several distinct eras, from the bipolar Cold War order to the post-Cold War “unipolar moment,” before the return of great-power competition forced Washington to confront a more complicated geopolitical environment. The conversation then turns inward, examining the changing balance between Congress and the presidency. Lindsay explains why the modern “imperial presidency” predates 9/11, how Congress gradually gave presidents greater discretion in foreign policy, and why that authority has proven difficult to reclaim. He also discusses the limits of courts as a check on presidential power and the enduring political difficulty of constraining a president once military action has begun. Lindsay also examines the emerging cooperation among China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, cautioning against treating them as a formal alliance while acknowledging the growing incentives for bilateral cooperation among them. The discussion ultimately returns to the larger question: what comes after American primacy? Lindsay argues that the American-led order is coming to an end, but says historians will debate for years how much of that decline was structural and how much resulted from America's own decisions. 00:00 James M. Lindsay on the Future of American Power 01:04 What Broke America's Foreign-Policy Consensus? 01:54 From the Cold War to the Unipolar Moment 02:58 The Return of Geopolitics 03:28 Why Congress Lost Influence Over Foreign Policy 04:56 The Rise of the Imperial Presidency 05:46 What Congress Learned From the 1930s 07:44 Why Presidents Were Given So Much Discretion 08:06 How Presidents Expanded Their Authority 09:14 Why Courts Rarely Check Presidential Power 10:11 The Courts, Trump & National Security 12:30 When Expansive Presidential Power Serves a Purpose 13:55 How Far Can the President Go Militarily? 15:21 Congress and the Authorization of War 16:22 Why Congress Struggles to Rein In Presidents 18:12 Is There Really an Axis of Autocracies? 19:20 Why China, Russia, Iran & North Korea Cooperate 21:01 Why You Should Watch What Countries Do 22:03 Why Military Power Doesn't Equal Victory 23:07 Can Economic Pressure Bring Down Iran? 24:45 Can Leaders Become Too Detached From Their People? 25:51 Why Iran Hasn't Become Another Vietnam 26:21 How War Hits Americans at Home 28:56 What Vietnam Teaches Us About Public Trust 29:49 Can America Split the Axis of Autocracies? 31:03 Why the Nixon-Kissinger Strategy May Not Work Today 32:13 Why Regime Change Is So Hard to Predict 33:24 Was American Bipartisanship Ever Real? 34:03 Washington, Jefferson & America's First Foreign-Policy Fight 36:20 What Institutions Like CFR Actually Do 37:30 From Diagnosis to Policy to Implementation 38:25 The American-Led Order Is Ending 39:35 Was America's Decline Inevitable? 40:10 The Mistakes That Weakened American Leadership 41:54 Did America Fall Behind China? 42:21 How U.S. Policy May Have Accelerated Decline 43:21 What Happens to American Leadership Now? Support the show

    James M. Lindsay | Distinguished Senior Fellow | Council on Foreign Relations

  8. Sep 25

    Joby Warrick | Two-Time Recipient of the Pulitzer Prize | Author of "The Jackal"

    Joby Warrick returns to Clearer Than Truth to discuss his new book, The Jackal: The Rise and Fall of Carlos the World's First Super-Terrorist. A two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for The Washington Post, Warrick has spent decades reporting on terrorism, intelligence failures, and the conflicts shaping the modern Middle East. This time, he goes back to the 1970s to examine the extraordinary career of Carlos the Jackal and what his story can tell us about terrorism today. Carlos was more than a terrorist for hire. Warrick describes him as a remarkably flexible figure who moved between Palestinian militant organizations, communist governments, intelligence networks, dictators, and eventually anyone willing to employ him. His ideology was often secondary to his ambition, ego, and desire to become a revolutionary celebrity. But his greatest innovation was understanding the power of spectacle. The early terrorist groups around Carlos realized that attacks far from the battlefield could force television cameras, governments, and the public to pay attention to a cause. Warrick traces how those tactics evolved through the 1970s and eventually influenced later terrorist organizations, including al-Qaeda. The conversation also examines the OPEC siege, Carlos's relationships with state sponsors, the conditions that allow terrorist movements to emerge, and the danger of creating new generations of extremists through war, instability, and political collapse. The conversation ultimately moves from history to the present. Warrick warns that the combination of weapons of mass destruction and artificial intelligence could create new opportunities for terrorist organizations, while the deterioration of international cooperation may make it harder for states to contain them. Carlos the Jackal may belong to another era, but the methods he helped pioneer, particularly the use of spectacle, proxies, and permissive environments, remain relevant. 00:00 Joby Warrick on Carlos the Jackal 00:53 Why Go Back to Carlos Now? 02:30 What Actually Drove Carlos? 04:47 Carlos the Jackal and Today's Terrorists 06:23 The Rise of Proxy Terrorism 07:43 How Terrorism Became a Global Spectacle 09:16 Why Terrorists Wanted the Cameras 10:03 The International Terrorism Network of the 1970s 11:44 The Shift From Secular to Religious Terrorism 12:11 The OPEC Siege: Carlos's Most Audacious Attack 14:01 Gaddafi and the OPEC Plot 15:35 Why Gaddafi Abandoned Carlos 16:20 Are Terrorists Products of Failed States? 17:33 Why Carlos Became a Legend 18:16 How Dangerous Was Carlos Really? 19:21 The Incredible Mistakes of Carlos the Jackal 20:00 Why States Keep Getting Terrorism Wrong 20:46 The Conditions That Produce Terrorism 22:18 Are We Creating the Next Generation of Terrorists? 24:10 The Threat of AI and Weapons of Mass Destruction 25:47 What Made Carlos Different? 27:10 Why Carlos Needed to See Himself as a Hero 28:20 How Carlos Was Finally Captured 30:54 What al-Qaeda Learned From Carlos 32:59 Did Carlos Ever Regret What He Did? 34:22 The One Thing Carlos Regretted 35:00 How Many People Did Carlos Really Kill? 36:26 Could a Weaker World Order Bring More Terrorism? 37:07 The Decline of International Cooperation 38:22 How Carlos Wants to Be Remembered 39:28 Closing Thoughts Support the show

    Joby Warrick | Two-Time Recipient of the Pulitzer Prize | Author of "The Jackal"
See All (85)

Ratings & Reviews

4.4
out of 5
8 Ratings

About

The wisdom of former Secretary of State Dean Acheson inspires our podcast. It emphasizes clarity while examining the intricate global issues of today for a diverse audience. In a world where time is limited, this podcast aims to distill complex ideas into straightforward narratives, making them not just comprehensible but in Acheson’s words, “clearer than truth.” The podcast, much like other news-oriented shows, is committed to keeping listeners updated on breaking global events; it dissects the latest news, featuring insights from experts around the world. From discussions on significant geopolitical developments to the passage of controversial laws, this podcast provides concise yet comprehensive analyses.

Information

  • Creator
    Nathan Kiker & George Bogden
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    85
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Clearer Than Truth
  • Show Website
    Clearer Than Truth

You Might Also Like