Robert Wright's Nonzero

Nonzero

Conversations with a series of people who have nothing in common except that program host Robert Wright is curious about what they’re thinking.

www.nonzero.org

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586 episodes
Updated Friday

Episodes586

Newest first

Apr 5, 2022 · 1 hr 2 min
Could Russia-Ukraine Go Nuclear? (Robert Wright & Joe Cirincione)
Bob asks Joe: What are the chances this war goes nuclear? ... Joe lays out Russia’s and America’s nuclear arsenals ... What would make Putin roll the nuclear dice? ... Why atrocities in Bucha could make for a longer, bloodier war ... Joe: The US withdrawal from Cold War-era treaties led to the current nuclear arms race ... How US foreign policy laid the ground for Putin’s invasion ... Bob searches for silver linings. Joe sees a darkening cloud. ... Assessing the Biden administration’s foreign policy record ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nonzero.org/subscribe
Apr 2, 2022 · 1 hr 7 min
The Tide Turns against Will Smith (Robert Wright & Mickey Kaus)
Mickey admits he was wrong about everything ... Four takes on the Chris Rock-Will Smith Oscars incident ... Bob: Biden shouldn’t be riffing about regime change ... The Russian redeployment in Ukraine ... Attack of the (alleged) ATV-riding Ukrainian techies ... Will Biden try to draw out the war or push for a deal? ... The roadblocks standing in the way of a peace deal in Ukraine ... Mickey: The press is going easy on Biden because the alternative is Kamala ... Will Mitt Romney make Joe Manchin irrelevant? ... The growing movement to restore standardized testing in California schools ... Parrot Room preview: Should Mickey get the fourth Covid vaccine shot, the Bob Saget saga, Eric Schmidt takes over huge chunks of the government, ringing the dinner bell for the extraterrestrials, Eric Garcetti’s aborted ambassadorship to India, a survey of international elections, the Vladimir Putin bio, Bob’s two theories about what was going on in Will Smith’s head, and the gaps in Trump’s January 6 phone records ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nonzero.org/subscribe
Mar 29, 2022 · 1 hr 23 min
What's Russia Thinking? (Robert Wright & Nikita Petrov)
Update: Nikita exits Russia ... How big and costly is the Russian exodus? ... The state of peace talks ... “Russian QAnon” and the landscape of lay opinion in Russia ... Lamenting the logic of great power competition in light of Ukraine ... Is Russian state media as tightly controlled as Westerners think? ... Is Putin's hold on power slipping? ... What remains of independent media in Russia? ... Nikita’s hopes (and fears) for the future of Russia ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nonzero.org/subscribe
Mar 26, 2022 · 1 hr 11 min
Inching Toward Peace in Ukraine (Robert Wright & Mickey Kaus)
The righteous indignation of the blue checkmarkless ... Is Russia preparing the ground for a peace deal? ... Why didn’t the US try to broker a deal earlier? ... How much restraint is Putin exercising? ... What shapes US public opinion on foreign policy? ... Reasons to think peace may not be near ... Mickey’s sympathy for Ginni Thomas ... Bob and Mickey do their best to get each other arrested ... The alleged tensions between Team Biden and Team Kamala ... Trump’s dimming presidential prospects ... Parrot Room preview: Bloggingheads rebranding news, more questions about Bob Saget’s death, midterm trouble for Republicans, more theories about why preschool sucks, the origins of symmetry, Dave Rubin’s children, Zemmour falters in France, Oliver Stone’s Ukraine doc, the dangers of loose talk about chemical weapons, both Glenn Greenwald and Chris Hayes retweet Bob, how the Ukraine war is winning converts for the Blob, more OJ Simpson, and the documentary My Architect ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nonzero.org/subscribe
Mar 22, 2022 · 1 hr 44 min
China and America (and Taiwan and Ukraine) (Robert Wright & Kishore Mahbubani)
Kishore’s diplomatic career and recent book, Has China Won? ... Kishore: America is walking towards a cliff when it comes to handling China ... Is the US making a Chinese invasion of Taiwan more likely? ... China’s perception of the Uyghur situation ... How anti-China sentiment in America increases Chinese nationalism ... Diagnosing the degeneration of US-China relations since 2012 ... Bob: Has technology empowered the Chinese to petition their government? ... Good news! China has no plans to export its political system ... Assessing the threat Beijing poses to freedom in America ... China’s view of the Ukraine invasion ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nonzero.org/subscribe
Mar 19, 2022 · 1 hr 16 min
Is Putin Tanking in Ukraine? (Robert Wright & Mickey Kaus)
Mickey engineers an unholy Bob Wright-Michael McFaul chimera ... Is Putin losing or winning slowly? ... What China stands to gain and lose from war in Ukraine ... Bob: Biden’s approach to China seems to be driven by politics, not diplomacy ... Is Xi’s leadership on shaky ground? ... Bob: China is not seeking to impose its political system on the world ... Climate change as the tip of the apocalypse iceberg ... Is Zelenskyy the hero US media makes him out to be? ... How Biden’s Ukraine policy may affect Democrats at the polls ... Iran nuclear talks enter the on-again part of the cycle ... Ten things we got wrong in the pandemic ... Parrot Room preview: Hunter Biden, anti-Asian hate crimes, civil service reform, the Michael McFaul Apology of the Week, OJ Simpson and Natalie Wood theories continued, Oliver Stone’s Ukraine doc, some mild venting about Timothy Snyder, Mickey reveals the results of his Jeffrey Toobin-Jeffrey Goldberg-Vladimir Putin poll, Steve Earle, Mickey’s favorite piece of writing of the week, some studies say preschool sucks, Ketanji Brown Jackson and pedophilia, and Bob talks about a dream ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nonzero.org/subscribe
Mar 16, 2022 · 1 hr 22 min
Debating Russia-Ukraine (Robert Wright & Eli Lake)
Eli’s assessment of the Russo-Ukrainian War to date ... Is a negotiated end to the war in sight? ... Bob and Eli debate the implications of the leaked 2014 Victoria Nuland call ... Is the war in Russia’s interest? Or Putin’s? ... What options remain for more forceful intervention (that won’t lead to nuclear war)? ... Eli’s idea for a UN alternative sans Russia and (maybe) China ... Debating America's track record as keeper of the “rules-based order” ... Bob and Eli unite against the new McCarthyism ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nonzero.org/subscribe
Mar 12, 2022 · 1 hr 7 min
Waging Information War in Ukraine (Robert Wright & Mickey Kaus)
Would Ukraine actually agree to cede the Donbas to Russia? ... Bob: Xi Jinping could end the war ... Is Putin using madman theory to his advantage, or is he actually going nuts? ... The pros and cons of regime change in Russia ... Is Ukraine becoming Syria? ... How George W. Bush helped alienate Putin from the West ... Russia’s new incentive to sabotage the Iran nuclear deal ... America’s curious policy on Ukraine and NATO ... Mickey: There’s no necessary link between populism and autocracy ... Parrot Room preview: Oren Cass’s revisionist account of Adam Smith, a relatively wholesome sex scandal at the Southern border, Mickey takes issue with “sneering, overconfident” legal scholar Akhil Amar, new evidence concerning Bob Saget’s death, old rumors concerning Natalie Wood’s death, the American trucker convoy flops, Bob plays damning audio from Jake Tapper, the hospital bombing in Mariupol, complaints about Michael McFaul, Putin, a reader’s question about Bob’s OJ Simpson theory, and Facebook and Twitter’s pro-Ukraine/anti-Russia stances ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nonzero.org/subscribe
Mar 9, 2022 · 1 hr 7 min
War in Ukraine: Causes and Effects (Robert Wright & Katrina vanden Heuvel)
Understanding the thought process that led Putin to invade Ukraine ... Could diplomacy have prevented the invasion? ... Imagining possible endings of the war – and what comes after ... Reviewing the events that drove the West and Putin’s Russia apart ... How Moscow viewed the 2014 Maidan Revolution in Ukraine ... Could a palace coup in Moscow reset US-Russia relations? ... Bob and Katrina worry that the planet can’t afford a second cold war ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nonzero.org/subscribe
Mar 5, 2022 · 1 hr 6 min
Seeing Ukraine Clearly (Robert Wright & Mickey Kaus)
Always be prepared (for nuclear fallout) ... Is Putin headed for the Baltics? ... Why is the Western media reporting so little about the Azov Battalion? ... Mickey: Zelenskyy should give up parts of the Donbas and Crimea ... Bob: I don’t think Putin will move on to the Baltics ... Trying to see Ukraine clearly from within the Western media bubble ... The political difficulties of ceding territory ... How Russia’s military measures up against the US ... The US’s decades-long mismanagement of its relationship with Russia ... Michael McFaul’s really, really bad tweet to the people of Russia ... Parrot Room preview: the State of the Union, the January 6 Commission alleges they have Trump, the NYT’s “fraudulent” Trayvon Martin video, the latest economic report, big news for Zemmour in France, some Epstein news, the Freedom Convoy keeps on truckin’, trouble for Rick Scott, Bob reports on a biography of Putin, a contrarian take on the OJ Simpson trial, what Bob meant by “natural organic borders,” and an (unrehearsed) harmonica performance of “A Whiter Shade of Pale” ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nonzero.org/subscribe
Feb 28, 2022 · 1 hr 9 min
Russia, Putin, and the Psychology of Status (Robert Wright & Steven Ward)
Steven’s book, Status and the Challenge of Rising Powers ... How concerns about status motivate Russia’s aggressive behavior ... Bob wonders if Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine was based on emotion ... Why Steven thinks Russia’s hostile reaction to NATO expansion was partly about status ... When does a nation's wounded pride translate into dangerous behavior? ... Seeing the rise of China as a bid for prestige and recognition ... Bob: Is the US driven by status considerations? ... Applying Steven’s argument to Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nonzero.org/subscribe
Feb 26, 2022 · 1 hr 7 min
Ukraine's Resistance (Robert Wright & Mickey Kaus)
Mickey converts to Bob-ism ... Reassessing the ‘Is Putin Crazy?’ question post-invasion ... Were we *too* understanding of Putin? ... Zelensky—to arm or not to arm? ... How will Americans grade Biden’s handling of Russia-Ukraine? ... Did Russiagate make it harder for Biden to negotiate with Putin? ... The parallels between Russia-Ukraine and the ‘99 Kosovo intervention ... Biden’s Supreme Court nominee ... Mickey denounces Trudeau’s “couch potato fascism” ... Why Bob is queasy about this week’s George Floyd verdicts ... Parrot Room preview: An Epstein associate bites the dust, Jim Pinkerton’s “Mars, Meta, or Meatspace” trichotomy re: humanity’s future, The New Yorker’s Dean Baquet puff piece, Douthat on the “virtuals” vs “reals” divide, are the convoys coming to America?, Un-cancelling Louis CK, Putin and the psychology of status, Douglas McArthur as role model, The Expanse's jump-the-shark moment, and was Bob too mean on Twitter? ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nonzero.org/subscribe
Feb 23, 2022 · 1 hr 12 min
A Russian's View of Ukraine (Robert Wright & Nikita Petrov)
The grim state of Ukraine and Russia today ... Nikita’s initial reactions to Putin’s Ukraine speech ... Is Putin getting weirder? Or is reality? Or both? ... How did Russians react to the 2014 Ukrainian Revolution? ... Russian views on NATO expansion and the color revolutions ... Nikita: Political life in Russia is (mostly) dead ... Are Putin’s actions savvy politicking or signs of madness? ... Has the West mismanaged the post-Cold War era? ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nonzero.org/subscribe
Feb 19, 2022 · 1 hr 6 min
Playing Chicken in Kyiv (Robert Wright & Mickey Kaus)
Mickey sparks up ... Mickey critiques the "Coalition of the Ascendant" ... Have Democratic positions on cultural issues turned toxic? ... Mike Pence’s defense of the RNC’s January 6 resolution ... Will the trucker protests go transnational? ... Bob: I don’t see Putin doing regime change in Ukraine ... Were defense contractors the prime mover of NATO expansion? ... Mickey: The great regreasing of the Biden Administration has begun ... Is Big Pharma funneling money to the CDC? ... Who is funding Sarah Palin’s libel suit against the NYT? ... The proposed changes to the Electoral Count Act ... Remembering P.J. O’Rourke ... Parrot Room preview: A settlement in the Epstein suit, Matt Yglesias and the demise of the Slate Pitch, the rise of Zemmour in France, are people in big cities scared of crime?, Bill Kristof sucks up to Ezra Klein, the previously untold story of how Slate started, how Jeff Zucker’s departure could lead to a better CNN, Bob’s plunge into the war in the Pacific continues, and Mickey discovers gender-inclusive bathrooms ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nonzero.org/subscribe
Feb 15, 2022 · 1 hr 22 min
Why Hitchens Matters (Robert Wright & Ben Burgis)
Ben, author of a new book on Christopher Hitchens, gives us a brief history of Hitch ... Bob: Hitchens's argument in God is not Great was...not great ... Where was Hitchens’s Marxist materialism when it came to religion? ... Assessing Hitchens’s intellectual contributions ... Was Hitchens an “honest” arguer? ... Why did Hitchens become a hawk? ... Hitchens in light of the Intellectual Dark Web ... Ben gives his closing argument for why Hitchens is still worth thinking about ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nonzero.org/subscribe
Feb 12, 2022 · 1 hr 13 min
Detaching Trump from Trumpism (Robert Wright & Mickey Kaus)
Inflation takes a toll on Mickey’s supply closet ... Reviewing Jeff Zucker’s “contributions” to American democracy ... Do any Trumpist elites actually want Trump to run for president again? ... Who constitutes Kamala’s base? ... What Biden needs to say about Ukraine and NATO ... How Google is helping people break the law ... Mickey: Trump taking documents to Mar-A-Lago isn’t a big deal ... Why aren’t more people getting their Covid booster? ... Why are Republicans so good at controlling state legislatures? ... Was the Marjorie Taylor Greene “gazpacho police” comment intentional? ... Sarah Palin’s lawsuit against the NYT ... Mickey: How can Andrew Yang lament unemployment among men while supporting UBI? ... If waning Latino support for immigration doesn’t tighten border security, maybe robot dogs will ... Parrot Room preview: Wokeness, Mickey clarifies what he means by “corporatism,” why Mickey is waging war on meritocracy, affirmative action for different cultures instead of different races, birds aren’t real, Putin’s repulsive joke, Robert Trivers’s groundbreaking paper on sexual selection and a related joke, Joe Rogan and Spotify, war in the Pacific, news on the lab leak theory, decoupling from China, Bob becomes the Tom Friedman whisperer, and Bob learns a harsh lesson about Substack ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nonzero.org/subscribe
Feb 8, 2022 · 53 min
Ukraine and the Crisis of US Foreign Policy (Robert Wright & Thomas Friedman)
How Bob and Tom wound up talking about the Russia-Ukraine crisis ... Tom says NATO should be willing to close its door to Ukrain ... The never ending “age of midgets” in US foreign policy making ... Tilting international relations in a positive direction ... Is Biden’s “democracy versus autocracy” framework counterproductive? ... Analyzing the nature of journalistic objectivity – and how to achieve it ... Bob and Tom agree we need non-zero thinking to solve global problems ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nonzero.org/subscribe
Feb 5, 2022 · 1 hr 8 min
Saving Putin’s Face (Robert Wright & Mickey Kaus)
Did Jeff Zucker resign over business or pleasure? ... Bob: “The new Cold War almost became official today” ... A grand solution to the Ukraine crisis ... George Soros predicts the downfall of Xi Jinping ... Is the killing of ISIS’s leader really a big deal? ... Are we headed toward one metaverse or many? ... Joe Rogan for president? ... Mickey: It’s wrongheaded for the left to focus their animosity on the unvaccinated ... Is Democrats’ commitment to free speech softening? ... The power plays surrounding Stephen Breyer’s retirement ... Parrot Room preview: More Spotify, Bob and Mickey risk cancelation over Whoopi Goldberg, more Jeff Zucker, Howard Cosell, QAnon, corporatism and undemocratic institutions, Democrats lose their majority in the Senate, so what if Mark Zuckerberg gets another $200 billion, waiting for Biden’s Sister Souljah moment, the Biden crime plan, the electoral count plan, Mickey gets transgressive about Joe Burrow, the Washington football team gets a new name, the NFL’s resurgence, why can’t carbon cleaners end the climate crisis, and mail-in voter fraud ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nonzero.org/subscribe
Feb 1, 2022 · 1 hr 13 min
Identifying Anti-tribal Intellectuals (Robert Wright & Arnold Kling)
How anti-tribal thinking formed the core of Arnold’s “Fantasy Intellectual Teams" (FITs) draft ... Was the pre-internet intellectual era really so great? ... Arnold lays out the details of the Fantasy Intellectual Teams draft ... Grassroots vs. institutional anti-tribal strategies ... Is a social media rebuild possible? ... The challenges in taking FITs to the next level ... Bob and Arnold contrast their approaches to anti-tribalism ... How bad could things get if we can't beat tribalism? ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nonzero.org/subscribe
Jan 29, 2022 · 1 hr 10 min
The Ukrainian Thaw (Robert Wright & Mickey Kaus)
Hey hey, my my, Neil Young left Spotify ... Carrots and sticks in the Russia-Ukraine crisis ... What are Russia’s actual objectives in Ukraine? ... Bob: “I haven’t heard a single good argument for expanding NATO” ... Why nominating Kamala to the Supreme Court might actually be a good idea ... Are pundits overthinking Biden’s low approval rating? ... Is universal pre-K on the chopping block? ... Mickey adopts an unsettling new persona ... Parrot Room preview: A Doug Emhoff scandal?, the war in the Pacific, guess the Lou Reed verdict, let’s talk about headlines that start with “Let’s talk about,” Raymond Carver and Gordon Lish, affirmative action goes before the Supreme Court, William F. Buckley, Ilya Shapiro gets canceled, the metaverse and the Matrix, bizarre Black Lives Matter news, money liberalism, and why does Apple delay releasing this podcast? ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nonzero.org/subscribe