The Wars in Ukraine and Gaza Have Changed. Americas Policy Hasnt.

Published: March 1, 2024, 10 a.m.

b'Joe Biden\\u2019s presidency has been dominated by two foreign policy crises: the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. The funding the United States has provided in those wars \\u2014 billions to both Ukraine and Israel \\u2014 has drawn backlash from both the right and the left. And now, as the conflicts move into new stages with no clear end game, Biden\\u2019s policies are increasingly drawing dissent from the center.\\n\\nRichard Haass is an icon of the U.S. foreign policy establishment. He served as the president of the Council on Foreign Relations for 20 years and currently writes the newsletter Home & Away. He\\u2019s recently been making the case that our foreign policy is insufficiently independent \\u2014 that we\\u2019ve become captured by allies that have interests that diverge from our own. His view of this moment is a signal of larger shifts that could be coming in the U.S. foreign policy consensus.\\n\\nIn this conversation, we discuss why he thinks America\\u2019s current strategy on both Ukraine and Israel is untenable, what he thinks the north star for our strategy in both cases should be, the Republican Party\\u2019s 180-degree turn from internationalism to isolationism, what America\\u2019s biggest national security threat really is and more.\\n\\nMentioned:\\n\\n\\u201cThe Two-State Mirage\\u201d by Marc Lynch and Shibley Telhami\\n\\nBook Recommendations:\\n\\nThe World That Wasn\\u2019t by Benn Steil\\n\\nSparks by Ian Johnson\\n\\nDiplomats at War by Charles Trueheart\\n\\nThoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.\\n\\nYou can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of \\u201cThe Ezra Klein Show\\u201d at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.\\n\\nThis episode of \\u201cThe Ezra Klein Show\\u201d was produced by Rollin Hu. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris with Mary Marge Locker and Kate Sinclair. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with additional mixing from Efim Shapiro. Our senior editor is Claire Gordon. The show\\u2019s production team also includes Annie Galvin and Kristin Lin. Original music by Isaac Jones. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The executive producer of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser. Special thanks to Sonia Herrero.'