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Departures Interview with Scott Turow

By Robert Amsterdam | Published: July 17, 2020

I’m going to go ahead get this out of the way at the beginning – I’m a ridiculous fanboy of Scott Turow. Those who came here looking for a withering takedown of the bestselling author, continue browsing. For those visiting for the first time, considering signing up to my newsletter for occasional updates about my […]

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Departures Interview with Mira Rapp-Hooper

By Robert Amsterdam | Published: July 14, 2020

The United States has risen to its position of primacy thanks to a carefully constructed system of alliances with numerous other countries. That system, however, has suffered significant damage in recent years, is under increasing attack both at home and abroad, and desperately needs rebuilding, argues Mira Rapp-Hooper, a Senior Fellow at the Council on […]

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Departures Podcast with William Burke-White

By Robert Amsterdam | Published: July 10, 2020

Last month, the White House issued an executive order to apply terrorism-style sanctions such as bank account and asset seizure orders against members of the International Criminal Court (ICC), presumably as a response to express disapproval of a war crimes investigation related to events in Afghanistan. William Burke-White, a law professor at the University of […]

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Departures Podcast with Jonathan Kaufman

By Robert Amsterdam | Published: July 7, 2020

For 175 years, well before the young Mao Zedong began his Long March, two rival Jewish dynasties dominated Chinese business and politics, accumulating massive wealth and power while navigating the tumultuous history of the period before losing nearly everything once the Communists swept into power. Jonathan Kaufman, a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist and the author of […]

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Departures Podcast with John Campbell

By Robert Amsterdam | Published: July 3, 2020

For many years, Africa’s natural resource wealth, young population, and vibrant societies have raised many hopes for a rapid emergence on the world’s stage – but the development of these opportunities has often slow and uneven. So what is holding the region back? John Campbell, a former US Ambassador to Nigeria, Senior Fellow at the […]

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Departures Podcast with Michael Kimmage

By Robert Amsterdam | Published: June 30, 2020

So much of the peace and prosperity achieved following the end of World War II and past the end of the Cold War was rooted in a common civilizational grammar driving foreign policy, an imagined community of nations referred to as “The West” based on a set of Enlightenment ideas. But then we lost confidence […]

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Departures Podcast with Catherine Belton

By Robert Amsterdam | Published: June 23, 2020

There are few other countries in the world that have wielded money and influence as well as the modern Russian state, to the point of purchasing impunity and acquiescence to their status quo. And this is not all simply because of a “master strategy” by Vladimir Putin, but instead a vast and complex system of […]

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Departures Podcast with Sarah Kendzior

By Robert Amsterdam | Published: June 19, 2020

For experts who spend their careers studying modern authoritarianism, it has only recently become prudent to apply their analytical skillset to talking about political developments in the United States. Journalist and author Sarah Kendzior, who stood out in 2015 as one of the lone voices warning that Donald Trump was going to win the presidency, […]

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Departures Podcast with Jean-Pierre Cabestan

By Robert Amsterdam | Published: June 15, 2020

Earlier this month marked the 31st anniversary of Tiannanmen Square, while during this same period, the same Chinese Communist Party solidified its grip on Hong Kong with the passage of a new national security law that would subject Hong Kongers to extradition and Chinese legal jurisdiction. These events are just examples of the extreme lengths […]

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Departures Podcast with Peter Pomerantsev

By Robert Amsterdam | Published: June 12, 2020

I will be honest – I was personally very excited to have Peter Pomerantsev come on to the podcast for today’s episode. Not just because he’s extraordinarily well versed in modern day Russian politics and brings a distinctive, sharp critical voice to the almost unfathomable levels of crookery and corruption that characterizes that country’s government, […]

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