Toned Up

In this episode, recorded while Grant was on a train (spoiler: his connection eventually dies), we respond to President Trump’s rhetorical and apparently substantive turn against Moscow that Grant predicted last week when the Pentagon held up a weapons shipment to Ukraine, and discuss how Trump’s shift in tone — which, Grant argues, tends to be more predictive than his words — makes him only the latest of several US presidents who have had to learn from bitter experience how things go when you try to make nice with Vladimir Putin. Then we discuss Politico’s report on frustration within the administration about Pentagon Undersecretary Bridge Colby; is his antagonism toward allies, combined with Trump’s trade policy antics, weakening the coalition to contain China in the Pacific? Grant highlight’s Japan’s soft power and support for Ukraine (in defiance of Colby’s theories about East Asian security). Then we catch up on the news from Prime Minister Netanyahu’s visit to Washington, and finally I highlight Mark Bowden’s latest reporting on how Israel conquered the skies over Iran, and was even able to helicopter in special forces to operate on the ground.