Biden’s Imperial Foreign Policy in the Age of American Decline, w/ Daniel Bessner

Rania Khalek was joined by Daniel Bessner, associate professor of international studies at the University of Washington and co-host of the podcast American Prestige, to talk about US foreign policy under Biden. What’s changed? What hasn’t changed? Is the US empire collapsing? And what should a progressive foreign policy look like?

TIME CODES:
0:00 Intro
1:20 America’s obsession with its prestige and credibility
4:19 Why has Biden kept Trump’s Iran policy in place?
6:17 Is there an inevitable confrontation looming between the US and Iran no matter who’s in charge?
9:14 US sanctions have the same impact as traditional warfare
11:23 Sanctions and the liberal fantasy of a “cleaner” imperialism
15:21 Why does the US feel that it’s imperative to confront China?
22:08 Accusations of authoritarianism and corruption as regime change propaganda
25:30 The very limited American definition of “freedom”
28:28 Are we in a period of permanent US decline?
35:58 How much of US foreign policy is planned vs improvised along the way?
38:08 How different is Biden’s foreign policy from Trump’s?
45:52 How US foreign policy makes America a more right-wing country domestically
51:10 Identity politics and woke-washing imperialism
56:39 What would a progressive foreign policy look like?
59:42 Rania’s electricity goes out