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things that go boom podcast the wrong apocalypse foreign policy national security china russia trump coronavirus covid-19

While We Were Sleeping

Did the US hit ‘snooze’ while China rose?

Words: Laicie Heeley
Pictures: Marc Johns/Cast from Clay
Date:

If the US can’t build better airports or trains than China, or even take care of itself in times of major crisis like the coronavirus, how exactly is it supposed to “beat” China in this global competition we’re in?

We look back to see how China’s ascent snuck up on the US, and we ask if a zero-sum mentality is sleep-walking us to war.

Listen and subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Pocket Casts, or wherever you get your podcasts to receive a new episode every two weeks.

GUESTS: Kishore Mahbubani, author and distinguished fellow, Asia Research Institute; Rachel Esplin Odell, International Security Fellow, Belfer Center.

ADDITIONAL READING:

Has China Won? Kishore Mahbubani.

The Folly of Trump’s Blame-Beijing Coronavirus Strategy, The New Yorker.

Author bio

Laicie Heeley

Editor in Chief

Laicie Heeley is the founding CEO of Inkstick Media, where she serves as Editor in Chief of the foreign policy magazine Inkstick and Executive Producer and Host of the PRX- and Inkstick-produced podcast, Things That Go Boom. Heeley’s reporting has appeared on public radio stations across America and the BBC, where she’s explored global security issues including domestic terrorism, disinformation, nuclear weapons, and climate change. Prior to launching Inkstick, Heeley was a Fellow with the Stimson Center’s Budgeting for Foreign Affairs and Defense program and Policy Director at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. Her publications include work on sanctions, diplomacy, and nuclear arms control and nonproliferation, along with the first full accounting of US counterterrorism spending after 9/11.

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