In this episode I talk with Dr. Rosemary Kelanic, director of the Middle East program at Defense Priorities, about why oil has shaped U.S. involvement in the Middle East and how it connects to the current U.S.-Iran war. She explains Trump's stated objectives (regime change, stopping a nuclear weapon, limiting missiles, ending proxy support) and traces the longer U.S.-Iran history from the 1953 coup through 1979. We discuss why the Middle East matters for low-cost oil, why the U.S. is still vulnerable to oil shocks despite high production, and how Strait of Hormuz disruption affects China, Europe (especially LNG), Russia's revenues and leverage, and Gulf-state relations with Iran. We cover oil's military importance, EV electrification as a partial solution, debates over U.S. grand strategy, credibility, and Taiwan, and she argues the U.S. should end the war.

(00:00) Why Oil Shapes Power

(00:21) Meet Dr. Rosemary Kelanic

(01:56) Why the US Is in Iran

(02:18) Four Stated War Goals

(04:03) 1953 Coup to 1979 Fallout

(05:59) Oil and the Cold War

(08:35) The Global Oil Bathtub

(11:24) China's Resilience and EV Edge

(13:30) Winners and Losers: Russia and Europe

(17:21) Allies React: Japan and Korea

(19:06) Victory Disease and No Exit

(21:58) Gulf States and Iran Relations

(23:39) Iran's Military and Domestic Politics

(26:16) US Politics and War Backlash

(28:03) Israel's Objectives vs US Interests

(30:52) Why Oil Matters for War

(31:24) Oil as War Fuel

(32:23) From Coal to Oil Power

(33:44) Electrifying Civilian Transport

(35:28) Oil Shocks and EV Adoption

(37:29) Defining Grand Strategy

(38:18) US Primacy and Posture

(40:47) Restraint and Overextension

(44:56) World War II Lessons

(46:25) Guns Versus Butter

(49:48) China, Bases, and Taiwan

(52:45) Credibility and Cold War Logic

(56:44) Ending the Iran War

(58:47) Further Reading and Wrap-Up

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In this episode, I sit down with Professor Darrick Hamilton — economist, public intellectual, and founding director of the Institute on Race, Power, and Political Economy at The New School — to understand what baby bonds are, why they matter, and how they could help us expand economic freedoms for all Americans.

What we cover:

• What baby bonds are and how they work
• Why economic freedom is the precondition for all other freedoms
• The case for economic birthrights
• Why Trump Accounts co-opt the idea
• The difference between a handout and an investment
• How wealth inequality becomes political dysfunction
• What it takes to advocate for a bold idea and tip it into the mainstream

About the guest

Darrick Hamilton is a university professor, the Henry Cohen Professor of Economics and Urban Policy, and the founding director of the Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy at The New School. Considered one of the nation’s foremost scholars, economists and public intellectuals, Hamilton’s accomplishments include recently being profiled in the New York Times, Mother Jones magazine and the Wall Street Journal and being featured in Politico Magazine’s 2017 50 Ideas Shaping American Politics and the People Behind Them issue. Also, he is a member of the Marguerite Casey Foundation in partnership with the Group Health Foundation’s inaugural class of Freedom Scholars.

Hamilton has been involved in crafting policy proposals, such as Baby Bonds and a Federal Job Guarantee, which have garnered a great deal of media attention and served as inspirations for legislative proposals at the federal, state and local levels. He has served as a member of the economic committee of the Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force; he has testified before several senate and house committees, including the Joint Economic Committee on the nation’s potential policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic-induced health and economic crises; he was a surrogate and advisor for the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign; and he has advised numerous other leading Members of Congress, as well as various 2020 presidential candidates.

Follow Professor Hamilton on Twitter

Kishore Mahbubani is a distinguished Singaporean diplomat, academic, and author, renowned for his incisive commentary on global geopolitics and the rise of Asia. He served in the Singapore Foreign Service as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Singapore’s Ambassador to the UN, where he was President of the UN Security Council in 2001 and 2002. He was also the Founding Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy from 2004 to 2017 and his bestselling books include The Great Convergence and Has China Won? Currently a Distinguished Fellow at the National University of Singapore’s Asia Research Institute, Mahbubani is celebrated as a leading voice on Asia’s growing influence, earning accolades like inclusion in Foreign Policy’s Top 100 Global Thinkers.(01:24) The US-China rivalry

(13:44) The Taiwan issue

(17:10) Global hegemony vs. domestic stability

(22:42) Will China ever democratize?

(24:35) Why poverty is a lack of freedom

(25:14) China's political evolution

(26:38) Pros & cons of democracy

(29:34) The future of US-China relations

(32:07) Evaluating Xi Jinping's Leadership

(34:44) The importance of diplomacy

(41:05) Lessons from Lee Kuan Yew

(46:15) Paths to peace & cooperation

(47:36) Advice for American citizens