TWNW Presents: Why It Matters

The first episode of CFR's new podcast, Why it Matters, takes a look at nuclear launch authority in the United States.

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Show Notes

In the United States, the president has sole and unconstrained power to launch a first-strike nuclear attack. While the system is built to provide the president with as much expert advice as possible, consultation is not legally required, and some experts say that such an order could be executed in a matter of minutes. 

 

Today, we unpack the president’s sole authority to launch, and its implications for national and global security. Is it wise to invest so much power in the hands of one person? What are the alternatives? Gabrielle Sierra explores a system that has been overlooked for years, as she sits down with three nuclear security experts.

 

Want to learn more? Subscribe to Why It Matters on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, or wherever you get your audio!

NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) wraps its seventy-fifth summit, pledging to keep Ukraine on an “irreversible” path to membership while concerns grow about the future of U.S. commitment; Japan hosts the tenth Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting to counter China’s influence in the region; France struggles to form a government as party differences intensify; and President-Elect Masoud Pezeshkian raises hopes for possible change in Iran.   

United States

This special episode of The World Next Week features a summerlong feast of reading, watching, and listening treats. Deborah Amos, the Ferris Professor of Journalism in Residence at Princeton University and a former international correspondent for National Public Radio, joins CFR’s TWNW hosts Robert McMahon and Carla Anne Robbins to discuss good reads they recommend, books they are looking forward to reading, and other entertainment they are enjoying this summer.

France

France’s governance is at stake as it holds snap elections for its National Assembly, with the far-right National Rally looking to build on its success in the European Parliament elections; the United Kingdom (UK) has its own snap general elections with Keir Starmer and his Labour Party looking to end the fourteen-year rule of the Conservatives; Iran’s snap presidential elections could signal unity of regime hard-liners or glimmers of change; the European Union (EU) plans to impose provisional tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles; and Ukraine strikes more than thirty Russian oil refineries.  

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