The New Diplomatist – Details, episodes & analysis

In this episode, Garrison is joined by Dr. Wess Mitchell, who serves as cofounder and principal at The Marathon Initiative, and who also served as U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs during the first Trump administration. The two discuss Mitchell's brand new book "Great Power Diplomacy: The Skill of Statecraft from Attila the Hun to Kissinger." They discuss the historic scope, perennial meaning, and vital importance of rediscovering the great tradition of statecraft, and deep dive the example of Otto von Bismarck. They also discuss the efforts of the current Trump administration to serve as peacemakers in this era of great power rivalry.

You can purchase Great Power Diplomacy from Princeton University Press, or wherever books are sold.

Dr. A. Wess Mitchell is a principal and co-founder at The Marathon Initiative, which he created in 2019 with Elbridge Colby. He previously served as Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs under the first Trump administration. In this role, he was responsible for diplomatic relations with the 50 countries of Europe and Eurasia and played a principal role in formulating Europe strategy in support of the 2017 National Security Strategy and 2018 National Defense Strategy.

Mitchell is the author of four books, including Great Power Diplomacy: The Skill of Statecraft from Attila the Hun to Kissinger (Princeton Press, 2025), The Grand Strategy of the Habsburg Empire (Princeton Press, 2018), and Unquiet Frontier: Rising Rivals, Vulnerable Allies and the Crisis of American Power (Princeton Press, 2016 – co-authored with Jakub Grygiel). His articles and interviews have appeared in major publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, National Interest and National Review.

Prior to the State Department, Mitchell served as President and CEO of the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), which he co-founded in 2005 with Larry Hirsch. In 2020, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg appointed Mitchell to co-chair, with former German Minister of Defense Thomas de Maizière, the NATO 2030 Reflection Group, a ten-member consultative body charged with providing recommendations on the future of NATO.

Mitchell is a Non-Resident Fellow in the Applied History Project at Harvard University Kennedy School of Government’s Belfer Center, a member of the International Security and Foreign Policy Grants Advisory Committee at the Smith Richardson Foundation, a member of the International Advisory Council at Cambridge University’s Centre for Geopolitics, and a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Mitchell holds a doctorate in political science from the Otto Suhr Institut für Politikwissenschaft at Freie Universität in Berlin, a master’s degree in German and European Studies from Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, and a bachelor’s degree in history from Texas Tech University. He received a 2020 prize from the Stanton Foundation for writing in Applied History (with Charles Ingrao) and the 2004 Hopper Award at Georgetown University. He is the recipient of the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland, the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of Hungary, and the Gold Medal of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic. He is a sixth-generation Texan.

Garrison Moratto is the founder and host of The New Diplomatist Podcast; he earned a M.S. of International Relations as well as a B.S. in Government: Public Administration (Summa Cum Laude) at Liberty University in the United States. He has been published in RealClearDefense, and Pacific Forum International's "Issues & Insights", among other publications.  He is the author of Distant Shores on Substack.

Guest opinions are their own.

All music licensed via UppBeat.

In this episode, Garrison is joined by Dr. Emma Ashford, a Senior Fellow with the Reimagining US Grand Strategy program at the Stimson Center. The two discuss Dr. Ashford’s new book, “First Among Equals: U.S. Foreign Policy In A Multipolar World.”  The discussion touches upon the end of the Unipolar Moment, the emerging schools of thought on the future of American power, “unbalanced multipolarity,” the argument for free trade, and what a realist internationalism approach means for American involvement in Europe and the Middle East, as well as great power relations with China, India, and Russia. 

You can purchase First Among Equals from Yale University Press, or wherever books are sold.

-Emma Ashford is a Senior Fellow with the Reimagining US Grand Strategy program at the Stimson Center. She works on a variety of issues related to the future of U.S foreign policy, international security, and the politics of global energy markets. She has expertise in the politics of Russia, Europe, and the Middle East. Ashford is also a nonresident fellow at the Modern War Institute at West Point, and an adjunct assistant professor in the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University. 

Her first book, Oil, the State, and War: The Foreign Policies of Petrostates, was published by Georgetown University Press in 2022, and explored the international security ramifications of oil production and export in states such as Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Venezuela.  

Prior to joining the Stimson Center, Ashford was a senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s New American Engagement Initiative, which focused on challenging the prevailing assumptions governing US foreign policy. She was also a research fellow in defense and foreign policy at the Cato Institute, where she worked on a variety of issues including the US-Saudi relationship, sanctions policy, and US policy towards Russia, and US foreign policy and grand strategy more broadly. 

Ashford writes a bi-weekly column, “It’s Debatable,” for Foreign Policy, and her long-form writing has been featured in publications such as Foreign Affairs, the Texas National Security Review, Strategic Studies Quarterly, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the National Interest, and War on the Rocks, among others. She is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and holds a PhD in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia. 

-Garrison Moratto is the founder and host of The New Diplomatist Podcast; he earned a M.S. of International Relations as well as a B.S. in Government: Public Administration (Summa Cum Laude) at Liberty University in the United States. He has been published in RealClearDefense, and Pacific Forum International's "Issues & Insights", among other publications.  He is the author of Distant Shores on Substack.

Guest opinions are their own. 

All music licensed via UppBeat.

From a new Asiatic superpower in China and a rogue state in North Korea, to domestic political change and an rapidly aging population, 2022 will be a pivotal year for Japan’s national security. On this episode, Garrison is joined by Dr. Stephen Nagy, an expert on Japan to discuss these important topics.

The two discuss a wide range of subjects, beginning with the political-security implications of the newly minted Kishida administration. They also discuss the historical roots and contemporary complications of Japan’s pacifist constitution which drive Tokyo’s emphasis on the use of holistic foreign policy soft power even as it maintains a pseudo-military “Self-Defense Force”. How Japan will balance defending against the militaristic assertiveness of China’s new power projection strategies (including the issue of Taiwan, maritime security, etc) with the economic reality of the vital level of trade with Beijing is also discussed. The state of Tokyo-Washington relations in the Biden era both in a strategic and political sense; Japan’s response to the North Korean nuclear threat, and the evolution of state immigration policy in the face of an aging population round out their discussion.

Stephen has been a Senior Associate Professor at the Department of Politics and International Studies at the International Christian University since September 2014. Concurrently, he is a Senior Fellow at the MacDonald Laurier Institute, a Research fellow the Canadian Global Affairs Institute (CGAI); a Senior Fellow with the East Asia Security Centre (EASC); & a Visiting Fellow with the Japan Institute for International Affairs (JIIA). He was selected as a Distinguished Fellow for the Asia Pacific Foundation from 2017-2020. He serves as the Director of Policy Studies for the Yokosuka Council of Asia Pacific Studies (YCAPS) spear heading their Indo-Pacific Policy Dialogue Series and as a Governor for the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Japan (CCCJ). Prior to returning to Tokyo, he was an Assistant Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong from Dec. 2009 -Jan. 2014. He obtained his Ph.D. from Waseda University, Japan in International Relations in Dec. 2008.

Stephen is published widely in peer-reviewed international journals such as China Perspectives, East Asia, the Journal of Asian Politics and History and the International Studies Review on topics related to trade, nationalism and China-Japan relations. He has also published in think tank and commercial outlets such as the China Economic Quarterly and the World Commerce Review on trade and political risk. He is also a frequent political/ economic and security commentator on Japan-China-Korea-US relations in Japanese and international media outlets such as the New York Times, BBC, CNN, SCMP, WSJ, The Japan Times, The National Post, cNBC, Al Jazeera, Channel News Asia, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, etc.

Garrison Moratto is the founder and host of The New Diplomatist Podcast; he earned a M.S. of International Relations as well as a B.S. in Government: Public Administration (Summa Cum Laude) at Liberty University in the United States. He formed The New Diplomatist from scratch and today it is in the top 10% of all podcasts globally, including top ten placements on government charts in ten countries across Europe and the Indo-Pacific.

All guest opinions are their own and not that of The New Diplomatist podcast formally.

If you enjoyed the episode please subscribe and leave a review for feedback.

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In this episode, Garrison is joined by Dr. Jerry Hendrix, Vice President of the Telemus Group, retired U.S. Navy officer, and a widely respected naval expert.

The two discuss Dr. Hendrix’s recent Foreign Policy magazine article: “Sea Power Makes Great Powers” (click here to read: https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/10/10/us-navy-sea-power-china-decline-military-strategy/).  The discussion considers the nature of naval power as a reflection of a great power’s rise or decline, and specifically the need for the U.S. Navy to recover both quantitive and qualitative strength, escape the ‘divest to invest’ trap that historically degraded British naval supremacy, rebuild national naval shipbuilding and repair capacity, and prioritize naval development for national security. Historical examples from Congressman Carl Vinson to President Ronald Reagan era subsidy reductions inform the discussion throughout. Also, they discuss the nature of hypersonic weapons as a new ‘Sputnik Moment’ for American military research and scientific development. They close with a tribute to the man Dr. Hendrix believes is the most important figure in American naval development.

Dr. Hendrix is a vice president at the Telemus Group and the author of To Provide and Maintain a Navy. He is a retired Navy officer with experience in strategy, force structure planning, carrier strike group operations, and anti-submarine warfare. Outside of his military experience, Dr. Hendrix has held posts with senior staffs including the Chief of Naval Operations Executive Panel, the Secretary of Defense’s Office of Force Development, and the Office of Net Assessment where he served as the Senior Military Assistant to its Director.

Prior to joining the Telemus Group, Dr. Hendrix served as the Director of the defense program at the bi-partisan Center for a New American Security where he authored a number of cutting-edge studies on the need for a larger Navy, the evolution of the carrier air wing, the long range heavy bomber, and the growing gap in anti-submarine capabilities in the North Atlantic. While on active duty he served as an instructor naval flight officer in the P-3C Orion aircraft as well as a Tactical Action Officer and an Air Operations Officer on nuclear and light amphibious aircraft carriers. He supported combat operations in operations Desert Storm, Allied Force, Deliberate Forge, and Iraqi Freedom. In addition, he served as the Director of the Secretary of the Navy’s Advisory Panel and as Director of the Naval History and Heritage Command.

He holds graduate degrees from the Naval Postgraduate School and Harvard University as well as a doctorate from King’s College, London.

Garrison Moratto is the founder and host of The New Diplomatist Podcast; he is a Ph.D. candidate in Public Policy - Foreign Policy at Liberty University in the United States where he also received a M.S. of International Relations as well as a B.S. in Government: Public Administration (Summa Cum Laude).

All guest opinions are their own and not that of The New Diplomatist podcast formally.

If you enjoyed the episode please subscribe and leave a review for feedback.

Follow The New Diplomatist on social media for latest updates.

Thank you for listening.

In this episode, Garrison is rejoined by returning guest and renowned maritime security analyst, Dr. Collin Koh.  The two embark on an informative discussion regarding the maritime strategic implications of the AUKUS deal to the Indo-Pacific, from why nuclear submarines are significant, to the nature of Australia as a geopolitical linchpin in Washington’s counter-China strategy. They also discuss Russia’s testing of a sub-launched Zircon hypersonic missile, how this fits into the historical Soviet-Russian naval strategy to counter the United States, and what this class of weapons means for the future of networked fleet defenses in space and cyberspace specifically, and naval competition more broadly, in the Indo-Pacific.

To read the article mentioned in the episode recently published from The Diplomat Magazine interviewing Collin, click here: https://tinyurl.com/diplomatarticle5

Dr. Collin Koh is Research Fellow at the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies which is a constituent unit of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, based in Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He has research interests on naval affairs in the Indo-Pacific, focusing on Southeast Asia. Collin has published several op-eds, policy- and academic journal articles as well as chapters for edited volumes covering his research areas. He has also taught at Singapore Armed Forces professional military education and training courses. Besides research and teaching, Collin also contributes his perspectives to various local and international media outlets and participates in activities with geopolitical risks consultancies.

Garrison Moratto is the founder and host of The New Diplomatist Podcast; he is a Ph.D. candidate in Public Policy - Foreign Policy at Liberty University in the United States where he also received a M.S. of International Relations as well as a B.S. in Government: Public Administration (Summa Cum Laude).

All guest opinions are their own and not that of The New Diplomatist podcast formally.

If you enjoyed the episode please subscribe and leave a review for feedback.

Follow The New Diplomatist on social media for latest updates.

Thank you for listening.

On this episode, Garrison is rejoined by a valued guest of the podcast, Dr. Yoichiro Sato, to discuss the race to replace retiring Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.  Dr. Sato takes a deep dive into the circumstances that led to Suga's resignation, the role of the Olympics and the pandemic in upending Japanese politics, the leading candidates to replace Suga as leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (including a deep examination of factional politics and his predicted winner), and the possibility for greater instability in the Japanese political system in the years to come.

Dr. Yoichiro Sato is a professor at the Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University. Previously he was a professor at the US Defense Department’s Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies in Honolulu, Hawaii. He also has held teaching positions at the University of Auckland, among other roles. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science and Government from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, a M.A. of International Relations and Affairs from the University of South Carolina-Columbia, and a Bachelors in Law from Keio University.

Garrison Moratto is the founder and host of The New Diplomatist Podcast; he is a Ph.D. candidate in Public Policy - Foreign Policy at Liberty University in the United States where he also received a M.S. of International Relations as well as a B.S. in Government: Public Administration (Summa Cum Laude).

All guest opinions are their own and not that of The New Diplomatist podcast formally.  Please subscribe and leave a review for feedback; join the podcast on Patreon for bonus perks.  Follow The New Diplomatist on Twitter and Instagram.

Thank you for listening.

(Originally recorded September 4, 2021) 

In this sweeping interview, Garrison had the pleasure of interviewing former India Ambassador Vishnu Prakash who brought his in-depth regional insights to the discussion of Afghanistan and beyond. The two discuss India’s view on the aftermath of The Afghanistan War, the humanitarian concerns, the potential challenges of dealing with a possible Taliban takeover of Kabul, the China-Taliban relationship in light of the Uyghurs situation in Xinjiang, and the influence of Pakistan on the Taliban during the war with the U.S. They further discuss the recent attitudes of Beijing and Islamabad (particularly Prime Minister Imran Khan) in the region during U.S. withdrawal, the potential of a “China Quintuple” to counter “The Quad”, and the priorities of Prime Minister Modi ahead of “The Quad” in-person summit in D.C. this fall.

Vishnu Prakash, has served as High Commissioner to Ottawa, Ambassador to Seoul, as well as the Official Spokesperson of India’s Foreign Office, and Consul General to Shanghai. He has also done postings in Moscow, New York, Vladivostok, Tokyo, Islamabad and Cairo. Since retirement in Nov. 2016, he has turned to being a foreign affairs analyst & commentator, with special focus on the Indo-Pacific region.

Garrison Moratto is the founder and host of The New Diplomatist Podcast; he holds a M.S. of International Relations as well as a B.S. in Government: Public Administration (Summa Cum Laude) from Liberty University in the U.S. He is a Ph.D. candidate in Public Policy - Foreign Policy at Liberty University, focusing on U.S.-Portuguese relations.

All guest opinions are their own and not that of The New Diplomatist podcast formally. Join us on social media especially Twitter, for the latest updates, read our blog on Medium and be sure to subscribe to the podcast and leave a review on your favorite podcast app. Thank you for listening.

Episode originally recorded: August 4th, 2021.

Published: August 11th, 2021

In this episode, Garrison is joined by former India Ambassador and Distinguished Fellow from the prestigious Gateway House (Indian Council on Global Relations), Mr. Rajiv Bhatia. 

The ambassador carefully defines and contrasts Indo-Pacific as a strategic concept (apart from the now increasingly outdated Asia-Pacific). He then defines The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (The Quad), and discusses its historical formation, its current strategic nature, and its future geopolitical outlook ahead of the fall summit in the US. Contrary to China’s assertions that The Quad represents an “Asian NATO”, the ambassador defines The Quad’s main goal as maintaining and expanding cooperation on international law and stability in the Indo-Pacific, aimed at constraining not containing, China. He discusses four areas of coordination for The Quad; he announces a forthcoming Gateway House report on how economic and technological coordination can be deepened across The Quad; he also touches on the broader regional cooperation with ASEAN and others. The two also detail the ambassador’s recent article in The Hindustan Times detailing the formation of a rival “Red Quad/China’s Quad” consisting of China, Russia, Pakistan, and Iran; as well as how India’s transition from the former stance of the Non-Aligned Movement during the Cold War, to a more activist stance on guard against rivals and cooperating with democratic partners across the Indo-Pacific. They close discussing a sneak peek of the ambassador’s forthcoming third book on Africa-India relations. 

Ambassador Rajiv Bhatia is Distinguished Fellow, Foreign Policy Studies Programme at Gateway House. He is a member of CII’s International Advisory Council, Trade Policy Council and Africa Committee. He is the Chair of FICCI’s Task Force on Blue Economy, and served as Chair of Core Group of Experts on BIMSTEC. He is a founding member of the Kalinga International Foundation and a member of the governing council of Asian Confluence.  As Director General of the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) from 2012-15, he played a key role in strengthening India's Track-II research and outreach activities. During a 37-year innings in the Indian Foreign Service (IFS), he served as Ambassador to Myanmar and Mexico and as High Commissioner to Kenya, South Africa and Lesotho. He dealt with a part of South Asia, while posted as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs. A prolific columnist, he is also a regular speaker on foreign policy and diplomacy in India and abroad. He was Senior Visiting Research Fellow during 2011-13 at the Institute of South East Asian Studies (ISEAS), Singapore. He holds a master’s degree in political science from Allahabad University. His first book India in Global Affairs: Perspectives from Sapru House (KW Publishers, 2015) presented a sober and insightful view of India’s contemporary foreign policy. His second book India-Myanmar Relations: Changing Contours (Routledge, 2016) received critical acclaim. He is presently working on his third book which will deal with India-Africa relations. 

Garrison Moratto is the founder and host of The New Diplomatist Podcast; he holds a M.S. of International Relations as well as a B.S. in Government: Public Administration (Summa Cum Laude) from Liberty University in the United States. He will be a Ph.D. candidate in Public Policy - Foreign Policy at Liberty University beginning August 2021, focusing on U.S.-Portuguese relations. 

All guest opinions are their own and not that of The New Diplomatist podcast formally.  Join us on social media, read our blog on Medium and be sure to subscribe to the podcast and leave a review on your favorite podcast app. Thank you for listening. 

Episode originally recorded: July 20th, 2021. 

Published: July 28th, 2021

In this episode, Garrison is joined once again by returning guest Dr. Patrick Holden of the University of Plymouth to discuss the state of Brexit as the West begins to try and plan for life beyond the pandemic. In particular, the two focus on the state of the Northern Ireland Protocol, including its continuing impact on the trading relations between the U.K. and the EU, as well as the disruption to internal British flow of goods. They also discuss the potential impacts of the announcement of a global minimum tax on corporations first presented at the G7 Cornwall Summit, including how that program might highlight and fuel populist views within the EU.  They close by gauging the success of how the U.K.’s first domestically hosted post-Brexit, in-person major international summit reflected on the newly-minted status of “Global Britain”.

Dr. Patrick Holden is an Associate Professor (Reader) of the School of Law, Criminology and Government (Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business) at the University of Plymouth, U.K.  He is the author of numerous academic articles, and conducts research and teaching in relation to International Political Economy, the European Union in the World, International Development Policy, Global Governance and Regional Integration, as well as the Brexit process.

Garrison Moratto is the founder and host of The New Diplomatist Podcast; he holds a M.S. of International Relations as well as a B.S. in Government: Public Administration (Summa Cum Laude) from Liberty University in the United States. He will be a Ph.D. candidate in Public Policy - Foreign Policy at Liberty University beginning August 2021, focusing on U.S.-Portuguese relations.

All guest opinions are their own and not that of The New Diplomatist podcast formally.  Join us on social media, and be sure to subscribe to the podcast and leave a review on your favorite podcast app. Thank you for listening.

Episode originally recorded: June 29th, 2021.

Published: July 8th, 2021

In this episode, Garrison is joined by Mr. Robert B. Zoellick (former President of the World Bank and Deputy Secretary of State) who is the author of the book "America in the World: A History of U.S. Diplomacy and Foreign Policy".  The two discuss Mr. Zoellick's perspectives on American diplomacy grounded in pragmatism, problem-solving, and the influence of history, noting the Five Traditions outlined in his book, and focusing in particular on his chapters regarding the foreign policy of President Lincoln and Secretary of State Seward during the Civil War, as well as the efforts of Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes during the arms control negotiations of the 1921 Washington Naval Conference.

The two also discuss lessons to be learned from Mr. Zoellick's time as lead negotiator during German re-unification "2+4" talks in 1990, as well as the work of his former boss Secretary of State James Baker and the George H.W. Bush administration to unify alliance perspectives and stabilize Europe in the post-Cold War framework.  In light of his experience as President of the World Bank and as the former U.S. Trade Representative under George W. Bush, they discuss Mr. Zoellick's recent op-ed in The Wall Street Journal discussing the need for a strong American trade policy.

Robert B. Zoellick has served as Deputy Secretary, Under Secretary, and Counselor of the U.S. State Department; Ambassador and U.S. Trade Representative; Counselor to the Secretary of the Treasury; Deputy Chief of Staff at the White House; and President of the World Bank.

His experience spans six U.S. presidencies - beginning during the Cold War, in its closing chapter, and into the first decades of the twenty-first century.  Zoellick is now a Senior Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, where he contributes to the "Applied History" project.

Garrison Moratto is the founder and host of The New Diplomatist Podcast; he holds a M.S. of International Relations as well as a B.S. in Government: Public Administration (Summa Cum Laude) from Liberty University in the United States.  He will be a Ph.D. candidate in Public Policy - Foreign Policy at Liberty University beginning the fall of 2021, focusing on U.S.-Portuguese relations.

All guest opinions are their own and not that of The New Diplomatist podcast formally.  Please subscribe and leave a review for feedback.  Thank you for listening.