The last week has seen the dramatic beginning of a new historical era based on a US and Russia alliance. Donald Trump has thrown in with Vladimir Putin and thrown Ukraine and 80 years of the Transatlantic Alliance under a bus. In this FRDH podcast Michael Goldfarb speaks with Charles Hecker, who has lived an worked in Moscow for the last thirty years. His new book Zero Sum looks at the lessons learned — and not learned by Western businessmen since the collapse of the Soviet Union. They also talk about what ithis new era might mean for the future of global democracy with the US clearly taking giant steps towards embracing the autocratic ruler of Russia.

As the 250th anniversary of the start of the American revolution approaches and with America in crisis it’s time to return to the Founders’ Words. In the first of an occasional feature, FRDH podcast host reads through Tom Paine’s pamphlet Common Sense for words of wisdom to help guide people through Trump and Musk’s destructive takeover of the American government. You should listen because as Paine wrote 250 years ago, “The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind.”

The mourner’s Kaddish is the Jewish prayer for the dead. In this program, originally broadcast on the BBC World Service, he looks at the origins of Kaddish, its changing use over the years and into the present and discusses saying Kaddish for Jewish dead at Auschwitz on the 80th anniversary of the camp’s liberation.

The cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris nearly burned to the ground five years ago, now, fully restored it is about to re-open. It is a remarkable rebirth. Agnes Poirier, native Parisienne, journalis and author of Notre Dame: the Soul of France, talks to FRDH host Michael Goldfarb about the fire, the restoration and the deep meaning of the cathedral being re-born for contemporary France. Give them 30:34 to tell you about it.

Since November 5th, 2024 the question on many lips is, So now what?, and the Financial Times’ Edward Luce has some thoughts on Trump’s second term, aka the Revenge Tour. Trump has promised retribution, will he follow through? In this wide-ranging conversation Luce and FRDH host Michael Goldfarb look at his cabinet appointments, his courtiers, and the likely trajectory of American history in the next four years and global history for the next century. Give us 38:56 to explain.

How do you price the political risk of the second Trump term and America’s imperial decline from democracy to autocracy? In this podcast, Michael Moran, veteran foreign correspondent turned political risk consultant, takes a realistic look at what the second Trump term will mean for America’s relations with the world. He also discusses the greatest source of instability and risk at the present moment. Give us 45 minutes to explain.

Georgia will be as important to Election 2024 as it was in 2020 when Donald Trump accused official of rigging the vote. This laid the foundation for his mendacious and deadly claim that the vote was stolen. IN this FRDH podcast Michael Goldfarb speaks with University of Georgia professor of History James Cobb about the state’s inglorious tradition of using rules to thwart the will of the people.

The death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is not the beginning of the end for the terror group. That’s the view of journalist Mitchell Prothero, who has spent much of the last two decades covering the Middle East based in Beirut. In this FRDH podcast he provides a turorial on the beginnings of Hezbollah, the end of its leader, and why this will not stop the group from continuing to be a threat to Israel.

“We’ll Always have Paris,” Rick tells Elsa in Casablanca but what happens when the place where you knew love is lost and with it the language you have to express that feeling? Author Scott Carpenter learned the answer when his wife, Anne, was diagnosed with dementia. In this FRDH podcast he talks about his new book which with great good humor and insight looks at qhy people fall in love with the city (and fall in love in it), what happens when memories of the place disappear, and how to rebuild a life after great tragedy. Give us 41:43 to tell you about it It’s almost — but not quite — like going to Paris for the weekend.

The fact that the Gaza War caused by the pogrom of October 7th is still going on underlines the absence of truth in the search for peace. Telling the truth about what peace will really mean and the compromises on both sides needed to end war, is something very few people are willing to do. Brown University professor Omer Bartov is one of the truth tellers on the Israeli side. A veteran of the 1973 Yom Kippur War and a renowned scholar of the Germany Army’s role in the Holocaust, in this FRDH podcast Bartov speaks truth about his native country and its futile quest for security by violent occupation. Give us 53:35 to explore what Hamas’s October 7th outrage has revealed about the truth of Israeli politics and society.