Podcast

Rating the U.S. Reaction to Terrorist Attacks

Looking at the world’s response to recent terrorist attacks — from policy shifts to political stumping to emotional outpourings and shows of solidarity — how does America measure up?

FP_podcast_article_artwork-1-globalthinkers

David Rothkopf, Jeffrey Goldberg, Kori Schake, and Micah Zenko evaluate the U.S. response to the attacks in Paris and in Mali and the downing of a Russian passenger jet. The response to the Paris attacks has been especially strong — particularly among 2016 presidential hopefuls. And though U.S. presidential candidates have focused on these attacks with patriotic intensity, they stop short of offering any new or reliable solutions. The most opportunistic among them is Donald Trump, and the media is enabling his exploitative — but headline-grabbing — platforms by granting him so much coverage. But at the end of the day, how much does it really matter what Western politicians are saying?

Jeffrey Goldberg is a national correspondent for the Atlantic. Follow him on Twitter: @JeffreyGoldberg.

Kori Schake is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, where she focuses on military history, and a former foreign-policy advisor to Sen. John McCain. Follow her on Twitter: @KoriSchake.

David Rothkopf, Jeffrey Goldberg, Kori Schake, and Micah Zenko evaluate the U.S. response to the attacks in Paris and in Mali and the downing of a Russian passenger jet. The response to the Paris attacks has been especially strong — particularly among 2016 presidential hopefuls. And though U.S. presidential candidates have focused on these attacks with patriotic intensity, they stop short of offering any new or reliable solutions. The most opportunistic among them is Donald Trump, and the media is enabling his exploitative — but headline-grabbing — platforms by granting him so much coverage. But at the end of the day, how much does it really matter what Western politicians are saying?

Jeffrey Goldberg is a national correspondent for the Atlantic. Follow him on Twitter: @JeffreyGoldberg.

Kori Schake is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, where she focuses on military history, and a former foreign-policy advisor to Sen. John McCain. Follow her on Twitter: @KoriSchake.

David Rothkopf is CEO and editor of the FP Group. Follow him on Twitter: @djrothkopf.

Micah Zenko is a senior fellow at the Center for Preventive Action at the Council on Foreign Relations and author of the new book Red Team: How to Succeed by Thinking Like the Enemy. Follow him on Twitter: @MicahZenko.

Subscribe to The E.R. podcast and other FP podcasts on iTunes here.

More from Foreign Policy

An illustration of a captain's hat with a 1980s era Pepsi logo and USSR and U.S. flag pins.

The Doomed Voyage of Pepsi’s Soviet Navy

A three-decade dream of communist markets ended in the scrapyard.

Demonstrators with CASA in Action and Service Employees International Union 32BJ march against the Trump administration’s immigration policies in Washington on May 1, 2017.

Unionization Can End America’s Supply Chain Crisis

Allowing workers to organize would protect and empower undocumented immigrants critical to the U.S. economy.

The downtown district of Wilmington, Delaware, is seen on Aug. 19, 2016.

How Delaware Became the World’s Biggest Offshore Haven

Kleptocrats, criminals, and con artists have all parked their illicit gains in the state.