Fiona was an intel analyst under Bush and Obama, and then served under Trump as senior director for European and Russian affairs on the National Security Council. Currently a senior fellow at Brookings and the chancellor of Durham University, her books include Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin and There Is Nothing for You Here: Finding Opportunity in the 21st Century — which we discussed on the Dishcast in 2022.

For two clips of our convo — on Russia’s imperial war, and a comparison of Putin and Trump — head to our YouTube page.

Other topics: Fiona’s recent long trip to northeast England; walking the length of Hadrian’s Wall; industrial decline; mass migration; how London is increasingly non-English; the brain drain from smaller places; the revival of nationalism; the fading left-right distinction; populism as a style; the Tory collapse and Reform’s rise; NATO; the Munich Security Conference and Vance; the Zelensky meeting at the White House; Soviet ideology; the Russian Empire; Putin’s psyops with social media; sending North Koreans into battle; the pipeline attacks; Ukraine’s innovative use of drones; the massive casualties of the attrition war; Russia’s resilient economy; the new corruption scandal in Ukraine; war profiteering; Putin’s attacks on civilians; his manipulation of Trump; ressentiment in the West; male resentment in the economy; white-collar job insecurity due to AI; the origins of the BBC and its current scandal; the NHS; the slowing US economy; MTG positioning herself as the real MAGA; revolutions eating their own; Epstein; the demolished East Wing; and what my latest DNA test revealed.

Browse the Dishcast archive for an episode you might enjoy. Coming up: Mark Halperin on US politics, Michel Paradis on Eisenhower, Shadi Hamid on US power abroad, Jason Willick on trade and conservatism, Vivek Ramaswamy on the right, George Packer on his Orwell-inspired novel, and Arthur Brooks on the science of happiness. As always, please send any guest recs, dissents, and other comments to dish@andrewsullivan.com.

Cory is a behavioral scientist, the executive director of the Adversarial Collaboration Project at Penn, a visiting scholar at Penn, and an associate professor of psychology at New College of Florida. She’s also been Director of Academic Engagement for Heterodox Academy and an assistant professor of behavioral science at Durham University. We talk sex differences and the recent essay, “The Great Feminization,” by Helen Andrews.

For two clips of our convo — on the female dominance in education, and the growing power of HR — head to our YouTube page.

Other topics: growing up in a big Catholic family in Ohio; her mom a gym teacher and dad a school psychologist; the culture shock of higher ed; the different evolutionary challenges of men and women; “warriors vs worriers”; the Big Five personality traits; neuroticism and risk-aversion; the male sex drive and propensity for violence; the gendered reaction to controversial ideas; safe spaces; The Coddling of the American Mind; extended adolescence; grade inflation; anonymous reporting systems; the boom of the mental health industry; the rise of the parenting industry; women in the military; mediocre men replaced by competent women in the workforce; MeToo; the decline of yelling in newsrooms; Puritanism; aggressive nuns; Prohibition; the Larry Summers row over women in science; the hostility toward men in higher ed; young men becoming reactionary; fairness in sports and locker rooms; the DEI industry; Harris and Walz; and Trump as a crude parody of an idiot male.

Browse the Dishcast archive for an episode you might enjoy. Coming up: Fiona Hill on Putin’s war, Mark Halperin on US politics, Michel Paradis on Eisenhower, Vivek Ramaswamy on the right, Jason Willick on trade and conservatism, Shadi Hamid on US power abroad, George Packer on his Orwell-inspired novel, and Arthur Brooks on the science of happiness. As always, please send any guest recs, dissents, and other comments to dish@andrewsullivan.com.

David is a journalist and novelist. He’s been at the Washington Post since 1986, serving as editor of the Sunday Outlook section, foreign editor, assistant managing editor for business, and now a foreign affairs columnist. He’s also written 12 espionage thrillers — including Body of Lies, which became an A-list movie.

For two clips of our convo — on the extrajudicial killings in the Caribbean, and calling out the Biden coverup — head to our YouTube page.

Other topics: his dad a WWII vet who became Secretary of the Navy; leaving Harvard to live in Haight Ashbury; covering steel workers for the WSJ; covering the Mideast in the early ‘80s; witnessing the bombing in Beirut; espionage; his first novel turned down by every US publisher; Graham Greene a mentor as writer; his long friendship with Tom Friedman; the US as a unipolar power; the Clinton decade of coasting; the trauma of 9/11; Saddam’s torture regime; the Iraq invasion; US torture and black sites; international law waning today; personality cults on the rise; Erdoğan; Trump’s “emergencies”; going to war with Venezuela; Hegseth vs. the rules of engagement; the execrable Eddie Gallagher; IDF strikes and AI; Europe reclaiming its security; Putin’s covert war against NATO; China and the tariff war; the abdication of Congress; Vought; when democracies become dictatorships; razing the East Wing; the media bubble; Dems unable to call out their failures; lawfare under Biden and Trump; and watching Slow Horses and The Diplomat.

Browse the Dishcast archive for an episode you might enjoy. Coming up: Cory Clark on feminized culture, Mark Halperin on US politics, Michel Paradis on Eisenhower, Fiona Hill on Putin’s war, and Arthur Brooks on the science of happiness. As always, please send any guest recs, dissents, and other comments to dish@andrewsullivan.com.