This is a republishing of the conversation we had with Vali Nasr 31. of january, but we also took in important clips from the last weeks strategic analysis.
What is the logic behind Donald Trump’s foreign policy—and how durable are the changes now reshaping the global order? Our guest is Vali Nasr, Professor of International Affairs at Johns Hopkins SAIS and former Dean of the school, widely regarded as one of the most insightful interpreters of Iran, U.S. foreign policy, and regional power politics. Nasr helps us unpack the implications of Trump’s strained relationships with Europe and Canada, the growing relevance of great-power competition with China and Russia, and the strategic importance of AI and critical minerals in an era where economics and security are increasingly inseparable.
In this episode of The Optimist, the Pessimist and the Realist, we take a deep dive into Trump’s forceful moves on the world stage, asking whether his foreign policy represents a temporary disruption or a more permanent reordering of U.S., European, Iranian and Russian priorities. We examine how much of Trump’s worldview is driven by ideology, how much by personal instinct, and how much by institutional change within Washington itself.
We also turn to the Middle East: Iran’s internal unrest, the resilience of the regime, prospects for regional stability, and why the United States appears to be redirecting military capabilities back to the region. Finally, we connect foreign policy to domestic politics—tensions inside the Republican Party and how the violence in Minnesota in no shape mirrors the killings of protesters in Iran, but there are echoes. And the awakening of a resistance within US' is taking shape, where Iranians have fought for decades.
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