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Hello and welcome to the Americano podcast, a series of discussions about American power,

politics and prejudices.

The election is over, but the Americano never stops, and there will be a lot to talk about with the second

Trump administration. And so we'll bring you more and more Americano, because judging from

the feedback, that's what you're going on. I am delighted to be joined for the first time since

the US presidential election of 2024 by Jacob Harbrun, the editor of the national interest,

and the Americano's most regular and favorite guest.

Jacob, there's a lot going on. I don't quite know where to start,

but I think we should probably start with the biggest international news of the last 24 hours, which is that President Joe Biden yesterday gave the green light for Ukraine to use these missiles to strike into Russia, into the Kersk region.

And that has been seen by Vladimir Putin as a dramatic escalation.

There's now nuclear war talk again.

We're hearing it once more.

And the sort of en d in Republican circles is that Biden is trying to desperately ramp up the conflict

to make things more difficult for Donald Trump at the same time as he gives even more billions

to Ukraine before a Trump administration can come in and fix things.

What's actually going on?

The Trump or the Biden administration has regularly been caught flat-footed by Vladimir Putin,

and the insertion of North Korean troops is what prompted the Biden administration to abandon its previous caution

when it came to these long-range missiles. You mentioned that some in the Trump camp believe that

...