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    Back to Press Play with Madeleine Brand

    Press Play with Madeleine Brand

    America has a new foreign policy. What are plans for Iran, Israel and beyond?

    Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s first full day on the job was Wednesday. He said at the State Department, “I know the State Department that I'm walking into today is not the same one that I left four years ago. A lot has changed.

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    By Madeleine Brand • Jan 28, 2021 • 10m Listen

    Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s first full day on the job was Wednesday. He said at the State Department, “I know the State Department that I'm walking into today is not the same one that I left four years ago. A lot has changed. The world has changed. The department has changed. And we need only to look around to see that. We at State have a role to play in this. I believe it starts with rebuilding morale and trust. This is a priority for me. Because we need a strong department for the United States to be strong in the world. So we got our work cut out for us. But I am confident we will succeed.”

    He last worked in that building during the Obama administration. He returns to find 1,000 fewer employees. Many of them had deep expertise. So Blinken will have to restaff the department as he confronts serious problems: Iran untethered from the nuclear agreement, an emboldened Russia, a strengthened China, a pandemic and climate change creating instability everywhere, and ongoing wars in Afghanistan, Syria and Yemen. The U.S. also needs to restore trust with its allies.

    The full episode

    1 of 5
    Foreign policy under the Biden administration
    1. 0:00America has a new foreign policy. What are plans for Iran, Israel and beyond?You’re reading this
    2. 10:43Federal government warns of continued threat from domestic violent extremists
    3. 19:24Inside military training camps for civilians, and the culture of arming Americans for violence
    4. 33:03‘You can't love or hate Chicano art unless you see it’: Cheech Marin on his new museum in Riverside
    5. 42:32Chile crisp and salsa macha are taking over the kitchens of spicy food lovers
    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Madeleine Brand

      Host, 'Press Play'

    • KCRW placeholder

      Sarah Sweeney

      Vice President of Talk Programming, KCRW

    • KCRW placeholder

      Angie Perrin

      Producer, Press Play

    • KCRW placeholder

      Michell Eloy

      Former Producer/Line Editor, Press Play

    • KCRW placeholder

      Lara Jakes

      diplomatic correspondent for the New York Times

      NewsInternationalNationalPolitics

    The full episode

    1 of 5
    Foreign policy under the Biden administration
    1. 0:00America has a new foreign policy. What are plans for Iran, Israel and beyond?You’re reading this
    2. 10:43Federal government warns of continued threat from domestic violent extremists
    3. 19:24Inside military training camps for civilians, and the culture of arming Americans for violence
    4. 33:03‘You can't love or hate Chicano art unless you see it’: Cheech Marin on his new museum in Riverside
    5. 42:32Chile crisp and salsa macha are taking over the kitchens of spicy food lovers
    Back to Press Play with Madeleine Brand