The Optimistic American - Audio Edition

Nov 9, 2022

In this episode of The Optimistic American, host Paul Johnson sits down with Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch to discuss what led to the conflict, the current situation, and what potential future scenarios could mean for the U.S. and the rest of the world.

• This episode of The Optimistic American focuses on the Ukraine war and addresses the question, what does the Ukraine war mean for the U.S.?
• Today’s guest is Marie Yovanovitch, who served as an ambassador in Ukraine and who’s the author of Lessons From the Edge.
• Ambassador Yovanovitch talks about why, whether Russia ends up controlling Ukraine or not matters from an American standpoint.
• According to Yovanovitch, the U.S. is supporting Ukraine because it’s in its own national security interest.
• Yovanovitch shares that she has come to take some of the freedoms and American democracy for granted and didn’t realize that institutions are only as strong and as resilient as the people who actually inhabit and work in them.
• Paul believes that the single greatest thing the American Government ever did was empower the individual over itself and that it has contributed to solving big problems of human progress.
• Paul expresses his concern over what’s happening in Russia and in China – and with their respective Governments.
• Quoting CIA’s William Burns, Ambassador Yovanovitch shares the new role of the U.S.: not being a superpower but a pivotal power.
• Paul and Ambassador Yovanovitch discuss whether the U.S. should have or should have not gotten involved in the Ukraine war – and whether the U.S. should give Putin some ability to save face or not.
• Yovanovitch sees Ukraine as currently winning the war. She explains why that’s the case and shares the views some of her military contacts have on the ongoing conflict.
• Paul and Yovanovitch talk about the effect a Ukrainian victory over Russia could have on other authoritative regimes and dictators.
• Ambassador Yovanovitch goes over some of the history of Ukraine, the revolutions that took place, her role in everything, and how we ended up where we are today.
• Ambassador Yovanovitch shares her thoughts on her former colleagues, and where she sees the U.S. going as a country.