Q & A, Hosted By Jay Nordlinger

Vladimir Kara-Murza is a Russian democracy leader, and one brave hombre. Twice, he has been poisoned. Twice, he recovered. And he is still at his work. Jay wrote about him earlier this year in a three-part series: Part I, Part II, and Part III. And Kara-Murza is Jay’s guest on this “Q&A.” They talk about vital matters: Putin, the West, “fake news,” and the future. Kara-Murza has important things... Source

Zimbabwe gained its independence in 1980. Since then, it has been ruled by one man: Robert Mugabe, the dictator. Like most Zimbabweans, Evan Mawarire has never known any other leader. Today, he is Mugabe’s worst nightmare: a principled, moral, talented, brave critic. Mawarire is a Christian pastor. Last year, he made a video, expressing love of country, and exasperation at the longstanding... Source

This week, Jay has been at the Oslo Freedom Forum, the annual human-rights gathering in the Norwegian capital. Its founder is Thor Halvorssen, who also started the Human Rights Foundation, which is based in New York. And he is Jay’s guest on this “Q&A.” They talk about dictatorship and democracy. At the end, they talk about one dictatorship in particular – that in Mr. Halvorssen’s home country... Source

Gao Zhisheng is one of the most heroic men in China, or anywhere. He is a human-rights lawyer who has put his neck on the line and paid for it with ten years of imprisonment and torture. His wife and two children fled to America. One of those children is Grace, a senior in college, who is presently at the Oslo Freedom Forum, where Jay is too. They sat down for this “Q&A.” What’s it like to be the... Source

Diana Damrau is an opera star – a German soprano – and a total delight. Jay sat down with her in New York for this “Q&A.” They talk about her new album – a compilation of Meyerbeer – and many other things: her children, her favorite singers, her technique, her dancing (including Michael Jackson routines). No one can resist this soprano onstage. She is pretty irresistible in interviews, too. Source

John Negroponte is one of the leading diplomats of our age. When he was a young man, he was at Henry Kissinger’s side in Vietnam. He had a Latin American career, including the ambassadorships to Mexico and Honduras. He was also ambassador to the Philippines. In the George W. Bush years, he was ambassador to Iraq, and ambassador to the U.N. He was also director of national intelligence and deputy... Source

At Claremont McKenna College, in Claremont, Calif., there is a student-hosted podcast: “ Free Food (For Thought).” Jay was on the campus recently. And he sat down for a podcast with two hosts, Zach Wong and Bryn Miller. It was obviously unusual for Jay to be in the “A” chair, the answerer’s chair. He is used to being in the “Q” chair. So, for something different, we thought we would share this... Source

This is Tara Ross’s moment – an extended moment. She is one of the country’s foremost experts on the Electoral College. This institution was put in the spotlight in 2000. And again in 2016. Tara Ross is the author of “Enlightened Democracy: The Case for the Electoral College”; a children’s book, “We Elect a President: The Story of Our Electoral College”; and the forthcoming “The Indispensable... Source

“ University Challenge” is a British quiz show, watched all over the world (particularly on YouTube). A major star of the recent season was Eric Monkman, of Oakville, Ontario. He was the captain of a Cambridge team. And he wowed the world with — as Jay says — “his amazingly extensive knowledge; his unaffected, individualistic style; and his obvious generosity of spirit.” A hashtag flew through the... Source

Venezuela is spinning out of control: starvation, desperation, chaos, fear. Hannah Dreier, the Associated Press correspondent in Caracas, is in the midst of it. In a briefing with Jay, she gives us the latest. What does the latest include? The slums – the ruling party’s strongholds – turning against the party. The supreme court nullifying the congress. And then reversing itself. Source

With his old friend Mark Farrell, the golf pro, Jay talks Masters 2017 – the shoot-out between Sergio Garcia of Spain and Justin Rose of Britain. Also, should golf be an Olympic sport? (Rose is the reigning gold medalist – the only one there has been, in the modern era.) Also, whatsamatter with Tiger? And so on. Mark Farrell is a guru and a treat. Even the un-golf-minded might well enjoy. Source

With Norman Podhoretz, you can talk about practically anything – so Jay does. They talk about writing, of course. Few do it as well as NPod. They talk about his friend Shakespeare, and his friend Yeats. They talk about novels. (Podhoretz rates “Anna Karenina” number one.) They talk about music and ballet. Even math and science. And also politics, including Trump. And Europe – its fate. Source

For ten years – 2006 to 2016 – Toomas Hendrik Ilves was president of Estonia. He grew up in New Jersey. His parents, like many Estonian parents – if they were lucky – took refuge abroad. With Jay, he talks a little about his life, and the great challenges facing his country, and liberal democracy in general. A name for those challenges would be Vladimir Putin. At the end of the podcast... Source

Eliot Cohen is a leading national-security scholar and an adviser to presidents, would-be presidents, and others. His latest book is The Big Stick: The Limits of Soft Power & the Necessity of Military Force. Jay asks him to take a tour around the world, and he does: beginning with Mexico, moving to Europe, moving to the Far East, and the Mideast, and elsewhere. They wind up talking about the Trump... Source

A friend of Jay’s – a journalist in Washington – described Arthur Brooks as “the most interesting man in Washington, D.C.” Brooks is the president of the American Enterprise Institute. Earlier in his life, he was a professional French-horn player. Jay talks to him about music – and about enterprise, the poor, nationalism, Americanism, and much else. Jay found this podcast exceptionally refreshing. Source

Daniel Hannan, the British writer and politician, was honored at the recent “ideas summit” of the National Review Institute. Jay sat down with him there, to talk about Britain, Europe, nationalism, patriotism, Marine Le Pen, Viktor Orbán, Vladimir Putin, and more. Burning issues addressed by a learned, experienced, and thoughtful man. Source

Robert P. George is a famed professor, working at Princeton University. He began modestly, in the hills of West Virginia. He went on to Swarthmore, Harvard, and Oxford. With Jay, he talks about a slew of issues, including abortion, gay marriage, nationalism, refugees, and lawyers. He also talks about the fate of our civilization. If it dies, he says, it will not be from evil but from cowardice... Source

Stuart Taylor is possibly the outstanding legal journalist of our time. His most recent book — co-authored with KC Johnson — is “ The Campus Rape Frenzy: The Attack on Due Process at America’s Universities.” Naturally, he and Jay talk about this issue. A very important issue, legally, culturally, and otherwise. They also talk about recent Supreme Court nominees: Merrick Garland, who didn’t make it... Source

Herbert Blomstedt is one of the leading conductors in the world. He was born in America, in 1927. But his family was Swedish, and they moved back to Sweden when Herbert was a child. He has since conducted in Dresden, San Francisco, and many other places. He is in New York this week, guesting with the New York Philharmonic. Jay sat down with him in his dressing room, for a leisurely, rich “Q&A.”... Source

James Kirchick is the author of an important new book: “The End of Europe: Dictators, Demagogues, and the Coming Dark Age.” He and Jay talk it over: the nationalist-authoritarians and their “pope,” Vladimir Putin; Madame Le Pen in France; the role of Germany; the importance of Ukraine. Is Greece a goner? Is the EU anything but a menace? What about the Americans? Toward the end of the podcast... Source