About this episode

The episode discusses recent developments in U.S.-European relations and ongoing negotiations regarding Iran's nuclear program.

This week, Scott sat down with his foreign-policy-minded colleagues Daniel Byman, Michael Feinberg, and Ari Tabatabai to talk through some recent big news stories around the world, including: “Beer Hall Push-back.” Over the weekend, a raft of bipartisan U.S. and European officials headed to Bavaria for the annual Munich Security Conference. Last year, Vice President J.D. Vance gave a barnburner of a speech, accusing European allies of restraining free speech and giving succor to the European far right. This year, Secretary of State Marco Rubio gave a more conciliatory set of remarks that nonetheless signaled that there were some fundamental changes happening in the relationship. For their part, European leaders mostly seemed to be on board with that as they increasingly leaned into the public stance that it was time for the continent to stand on its own, independent of the United States, although how feasible that will be and on what timeline remain the big questions. What should we make of the different remarks we heard from the conference and the broader messages the two sides are sending to each other? And is this a sign of an impending divorce or a different sort of shift in…

People in this episode

Host: Scott

Guests: Daniel Byman, Michael Feinberg, Ari Tabatabai

Topics covered

• U.S.-European relations
• Munich Security Conference
• Iran nuclear negotiations
• bipartisan diplomacy
• free speech
• transatlantic relationship

Keywords

• Munich Security Conference
• U.S. foreign policy
• European allies
• nuclear negotiations
• sanctions on Iran
• transatlantic relationship

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Munich Security Conference

Places: Bavaria, United States, Iran, Geneva

More episodes of Rational Security

• The “Sun-kissed to Death” Edition · April 23, 2026 · 1h 20m
• The “Deeply Iran-ic” Edition · April 9, 2026 · 1h 22m
• The "Chicken Sh*t Bingo" Edition · April 2, 2026 · 1h 8m
• The “Authentic Flavors, Real Fruit” Edition · March 26, 2026 · 1h 7m
• The "Take a Light Out of Crime" Edition · March 19, 2026 · 1h 30m
• The "Stop Cap" Edition · March 12, 2026 · 1h 13m

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Rational Security podcast page.