Weapons Over Human Rights: How US Foreign Policy Really Works | GOING DEEPER w/ Annelle Sheline

In the latest Always at War, Courtney and Alex are joined by Quincy Institute research fellow Annelle Sheline— a former State Department foreign affairs officer who resigned in 2024 in protest of the Biden administration’s blank check for Israeli military aggression in Gaza— to talk about how US foreign policy really gets made.

Annelle starts by telling Courtney and Alex how she got into the field, from living in Nicaragua as a kid to 9/11 to working as a journalist in Egypt. Then she walks them through her work in the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, where small grants for journalists and civil society sat alongside massive arms sales to repressive governments. Along the way, the trio digs into the laws the US ignores — including the Leahy Law — how lobbying, campaign money and the revolving door shape foreign policy, Samantha Power's case for staying on the inside, why Annelle chose to resign, and what’s happening in Yemen as fighting between the Houthis and the Saudi-backed government picks back up.

Watch out for Annelle’s book — Weaponizing Tolerance: Arab Monarchies and American Support for Moderate Islam — coming out next year!

Links
 Annelle’s work at the Quincy Institute: https://quincyinst.org/author/annelle-sheline/
Follow Annelle on X: @annellesheline

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Why is America always at war? Join the Quincy Institute’s Courtney Rawlings and Alex Jordan as they expose the monied interests, outdated ideologies, and entrenched powers that have driven the U.S. to wage nearly 400 wars and interventions. 

They’ll be joined by journalists, advocates, and experts to uncover who profits from America’s endless conflicts, and to imagine how we can build a better, more peaceful U.S. foreign policy.

Learn more about the Quincy Institute: quincyinst.org
Contact the show: alwaysatwar@quincyinst.org

Show art by Justin Hantz

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