Alternate Shots with Richard Haass and John Ellis

About Alternate Shots with Richard Haass and John Ellis

The idea of the podcast is this: We talk about “three things” that are interesting, important or both. The third thing will be about something from the world of sports. Richard is a veteran diplomat (he served in the Carter, Reagan, G.H.W. Bush and G.W. Bush administrations). He was president of the Council on Foreign Relations for two decades (he’s now president emeritus (https://substack.com/redirect/dc8ad273-3142-46cd-8d69-f9723c24de1b?j=eyJ1IjoiNTZlaGMifQ.nw2Bwm1QlqPG5hljNcsomI_eBeavAl9Owkx_AqJvv2c)). He’s a Senior Counselor at Center|View Partners (https://substack.com/redirect/fbab3371-05d1-4723-9b45-b6dfe89e5aa1?j=eyJ1IjoiNTZlaGMifQ.nw2Bwm1QlqPG5hljNcsomI_eBeavAl9Owkx_AqJvv2c), a prominent New York City-based investment banking firm. He also distributes a weekly newsletter (https://substack.com/redirect/10bc763a-69ff-4c89-8dc9-2e4fb8974bc3?j=eyJ1IjoiNTZlaGMifQ.nw2Bwm1QlqPG5hljNcsomI_eBeavAl9Owkx_AqJvv2c) — Home and Away — on Friday mornings. Home and Away addresses matters domestic and foreign. John is the founder and editor of News Items, a daily newsletter that covers global politics, financial news, advanced technologies and science. He has been in and around the news business for virtually all of his adult life, working for NBC News (as a political analyst), The Boston Globe (as a columnist), CNBC, Fox News, and Newscorp. In 2016, he launched News Items as a morning brief for executives and editors at Fox and Newscorp. In 2018, News Items became The Wall Street Journal CEO Council's morning newsletter. He restarted News Items as an independent newsletter in August of 2019.

Publisher

Richard Haass and John Ellis

Category

news · news · sports

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

22 Aug 2025

Latest episode

25 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

40 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   25 Sept 2026

   Trump Fatigue: Episode 40

   This week on Alternate Shots, John Ellis and Richard Haass take stock of a world where institutions, summits, and alliances are showing their age. They begin with UN week in New York, where Haass argues the United Nations has become less an institution than a venue: useful for speeches and side meetings, but largely irrelevant when the major powers disagree. From there, they turn to the Trump-Xi summit, a quiet affair that may be preferable to the wrong kind of grand bargain. They also discus...

2. 

   19 Sept 2026

   A Successful Failed Summit: Episode 39

   This week on Alternate Shots, John Ellis and Richard Haass look ahead to the Trump-Xi summit and ask whether, in this instance, an uneventful meeting would be preferable to a consequential one. Haass worries not about failure, but about the wrong kind of success: a commercial deal purchased at the expense of Taiwan, American allies, or U.S. leverage on Russia and Iran. From there, they turn to AI, where the United States and China dominate the field but lack the trust, process, and perhaps ur...

3. 

   12 Sept 2026

   Diplomacy Backwards: Episode 38

   This week on Alternate Shots, John Ellis and Richard Haass consider a world in which old assumptions no longer hold. They begin with 9/11, what it did and did not change, and the danger that AI, drones, and biotechnology could make terrorism newly consequential. From there, they turn to diplomacy done backward: envoys courting Moscow before Kyiv, money offered where nationalism is the real currency, and the spreading crisis at sea as the Houthis threaten the Bab el-Mandeb. Also on the table: ...

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.7 / 5

19 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

6 ratings

Contact Alternate Shots with Richard Haass and John Ellis

Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

Shows with a similar audience

• 

  The News Items Podcast

• 

  Hacks On Tap

• 

  GZERO World with Ian Bremmer

• 

  Impolitic with John Heilemann

• 

  Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov

• 

  The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway