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Subscribe to help promote shared values around the world

I am Joel Weickgenant, editor of Real Clear World and a former contributor to The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and many other international publications. I live in Washington, DC. I have a dual American-Dutch nationality and I lived in Europe for many years.

I am Kaj Leers, a former editor for Thomson Reuters and The Amsterdam Times, journalist and contributor to Real Clear World, and author of books and essays on political communication.

For more on us, visit our Team page on our website.

We were born and raised under the aegis of the trans-Atlantic Alliance, first forged in 1941 in the doldrums of war. For a long time, this alliance was taken for granted. And to be perfectly honest, we took this cooperation for granted. Lately, things have gotten a little stale. Now, we want to do our best to preserve it, to promote cooperation. Because the United States and Europe may not always have shared interests, but we like to think that we Americans and Europeans share values that we want to see upheld. These were laid down by Franklin Delano Roosevelt early in 1941:

  • Freedom of Speech

  • Freedom of Worship

  • Freedom from Want

  • Freedom from Fear

To which Roosevelt later added that these freedoms embody the rights of men of every creed and every race, wherever they may live.

Get up, stand up

Any relationship where partners take each other for granted is destined to fail. So we wish to provide knowledge and insight - incentives, if you will - to strengthen the relationship. Oh, and we like a laugh, too.

There’s a lot of noise out there and a lot of rabbit holes to tumble into, signals distracting us from our shared values of personal and political freedom, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. These values need protecting. This we do by standing up for them. That begins with fostering mutual understanding.

What you’ll get

A weekly newsletter and regular dispatches by us personally, offering you the signal through the noise, including updates on when our latest bi-weekly podcast is available for listening. What are international actors doing and why are they doing it? Is what they’re doing helpful to promoting liberty and freedom? News, views and opionions from both sides of the Atlantic, and interviews with knowledgeable people from our international network.

What you won’t get

Polarization and partisan hackery. Seriously, we’re sooo done with that. It doesn’t get anyone anywhere.

What others say about us

“Don’t subscribe to Atlantic Anchors. I hate them.”

-Vladimir Putin (attribution)

Subscribe to Atlantic Anchors Newsletter

A newsletter and podcast that aims to share news, views and insights from both sides of the Atlantic, to bridge differences and foster cooperation. Consider us relationship therapy for the alliance forged way back in 1941.