# Is "Soft Power" Really So Soft? Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/american-diplomat-9204/is-soft-power-really-so-soft Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/american-diplomat-9204/is-soft-power-really-so-soft.md Podcast: [American Diplomat](https://stenobird.com/podcast/american-diplomat-9204) Published: 2026-03-12T10:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://americandiplomat.libsyn.com/is-soft-power-really-so-soft Audio file: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/americandiplomat/Mark_Storella_Zambia.mp3?dest-id=590599 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/american-diplomat-9204/episodes/is-soft-power-really-so-soft Duration seconds: 3074 ## Resource US Ambassador to Zambia Mark Storella helps us understand why support for democracy and public health achieves the same objectives as "hard power": using our influence to advance US objectives overseas. For the cost of one aircraft on one aircraft carrier, we can save hundreds of thousands of lives. And what is the benefit to us? And who is Kennedy Mweene, anyway? ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/american-diplomat-9204/episodes/is-soft-power-really-so-soft/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/american-diplomat-9204/is-soft-power-really-so-soft.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.