Foreign Podicy
223 episodes - English - Latest episode: 8 days ago - ★★★★★ - 142 ratingsA national security and foreign policy podcast from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD).
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Episodes
The Midway Measures Trap
July 01, 2022 20:00 - 1 hour - 51.3 MBDecades ago, Richard Bernstein opened Time magazine’s first bureau in Beijing. He was later New York Times bureau chief at the UN, in Paris, and in Berlin. He spent a few years as the Times’ National Cultural Correspondent and as a Times book critic. He’s also the author of a list of incisive books including on China and France. He recently wrote a provocative op-ed for the Wall Street Journal. It’s about what he calls the “Midway Measures Trap.” That’s when the U.S. is caught between two ...
Turkey and America: Can This Marriage Be Saved?
June 24, 2022 22:00 - 1 hour - 58.4 MBNot so long ago, Turkey was widely regarded as the bridge between the Occident and the Orient, between Christian Europe and the Muslim Middle East. Turkey separated mosque and state. Turkey was a NATO member. Turkey was economically dynamic despite not having oil. Turkey seemed to be democratizing. That’s not how many of us see Turkey today under the increasingly authoritarian President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Michael Doran is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and director of its Cente...
Nonproliferation, Biodefense, and National Security
June 03, 2022 08:15 - 42 minutes - 34.3 MBJackie Wolcott previously served as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations in Vienna and as U.S. representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency. Anthony Ruggiero is the former White House National Security Council Senior Director for Counterproliferation and Biodefense. Together, they are behind the wheel of FDD’s newly launched Nonproliferation and Biodefense Program — serving as Chair and Senior Director, respectively — where they’ll lead the Program’s efforts to prevent Ame...
NATO and Its Discontents
May 27, 2022 21:36 - 1 hour - 61.3 MBThe North Atlantic Treaty Organization, better known by its acronym, NATO, was founded in 1949 to contain Soviet expansionism. President Truman told a joint session of Congress: “It must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.” This was the essence of the Truman Doctrine. Adopted on a bipartisan basis – with Sen. Arthur Vandenberg playing the most significant role on the Republican side –...
Deal or No Deal: Confronting the Islamic Republic of Iran the Reagan Way
May 20, 2022 17:00 - 1 hour - 50.7 MBFDD experts have worked for more than a decade on the threat posed by the Islamic Republic of Iran. As part of a multi-pronged strategy, FDD has shared nonpartisan research and analyses with policymakers, lawmakers, and the business community. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is slated to hold its first public hearing on the theocratic regime in more than two years with administration officials and top experts, and they have invited FDD’s Mark Dubowitz – who founded our Iran program ...
Why They Fight
May 13, 2022 06:00 - 1 hour - 53.3 MBRussia's war in Ukraine underscores, among other things, the urgency of boosting Taiwan's military readiness. Meanwhile, many Americans remain bitterly divided on what role of the U.S. should be in the world, and, therefore, on how strong America's military power ought to be. To discuss these and other pressing issues facing the U.S. and broader free world, Foreign Podicy host Cliff May is joined by experts from FDD's Center on Military and Political Power (CMPP) — LTG (Ret.) H.R. McMaster ...
An Israel Briefing
May 06, 2022 17:00 - 34 minutes - 27.8 MBRussia ravages Ukraine. China eyes Taiwan. North Korea prepares a nuclear test. And negotiations for a new — and worse — iteration of President Obama’s deeply-flawed Iran nuclear deal remain on life-support. The rules-based, American-led order is hanging in the balance — and although they weren’t granted a seat at the negotiating table, Israel currently faces a unique threat with a build-up of Iranian weapons at almost each of its borders. Unlike with the Americans at the negotiating tab...
Why America Can’t Be Denmark
April 22, 2022 22:29 - 1 hour - 50.4 MBCan there be anyone not shocked and appalled by Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine – a war intended to extinguish Ukraine as an independent nation; a war in which it appears that war crimes are not just being tolerated by the Kremlin but actively encouraged; a war intended to establish that the only laws that apply in the world today are those of the jungle? The answer: yes. Such people prefer to call themselves ‘realists’, or ‘restrainers’, or ‘re-trenchers’, or ‘anti-interventionists’ or peo...
Disinformation Wars
April 15, 2022 17:00 - 57 minutes - 45.9 MB"A well-informed citizenry is the best defense against tyranny." Thomas Jefferson said that or something close to it. But what happens when tyrants misinform us or — worse — disinform us? To help us understand disinformation and its consequences, Foreign Podicy host Cliff May is joined by three FDD scholars: RADM (Ret) Mark Montgomery, Senior Director of FDD's Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation (CCTI); Emanuele Ottolenghi, FDD Senior Fellow; and Ivana Stradner, Advisor to FDD's Baris...
“Pivoting” and Other Foreign Policy Delusions
April 08, 2022 17:00 - 48 minutes - 44.3 MBThere’s a dangerous — even reckless — new Iran nuclear accord that appears to be nearing the finish line in Vienna. Meanwhile, the Biden White House is struggling to wield the right set of policy tools to bring Vladimir Putin’s war of aggression in Ukraine to end. The White House wants to put both of these challenges in the rear view so that it can pivot to, and focus on, a looming great power competition with China. But is America exhibiting the attributes of a great power? Shouldn’t a supe...
Why MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) Is No Longer Reassuring
April 01, 2022 23:54 - 58 minutes - 47 MBCentral to America's strategy in the Cold War was the principle of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD). The idea was to make nuclear warfare a lose-lose proposition — a game you just can't win. Whichever side was attacked would retain the capability to counterattack. Both sides would end up devastated, if not annihilated. But MAD works only if both sides are equally averse to mass death and destruction. When it comes to Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, Ali Khamenei, and Kim Jong-un, can we be co...
Mike Waltz: Warrior Diplomat and Congressman
March 25, 2022 20:13 - 40 minutes - 32.5 MBMichael G. Waltz served as a Green Beret in the Middle East and Africa, and commanded a Special Forces company in the mountains of Afghanistan. He served as a counterterrorism advisor to Vice President Dick Cheney, and director for Afghanistan policy in the office of the Secretary of Defense. He is the author of a marvelous 2014 book: Warrior Diplomat: A Green Beret’s Battles from Washington to Afghanistan, the proceeds of which continue to benefit the Green Beret Foundation. He was also ...
The Fog of War and Diplomacy
March 18, 2022 20:03 - 55 minutes - 44.2 MBRussia’s brutal war continues, and President Zelensky is asking for more assistance as the people of Ukraine attempt to exercise their right to defend themselves from an imperialist aggressor seeking to end their existence as an independent nation. The Biden administration’s efforts to revive Barack Obama’s fatally flawed deal with Iran’s rulers — in an even weaker form — may be close to completion. Once that happens, Iran’s theocrats will be enriched. They will have more to spend on terro...
A War in Ukraine, A Battle in Vienna, and Israel on the Edge
March 11, 2022 22:07 - 47 minutes - 37.9 MBAs Vladimir Putin’s troops ravage Ukraine, his envoy in Vienna is steering the U.S. nuclear negotiations with the Islamic Republic of Iran. Israelis, who know all too well what it means to have bigger neighbors determined to erase your nation from the map, are trying to bring an end to the war and help those suffering as a result of the war — but they can’t forget that Putin has military forces stationed just over their northern border in Syria. To discuss these and related issues, Foreign...
Sailor, Soldier, Spy: Three Perspectives on Putin’s War on Ukraine
March 04, 2022 21:31 - 54 minutes - 43.6 MBVladimir Putin is waging a war of aggression, a war of conquest, an imperialist war. This should not come as a surprise. It’s long been evident that he views himself as a modern czar, a Caesar (which is where the word “czar” comes from), an emperor whose mission is to restore — and, if he can, enlarge — the ancient Russian empire which for a few decades was rebranded as the Soviet empire. In 2008, he seized two provinces from neighboring Georgia. He began his war against Ukraine in 2014 by ...
Vladimir the Terrible
February 26, 2022 01:08 - 43 minutes - 34.7 MBAs feared and anticipated, Vladimir Putin sent his troops over the border into Ukraine – an act of aggression and a blatant violation of international law. If Ukrainians, over the days ahead display courage, defiance, and determination, can they stop Putin from stripping them of their right to independence, sovereignty, and self-determination? Having shown little will to contain Putin after he dismembered Georgia in 2008, or after he seized Crimea from Ukraine and annexed it in 2014, what c...
Enemies and Allies, Villains and Heroes
February 18, 2022 16:35 - 1 hour - 51.3 MBJoel C. Rosenberg is a New York Times-bestselling author. He’s written 15 novels and four non-fiction books with five million copies in print. Among his readers and fans: George W. Bush, Mike Pence, and Mike Pompeo. He also has a second vocation as what you might call a religious-political activist. And he has a new book based on that work. It’s titled: “Enemies and Allies.” Joel talks about his life and his literature with FDD Senior Fellow Reuel Marc Gerecht, a former Middle East special...
The Army and the Indo-Pacific
February 11, 2022 15:00 - 55 minutes - 44.5 MBBeijing is conducting the most ambitious military modernization and expansion effort in the history of the People’s Republic of China. And the more powerful the People’s Liberation Army becomes, the more aggressively Beijing is behaving. Given the vast distances and expanses of ocean, when Americans think of the Indo-Pacific and the Pentagon’s role there, they may think first of the U.S. Navy and Air Force. Those services will, indeed, play a pivotal role in deterring and defeating aggressi...
Russia and Ukraine: On the Brink of War
February 04, 2022 22:32 - 48 minutes - 39.2 MBVladimir Putin is threatening to erase the sovereignty, independence, and self-determination of Ukraine. What caused this crisis? What are the likely consequences not only for Russia and Ukraine but for the U.S., Europe, and NATO? How would a war between Russia and Ukraine turn out? What lessons are the rulers of China and Iran learning? How do Russian energy resources – and Europe’s need for them – factor in? What are Putin’s goals – short-, medium-, and long-term? What should be the goal...
The Worst of Times
January 28, 2022 19:50 - 1 hour - 50.9 MBThe media have changed a lot in recent years – not for the better. The New York Times certainly isn’t the newspaper it used to be. Ashley Rindsberg has written a book making the case that, even in its best days, The Times often failed to live up to its reputation as the newspaper of record, pursuing and publishing the truth, as the paper’s founder put it, “without fear or favor, regardless of party, sect or interests involved.” The title of Mr. Rindsberg’s book: The Gray Lady Winked: How ...
The Unruly and Not-So-Orderly Rules-based International Order
January 21, 2022 22:05 - 1 hour - 55.2 MBJohn Bolton has had quite a few challenging jobs. Among them: presidential national security advisor, ambassador to the United Nations, and several senior positions in the State Department. He has an original and provocative new essay in National Review on the so-called “rules-based international order.” He discusses that and other current issues, crises, and conflicts with Reuel Marc Gerecht, a senior fellow at FDD, formerly a case officer at the CIA, and Foreign Podicy host Cliff May.
Biden’s Moment of Truth in Iran
January 14, 2022 23:05 - 39 minutes - 31.4 MBNegotiations between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran have not gone well. President Biden may soon have to choose between two unappealing options: allowing the theocratic regime to become a nuclear-weapons power or using military force to prevent that outcome. Mark Dubowitz, FDD’s chief executive, and Matthew Kroenig, a former senior policy advisor at the Pentagon, now a professor of government at Georgetown University, and director of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Stra...
H.R. McMaster, the Warrior Ethos, and the Wars Against the West
January 07, 2022 22:30 - 1 hour - 49.4 MBLt. Gen. (Ret.) H.R. McMaster is a soldier and a scholar and, these days, a commentator – one might even say a pundit. His recent essay for National Review is titled: “Preserving the Warrior Ethos” – a contrarian theme in an age where the dominant culture valorizes victims and too many political leaders fail to grasp the nexus between military strength and diplomatic effectiveness. He discusses warriors, wars and related topics with Foreign Podicy host Cliff May, and Bradley Bowman, senior...
Chinese Communism 101: Beijing’s Campus Strategy
December 24, 2021 23:24 - 46 minutes - 37 MBIn recent years, it’s become apparent that the People’s Republic of China intends to eat America’s lunch. No one is more responsible for revealing that than Matthew Pottinger, a former journalist who went on to earn an honest living serving in the U.S. Marines, and, in the previous administration, as Deputy National Security Advisor. He’s currently a distinguished Fellow at the Hoover Institution and he chairs FDD’s China Program. China’s rulers have an impressively comprehensive strategy f...
Biden’s Democracy Summitry
December 17, 2021 18:00 - 1 hour - 56.4 MBOn December 9th and 10th, President Biden hosted what he called the Summit for Democracy – a virtual conference to which he invited 110 governments. Three principal items on the agenda: defending against authoritarianism, fighting corruption, and advancing human rights. Did this “summit” make any progress or at least chart a way forward? What’s been the reaction from authoritarians, corrupt politicians, and human rights abusers? Based on what criteria were invitations issued – or not issue...
Strategic Surprise: A Conversation on Nuclear and Missile Threats with Rep. Mike Turner
December 01, 2021 18:09 - 49 minutes - 45.6 MBThe People’s Republic of China recently tested an advanced new hypersonic glide vehicle that circles the Earth and is designed to evade U.S. defenses and conduct a nuclear attack against the American homeland. A new Pentagon report reveals that Beijing is expanding the size of its nuclear arsenal much faster than expected and that in 2020 China’s rulers launched more ballistic missiles for testing and training “than the rest of the world combined.” Moscow conducted an anti-satellite test o...
King George, America‘s Founders, and the World Shaped by Both
November 19, 2021 18:00 - 55 minutes - 50.6 MBAndrew Roberts has been described as one of Britain’s greatest historians. That’s not true. He’s one of the world’s greatest historians, as his biographies of Napoleon, and Churchill – along with a long list of other significant books – have made clear. His new book: The Last King of America: The Misunderstood Reign of George III. He joins Foreign Podicy host Cliff May for a conversation about George III, the American Revolution, and other controversies both historical and contemporary.
Willful Blindness: Revisiting the 2021 Gaza War
October 29, 2021 15:00 - 49 minutes - 45.5 MBIn 2005, Israelis withdrew from Gaza – every soldier, every farmer, every synagogue, every grave. It was an historic land-for-peace experiment – and it failed. In May, Hamas began firing missiles at Israeli cities, towns, and villages, sparking the fourth intense armed conflict since Hamas defeated Fatah and began ruling Gaza. Many in the international media blamed Israel more than Hamas – despite the fact that it was Hamas that attacked; despite the fact that Hamas used human shields, a c...
The U.S. Rejoins the UN’s Human Rights Violators Club
October 25, 2021 07:30 - 49 minutes - 45 MBIf the United Nations Human Rights Council were a figment of George Orwell’s imagination, you’d probably say: “Okay, very entertaining but, even accounting for dramatic license, this is a bit over the top.” The UNHRC is a club for many of the world’s worst and most chronic violators of human rights (read FDD’s assessment here). Among the privileges of membership: virtual immunity to criticism. The U.S., by contrast, is fair game for criticism. And Israel has long been the council’s whippin...
Israel’s Shield in the Sky
October 15, 2021 19:13 - 47 minutes - 43.4 MBIn May, Hamas leaders in Gaza — a territory from which Israelis withdrew in 2005 — launched more than 4,000 missiles at Israel, sparking an eleven-day conflict that would have been bloodier — on both sides — had the Israelis not been in possession of the Iron Dome, a marvel of engineering that intercepts and destroys short-range missiles before they can reach their intended victims. In other words, it is not a sword but a shield. Last month, far-left House Democrats blocked a bill to keep t...
The UN’s Strange Obsession with Israel
September 17, 2021 21:24 - 48 minutes - 44.3 MBAn extraordinary number of organizations within the UN system spend most of their time, money, and energy demonizing and attempting to de-legitimize Israel — and claiming to defend Palestinians. Joining Foreign Podicy host Cliff May to talk about UNIFIL, UNRWA, the UNHRC, and several other organizations specifically committed to what is commonly – though perhaps not accurately – called the “Palestinian cause” are FDD research fellow Tony Badran; FDD research analyst David May; and Richard ...
Nuclear and Chemical Watchdogs or Lapdogs?
September 10, 2021 19:21 - 47 minutes - 38.3 MBBack in 1957, the same year the Soviets put Sputnik — the world’s first artificial satellite — into orbit, and Elvis Presley’s “All Shook Up” hit the top of the Billboard charts, the UN established the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The goal was to promote peaceful uses of atomic energy, provide assistance on nuclear safety, and prevent nuclear materials from getting into the wrong hands. How has that worked out? FDD Research Fellow Andrea Stricker has taken a hard look at the ...
The U.N. Record on Health, Human Rights, Trade, and Communications is Worse Than You Think
September 03, 2021 15:00 - 58 minutes - 46.9 MBThere are dozens of international organizations affiliated with the United Nations. Some do useful work. Those that do not are under no pressure to improve. As for those that do harm: They pretty much enjoy impunity. Republican and Democratic administrations alike have preferred to leave not-well-enough alone. FDD scholars recently published a monograph, “A Better Blueprint for International Organizations,” examining what has gone wrong, and what could be done – if there is the will – to ...
Jewish Germans and German Jews
August 27, 2021 15:00 - 33 minutes - 30.8 MBJews have lived in the lands we now call Germany for a rather long time. They first arrived in the 4th century under the Roman Emperor Constantine. By the end of the 19th century, there were about 500,000 German Jews – or Jewish Germans. Though less than one percent of the population, a significant number had become prominent in literature, music, the theater, journalism, science and other fields that were open to them – not all fields were, of course. Twelve German Jews won Nobel Prizes. ...
Israel, Post-Bibi
August 13, 2021 15:01 - 58 minutes - 53.7 MBFor the past 12 years, Benjamin Netanyahu served as Israel’s prime minister, fighting wars and wars-between-wars against Hamas and Hezbollah; opposing President Obama’s attempts to propitiate Iran’s rulers who openly threaten Israelis with genocide; attempting to block blows from the United Nations, an organization that spends inordinate amounts of time and money slandering Israelis; engaging in palavers with Vladimir Putin who has now re-established Russia as a power in the Middle East; not...
The Predators Threatening Africa
July 23, 2021 18:14 - 52 minutes - 42.4 MBAfrica is a large and diverse continent. Many different peoples, ethnic groups, tribes — these terms overlap but are not synonymous — speaking more than a thousand languages, organized into more than 50 nation-states. Most of those nation-states achieved independence in the aftermath of World War II, as European imperialism and colonialism died out. In few African lands has political stability and prosperity followed. And today, Africa is threatened by new predators. Violent and vicious ji...
The UN System: What Went Wrong and What Should Be Done
July 09, 2021 17:05 - 1 hour - 55.5 MBThe U.N. and other international organizations were designed to give structure to what we like to call the “international community” – establishing and expressing what we like to call “international laws” and “international norms.” Over recent years, however, authoritarian regimes have been increasingly dominating these entities, and utilizing them for their own, decidedly illiberal ends. FDD scholars have just published “A Better Blueprint for International Organizations,” a monograph wit...
Raisi Rising
June 24, 2021 19:05 - 1 hour - 58.3 MBAn election – of sorts – was held in the Islamic Republic of Iran last week. The victor: Ebrahim Raisi, a hardline theocrat who has been sanctioned by the US for his involvement in the mass execution of political prisoners. Voter turnout was reportedly low. To discuss these developments, and how the Biden administration – among others – may respond, host Cliff May is joined by Ray Takeyh, formerly a senior advisor on Iran at the Department of State, currently a senior fellow at the Council...
Tehran’s Nuclear Secrets
June 15, 2021 22:01 - 57 minutes - 52.8 MBDavid Albright is a physicist, a former nuclear inspector for the International Atomic Energy Agency, an expert on nuclear weapons and nuclear proliferation, and the founder and president of the Institute for Science and International Security – also known as “the Good ISIS.” His important new book, written with Sarah Burkhard: “Iran’s Perilous Pursuit of Nuclear Weapons.” It’s based on the secret archive of the nuclear weapons program of the Islamic Republic. Israeli spies located that ar...
Eleven Days in May: The Latest Battle in the Long War Against Israel
May 28, 2021 16:45 - 48 minutes - 44.1 MBThe Islamic Republic of Iran provides Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad with rockets and other weapons, technology, training, and funding. Over 11 days in May, the two groups fired more than four thousand rockets at Israeli cities and villages. President Biden supported Israel’s right to defend itself but, at the same time, his envoys in Vienna have been negotiating a return to President Obama’s Iran deal. Iran’s rulers want billions of dollars and other concessions in exchange for allowi...
Biden’s Mission to Realign the Middle East
May 14, 2021 21:57 - 50 minutes - 45.8 MBPresident Biden has been eager to rejoin the deal that President Obama concluded with Iran’s rulers in 2015 and from which President Trump withdrew three years later. The quarrel between advocates for, and critics of, the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) has been viewed as a disagreement over how best to prevent the theocrats in Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability. Michael Doran, a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute, and Tony Badran, a research fellow ...
The Middle East Muddle
May 10, 2021 21:21 - 56 minutes - 45.5 MBHere’s a riddle for you: Name something Presidents Obama, Trump, and Biden have in common? Here's one answer: None has appeared to understand the theological premises that motivate such groups as al Qaeda, the Taliban, and the Islamic State — nor those that drive the rulers of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Nor have they had clarity about the thinking of those brave Muslims who oppose such interpretations of Islam. In this episode, host Cliff May discusses these and related issues with thre...
Palestinians Head for the Polls – or Not
April 27, 2021 13:00 - 48 minutes - 38.8 MBIn the West Bank and Gaza, elections are not frequent occurrences. The last one was in 2006. Hamas, a terrorist organization opposed to a two-state solution and openly committed to Israel’s extermination, won a parliamentary majority. A Palestinian civil war followed. A year later, Hamas ruled Gaza while the Palestine Liberation Organization held power in the West Bank. Attempts over the years since to reunite the two Palestinian factions have failed. New elections are now scheduled – more...
Beijing, the WHO, and the Pandemic
April 16, 2021 15:00 - 42 minutes - 38.5 MBIn January, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called on the World Health Organization to fully investigate the possibility that the COVID-19 virus escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan. He cited new U.S. intelligence that raises troubling questions. But China’s rulers have not been forthcoming. Is the World Health Organization making a serious attempt to get at the truth? If not, what can and should be done? Those are just some of the issues Foreign Podicy host Cliff May explores with Anthon...
Putin vs. the Press
April 09, 2021 20:30 - 36 minutes - 33.6 MBIn the Soviet Union, all media were controlled by the state, and foreign correspondents were severely restricted. Those who hoped — and perhaps believed — that freedom of speech and freedom of the press would be guaranteed to the people of post-Soviet Russia have been disappointed. Not least, the Kremlin has been hostile toward journalists reporting for Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) — media outlets funded by the U.S. government. To discuss what President Vladimir Putin is do...
The Thin Red Line: Joby Warrick on the U.S. Response to this Century’s Worst War Crimes
March 19, 2021 20:23 - 1 hour - 49.4 MBJoby Warrick is a distinguished journalist, a longtime Washington Post national security reporter, and a Pulitzer Prize-winner. His latest book is: “Red Line: The Unraveling of Syria and America’s Race to Destroy the Most Dangerous Arsenal in the World.” To discuss Bashar al-Assad’s use of chemical weapons to mass murder his fellow Syrians, and what the U.S. did – and did not – do about it, he joins David Adesnik, FDD’s Director of Research and senior fellow on Syria, and FDDs president and...
The UN and the Illiberal International Order
February 26, 2021 22:41 - 47 minutes - 43.8 MBWith the defeat of the Axis Powers in 1945, the United States emerged as the strongest nation on earth. But rather than emulate hegemons of the past, American leaders envisioned a new and different world order. Their goal was to organize an "international community," establish "universal human rights," and a growing body of "international law." This project required new institutions, in particular the United Nations. Three quarters of a century later, it requires willful blindness not to ...
Iran’s Road from Monarchy to Islamist Theocracy and Empire
February 11, 2021 16:00 - 52 minutes - 47.8 MBFebruary 11, 2021 is the forty-second anniversary of the revolution that transformed Iran from a Western-aligned monarchy to an anti-Western Islamist theocracy. Ray Takeyh is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, one of America’s leading analysts of contemporary Iran, and the author of a new book: “The Last Shah: America, Iran and the Fall of the Pahlavi Dynasty.” Reuel Marc Gerecht is a senior fellow at FDD, a former officer in the CIA’s Directorate of Operations, and also ...
Thinking Bigly at Foggy Bottom
January 29, 2021 16:00 - 1 hour - 48.3 MBStarting in 2019, and until the recent change of administration, Peter Berkowitz served as director of Policy Planning at the State Department. That’s the government ideas shop that George Kennan established in 1947. Dr. Berkowitz was an unusual choice for this job in that his background is scholarly rather than governmental. He holds a doctorate in political science and a law degree, both from Yale University. He was, and now continues, as the Tad and Dianne Taube Senior Fellow at the Hoo...
Arms Control and the Man
December 22, 2020 22:49 - 49 minutes - 39.5 MBMarshall Billingslea has worked on a range of significant and difficult national security issues. He served as Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing at the Treasury Department, president of the international Financial Action Task Force, Deputy Under Secretary of the Navy, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Negotiations Policy. He’s also been an Assistant Secretary General at N...