Dr. Samir Puri is a defense policy and counterterrorism expert. He has worked in government and in academia, including as assistant head of research at the British Ministry of Defense’s think tank. Samir was raised in 1980s London in a family that had traversed three continents in three generations, from Asia to Africa to Europe. He later completed a PhD at Cambridge University in International Relations, worked at RAND, and then the Foreign Office, where his assignments covered counter terrorism, and a year in east Ukraine monitoring the onset of war in 2014. After government service, Dr. Puri became a lecturer in War Studies at King's College London, and also taught at Cambridge and Johns Hopkins. He has since left academia and in 2020 was appointed Senior Fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Singapore. His previous books include: Pakistan’s War on Terrorism and Fighting and Negotiating with Armed Groups. His latest book is Shadows of Empire: How Imperial History Shapes Our World. In this interview we cover a wide variety of topics including hybrid warfare, theories of conflict, violence, human nature, creativity, sport and Metallica. Go to www.samirpuri.com to learn more and follow him on Twitter @purisamir1. If you enjoy this episode, please subscribe and give us a five-star rating in the iTunes store. If you’d like to suggest a guest or send feedback about something new or different you’d like to hear on the show, please email me at choosethehardway@gmail.com and you can also catch me on Instagram @hardwaypod. There aren’t shortcuts or hacks on the road to becoming the best. You are what you overcome. Choose the Hard Way.