FDD's Foreign Podicy

Host Cliff May recently wrote a column for the Washington Times guessing what Vladimir Putin might do next if he should succeed in Ukraine.He suggested Putin would take over Moldova, formalize his control over Belarus, and then turn his hungry eyes toward the Baltic states — with the primary goal of establishing a land bridge to Kaliningrad, a Russian territory 400 miles west of the Russian mainland.Parenthetically: Kaliningrad was called Königsberg before the Soviet army captured it from the Germans in 1945. It’s where the Russian Navy’s Baltic Fleet is now headquartered.In response, Cliff received a note from a brilliant scholar, S. Frederick Starr, among whose many books is Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. It’s a fascinating book that Cliff says changed his understanding of Central Asia and the Islamic world.In his note to Cliff, Fred asked why he didn’t think about Putin sending his tanks in another direction: Central Asia and the Caucuses.That seemed like a good question. So, Fred — the founding chairman of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute and Silk Road Studies Program — sat down with Cliff to answer it.

Major General Paul J. Rock Jr. commands United States Marine Corps Forces Central Command, or MARCENT. That makes him the top U.S. Marine in the Middle East. MajGen Rock is a Marine aviator with combat deployments to Iraq, and he was the commanding general of the 3d Marine Expeditionary Brigade before his current position. He believes the biggest threat to U.S. interests in the Middle East is Iran and its proxies. Why? What are Tehran and its terror proxies up to in the region? What are China and Russia doing there? How is MARCENT helping to build a regional security architecture? And how can U.S. Congress help? Guest host Bradley Bowman — Senior Director of FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power – asks MajGen Rock these and related questions.

Walter Russell Mead, Global View Columnist at the Wall Street Journal and Professor of Foreign Affairs, discusses his recent visit to Kyiv and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. The podcast also touches on topics such as the potential threat of missiles, the US's advantageous position post-war, the Monroe Doctrine's impact on Latin America, challenges in Mexico, US-Israel relations, and the speaker's personal interests.

LTG (Ret.) H.R. McMaster wears many hats. Most important for us at FDD: He’s Chairman of the Board of Advisors for our Center on Military and Political Power (CMPP).He served as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army for 34 years, he holds a doctorate in military history, and he was the 26th assistant to the president of the United States for National Security Affairs.Ways to keep up with him: Reading what he writes as well as listening to both his Battlegrounds podcast and the Good Fellows podcast he does along with historian Niall Ferguson and economist John Cochran from their base at the Hoover Institution.But when he’s in Washington — or as Cliff calls it: "Baghdad on the Potomac" — we like to sit him down at FDD and pummel him with questions. Bradley Bowman, senior director of FDD’s CMPP, joins the episode to help do just that. 

One of the most important missions of the United States military is defending our homeland against a range of threats. But that mission is only becoming more difficult as China, Russia, and North Korea strengthen their means to threaten Americans here at home.What is the current military threat to the American homeland? How is that threat evolving?What does the Department of Defense need now and in the future to defend our homeland more effectively?Bradley Bowman — senior director of FDD's Center on Military and Political Power (CMPP), filling in for host Cliff May — asks these and other questions to two U.S. Air Force officers who have served our country in uniform for decades and accumulated thousands of flight hours.Lieutenant General David S. NahomLt. Gen. David S. Nahom is the Commander of Alaskan Command within United States Northern Command. He’s also Commander of the Eleventh Air Force within Pacific Air Forces and Commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command Region. In other words, he’s focused on the current threat.Brigadier General Joseph D. KunkelBrig. Gen. Joseph D. Kunkel is the Director of Plans, Deputy Chief of Staff, Plans and Programs in the U.S. Air Force headquarters. That means he focuses on the future threat and what we need to be doing now to prepare.

On May 28, 2023, after 21 years in power, Recep Tayyip Erdogan won another five-year-term as president of Turkey — or Türkiye — as he prefers. To discuss what this means for Türkiye, the U.S., the Middle East, Europe, and NATO, host Cliff May is joined by Sinan Ciddi, non-resident senior fellow at FDD and associate professor of national security studies at Marine Corps University, and Jonathan Schanzer, FDD’s senior vice president and former terrorism finance analyst at the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

American political scientist Joseph Nye popularized the concept of soft power decades ago. As he wrote in his 2004 book by that name, “soft power – getting others to want the outcomes that you want – co-opts people rather than coerces them.” Such soft power cooption can be less costly than hard power coercion.But we see daily reminders that soft power is insufficient and hard power often remains decisive, at least initially.Consider:Putin’s unprovoked large-scale invasion of Ukraine;Beijing’s saber rattling in the Taiwan Strait; andTehran’s continued employment of terrorist proxies and steps toward a nuclear weapon capability....These remind us that soft power has its limits.But it would be a mistake to dismiss the role of soft power. It’s a necessary but not sufficient complement to hard power that can help the U.S. secure its interests.America needs both hard and softer power tools and needs to employ and integrate them more effectively. That’s one of the big ideas animating FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power (CMPP).What are the tools of soft power? How do they relate to hard power?How is China using soft power tools against the United States and its allies?How can we wield our soft power tools such as international development more effectively?To discuss these topics and more, Bradley Bowman — senior director of FDD’s CMPP, filling in for Cliff May as host — is joined by Daniel Runde and Elaine Dezenski.Daniel RundeDan is a senior vice president and director of the Project on Prosperity and Development (PPD) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, where he holds the William A. Schreyer Chair in Global Analysis. Dan has held leadership roles at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the World Bank Group and has significant experience in the private sector.He has written a new book: The American Imperative, Reclaiming Global Leadership Through Soft Power.Elaine DezenskiElaine is senior director of FDD’s Center on Economic and Financial Power. Elaine has more than two decades of leadership in public, private, and international organizations and is a recognized expert on geopolitical risk, supply chain security, anti-corruption, and national security.

Israelis are now celebrating 75 years of independence – 75 years of self-determination for the Jewish people in part of their ancient homeland which for centuries was ruled by foreign empires. There are not many nations that, as the late Charles Krauthammer used to point out, are “living in the same land, worshipping the same God, and speaking the same language as did their ancestors 3,000 years ago.” But not everyone is celebrating. Islamic Jihad — a terrorist organization funded, armed, and instructed by the Islamic Republic of Iran — recently fired hundreds of missiles at Israel from Gaza, a territory from which Israelis withdrew in 2005. Israelis retaliated with precision strikes targeting Islamic Jihad leaders. For the moment, a ceasefire is in effect. On May 15, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas delivered a “Nakba Day” speech at the U.N. General Assembly. Nakba is Arabic for “catastrophe” which is how he and other enemies of Israel regard Israel’s birth. Abbas said that the U.S. and Britain are to be “blamed” for creating Israel in order to get rid of their Jews, and he claimed that despite Israel’s efforts to excavate under the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is also the site of what Jews call the Temple Mount, no historical or archeological evidence has been found proving that Jews were present in Jerusalem in the past. In Washington, Rep. Rashida Tlaib staged her own “Nakba” event with help from Sen. Bernie Sanders. And Foreign Affairs, a prestigious American journal, published a long article that also made no attempt to suggest how peaceful coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians might be achieved. The four authors suggest instead that the root of the conflict is, as Islamic Jihad, Mr. Abbas, and Ms. Tlaib would have it: Israel’s existence. The solution – implied rather than stated – is to rip out that root. The consequences of such a policy – not least for the more than 9 million Israelis – were not explored. Elliott Abrams read the article and responded in Pressure Points, his blog. He joins host Cliff May to discuss. Elliott has served at high levels in several administrations. He is currently a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, which happens to be the publisher of Foreign Affairs.

Africa is the second largest continent in the world, both in land area and population. It has more than 1.2 billion people — most of them young and poor — living in 54 countries. If current demographic trends continue, Africa will account for a quarter of humanity by the middle of this century.In Africa, conflicts are more often within countries rather than between them. Sudan and Ethiopia are current examples.Today, al Qaeda and the Islamic State are active across Africa. So is the Wagner Group, a lawless private army loyal to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.And China’s ruling Communist Party has become a neo-imperialist power on the continent, exploiting African peoples and resources.Joining host Cliff May to talk about Africa is Joshua Meservey.He’s currently a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, where he focuses on African geopolitics, counterterrorism, and great power competition in Africa.He was previously a research fellow for Africa at the Heritage Foundation. He’s also worked at the US Army Special Operations Command, for Church World Service based out of Nairobi, Kenya, and he was a Peace Corps volunteer in Zambia. And he’s a member of FDD’s National Security Network.

Ukrainians are defending their homeland from the unprovoked, blatantly illegal, and imperialist war being waged by invading Russian troops under Vladimir Putin’s command. They are also on the front line of a global struggle, fighting in defense of the free world. To discuss, host Cliff May is joined by Ambassador Oksana Markarova, who has served as Ukraine’s envoy to the United States since April 2021. They talk about war and peace, nationhood, independence, freedom, democracy, Ukraine’s enemies, and allies. This special edition episode was recorded in front of a live a studio audience at FDD.