FDD's Foreign Podicy

One year ago, the U.S. military, under orders from the White House, allowed the Taliban to re-take control of Afghanistan. The withdrawal was poorly planned. The evacuation of Americans and American allies was chaotic and, for some — including 13 American service members — fatal. One year later, what’s the status of Afghanistan? What’s the status of the Taliban’s ally, al Qaeda? What lessons have we learned? What lessons have we not learned? Joining host Cliff May to discuss: LTG (Ret.) H.R. McMaster, former White House National Security Advisor who now serves as Chairman of the Board of Advisors at FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power (CMPP); Bradley Bowman, senior director of FDD's CMPP; and Bill Roggio, FDD senior fellow and editor of FDD’s Long War Journal.  

Israel’s latest armed conflict was with a group that calls itself Islamic Jihad, or Palestinian Islamic Jihad, or PIJ. It’s supported, armed, and trained by the rulers of the Islamic Republic of Iran. To learn more about this American-designated terrorist organization, how badly it was set back by the missiles of August, and what Iran’s rulers might do to build it back better, host Cliff May is joined by FDD Chief Executive Mark Dubowitz, who was in Israel during the three-day battle, and by FDD Senior Vice President for Research Jonathan Schanzer. Jon, who is also the author of Gaza Conflict 2021: Israel, Hamas, and Eleven Days of War, closely followed reporting on the fighting in English, Hebrew, and Arabic.

The United States has vital economic and national security interests in deterring aggression and maintaining peace and security in Europe. But almost six months ago on February 24, a clearly undeterred Vladimir Putin launched the largest invasion on the European continent since WWII. As the Ukrainian people continue the fight to defend their country, the war grinds on with no end in sight. Meanwhile, Putin's disregard for the sovereignty of Russia's neighbors prompted Finland and Sweden to seek admission into NATO — even as NATO member Turkey fluctuates between cooperation and competition with Russia. How are Russian and Ukrainian forces currently performing on the battlefield? What role has Turkey played in the conflict, and will this impact the future of U.S.-Turkey relations? Are recent changes to NATO's military posture sufficient? How should we view the likely addition of Finland and Sweden to the NATO alliance? Bradley Bowman — senior director of FDD's Center on Military and Political Power (CMPP), filling in for host Cliff May — poses these and related questions to two experts. LTG (Ret.) Ben Hodges previously served as the Commanding General of the U.S. Army in Europe and is now the Pershing Chair in Strategic Studies at the Center for European Policy Analysis. Amb. Eric S. Edelman previously served as U.S. Ambassador to both Turkey and Finland and at the Pentagon as Undersecretary of Defense for Policy. He's now a senior advisor at FDD where he also serves on the Board of Advisors for FDD's CMPP.

Ayman al Zawahiri, emir of Al Qaeda, is no more. He was reportedly on the balcony of what he thought was a “safe house” in one of Kabul’s more upscale neighborhoods when two missiles fired by the CIA from a Hellfire drone ended his life — almost 21 years after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and almost one year after the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and capitulation to the Taliban. To discuss Zawahiri's career and killing and what's next for Al Qaeda, the Taliban, Afghanistan, and the global jihad, Foreign Podicy host Cliff May is joined by FDD senior fellow and editor of FDD’s Long War Journal Bill Roggio and senior director of FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power (CMPP) Bradley Bowman.  

A couple of weeks ago, Joe Biden went to Israel and Saudi Arabia. This was not a summer vacation. The president had goals. Did he achieve any? Did he set any back? Foreign Podicy host Clifford D. May poses these and other questions to Michael Singh and Hussain Abdul-Hussain. Michael Singh Michael is the Managing Director and Lane-Swig Senior Fellow at The Washington Institute. From 2005 to 2008, he was senior director for Middle East affairs at the White House National Security Council. He’s also served as special assistant to secretaries of state Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell and at the U.S. embassy in Israel. Hussain Abdul-Hussain Hussain is a research fellow at FDD. Formerly a managing editor of Beirut’s Daily Star, he has reported from war zones in Lebanon and Iraq. He headed the Washington Bureau of the Kuwaiti daily Alrai. He’s been a Visiting Fellow with London’s Chatham House, and he’s published in numerous Arabic and English language publications, including in The New York Times and The Washington Post.

Great Britain is in the midst of a leadership crisis. The decline and fall of the always-entertaining Boris Johnson has led to a stormy contest among Conservative Party politicians to replace him, and the Labour Party now has a chance to replace the Conservatives. It’s complicated as are the consequences of Brexit, the separate Brexit of Harry and Meghan and their transformation into the Duke and Duchess of Hollywood. To help make sense of it all, host Cliff May is joined by Nile Gardiner. Nile Gardiner Nile is director of the Heritage Foundation’s Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom. Earlier in his career, he was Foreign Policy Researcher for former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, advising her on international policy and assisting with her book, Statecraft: Strategies for a Changing World. Nile is extraordinarily well-educated. He received a doctorate in history from Yale University. He also has two master's degrees from Yale, and a master’s degree and bachelor’s degree in modern history from Oxford University. He has lived in Europe, Africa, Asia, and North America.

In addition to following Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine, host Cliff May has also been trying to understand what’s going on in "the lands between" – the lands between Russia and Western Europe; lands that Vladimir Putin would like also to include in his empire or, failing that, in his sphere of influence. And this just in: The Islamic Republic of Iran, just south of what were the borders of the Soviet empire, is assisting Putin in his aggression. Curious, no? To discuss these and related issues, Cliff is joined by Dr. Ivana Stradner, who serves as an advisor to FDD’s Barish Center for Media Integrity, and by Dr. Emanuele Ottolenghi, a senior fellow at FDD and an expert at FDD’s Center on Economic and Financial Power (CEFP).

Professor Waller R. Newell is a political theorist and historian of ideas. He specializes in the history of tyranny from ancient times to the present. He’s written about Rousseau, Marx, Nietzsche, and Heidegger. He’s studied the French Revolution, Communism, National Socialism, and contemporary Russian Eurasianist nationalism. His many books – which have been translated into Italian, Portuguese, Turkish, Korean, and Kurdish – include “Tyranny and Revolution”; “Tyrants: A History of Power”; “Injustice and Terror”; and “Tyranny: A New Interpretation.” He’s a professor of political science, philosophy, and humanities at Carleton University in Ottawa. Recently, he also became an adjunct fellow at FDD. He joins host Cliff May as well as FDD Senior Fellow Reuel Marc Gerecht to discuss related issues.

Decades 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 contradictory imperatives: to respond to a threat, but also to limit the response so as to contain costs and limit risks. The result is often mission failure – and that has consequences. He joins host Cliff May to discuss not going the distance, not sticking to our guns, being in for a penny but not a pound, and other related topics.

Not 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 Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East. He’s served as a senior director on the National Security Council, a senior advisor in the State Department, and a deputy assistant secretary of defense in the Pentagon. He has a doctorate from Princeton, and he’s the author of “Ike’s Gamble,” a thoughtful re-examination of the Suez Crisis of 1956. FDD Senior Fellow Reuel Marc Gerecht, a former Middle Eastern specialist at the CIA’s Directorate of Operations, was, for some years, based in Turkey. Reuel and Foreign Podicy host Cliff May agree with Dr. Doran on most issues — but not on Erdogan. They discuss the root of their disagreement in this episode.