Foreign Podicy

As Israel's defensive war in Gaza enters its fifth month, host Cliff May is joined by FDD experts retired Major General Amir Eshel and retired Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery to talk about the current state of the war including how many Hamas terrorists are thought to remain active on the battlefield in Gaza; the whereabouts of Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif; and IDF efforts to reduce civilian casualties during what’s expected to be a major battle in Rafah.They also discuss the threat from Hezbollah across Israel’s northern border in Lebanon; the impact of Ramadan which begins on March 10; whether weapons from Iran’s rulers could still be flowing into Gaza through tunnels under its Egyptian border; what Egypt is and should be doing; what the U.S. stands to learn from Israel’s hard lessons on and after October 7; and President Biden’s changing rhetoric on the Hamas-Israeli war.

The U.S. is in a decisive moment. Harried by turmoil and challenges at home, many Americans look overseas and see a world on fire.Ukrainians are fighting for their lives against Putin, wondering whether the west will abandon them; Beijing is undertaking an unprecedented military expansion in preparation for potential aggression in the Taiwan Strait; Iran-backed terrorists are attacking U.S. troops in Iraq, Syria, and Jordan, while waging the worst campaign against international shipping in decades; and Israel is trying to finish the job against Hamas in Gaza while eyeing Hezbollah, the Iranian nuclear program, and concerning political pronouncements in Washington.Guest host Bradley Bowman is joined by fellow FDD expert RADM (Ret) Mark Montgomery to discuss the essential state of play in Taiwan, Ukraine, and Israel; why the outcome of their struggles matters to Americans; and what role the U.S. should play in helping them.

Jeffrey Herf discusses his book on the different manifestations of Jew-hatred, including Islamic anti-Semitism and its connection to Nazi ideology. The chapter also explores the rise of anti-Semitism after recent atrocities and the role of think tanks in shaping policies and addressing the cultural acceptance of anti-Semitism in universities.

Colonel Richard Kemp has spent three decades fighting terrorists and insurgents around the world, including as commander of British forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. He has been present during each conflict between Israel and Hamas since 2008 and has been in Israel since the beginning of the current Gaza war.   Col. Kemp joins Cliff to discuss why Israel is not guilty of genocide and why Hamas, Hezbollah, and their patrons in Tehran are; the measures taken by Israel to reduce civilian harm — including their unparalleled ratio of civilians to combatants killed — in what the Col. calls the “single most challenging battlefield”; how South Africa and other members of the so-called ‘international community’ reinforce Hamas’ use of human shields; and the Colonel’s thoughts on the recent U.S.- and UK-led defensive strikes targeting Houthi assets in Yemen.Col. Kemp also shares a battlefield assessment from his time spent in Ukraine and explains to Cliff why he fears the war is likely to end in defeat for Kyiv.

Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) and Senator Roger Wicker (R-MI) are the chairman and ranking member, respectively, of the Senate Armed Services Committee. On January 11, they issued a noteworthy joint statement after receiving a briefing from Admiral John Aquilino, the commander of all U.S. military forces in the Indo-Pacific. The briefing’s topic? The threat from China and how we should respond. The two senators called Admiral Aquilino’s briefing “sobering” and said “Failure to maintain deterrence against China… would be catastrophic for American national and economic security.” They said tackling the challenges must be a top priority for the committee and called for a number of urgent steps.While many of us have been focused on the aftermath of the deplorable October 7 terror attack on Israel and growing instability and war in the Middle East, things have still been happening in the Indo-Pacific. So, what has China been up to? What has the U.S. military been doing to bolster deterrence? What additional steps must be taken?Guest host Bradley Bowman, senior director of FDD's Center on Military and Political Power, asks these and related questions to Admiral Aquilino. Also joining the conversation: retired Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery. Admiral John AquilinoAdmiral Aquilino is the 26th Commander of the United States Indo-Pacific Command. That’s the Pentagon oldest and largest combatant command covering 36 nations, 14 time zones, and more than 50 percent of the world’s population. He oversees 380,000 service members and DOD civilians and is responsible for all U.S. military activities in the Indo-Pacific. That means he spends a lot of time thinking about the People’s Republic of China. Prior to his current assignment, he's commanded a carrier strike group, led all U.S. naval forces in the Middle East, and was the commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet, among many other assignments. In addition to being a leader, he’s also a pilot and warrior. He’s accumulated more than 5,000 flight hours. He’s been an F-14 and F-18 pilot and has 1,500 carrier landings. He’s also a graduate of the famous TOPGUN school. Admiral Aquilino has deployed many times, including in support of Operations Deny Flight, Deliberate Force, Southern Watch, Noble Eagle, Enduring Freedom, and Iraqi Freedom.Rear Admiral (retired) Mark MontgomeryRADM Montgomery is the senior director of the Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation at FDD where he is also a senior fellow. Mark spent 32 years in the U.S. Navy, commanded a carrier strike group, and worked as the director of operations at U.S. Pacific Command.

Host Cliff May is joined by FDD experts Jonathan Schanzer and Richard Goldberg to discuss Qatar donning the facade of ‘mediator’ and ‘peacemaker.’ The reality is rather different.They unpack Doha's bad behavior, including how a plethora of bad actors — e.g., Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood, the Taliban, al Qaeda, ISIS, and the Islamic Republic of Iran (or, as Jon calls it, “the cantina scene from Star Wars”) — are aided and abetted by Qatar; the historical context of Qatar’s rise to a “permissive jurisdiction” for jihadis; and the tough reckoning that awaits Washington as a result of President Biden designating Qatar “a major non-NATO ally.” Astonishingly and distressingly, a key U.S. military base in Qatar has been renewed for ten years, and the U.S. ambassador to Qatar has called 2023 “the greatest year ever in U.S.-Qatari relations,” despite the high probability that Doha has the blood of at least 34 Americans on its hands.Correction: It is the Attorney General Alliance (AGA), not the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG), that receives funds from Qatar. More here.Music credit:Title: Star Wars - Cantina Bandhttp://www.flv2mp3.org@nocopyrightelectroswing7954  

The October 7 attack against Israel was carried out by Hamas with support from the Islamic Republic of Iran. Other Tehran proxies include Lebanon-based Hezbollah and Yemen-based Ansar Allah, better known as the Houthi rebels. Although President Trump designated them as a foreign terrorist organization, President Biden removed them from that blacklist.Since November, the Houthis have used Tehran-supplied weapons to attack more than 20 commercial vessels traveling through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, gateway to the Red Sea and Suez Canal and therefore one of the most economically and strategically important waterways in the world. In response to these aggressions, the Pentagon has organized a U.S.-led naval coalition: Operation Prosperity Guardian.Does the U.S. now have this threat to freedom of the seas under control? If not, what should be the plan? Host Cliff May asks FDD experts RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery and Bradley Bowman.They discuss coalition’s defense approach, and why it doesn’t appear to be working; why some of the world’s biggest commercial fleets are acquiescing to the Houthi’s stranglehold on the strait; whether the U.S. is more concerned with provoking Iran’s rulers than with enforcing freedom of the seas; why “deterring by denial” rather than “deterring by punishment” encourages escalation; why the Houthis pose a direct threat to core American interests; and why the recent Houthi attacks have little if anything to do with Israel’s war against Hamas and are instead “an attack on the international system.”

Dr. Nadia Schadlow previously served as the U.S. national security advisor for strategy, and she led the drafting and publication of the 2017 National Security Strategy (and in record time). She shares what it was like to formulate such a strategy while in the Trump White House and while her predecessors rejected much of it, she shares one Strategy “core which is very, very important” reiterated by the Biden administration.She expands on her sentiment in the Wall Street Journal that the uptick in global chaos is a direct consequence of U.S. failure to deter Russia, Iran, and China; why advancing some of Biden’s “aggressive domestic agenda” actually harms U.S. interests abroad; how America’s inability to defend its territorial integrity at its southern border has direct international security implications, including emboldening the likes of the Chinese Communist Party and the Houthis; and why it is notinconsistent to care about both the sovereignty of Ukraine and that of the U.S. southern border.Dr. Schadlow explains how Americans have benefitted from the world order they helped build and lead and the vitality of maintaining such order; the harm in continuing to empower fundamentally corrupt international organizations like the Red Cross and UN Human Rights Council; and why a 20-year investigation of an “existential threat” is an oxymoron and we should demand better outcomes for our tax-dollars.She and Cliff also discuss whether there’s value in the “Cold War 2.0” analogy — and why Dr. Schadlow says there’s one major and critical difference when it comes to China; why U.S. posture with the Houthis appears to be only defensive and not offensive; the Obama doctrine of mollifying Iran’s rulers and thinking they’d “share the neighborhood” — a strategic doctrine that Cliff points out is “less Clausewitz and more Mr. Rogers,” and more.DR. NADIA SCHADLOWNadia Schadlow was the U.S. national security advisor for strategy in the Trump administration. In that capacity, she led the drafting and publication of the 2017 National Security Strategy of the United States.She has also served in the Defense Department and with the Smith Richardson Foundation, identifying strategic issues that warranted further attention from the American policy community.She is currently a senior fellow at Hudson Institute and a co-chair of the Hamilton Commission on Securing America’s National Security Innovation Base, and she conducts research and analysis on a range of issues at the intersection of strategy, national security, and technology.She is the author of War and the Art of Governance: Consolidating Combat Success into Political Victory.

General David Petraeus joins the show to discuss his new book (co-authored by Andrew Roberts, our recent episode with him here), Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Ukraine.Primarily through the lenses of Ukraine and Israel, Cliff and the General examine what has evolved into modern-day warfare.They discuss the status of Ukraine's defensive war against Russia, including criticism that the U.S. provides only enough assistance to prevent Kyiv from losing the war but not enough to win it. The General shares his concerns related to Israel's defensive war in Gaza, his thoughts on "the day after" — from the role of the UN to preventing Hamas from reconstituting, and his advice for Israel's War Cabinet based on his experience in Iraq. Cliff also asks him how Israel should handle Hezbollah, and — speaking of — does he think the U.S. has adopted a policy of appeasement towards Iran? What was his reaction to the U.S.-led Red Sea coalition announced earlier this week?General David PetraeusGen. Petraeus served in the U.S. Army for 37 years with six consecutive commands as a general officer — five of which were in combat, including command of the “Surge” in Iraq, U.S. Central Command, and the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. In addition to later serving as director of the CIA, he has held academic appointments at six universities and is a senior fellow and lecturer at Yale. Also worth noting: he was sanctioned by Russia in 2022.

Podcast host and author Dan Senor joins Cliff to discuss his new book, The Genius of Israel: The Surprising Resilience of a Divided Nation in a Turbulent World, and Israel's defensive war in Gaza. Among the complexities they ponder:How does Hamas continue to rain rocket fire across Israel — do they have that many weapons stockpiled, or are they being resupplied?Is Israel achieving its militarily objectives? And how is it performing on the communications battlefield?Will Palestinians see this war differently than previous wars and attribute their suffering to Hamas?Despite the sea of calls for Israel to cease its defensive fire, why are there no calls for Hamas to stop terrorizing Israelis? And where are calls for neighboring Arab countries like Egypt and Jordan to even temporarily take in and shelter Palestinians?Does the Biden administration understand the role played by the Islamic Republic of Iran?Dan SenorDan hosts the popular “Call Me Back” podcast. He has been a senior advisor to U.S. presidential campaigns and a Pentagon official based in Baghdad and Qatar. He’s the co-author of Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle which has been translated into more than 30 languages. And he now has a new book: The Genius of Israel: The Surprising Resilience of a Divided Nation in a Turbulent World.