FDD's Foreign Podicy

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.

Congressman Jason Crow (D-CO) represents Colorado’s Sixth Congressional District, encompassing Aurora and adjacent areas. He's a former Army Ranger and Bronze Star recipient who deployed to combat in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Now in Congress, he serves on the important House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and House Foreign Affairs Committee. He's also co-chair of the For Country Caucus, a bipartisan group of veterans in Congress fighting polarization and working together to get things done. Filling in for host Cliff May, CMPP Senior Director Brad Bowman talks Rep. Crow about a range of national security issues, from the American experience in Afghanistan (and its consequences), Ukraine, and Taiwan, to whether Americans are in danger of a "space Pearl Harbor."

During its October 7 invasion, Hamas terrorists slaughtered more than one thousand civilians in Israel. Its horrific acts of terrorism on that day also included mass rape, pillaging, the desecration of corpses, hostage-taking, and other unspeakable atrocities.Hamas has openly stated that it aims to repeat these atrocities and war crimes again and again and again until Israel is annihilated and Israelis exterminated. In a word: genocide.As for a two-state solution, Hamas has consistently rejected such an idea. And if you think that’s just a bargaining ploy, you’re dead wrong.Because Hamas has an ideology or, more accurately, a theology.Edmund Husain is an expert on this as it pertains to Hamas. He joins host Cliff May to discuss what Islamic theology and history tell us about both Hamas and the future of Israel. Edmund HusainEd is a British writer and political advisor who has worked with leaders and governments around the world. He was a senior advisor to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and he undertook his doctoral studies on Western philosophy and Islam under the direction of the English philosopher Sir Roger Scruton. He has held senior fellowships at think tanks in London and New York. He’s currently an adjunct professor at Georgetown University. Among the books he has authored: The Islamist, The House of Islam: A Global History, and Among the Mosques. A regular contributor to the Spectator magazine, he has appeared on the BBC and CNN and has written for the Telegraph, The Times of London, the New York Times, The Guardian, and other publications. 

Though the fighting is paused, Israel’s defensive war against Hamas continues. FDD Chief Executive Mark Dubowitz and former Israeli National Security Advisor Eyal Hulata — now a senior international fellow at FDD — just returned from Israel. Host Cliff May asks them what they saw, heard, and learned about Israel's ongoing war against Hamas, about Hamas’s allies – in particular Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah – and of course about the wizard behind the curtain: Iran’s rulers.They discuss known details of the ceasefire agreement and hostage exchange — including why calling it a "hostage exchange" is inaccurate, given the imbalance between the innocent civilians being held hostage in Gaza and those imprisoned in Israel for acts of terror; how the delivery of fuel into Gaza during the pause in fighting will likely be exploited by and used to the benefit of Hamas; whether other Iran-backed terrorist groups inside Gaza like Islamic Jihad will also put their weapons down; Qatar's role of both arsonist and firefighter; the sturdiness of President Biden's support for Israel amidst increasing pressure from some inside his camp; and why anticipated IDF operations in southern Gaza will be more difficult and complex than what we've seen in the north.

Although six weeks have passed since Iran-backed Hamas terrorists invaded Israel and butchered more than 1,200 innocent civilians while taking hostage another 240, this is just the beginning of Israel’s multi-front defensive war.One key battlefield: the information space.Historically, the odds of winning in this arena have not been in Israel’s favor. They don’t seem to be now, either.To understand why, host Cliff May and Israeli journalist and author Matti Friedman dissect both past and present media coverage of Gaza.They explain how almost all the foreign press’ current work inside Gaza is being conducted by local “fixers” who either support or dare not cross Hamas. In either case, Hamas controls the narrative.Despite an ethical imperative, most news organizations are not transparent about these restrictions that ultimately shape their coverage. And while this helps explain the “almost eagerness” of the press to accept without question and package as news Hamas talking points, Matti tells Cliff that a “deeper psychology” is also in play.

Experts Jonathan Schanzer and Jacob Nagel join host Cliff May to discuss Israel's ground offensive in Gaza. They explore the challenge of Hamas' underground tunnel network, including potential hostage situations. They debunk the idea of Qatar brokering a deal between Israel and Hamas. The episode also touches on Israel's determination to eliminate Hamas and various aspects of the ongoing conflict.