While Eliot is away on vacation, Eric hosts authors Hal Brands and Michael Beckley whose new book, Danger Zone: The Coming Conflict with China, drops next week. They discuss the concept of "peak China," why conflict with China may be coming sooner than we think, and what lessons for strategic competition with China we can learn from the U.S.-Soviet Cold War experience, and they evaluate the Biden team's approach to China. Shield of the Republic is a Bulwark podcast co-sponsored by the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. Email us with your feedback at shieldoftherepublic@gmail.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Eric and Eliot host long time friend and colleague Professor Aaron Friedberg of Princeton to discuss Aaron’s new book Getting China Wrong. They cover why we have persistently underestimated China’s rise as a revisionist power, the failures of the West’s “engagement” strategy, the elements of a different approach to China, dividing Russia and China, and the sorry state of academic political science. Getting China Wrong by Aaron Friedberg The China Reckoning by Kurt Campbell and Ely Ratner Friedberg’s Response to Campbell and Ratner: Did America Get China Wrong? Shield of the Republic is a Bulwark podcast co-sponsored by the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. Email us with your feedback at shieldoftherepublic@gmail.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Eric and special guest host Bill Kristol discuss the war in Ukraine with former Ambassador to Poland and former Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Daniel Fried. They assess the military situation, the economic dimension of the conflict, what more can be done on sanctions, the prospects for European unity, and the danger of Putin deploying nuclear weapons to Belarus and the stakes of the conflict. Email us with your feedback at shieldoftherepublic@gmail.com. Shield of the Republic is a Bulwark podcast co-sponsored by the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Eric and Eliot return with special guest David Kramer, the Managing Director of Global Policy at the George W. Bush Institute and former Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, and who incidentally has just been sanctioned by the Russian government (wear it as a badge of honor David!). They discuss the status of the war in Ukraine, the nature of the Russian regime, the prospects for change in Russia, the economic state of the war, and much more. Email us with your feedback at shieldoftherepublic@gmail.com. Shield of the Republic is a Bulwark podcast co-sponsored by the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Eric and Eliot will be taking a short hiatus to travel. In the meantime, please send us your feedback and suggestions at shieldoftherepublic@gmail.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Eric and Eliot welcome Guardian columnist and Spectator blogger Nick Cohen (no relation to Eliot) and author of the several books including What's Left? They discuss the impact of Putin's war on Ukraine on European politics, the role of anti-Communism and anti-Fascism in post-war Europe, the transformation of the Labour Party under Keir Starmer, why Russian money in London was unable to purchase durable policy outcomes from the Conservative government under Boris Johnson, the prospects for democratic politics, and the likely outcome of the war in Ukraine. Shield of the Republic is a Bulwark podcast co-sponsored by the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Eric and Eliot dissect the war in Ukraine and discuss Eliot's articles in the Atlantic and Foreign Affairs. What is the new phase of the war? Are Russian forces exhausted, what is their strategy? How will the Ukrainians counter? Is the Biden package enough? Eliot asks Eric about the lessons of Ukraine for other parts of the world and his Bulwark article on ending the policy of strategic ambiguity for Taiwan. Should we settle in for a long war of attrition? Articles Discussed: The Return of Statecraft: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/world/2022-04-19/return-statecraft This Is the War’s Decisive Moment: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/04/ukraine-russia-war-consequences/629541/ The Lessons of Ukraine for Taiwan—and the U.S.: https://www.thebulwark.com/the-lessons-of-ukraine-for-taiwan-and-the-u-s/ Shield of the Republic is a Bulwark podcast co-sponsored by the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Eliot and Eric welcome Charlie Edel, Australia Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, to discuss security in the Indo-Pacific, the role of Australia, the AUKUS partnership, John Quincy Adams and U.S. foreign policy—do the "restrainers" read Adams correctly?—and the role of literature in understanding history. Shield of the Republic is a Bulwark podcast co-sponsored by the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Eliot and Eric host Professor Elizabeth Samet of the US Military Academy to discuss her new book Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness. They examine the role of mythology in justifying US military action. Was World War II the "Good War" and was the "Greatest Generation" different from subsequent generations of Americans caught up in fighting the nation's wars? Does de-mythologizing war lead to moral equivalence? Is there a role for myth-making in democracies in wartime to inspire the sacrifices necessary to fight wars and to console the families of the fallen? A spirited discussion of very difficult topics. Shield of the Republic is a Bulwark podcast co-sponsored by the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. The views Elizabeth Samet expresses on this podcast do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, the Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Shield of the Republic is a Bulwark podcast co-sponsored by the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. Eliot and Eric talk with ancient historian extraordinaire Barry Strauss. They discuss his new book on Antony, Cleopatra, Octavian, and the Battle of Actium which served as the foundation of the Roman Empire. They discuss what a study of the ancients can tell us about statecraft in general and specifically how it can illuminate statecraft today as well as the current state of intellectual life in the academy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices