Avsnitt
-
Sal Mercogliano, professor of history at Campbell University and host of the What’s Going on with Shipping YouTube channel, joins the show once again to discuss Iran's renewed attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Why is the ceasefire already beginning to unravel? What is Iran trying to accomplish by asserting control over the strait? And what could the long-term consequences be for global trade, energy markets, and freedom of navigation?
02:11 - New arrangement in the Strait of Hormuz
05:19 - Humanitarian situation for sailors
06:53 - Jobs at sea and AI
08:05 - New rounds of violence
11:02 - Route options for ships
13:30 - Why did the ceasefire break down?
15:05 - Iran asserts control over the strait
16:10 - Why were these ships targeted?
19:08 - Strait of Hormuz as a strategic choke point
21:49 - What Iran learned from the Houthis
23:21 - Why energy prices haven't spiked
28:20 - Impact on developing nations
29:13 - The endgame in the Strait of Hormuz
33:22 - U.S. naval presence in the Gulf
36:26 - Iran's maritime protection racket
Follow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast, or at The Free Press
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Dr. John Mitani, professor emeritus in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Michigan and recipient of the Charles R. Darwin Lifetime Achievement Award, joins School of War to discuss the violent chimpanzee civil war he documented among the Ngogo chimpanzees in Uganda. What caused one of the world's largest chimpanzee communities to turn on itself? What does chimpanzee warfare reveal about the origins of human conflict? And what separates humans from our closest living relatives?
02:39 - How Dr. Mitani became an ape researcher
04:02 - Why chimpanzees?
05:13 - Humans' closest living relatives
08:38 - The Ngogo chimpanzees
09:31 - The chimpanzee civil war begins
13:35 - Living among wild chimpanzees
17:09 - Territorial patrols and warfare
22:34 - Why the chimpanzee community split
26:26 - How chimpanzees fight
29:14 - The strategy behind chimp warfare
31:24 - Why full stomachs lead to war
33:10 - Land, food, and reproduction
37:27 - Infanticide and the mystery of female survival
39:26 - When civil war becomes permanent
41:13 - What chimpanzees teach us about human nature
Follow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast
Find more at The Free Press.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Saknas det avsnitt?
-
Earlier this year, Aaron MacLean visited Ukraine, where he met with Georgian Legion commander Mamuka Mamulashvili. What happens when a boy goes to war at 14 years old? What does a lifetime of fighting Russians teach you about how they operate? And what lessons should the West be learning from war in Ukraine?
02:18 - Growing up in Soviet Georgia
03:53 - Russia's invasion of Abkhazia
07:59 - Capture and torture by Russian forces
10:24 - The First and Second Chechen Wars
13:49 - Killing a Russian soldier for the first time
17:32 - Force vs. diplomacy
18:14 - Georgia's wars with Russia
20:19 - The 2008 Russo-Georgian War
23:47 - Georgian support for Ukraine
24:39 - Mixed martial arts
29:53 - Founding the Georgian Legion
33:33 - The defense of Hostomel Airport
43:32 - How drones have transformed warfare
50:45 - Russian disinformation
52:27 - Why Ukraine will ultimately win
Follow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast
Find more at The Free Press.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Rye Barcott, co-founder and CEO of With Honor, veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, and author of Courage Can Save Us, joins School of War to discuss the meaning of courage, the enduring value of service, and the challenge of bridging America’s growing political divides. What separates courage from bravery? Can military service help heal a polarized America? And what does principled leadership look like in an age of distrust?
01:28 - Murph challenge
03:08 - Rye's father and Vietnam
05:08 - Defining courage
07:57 - First to Fight
13:49 - Joining the Marines
14:22 - September 11th
17:42 - Bosnia, Africa, and Fallujah
19:16 - Marine commanders
23:52 - Life in Fallujah
26:05 - The With Honor mission
28:29 - America's polarization problem
30:05 - Veterans in politics
33:12 - The civil-military divide
37:23 - Courage in politics
41:57 - Congressman Jared Golden
44:19 - Senator Todd Young
Follow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast
Find more at The Free Press.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, returns to School of War to discuss the newly released memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran. What does the deal actually say? What are its biggest strategic implications? And is it comparable to the JCPOA—or something worse?
01:19 - Paragraph 1: Lebanon and Hezbollah
09:45 - Paragraphs 2–3: Sovereignty and the 60-day clock
11:24 - Paragraph 4: Lifting the blockade
16:37 - Paragraph 5: The Strait of Hormuz
23:48 - Paragraph 6: A $300 billion reconstruction fund
33:49 - Paragraph 7: Ending all sanctions
35:43 - Paragraph 8: Nuclear weapons and enrichment
39:12 - Paragraph 9: Maintaining the status quo
40:44 - Paragraph 10: Oil waivers and sanctions relief
43:48 - Paragraph 11: Releasing frozen funds
46:56 - Paragraph 12: Monitoring compliance
47:52 - Paragraph 13: Negotiating the final deal
50:59 - Paragraph 14: A UN Security Council resolution
51:13 - Squandering battlefield leverage
Follow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast
Find more at The Free Press.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Eliot Cohen, Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies; professor emeritus at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, author of The Strategist: How to Think About War and Politics; and co-host of the Shield of the Republic podcast, joins School of War to discuss the recent agreement between the United States and Iran. Did the United States and Israel accomplish their objectives against Iran? What does the conflict reveal about the U.S. military's readiness for future wars? And did Trump negotiate from a position of strength, or squander one?
01:22 - Eliot Cohen on the war with Iran
03:34 - Judging Trump by outcomes
05:08 - A war 47 years in the making
06:45 - What we don't know about the air campaign
08:08 - Negotiating from strength?
09:10 - Trump's negotiating style
12:05 - Questions about America's conduct of the war
14:31 - The Strait of Hormuz becomes the objective
15:41 - Why the war ended when it did
17:25 - Trump and the nature of war
19:01 - Has Iran succeeded?
23:21 - The decline of the Iranian empire
28:09 - Why Trump got a bad deal
31:36 - Auditing the U.S. military
39:39 - Has warfare been transformed?
42:10 - What should America do next?
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Arthur Herman, senior research fellow at the Civitas Institute at the University of Texas at Austin and author of Founder’s Fire: From 1776 to the Age of Trump, joins School of War to discuss how America’s Founding Fathers helped create a culture of innovation in technology, industry, and warfare. Who are the most important founders of the past and present? What lessons can they teach us about today’s revolution in warfare? And what makes American ingenuity so unique?
02:45 - Defining founders
10:56 - Technology at America's founding
13:49 - Alex Karp and the founder mindset
14:45 - The creation of Springfield Arsenal
15:40 - Thomas Jefferson and American weapons
19:10 - Today's revolution in warfare
20:53 - AI on the battlefield
21:49 - Why a strong economy matters
24:40 - China's defense industry
26:32 - American industrial policy
29:11 - Lessons from Ukraine
31:29 - Declining competition in weapons manufacturing
33:38 - The burden of weapons regulations
37:50 - Elon Musk's founder mentality
41:52 - The future of American ingenuity
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior director of Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ (FDD) Iran Program and a senior fellow specializing in Iranian security and political issues, returns to School of War to discuss the latest round of fighting between Israel and Iran. Why did this latest wave of Iranian missile attacks feel different? Why does a weakened Iran seem emboldened? Where is the regime most vulnerable? And will politics in Washington prevent the U.S. from doing what is necessary to stop it?
02:30 - Israel in Southern Lebanon
04:37 - Iran's Missile Barrage Against Israel
06:20 - FPV Drone Warfare in Lebanon
08:30 - A New Iranian Strategy?
12:16 - Cover for Terror Proxies
14:14 - The Danger of a Weakened Iran
17:44 - The Nazi Germany Comparison
21:00 - The Wehrmacht's Last Stand
22:07 - Iran's Reaction to Pressure
25:09 - Targets in Iran and Israel
30:15 - Where Is Iran Most Vulnerable?
31:47 - The Iran-Iraq War Analogy
32:44 - Exploiting Divisions in Iran
35:09 - Political Obstacles to Maximum Pressure
38:17 - Trump's Record on Iran Policy
Follow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast
Find more at The Free Press.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Anthony Vinci—co-founder and CEO of Vico, an AI company that empowers judgment and analysis in finance and national security, and author of The Fourth Intelligence Revolution—joins School of War to discuss the technological evolution of spycraft. How does an intelligence officer operate in a world of rapidly advancing technology? What happens when machines begin to assist, or even replace, human judgment? And are we being spied on constantly?
02:33 - The Job of an Intelligence Officer
03:43 - Technology and Intelligence Work
05:58 - Living Under Surveillance
07:43 - AI as an Intelligence Analyst
09:37 - The Origins of American Intelligence
10:15 - Who Was Wild Bill Donovan?
12:37 - The Modern Intelligence Community
14:25 - The Evolution of Spy Technology
16:39 - The Intelligence Gap Before 9/11
18:58 - A Mossad Chief's Critique
23:10 - The Fourth Intelligence Revolution
25:02 - AI and Autonomy
27:49 - Are We All Being Spied On?
30:05 - China's Political Warfare
34:00 - The COVID Intelligence Failure
39:59 - The Dangers of AI Language Models
48:37 - TikTok and Surveillance
Follow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast
Find more at The Free Press.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Rep. Michael Baumgartner, who represents Washington’s 5th Congressional District, joins the show from Singapore at the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue. What was the tone and significance of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s speech? How are the Asian economies fairing in lieu of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz? And what is the future of the American-led order in East Asia?
03:07 - Tone of the Shangri-La Dialogue
05:30 - Asia and the Strait of Hormuz
09:35 - The UAE's Distance from Iran
11:47 - America's Role in Asian Security
13:06 - Asia's Reaction to Trump's China Summit
15:25 - The Diversity of Asia
16:54 - Pete Hegseth's Speech
19:07 - The CCP's Control of China
20:59 - Korean and Japanese Views on China
24:07 - Drones and Autonomous Warfare
24:50 - Vietnam's Reinvention
28:07 - Singapore-U.S. Relations
30:21 - Paused Arms Sales
34:00 - Iran and Electoral Politics
Follow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast
Find more at The Free Press.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Matti Friedman is an award-winning journalist and columnist at The Free Press. He joins the show to discuss his latest book, Out of the Sky: Heroism and Rebirth in Nazi Europe. Whom were the Zionist Jews fighting on behalf of the British during World War II? What happened to the legendary Zionist figure Hannah Senesh? And how did a war story without battlefield success help give birth to a nation?
01:45 - The scene in British Mandate Palestine
07:30 - British MI9 unit
07:38 - Jewish military units
08:41 - Rescue missions into Europe
14:21 - Secret meeting in Tel Aviv
17:29 - Palestinian Jews’ view of European Jewry
21:51 - Hannah Senesh
24:46 - Parachuting technology in WWII
26:44 - Sword of Honour trilogy
29:48 - Discrimination against Jewish agents in Europe
32:54 - Chaos at the end of WWII
34:13 - Hannah Senesh’s doomed mission
43:10 - The escape of Hannah’s mother
47:43 - The importance of heroes and myths
49:06 - Understanding Zionism
Follow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast
Find more at The Free Press.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Jake Sullivan, former U.S. national security adviser under President Joe Biden, Kissinger professor of the practice of statecraft and world order at the Harvard Kennedy School, and co-host of The Long Game podcast, joins School of War to discuss geopolitics through the lens of today’s Democratic Party. Where do Democrats stand on China, Israel, Iran, and the war in Ukraine?
02:29 - China summit recap
04:03 - President Trump’s goals in China
05:44 - Taiwan threat level
08:50 - Democratic Party position on China
14:16 - Avoiding war with China
16:39 - Nature of competition with China
18:39 - Role of AI in power struggle
23:44 - Critique of Trump’s Iran policy
27:17 - Democratic Party position on Iran
32:30 - Iran’s nuclear program
35:25 - Democratic Party position on Israel
45:15 - Russia-Ukraine conflict
51:12 - Democratic Party restraint policies
52:56 - Weapon systems assistance for Ukraine
Follow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast
Find more at The Free Press.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Sir Niall Ferguson, Milbank Family Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and columnist at The Free Press, joins the show in front of a live audience to discuss the perilous moment we find ourselves in and how it all relates to history. What is the status of the Iran war? What is influencing President Donald Trump’s policymaking? How do we defeat a dangerous wave of “anti-history”? And are we on the brink of a world war, a cold war, or something in between?
03:35 - Historical analogies for today
09:51 - Short war illusion
15:14 - We’re in a Cold War II
18:12 - Putin’s essay from 2021
19:50 - Russia-Ukraine war
25:29 - The American mythos of WWII
26:58 - Anti-history
30:04 - The life work of Bill Buckley
31:37 - Return of antisemitism and socialism
32:52 - President Trump’s worldview
36:37 - The war in Iran
47:45 - The new state of warfighting
53:53 - President Trump’s treatment of Ukraine
57:17 - Risks of Taiwan conflict
01:03:57 - Limits to air power
01:06:58 - Reversal of historical revisionism
01:12:30 - Story about Aaron’s father
Follow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast
Find more at The Free Press.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Christian Brose, president and chief strategy officer of Anduril Industries and author of The Kill Chain: Defending America in the Future of High-Tech Warfare, joins the show to help us evaluate American performance against Iran so far and discuss the state of defense innovation in America. What is on the cutting edge? Where are we falling behind? And what happens if the war comes home?
Times:
01:58 - Audit of Operation Epic Fury
05:04 - Munitions and weapons shortages
08:30 - New lower-cost weapons
10:56 - The Barracuda cruise missile system
15:04 - Lessons from the battlefield
15:41 - Missile defense systems
21:47 - Software, data, and AI
24:39 - Homeland defense
27:02 - Containerization
28:05 - Industrial capacity
31:36 - Bringing Americans back into defense manufacturing
34:43 - The defense budget
39:02 - Anduril fundraising
Follow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast
Find more at The Free Press.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Elliott Abrams, senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and chairman of the Vandenberg Coalition and the Tikvah Fund, joins the show to discuss Israel, Iran, and the new power dynamics in the Middle East. What new alliances have emerged since the chaos on October 7, 2023? How has the current war with Iran reshaped the region? With a storm of competing interests, fragile partnerships, and global stakes, can stability emerge, or is the Middle East heading toward an even wider conflict?
02:10 - Israel today
04:02- Israeli airport security
05:58 - Netanyahu’s domestic political situation
09:07 - Bibi’s secret visit to the UAE
10:15 - American military aircrafts in Israel
12:01 - Israel-UAE relationship
15:57- October 7th Middle East aftermath
17:17 - Erosion of Iranian proxies
19:20 - Israeli-Saudi relationship
20:27 - Egypt’s global decline
22:24 - Turkey’s role
29:09 - Israel-Lebanon relationship
28:30 - Hezbollah factor
32:25 - How to handle Hamas
36:31 - Iran and the future of the Strait of Hormuz
Follow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast
Find more at The Free Press.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Sam Brownback, former Kansas senator and governor, co-chair of the International Religious Freedom Summit, and author of China’s War on Faith, joins School of War to discuss the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution of religious minorities and how its domestic oppression shapes America’s broader strategic posture toward China. How is Beijing using the digital revolution as a tool of political control? Should freedom of religion be treated as a central front in the U.S.-China rivalry? With President Trump currently in China for a summit with President Xi Jinping, the world is watching a clash that extends beyond economics and military power into a conflict over faith, freedom, and the moral future of humanity.
Times:
03:25 - Trump’s China summit
05:25 - Clash of civilizations
06:18 - History of Christianity in China
08:41 - Governor’s transformative past
11:07- Systems of communism
15:53 - Chinese surveillance technology
17:22 - Peter Xu history
19:40 - Dangers of the CCP
20:53 - Treatment of religious minorities
26:12 - Technologies for oppression
29:00 - Trump’s handling of disentanglement
32:25 - American religious freedom
35:20 - The Falun Gong
37:46 - Confrontation vs. accommodation
42:59 - Story of Wang Chun Yan
Follow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast
Find more at The Free Press.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Dan Blumenthal, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, joins the show to discuss the president’s upcoming summit in Beijing with President Xi Jinping. What are President Trump’s goals? How will war with Iran affect the meeting? And what do these discussions mean for the future of conflict in the Indo-Pacific?
02:12 Trump’s summit with Xi Jinping
03:38 Trump’s goals at summit
04:48 China’s leverage over Iran
05:57 China’s principal interest in the Middle East
08:14 U.S. sanctions on Iran and China
10:22 China’s diversified energy imports
13:05 American-Chinese competition
15:34 Defense industrial base issues
16:03 AI factor
16:34 China’s industrial leverage
19:05 Economic showdown
24:43 The Taiwan issue
26:22 Global conflict lessons for Taiwan
28:46 Division of Taiwanese politics
31:46 Stakes for the future
Follow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast
Find more at The Free Press.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Nicholas Eberstadt, the Henry Wendt Chair in Political Economy at the American Enterprise Institute, joins School of War to discuss global population decline. What does a shrinking and aging population mean for the United States? What does it mean for China, whose demographic crisis may be even more severe? How could population decline reshape economic growth, military power, and geopolitical competition? And what happens to the international order when the world stops growing?
03:02 Population decline in America
006:15 Deaths exceeding births in the US
07:31 Global birth crash
14:49 Grounds for optimism
17:12 Small family trend
18:17 GDP relationship with population size
19:23 Individual prosperity vs. National strength
21:24 Rise in human life expectancy
24:36 Ben Carson’s prediction
27:11 Ukraine’s military revolution
30:47 American bad habits
33:48 AI and the labor market
37:25 Chinese depopulation crisis
48:50 What would a world war look like today?
51:48 US Alliance relationships
Follow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast
Find more at The Free Press.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Rich Goldberg, senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, and Garrett Exner, adjunct fellow at Hudson Institute, return to School of War to discuss the complicated news out of the Strait of Hormuz. What is President Donald Trump’s new plan, “Project Freedom”? Does it put the ceasefire at risk? What’s really happening in this critical waterway?
Times:
02:31 - President’s statement
04:00 - Understanding Project Freedom
07:15 - Attacks against tankers
09:53 - Central Command statement
12:15 - Ceasefire breakdown
16:25 - Coordination cell or escort
18:00 - Trump buying time
20:40 - US Navy escort option
23:06 - Missile defense
24:45 - Economic impacts
27:01 - Iran under pressure
31:50 - Live news US vessel transit
34:15 - Human factor of outbound transit
37:30 - American gas production
39:28 - Predictions in America’s favor
Follow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast Find more at The Free Press.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Lance R. Blyth, command historian of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM), joins School of War to discuss the evolution of North America’s air defense. How has NORAD adapted to shifting threats over the decades? Are today’s threats manageable? Are we in a new Cold War? And what can the command, with operations deep inside a Colorado mountain, teach us about defending the continent in an era of renewed great-power competition?
Times:
02:04 History of NORAD
07:02 Threats of the 1950s
13:50 Sensors, effectors, and connectors
15:15 Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE)
19:45 SABRE travel system
21:14 Aerospace missile warning systems
22:07 Cheyenne Mountain Complex
24:13 NORAD in films
27:56 False missile launches
31:31 Adapting to new threats
34:23 New joint surveillance system
35:19 Importance of Canada
36:21 September 11
40:21 Operation Noble Eagle
43:00 Today’s threats
Follow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast Find more at The Free Press.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices - Visa fler
