School of War

Robert D. Kaplan, Robert Strausz-Hupé Chair in Geopolitics at the Foreign Policy Research Institute and author of Waste Land: A World in Permanent Crisis, joins the show to discuss the world’s current state of “permanent crisis”.  ▪️ Times      •      01:40 Introduction     •      02:00 Far Rockaway      •      04:55 Balkan Ghosts     •      08:20 Geography and technology       •      10:55 Weimar...

Mick Ryan, retired major general in the Australian Army and author of  The War for Ukraine: Strategy and Adaptation Under Fire, joins the show to discuss the evolving battlefield and cycles of change and innovation going on in Ukraine.  ▪️ Times      •      01:35 Introduction     •      02:17 Touring the front      •      05:11 No place safe     •      07:01 Change       •      11:24 Wire guided d...

Thomas Bruscino, professor at the U.S. Army War College, and Mitchell G. Klingenberg, assistant professor at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, join the show to discuss their article "Making War Upon the Map" The U.S. Army’s Forgotten Map Problem, Meade’s Gettysburg Campaign, and Depicting Operational Art.  ▪️ Times      •      02:05 Introduction     •      03:12 What’s missing?     ...

John Hillen, James C. Wheat Professor in Leadership at Hampden-Sydney College and author of The Strategy Dialogues: A Primer on Business Strategy and Strategic Management, joins the show to talk about how to think strategically in war, business, and life. ▪️ Times      •      01:55 Introduction     •      02:31 An Army start      •      05:17 Cold War ends     •      10:14 The Gulf         •     ...

Mark Moyar, William P. Harris Chair of Military History at Hillsdale College and author of Triumph Regained: The Vietnam War, 1965-1968,  joins the show to explain the major inflection points of the Vietnam War. ▪️ Times      •      01:58 Introduction     •      02:47 The “orthodox view”      •      05:51 Dominos     •      08:41 A Maoist vision         •      12:42 1963        •      15:30 Henry...

Douglas Murray, journalist and author of On Democracies and Death Cults: Israel and the Future of Civilization, joins the show for a wide ranging conversation that covers Death Cults, anti-Semitism, and recent shifts in the Right. ▪️ Times      •      01:42 Introduction     •      03:00 9/11 origins      •      09:50 It’s not 1939     •      13:45 Death cults         •      19:16 “I’m not a fascis...

Raymond Jonas, Jon Bridgman Endowed Professor in History at the University of Washington and author of Habsburgs on the Rio Grande: The Rise and Fall of the Second Mexican Empire, joins the show to discuss a failed-but-spectacular 19th Century attempt by European powers to undermine the Monroe Doctrine. ▪️ Times      •      01:42 Introduction     •      03:31 Transatlantic relations      •      05...

Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and host of The Iran Breakdown podcast, joins the show to discuss the Iranian nuclear program, where things stand with the Trump administration’s pursuit of a deal, and the prospects of an Israeli attack. ▪️ Times      •      01:33 Introduction     •      02:04 Beginnings      •      04:25 A weapon is the purpose     •      07:31 Enri...

Michael Doran, senior fellow and director of the Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East at Hudson Institute, joins the show to discuss “restraintism” as a factor in Trump’s choices in the Middle East. ▪️ Times      •      01:46 Introduction     •      02:20 What is it?      •      05:01 Left, right, center      •      06:56 Syria ’07        •      11:47 Iraq Study Group        •      17:...

Lord Andrew Roberts, the Bonnie and Tom McCloskey Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution and chair of the 7 October Parliamentary Commission Report, joins the show to discuss October 7th revisionism, the potency of antisemitism, and the strange effort to reinterpret World War II. ▪️ Times      •      01:56 Introduction     •      02:35 Why?      •     03:48 No room for debate     ...

Jonathan Horn, former White House speechwriter and author of The Fate of the Generals: MacArthur, Wainwright, and the Epic Battle for the Philippines, joins the show to discuss the defeats, victories, and legacies of Douglas MacArthur and Jonathan Wainwright, the highest-ranking American POW of WWII. ▪️ Times      •      01:56 Introduction     •      04:36 Arthur MacArthur      •      09:33 The Ph...

Richard Fontaine, CEO of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) and co-author of No Limits? The China-Russia Relationship and U.S. Foreign Policy, joins the show to discuss Beijing-Moscow cooperation and the prospects of the U.S. driving a wedge between them. ▪️ Times      •      02:05 Introduction     •      02:21 Sino-Soviet split      •     06:20 Spheres of influence      •      09:17 Do...

Walter Russell Mead, Alexander Hamilton Professor of Strategy and Statecraft at the University of Florida's Hamilton Center and columnist for The Wall Street Journal, joins the show to talk about the role of economic issues in Trump’s strategic views. ▪️ Times      •      01:34 Introduction     •      04:09 Mercantilism & physiocracy      •      08:50 Silicon Valley      •      14:01 Coalitions  ...

Lara Burns, retired FBI Special Agent and head of terrorism research at the Program on Extremism at The George Washington University, joins the show to talk about how Islamist groups operate in the United States. ▪️ Watch the interview on YouTube - Ep 185: Lara Burns on the Hamas Threat in America ▪️ Times      •      01:32 Introduction     •      01:48 Terrorism squad     •     03:10 The Muslim B...

Alexander Burns, Assistant Professor of History at Franciscan University and author of Infantry in Battle 1733-1783 (From Reason to Revolution), joins the show to talk about how combat evolved in the decades between Marlborough and Napoleon. ▪️ Times      •     01:45 Introduction     •     02:19 1733     •     06:20 Infantry in battle     •     10:54 Achieving results       •     14:19 Tactical ef...

Tom Cotton, U.S. senator from Arkansas and author of Seven Things You Can't Say About China, joins the show to talk about the CCP’s global designs. ▪️ Times      •      01:48 Introduction     •      02:30 Paying attention     •     05:38 Bipartisan     •      08:38 Early days       •     13:54 Strategic delays         •      16:13 An evil empire       •      18:45 “What’s it to us?”       •     22...

Sean McMeekin, Professor of European History and Culture at Bard College and author of To Overthrow the World: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Communism, joins the show to talk about Communist approaches to foreign policy and war. ▪️ Times      •      01:35 Introduction     •      02:39 Communism and war     •     11:02 Giving history a shove        •      16:41 Lenin’s vision       •     20:55 A un...

Michael Cook, Professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University and author of A History of the Muslim World: From Its Origins to the Dawn of Modernity, joins the show to discuss the sudden, explosive Arab expansion of the 7th century.  ▪️ Times      •     01:46 Introduction     •     03:05 Sources     •     04:42 War and politics        •     07:32 Grass and sand       •     09:30 Self-def...

Stephen Kotkin, Kleinheinz Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, joins the show to discuss how both sides have lost the Ukraine War, and the risks of various routes to peace. ▪️ Times      •      02:47 Pressuring Putin     •      12:50 A new path     •     17:07 Avoiding a debacle        •      32:43 Friends     •     38:30 Realignment     •      46:58 Articulating strategy Follow along on Inst...

Phillips O’Brien, chair of Strategic Studies at the University of St. Andrews and author of The Strategists: Churchill, Stalin, Roosevelt, Mussolini, and Hitler--How War Made Them and How They Made War, joins the show to discuss the nature of strategic decision making in World War II and beyond. ▪️ Times      •      01:50 Introduction     •      02:48 Germany 1st debunked     •     06:50 A matter...

Mark Montgomery, senior director of the Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation at FDD and retired U.S. Navy rear admiral, joins the show to discuss how prepared (or ill-prepared) the U.S. is for cyber warfare. ▪️ Times      •      03:24 Introduction     •      04:20 America: A Target Rich Environment     •     05:59 Cyber and mobilization       •      08:35 What actually happens?      •      11...

Christopher Kolakowski, director of the Wisconsin Veterans Museum and editor of Tenth Army Commander: The World War II Diary of Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr., joins the show to discuss the most senior U.S. officer killed by enemy action in WWII, Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr.  ▪️ Times      •      01:44 Introduction     •      02:15 In the shadows     •     03:53 Fathers and sons      •      06:28 Childhoo...

David Betz, Professor of War in the Modern World at King’s College London and author of The Guarded Age: Fortification in the Twenty-First Century, joins the show to discuss how fortification is alive, well, and everywhere.  ▪️ Times      •      01:22 Introduction     •      01:53 A default condition     •     13:20 Why is that there?      •      22:13 Alexandrian foundations      •      28:50 Sec...

Mick Ryan, a retired major general in the Australian Army and author of War Transformed: The Future of Twenty-First-Century Great Power Competition and Conflict, joins the show to discuss future-war fiction and the possible futures of current wars. ▪️ Times      •      01:23 Introduction     •      02:10 Tom Clancy     •     05:40 Accessibility      •      07:14 The Battle of Dorking      •      0...

Hal Brands, Henry A. Kissinger Distinguished Professor of Global Affairs at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and author of The Eurasian Century: Hot Wars, Cold Wars, and the Making of the Modern World, joins the show to discuss the continued relevance of geopolitics. ▪️ Times      •      01:29 Introduction     •      01:54 Twentieth century     •     03:29 Advent of geopo...