Vandenberg Flash Focus

On Saturday (1/13), voters in Taiwan elected incumbent vice president Lai Ching-te to serve as president, the first time an incumbent party has won a third successive presidential election. What was the PRC's reaction and what does Lai's election mean for cross-strait relations and the U.S.-Taiwan relationship? Flash Focus welcomes Russell Hsiao , executive director of the Global Taiwan Institute,...

For weeks, Iran-backed Houthi terrorists have attacked civilian shipping as well as U.S. & allied warships in an attempt to blockade the southern approach to the Suez Canal through the Red Sea. Last night (Jan. 11) after weeks of defensive convoy operations by a multinational naval coalition, the U.S. and U.K. launched missile and airstrikes to take out Houthi missile and drone launching sites...

Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis—across the Middle East, chaos and violence can be traced back to the Islamic Republic of Iran through its terrorist proxy groups. Vandenberg Coalition founder & chairman Elliott Abrams joins us to discuss the state of the Israel-Hamas War and how it relates to the broader Middle East. 00:01:00 Update on the situation in Israel & Gaza 00:02:35 The ground war and wh...

The Vandenberg Coalition's Executive Director, Carrie Filipetti, sat down with Congresswoman Ashley Hinson (R-IA) to discuss her role on the House Select Committee on the CCP, securing the national defense at a time of fiscal uncertainty, the importance of American leadership, and more. This special episode is part of the Vandenberg Coalition's Future of Conservative Foreign Policy series, where w...

We are joined by Vandenberg's Ana Quintana & former U.S. Special Envoy to the Great Lakes Region of Africa, Amb. J. Peter Pham , to discuss the collapse of governance in Haiti and why Kenya has taken the lead of the UN-sanctioned multinational security force being sent to the island country. 00:01:25 Situation in Haiti and why the UN approved an outside intervention 00:05:08 Why is Kenya the l...

We sit down with the Hudson Institute's Luke Coffey to discuss the current state of the war in Ukraine, the fight brewing in Congress over additional U.S. military aid, and the course of the war as it enters its second year. Mentioned in the Episode : The Fourteen Facts About U.S. Aid to Ukraine The Decisive Moment for Ukraine: A Conversation with Andriy Yermak, Head of the Office of the President...

Vandenberg's own Carrie Filipetti joins Flash Focus to unpack this week's opposition presidential primary in Venezuela, how the Maduro regime maintains its grip on power, and how political change in Venezuela would affect U.S. interests in the Western Hemisphere.

We sit down with Richard Goldberg —a senior advisor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies & Vandenberg Coalition Advisory Board member—to discuss President Biden's trip to Israel yesterday, the IDF's ongoing campaign against Hamas, and the still-unfolding ramifications of Hamas' brutal terrorist attack on Israel almost two weeks ago. This episode was recorded on Thursday, October 19th.

We sit down with Joe Truzman from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies to discuss the ongoing Hamas attack on Israel, Israel's likely responses, and implications for the United States. Early on the morning of Saturday, October 7th, Hamas launched a massive attack from Gaza into Israel on the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War. Fighting is ongoing, but this attack is unprecedented in both...