FDD's Foreign Podicy

“Hostage diplomacy” is a term you’ll frequently see in the media, but it's a misleading term. What we’re really talking about: Dictators kidnapping and torturing innocent foreign civilians.

 In some cases, the leaders of free countries pay ransom to get them back. In some cases, the dictators also demand the release of convicted criminals who have been or can be of use to them. In some cases, both simultaneously.

The Islamic Republic of Iran is the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism; in 1979, in violation of the most fundamental international laws, its agents seized the American embassy in Tehran and held 66 American citizens hostage — 52 of them for 444 days.

The regime in Tehran threatens Israelis with genocide and is providing weapons to Vladimir Putin so he can continue slaughtering Ukrainians for refusing to submit to him; for the crime (in his eyes) of wanting to remain free and independent.

The Biden administration has now reportedly approved the release to Tehran of several Iranian criminals along with $6 billion in frozen funds. In exchange, five U.S. citizens are to be released.

And that’s almost certainly just part of a broader deal being kept secret from the American people and from Congress — in clear violation of American law.

Billions of additional dollars appear to be involved in this deal which will not stop Tehran’s nuclear weapons development program or even seriously delay it.

And because you get more of what you reward, expect the hostage-taking to continue.

Joining host Cliff May to discuss these topics:

Gazalle Sharmahd, whose father, Jamshid or (Jimmy) Sharmahd, a German citizen, was taken prisoner by Iranian agents in Dubai in 2020. She has been tirelessly campaigning for his release ever since and urging the US and Europe to take a tougher line with the Iran’s ruling mullahs.

Xiyue Wang is a Chinese-born American scholar who was imprisoned in Iran from 2016 to 2019 after being falsely accused of espionage. Xiyue is a member of FDD’s National Security Network.

And Behnam Ben Taleblu is a senior fellow at FDD where he focuses on Iranian security and political issues.

Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine is illegal, immoral, brutal, and barbarian. 

And if you agree that there is no good alternative to American leadership of the world’s free nations and those that aspire to be, then it follows that it would be a terrible mistake — strategically and morally — for Americans to turn their backs on Ukrainians who are fighting for their freedom, independence, homeland, and families.

Whatever your think, you should be curious about the perspectives of America’s allies — particularly those closest to the conflict.

With that in mind, host Cliff May is joined by the Hon. Radosław "Radek" Sikorski, a member of the European Parliament for Poland, who sits on committees for Foreign Affairs, Security and Defense. Also taking part in the conversation is Reuel Marc Gerecht, a resident scholar at FDD. In a former incarnation he was an officer in the CIA’s Directorate of Operations.

He is currently a member of the European Parliament for Poland, where he sits on committees for Foreign Affairs, Security, and Defense. He’s also a Senior Fellow at the Center for European Studies at Harvard and a Distinguished Statesman at CSIS in Washington. He was Poland’s Minister of Defense from 2005 to 2007, Foreign Minister from 2007 to 2014 and Speaker of the Parliament from 2014 to 2015.

Other notable items on his very long resume: He served as a war reporter in Afghanistan and Angola. He was a Resident Scholar at AEI in Washington. Foreign Policy magazine named him one of 100 global policy intellectuals ‘for speaking the truth even when it’s not diplomatic.’ 

"It's not a sprint, it's a marathon."

That was the reported assessment of a Ukrainian battalion commander recently describing Kyiv's counteroffensive against invading Russian forces. To be sure, the progress of the Ukrainian forces has been slow and the human cost incredibly high.

Meanwhile, more than 40 countries — not including Russia — met in Riyadh last weekend to discuss the war. 

At this point in the war, what are the strategies of the two combatants? 

Is time on Kyiv's — or Moscow's — side?

What U.S. interests are at stake on the battlefield in Ukraine?

What happened at the NATO Summit in Vilnius last month?

Guest host Bradley Bowman, senior director of FDD's Center on Military and Political Power, poses these and related questions to two leading experts: Retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General Ben Hodges and Retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery.

War games are not entertainments. They are simulations; a way to develop insights into what would happen in an armed conflict – who would prevail and at what cost, should push come to shove. War games test strategies and capabilities. They are a tool for both research and training.

Recently, Dr. Ben Jensen and FDD’s RADM (Ret) Mark Montgomery conducted for Congress a war game simulating a conflict between the U.S. and the People’s Republic of China over Taiwan.

They join host Cliff May for a special two-part episode to first discuss the concept, utility, and history of war gaming followed by its application in planning for a possible contingency over Taiwan.

Samuel Ramani teaches politics and international relations at Oxford. He’s the author of Russia in Africa and Putin’s War on Ukraine.

His articles appear in a range of top-tier publications. He’s often on the BBC and other international broadcast media. His Twitter feed is granular and prolific.

He joins host Cliff May to discuss Russia's war in Ukraine and its footprint in Africa.

Host Cliff May recently wrote a column for the Washington Times guessing what Vladimir Putin might do next if he should succeed in Ukraine.

He suggested Putin would take over Moldova, formalize his control over Belarus, and then turn his hungry eyes toward the Baltic states — with the primary goal of establishing a land bridge to Kaliningrad, a Russian territory 400 miles west of the Russian mainland.

Parenthetically: Kaliningrad was called Königsberg before the Soviet army captured it from the Germans in 1945. It’s where the Russian Navy’s Baltic Fleet is now headquartered.

In response, Cliff received a note from a brilliant scholar, S. Frederick Starr, among whose many books is Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. It’s a fascinating book that Cliff says changed his understanding of Central Asia and the Islamic world.

In his note to Cliff, Fred asked why he didn’t think about Putin sending his tanks in another direction: Central Asia and the Caucuses.

That seemed like a good question. So, Fred — the founding chairman of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute and Silk Road Studies Program — sat down with Cliff to answer it.