Foreign Podicy

By FDD

History

What's Foreign Podicy about?

A national security and foreign policy podcast from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD).

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Foreign Podicy episodes:

04.18.2024
Jerusalem and Tehran Consider Their Options
Last weekend, Iran’s rulers launched a massive missile and drone assault on Israel. Though the attack was thwarted, it should be obvious that the Islamic Republic is willing to pursue its goal of “Death to Israel!” — not just by utilizing...
04.12.2024
The Thickening Fog of War
Six months after Iranian-backed terrorists perpetrated the largest slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust, Israel’s ground war against Hamas in Gaza, its conflict with Lebanon-based Hezbollah in Israel’s north, and Tehran’s multi-front shadow war against the Jewish state continue. ...
04.05.2024
Israel's Shadow War
The Israeli airstrike next to Iran’s embassy in Damascus on April 1 targeted several high-ranking members of Iran’s Quds Force — an elite division of its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, which is designated by the U.S. as a...
03.29.2024
Ronald Meets the Donald
President Reagan knew a detent with the Soviet Union wouldn’t win the Cold War. If we take off the gloves and force Soviet communism to compete with American democracy, he thought, the U.S. will prevail. In a phrase: “We win,...
03.22.2024
John Bolton’s New World Order
After World War II, the United States attempted to construct something new: a liberal, American-led, rules-based international order that would promote human rights, Enlightenment values, and democracy. Today, the dictatorial rulers of China, Russia, and Iran are attempting to establish something...
03.15.2024
Ali Khamenei’s Nuclear Ambitions and Weapons of Mass Distraction
In Gaza, Israelis are fighting a ground war – and an underground war – against Hamas, a proxy of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Israelis also are responding to missile attacks from Hezbollah, Tehran’s Lebanon-based foreign legion. These are serious...
03.08.2024
On Safari with Admiral Montgomery
Next month marks 30 years since the onset of the world’s worst mass slaughter since the Holocaust: the Rwandan genocide. Among the forces that ushered in an end to the conflict was a military officer who would ultimately become Rwanda’s president:...
03.01.2024
View of the World from Boston
Joining Cliff for this episode is Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby, whose first column appeared 30 years ago this week. Jeff’s career as a journalist has included interviews with Elie Wiesel and Mikhail Gorbachev, and on-the-ground reporting from such exotic...
02.23.2024
The UN’s Support for Hamas’ War On Israel
Given the mandate of the United Nations, you might think a genocide perpetrated by a terrorist organization against a democracy in the Middle East would be an opportunity for the UN to exercise its moral authority — perhaps even an...
02.16.2024
The Battle in Rafah, the War with Tehran
As Israel's defensive war in Gaza enters its fifth month, host Cliff May is joined by FDD experts retired Major General Amir Eshel and retired Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery to talk about the current state of the war including how...
02.09.2024
A moment of decision for Americans
The U.S. is in a decisive moment. Harried by turmoil and challenges at home, many Americans look overseas and see a world on fire. Ukrainians are fighting for their lives against Putin, wondering whether the west will abandon them; Beijing is...
02.02.2024
Three Faces of Jew-Hatred
Jeffrey Herf has a new and timely volume on the current moment. It’s title: “Three Faces of Antisemitism: Right, Left and Islamist.” He joins host Cliff May to discuss the multiple manifestations of Jew-hatred – a growth industry since the...
01.26.2024
Colonel Richard Kemp on Israel's Long War
Colonel Richard Kemp has spent three decades fighting terrorists and insurgents around the world, including as commander of British forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. He has been present during each conflict between Israel and Hamas since 2008 and has been...
01.19.2024
Pacific Deterrence: An Update from Admiral John Aquilino
Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) and Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS) are the chairman and ranking member, respectively, of the Senate Armed Services Committee. On January 11, they issued a noteworthy joint statement after receiving a briefing from Admiral John Aquilino, the...
01.12.2024
Everything You Wanted to Know About Qatar But Were Afraid to Ask
Host Cliff May is joined by FDD experts Jonathan Schanzer and Richard Goldberg to discuss Qatar donning the facade of ‘mediator’ and ‘peacemaker.’ The reality is rather different. They unpack Doha's bad behavior, including how a plethora of bad actors — e.g., Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood, the...
01.05.2024
Strait Talk on the Houthis
The October 7 attack against Israel was carried out by Hamas with support from the Islamic Republic of Iran. Other Tehran proxies include Lebanon-based Hezbollah and Yemen-based Ansar Allah, better known as the Houthi rebels. Although President Trump designated them...
12.29.2023
Schadlow’s Strategies
Dr. Nadia Schadlow previously served as the U.S. national security advisor for strategy, and she led the drafting and publication of the 2017 National Security Strategy (and in record time). She shares what it was like to formulate such a...
12.22.2023
How Warfare Evolves
General David Petraeus joins the show to discuss his new book, "Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Ukraine" (it was co-authored by Andrew Roberts, check out our recent episode with him here: https://www.fdd.org/podcasts/2023/10/27/studying-war-some-more/). Primarily through the lenses of Ukraine...
12.11.2023
Dan Senor Calls Me Back
Podcast host and author Dan Senor joins Cliff to discuss his new book, The Genius of Israel: The Surprising Resilience of a Divided Nation in a Turbulent World, and Israel's defensive war in Gaza. Among the complexities they ponder: How does...
12.08.2023
Pizza, Policy, and Helicopters: A Conversation with Rep. Jason Crow
Congressman Jason Crow (D-CO) represents Colorado’s Sixth Congressional District, encompassing Aurora and adjacent areas. He's a former Army Ranger and Bronze Star recipient who deployed to combat in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Now in Congress, he serves on the important...
12.01.2023
What Hamas believes
During its October 7 invasion, Hamas terrorists slaughtered more than one thousand civilians in Israel. Its horrific acts of terrorism on that day also included mass rape, pillaging, the desecration of corpses, hostage-taking, and other unspeakable atrocities. Hamas has openly stated...
11.24.2023
Dispatches from the Ongoing 10/7 War
Though the fighting is paused, Israel’s defensive war against Hamas continues. FDD Chief Executive Mark Dubowitz and former Israeli National Security Advisor Eyal Hulata — now a senior international fellow at FDD — just returned from Israel. Host Cliff May...
11.20.2023
How Hamas Co-opts the Media
Although six weeks have passed since Iran-backed Hamas terrorists invaded Israel and butchered more than 1,200 innocent civilians while taking hostage another 240, this is just the beginning of Israel’s multi-front defensive war. One key battlefield: the information space. Historically, the odds...
11.17.2023
Israel’s War on Terrorism
For an update on Israel's ground offensive in Gaza, AKA Israel's War on Terrorism, host Cliff May is joined by FDD experts Jonathan Schanzer — FDD Senior Vice President for Research and author of Gaza Conflict 2021: Hamas, Israel and...
11.10.2023
Shattered Peace
The October 7 atrocities committed against Israel and by Hamas terrorists with support from the Islamic Republic of Iran has frozen the rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Israel, as the clerical regime in Tehran doubtless anticipated. Now, the future of...
11.03.2023
The War to End All Wars Against Hamas
Nearly a month ago, Hamas invaded Israel and murdered over 1,400 men, women, and children. It was the deadliest attack on the Jewish people since World War II, which was also a war against the Jews that culminated in the...
11.01.2023
The (Against-the-Odds) Fight for Human Rights
Two of the world's top experts on human rights join host Cliff May to discuss the October 7 massacre in Israel — the atrocity carried out by Hamas and backed by Iran’s jihadi rulers — and about all that has...
10.27.2023
Studying War Some More
It is the opinion of your Foreign Podicy host, Cliff May, that Andrew Roberts is the world’s greatest living historian. In recent years, he has written groundbreaking biographies of Churchill, Napoleon, and King George. He’s a Bradley Prize winner, and Cliff...
10.20.2023
Penetrating the Fog of Israel’s War
Hamas' terrorist attack on Israel has led to war. We have to think that’s what Hamas and its patrons in Tehran expected and very likely wanted. Is that because they believe they can win on the Gazan battlefields? Does Hezbollah, Tehran’s...
10.14.2023
The 10/7 War
Israel is at war with Hamas — a real war, not another “mow the grass” conflict. Hamas is one of the terrorist groups funded, armed, trained and instructed by the Islamic Republic of Iran. This war began on Saturday, October 7 when...
09.30.2023
Ukraine in the Balance: A Conversation with Assistant Secretary of Defense Celeste Wallander
Americans, our elected officials in Congress, and individuals aspiring to be the next U.S. president are debating whether the United States should continue to support Ukraine. Some Republican presidential candidates are arguing against aid for Ukraine, while several others warn...
09.23.2023
News Bulletin From Iran, 70 Years Late
“What’s past is prologue,” Shakespeare informed us. But what if the past is misunderstood? Or misrepresented? What if policy makers are making policies based on false historical narratives? In 1979, host Cliff May went to Iran to report on the revolution that...
09.18.2023
Guests of the Ayatollah
“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...
09.08.2023
The Polish Perspective
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...
08.30.2023
Mexico Is Going South
Host Cliff May lived in Mexico in the late 1970s. Back then, there were reasons to believe Mexico was moving in the right direction. That’s no longer the case. Mexico’s narco-cartels are not only growing in power but also making...
08.18.2023
“No Freebies For Dictators” and other Abrams Doctrines
Elliott Abrams has been in the foreign policy business for a rather long time. Years ago, he served on the staffs of Democratic Senators Henry “Scoop” Jackson and Daniel Patrick Moynihan. He later served in the administrations of Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan...
08.11.2023
Ukraine: What comes next?
"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...
08.04.2023
The Game of War: Part II
In Part II of the Game of War, host Cliff May is again joined by Dr. Ben Jensen and RADM (Ret) Mark Montgomery to continue their discussion on wargaming. They discuss its application in both Taiwan and Ukraine.
07.28.2023
Pacific Overtures
China’s rulers gaze across the Taiwan Strait and see an island where people are free, prosperous, and choose their leaders. They don’t like that. They insist that the people of Taiwan must be ruled by the Communist Party of China. They...
07.21.2023
The Game of War: Part I
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....
07.14.2023
Samuel Ramani on Russia in Ukraine and Russia in Africa
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...
07.10.2023
Russia’s Lost Empire
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...
07.07.2023
America’s Top Marine in the Middle East on the Iran Threat
Major General Paul J. Rock Jr. commands United States Marine Corps Forces Central Command, or MARCENT. That makes him the top U.S. Marine in the Middle East. MajGen Rock is a Marine aviator with combat deployments to Iraq, and he was...
06.23.2023
Walter Russell Mead’s Global View
Walter Russell Mead is the Global View Columnist at the Wall Street Journal, the James Clarke Chace Professor of Foreign Affairs and Humanities at Bard College in New York, the Ravenel B. Curry III Distinguished Fellow in Strategy and Statesmanship at...
06.16.2023
The World According to McMaster
LTG (Ret.) H.R. McMaster wears many hats. Most important for us at FDD: He’s Chairman of the Board of Advisors for our Center on Military and Political Power (CMPP). He served as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army for 34...
06.12.2023
Bombers, Balloons, and Santa’s Sleigh: Defending the American Homeland
One of the most important missions of the United States military is defending our homeland against a range of threats. But that mission is only becoming more difficult as China, Russia, and North Korea strengthen their means to threaten Americans...
06.02.2023
Talking Türkiye
On May 28, 2023, after 21 years in power, Recep Tayyip Erdogan won another five-year-term as president of Turkey — or Türkiye — as he prefers. To discuss what this means for Türkiye, the U.S., the Middle East, Europe, and NATO,...
05.26.2023
Who Needs Soft Power?
American political scientist Joseph Nye popularized the concept of soft power decades ago. As he wrote in his 2004 book by that name, “soft power – getting others to want the outcomes that you want – co-opts people rather than...
05.19.2023
The Skunks at Israel’s Birthday Party
Israelis are now celebrating 75 years of independence – 75 years of self-determination for the Jewish people in part of their ancient homeland which for centuries was ruled by foreign empires. There are not many nations that, as the late Charles...
05.12.2023
Under African Skies
Africa is the second largest continent in the world, both in land area and population. It has more than 1.2 billion people — most of them young and poor — living in 54 countries. If current demographic trends continue, Africa...

What's Foreign Podicy about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Foreign Podicy episodes:

Jerusalem and Tehran Consider Their Options

The Thickening Fog of War

Israel's Shadow War

Ronald Meets the Donald

John Bolton’s New World Order

Ali Khamenei’s Nuclear Ambitions and Weapons of Mass Distraction

On Safari with Admiral Montgomery

View of the World from Boston

The UN’s Support for Hamas’ War On Israel

The Battle in Rafah, the War with Tehran

A moment of decision for Americans

Three Faces of Jew-Hatred

Colonel Richard Kemp on Israel's Long War

Pacific Deterrence: An Update from Admiral John Aquilino

Everything You Wanted to Know About Qatar But Were Afraid to Ask

Strait Talk on the Houthis

Schadlow’s Strategies

How Warfare Evolves

Dan Senor Calls Me Back

Pizza, Policy, and Helicopters: A Conversation with Rep. Jason Crow

What Hamas believes

Dispatches from the Ongoing 10/7 War

How Hamas Co-opts the Media

Israel’s War on Terrorism

Shattered Peace

The War to End All Wars Against Hamas

The (Against-the-Odds) Fight for Human Rights

Studying War Some More

Penetrating the Fog of Israel’s War

The 10/7 War

Ukraine in the Balance: A Conversation with Assistant Secretary of Defense Celeste Wallander

News Bulletin From Iran, 70 Years Late

Guests of the Ayatollah

The Polish Perspective

Mexico Is Going South

“No Freebies For Dictators” and other Abrams Doctrines

Ukraine: What comes next?

The Game of War: Part II

Pacific Overtures

The Game of War: Part I

Samuel Ramani on Russia in Ukraine and Russia in Africa

Russia’s Lost Empire

America’s Top Marine in the Middle East on the Iran Threat

Walter Russell Mead’s Global View

The World According to McMaster

Bombers, Balloons, and Santa’s Sleigh: Defending the American Homeland

Talking Türkiye

Who Needs Soft Power?

The Skunks at Israel’s Birthday Party

Under African Skies