On this episode of Pike & Shot, I chat with Dr. Andrew Hammond, historian and curator for the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C. We discuss the recent explosive pager attack by Israeli intelligence, and dive into the history, logistics, and impact of these types of attacks.

Dr. Hammond's career began in the Royal Air Force, as well as time spent with the British Army and Royal Navy. He has taught at a number of institutions on both sides of the Atlantic and has held fellowships at the British Library, the Library of Congress, New York University and the University of Warwick. He was formerly a Mellon Public Humanities Fellow at the 9/11 Memorial Museum and is currently a Public Policy Fellow at the Wilson Center. He hosts SpyCast, the Spy Museum’s podcast, and is the author of Struggles for Freedom: Afghanistan and US Foreign Policy Since 1979.

On today's episode, I chat with Sal Mercogliano of the What's Going On With Shipping channel on Youtube. Sal is a wealth of knowledge on everything maritime and we break down everything from the Houthi threat in the Red Sea to pirates, bridges, and the future of American shipbuilding. 

Is TikTok a cyberweapon? Today we ask that very question. My guest today is Ryan McBeth. Ryan is an intelligence analyst, software architect, cybersecurity specialist, and YouTube content creator of military,  intelligence and disinformation topics. Ryan spent 20 years in the US Army as an anti-armor and heavy weapons infantryman with two overseas deployments and later developed C4ISR software for Accenture Federal Services.

My guest today is Michael Hilliard, creator and host of both The Red Line Podcast, and Spotlight On Central Asia, as well as a writer and analyst covering Geopolitics & defense, focusing on central Asia and Russia. Michael joined me for a chat in March of 2022, during the opening phases of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Tanks were rolling on Kyiv, and the world was holding its collective breath. In the two years since then, fortunes have shifted numerous times, and the face of conflict has been forever changed. Today we are going to discuss the current state of not only the Ukraine war, but the state of conflict and geopolitical tensions globally, which, since our last conversation, have proven only one rule to be true: Expect the unexpected. 

 In most images of the globe, China and Latin America are quite literally on opposite sides. However, in many ways, China and Latin America are closer than one would think, and have significant economic, diplomatic, and geopolitical interaction. Though the Pacific is vast, they are really just one ocean apart. My guest today is Margaret Myers, the director of the Asia & Latin America Program at the Inter-American Dialogue. She established the Dialogue’s China and Latin America Working Group in 2011 to examine China’s growing presence in Latin America and the Caribbean. Previously, Myers worked as a Latin America analyst and China analyst for the US Department of Defense, during which time she was deployed with the US Navy in support of Partnership of the Americas. Myers also worked as a senior China analyst for Science Applications International Corporation; a consultant for the Inter-American Development Bank

Meredith Angwin is a chemist, infrastructure advocate, and author of Shorting The Grid: The Hidden Fragility in Our Electrical Grid. Recently, after becoming involved in grid management in her own community in New England, she has been on a quest to raise awareness and promote solutions for the rampant grid confusion and lack of resilience in America’s power systems.

Should the U.S. and allies establish a No-Fly-Zone over Ukraine to mitigate civilian casualties? It is a topic we hear discussed regularly and without a lot of context or detail on what that would entail. Ward Carroll, a U.S. Navy Airman who himself has participated in No-Fly-Zone enforcement, joins us today to break down the reality of implementing such an operation in Ukrainian skies. 

Today I am joined by Jacob Stokes, a fellow in the Indo-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security, where his work focuses on US-China relations. He has worked at numerous think tanks and high levels of government, assisting US leaders making decisions vis-a-vis China. We discuss the upcoming 20th CCP Congress, which has not garnered a lot of attention outside of China, but will serve as a crucial inflection point for the nation and warrants our attention.

With Ukraine dominating news worldwide, and horrifying images filling our social media feeds, I take a step back and look at the greater forces at work in the run up to and immediate aftermath of Russia's invasion. Michael Hilliard of The Red Line Podcast joins me to unpack how the post-cold war order of Europe and the globe has been permanently shattered over the course of two weeks.
Find The Red Line Podcast here: https://open.spotify.com/show/22smMRbnKv1fFzqnz5Ty1L?si=2rLSk6UdS8GM9OIIR0rknQ

Today on Pike & Shot, I talk with Dr. Darrell Bricker about the reality of global population growth turning to population decline in the very near future. Dr Bricker is a Canadian author, pollster, public speaker, political scientist and political commentator. He is the CEO of IPSOS Public Affairs, and the author of several books, most recently and relevant to today’s discussion, Empty Planet: The Shock of Global Population Decline. 

Dr. Bricker's Vail Symposium talk can be hour here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNqCRvDbCVI
And his recent article Emptier Planet can be found here: https://www.ipsos.com/en-us/knowledge/society/emptier-planet