School of War

Rebecca Heinrichs, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and author of Duty to Deter: American Nuclear Deterrence and the Just War Doctrine, joins the show to make the moral argument for why the United States should modernize and grow its nuclear arsenal. 

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    •      01:15 Introduction 

    •      01:48 A net good

    •      04:50 Tactical nuclear weapons

    •     10:25 The argument of disarmament 

    •      14:03 Cold War strategy

    •      19:53 Capability and will

    •      26:06 Downside of “no first use”  

    •      32:03 The nuclear triad 

    •      37:20 Russia and China 

    •      40:56 The moral argument

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Randall Schriver, Chairman of the Board at The Project 2049 Institute, and Dan Blumenthal, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, join the show to discuss a road map for economic competition—and warfare—between the U.S. and China. 

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    •      01:55 Introduction 

    •      02:30 Planning for economic warfare

    •      06:27 Endstate

    •     10:18 Leadership

    •      12:21 NSDD

    •      14:59 Starting points

    •      17:10 Decoupling  

    •      20:03 Where is the stuff coming from? 

    •      23:50 Degrading the Chinese economy 

    •      27:33 A dream of cooperation

    •      32:17 Slow the growth

    •      36:08 Wargaming  

    •      41:41 Protraction

    •      44:49 International and Congressional concerns

Click the link to read the report - DEFEATING THE CCP A RUNNING START

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Watch this episode on YouTube. Frank Cohn joins the show to talk about his life: fleeing Hitler’s Germany, his return as a U.S. soldier tasked with hunting Nazi’s, his service in Vietnam, and more.

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    •      01:55 Introduction 

    •      02:15 A Nazi in the classroom

    •      05:47 Martin and Ruth

    •     17:35 Leaving Germany

    •      19:22 New York City

    •      22:50 Pearl Harbor

    •      30:47 Back to Europe 

    •      35:30 Nazi Hunter 

    •      39:48 POW for a moment 

    •      42:32 The Dutch lady

    •      50:40 Camps

    •      52:30 Crossing the Elbe 

    •      59:20 Interrogations

    •      01:05:40 Paying back the country 

    •      01:08:51 Paula 

    •      01:14:50 Military Police and Vietnam

    •      01:18:40 Angus 

    •      01:21:12 Lessons

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Nicholas Eberstadt, Henry Wendt Chair in Political Economy at the American Enterprise Institute, joins the show to discuss the North Korean regime and the geopolitical impact of its decision to send troops to support Russia in Ukraine.

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    •      01:36 Introduction 

    •      01:49 Finding North Korea

    •      04:00 The Sung dynasty

    •     09:24 Beijing and Moscow

    •      14:43 Kim Jong Il

    •      22:14 Mackinder’s World-Island

    •      26:29 Interconnected 

    •      33:18 Why commit to Russia? 

    •      36:55 Limited imaginations  

    •      39:03 New differences

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Nick Lloyd, Professor of Modern Warfare in the Defence Studies at King’s College London and author of The Eastern Front: A History of the Great War, 1914-1918, joins the show to discuss the critical role of the eastern front in World War I.

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    •      01:43 Introduction 

    •      02:09 “The soul of the war”

    •      04:00 Before the fighting

    •     05:59 War aims

    •      10:51 Tannenberg

    •      15:54 Hindenburg and Ludendorff

    •      19:57 Scale

    •      22:40 Combat

    •      27:14 Munitions scarcity 

    •      32:10 Russian collapse

    •      36:45 Lenin returns

    •      40:42 Brest-Litovsk

    •      44:16 Proto-lebensraum

    •      47:20 The West

    •      52:30 War as a way out

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Ben Noon of the Vandenberg Coalition writes about US-China rivalry and geopolitics. He joins the show to discuss the critical fight for semiconductor dominance.

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    •      01:38 Introduction 

    •      02:15 Semiconductors 

    •      05:49 Legacy and advanced chips

    •     09:47 China’s chip script

    •      14:21 What’s the big deal? 

    •      19:20 Trade policy

    •      25:11 Containment

    •      28:10 Ratcheting up tensions

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Scott Hartwig, author ofI Dread the Thought of the Place: The Battle of Antietam and the End of the Maryland Campaign, joins the show to discuss the single bloodiest day in American military history, the Battle of Antietam.

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    •      01:46 Introduction 

    •      02:19 Why Antietam?

    •      09:09 Sourcing history

    •     12:45 Limited to total war

    •      21:24 McClellan 

    •      28:00 Lee in Maryland 

    •      34:57 Geography 

    •      46:20 South Mountain to Antietam 

    •      55:49 The fighting

    •      01:02:12 Mass and maneuver

    •      01:04:44 Lee escapes

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Jacqueline Deal, President and CEO of the Long Term Strategy Group and recently the author of the article Competing against Ourselves: How U.S. Policy Strengthens China, joins the show to discuss U.S.-China competition.

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    •      01:15 Introduction 

    •      01:53 Net assessment

    •      04:32 China’s view

    •     08:20 Is entanglement the goal?

    •      14:34 Changing the global balance

    •      21:45 Communism 

    •      25:47 “Their own worst enemy”

    •      30:12 CCP & manipulation 

    •      35:06 Weaponized supply chains

    •      39:12 Getting their attention

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Nicholas Morton, Senior Lecturer in History, Nottingham Trent University and author of The Crusader States and their Neighbours: A Military History, 1099-1187, joins the show to discuss the Crusades.

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    •      01:25 Introduction 

    •      02:21 What were the Crusades?

    •      07:30 Franks and Turks

    •     09:57 Combat

    •      14:01 50/50

    •      19:48 Sieges

    •      23:47 Others

    •      31:31 Seljuks

    •      36:50 Crusader States

    •      41:28 Why did they fail?

    •      45:19 Continuity and complexity

   •      49:45 Fluidity

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Katherine Kuzminski, Director of the Military, Veterans, and Society Program at CNAS, joins the show to discuss recruiting and mass mobilization in the event of war.

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Times 

    •      01:33 Introduction 

    •      02:08 Why worry about mobilization?

    •      03:54 Meeting the threshold 

    •     06:58 Low yield

    •      11:37 A loss of identity

    •      15:42 Aging up

    •      21:38 The Russian model 

    •      23:55 Israeli lessons

    •      26:38 Working with what we have

    •      32:05 Infantry concerns

    •      35:05 Women in the draft

    •      39:12 Deterrent value

    •      41:20 Sustaining industry

    •      43:45 An “I” society

Back to the Drafting Board

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