School of War

As war in Ukraine grinds towards its fifth year and tensions strain the transatlantic alliance, former British prime minister Boris Johnson says he remains convinced that the West has the power to prevail: “Putin has got to lose.” Today, Johnson joins School of War to discuss how the West can bring the Russian president to the negotiating table, why Europe’s dream of “strategic autonomy” is a “sham, a snare and a delusion,” and why he believes predictions of American decline and Chinese dominance have it backward.

02:20 — When Boris Johnson Knew Putin Would Invade Ukraine

05:46 — Why Europe Didn’t Believe an Invasion Was Coming

09:12 — Did Boris Johnson Stop a Ukraine-Russia Peace Deal?

11:19 — Could Ukraine Trade Land for Peace?

13:43 — What Johnson Saw on Ukraine’s Front Lines

17:06 — How Economic Warfare Could Pressure Putin

18:00 — “Putin Has Got to Lose”

20:00 — The Growing Divide Between America and Europe

22:19 — Can Britain Still Defend Itself?

26:20 —  JD Vance’s Critique of Europe

30:12 — Britain, Free Speech, and the Culture War

34:39 — Can Europe Achieve “Strategic Autonomy”?

39:07 — Why America Should Still Care About NATO

41:01 — The Fight Over the Chagos Islands and Diego Garcia

46:12 — Why Johnson Is Still Betting on America Over China

This episode of School of War is brought to you by Maven Smart System, the builder platform for the American warfighter, fielded across the force and live on the frontline today. Learn more at palantir.com.

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As the American right and left are increasingly pulled toward their ideological extremes, many politicians have chosen to appease the loudest voices in their coalitions even when those voices flirt with or openly embrace antisemitism. Senator Ted Cruz says he’s done playing nice. “If we do not defeat this poison,” he warns, “I believe it will consume the Republican Party just like it has consumed the Democratic Party.” Today, Cruz joins School of War to discuss his strategy for bringing down Iran’s regime, what Tucker Carlson’s splinter from the mainstream right means for conservative politics, and the battle he believes will define the future of the Republican Party. 

02:08 - The State of Iran After the War

02:46 - Why Trump Struck Iran

04:13 - Why the MOU Was a Disaster

05:39 - The Post That Triggered an Iranian Bot Campaign

07:24 - Why Cruz Opposed the Iran Deal

08:57 - America’s Next Move in Iran

09:29 - Why the Goal Should Be Regime Collapse

12:01 - Cruz’s Strategy to Bring Down the Regime

13:08 - Why He Wants to Arm Iranian Protesters

15:22 - The Future of America’s Foreign Policy

16:27 - Is the Democratic Party Being Taken Over?

21:32 - The Rise of Antisemitism on the Right

22:50 - Why Tucker Carlson Is “Dangerous”

24:06 - “We Have to Defeat This Poison”

26:34 - Could Tucker Carlson Run for President?

This episode of School of War is brought to you by Maven Smart System, the builder platform for the American warfighter, fielded across the force and live on the frontline today. Learn more at palantir.com.

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Yuri Fedorenko has spent four years turning a volunteer rifle company into the 429th “Achilles” Brigade, one of the most lethal units in Ukraine’s Defense Forces. Today,  he joins School of War to discuss how the battlefield has evolved since Russia’s full-scale invasion: improvising with commercial drones in 2022, scaling a unit that now hunts targets at an unprecedented scale, what life is like on the front lines, and what the U.S. military can learn from his unit’s drone revolution.

This interview was originally conducted in Ukrainian and has been translated and dubbed into English.

02:23 – Yuri Fedorenko on Returning to War

05:08 – Building a Volunteer Unit Overnight

07:37 – Discovering the Power of Drones

09:18 – The Birth of Achilles

11:14 – Ukraine's Drone Revolution

13:12 – How the Unmanned Systems Force Works

17:43 – Why Drone Forces Punch Above Their Weight

18:59 – Inside Russia's Rubicon Drone Unit

21:35 – Beating Rubicon

23:04 – Lessons America Must Learn From Ukraine

25:29 – Why the West Should Train in Ukraine

26:54 – Why 20th Century Warfare Is Obsolete

27:20 – Drones Alone Cannot Win Wars

28:14 – Ukraine's Final Message to America

This episode of School of War is brought to you by Maven Smart System, the builder platform for the American warfighter, fielded across the force and live on the frontline today. Learn more at palantir.com.

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For months, it was conventional wisdom among large swaths of the American right that Ukraine would inevitably have to cede its Donbas region to Russia to end the war. Now, with Russian morale flagging, “that assumption is just no longer true,” says Aidan Stretch, a CBS News international reporter based in Kyiv. Today, Stretch joins School of War to discuss the state of play on the battlefield, Laura Loomer’s recent change of heart about the war, and how drone warfare has transformed the very idea of the front line as we know it.

02:36 - Is Ukraine Really Winning?

05:58 - Political Turmoil in Kyiv

06:51 - The Fedorov–Syrskyi Power Struggle

12:06 - The Protests That Changed Ukraine's Military

13:11 - Why Drapatyi Replaced Syrskyi

14:07 - Meeting President Zelensky

17:42 - Asking Zelensky if Ukraine Is Winning the War

20:00 - How Ukrainian Protests Force Political Change

24:29 - The Power of Ukrainian Civil Society

27:10 - Laura Loomer's Visit to Ukraine

28:50 - Ukraine's Military Innovation

30:48 - How Ukraine's Military Really Works

33:58 - Ukraine's Mobilization Challenge

37:24 - Why Drone Warfare Is Only the Beginning

41:34 - How the Middle East and Ukraine Wars Intersect

44:47 - Reporting From the Front Lines of Ukraine

This episode of School of War is brought to you by Maven Smart System, the builder platform for the American warfighter, fielded across the force and live on the frontline today. Learn more at palantir.com.

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Mark Montgomery, senior director of the Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a retired U.S. Navy rear admiral, returns to School of War to analyze the latest military developments across the world. Why has the Iran war entered such a dangerous and uncertain phase? What role will the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea play in its next stage? And what do Iran and Ukraine reveal about the changing shape of global conflict?

02:22 - Why the Iran War Suddenly Paused

04:44 - An Uneasy Ceasefire and Dueling Blockades

05:35 - The Challenge of Escorting Ships Through Hormuz

07:19 - Why America's Convoy Strategy Isn't Working

09:15 - The Navy's Readiness Dilemma

09:59 - Blockade vs. Convoy

12:08 - Why the U.S. Must Take More Risk at Sea

14:10 - America's Munitions Problem

15:05 - The Weapons Shortages Shaping the War

16:29 - America's Drone Defense Gap

21:11 - The Electronic Warfare Deficit

23:13 - The Red Sea and the Houthi Threat

26:15 - How Iran and Ukraine Are Connected

30:37 - Russia's Options for Escalation

35:04 - Is a Long Blockade Better Than Escalation?

This episode of School of War is brought to you by Maven Smart System, the builder platform for the American warfighter, fielded across the force and live on the frontline today. Learn more at palantir.com.

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Ben Milligan, a former U.S. Navy SEAL, Bronze Star recipient, and author of By Water Beneath the Walls: The Rise of the Navy SEALs, joins School of War to discuss the origins and evolution of one of America's most storied special operations forces. How did the Navy SEALs grow out of the Underwater Demolition Teams of World War II? What does it take to become a SEAL? How did the Vietnam War shape the institution into the force we know today? And what role should the SEALs play as the U.S. military shifts its focus from the war on terror to great power competition?

02:10 – Why Ben Became a SEAL

03:34 – Joining Before 9/11

05:17 – Inside BUD/S

09:17 – Who Makes It Through?

11:26 – What Elite Training Builds

14:29 – The Origins of the SEALs

23:18 – The Origins of UDT

27:10 – Korea Changes the Mission

38:06 – Birth of the SEALs

43:36 – Vietnam Transforms the SEALs

47:33 – The Capture-Kill Raid

49:50 – Lessons for the War on Terror

54:36 – Great Power Competition

56:13 – What Makes Special Operations "Special"?

59:31 – The Future of the SEALs

This episode of School of War is brought to you by Maven Smart System, the builder platform for the American warfighter, fielded across the force and live on the frontline today. Learn more at palantir.com.

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Jonathan Swan, a White House reporter for The New York Times, joins School of War to discuss the reporting behind his new book, Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump, co-authored with Maggie Haberman. How does Donald Trump make geopolitical decisions? What drove him to join Israel’s war against Iran? How has his thinking on Ukraine evolved? And how does China fit into all of this?

02:23 - Inside Regime Change

05:29 - Trump's View of the World

09:04 - Why Trump Sees Iran Differently

11:25 - Trump's Proxy Strategy

12:44 - Steve Witkoff's Worldview

13:43 - The Principles Behind Iran Policy

14:45 - North Korea vs. Iran

16:15 - Ron Dermer's Prediction

17:58 - Why the 12-Day War Matters

20:48 - Netanyahu's Case for War

25:20 - Trump's Inner Circle on Iran

28:01 - Trump's Turn on Ukraine

30:36 - Trump's Approach to China

31:55 - Taiwan and the China Challenge

33:16 - The Future of Trump's Foreign Policy

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James Diggle, emeritus professor of Greek and Latin at Cambridge University, and John Underhill, professor of geoscience and energy transition at the University of Aberdeen, join School of War to discuss their decades-long search for the real Ithaca of Homer’s Odyssey. Based on their recent Antigone journal article, “In Search of Ithaca,” they explain why the island we’ve called Ithaca for centuries may actually be the wrong one. Can modern geology solve a 3,000-year-old mystery? Have we finally found the true home of Odysseus? And what would that mean for one of the greatest stories ever told?

02:44 – The mystery of Homer's Ithaca

04:45 – Can Homer be treated as history?

06:19 – The Bronze Age world of Odysseus

09:25 – Why modern Ithaca doesn't fit Homer's description

12:02 – Robert Bittlestone's hypothesis

17:15 – The geology expedition begins

23:17 – The million-euro search for Ithaca

28:37 – Disproving the original theory

31:19 – The geological breakthrough

35:09 – The discovery that changes everything

37:22 – Homer never actually calls Ithaca an island

41:24 – Solving a 3,000-year-old mystery

46:22 – Telemachus' journey finally makes sense

50:54 – Would Robert Bittlestone have agreed?

57:43 – The hidden cave

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Mike Doran, senior fellow and director of the Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East at the Hudson Institute, returns to School of War to examine why the war with Iran continues despite devastating military setbacks for Tehran. Is President Trump’s Iran strategy truly different from President Obama’s, or are the similarities overstated? What does the fight over the Strait of Hormuz reveal about the limits of American power? And what does this war tell us about the future of U.S. strategy in the Middle East—and its broader competition with China?

01:22 - Recap of the Iran War

06:03 - Iran's Leverage

09:05 - MoU Misunderstandings

12:28 - The Crux of the MoU Dispute

15:42 - The Nuclear Status Quo

17:58 - Iran's Degradation Since October 7

21:13 - The Democrats' View

22:02 - The Right's View

23:25 - Trump's "Obama-Style" Rhetoric

28:10 - Should America Reimpose the Blockade?

28:53 - The Drone and Ballistic Missile Problem

31:10 - Drone Warfare Has Changed Everything

32:01 - The Vulnerability of America's Gulf Allies

37:21 - Is the MoU Still in Effect?

39:34 - Why Nobody Is Buying Iranian Oil

46:32 - China and the Bigger Picture

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Vance Serchuk, executive director and Partner at the KKR Global Institute, and former senior national security adviser to Senator Joe Lieberman, was uniquely positioned to witness one of the most influential partnerships in modern American foreign policy: the “Three Amigos” of John McCain, Joe Lieberman, and Lindsey Graham. What made their partnership so effective? What vision did they share for America’s role in the world? And what does the end of the “Three Amigos” mean for the future of American foreign policy?

02:21 - Lindsey Graham and the Three Amigos

10:42 - First Impressions of Lindsey Graham

13:20 - Lindsey Graham’s Sense of Humor

15:47 - Graham’s Spontaneity

21:44 - The Three Amigos’ Bond Through Travel

23:31 - Oversight on the Front Lines

24:56 - The Russian Threat

27:00 - The Three Amigos’ Shared Convictions

28:28 - Russia’s Invasion of Georgia

32:56 - Senator Graham’s Political Courage

33:27 - What Made the Three Amigos Different

37:24 - Graham’s Political Instincts

37:56 - Why the Three Amigos Worked

39:33 - The Power of Political Friendship

42:28 - Graham’s Work in the Trump Era

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