Mark Moyar, William P. Harris Chair of Military History at Hillsdale College and author of Triumph Regained: The Vietnam War, 1965-1968, joins the show to explain the major inflection points of the Vietnam War.
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Times
• 01:58 Introduction
• 02:47 The “orthodox view”
• 05:51 Dominos
• 08:41 A Maoist vision
• 12:42 1963
• 15:30 Henry Cabot Lodge
• 21:10 Slow erosion
• 24:57 Ground troops
• 30:10 Morale
• 33:39 Nixon in office
• 37:30 Triangular diplomacy
• 39:31 Vietnamization fails
• 43:09 American mistakes
• 47:31 Wanting out
• 50:10 Aftermath
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54:27
Ep 193: Douglas Murray on Israel’s War and its Global Consequences
Douglas Murray, journalist and author of On Democracies and Death Cults: Israel and the Future of Civilization, joins the show for a wide ranging conversation that covers Death Cults, anti-Semitism, and recent shifts in the Right.
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Times
• 01:42 Introduction
• 03:00 9/11 origins
• 09:50 It’s not 1939
• 13:45 Death cults
• 19:16 “I’m not a fascist, I’m an idealist.”
• 23:51 Vasily Grossman
• 37:05 What’s going on with the Right?
• 49:07 Nostalgia for the absolute
• 54:10 Regaining balance
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55:47
Ep 192: Raymond Jonas on Europe’s War on the Monroe Doctrine (~165 years ago)
Raymond Jonas, Jon Bridgman Endowed Professor in History at the University of Washington and author of Habsburgs on the Rio Grande: The Rise and Fall of the Second Mexican Empire, joins the show to discuss a failed-but-spectacular 19th Century attempt by European powers to undermine the Monroe Doctrine.
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Times
• 01:42 Introduction
• 03:31 Transatlantic relations
• 05:20 Europe distracted
• 08:39 Secession and unrest
• 12:46 Maximillian I
• 17:55 Continental powers
• 20:01 Britain, France and Spain
• 26:13 What the Americans did right
• 28:23 Napoleon III
• 30:09 Mexico and the Confederacy
• 35:20 Slavery adjacent
• 38:46 What went wrong
• 42:07 Benito Juarez
• 44:33 Maximillian’s execution
• 46:20 European alarm
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48:20
Ep 191: Mark Dubowitz on Iran and the Trump Administration
Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and host of The Iran Breakdown podcast, joins the show to discuss the Iranian nuclear program, where things stand with the Trump administration’s pursuit of a deal, and the prospects of an Israeli attack.
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Times
• 01:33 Introduction
• 02:04 Beginnings
• 04:25 A weapon is the purpose
• 07:31 Enrichment
• 12:32 JCPOA
• 16:54 “The worst deal…”
• 18:46 Can Iran reach the U.S.?
• 23:53 Dismantle the program
• 29:01 Splitscreen
• 34:09 Risky and futile
• 41:02 Pacing
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45:56
Ep 190: Michael Doran on “Restraint” and the Middle East
Michael Doran, senior fellow and director of the Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East at Hudson Institute, joins the show to discuss “restraintism” as a factor in Trump’s choices in the Middle East.
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Times
• 01:46 Introduction
• 02:20 What is it?
• 05:01 Left, right, center
• 06:56 Syria ’07
• 11:47 Iraq Study Group
• 17:21 Populist expression
• 27:34 Balance
• 30:20 Obama v Trump
• 34:56 Oscillation
• 42:16 Back to JCPOA?
• 45:49 Snapback
• 47:44 Syria ’25
• 52:09 Iran and Turkey
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This podcast seeks to learn what war teaches. There has been a steady decline in the study of military history and its associated theoretical discipline, strategy.This podcast seeks to fill that gap through in-depth interviews on military and diplomatic history. Our guests have included former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the Cold War historian John Lewis Gaddis, and former China Select Committee chairman Mike Gallagher. We discuss the battlefield commanders, diplomats, strategists, policymakers, and statesmen who have had to make wartime decisions in the ancient and modern eras. The subject of an episode may be an historical battle, campaign, or conflict; the conduct of policy in the course of a major international incident; the work of a famous strategist; the nature of a famous weapon; or the legacy of an important military commander or political leader.
Aaron MacLean is a senior fellow at Hudson Institute. He has worked as a foreign policy advisor and legislative director to Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and spent seven years in the U.S. Marine Corps.
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