Foreign Podicy
Episodes
Friday Jul 23, 2021
The Predators Threatening Africa
Friday Jul 23, 2021
Friday Jul 23, 2021
Africa is a large and diverse continent. Many different peoples, ethnic groups, tribes — these terms overlap but are not synonymous — speaking more than a thousand languages, organized into more than 50 nation-states.
Most of those nation-states achieved independence in the aftermath of World War II, as European imperialism and colonialism died out. In few African lands has political stability and prosperity followed.
And today, Africa is threatened by new predators. Violent and vicious jihadists are kidnapping, killing, and committing a long list of other crimes. Africa also is threatened by what I’m going to call neo-imperialism — not the European variety.
Joining host Cliff May to discuss these issues is Dr. J. Peter Pham, who was the first-ever United States Special Envoy for the Sahel Region of Africa.
Before that, Ambassador Pham served as U.S. Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region of Africa. He’s also been a denizen of think tanks. Currently he is a Distinguished Fellow at the Atlantic Council, but his first DC think tank affiliation was an Adjunct Senior Fellow at FDD.
In addition, he was a tenured Associate Professor of justice studies, political science, and Africana studies at James Madison University, and Director of the school’s Nelson Institute for International and Public Affairs.
Ambassador Pham is the author of more than 300 essays and reviews and the author, editor, or translator of over a dozen books, primarily on African history, politics, and economics.
Friday Jul 09, 2021
The UN System: What Went Wrong and What Should Be Done
Friday Jul 09, 2021
Friday Jul 09, 2021
The U.N. and other international organizations were designed to give structure to what we like to call the “international community” – establishing and expressing what we like to call “international laws” and “international norms.”
Over recent years, however, authoritarian regimes have been increasingly dominating these entities, and utilizing them for their own, decidedly illiberal ends.
FDD scholars have just published “A Better Blueprint for International Organizations,” a monograph with a foreword by former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley, and contributions from a dozen FDD scholars. They make clear what went wrong and what can – and should – be done to fix this broken, indeed, increasingly corrupt, international system.
To discuss these issues, host Cliff May is joined by Richard Goldberg, a senior advisor to FDD and the monograph’s editor, and Morgan Viña, who served as chief of staff and senior policy advisor to Ambassador Haley and is now an adjunct fellow at FDD.
Thursday Jun 24, 2021
Raisi Rising
Thursday Jun 24, 2021
Thursday Jun 24, 2021
An election – of sorts – was held in the Islamic Republic of Iran last week. The victor: Ebrahim Raisi, a hardline theocrat who has been sanctioned by the US for his involvement in the mass execution of political prisoners.
Voter turnout was reportedly low.
To discuss these developments, and how the Biden administration – among others – may respond, host Cliff May is joined by Ray Takeyh, formerly a senior advisor on Iran at the Department of State, currently a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations; Reuel Marc Gerecht, formerly a Middle Eastern specialist at the CIA’s Directorate of Operations, currently a senior fellow at FDD; and Benham Ben Taleblu, also a senior fellow at FDD where he focuses on Iranian security and political issues.
Friday May 28, 2021
Eleven Days in May: The Latest Battle in the Long War Against Israel
Friday May 28, 2021
Friday May 28, 2021
The Islamic Republic of Iran provides Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad with rockets and other weapons, technology, training, and funding. Over 11 days in May, the two groups fired more than four thousand rockets at Israeli cities and villages.
President Biden supported Israel’s right to defend itself but, at the same time, his envoys in Vienna have been negotiating a return to President Obama’s Iran deal. Iran’s rulers want billions of dollars and other concessions in exchange for allowing America to rejoin a deal that at most slows their progress toward a nuclear weapons capability.
Since money is fungible, that means America will be helping fund Hamas and Islamic Jihad, as well as Hezbollah and Ansar Allah in Yemen.
Joining host Cliff May to discuss these developments are Lahav Harkov, Senior Contributing Editor and Diplomatic Correspondent of The Jerusalem Post; Jonathan Schanzer, FDD Senior Vice President; and Brad Bowman, Senior Director of FDD's Center on Military and Political Power.
Tuesday Apr 27, 2021
Palestinians Head for the Polls – or Not
Tuesday Apr 27, 2021
Tuesday Apr 27, 2021
In the West Bank and Gaza, elections are not frequent occurrences. The last one was in 2006. Hamas, a terrorist organization opposed to a two-state solution and openly committed to Israel’s extermination, won a parliamentary majority. A Palestinian civil war followed.
A year later, Hamas ruled Gaza while the Palestine Liberation Organization held power in the West Bank. Attempts over the years since to reunite the two Palestinian factions have failed.
New elections are now scheduled – more or less. We’re hearing that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbasis now seriously considering a postponement. Till when? Who knows?
To discuss what’s going on and what it may mean for Palestinians, Israelis, the U.S. and other interested parties, host Cliff May is joined by FDD’s Jonathan Schanzer and Matthew Zweig.
Friday Apr 16, 2021
Beijing, the WHO, and the Pandemic
Friday Apr 16, 2021
Friday Apr 16, 2021
In January, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called on the World Health Organization to fully investigate the possibility that the COVID-19 virus escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan. He cited new U.S. intelligence that raises troubling questions. But China’s rulers have not been forthcoming.
Is the World Health Organization making a serious attempt to get at the truth? If not, what can and should be done? Those are just some of the issues Foreign Podicy host Cliff May explores with Anthony Ruggiero and Craig Singleton.
Anthony is a senior fellow at FDD. He has more than 19 years of government experience in both Republican and Democratic administrations. Most recently he served as Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, and National Security Council Senior Director for Counterproliferation and Biodefense.
Craig is an adjunct fellow at FDD. He previously spent more than a decade serving in a series of sensitive national security roles including overseas assignments at the U.S. embassies in Baghdad, Caracas, and Mexico City.
Friday Apr 09, 2021
Putin vs. the Press
Friday Apr 09, 2021
Friday Apr 09, 2021
In the Soviet Union, all media were controlled by the state, and foreign correspondents were severely restricted. Those who hoped — and perhaps believed — that freedom of speech and freedom of the press would be guaranteed to the people of post-Soviet Russia have been disappointed.
Not least, the Kremlin has been hostile toward journalists reporting for Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) — media outlets funded by the U.S. government.
To discuss what President Vladimir Putin is doing — and intends to do — to further limit and control reporting from Russia, Foreign Podicy host Cliff May is joined by Jamie Fly and Andrei Shary. Mr. Fly is president and CEO of RFE/RL. He has previously worked at the German Marshall Fund, and served as a senior staffer in the U.S. Congress, the National Security Council staff, and the Defense Department. Mr. Shary is the director of RFE/RL’s Russian Service.
Friday Mar 19, 2021
Friday Mar 19, 2021
Joby Warrick is a distinguished journalist, a longtime Washington Post national security reporter, and a Pulitzer Prize-winner. His latest book is: “Red Line: The Unraveling of Syria and America’s Race to Destroy the Most Dangerous Arsenal in the World.”
To discuss Bashar al-Assad’s use of chemical weapons to mass murder his fellow Syrians, and what the U.S. did – and did not – do about it, he joins David Adesnik, FDD’s Director of Research and senior fellow on Syria, and FDDs president and Foreign Podicy host Cliff May.
Friday Feb 26, 2021
The UN and the Illiberal International Order
Friday Feb 26, 2021
Friday Feb 26, 2021
With the defeat of the Axis Powers in 1945, the United States emerged as the strongest nation on earth. But rather than emulate hegemons of the past, American leaders envisioned a new and different world order.
Their goal was to organize an "international community," establish "universal human rights," and a growing body of "international law."
This project required new institutions, in particular the United Nations.
Three quarters of a century later, it requires willful blindness not to see that the UN and many other international organizations have become bloated and corrupt bureaucracies, increasingly serving the interests of despots.
To discuss what’s gone wrong and what might be done to prevent the UN and other international organizations from drifting further into the clutches of authoritarians host Clifford D. May is joined by Richard Goldberg, Orde Kittrie, and Emma Reilly.
Rich Goldberg is a Senior Advisor at FDD. Among his many government positions, Rich previously served as the Director for Countering Iranian Weapons of Mass Destruction for the National Security Council, and Deputy Chief of Staff and Senior Foreign Policy Adviser to former Mark Kirk, both when Kirk was in the House and then the Senate. Rich is also an officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve. We thank him for his service.
Also joining is Orde Kittrie. He, too, is a Senior Fellow at FDD as well as a professor of law. He is a leading expert on nonproliferation law and policy, and an expert on international law, particularly as it relates to the Middle East. On lawfare, well, he wrote the book. Its title: Lawfare: Law as a Weapon of War. Orde served for over a decade in various legal and policy positions at the U.S. State Department. He was a lead US negotiator at the UN for the treaty on the suppression of acts of nuclear terrorism and participated in drafting several UN Security Council resolutions.
Joining, too, is Emma Reilly who has worked in the field of human rights for almost 20 years. She joined the UN Human Rights Office in 2012. In 2013, she blew the whistle on an exceptional and dangerous policy: UN bureaucrats giving to the Chinese government the names of dissidents, including US citizens, who planned to engage UN human rights mechanisms. The bureaucracy’s response: To not fix the problem and to attempt to fire her instead.
All three join host Cliff May for this episode to discuss what happened and what, if anything, can be done moving forward to combat this high level of corruption.
Thursday Feb 11, 2021
Iran’s Road from Monarchy to Islamist Theocracy and Empire
Thursday Feb 11, 2021
Thursday Feb 11, 2021
February 11, 2021 is the forty-second anniversary of the revolution that transformed Iran from a Western-aligned monarchy to an anti-Western Islamist theocracy.
Ray Takeyh is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, one of America’s leading analysts of contemporary Iran, and the author of a new book: “The Last Shah: America, Iran and the Fall of the Pahlavi Dynasty.”
Reuel Marc Gerecht is a senior fellow at FDD, a former officer in the CIA’s Directorate of Operations, and also an expert on Iran — both contemporary and ancient.
Both join host Cliff May to discuss the Revolution.
Monday Apr 20, 2020
Predators in the Global Jungle
Monday Apr 20, 2020
Monday Apr 20, 2020
David Kilcullen is an Australian-American soldier and scholar who served as a top advisor to the U.S. military in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
He also has worked in Pakistan, the Horn of Africa, and Southeast Asia.
And he’s an advisor to FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power (CMPP).
His new book, The Dragons and the Snakes: How the Rest Learned to Fight the West, looks at the military threats facing America and its allies, including what the dragons — Moscow and Beijing — and the snakes — Tehran, Pyongyang, and non-state jihadi groups – are learning from each other. He suggests the options that need to be considered if free nations are “to evolve and survive the long twilight struggle ahead.”
He discusses these and related national security issues with host Cliff May on episode 54.
Monday Mar 09, 2020
Sharpening the Iran File ft. Richard Goldberg (part one)
Monday Mar 09, 2020
Monday Mar 09, 2020
The deal President Obama cut with Iran's rulers provided them with billions of dollars and a "patient pathway" to the acquisition of nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them to targets anywhere on the planet.
President Trump withdrew from that deal and, in its place, initiated a "maximum pressure" campaign of economic sanctions intended to change the regime's behavior — if not change the regime itself.
Richard Goldberg, who recently served as a director on the National Security Council (NSC) and is now back at FDD as a senior advisor, joins host Cliff May to discuss what the Trump administration's policies and strategies on Iran have — and have not — achieved so far.
Monday Jan 13, 2020
Saeed Ghasseminejad’s Iranian-American Journey
Monday Jan 13, 2020
Monday Jan 13, 2020
Growing up in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Saeed Ghasseminejad’s parents hoped he’d become a scientist or perhaps an engineer... anything but what he actually became: a dissident and a freedom fighter.
But he couldn’t remain silent about the theocratic oppression in his native land.
He ended up in Iran’s infamous Evin prison, his sentence handed down by none other than Abolghassem Salavati, otherwise known as the “Hanging Judge” who was recently designated by the United States for his decades of human rights abuses. After that, he went into exile abroad.
Today, as FDD’s senior advisor on Iran and Financial Economics, he’s responsible for granular research and incisive analysis, and his insights and recommendations are heard at the highest levels of the U.S. government.
Monday Dec 30, 2019
Nukes for the Ayatollah
Monday Dec 30, 2019
Monday Dec 30, 2019
The acquisition of nuclear weapons has long been a central goal of Iran’s revolutionary Islamist rulers.
President Obama concluded a deal to delay that eventuality. His claim that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action would stop Iran’s supreme leader from achieving this capability was never justified.
President Trump withdrew from the unsigned JCPOA, and has been waging what he calls a “maximum pressure” campaign to prevent the theocrats from achieving their goal. They’ve not given up yet – nor have they agreed to new negotiations.
Joining Foreign Podicy host and FDD president Cliff May to discuss the current state of nuclear play are Andrea Stricker, a research fellow at FDD and an established expert on nuclear weapons proliferation and illicit procurement networks; and Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at FDD where he focuses on Iranian security and political issues.
Monday Nov 25, 2019
Israel and the Fire Next Time
Monday Nov 25, 2019
Monday Nov 25, 2019
Israel is not always fighting a war but neither is it ever entirely at peace.
Most recently, a battle was fought in Gaza against Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a terrorist group supported and instructed by the Islamic Republic of Iran. Soon after, Israel hit threatening Iranian military installations in Syria.
To discuss Israel’s strategy for the battles and wars, present and future, Foreign Podicy host and FDD president Cliff May is joined by Gen. Jacob Nagel, a visiting fellow at FDD and a visiting professor at the Technion Aerospace Engineering Facility. In 2016 – 17, Gen. Nagel served as head of Israel’s National Security Council, and as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s National Security Advisor. He also headed the “Nagel Committee” which was responsible for Israel’s decision to develop the Iron Dome missile defense system.
Also joining the discussion is Jonathan Schanzer, FDD’s senior vice president for research who has written extensively about the Middle East in general and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in particular.
Monday Oct 14, 2019
The Rise and Incomplete Fall of the Islamic State
Monday Oct 14, 2019
Monday Oct 14, 2019
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi — five years ago proclaimed the caliph of the Islamic State — has been eliminated by American Special Operators in Syria, underscoring both the importance of having boots on Syrian ground and the benefits of partnering with Kurdish-led forces.
In this episode of Foreign Podicy, FDD founder and president Clifford D. May offers thoughts on this development. Then, in a conversation recorded prior to the death of ‘Big Baghdadi’, Cliff discusses the Islamic State in a broader context with Seth Frantzman, author of After ISIS: America, Iran and the Struggle for the Middle East, based on four years of on-the-ground reporting from ten countries in the region, and John Hannah, senior counselor at FDD and former national security advisor to Vice President Dick Cheney.
Monday Aug 26, 2019
Zombie Socialism
Monday Aug 26, 2019
Monday Aug 26, 2019
In 2002, scholar Joshua Muravchik wrote a history of socialism which he thought would serve as the epitaph for an experiment that had failed over and over in country after country around the world, including in Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa. But socialism has now risen from the grave — including in the United States.
Dr. Muravchik joins Foreign Podicy host Clifford D. May to discuss where this walking-dead ideology may be heading and who its victims are likely to be.
Monday Jul 29, 2019
Syria‘s Sorrow and Pity
Monday Jul 29, 2019
Monday Jul 29, 2019
Over recent days, Syrian and Russian forces continued their bombing campaign against civilians in Syria's Idlib province — this time conducting airstrikes on a market, killing dozens.
Other examples of the Assad regime's assault on the Syrian people include the recent targeting of the hospitals that treat injured survivors. Russia and the Islamic Republic of Iran are aiding and abetting this barbarism. Also underway: efforts by Iran’s rulers to colonize Syria. The so-called international community is mostly turning a blind eye and, in some cases, actually facilitating the continuing carnage, occupation and population displacements.
To better understand who is committing these war crimes and why, host Clifford D. May is joined by Mouaz Moustafa, executive director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force; and David Adesnik, FDD’s director of research.
Monday Jun 03, 2019
Venezuela: A Riches to Rags Story
Monday Jun 03, 2019
Monday Jun 03, 2019
More than 50 nations now recognize Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s legitimate interim president. But Cuba, Russia, Iran and China have formed an anti-American and authoritarian alliance to prop up Nicolas Maduro who, following in the footsteps of Hugo Chavez, has turned what was once a wealthy, free and promising land into an impoverished and oppressive hellhole.
To discuss what went wrong and why, and what may happen next, host Cliff May is by FDD Senior Fellow Emanuele Ottolenghi.
Monday Apr 29, 2019
Israelis stay the course
Monday Apr 29, 2019
Monday Apr 29, 2019
In the Middle East, elections are few, far between and rarely free and fair – except in Israel. After a tight, tough race, Benjamin Netanyahu has again been chosen by Israelis, positioning him to become Israel’s longest-serving prime minister. FDD senior vice president Jonathan Schanzer was on the ground during the final days of the campaign. He joins host Cliff May to discuss the outcome and what lies ahead for Israel and the Middle East.
Monday Apr 15, 2019
International Orders and Disorders
Monday Apr 15, 2019
Monday Apr 15, 2019
Yoram Hazony is a political philosopher, president of the Herzl Institute in Jerusalem, and the author—most recently—of a book that’s been stirring controversy: “The Virtue of Nationalism.” He joins host Cliff May to discuss tribalism, nationalism, imperialism, freedom, sovereignty, and globalism.
Monday Apr 01, 2019
Israel on the Brink, As Usual
Monday Apr 01, 2019
Monday Apr 01, 2019
Israeli elections are approaching, President Trump’s envoys are working on a new plan aimed at resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran continue to threaten the Jewish state with annihilation.
To help make sense of these complex challenges, host Cliff May is joined by former Ambassador Daniel Shapiro and FDD Senior Vice President and expert on Palestinian politics Jonathan Schanzer. Prior toserving as U.S. envoy to Israel under President Obama from 2011 to 2017, Ambassador Shapiro worked on both the Hill and the National Security Council. He is currently a distinguished visiting fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University.
Monday Mar 18, 2019
In the Line of Fire: Human Shields
Monday Mar 18, 2019
Monday Mar 18, 2019
War is always going to be hell, but the laws of war are intended to make armed conflicts a little less hellish.
With that in mind, Congress recently passed—and the president signed—critical new legislation against the use of human shields: putting civilians in the line of fire to protect combatants. But more remains to be done.To discuss this war crime, host Cliff May is joined by FDD CEO Mark Dubowitz and FDD Senior Fellow Professor Orde Kittrie, who have been working long and hard to counter what Ambassador Nikki Haley told Cliff is “the most cowardly act you can imagine.”
From the episode:"Get Serious About Human Shields" by Mark Dubowitz and Orde Kittrie in The Wall Street Journal: https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2018/08/23/get-serious-about-human-shields/
"Lawfare: Law as a Weapon of War" by Orde Kittrie (Oxford University Press, 2016: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/lawfare-9780190263577?cc=us&lang=en&
Cliff's interview with Ambassador Nikki Haley at FDD's National Security Summit (video and transcript): https://www.fdd.org/events/2018/08/28/fdds-national-security-summit-3/
Mark and Orde speaking at FDD's panel on Capitol Hill "Legal Implications Surrounding the Use of Human Shields" (video): https://www.fdd.org/events/2018/03/16/legal-implications-surrounding-the-use-of-human-shields/
More from Mark: https://markdubowitz.org/https://www.fdd.org/team/mark-dubowitz/
More from Orde: https://www.fdd.org/team/orde-kittrie/
More from Cliff: https://www.fdd.org/team/clifford-d-may/
Monday Mar 04, 2019
Future Wars: a Conversation with H.R. McMaster
Monday Mar 04, 2019
Monday Mar 04, 2019
H.R. McMaster served as a U.S. Army officer for thirty-four years—including deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan—before retiring as a Lieutenant General in June 2018. He then served as White House national security advisor. Now a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, he also chairs the Board of Advisors at FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power.
He joins host Cliff May for a discussion about national security during a challenging and dangerous time—a time when the U.S. is threatened by a motley crew of rivals, adversaries and sworn enemies.
Monday Jan 14, 2019
Special Edition: Crime Without Punishment
Monday Jan 14, 2019
Monday Jan 14, 2019
On this special edition of Foreign Podicy, host Clifford D. May reads his latest column for The Washington Times co-authored by FDD senior vice president Toby Dershowitz about Alberto Nisman—the intrepid Argentine prosecutor who spent years revealing the truth behind the worst terrorist attack in his country’s history—and who paid for it with his life when he was found murdered four years ago today.
Toby, who knew Alberto well, talks about him, the evidence he produced, and the choice that Argentines now face: to act on that evidence, or to surrender to terrorists and murderers.