Foreign Podicy

Anti-Semitism is sometimes called the “the oldest hatred,” and one never knows where it will pop up next. That said, many people have been surprised—as well as disappointed—to see it crop up in Ireland in the form of legislation promoting economic warfare against Israel. On this special edition of Foreign Podicy, host Clifford D. May reads his Washington Times column on this topic, and then discuss the causes, consequences and context of Ireland’s move with Melanie Phillips—a British journalist, broadcaster and author.

Four decades ago, Iran was convulsed by one of the great revolutions of the 20th century. The leader of that revolution: Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, would take the title: “supreme leader.” He was to be regarded, literally, as God’s “representative on Earth.” A charismatic, fire-and-brimstone cleric, he preached jihad against America and the West. When he died in 1989, his disciple, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, became the new supreme leader. He has called the Islamic Revolution the “turning point in modern world history.” His regime now influences Iraq, has military forces propping up the Assad dictatorship in Syria—where more than half a million people have been killed and millions made homeless—controls Lebanon through Hezbollah, backs the Houthi rebels in Yemen, and penetrates Latin America. Supreme Leader Khamenei also has a nuclear weapons program—perhaps delayed but certainly not ended by the deal President Obama agreed to—as well as a program to develop missiles capable of delivering such weapons to targets

The United States has the most powerful military in world history. But after 17 years fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, an American victory is nowhere in sight. With that and many other threats and challenges in mind, FDD has opened a new Center on Military and Political Power. CMPP will attempt to promote—on a bipartisan basis—better understanding of the defense strategies, policies and capabilities that can most effectively deter adversaries, and defeat those who cannot be deterred. CMPP’s board of directors is a veritable ‘who’s who’ of leading national security thinkers—including former White House National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster (who serves as CMPP chairman) and former Defense Secretary and CIA Director Leon Panetta. Bradley Bowman, CMPP’s senior director, served as an active-duty U.S. Army officer for more than 15 years, taught as an Assistant Professor at West Point, and most recently worked as a National Security Advisor to members of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committe

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.

Iran has a plan. February will be 40 years since Ayatollah Khomeini returned from exile to Tehran to lead what he called an Islamic Revolution, and begin forming a government committed to jihad. By the end of 1979, he was supreme leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran. What he and his acolytes intend has been stated clearly and with consistency by Iran’s ruling ayatollahs. They intend to destroy their regional enemies, establish a great new empire and dominate the Middle East. They also intend death to America—that may take longer, but they're not impatient, and they have friends and family to help. In particular, they have Hezbollah, Iran’s Arab, Shia terrorist proxy. Although based in Lebanon, Hezbollah is willing and able to fight beyond Lebanon's borders, for example in Syria and, if they can, on Israeli soil—by digging under Israeli soil. President Trump's decision to withdraw from Syria can only be seen as a victory for the Islamic Republic, as well as for the Islamic State, which may now have an opport

America’s conflict with the Taliban in Afghanistan, now well into its second decade, is not going well. The U.S. military has called it a “stalemate.” During his farewell speech in early September, General John W. Nicholson Jr., who first oversaw the military effort for President Trump, said: “It is time for this war in Afghanistan to end.” But most wars don’t end – they are won or they are lost. Has America lost this fight against a jihadi group closely aligned with al Qaeda? If so, what are the consequences? To answer these and related questions, FDD president and Foreign Podicy host Clifford D. May is joined by Tom Joscelyn, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and senior editor of FDD’s Long War Journal, and Bill Roggio, also a senior fellow at FDD and editor of FDD’s Long War Journal.        

Andrew Roberts is one of the world's greatest living historians and biographers. He has written or edited 19 books, which have been translated into 22 languages. His latest, Churchill: Walking With Destiny, is a thousand-page biography. Professor Roberts is the first biographer granted permission by Queen Elizabeth II to unfettered access to the diaries of her father, King George VI, revealing his personal encounters with Churchill during some of Britain's darkest hours. He joins Clifford D. May,  Foreign Podicy host and FDD president, to discuss the life of the most consequential statesman of the 20th century and his impact on the world of today.

Since the end of World War II, we have seen the emergence of a “liberal world order.” By any historical standard, it’s brought us extraordinary peace, prosperity and progress. Though imperfect, it’s preferable to any other option currently available. But unless the U.S. defends it and invests in it, it will die—sooner rather than later. That, in a nutshell, is the argument Robert Kagan makes in his powerful new book: The Jungle Grows Back: America and Our Imperiled World. He joins FDD president and Foreign Podicy host Clifford D. May for a discussion of what human progress in the 21st century requires. 

Stuart Eizenstat has had a long and extraordinary career. Among the influential positions he’s held: President Jimmy Carter’s chief White House Domestic Policy Advisor, President Bill Clinton’s ambassador to the European Union, and an undersecretary in the departments of Commerce and State. He’s today a leading international lawyer with Covington and Burling in Washington, D.C. He’s now written “President Carter: The White House Years” – a memoir/history/biography focusing on just four years (1977 to 1981), but eventful years those were. He joins Kenneth Stein, Professor of Contemporary Middle Eastern History and Founding Director of the Emory Institute for the Study of Modern Israel; Jonathan Schanzer, FDD’s Senior Vice President for Research; and FDD president and Foreign Podicy Host Clifford D. May to discuss the Carter years and the Carter legacy in foreign policy and national security. Episode resources: President Carter: The White House Years — Stuart Eizenstat; St. Martin's Press The life, times and fo

Yaya Fanusie is the director of analysis at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Center on Sanctions and Illicit Finance (CSIF). He spent seven years as both an economic and counterterrorism analyst in the CIA, where he regularly briefed White House policy makers, U.S. military personnel, and federal law enforcement. In 2009, he spent three months in Afghanistan providing analytic support to senior military officials. He joins FDD president and Foreign Podicy host Clifford D. May for a discussion of the Long War, terrorism, ideology, religion and other issues. Episode resources: What it’s like to be a Muslim in the CIA — Yaya J. Fanusie; Vox How to Neutralize the Violent Jihadist Pull — Yaya J. Fanusie; Muslim Matters Anwar Al-Awlaki’s American Journey — Clifford D. May; Scripps Howard News Service Clifford D. May is president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), host of FDD's Foreign Podicy, and the foreign desk columnist for the Washington Times. Follow him on twitter @CliffordDMay. Yay

If the attacks of September 11, 2001 were a second Pearl Harbor, where are we in the war that began on that day? Are we winning, losing or stalemated? Last year there were more than 10,000 terrorist attacks worldwide—about five times the number in 2001. So what have we learned—or, more importantly—what do we still need to learn? Are there policies and strategies that ought to be put in place? Today, on the 17th anniversary of the deadliest terrorist attack in America's history, U.S. Institute for Peace has released a new report on “protecting America from extremism in fragile states.” To discuss its analysis and recommendations, FDD president and Foreign Podicy host Clifford D. May is joined by Stephen Hadley, former National Security Advisor to President George W. Bush, and now the chair of the U.S. Institute for Peace—a congressionally founded and funded policy institute; Nancy Lindborg, president of the U.S.I.P.; and Reuel Marc Gerecht, a senior fellow at FDD and a former Middle East specialist in the CIA’

Jeane J. Kirkpatrick was one of the visionaries who helped create the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies soon after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Six years ago, FDD inaugurated an award in honor of the first woman to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations — a statesman who vehemently opposed totalitarianism and resolutely defended American values.   This year, FDD’s Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Statesmanship Award was presented to Ambassador Nikki R. Haley who has brought a precise moral compass and a distinctly American voice to the United Nations. She sat down with FDD president and Foreign Podicy host Clifford D. May to discuss human rights, U.N. reform and other consequential national security issues we face today.   Resources: Woman of the world — Clifford D. May; The Washington Times FDD’s National Security Summit featuring Ambassador Nikki Haley  (Video available here; transcript available here)  

Israel is a tiny country: its land area about a fourth the size of the United Arab Emirates, its population less than that of Tehran—capital of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Yet Israel is the subject of constant comment and controversy, and is frequently attacked—both kinetically and rhetorically—by its enemies, its adversaries, and too often even by those who should be its allies. To help make sense of Israel's most recent conflicts and controversies —including over sovereignty of the Golan Heights, the Nation-State law, and the anti-Israeli sentiments expressed by many of the UN's agencies—FDD president and Foreign Podicy host Clifford D. May is joined by Eugene Kontorovich, Director of the Kohelet Policy Forum, an Israeli think tank, and Professor at George Mason University’s Scalia School of Law, whose areas of expertise include constitutional law, federal courts, international law, and the Arab-Israeli conflict. International Law and the Recognition of Israeli Sovereignty in the Golan Heights — Eugene K

For seven long years, Syria has been engulfed in civil war. The death toll now exceeds a half million. More than five million refugees have fled abroad, and millions more are internally displaced. The dynastic dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad almost certainly would have fallen had it not been for the intervention of the Islamic Republic of Iran, its Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah, various Iranian-controlled Shia militias, and the Russian military. Lately, Tehran also has been building a military machine in Syria aimed at Israel. And Israel is responding. To examine how these conflicts are likely to evolve, FDD president and Foreign Podicy host Clifford D. May is joined by FDD Research Fellow and Levant expert Tony Badran, Security Studies Group Senior Fellow Matt Brodsky, and FDD Senior Vice President for Research Jonathan Schanzer.

Kazakhstan is one of the ten largest countries in the world, yet most Americans couldn’t find it on a map. Today, the former Soviet Republic is an anti-Islamist, Muslim-majority nation, yet most Americans have no idea we have friends there. To learn more about this distant and intriguing corner of the world, host Clifford D. May is joined by Svante Cornell, Director of the Central Asian Caucasus Institute at the American Foreign Policy Council.

Syria has been at war for seven long years. More than a half million people have been killed. More than 11 million – close to half Syria’s pre-war population – have been displaced either internally or as refugees in other countries.  But Syrians are not the only ones involved in this fight.  The Islamic Republic of Iran, Lebanese Hezbollah – the Iranian regime’s foreign legion – and Russia have helped keep dictator Bashar al-Assad in power. Israel, Turkey and the U.S. also have been playing significant roles. To discuss the conflict in Syria, where it is heading, what U.S. policy is and where it should be, host Clifford D. May is joined by FDD’s senior counselor John Hannah and director of research David Adesnik.

Not so long ago, Turkey appeared to be the model: a Muslim-majority nation that was becoming free, democratic and prosperous; a NATO ally; a friend of America and Europe. Today, all of that is very much in doubt. To discuss Turkey’s trajectory in the aftermath of elections that have strengthened the hand of the President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, FDD president and Foreign Podicy host Clifford D. May is joined by former U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Eric Edelman, FDD senior fellow Aykan Erdemir and FDD research analyst Merve Tahiroglu. Episode resources: Erdogan's Re-election Win Gives Him Vastly Expanded Powers in Turkey  – Carlotta Gall; The New York Times Turkish Elections: A Win That Cannot Be Stolen  – Aykan Erdemir; FDD Policy Brief Erdogan’s Hostage Diplomacy: Why We Need a Transatlantic Response  – Aykan Erdemir and Eric S. Edelman; The Globalist Erdogan’s Hostage Diplomacy: Western Nationals in Turkish Prisons  – Aykan Erdemir and Eric S. Edelman; FDD Research

Lebanon and Iraq both recently held elections, which is good news – or is it? Hezbollah, Iran's terrorist foreign legion, is now more firmly in control of Lebanon than ever before. Meanwhile, Iraq still faces many perils, not least from the Islamic Republic of Iran as it pursues its imperialist ambitions in the region. In episode 14 of Foreign Podicy, host Clifford D. May discusses these developments with Tony Badran, an FDD research fellow born and raised in Lebanon who focuses on the Levant, and Zalmay Khalilzad, born and raised in Afghanistan who served as U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Afghanistan, and the UN. Episode resources: After an Iranian Missile Attack on the Golan Heights, Israel Strikes Syria  – Tony Badran, Tablet Magazine Where Iran’s terrorist representative is the big winner – Tony Badran and Jonathan Schanzer, The Washington Times Hezbollah and its Allies Win more than Half the Seats in Lebanon’s Parliament – Romany Shaker, FDD Policy Brief Our Incoherent Lebanon Policy –  Tony Badran, Tablet Mag

A peril that may not be on your radar screen: Cyber-Enabled Economic Warfare (CEEW). Computers and the Internet have made our lives easier but they’ve also left us vulnerable to an arsenal of cyber weapons that threaten us as much as terrorists, guns and bombs. Foreign Podicy host Clifford D. May is joined by Dr. Samantha Ravich, a senior advisor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies as well as a principal investigator for FDD’s Cyber-Enabled Economic Warfare project, to discuss CEEW, and what must be done to combat it. Episode resources: http://www.defenddemocracy.org/content/uploads/documents/MEMO_CyberDefinitions_07.pdf http://www.defenddemocracy.org/media-hit/samantha-ravich-cyber-enabled-economic-warfare-assessing-us-strategy/ https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Releases/News-Release-View/Article/1282920/dod-initiates-elevation-process-for-us-cyber-command-to-a-unified-combatant-com https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/senate-confirms-paul-nakasone-to-lead-the-nsa-us-cyber-command

War will always be hell – but the laws of war were meant to make wars at least a little less hellish. In Syria, however, the brutal regime of Bashar al-Assad – backed by the Islamic Republic of Iran and by Russia – has many times used prohibited chemical weapons to murder innocent men, women, and children. President Trump has now twice responded with punitive attacks. What has he achieved and what still needs to be done to protect American interests? Foreign Podicy host Clifford D. May is joined by John Hannah, senior counselor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, who has served on the national security teams of both democratic and republican administrations, to discuss the ongoing crises and potential ways forward in Syria and the broader region. Episode Resources: “Trump Was Right to Strike Syria,” John Hannah, Foreign Policy