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Guests of the Ayatollah Sep 18, 2023

Show notes

“Hostage diplomacy” is a term you’ll frequently see in the media, but it's a misleading term. What we’re really talking about: Dictators kidnapping and torturing innocent foreign civilians.

In some cases, the leaders of free countries pay ransom to get them back. In some cases, the dictators also demand the release of convicted criminals who have been or can be of use to them. In some cases, both simultaneously.

The Islamic Republic of Iran is the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism; in 1979, in violation of the most fundamental international laws, its agents seized the American embassy in Tehran and held 66 American citizens hostage — 52 of them for 444 days.

The regime in Tehran threatens Israelis with genocide and is providing weapons to Vladimir Putin so he can continue slaughtering Ukrainians for refusing to submit to him; for the crime (in his eyes) of wanting to remain free and independent.

The Biden administration has now reportedly approved the release to Tehran of several Iranian criminals along with $6 billion in frozen funds. In exchange, five U.S. citizens are to be released.

And that’s almost certainly just part of a broader deal being kept secret from the American people and from Congress — in clear violation of American law.

Billions of additional dollars appear to be involved in this deal which will not stop Tehran’s nuclear weapons development program or even seriously delay it.

And because you get more of what you reward, expect the hostage-taking to continue.

Joining host Cliff May to discuss these topics:

Gazalle Sharmahd, whose father, Jamshid or (Jimmy) Sharmahd, a German citizen, was taken prisoner by Iranian agents in Dubai in 2020. She has been tirelessly campaigning for his release ever since and urging the US and Europe to take a tougher line with the Iran’s ruling mullahs.

Xiyue Wang is a Chinese-born American scholar who was imprisoned in Iran from 2016 to 2019 after being falsely accused of espionage. Xiyue is a member of FDD’s National Security Network.

And Behnam Ben Taleblu is a senior fellow at FDD where he focuses on Iranian security and political issues.

The Polish Perspective Sep 08, 2023

Show notes

Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine is illegal, immoral, brutal, and barbarian.
And if you agree that there is no good alternative to American leadership of the world’s free nations and those that aspire to be, then it follows that it would be a terrible mistake — strategically and morally — for Americans to turn their backs on Ukrainians who are fighting for their freedom, independence, homeland, and families.
Whatever your think, you should be curious about the perspectives of America’s allies — particularly those closest to the conflict.
With that in mind, host Cliff May is joined by the Hon. Radosław "Radek" Sikorski, a member of the European Parliament for Poland, who sits on committees for Foreign Affairs, Security and Defense. Also taking part in the conversation is Reuel Marc Gerecht, a resident scholar at FDD. In a former incarnation he was an officer in the CIA’s Directorate of Operations.

The Hon. Radosław "Radek" Sikorski

He is currently a member of the European Parliament for Poland, where he sits on committees for Foreign Affairs, Security, and Defense. He’s also a Senior Fellow at the Center for European Studies at Harvard and a Distinguished Statesman at CSIS in Washington. He was Poland’s Minister of Defense from 2005 to 2007, Foreign Minister from 2007 to 2014 and Speaker of the Parliament from 2014 to 2015.

Other notable items on his very long resume: He served as a war reporter in Afghanistan and Angola. He was a Resident Scholar at AEI in Washington. Foreign Policy magazine named him one of 100 global policy intellectuals ‘for speaking the truth even when it’s not diplomatic.’

Mexico Is Going South Aug 30, 2023

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Host Cliff May lived in Mexico in the late 1970s. Back then, there were reasons to believe Mexico was moving in the right direction. That’s no longer the case. Mexico’s narco-cartels are not only growing in power but also making common cause with Chinese Communists. One result: fentanyl-laced drugs are streaming north where they are killing tens of thousands of young Americans annually. Is Beijing’s goal to destabilize Mexico? Does the Biden administration have a Mexico policy? If not, what should that policy be?

“No Freebies For Dictators” and other Abrams Doctrines Aug 18, 2023

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Elliott Abrams has been in the foreign policy business for a rather long time. Years ago, he served on the staffs of Democratic Senators Henry “Scoop” Jackson and Daniel Patrick Moynihan. He later served in the administrations of Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. During the Trump administration he served as the State Department’s Special Representative for Venezuela and later, in addition, took on the position of Special Representative for Iran. He left the State Department in January 2021. He’s the author of five books. He’s currently senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. He has a blog called Pressure Points which focuses on U.S. foreign policy, the Middle East, democracy, and human rights. He joins host Cliff May to discuss a number of pressing national security and foreign policy issues.

Ukraine: What comes next? Aug 11, 2023

Show notes

"It's not a sprint, it's a marathon."

That was the reported assessment of a Ukrainian battalion commander recently describing Kyiv's counteroffensive against invading Russian forces. To be sure, the progress of the Ukrainian forces has been slow and the human cost incredibly high.

Meanwhile, more than 40 countries — not including Russia — met in Riyadh last weekend to discuss the war.

At this point in the war, what are the strategies of the two combatants?

Is time on Kyiv's — or Moscow's — side?

What U.S. interests are at stake on the battlefield in Ukraine?

What happened at the NATO Summit in Vilnius last month?

Guest host Bradley Bowman, senior director of FDD's Center on Military and Political Power, poses these and related questions to two leading experts: Retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General Ben Hodges and Retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery.

The Game of War: Part II Aug 04, 2023

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In Part II of the Game of War, host Cliff May is again joined by Dr. Ben Jensen and RADM (Ret) Mark Montgomery to continue their discussion on wargaming. They discuss its application in both Taiwan and Ukraine.

Pacific Overtures Jul 28, 2023

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China’s rulers gaze across the Taiwan Strait and see an island where people are free, prosperous, and choose their leaders. They don’t like that. They insist that the people of Taiwan must be ruled by the Communist Party of China. They vow that this is the future and that they will make it happen through the use of military force if other approaches fail. But that’s not all Beijing wants in the vast region known as the Indo-Pacific. Not for the first time on this podcast, we suggest that you reference a map because we’re going to travel to some far-off and remote lands. Guiding us will be Cleo Paskal, a non-resident senior fellow at FDD who studies and writes about this region and has been sounding an alarm in Congress and elsewhere about Beijing’s plans to undermine America's alliances in the Indo-Pacific — particularly with the small island nations of the region. Joining us for the tour is Jon Schanzer, FDD’s senior vice president for research, who recently returned from a trip to Taiwan and Palau, one of the island countries in the western Pacific that we’ll discuss.

The Game of War: Part I Jul 21, 2023

Show notes

War games are not entertainments. They are simulations; a way to develop insights into what would happen in an armed conflict – who would prevail and at what cost, should push come to shove. War games test strategies and capabilities. They are a tool for both research and training.

Recently, Dr. Ben Jensen and FDD’s RADM (Ret) Mark Montgomery conducted for Congress a war game simulating a conflict between the U.S. and the People’s Republic of China over Taiwan.

They join host Cliff May for a special two-part episode to first discuss the concept, utility, and history of war gaming followed by its application in planning for a possible contingency over Taiwan.

Samuel Ramani on Russia in Ukraine and Russia in Africa Jul 14, 2023

Show notes

Samuel Ramani teaches politics and international relations at Oxford. He’s the author of Russia in Africa and Putin’s War on Ukraine.

His articles appear in a range of top-tier publications. He’s often on the BBC and other international broadcast media. His Twitter feed is granular and prolific.

He joins host Cliff May to discuss Russia's war in Ukraine and its footprint in Africa.

Russia’s Lost Empire Jul 10, 2023

Show notes

Host Cliff May recently wrote a column for the Washington Times guessing what Vladimir Putin might do next if he should succeed in Ukraine.

He suggested Putin would take over Moldova, formalize his control over Belarus, and then turn his hungry eyes toward the Baltic states — with the primary goal of establishing a land bridge to Kaliningrad, a Russian territory 400 miles west of the Russian mainland.

Parenthetically: Kaliningrad was called Königsberg before the Soviet army captured it from the Germans in 1945. It’s where the Russian Navy’s Baltic Fleet is now headquartered.

In response, Cliff received a note from a brilliant scholar, S. Frederick Starr, among whose many books is Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. It’s a fascinating book that Cliff says changed his understanding of Central Asia and the Islamic world.

In his note to Cliff, Fred asked why he didn’t think about Putin sending his tanks in another direction: Central Asia and the Caucuses.

That seemed like a good question. So, Fred — the founding chairman of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute and Silk Road Studies Program — sat down with Cliff to answer it.

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