School of War - Nebulous Media

Latest Episodes:

Ep 197: Mick Ryan on the Ukrainian Battlefield May 13, 2025

Show notes

Mick Ryan, retired major general in the Australian Army and author of

The War for Ukraine: Strategy and Adaptation Under Fire, joins the show to discuss the evolving battlefield and cycles of change and innovation going on in Ukraine.

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Times

• 01:35 Introduction

• 02:17 Touring the front

• 05:11 No place safe

• 07:01 Change

• 11:24 Wire guided drones

• 15:31 Task organization

• 20:38 Drone defense

• 22:49 Is artillery dead?

• 26:39 Rethinking procurement

• 30:34 2014

• 33:07 Putin’s objectives

• 36:05 Formula for ceasefire

• 38:02 A just solution

• 39:41 Surprise is alive and well

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Ep 196: Thomas Bruscino and Mitchell G. Klingenberg on Mapping Warfare May 09, 2025

Show notes

Thomas Bruscino, professor at the U.S. Army War College, and Mitchell G. Klingenberg, assistant professor at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, join the show to discuss their article "Making War Upon the Map" The U.S. Army’s Forgotten Map Problem, Meade’s Gettysburg Campaign, and Depicting Operational Art.

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Times

• 02:05 Introduction

• 03:12 What’s missing?

• 06:17 A modern problem

• 09:27 Meade takes command

• 11:29 Seeing both sides

• 15:41 South Mountain

• 22:54 Lee’s mistakes

• 30:11 Meade’s good choices

• 36:32 Mapping in 2025

• 41:51 Visualization

• 47:37 Developing doctrine

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Ep 195: John Hillen on Strategic Thinking May 06, 2025

Show notes

John Hillen, James C. Wheat Professor in Leadership at Hampden-Sydney College and author of The Strategy Dialogues: A Primer on Business Strategy and Strategic Management, joins the show to talk about how to think strategically in war, business, and life.

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Times

• 01:55 Introduction

• 02:31 An Army start

• 05:17 Cold War ends

• 10:14 The Gulf

• 13:15 Changing styles

• 18:00 73 Easting

• 22:59 Policy and business

• 26:09 Strategos

• 29:04 In the doing

• 32:17 Inside out & outside in

• 36:41 Seeking horizons

• 42:22 Goals are not strategy

• 43:42 Call of Duty

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Ep 194: Mark Moyar on the Vietnam War May 02, 2025

Show notes

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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Ep 193: Douglas Murray on Israel’s War and its Global Consequences Apr 29, 2025

Show notes

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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Find a transcript of today’s episode on our School of War Substack

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Ep 192: Raymond Jonas on Europe’s War on the Monroe Doctrine (~165 years ago) Apr 25, 2025

Show notes

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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Ep 191: Mark Dubowitz on Iran and the Trump Administration Apr 22, 2025

Show notes

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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Ep 190: Michael Doran on “Restraint” and the Middle East Apr 15, 2025

Show notes

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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Ep 189: Andrew Roberts on October 7th and Antisemitism Apr 11, 2025

Show notes

Lord Andrew Roberts, the Bonnie and Tom McCloskey Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution and chair of the 7 October Parliamentary Commission Report, joins the show to discuss October 7th revisionism, the potency of antisemitism, and the strange effort to reinterpret World War II.

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Times

• 01:56 Introduction

• 02:35 Why?

• 03:48 No room for debate

• 05:34 Not “accidental”

• 16:13 Cooper’s conclusions

• 20:13 Peace with Hitler

• 22:53 Destroying the foundation

• 25:06 Free speech

• 27:39 Gaza endgame

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Find a transcript of today’s episode on our School of War Substack

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Ep 188: Jonathan Horn on MacArthur and the Battle for the Philippines Apr 08, 2025

Show notes

Jonathan Horn, former White House speechwriter and author of The Fate of the Generals: MacArthur, Wainwright, and the Epic Battle for the Philippines, joins the show to discuss the defeats, victories, and legacies of Douglas MacArthur and Jonathan Wainwright, the highest-ranking American POW of WWII.

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Times

• 01:56 Introduction

• 04:36 Arthur MacArthur

• 09:33 The Philippines

• 16:13 Wainwright

• 18:20 War Plan Orange

• 27:06 Crisis

• 32:34 MacArthur leaves

• 35:20 Bataan and surrender

• 43:18 Captivity

• 48:34 Postwar