School of War - Nebulous Media

Latest Episodes:

Ep 167: Dan Blumenthal and Kyle Balzer on China’s Nuclear Buildup Dec 24, 2024

Show notes

Dan Blumenthal and Kyle Balzer, co-authors of The True Aims of China’s Nuclear Buildup for Foreign Affairs, join the show to discuss the geopolitical implications of China’s increasing and diversifying nuclear arsenal.

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Times

• 01:24 Introduction

• 02:40 China’s buildup

• 05:05 American perception

• 07:28 What is nuclear strategy?

• 11:49 Geopolitical vision

• 16:28 Shaping the world order

• 18:41 Restoring American credibility

• 25:10 Imagining failure

• 30:24 Prospects

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Ep 166: Rachel Kousser on Alexander the Great Dec 20, 2024

Show notes

Rachel Kousser, professor of Classics and Art History at the City University of New York and author of Alexander at the End of the World, joins the show to talk about the violent, brilliant, complex career of Alexander the Great.

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Times

• 01:27 Introduction

• 01:59 Early years and conquest

• 05:45 Pragmatic opportunist

• 09:20 Persepolis burning

• 11:48 Darius

• 14:36 Alexander in the field

• 19:30 Understanding the geography

• 25:56 Dreamer

• 29:50 “A war of choice…”

• 32:57 Building something new

• 34:36 Breaking point

• 38:00 King with consent

• 41:48 Harnessing strength

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Ep 165: Shyam Sankar on a Defense Reformation Dec 17, 2024

Show notes

Shyam Sankar, Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President of Palantir Technologies, joins the show to explain the broken Defense Department acquisition process and how he believes it can be fixed.

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Times

• 01:24 Introduction

• 01:39 Employee #13

• 03:14 Palantir

• 06:22 Monopsony

• 11:18 Messy and chaotic

• 14:40 Dual purpose companies

• 17:18 The buying process

• 23:50 Pushback

• 25:59 Competing efforts

• 27:37 Heretics and heroes

• 31:22 Thinking about future war

• 35:05 A changing selection criteria

• 36:47 “The future is software defined”

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

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Ep 164: Mark Dubowitz on Syria’s Collapse Dec 11, 2024

Show notes

Mark Dubowitz, chief executive officer of Foundation for Defense of Democracies, joins the show to break down the collapse of the Assad regime and the implications for Israel, Turkey, and Iran.

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Times

• 01:23 Introduction

• 02:49 What happened?

• 05:04 Rebels

• 08:17 Risk assessment

• 11:30 Factions

• 17:10 Extremists and radicals

• 19:15 “Our enemies lie to us…”

• 24:19 Defensive reshuffle

• 29:11 Nuclear Iran

• 34:59 A powerful message

• 42:40 Striking power

• 47:27 A new “Ring of Fire”

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Ep 163: School of War Goes to Israel—Lessons from a Savage Year Dec 10, 2024

Show notes

Host Aaron MacLean recently embedded with the Israeli Defense Forces and saw firsthand Israel’s war with Iranian proxy groups Hezbollah and Hamas. What lessons can Americans learn from Israel’s year of fighting for its survival?

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Times

• 03:28 The North

• 04:26 Metula

• 07:45 Yishai

• 10:00 Realities and misconceptions

• 18:06 Stalemate

• 22:33 Shaping the fight

• 40:00 Reconnaissance-strike complex

• 46:38 Dotan Razili

• 50:50 Iron Dome in action

• 54:43 Sarit Zehavi

• 1:11:01 Hezbollah defeated

• 1:12:58 “Knowing but not understanding”

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

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Ep 162: Michael Leggiere on Military History on Campus Dec 06, 2024

Show notes

Michael Leggiere, Professor of Humanities at the University of Florida and editor of War Studies Journal 1, joins the show to discuss the sad state of military history in higher education.

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Times

• 01:17 Introduction

• 02:48 Military history in academia

• 03:53 PME

• 05:22 What is “new” military history?

• 11:55 “History shouldn’t be a mystery”

• 17:55 The Journal

• 20:45 Suggested pieces

• 24:32 Napoleon

• 26:58 Lee

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

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Ep 161: Mackenzie Eaglen on China’s Military Spending and Ours Dec 03, 2024

Show notes

Mackenzie Eaglen, senior fellow at AEI and author of Keeping Up with the Pacing Threat: Unveiling the True Size of Beijing’s Military Spending, joins the show to discuss the dire situation the U.S. defense budget is in.

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Times

• 01:22 Introduction

• 02:48 Keeping up

• 05:26 China’s spending

• 10:01 Equipment costs

• 13:46 “Stealing our stuff”

• 18:25 5 alarm fire

• 20:32 U.S. budget truths

• 24:50 BCA 101

• 31:32 Today or tomorrow

• 39:23 Defense is cheaper, not better

• 43:21 Solutions

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

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Ep 160: Thomas Barfield on Empire and Imperial Strategies Today Nov 26, 2024

Show notes

Thomas Barfield, Professor and Chairman of the Anthropology Department at Boston University and author of Shadow Empires: An Alternative Imperial History, joins the show to discuss empire.

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Times

• 01:15 Introduction

• 03:20 Understanding Afghanistan

• 05:15 Classifying empires

• 09:59 Failures and features

• 12:24 Borders

• 15:30 Exogenous empires

• 21:36 Brits and Athenians

• 26:40 Vulture empires

• 32:21 Taking responsibility

• 37:15 Empires of nostalgia

• 44:50 Vacuum empires

• 51:05 American/Athenian policy

• 54:53 China and empire today

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

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Ep 159: Rebeccah Heinrichs on the Morality of Nuclear Weapons Nov 19, 2024

Show notes

Rebeccah Heinrichs, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and author of Duty to Deter: American Nuclear Deterrence and the Just War Doctrine, joins the show to make the moral argument for why the United States should modernize and grow its nuclear arsenal.

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Times

• 01:15 Introduction

• 01:48 A net good

• 04:50 Tactical nuclear weapons

• 10:25 The argument of disarmament

• 14:03 Cold War strategy

• 19:53 Capability and will

• 26:06 Downside of “no first use”

• 32:03 The nuclear triad

• 37:20 Russia and China

• 40:56 The moral argument

Watch today’s episode on YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast

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

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Ep 158: Randall Schriver and Dan Blumenthal on an Economic Strategy for China Nov 12, 2024

Show notes

Randall Schriver, Chairman of the Board at The Project 2049 Institute, and Dan Blumenthal, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, join the show to discuss a road map for economic competition—and warfare—between the U.S. and China.

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Times

• 01:55 Introduction

• 02:30 Planning for economic warfare

• 06:27 Endstate

• 10:18 Leadership

• 12:21 NSDD

• 14:59 Starting points

• 17:10 Decoupling

• 20:03 Where is the stuff coming from?

• 23:50 Degrading the Chinese economy

• 27:33 A dream of cooperation