School of War

Iran is still the largest state sponsor of terrorism. Iran has been at war with the US since 1979, killing hundreds & wounding thousands of Americans. We have to believe that they mean it when they chant - Death to America & Death to Israel. Like the $1.6 billion of the Shah’s foreign military sales money that President Obama returned, the $6 billion that Iran will get from Qatar will not be used to help their civilians (they slaughtered 40K of their own citizens only a few months ago). The theocracy will use it to rearm drones, missiles, and proxies. We can win the existential battles & wars - Civil War & WWII. Korea was a tie. We do not have a bipartisan national grand strategy for non-existential wars. Which shows our bad record of winning all the battles but losing the war (& peace): WWI, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq…Iran? We excel in the military part of diMe, but the M without coordination with the other elements d, i & e of national power, is not enough to win the war. We need to excel at the 3 other elements of national power - diplomacy, information & economic; all coordinating with the military toward a political grand strategy, to win the war & peace. The final decision to commence military operations should pass Fox Conner’s negative principles: 1-Never fight unless you have to. 2-Never fight alone. 3-Never fight for long.

Yeah, they’re great show, but Jake Sullivan is not worth listening to. He does not understand how to deal with Iran and he got to prove that for a long time.

In one week, doesn’t challenge Niall Ferguson when dumping on conservatives. The next week, doesn’t challenge Jake Sullivan’s obviously false claims about Biden’s success (ex. fentanyl). Show was much better when it stuck to what it was good at: military history.

Compared to other podcasts that discuss defense related issues, the guests of this show seem to always advocate for maximalist approaches that advocate for use of force as a solution to almost all problems. It’s a lot of knowledgae and interesting conversation underscored by a bevy of assumptions and ideology that feels very black and white. Worth a listen, but take everything with a grain of salt.