School of War

I’ve never served and I’m not a particularly keen student of military history, but despite the title that doesn’t affect my enjoyment of the show. Aaron and his guests break things down in a way that someone like me can understand. It’s also a history show, too! Fascinating content.

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.

Have been listening to this show for a couple of years, and while unsurprising, I am disappointed in the Bari Weissification of this show that has occurred. The show has become overtly partisan in favor of neoconservative views and maximalist interventionist policies rather than focusing on what should be non-partisan military affairs, history, and technology. I will not be continuing to listen to this show if the blatantly partisan slant of allowing partisan actors a mouthpiece with zero pushback continues. If the host - who I believe is capable of this and has the capacity for excellent work - pushes back on overtly curated talking points devoid of nuance, diversifies the guests that appear on the show, and returns to a focus on military affairs, technology, and history as opposed to partisan foreign policy punditry, I think this show could be great once again.

The show started strong years ago. Became a propaganda machine over the last year. I’m sure money is a driver.