FDD's Foreign Podicy

Mark Montgomery, retired Rear Admiral offering frontline military reporting from Ukraine, Lithuania, and Bulgaria. Daniel Vaynshteyn, congressional relations expert with personal ties to Ukraine. They discuss Russian hybrid warfare tactics, the current battlefront and Ukrainian resilience, weapons and funding needs, drone warfare lessons, Russia's internal dissent, and shifting international partnerships.

Mark Dubowitz, a longtime Iran and national security analyst, explains Iran’s ideology, military strategy, and regional networks. He discusses U.S.-Israel operational ties, multi-front pressures on Israel, Iran’s 2024 missile and drone actions, and options to degrade Iran’s war-making and nuclear capacity. Short, sharp insights into coalition dynamics, strategic targets, and what counts as success.

Hussain Abdul‑Hussain, research fellow and author of The Arab Case for Israel, explains his journey from skepticism to arguing Arab support for normalization. He covers Iran’s regional role, why some Gulf states moved toward Israel, Palestinian identity origins, refugee practicalities, and how economic ties could reshape Middle East politics.

For nearly half a century, Iran’s rulers have promised “Death to America.” It wasn’t just a chant — it was a policy. From the 1979 hostage crisis to terrorist attacks that killed hundreds of Americans, the Islamic Republic has spent decades waging a shadow war against the United States. Now Washington is confronting Iran’s jihadist regime more directly — raising a larger question: what role might Xi Jinping’s China play in the conflict? Cliff May sits down with former Acting Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency David Shedd to examine the long war against Tehran’s jihadist rulers — and why Beijing may have more at stake than many realize.

Earlier this week, President Trump said of Iran’s rulers: “I will never allow the world's number one sponsor of terror — which they are, by far — to have a nuclear weapon." He also noted that the regime massacred “at least 32,000” unarmed civilian protestors in January and has previously “killed and maimed thousands of American service members.” On Friday, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee told his embassy staff they might want to take a little trip abroad. And the US State Department is advising American citizens that it’s best not to visit Israel right now. Host Cliff May asks FDD's Reuel Marc Gerecht and Behnam Ben Taleblu: What happens next?

📺 | Watch this episode on YouTube here. On February 24, 2022, Russian tanks and troops invaded Ukraine. Russian ruler Vladimir Putin expected a swift victory. Many Western observers did, too. After all, he had sliced two territories from Georgia in 2008 and seized Crimea and parts of Donbas in 2014 at little cost.  Five years on, Ukraine’s fight — still led by President Volodymyr Zelensky — continues. To assess the state of the war, the role of the United States and Europe, and what support is most urgently required, host Cliff May is joined by his FDD colleagues RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery — currently on the ground in Ukraine — and John Hardie.

📺 | Watch this episode on YouTube here.America confronts a daunting geo-strategic landscape: The Axis of Aggressors — China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea — are cooperating across multiple domains in unprecedented ways.Putin continues his brutal, unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. In return for North Korean troops and artillery shells for this war, Russian security assistance is flowing in increasing quantities to Pyongyang. The Chinese Communist Party is sprinting to field a military that it hopes can defeat the United States in the Pacific. And the Islamic Republic of Iran remains committed to terrorism and interested in nuclear weapons while murdering thousands of Iranians.And now, the Trump administration has released a new U.S. National Security Strategy and National Defense Strategy that signal significant shifts in Washington’s approach.To assess the stakes — and whether America has the will to prevail — LTG (Ret.) H.R. McMaster joins guest host Bradley Bowman. General McMaster is the former U.S. National Security Advisor and now serves as Chairman of the Center on Military and Political Power at FDD, which Brad leads.

“God is great. Death to America. Death to Israel. Curse on the Jews. Victory to Islam.”The Houthi slogan isn’t just a chant — it’s a worldview. To understand who they are and what they want, Cliff is joined by former British ambassador to Yemen and FDD senior fellow Edmund Fitton-Brown, who gained firsthand experience dealing with senior Houthi leaders while serving as ambassador.

Mark Montgomery, Admiral and senior cyber and tech specialist, and Bradley Bowman, defense strategy and great‑power competition expert, break down the new National Defense Strategy. They debate defense funding, risks in cyber warfare like Volt Typhoon, U.S. posture on Taiwan and deterrence, messaging about allies and America’s interests, and implications for Ukraine, Israel, Korea, and hemispheric competition.

Ashley Rindsberg, investigative journalist and founder of NPOV who probes media influence and platform manipulation. He explores how Wikipedia can be captured by coordinated networks. They discuss Iran's internet blackout and narrative control. They examine editing barriers, paid versus volunteer editors, big donors' influence, and risks of biased content seeding AI.