FDD's Foreign Podicy

Two places we need to watch carefully right now: the United Kingdom, which has just installed its seventh prime minister in a decade, and Yemen, where the Houthi rebels have declared anaval blockade of Saudi Arabia and resumed strikes on tankers transiting the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.
 
Edmund Fitton-Brown, FDD senior fellow and former British ambassador to Yemen, joins Cliff May on FDD’s Foreign Podicy to discuss the new government in Blighty and what’s driving theHouthis on the Arabian Peninsula.

Forget nukes and stealth jets — the next war may just be won with algorithms, drone swarms, and who spends smarter, not bigger.

FDD Research Analyst and Foreign Podicy guest host, Mariam Wahba sits down with Aaron MacLean, host of the School of War podcast, to unpack how AI and rapid decision cycles are rewriting the rules of modern warfare — with Iran and Ukraine as live case studies. From strategic miscalculation and munitionsshortages to the death of old "theories of victory," they discuss why America's tech edge alone won't be enough to win the next war.

This week, Iran's rulers fired on commercial vessels attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz -- an egregious violation of the Memorandum of Understanding which now appears to be a dead MOU. That doesn't surprise Zineb Riboua who has always been skeptical of attempts to forge "peace deals" with the Islamist revolutionaries in Tehran. Ms. Riboua, research fellow at the Hudson Institute's Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East and founder of the China in MENA Project, sitsdown with host Cliff May to discuss Iran, Morocco (where she was born), France (where she was went to school), Russia, China, Latin America and the rising ideology -- including in the U.S. -- of Third Worldism.

As NATO members head to Ankara, the Alliance is under strain — clashing over defense spending levels, the Russo-Ukrainian and US-Iran wars, and the shrinking U.S. military footprint in Europe. Trump comes to the table with real leverage, but both Europe and America have real grievances, and the outcome may hinge on which one drives his approach.

On this episode of Foreign Podicy, guest host RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery, senior director of FDD's Center on Cyber and Innovation Technology, is joined by John Hardie, deputy director of FDD's Russia Program; Peter Doran, FDD senior adjunct fellow; and Cameron McMillan, senior research analyst at FDDs Center on Military and Political Power. Together, they assess what's at stake in Ankara and whether Trump can secure strong wins from allies or risks mismanaging the moment.

A century of failed diplomacy, hostage crises, secret arms deals, war and even murder. Dr. Tevi Troy, an American presidential historian and senior fellow at the Ronald Reagan Institute, joins host Cliff May to unpack his WashingtonExaminer article, "The Presidents and Iran: A History." From the Persian shahs to the Islamic Republic, Troy and May trace 100 years of U.S.-Iran conflict and ask the uncomfortable question: why does each new commander in chief refuse to learn from his predecessor's mistakes?