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PODCAST

FDD"s Foreign Podicy

A national security and foreign policy podcast from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD).

news news commentary

All Episodes

01:02:53

The War Against Iran’s Jihadis: What’s Xi Got to Do...

FDD"s Foreign Podicy ·

2026/03/06

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

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00:59:29

Wars and Rumors of War

FDD"s Foreign Podicy ·

2026/02/28

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

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01:09:40

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About the...

FDD"s Foreign Podicy ·

2026/02/06

“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.

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00:52:26

Wikipedia Wars

FDD"s Foreign Podicy ·

2026/01/24

📺: Watch this episode on YouTube here.In addition to slaughtering Iranian citizens by the thousands, Iran’s Islamist rulers are waging a cognitive war. To conceal their brutal crackdown, the regime has shut down the internet inside Iran. Beyond Iran’s borders, one corner of the digital world remains fully operational — shaping much of the world’s perceptions of what’s happening inside the Islamic Republic. That corner is Wikipedia, now an integral node in a nefarious network that propagates

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01:06:16

Persian Puzzles

FDD"s Foreign Podicy ·

2026/01/17

📺: Watch this episode on YouTube here. Iran is once again convulsed by nationwide protests — but this time, the regime has pulled the plug. With the internet shut down and security forces unleashed, the Islamic Republic is violently crushing dissent in virtual darkness, silencing both protesters and the outside world. As the Iranian people continue risking everything for freedom, will America finally put its money where its mouth is? When? How? Reuel Marc Gerecht and Behnam Ben Taleblu join host

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00:56:18

Why Chinese Economic Statecraft is a U.S. National...

FDD"s Foreign Podicy ·

2025/12/20

Watch this episode on YouTube here.China isn’t just competing economically — it’s coercing strategically. Drawing on the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission’s latest report, guest host Craig Singleton is joined by Commission Vice Chair Randy Shriver and Commissioner Mike Kuiken to unpack how Beijing weaponizes its economic power — and why Chinese economic statecraft now sits at the center of U.S. national security.

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01:02:07

Americans Want U.S. Strength and Statesmanship

FDD"s Foreign Podicy ·

2025/12/13

Politicians love to tell Americans what we think about U.S. leadership, our military, our allies, and our enemies — but the data tells a different story. A new Reagan National Defense Survey cuts through the noise to reveal what Americans actually believe during a moment of strategic flux. To unpack the findings and what they mean for U.S. power, deterrence, and America’s role in the world — guest host Bradley Bowman is joined by Roger Zakheim, Washington Director of the Ronald Reagan Presidential

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00:58:18

The Widening Gulf Between Iran and the Gulf

FDD"s Foreign Podicy ·

2025/12/06

Guest host Behnam Ben Taleblu is joined by former U.S. intelligence official Norman Roule to examine Iran’s postwar moment: from puncturing the comforting illusion created by viral clips of loosened social activity (or, as Norm puts it, why “a few videos of dancing and hijab-free afternoons don’t outweigh 21,000 arrests and expedited executions”) to exposing the harsh reality of a regime so unpopular that its fragility may leave it with “no alternative but to crack down” and the rising pressure both

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01:15:03

No Country for Old Mullahs

FDD"s Foreign Podicy ·

2025/11/07

Guest host and Senior Director of FDD’s Iran Program Behnam Ben Taleblu sits down with historian Ali Ansari to explore why the Islamic Republic is rewriting Iran’s past to justify its present, how Iranians are reclaiming their identity from the regime, and what the nation’s search for identity reveals about the Islamic Republic’s fading future.

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00:46:08

Mariam Wahba on the Muslim Brotherhood’s Media Empire

FDD"s Foreign Podicy ·

2025/10/24

Watch this episode on YouTube here.For two years, Israel has been fighting a war on multiple fronts. And although it has delivered blows to Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas on the ground, it’s losing another fight: the information war, a campaign of slander and blood libels fueled by a media empire built by the Muslim Brotherhood. To expose where — from Al Jazeera’s studios in Doha to Turkish satellite channels and newsrooms in London — and how this empire works — amplifying Hamas, laundering Islamist

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01:01:22

On the Battlegrounds in Gaza and Ukraine with H.R....

FDD"s Foreign Podicy ·

2025/10/10

Watch this episode on YouTube.LTG (Ret.) H.R. McMaster and Brad Bowman join host Cliff May to explain why diplomacy only works when backed by force. From Gaza to Ukraine, they trace how strength — not illusions — shapes outcomes and frustrates the ambitions of the Axis of Aggressors: Beijing, Moscow, Tehran, and Pyongyang.

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00:55:24

The Courtship of Ahmad al-Sharaa

FDD"s Foreign Podicy ·

2025/09/26

Born into a well-educated and well-off Syrian family, Ahmed al-Sharaa – also known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al-Julani – joined Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's organization, al-Qaeda in Iraq, after the U.S. invasion of that country in 2003. Following the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011, he established al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria: Jabhat al-Nusra. In 2016, he severed ties with al-Qaeda, and al-Nusra evolved into Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS — the force that in 2024 toppled Bashar al-Assad’s

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00:47:37

Avoiding Strategic Insolvency at the Pentagon

FDD"s Foreign Podicy ·

2025/09/19

America’s military faces extraordinary threats — and when resources lag, missions can fail. Guest host Bradley Bowman is joined by Krista Auchenbach of CSIS to discuss her forthcoming report, alongside Rear Adm. (Ret.) Mark Montgomery, as they unpack how presidents convey orders, how the Pentagon manages risk, and how to avoid a dangerous ends-means mismatch.

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00:54:51

Exodus or Endurance: The Plight of Egypt’s Christians

FDD"s Foreign Podicy ·

2025/08/22

Not every U.S. strategic partner is a democracy, but those receiving American aid should not trample such basic freedoms as religious liberty. Years ago in Egypt, Coptic Patriarch Pope Tawadros II told host Cliff May that discrimination was diminishing under President Sissi. Today, USCIRF reports show the opposite: systemic repression of religious minorities.FDD’s Mariam Wahba, writing recently in The Free Press, calls out the “brazen attacks on Christianity” in Egypt and beyond. She joins Cliff to

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00:35:43

Nvidia⁩ Games: China v. the US in AI Arms Race

FDD"s Foreign Podicy ·

2025/08/15

America’s edge in artificial intelligence may rest on one decision now facing Washington: whether to keep our most advanced chips out of Beijing’s hands. President Trump has moved to lift the export ban on Nvidia’s H20 processors—a move some warn could supercharge China’s AI ambitions and military power—arming the Chinese Communist Party for dominance in the AI age. Cliff May and Matt Pottinger pull back the curtain on the high-stakes race, the players vying for advantage, and what’s really at risk

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01:00:08

Why Putin Must Not Win

FDD"s Foreign Podicy ·

2025/08/01

In 2005, Vladimir Putin said the fall of the Soviet Union was the “greatest political catastrophe of the 20th century.” As Sen. Mitch McConnell pointed out, that should have told us everything we needed to know about this ex-KGB lieutenant colonel. He made the remark at an event in the U.S. Senate discussing a new report on Putin’s war in Ukraine. The report was prepared by a task force of 22 foreign policy experts. The coordinator of the task force is Daniel Twining, president of the International

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01:08:14

Syria Agonistes

FDD"s Foreign Podicy ·

2025/07/25

Once again, there is conflict and carnage in Syria. The media calls it “sectarian strife,” but that phrase may obscure more than it reveals. Islamists have been slaughtering those they deem infidels—with Syria’s Druze and Christian communities hardest hit. The U.N. and the “international community” have been useless as usual. Israel, which has a significant Druze minority of its own, has taken action to defend the Druze of Syria. Not surprisingly, Israel is being accused of “fueling the fires.” The

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01:07:52

Schools for Scandal

FDD"s Foreign Podicy ·

2025/07/18

Woke ideology, anti‑Americanism, Islamism and antisemitism have gripped America’s elite campuses. How? Follow the money.Researchers at the Middle East Forum have been doing exactly that, and the result is a new report that's shocking but not surprising. It’s titled: “Beachhead: Georgetown University: How Foreign and Domestic Radical Actors Captured a U.S. University.”Host Cliff May is joined by his FDD colleague Brandy Shufutinsky and report co-authors Asra Q. Nomani and Sam Westrop to discuss the

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00:45:44

News Bulletin: MAGA Supporters Are...

FDD"s Foreign Podicy ·

2025/07/11

Just as Putin launched the largest drone assault of the war, President Trump overruled an order from the Pentagon that had halted the delivery of munitions to Ukraine. And despite what pundits say, new polling says his base isn’t mad about it. Cliff May is joined by Carrie Filipetti of the Vandenberg Coalition to break down its polling data that shows most of Trump’s base back peace through strength, see Russia and Iran as serious threats, support sanctions, and trust Trump to act decisively when

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01:06:24

View from the Cockpit: The Night the U.S. Air Force...

FDD"s Foreign Podicy ·

2025/07/04

Guest host Bradley Bowman is joined by U.S. Air Force pilots Lt. Col. Brian “Bud” Leitzke and Lt. Col. Kevin “Rowdy” Murphy for an exclusive firsthand account of April 13, 2024, when Iran launched over 300 drones and missiles at Israel. Bud and Rowdy's squadron scrambled into the night sky in one of the largest U.S. air combat missions in years. What followed was a high-stakes, real-time defense of Israeli and American interests.

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245 results

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