Back from the Front

Fresh off the frontlines, FDD's Mark Montgomery recently returned from Ukraine and other hotspots abroad. He joins host Cliff May for an in-studio debrief on what he saw and what comes next. Also joining the conversation: FDD Action's Daniel Vaynshteyn, former Legislative Director in the U.S. House of Representatives and liaison to the U.S. Helsinki Commission.

For more than two decades at FDD, Foreign Podicy host Cliff May and Mark Dubowitz have tracked the evolution of America’s enemies—from al Qaeda to the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism in Tehran. Long before many grasped the threat, Mark focused on the Islamic Republic’s ideological war, its open commitment to jihad against the “Great Satan” and “Little Satan,” and a decades-long campaign too often misunderstood. On the one-year anniversary of Mark's FDD podcast, The Iran Breakdown, Cliff sits down with him to unpack what too many still miss: what the regime believes, how it wages war, and why it matters now more than ever.

There has always been a Jewish case for Israel, a Christian case for Israel, and an American case for Israel. But what about the Arab case for Israel? FDD’s Hussain Abdul-Hussain lays out the arguments in his new book, appropriately titled: "The Arab Case for Israel." He sits down with host Cliff May to discuss the idea, the history behind it, and why a growing number of Arab and Muslim thinkers know he’s right.

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.

Washington just unveiled its new National Defense Strategy. But is it a serious blueprint for deterrence—or a dangerous exercise in wishful thinking? Host Cliff May is joined by Bradley Bowman and Mark Montgomery to examine whether America is underfunding its military on the brink of great-power conflict, why China’s cyber war is being soft-pedaled, and what the strategy gets right—and wrong—on Taiwan, Ukraine, Israel, and deterrence itself. 

📺: 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 Islamist disinformation while whitewashing Tehran’s human rights atrocities. Investigative journalist Ashley Rindsberg joins Cliff to unpack Wikipedia’s role in modern information warfare.