Empire Has No Clothes

On the latest pod, Will and Curt are joined by Luke Nicastro, fellow at the John Quincy Adams Society.   On the docket: Afghanistan a year after U.S. exit, and following the Ayman Zawahiri slaying; Iran deal redux; and will the war in Eurasia be continuous?

In this episode, Curt Mills and Will Ruger are joined by Saurabh Sharma, president of American Moment and Charles McElwee, editor of RealClearPennsylvania, to discuss the foreign policies debates that went on last month in the campaigns in the Buckeye and Keystone states. The group also addresses the ongoing foreign policy fissures within the GOP as the party licks its chops for a red wave in November, while regrouping for 2024.

Curt is joined by Luke Nicastro, TAC contributing writer and fellow at Defense Priorities, to discuss the French election: what happened to Eric Zemmour, how Emmanuel Macron has been an unlikely nationalist, and how he might go down in defeat to Marine Le Pen anyways.

Curt and Will dive in on President Biden's first State of the Union address, the fast moving narrative on Russia and Ukraine, and the worrisome prospects from here.

Curt and Will rehash "the top 10 foreign policy moments of 2021" and revisit TAC's December foreign policy conference (link below).   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GT_nX35hH48

A year after Biden's election, the new president is plainly floundering, with crises at home and abroad. Curt and Will dive into where elite Republican foreign policy discourse could go from here, with a dive into: the Charles Koch Institute's recent 'Advancing Security Summit' with longtime national security bigwig (most recently Afghan envoy) Zalmay Khalilzhad, further discussion on National Conservatism, China and a provocative new report about former President Trump's wars with the CIA over Iran.   Relevant links: https://charleskochinstitute.org/news/in-conversation-ruger-and-khalilzad-discuss-americas-future-interests-in-afghanistan/ https://news.yahoo.com/frustrated-with-cia-trump-administration-turned-to-pentagon-for-shadow-war-with-iran-205152958.html

On this episode, Curt and Will discuss: the new dust-up in Ukraine, the rise of France and the European future after Merkel, a nasty but unintentionally hilarious piece on former Trump personnel man John McEntee and the nationalist vs. libertarian divide on the National Conservatism Conference.

Co-hosts Curt Mills and William Ruger discuss Colin Powell's death, envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad's exodus from government and the modern history of Republican foreign policy factions in government. 

Curt Mills, contributing editor, and William Ruger, TAC board member, reboot EHNC and revisit the decision to leave Afghanistan after the deluge. Mills and Ruger explore the timeline on the decision, its tradeoffs, and Ruger’s own nomination to be ambassador to Afghanistan under former President Donald Trump.

This week on Empire Has No Clothes, Kelley, Dan, and Matt discussed Joe Biden's decision to bomb Syria and what it means for his foreign policy going forward. We also talked with David Sterman of New America about what it means to have an endless war and how to stop them.