logo
episode-header-image
Sep 2023
51m 36s

Everything is Going to Hell

THE BULWARK
About this episode
Eric and Eliot discuss the growing global disorder starting with the potential for a genocidal campaign of ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh), the degree to which events in the Caucasus and Central Asia are related to Russia's involvement in Ukraine, the Iranian angle in the Caucasus and the recent release of unjustly detained Americans by Iran (and whether or not ransom was involved), the Biden Administration's apparent interest in a sweeping diplomatic deal that would bring normalization between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and Israel but would require a mutual security treaty with formal U.S. security guarantees for the KSA, the situation in the Western Hemisphere (including the possible killing of an Sikh separatist in Canada which PM Trudeau has alleged was carried out by the government of India) assassinations in Ecuador, drug and immigration issues and American political dysfunction in the face of all of this.

Shield of the Republic is a Bulwark podcast co-sponsored by the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia.
Up next
Jun 25
Eric and Eliot's Strike Assessment
Eric and Eliot host a special Shield of the Republic episode to discuss the Iranian response to Trump's strike on Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. They assess the largely symbolic Iranian attack on al Udeid Air Base in Qatar as an attempt to take an off ramp from further escalation as ... Show More
39m 42s
Jun 19
What to Expect From the NATO Summit
Eric and Eliot welcome LTG (ret.) Douglas Lute, former Director of Operations for the Joint Staff, Deputy National Security Advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan under both Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, and former U.S. Ambassador to NATO to discuss the upcoming June 24-2 ... Show More
1 h
Jun 12
America's Original Protest Movement (w/ Rick Atkinson)
Eliot and Eric offer up candidates for jackassery of the week before turning to a discussion of The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780, (New York: Crown, 2025) the second volume of journalist/historian Rick Atkinson's monumental milita ... Show More
56m 18s
Recommended Episodes
May 2024
Israel and Iran: How to Prevent a Regional War
The recent attacks by Iran and Israel on one another’s territory have taken the strategic rivalry between these two adversaries into uncharted and dangerous territory. The unprecedented strikes seem to have been contained for now, but it’s by no means certain that this state will ... Show More
47m 9s
Aug 2024
Rising tensions in the Middle East
Today on the show, Fareed is joined by the New Yorker’s Robin Wright and Johns Hopkins professor Vali Nasr to break down the latest escalations in the Middle East following the killings of three Hamas and Hezbollah leaders. Will tensions between Israel and Iran lead to a full-sca ... Show More
43m 4s
Mar 2022
Mind the Gulf #5: The View from the United Arab Emirates
Originally published 24 March 2022.  Hosts Darya Dolzikova and Tobias Borck look at the UAE’s perspectives on Iran and its nuclear programme, as well as regional security. They are joined by Sheikha Najla Al-Qassimi (B’Huth), who explains how the UAE balances its deep security co ... Show More
55m 22s
Jun 2021
The Iranian Election: A Debrief
The June 18th presidential election will bring significant changes for Iran and its relations with the West. With a hardliner taking power in August, questions remain: Will Ebrahim Raisi change Iran’s foreign and domestic policies? What will be the prospects for continued engagem ... Show More
1h 2m
Jun 25
The Concern Over Iranian Illegal Migrants, "Sleeper Cells"
Following the U.S. airstrikes targeting Iranian nuclear sites over the weekend, there has been increased concern about potential terrorism in America. Border pundits have forecast that the surge in illegal immigration under the Biden administration could have granted members of I ... Show More
34m 8s
Apr 25
Nuclear diplomacy: Trump, Iran and a potential new deal
After years of stalled diplomacy, the US and Iran are back in high-level talks. Surprise meetings have taken place in Oman and Rome, with more expected soon. Could this be President Donald Trump’s long-awaited foreign policy win? Or will competing agendas, regional tensions and i ... Show More
32m 25s
Aug 2024
U.S. Presidential Campaign Picks Up, Iran Mulls Retaliation, Bangladesh’s New Government, and More
Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her new running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, campaign ahead of the party’s convention; world leaders and diplomats reach out to Iran and Israel to head off a wider regional war after the assassination of ... Show More
26m 55s
Jan 2021
Daily: The “BLACK WAVE” that engulfed the Middle East
From the Iranian Revolution to the invasion of Afghanistan, events in 1979 turned the tides on decades of liberalisation across the Middle East. Kim Ghattas, journalist and author of Black Wave: Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Forty-Year Rivalry That Unraveled Culture, Religion, and ... Show More
36m 24s
Nov 2024
1. The First CIA Coup: Oil, Iran, and MI6 (Ep 1)
Welcome... to the first episode of The Rest Is Classified! It's Iran 1951. Mohammad Mossadegh, fuelled by an ever-growing nationalism, has just been elected Prime Minister. Immediately he chooses to nationalise the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, much to the anger of the British who c ... Show More
44m 25s
Jun 2024
The World after the West: Nasser Hadian on Iran
Iran plays a key role in the global order. The leadership in Tehran asserts Iran’s role in the Middle East through the backing of allied groups, most notably Hizbullah in Lebanon. Meanwhile, on the global stage, its nuclear program has positioned Iran as an adversary of the West, ... Show More
36m 40s