Shield of the Republic

Eric dives into Jackassery of the Week & Annals of Corruption ahead of a full-length episode this Friday!

Plus updates on Ukraine, riots in France, and special guest Katrina Manson!

1:06: Jackassery of the Week

3:58: Annals of Corruption

6:51: Ukraine War Updates

22:54: Trump Endorses Bibi

29:04: Untangling the French Riots

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37:43: Katrina Manson on Project Maven

Project Maven: A Marine Colonel, His Team, and the Dawn of AI Warfare

https://a.co/d/0dWdDvHC

Plus a new recurring segment, a German spy scandal, and much more on this week’s super-sized show:

2:00: Jackassery of the Week

14:52: Annals of Corruption

20:36: A Dark & Immoral Spectacle

25:52: Burn After Reading

29:28: France’s Student Fracas

35:39: War in Ukraine Update

39:37: Middle East Wars Update

45:02: Ethiopia Continues to Spiral

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49:15: Discussing THE STRATEGIST: How to Think About War & Politics

Paid Shield of the Republic subscribers can take 30% off when ordering THE STRATEGIST from Princeton University Press!https://www.shie...

Eric and Eliot react to Trump announcing the U.S. purchase of Russian diesel in a special emergency episode

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.shieldoftherepublic.com

Eric and Eliot return for another round of your questions! What would convince Putin he’s losing his war? Did the U.S. have any alternative to invading Afghanistan? That and more in this month's mailbag!

As a reminder, for just $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to mailbags, hot takes, book reviews, and more!

Plus jackassery of the week, the U.S. withdraws from Iraq, and more!

1:20: Jackassery of the Week

19:35: New Operation Rough Rider Details Emerge

26:23: Saudi Offensive in Yemen

38:12: U.S. Withdrawal from Iraq

52:58: Ethiopian Conflict Update

Eric and Eliot react to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s second-ever “State of the Force” address at Marine Corps Base Quantico today

Plus updates on the Iran war, Denmark’s dire warning, and more!

1:15: Jackassery of the Week

10:06: The Decline of the U.N.

7:13: Iran War Updates

40:57: Powder Keg: Horn of Africa

47:39: The Russian Threat to Europe

Danish Defense Intelligence Service Assessment of the threat from Russia:https://www.fe-ddis.dk/globalassets/fe/dokumenter/2026/trusselsvurderinger/-assessment-of-the-threat-from-russia-.pdf

Email [email protected] to submit questions for our next mailbag episode!

Plus the Houthis dig in, German elections disappoint again, and more!

1:53: Jackassery of the Week

12:56: Trump at the U.N.

22:06: Houthi Offensive Update

30:00: More Troubling German Elections

37:49: Trump-Zelensky Meeting

42:25: A Greenland Resolution

45:52: Xi Comes to Town

Email [email protected] to submit questions for our next mailbag episode!

Plus updates from the Middle East & Ukraine, and special guest Will Hitchcock!

2:27: Jackassery of the Week

16:30: Houthi Offensive

36:30: Iranian Leadership Divisions

42:38: UK Sanctions on Israel

56:59: Ukraine War Update

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1:03:49: Will Hitchcock joins the show

1:12:48: The Interwar Period

1:16:39: Flirting with Fascism

1:27:45: Roosevelt’s Process

1:40:40: The Specter of WWI

Available today! A Shadow Over the World: Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Rise of Fascism, and the Making of America’s World War II https://a.co/d/04rQQOF6

Plus trips to Moscow, elections in Germany, and more.

1:10 Jackassery of the Week

19:48 Remembering 9/11

45:11 To Russia With Love

54:18 AfD Election Implications

1:01:15 AI Alarm Bells

1:04:25 Iran War Update

Former Senior Officials Ask Secretary Wright to Release Saudi Nuclear Deal Documents

Eric’s Hot Take on our dangerously incompetent Secretary of Defense

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.shieldoftherepublic.com

Is Canada the new Finland? Just how aggressive has China been with their neighbors? What’s behind Eric’s tapestry? All that and more on Shield of the Republic’s first ever mailbag episode!

As a reminder, for just $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to mailbags, hot takes, book reviews, and more.

Eric and Eliot kick off Shield of the Republic’s new era with a supersized episode!

3:39: Jackassery of the Week

12:36: Trump’s Canada Trade War

18:29: Eliot’s Trip Report from Japan

35:56: Venezuelan Oil

44:32: Iran War Update

55:57: The View From Eastern Europe

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59:31: Professor Paul Miller Joins the Show

1:02:42: Myths About the War in Afghanistan

1:09:02: Key Decisions in the War

1:13:45: Counterinsurgency & Counterterrorism

1:18:24: Bureaucratic Missteps

1:23:55: The Pakistan Dilemma

1:33:07: U.S. Policy Reviews During the Wa...

Eric and Eliot open their final show on the Bulwark with a plethora of jackassery including Trump's threat to bomb Oman, his curtailing of joint exercises with South Korea, and the Pentagon shuttering access to the Defense Technical Information Center. They also discuss updates in Iran, Russia, and Venezuela before turning to a retrospective of the major international developments during Shield's five year run on the Bulwark. Finally, they close with reflections about what they got wrong along the way.

Reminder: going forward Shield of the Republic will be available at shieldoftherepublic.com! If you are currently...

Eric and Eliot discuss the week's jackassery, including the administration's stripping former Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall of his security clearance for innocuous comments about Trump's new Qatari-donated Air Force One. They then discuss the irresponsibility of Trump's using that aircraft to travel to a NATO summit being held adjacent to a war zone. They also cover the new diplomatic alignment among Turkey, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia in the Middle East, the changes in leadership in Iran, and the rival missile campaigns of Russia and Ukraine in their ongoing war. Frank Kendall then joins the show to discuss his...

Eric and Eliot begin with reflections on recent domestic political developments and the "horseshoe theory" uniting political extremes around isolationism and anti-Israeli sentiment. They then discuss the ongoing negotiations over the Strait of Hormuz and the difficulties the Iranian government and Trump administration have created for themselves. From there they move to the recent cyberattacks on American water systems and the seemingly blasé response by both the Trump administration and the larger public. The two also highlight Russia's ongoing hybrid war with Europe and the tightening links among Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea. They revisit the continuing degradation o...

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