The At the Water’s Edge Podcast explores national security and geopolitics from an insider’s perspective, looking at how national power, industrial policy, diplomacy, and military might shape our world and America’s place in it.
Latest episodes
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36 min
Why an IRANIAN INVASION Would BACKFIRE | Robert Pape
Ships keep getting hit in the Strait of Hormuz, Egypt is weighing whether to send troops to Saudi Arabia, and the IRGC is now threatening to invade neighboring countries if the US…
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51 min
The Iran War Could Push Africa Toward Collapse | Fidel Amakye Owusu
How is the war over the Strait of Hormuz reaching Africa? Ghanaian security and geopolitical analyst Fidel Amakye Owusu returns to explain how the Iran war is driving fuel protests…
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12 min
Saudi Arabia's Nightmare: The Reality of the Houthi Missile Threat
Houthi missiles are hitting Riyadh’s main airport, and it’s turning into Saudi Arabia’s worst-case scenario. One strike killed at least 12 people and injured around 300. Flights ar…
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43 min
France, Iran, and the Road to World War III: The Real Risk | Robert Pape
Ten ships hit in the Strait of Hormuz in a single week, the most of the entire war. Houthi missiles shut down Riyadh's airport in the largest set of attacks in Saudi Arabia's moder…
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50 min
U.S. Brigades Last 24 Hours Against Ukraine’s Drones | MG Duane Miller
What happens when a U.S. brigade trains against Ukraine's drone forces? They usually have to reset the exercise within 24 hours. Major General Duane Miller, until recently Deputy C…
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26 min
The Rise of the Mecca Alliance: Turkey, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia's Game Plan
Fifty-nine days after it was signed, the Mecca Pact has been activated. Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Turkey have agreed to send forces to defend the kingdom against the Houthis. The…
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34 min
The Most Dangerous Weeks of the Iran War Are Here | Robert Pape
We’re in the most dangerous weeks of the Iran war since March, and the midterms are the reason. Professor Robert Pape returns to explain the wicked incentives pushing President Tru…
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29 min
The Truth About Veteran Support Systems and How to Fix Them
Veterans die by suicide at a rate 72% higher than their civilian peers, and women veterans at a rate 101% higher. Lyndsay Tkach, Wounded Warrior Project's Director of Mental and Br…
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25 min
Is Iran's War Spreading? Three Incidents, One Dangerous Pattern
Masked men with vans full of fuel outside the British base that launched B-52s against Iran. A FlyDubai co-pilot stabbing his captain on a flight to Tel Aviv. A drone knocking out…
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30 min
Trump needs a "LAST CHAPTER" in Iran | Trita Parsi
Trita Parsi argues Trump is looking for a "last chapter" in Iran, an ending that makes the whole war look worth it, and that diplomacy won't give him one. Iran's president flew to…
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29 min
Trump is TRAPPED in Iran's "DIPLOMACY" | Robert Pape
Iran offered Trump a seven-day path to end the war. Robert Pape explains why taking it or refusing it both hurt him before the midterms. Iran's president came to the UN in New York…
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1 h 05
Why Our Special Forces Are Losing the Silent Battle
Joe Stabley is a Special Forces medic turned physician assistant — one of the most demanding career fields in the military, followed by a doctorate-adjacent civilian one. By any ou…
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16 min
The Real Reason Saudi Arabia Is Buying 48 F-35s
For more than a decade, Israel has been the only country in the Middle East flying a fifth-generation stealth fighter. That's about to change. The Trump administration has approved…
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31 min
When the Military is Pulled into Politics | Robert Pape
The midterms are five and a half weeks away, and Professor Robert Pape says most of the warnings are aimed at the wrong window. Political violence around elections isn't mainly abo…
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58 min
The Invisible War: How Gray Zone Attacks Work | fmr. NSC director F. David Diaz
Sabotage. Arson. Drone swarms over critical infrastructure. Cyber intrusions into American water utilities. Gray zone attacks are built to look like accidents, fall between agencie…
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30 min
She Didn't Look Like a Veteran in Crisis. That Was the Problem.
Sam Hargrove spent years being known for her smile — while privately battling a rage she couldn't explain, seven rounds of anger management, and a night she nearly drove her car in…
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58 min
What Happens If the US Uses a Nuclear Weapon on Iran | Robert Pape
University of Chicago professor Robert Pape (Bombing to Win, The Escalation Trap) is back for his weekly read on the U.S.-Iran conflict — and this one goes to a darker place than u…
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16 min
The Houthis Just Dragged Europe Into the Iran War
The Houthis just took the entire Red Sea coastline — and it's about to drag Europe into a war it wanted no part of. In ten days, Houthi forces captured Yemen's Red Sea coast, seize…
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30 min
The Neuroscience of Suicidal Ideation: Why the Brain Can't See a Way Out
What's actually happening in someone's brain in the moments before they decide to end their life? Lindsey Gray, Suicide Prevention Manager at Wounded Warrior Project, breaks down t…
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59 min
October 7 Was “A Reenactment,” Not a Rupture | Robert Malley
Rob Malley has spent three decades inside the peace process he now argues was never built to succeed. He negotiated at Camp David under President Clinton, led Obama's Iran nuclear…