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1 week ago | 
warontherocks.com | Christopher Preble |Zack Cooper |Melanie Marlowe |Ryan Evans
In this joint episode with the Net Assessment crew, recorded last week on “Liberation Day,” Ryan joins Chris, Zack, and Melanie to talk about what’s happening in the world as well as the future of Net Assessment, which is moving on to its forever home with the Stimson Center. If you would like to support Net Assessment, please consider donating to this special fund.
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3 weeks ago | 
warontherocks.com | Christopher Preble |Zack Cooper |Melanie Marlowe |Ryan Evans
Chris, Melanie, and Zack are joined by a special guest for a big announcement. They also lament the demise of the Office of Net Assessment, debate the merits of DOGE, and discuss Secretary Hegseth’s visit to Asia and the strength of those alliances. If you would like to support Net Assessment, please consider donating to this special fund. Image: Midjourney
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1 month ago | 
warontherocks.com | Lisa Curtis |Zack Cooper |Dmitri Alperovitch |Ryan Evans
In this episode, we get into what’s driving the Indo-Pacific’s security dynamics, from China’s threats to Taiwan to AUKUS and the Quad to stability (or lack thereof) on the Korean Peninsula to bases in the Philippines. We also touch on how prepared the United States may be to deliver military power in the Indo-Pacific based on forthcoming resourcing decisions by the Trump administration and Congress.
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1 month ago | 
warontherocks.com | Christopher Preble |Zack Cooper |Melanie Marlowe
Chris, Melanie, and Zack debate whether Israel will strike Iranian nuclear facilities and whether the United States would discourage, encourage, or participate in such an operation. They come to very different conclusions not just about the likelihood of strikes, but also the strategic logic.
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1 month ago | 
warontherocks.com | Christopher Preble |Zack Cooper |Melanie Marlowe
Chris, Zack, and Melanie have a rather somber discussion about the Trump administration’s efforts to get a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. Why is Trump so insistent on getting an immediate deal? What carrots and sticks, if any, are being given to each side? How will Europe respond to the obviously permanent change in the transatlantic relationship?
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2 months ago | 
warontherocks.com | Christopher Preble |Zack Cooper |Melanie Marlowe
In this show, Melanie, Chris, and Zack discuss Timothy Heath’s recent paper on China’s military capabilities. Heath argues that the People’s Liberation Army mostly focused on preserving the Chinese Communist Party’s rule, and that does not necessarily translate to combat effectiveness. But is Heath right? Do we make a mistake in focusing too much on what is apparent from the outside? And if the People’s Liberation Army is not ready to fight right now, might it be in the future?
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2 months ago | 
warontherocks.com | Christopher Preble |Zack Cooper |Melanie Marlowe
The Net Assessment team discusses Frank Hoffman’s recent Joint Force Quarterly article about risk. They share concerns about the challenges that U.S. policymakers face in evaluating risk in a structured way. But they also fear that the solutions to these problems will require more fundamental changes to the U.S. bureaucracy than have been contemplated.
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2 months ago | 
thedispatch.com | Alex Demas |Zack Cooper |Charles Hilu |Michael Warren
Published February 4, 2025 A viral photo shows a man in a “Latinos for Trump” T-shirt being arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers. “DID THIS REALLY HAPPEN?” asks one version of the post with more than 78,000 likes on Instagram. “How ironic,” says another. The photo is altered: The arrestee’s T-shirt and the ICE patches on the officers’ uniforms have been edited into the image. The original version of the photo was taken by ICE on June 19, 2018, in Salem, Ohio.
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2 months ago | 
thedispatch.com | Kevin D. Williamson |Zack Cooper |Eric Johnson |Tal Fortgang
Against the Malthusian temptation. Published February 3, 2025 One sign that always makes me think I’m dealing with a conspiracy theory is when people keep telling me it’s not a conspiracy theory. Take “peak oil,” for example. “It’s not a kooky conspiracy theory,” Kevin Drum of Mother Jones wrote in 2013.
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2 months ago | 
thedispatch.com | Jamie Weinstein |Annalise DeVries |Zack Cooper |Michael Reneau
Is regime change in Iran plausible? Published February 3, 2025 Jamie Weinstein is joined Michael Singh, the managing director and Lane-Swig senior fellow at The Washington Institute, to explain how the Trump administration can take on a weakened—but potentially nuclear—Iranian regime.
