The Desperate Despots Club

A Dispatch explainer.

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With the war not progressing as smoothly as he might have hoped, Putin turns to Iran for help replenishing Russia’s arsenal. Frederick W. Kagan, director of the Critical Threats Project at AEI, joins David to explain the nature of this alliance-of-convenience and where things could go from here.

Show Notes:

–Critical Threats: Ukraine Stream

–Critical Threats: Iran Crisis Updates

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Comments (10)
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  1. James Lemaux

    Love that you had Frederick Kagan on the Podcast!

    I've been following his website (https://www.criticalthreats.org/) since the start of the Ukraine war since it has the cleanest analysis of how the situation is actually evolving, untampered by the modern media lens or a focus on factors that really aren't critical to the war.

    Glad to see the relationship between The Dispatch and Kagan!

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    Ben Connelly

    Good interview

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  3. Payette

    Excellent, focused discussion!

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  4. Robmoseley76

    "EYE-RAN" is nails on a chalkboard, every time. It's not that hard to pivot to "E-ron." You can do it.

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      Mike B

      Ear-ron.

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    Paul Beltman

    Good discussion - Relevant, interesting, and informative.

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  6. Paulkempf

    A theme in the Middle East has been our repeated betrayals of the Kurds. The most recent one that comes to mind was Donald Trump's cowardly and shameful abandonment of them in the face of an attack by the Turks (Erdogan called him in 2019 and told him to withdraw our forces in northern Syria in advance of a Turkish assault. And in his stupidity, ignorance, confusion, and vanity, he agreed to do it.) I take it as evidence of how desperate their situation must be that they continue to rely on us.
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/13/trump-us-troops-northern-syria-turkish-assault-kurds

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  7. Rcroxton

    Outstanding discussion, thank you.

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    Mark B

    I’m frustrated that of all the things that we have done in the Middle East in my lifetime the Kurds are the only reliable allies that we seem to have ever had and have seemed the center of any possibility for a stable, western leaning, liberal future in the region. Yet there is Turkey with NATO membership.

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    Stevecplz

    All I want for Christmas is regime change in China, Russia, or Iran. Any one of the three will do, I don't think that's asking for too much...

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