Eric flies solo in this episode (while Eliot is traveling in Europe) and hosts guest Paul D. Miller, Professor of Practice in International Affairs at Georgetown University and former NSC Director for Afghanistan and Pakistan in the Bush 43 Administration.

Eliot and Eric welcome retired Australian Major General Mick Ryan, author of The Future of Warfare, Futura Doctrina newsletter on Substack, and former head of the Australian War College.

Eliot and Eric chew over the developments in Ukraine.

Eric and Eliot are joined by former New York Times reporter and editor Philip Taubman, current lecturer at Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation, and the author of In The Nation's Service: The Life and Times of George P. Shultz.

Eliot and Eric host Henri Barkey, the Bernard and Betha Cohen Professor of International Relations at Lehigh University and adjunct fellow for Middle East Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. They discuss Henri's recent article on Turkey's forthcoming election, the nature of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s authoritarianism, the impact of the recent earthquake on Erdogan's standing with the Turkish electorate, the mismanagement of earthquake relief, and Henri's own more than Kafkaesque treatment by the AKP government with regard to the attempted military coup in 2016 against Erdogan's government.

Eric and Eliot are on their own. They talk about Ukraine, the China Balloon episode, and developments in Turkey and whether or not that relationship is a harbinger of a new day in U.S multilateralism.

Eliot and Eric host Robert W. Kagan, the Stephen and Barbara Friedman Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and author of Of Paradise and Power, The Return of History, The World America Made, and The Jungle Grows Back to discuss his new book The Ghost at the Feast: America and the Collapse of World Order, 1900-1941.

liot and Eric welcome Constanze Stelzenmuller, the Director of the Center on the United States and Europe and the Fritz Stern Chair on Germany and Transatlantic Relations at the Brookings Institution.

Eric and Eliot welcome John Maurer, Professor of Strategy and Security Studies at the School of Advanced Air and Space Studies at Air University in Alabama and author of Competitive Arms Control, Nixon, Kissinger and SALT, 1969-1972.

Eric and Eliot welcome their SAIS colleague Michael Mandelbaum to talk about his recent book, The Four Ages of American Foreign Policy.

Eliot and Eric welcome the husband and wife team of Peter Baker of New York Times and Susan Glasser of The New Yorker to discuss their new book, The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017-2022.

Eliot and Eric look forward to the holidays and review the last year. They talk about the historical significance of the war in Ukraine, the current situation, and possible outcomes. They discuss whether or not this has been a good year for authoritarians around the world and review the situation in China, the prospects for U.S.-China relations (specifically concerning Taiwan), and the popular uprising and revolutionary situation in Iran. They also thank their production team for a great year of Shield of the Republic.

Eric and Eliot welcome William Inboden to discuss his new book, The Peacemaker: Ronald Reagan, the Cold War and the World on the Brink.

Eric and Eliot welcome Georgetown Professor Emeritus Robert Lieber to discuss his new book, Indispensable Nation. They discuss the nature of the "rules-based" international order, the unique role that U.S. policy plays in sustaining the order, the true disruptive challenges to the order, the nature of political opposition to a robust U.S. foreign policy, political "realism" and its flaws, as well as the increasing challenges for teaching of international relations in the academy.

Eric and Eliot welcome Council on Foreign Relations Fellow Ray Takeyh to discuss the ongoing popular uprising in Iran. They talk about Ray’s article on Iran’s next revolution in the current issue of Commentary, the state of play in the protests, the weaknesses of the regime, comparisons between the 1979 Revolution, the 2009 election protests, and the current situation. Along with political dissident from Iran and SotR producer Shay Khatiri, they also touch on the prospects for regime change, Iran’s role as a weapons supplier to Russia, and what the Biden Administration should do about all this. Shield of the Republic is a Bulwark podcast co-sponsored by the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. Email us with your feedback at shieldoftherepublic@gmail.com.

Eric and Eliot welcome Duke University professor, Peter Feaver, to discuss the state of civil-military relations, the recent statement on the subject by former Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Secretaries of Defense, the damage done to civil-military relations under Trump, and how to repair the damage. They also discuss with Peter, who drafted the 2006 National Security Strategy document issued by the Bush 43 Administration for his views on the Biden National Security Strategy as well as the utility of publicly published strategy documents as a genre.

Eric and Eliot discuss Ukraine’s birthday gift to Vladimir Putin, likely Russian responses, and Eliot’s Atlantic article on Putin’s nuclear threats. Eric eats his words about Liz Truss, and they discuss the relative merits of Nero Wolfe and Daniel Silva for escapist reading.

Eric welcomes Eliot back from his sojourn in Poland and Ukraine.

Eric and Eliot discuss what they have been writing lately

Eric welcomes back Eliot from travels and illness to host John Herbst who was the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine during the Orange Revolution.

"Peak China," why conflict with China may be coming sooner than we think, and lessons learned from the Cold War.

Eric and Eliot host long time friend and colleague Professor Aaron Friedberg of Princeton to discuss Aaron’s new book Getting China Wrong.

Eric and special guest host Bill Kristol discuss the war in Ukraine with former Ambassador to Poland Daniel Fried.

The war in Ukraine, the nature of the Russian regime, the prospects for change in Russia, and the economic state of the war

Eric and Eliot will be taking a short hiatus to travel.