Midrats

Mar 02 2025 549 ep. 63 mins 730

Midrats Podcast artwork

Navy Milbloggers Sal from "CDR Salamander" and EagleOne from "EagleSpeak" discuss leading issues and developments for the Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and related national security issues.

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Episode 715: Securing Ukraine's Future Security, with Emma Ashford

Mar 02 2025 57 mins

A firm and lasting peace treaty, a ceasefire, in or out of NATO, in or out of the EU, European or international peacekeeping forces, an unending slog, or Russian tanks in downtown Kyiv?What are the realistic…and unrealistic…options for Ukraine as they enter the 4th year of the Russo-Ukrainian War of 2022?Is the best path for Ukrainian security instead a new security architectur

Episode 714: The New Administration and China, with Dean Cheng

Feb 23 2025 55 mins

In the first month of the new Trump Administration, much of the attention outside our borders has focused on Europe and the Middle East—the two regions that always seem to divert our focus from America’s greatest competitor, the People’s Republic of China (PRC). We often think of the challenge in terms of the most obvious arena—the Pacific—but it extends from the Arctic t

Episode 713: Seth Folsom's, Nothing Here Worth Dying For

Feb 02 2025 64 mins

Returning to Midrats this week to discuss his latest non-fiction novel is Seth W.B. Folsom, Colonel, USMC (Ret.).From the Amazon page:Nothing Here Worth Dying For tells the story of his command of Task Force Lion—a “purpose-built” combat advisor team—and his frenetic 2017 deployment to Iraq’s Al Anbar Province. Charged with the daunting task of advising, assisting, and en

Episode 712: Condition of the Navy's Amphibious Fleet And Its Impacts on Marines: the View from GAO

Jan 26 2025 59 mins

Does the US Navy have the right number and mix of amphibious ships, and are those ships being properly maintained?The Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) recent report to Congress explored this topic in depth, and today’s Midrats Podcast will delve into it further.From the summary of the report:Amphibious warfare ships are critical for Marine Corps missions, but the Navy h

Episode 711: The Defense Reformation, with Shyam Sankar

Jan 19 2025 62 mins

When a report has an opening like this, you know you have to find a way to get the author on Midrats.As a nation, we are in an undeclared state of emergency.…This is a hot Cold War II. The West has empirically lost deterrence. We must respond to this emergency to regain it.We have a peer adversary: China. “Near-Peer” is a shibboleth, a euphemism to avoid the embarrassment of

Episode 710: Affordable Approaches to Improve US and Allied Shipbuilding and Ship Repair with Michael Roberts & Bryan Clark

Jan 12 2025 58 mins

There is almost a cottage industry in appreciating the decades-long shortfall in America’s maritime industrial base for shipbuilding and repair.After more than a decade of self-delusion in labeling the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as merely a ‘Pacing Challenge’, people are increasingly waking up to the fact that the PRC has overtaken the USA in the maritime arena—a do

Episode 709: Midrats 15th Anniversary Show with Claude Berube

Jan 05 2025 59 mins

Happy New Year to everyone…and Midrats is back with you.Join us today for a broad-ranging discussion for our 15th Anniversary Show with a regular guest since the start, Claude Berube.The conversation will go who knows where, but we will begin by reflecting on how the defense media and information environment has evolved since 2010—not just from the perspective of the informatio

Episode 708: The Icebreaker Imperative, with Peter Rybski

Dec 15 2024 56 mins

With one of the most militarily and energy strategic states in our union, Alaska, being in the Arctic, and the extensive interests we have on the other side of the planet in Antarctica, do you wonder why our nation’s icebreaking “fleet”—being what it is—amounts to an antique road show? Are you curious how our plan to replace them is making the LCS program look like a succ

Episode 707: Who is on the Damascus Road, with Seth Folsom

Dec 08 2024 57 mins

Trying to get your mind around who the actors are in Syria as this 'frozen conflict' from the last decade begins to thaw?If you are concerned about international jihadist organizations, the security of Israel, instability caused by mass migration, rights of religious minorities in the Middle East, or human suffering, the cascading events in Syria should be in your scan.Well, this M

Episode 706: The Midrats Horn of Plenty

Nov 24 2024 60 mins

Before everyone dives into a week of family and fasting, time to catch up with Sal and Mark on Midrats.From the retention crisis to some stark comments from senior leaders about the Western Pacific, we’ll cover the waterfront and more.ShowlinksFighter pilot burnoutAdmiral Paparo at BrookingsDereliction of Duty: Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies That Led t