We welcomed author Ms. Emily Abdow to this episode of the #BruteCast to talk about her new book The Boxer Rebellion: Bluejackets and Marines in China, 1900-1901 (Naval History and Heritage Command, 2023). In the summer of 1900, foreign diplomats living in Beijing’s Legation Quarter were besieged by Chinese imperial soldiers and “Boxers,” members of a secret society determined to rid China of foreign influence. Defending the Legation Quarter was a small international guard that included 56 Amer...
Apr 07, 2023•55 min•Season 6Ep. 18
Welcome to this unique crossover event featuring two of #TeamKrulak's resident regional SMEs! Last week, Chairman Xi Jinping of #China and President Vladimir Putin of #Russia met for 3 days of talks concerning mutual cooperation, opposition to the U.S.-led global order, and Putin's ongoing invasion of #Ukraine. Our #China SME Mr. Dan Rice and #Russia SME Dr. Yuval Weber helped us understand what each side got - or didn't get - out of these talks, and what we might expect from the Russia-China re...
Mar 29, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Season 6Ep. 17
This episode gets to the central topic Dr. Yuval Weber and host Maj Ian Brown planned to cover in the last episode - the bitter fight around #Bakhmut. They discuss the factors at play in why both #Russia and #Ukraine have committed forces so deeply to the battle, and note that the lenses through which Western observers view this particular piece of the war may be very different from how the belligerents view it. All opinions expressed here are those of the individual and do not necessarily refle...
Mar 16, 2023•43 min•Season 6Ep. 16
This past Friday, unexpected news broke that #Iran and #Saudi Arabia - after seven years of confrontational relations - had agreed to reestablish diplomatic ties and re-open their respective embassies in the coming months. And standing prominently in the background as Iranian and Saudi diplomats shook hands was #China's own top diplomat. Dr. Amin Tarzi, director of Middle East Studies at the Krulak Center and Marine Corps University, joined us for a special #BruteCast episode on where Iranian/Sa...
Mar 15, 2023•46 min•Season 6Ep. 15
This "Rabbit Hole" episode was supposed to be about the fighting around #Bakhmut, but breaking news today got our team's attention. With reports that #Russian fighter aircraft had intercepted an American MQ-9 Reaper drone and subsequently caused the drone to crash because of "reckless, environmentally unsound, and unprofessional" flight maneuvers that also "demonstrat[ed] a lack of competence," Dr. Yuval Weber and Maj Ian Brown looked at just what the Russian pilot might have been thinking (spoi...
Mar 15, 2023•54 min•Season 6Ep. 14
For this episode of the #BruteCast, we were thrilled to welcome back one of our very first guests! #TeamKrulak Non-Resident Fellow Chris Elles, and Alex Gallo of the Common Mission Project, joined us to talk about the "Hacking 4 Defense" innovation methodology. "Hacking 4 Defense" is a rapidly growing Lean Start Up-based methodology and has grown into the de facto standard for defense innovation education. Our guests provided a number of contacts to learn more about the "Hacking 4 Defense" progr...
Mar 14, 2023•57 min•Season 6Ep. 13
Thanks to the generosity of the College of Distance Education and Training, in this very special episode we got to hear from Lieutenant Colonel Pavlo Budaievskyi, who currently serves as Chief of Section of International Partners, Cooperation, and Development in the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. He has served in uniform for 17 years, and also represented Ukraine in the 2017 Invictus Games as a professional swimmer. He graduated from the Marine Corps' Command and Staff College in 2019, and so w...
Mar 08, 2023•1 hr 14 min•Season 6Ep. 12
#TeamKrulak's #China SME Mr. Dan Rice returned to the #BruteCast for his third episode, and this time around it was all about taking your questions. We discussed the recent shootdown of a Chinese surveillance balloon, diplomatic exchanges between Beijing and #Russia and #Belarus, fishing fleets, and more! Mr. Rice touched on Chinese influence in #Africa, which he covered in more detail in the latest issue of Middle East Studies Insights : https://www.usmcu.edu/Portals/218/MES%20Insights_Rice_14_...
Mar 04, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Season 6Ep. 11
As promised, #TeamKrulak offers our second "Rabbit Hole" episode this week on the 1-year mark of #Russia's latest invasion of #Ukraine. In the last few episodes, among other things we've reviewed developments in Western military assistance provided to #Ukraine. Here, #Russia SME Dr. Yuval Weber lays out #Putin's ability to keep the Russian war machine going for another year. Putin has mortgaged Russia's future in the hopes of present victory in #Ukraine, but economic trends suggest a losing bet ...
Feb 25, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Season 6Ep. 10
In the latest "Down The Rabbit Hole," #Russia SME Dr. Yuval Weber notes that if you blinked and thought you missed the Russian winter offensive, you're not alone; covers U.S. President Biden's visit to #Kyiv in #Ukraine with the math to confirm that Biden has spent more time in #Ukraine since the war started than Putin; previews a likely "corner turned" speech Putin is preparing to give to the Russian Assembly; and concludes with a look at fighter jets, which are the new tanks, which were the ne...
Feb 21, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Season 6Ep. 9
In this episode, we welcomed back two guests who we interviewed almost exactly a year ago. In the early days of #Russia's invasion of #Ukraine, we invited Dr. Matthew Ford and Professor Andrew Hoskins onto the #BruteCast to discuss their book Radical War: Data, Attention and Control in the Twenty-First Century , which back then was slated for publication later in 2022. The book focused on "how contemporary war is legitimized, planned, fought, experienced, remembered and forgotten in a continuous...
Feb 16, 2023•1 hr 18 min•Season 6Ep. 8
T he Marine Corps has always been energetic in capturing and telling its own story, and one medium for doing so has always been visual art. In this episode, we welcomed members of the Combat Art Program, in which talented active duty Marines, Reservists, and civilian artists document Marine Corps life on the battlefield and while training for battle, during humanitarian missions, and on the home front. The Combat Art Program generates works that provide an authentic and unvarnished focus these o...
Feb 15, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Season 6Ep. 7
#TeamKrulak community, you've joined us for past #BruteCast discussions on Force Design 2030, wargaming future concepts, and Talent Management 2030 - now the last piece of the vision laid out in the 2019 Commandant's Planning Guidance has dropped into place. On January 24, "Training and Education 2030" was released, and we were excited to welcome two Marines from Training and Education Command to explain it. LtCol Mark Saville and Maj Matthew Morse walked us through how Training and Education 20...
Feb 09, 2023•58 min•Season 6Ep. 6
Our latest episode merges two areas #TeamKrulak has extensively focused on: #wargaming and #China. Earlier this month, the Center for Strategic and International Studies presented a report on a series of wargames they ran which simulated an attempted Chinese amphibious assault on #Taiwan. The results of these games generated much discussion about deterrence, defense against amphibious assault, and the cost such an invasion might impose on all parties involved. Taking us through these topics are ...
Feb 03, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Season 6Ep. 5
The "Rabbit Hole" returns to grapple with the 70-ton, 120mm smoothbore gun elephant in the room - tanks. Dr. Yuval Weber and #TeamKrulak operations officer Maj Ian Brown discuss the varying types, challenges, and possible employment of the tanks now being made available to #Ukraine, along with the context of tanks in the pending offensives by both #Ukraine and #Russia. Other promised or potential additions to Western military aid are also part of the discussion, with a look ahead to our next epi...
Feb 01, 2023•56 min•Season 6Ep. 4
The #BruteCast returns with an episode on something that is both an interesting historical case study of attempted military innovation, and an initiative close to the heart of our namesake, "Brute" Krulak: the Combined Action Program undertaken by the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War. Cavender Sutton has researched this program in detail, and joined us to discuss his insights. Mr. Sutton referenced an article he wrote for the Winter 2022 issue of the Marine Corps History journal entitled "'To...
Jan 31, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Season 6Ep. 3
In this episode of "Down the Rabbit Hole," Dr. Yuval Weber reviews the horrific missile attack on an apartment complex in #Dnipro, new Western military aid packages to #Ukraine, and initial preparations both #Ukraine and #Russia are making for likely spring offensive operations. Also added to the surreal lexicon of this war is the concept of "performative air defense" by #Russia. All opinions expressed here are those of the individual and do not necessarily reflect those of the Krulak Center, Ma...
Jan 20, 2023•47 min•Season 6Ep. 2
We're excited to bring you the first #BruteCast of 2023 with the return of a Krulak Center alum chairing a timely discussion on cyber warfare in Ukraine. About a month into the war, we hosted a panel on how the cyber conflict in Ukraine had unfolded, both in things expected and unexpected. With the invasion of Ukraine approaching the one-year mark, Dr. Brandon Valeriano and Mr. Gavin Wilde will look at what the world has seen - and not seen - in the conduct of cyber warfare during the conflict. ...
Jan 19, 2023•55 min•Season 6Ep. 1
"Down the Rabbit Hole" returns with a focus on the intense fighting now ongoing in and around the town of Soledar. Dr. Yuval Weber, #TeamKrulak's Russia subject matter expert, looks at the combat underway there and the implications of the Wagner Group private military company leading Russian efforts. We also discussed the recent appointment of Russian General Valery Gerasimov as Putin's point man for the "special military operation," rumors of a large second wave of Russian mobilization coming s...
Jan 13, 2023•1 hr•Season 5Ep. 40
#Russia's invasion of #Ukraine approaches its 11th month and has crossed into a new year, and #TeamKrulak's Russia SME Dr. Yuval Weber brings us up to speed on the last two weeks and what 2023 bodes. We discuss two very different leadership trips - Zelensky to Washington, DC, and Putin to Minsk - Russia's days-long drone and missile attacks on Ukraine entering the new year, and today's HIMARS strike on a Russian barracks in the town of Makiivka in occupied Donetsk which reportedly caused hundred...
Jan 03, 2023•52 min•Season 5Ep. 39
This episode continued our look at some of the changes taking place across the Marine Corps under #ForceDesign2030, and highlighted an example of practical application and experimentation. Our guests discussed how the Marine Air Ground Task Force Training Command contributes to Marine Littoral Regiment (MLR) training and Service-level experimentation. They covered how the exercises prepare deployed forces to assure allies and partners; the defense of key maritime terrain against amphibious assau...
Dec 22, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Season 5Ep. 38
Dr. Njord Wegge is a professor at Norwegian Defence University College/Norwegian Military Academy, and for the last 6 months has been resident at Marine Corps University as Chair of Arctic Security. We talked about Norway's strategic outlook, the challenges and requirements for American and NATO forces to operate in the High North, Russian threats in the context of the ongoing invasion of #Ukraine, and more. Enjoyed this episode? Think there's room for improvement? Share your thoughts in this qu...
Dec 20, 2022•31 min•Season 5Ep. 37
Understanding complex military concepts on one's own is hard; distilling their essence to quickly and coherently explain them to others is much harder. Our guest on this episode, 1stLt Kayla Haas, has nevertheless cracked the code on this challenge with the help of the humble whiteboard. Lt Haas tells us why she started this project, how she deconstructs complex concepts into a single whiteboard frame, and how this unique approach to training and education can help you! 1st Lieutenant Kayla Haas...
Dec 20, 2022•29 min•Season 5Ep. 36
It's been a while since we've provided a "Rabbit Hole" update, so in this episode #TeamKrulak #Russia SME Dr. Yuval Weber updates us on the missile attacks of the last month, an overview of integrated air defense systems and how the Patriot missile will impact #Ukraine's ability to protect civilian infrastructure, Putin's build-up for a possible future 2023 offensive, and the state of the Russian economy and internal Russian domestic pressures. All opinions expressed here are those of the indivi...
Dec 17, 2022•58 min•Season 5Ep. 35
A few months back, SSgt Miranda stopped by the #TeamKrulak spaces to learn more about what we do and share our approach to innovation with his Air Force audience. In this episode, it's our turn to do the learning! SSgt Miranda works at the "Tesseract" office in the Air Force's Air Staff Logistics Directorate, with a mission of accelerating combat-focused logistics innovation by empowering Airmen and connecting them to a network of ideas and resources in order to improve the agile combat support ...
Dec 16, 2022•53 min•Season 5Ep. 34
In this special episode, we had the unique opportunity to talk to Dr. Hanna Shelest. She recently returned to Ukraine from extensive travel across that country and throughout Europe, and we are extremely grateful to her for taking the time to talk with us. We discussed some misperceptions about the war, the condition of Ukrainian forces on the front lines, the remarkable performance of Ukrainian first responders and civil engineers in restoring infrastructure, and more. Dr. Hanna Shelest is Dire...
Dec 15, 2022•42 min•Season 5Ep. 33
This lecture is part of the AY23 Middle East Studies (MES) Research Talks series. The implications of great power competition are increasingly apparent across South Asia, especially within the Indian Subcontinent where the two largest nuclear armed nations in South Asia, Pakistan and India, are locked in a protracted rivalry. Rather than primarily relying on India’s simultaneous ability to engage in adversarial competition with China and to wean smaller South Asian states away from Chinese influ...
Dec 02, 2022•55 min•Season 5Ep. 32
In this episode, we welcomed Megan J. Hennessey, Ph.D., who is the Director of the Teaching and Learning Center at Air University. We talked about the Air University approaching to #wargaming as an educational tool, but our wide-ranging discussion covered broader learning methodologies and assessments, and a "save the date" for next year's Military Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Forum! You can contact the Teaching and Learning Center at autlc@us.af.mil. Learn more about the Military Schola...
Nov 30, 2022•51 min•Season 5Ep. 31
The #BruteCast audience knows that we’ve had several episodes this year in which we asked the question: What will the next fight look like, and what changes must be made to compete and win? In the context of the institutional restructuring undertaken through Force Design 2030, these are important questions. Today, we look at the problem through the lens of another topic we’ve often focused on, and that is wargaming. In May 2022, the students of the School of Advanced Warfighting at Marine Corps ...
Nov 30, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Season 5Ep. 30
Dr. Yuval Weber, #TeamKrulak's Russia SME, reviews the liberation of Kherson, the recent tragic missile explosion in Poland, and looks ahead to what might develop in the winter months. All opinions expressed here are those of the individual and do not necessarily reflect those of the Krulak Center, Marine Corps University, the United States Marine Corps, or any other agency of the U.S. Government. Enjoyed this episode? Think there's room for improvement? Share your thoughts in this quick survey ...
Nov 18, 2022•41 min•Season 5Ep. 29
