At the Water's Edge copertina

At the Water's Edge

At the Water's Edge

Di: WRKdefined Podcast Network
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The At the Water’s Edge Podcast explores national security and geopolitics from an insider’s perspective, looking at how national power, industrial policy, diplomacy, and military might shape our world and America’s place in it.All rights reserved by WRKdefined Politica e governo Scienze politiche
Episodi
  • Trump is TRAPPED in Iran's "DIPLOMACY" | Robert Pape

    Trump is TRAPPED in Iran's "DIPLOMACY" | Robert Pape
    Sep 28 2026
    Iran offered Trump a seven-day path to end the war. Robert Pape explains why taking it or refusing it both hurt him before the midterms. Iran's president came to the UN in New York with a deal on the table: a quick end to the fighting and a return of nuclear inspectors, in exchange for money up front. University of Chicago political scientist Robert Pape argues the offer is a trap. Any upfront payment from Washington costs Trump with his own base whether Iran delivers or not. Walking away keeps oil prices high heading into the midterms. Either way, Tehran wins. Host Scott Kelly, a former Green Beret, and Pape also discuss: - Why the June MOU fell apart, and why Pape says it's about the balance of power, not who broke it first - What Kissinger's "diplomacy" really meant, and what it tells us about negotiating with Iran - Pape's forecast for Pete Hegseth, and why he says this is only the beginning - Why this winter could be the real reckoning for oil, diesel, and heating fuel, with the Strategic Petroleum Reserve already drawn down - What it means if France sends forces to Saudi Arabia to counter the Houthis, as it is reportedly considering - Why a Europe pulled into the Middle East is a gift to Putin The rest of the Q&A, including whether Israel would attempt an assassination on U.S. soil and Pape's case that Netanyahu isn't running Trump's war, is available now to Briefing Room members on our YouTube channel and will be released for everyone later this week. Follow Robert Pape's analysis on The Escalation Trap: https://escalationtrap.substack.com Subscribe to At the Water's Edge on Substack: https://substack.com/@scottatthewatersedgeorg At the Water's Edge is a national security and geopolitics podcast hosted by Scott Kelly, a former Green Beret, taking a practitioner's view beyond the headlines.
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    29 min
  • Why Our Special Forces Are Losing the Silent Battle

    Why Our Special Forces Are Losing the Silent Battle
    Sep 27 2026
    Joe Stabley is a Special Forces medic turned physician assistant — one of the most demanding career fields in the military, followed by a doctorate-adjacent civilian one. By any outward measure, he was a success. He also spent the better part of a decade managing suicidal ideation that started with a friend's death on a peacetime deployment before 9/11, and that he describes as something he still lives with today, not something he's recovered from. This conversation traces that whole arc: Jason's suicide in the Sinai when Joe was 19, two more friends lost in the years that followed, a breakdown in an ER that led him to the edge of a freeway overpass, an Adderall dependency that started as a PA-school fix, and the VA and Wounded Warrior Project support that ultimately got him here — now a member of WWP's national campaign team. Joe calls this the most raw interview he's ever given, and it shows. If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline), or reach the Veterans Crisis Line at 988, press 1. This is Episode 4 of Still Here, a five-part series produced in partnership with Wounded Warrior Project for Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. Catch up with Episodes 1–3 (Zach, Lindsey, and Sam) if you haven't yet. Episode 5 — Lyndsay Tkach, WWP's Director of Mental and Brain Health Services, closing out the series — drops next week. Chapters: 0:00 Welcome, and introducing Joe 0:17 Setting up the paradox: a celebrated medic who decided to die 2:38 Pre-9/11: Jason's suicide at a peacetime outpost in the Sinai 9:08 Iraq, 2007: losing Rob Perelli and carrying the weight forward 11:07 Coming home to a healthcare system that felt broken 13:12 Does military life itself brutalize people, combat or not? 14:31 Genetics, childhood, and service: combat as catalyst, not cause 18:06 Has suicide prevention actually improved since he was 19? 20:14 Was Jason's death alone enough to explain everything? 22:28 "I dedicated my entire life to medicine" — and the weight of not saving people 26:03 "This is the measuring stick by which I judge my existence" 26:52 Medical retirement, and the Green Beret actuarial tables 28:48 Eleven years in, and losing a second friend right after the first 32:48 How does a guy with everything going for him get here? 33:04 PA school begins 33:24 A panic attack in uniform, and the trigger that came out of nowhere 39:23 Diagnosis, Adderall, and a dependency he didn't see coming 40:47 The ER, a schedule with no rhythm, and the first suicidal moment 52:05 Did being a provider make it harder to see it in himself? 52:48 Getting help: the VA, Vet Centers, and finally talking 56:03 "A chronic condition you're managing in real time" 56:18 His advice: don't carry this alone 1:05:32 Closing thoughts Learn more about Wounded Warrior Project: woundedwarriorproject.org
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    1 ora e 6 min
  • The Real Reason Saudi Arabia Is Buying 48 F-35s

    The Real Reason Saudi Arabia Is Buying 48 F-35s
    Sep 25 2026
    For more than a decade, Israel has been the only country in the Middle East flying a fifth-generation stealth fighter. That's about to change. The Trump administration has approved the sale of 48 F-35s and 49 engines to Saudi Arabia. Congress has 30 days to object. It almost certainly won't. But the purchase is counterintuitive. The F-35 has lost some of its luster: one was confirmed hit by radar-directed Iranian ground fire during Operation Epic Fury, and the war in the region suggests cheap drones may beat exquisite airframes. So why would Riyadh spend big on a jet whose stealth advantage has an expiration date? Scott Kelly, former Green Beret and one of the last ground force commanders in Afghanistan, argues the answer has less to do with military effectiveness than with regime survival. A drone force at scale requires a large, competent ground military, and a competent military is a coup risk. Forty-eight pilots are not. In this episode: - Why monarchies prefer air forces to armies - How the F-35 locks Saudi Arabia into the U.S. defense industrial base for decades - "Sell the gun, control the bullets": arms sales as permanent dependency - Israel's legally guaranteed Qualitative Military Edge, and why the Saudi jet will be a U.S.-locked, less capable version of Israel's F-35I - Turkey, Qatar, and the UAE waiting in line What does this mean for Israel? That's in the members-only companion episode in The Briefing Room on YouTube and in the write-up on Substack. Join the Briefing Room: https://www.youtube.com/@AttheWatersEdge-r5e
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    16 min
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