Editor’s Note: A draft of what follows was inadvertently emailed to paid subscribers earlier today. This is the correct edition. The search for someone to blame is ongoing.
We’re back with another episode of ‘Alternate Shots’, America’s fastest-growing podcast, according to two perhaps mis-informed sources. With the Memorandum of Understanding set to “expire” on Monday, we lead off with a Groundhog Day-like conversation about the status of the Iran war in the Persian Gulf. A headline in today’s Wall Street Journal mirrors Richard’s analysis: “The Iran war is….about who blinks first under economic pressure”.
We then turn to a recent war game conducted in Germany, pitting Ukraine drone operators against US troops rotated in from Fort Hood, Texas. The drone operators won. Welcome to the future of warfare. The lack of urgency on the need to remodel America’s military to fit the modern battlefield is both alarming and even more alarming.
We then turn our attention to domestic matters, including President Trump’s re-embrace of the anti-vax movement, the mid-term elections and the president’s health. We end with Richard’s enthusiasm for the WNBA and keeping our fingers crossed for Tim Hegarty, a good friend and a great golfer, who we fervently hope will win the 45th U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship next month.
(‘Alternate Shots’, Episode #34. Co-hosted by Richard Haass and John Ellis. Produced by Dale Eisinger. Recorded, 14 August 2026. If you prefer, you can listen to this episode (and all previous episodes) by clicking on these hyperlinks: Apple, Amazon, and Spotify. We’re on a number of other podcast platforms as well. And YouTube!)
A word cloud comparing Culture-War Topics like Transgender WNBA Athletes, vs. Entitlement Deficits and Defense Modernization by politicians (and podcasters) could explain the lack of political will to engage in the latter.