On October 19, 2026, I interviewed Eliot A. Cohen, the Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and professor emeritus at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Before that he taught at the U.S. Naval War College. He served in the U.S. Army Reserve, was a director in the Defense Department’s policy planning staff, and led the U.S. Air Force’s multivolume study of the first Gulf War. From 2007 to 2009 he was counselor of the Department of State, serving as Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice’s senior adviser.
His books include The Hollow Crown: Shakespeare on How Leaders Rise, Rule, and Fall (Basic Books, 2023), as well as The Big Stick: The Limits of Soft Power and the Necessity of Military Force (Basic Books, 2017), Conquered into Liberty: Two Centuries of Battle Along the Great Warpath that Made the American Way of War (FreePress, 2011) and Supreme Command: Soldiers, Statesmen, and Leadership in Wartime (Anchor, 2002), among others.
His latest book, is THE STRATEGIST, HOW TO THINK ABOUT WAR AND POLITICS, published this week by Princeton University Press. I have been listening to him and Eric Edelman, his partner as he likes to say in all things strategery, on their podcast, Shield of the Republic.
I have been listening to him and Eric Edelman, his partner as he likes to say in all things strategery, on their podcast, Shield of the Republic. As the global economy reels from the repercussions of the US/Israel war against Iran, he has things to say about the do’s and don’ts of successful strategy, and he shared them with us via Zoom
Articles, etc. pertinent to this conversation:
Eliot Cohen Emergency Episode: Trump’s IMPEACHABLE Diesel Deal https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LDwKNwZDv0
Defense Department Announces a Dark & Immoral Livestream (Shield of the Republic) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oI9vVjMT2F4
Japan’s Nuclear Taboo is Shattering (Shield of the Republic) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCOVaAhnTt0
The Trump-Putin love story’s next chapter: selling out Ukraine https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/oct/23/trump-putin-ukraine
Trump Is Still Chasing His Yalta. Here’s What He Doesn’t Get. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/22/opinion/trump-ukraine-russia-war-yalta.html
U.S. Is Sending Hundreds of Troops to Latin America https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/14/us/politics/us-troops-latin-america.html
How Nebraska helped turn 2026 into the year of the independent US Senate candidate https://dailymontanan.com/2026/10/20/repub/how-nebraska-helped-turn-2026-into-the-year-of-the-independent-us-senate-candidate/
False pamphlets causing backlash and confusion, Texas transgender rights group says https://www.texastribune.org/2026/10/20/texas-transgender-pamphlets-tent-student-union/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
