Looking Back on a Year of Conflict

WSJ Opinion: Free Expression

Gerard Baker, Editor at Large, The Wall Street Journal

Society & Culture, News

4.6 • 591 Ratings

🗓️ 19 December 2023

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

As 2023 draws to a close, the war between Ukraine and Russia is approaching the two-year mark in what appears to be a stalemate, while the war between Israel and Hamas rages on. What have we learned? What can we expect in 2024? And how is the U.S. dealing with these challenges? On this episode of the Free Expression podcast, former CIA director General David Petraeus tells Wall Street Journal editor at large Gerry Baker why the Israel/Hamas battlefield is the most “fiendishly difficult” in recent memory, why the U.S. needs to take more robust action against the Red Sea attacks by Houthi forces backed by Iran, how the withdrawal from Afghanistan contributed to Vladimir Putin’s invasion, and how modern warfare has changed since World War II. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Boardrooms love buzzwords.
0:01.9	AI, climate, resilience.
0:03.7	But what do they actually mean for CFOs and execs trying to survive the next earnings call?
0:08.3	That's where the pre-read comes in.
0:09.8	Real experts and real talk.
0:11.6	Subscribe to the pre-read, presented by Workiba.
0:17.1	From the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal, this is Free Expression with Jerry Baker.
0:24.3	Hello and welcome to Free Expression from the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal.
0:28.3	With me, Jerry Baker, editor at large of the journal.
0:31.0	If you're not already subscribing to Free Expression, please do sign up at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you may do you listening.
0:37.3	This week,
0:37.9	I look back and I look forward at global conflicts and the challenges that they pose to America.
0:42.6	In 2023, we added Israel Hamas to Ukraine, Russia, the growing list of important wars in which
0:48.8	American allies find themselves fighting brutal enemies. How will these conflicts unfold in
0:53.3	2024? Can Israel really achieve its goal of
0:56.0	destroying Hamas without inflaming Arab and world opinion against it? Can Ukraine continue to
1:02.2	resist Russia's assault as we approach the two-year anniversary of Vladimir Putin's invasion? And how is
1:07.7	the US handling both conflicts? Is it time for a rethink in Ukraine as that conflict seems to have entered a stalemate? What's the right approach to the Middle East? Does the Biden administration's policy of support for Israel, while urging restraint by Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government, make any strategic or tactical sense? And where does all this leave America's larger
1:29.2	security interests? How crucial are these fights to our ability to achieve our strategic goals?
1:35.8	Well, with me, what I'm pleased to say is General David Petraeus. He'll know him very well, of course,
1:40.2	the general served with distinction in the US military,.S. and NATO forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.
1:46.2	And he also served as director to CIA under President Barack Obama. He's published multiple works on
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