Episodes
The latest outrage stemming from the Syrian civil war: Thousands of refugees have gathered at Turkey's northern border with Greece after Turkey backed out of a deal to limit migrants entering Europe. Greece has refused to open its border, leading to clashes with security forces, as some refugees to try to make the dangerous cross on water. It's a policy disagreement in the headlines and in the government buildings... but on the ground level, this isn't just political bickering and a war of...
Published 03/06/20
Published 03/06/20
Hours after the World Health Organization announced Wuhan Coronavirus cases stabilized, China revealed a massive one-day spike in deaths and infections. This isn't an episode about how the outbreak occurred or is spreading. Instead, we're looking at how China's secretive response to the crisis and US-China trade tensions will affect the global effort to contain the virus, and what this all means for Chinese President Xi Jinping's hold on power. SE Cupp takes a deep-dive with Gordon Chang,...
Published 02/13/20
When a US drone strike killed Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani, it didn't just reverberate in Iran. It was supposed to be a huge blow to Syria's authoritarian leader Bashar al-Assad, his biggest international ally and the leader of Iran's proxy militias waging a reign of terror in Syria now gone. And yet this week, a Russian-backed Syrian government offensive aimed at the country's last rebel-held stronghold has forced more than half a million people -- 80 percent of them women and...
Published 02/06/20
The Olympics are usually a nice respite from political drama, but this year's Tokyo Summer Games are already courting political controversy. The International Olympic Committee announced strict guidelines limiting the types of political protests athletes are allowed to make- the rules include no kneeling, no political signs or armbands, and no disrupting of the medal ceremonies. But is it even possible, let alone practical, to take politics out of sports? CNN Sports Analyst and USA Today...
Published 01/16/20
Cooler heads prevailed in the faceoff between the US and Iran, for now. But both countries still have forces fighting in a hot war in Iraq, so there's no separating the Iran tensions from the decade-and-a-half conflict in Iraq. Iraqi parliament voted to expel US troops from the country following the Soleimani strike, and Trump campaigned on getting America out of Iraq. So what should our role be in the Iraq War, and how will rising tensions with Iran factor into the future of Iraq? Joining SE...
Published 01/09/20
A massive, bombshell investigation this week by the Washington Post found that top US officials have been misleading the public about the Afghanistan War since the earliest days of the conflict. Meanwhile in Iraq, a government crackdown has left hundreds of civilians dead. So we have two countries on similarly doomed paths, teetering on the edge of failed state status following open-ended American military intervention-what now? SE Cupp is joined by former CIA counter-terrorism officer Dan...
Published 12/12/19
Venice has been suffering from flooding for decades, if not centuries. However, this time it's different. A torrential rain dump created the worst flooding in the Italian city since 1966 and rising water is raising concern for the city's architecture and threatening the livelihood of its citizens. CNN's Scott McLean joins SE Cupp to discuss his experience visiting Venice during the flooding and if anything preventative can be done.
Published 11/22/19
Discussions about the Syrian conflict tend to focus on the global implications, but today's episode focuses on one woman's story. The winner of Best Documentary at the Cannes Film Festival, "For Sama," follows Waad al-Kateab, a young woman who fell in love and had her daughter in the middle of a civil war. She tells SE Cupp about living in a city under siege, why she decided to stay, and what she wants everyone to know about the Syrian civil war.
Published 11/08/19
The death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi is a national security success. But, in usual Trump fashion, details of the raid were embellished by the President. He also exposed sensitive information and ISIS has already announced their new leader. SE Cupp is joined by CNN Military & Diplomatic Analyst, Rear Admiral John Kirby (Ret.), to discuss what happens next, the difference between how Obama & Trump handled their ISIS missions, and the global politics in play.
Published 11/01/19
Turkey and the US iron out a temporary ceasefire to pause the Turkish incursion into Northern Syria, an agreement which Turkey's Foreign Minister insists "is not a ceasefire." Turkey says they got everything they wanted in the deal, and a senior US official tells CNN "This is essentially the US validating what Turkey did and allowing them to annex a portion of Syria and displace the Kurdish population." SE Cupp and CNN Global Affairs Analyst Max Boot discuss the ramifications of Trump's...
Published 10/17/19
President Trump has opened the floodgates in Northern Syria, pulling out the only protection Kurdish fighters there could count on to keep Turkey at bay. Turkey has already taken advantage of it with a huge operation in the region, leading 60,000 civilians to flee. Republicans and Democrats in Congress are outraged by the decision, the Pentagon and State Department advised against it. There is no end in sight for the conflict in Syria, and this gives ISIS room to rise again. These facts leave...
Published 10/10/19
It's the second week of an impeachment inquiry, and Trump has asked a second foreign country to investigate the Bidens - this time it's not an ally, it's communist China, in broad daylight. CNN National Security Analyst Sam Vinograd sums it up: "China is already attacking our elections, President Trump asked them to keep doing it." So what does this all of this mean for US foreign policy and diplomatic relations going forward? Sam and SE break it down.
Published 10/04/19
Tensions with Iran are boiling over following the attack on Saudi oil refineries. Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has warned that US military strikes will lead to "all-out war," while Trump has said America is "locked and loaded" but expressed his desire to avoid conflict. So is this a crisis that the US can clean up? And should the response to an attack on Saudi oil be handled by the Saudis? Former CIA operative and CNN Intelligence and Security Analyst Robert Baer sits down with S.E....
Published 09/19/19
In August 2014, ISIS invaded northern Iraq and massacred 10,000 Yazidi people, mostly men and boys over age 12. They kidnapped thousands of women and children, enslaved roughly 7,000 people and displaced over 400,000 to camps. Five years after the genocide, about 350,000 are still in camps, and an estimated 3,000 women and children are still missing. International human rights lawyer and advocate Philippa Greer joins SE to discuss the surviving Yazidi community's plea for justice and...
Published 09/13/19
"The last time I saw my family was in 2015. The last time I talked to them, I can't even remember. It's been years." From subjecting his family in Turkey to raids and trials to forcing him to cancel his youth basketball camps in the US, Boston Celtics center Enes Kanter talks to SE about how the Erdogan regime has tried to silence him, and why he refuses to stop criticizing the repressive Turkish leader.
Published 08/29/19
Dan Coats is out as the Director of National Intelligence and there are real questions about the credibility & reasoning behind Trump's replacement choice, GOP Rep. John Ratcliffe. CNN Counterterrorism analyst Philip Mudd joins SE to talk about the DNI nomination and IC morale under Trump, plus he discusses his new book, "Black Site: The CIA in the Post-9/11 World"
Published 08/01/19
Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin this week exposed a stunning, preventable humanitarian crisis happening in US-controlled territory in Syria. He joins SE to explain why thousands of Syrians are facing starvation, and why "one tweet, one snap of the finger, would allow the US military to do what they do all over the world, which is save people's lives."
Published 07/25/19
The UK Ambassador to the US resigns after secret cables in which he described President Trump as "incompetent" and "inept" leaked to the Daily Mail. There's speculation that the leak was a politically motivated act by someone in London aiming to open up the post for an outspoken pro-Brexit official - and a source tells CNN the incident has already led to a "chilling effect" among the diplomatic community. CNN Political Commentator Doug Heye joins SE to discuss what this means for America's...
Published 07/11/19
Iran shoots down a US military drone a week after the Trump administration blamed Tehran for an attack on two energy tankers, escalating tensions between the two countries. If there's a central theme in this ongoing confrontation, it's bluffs and mixed messages from both sides. CNN National Security Analyst Sam Vinograd joins SE Cupp to wade through the bluster and determine whether the situation can be de-escalated.
Published 06/20/19
"What Assad is doing is he's creating a blueprint for dictators all over the world in order to create havoc... and operating with impunity." The Syrian American Council's Bassam Rifai joins SE to discuss the ongoing genocide and refugee crisis in Syria, Russia and Iran's malign actions in the country, and the world's seemingly indifferent response.
Published 06/13/19
"National security should be front and center in this campaign because it's the best way to take on Donald Trump." Democratic Congressman and presidential candidate Seth Moulton explains why he thinks 2020 Democrats need to hit Trump on foreign policy, calling the President "a weak commander in chief." Moulton also gives SE his plans to confront Russian election interference, North Korean aggression, the crisis in Syria, and more, and discusses how his combat tours in Iraq shape his foreign...
Published 05/30/19
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won his record-breaking fifth term in dramatic fashion-how much of an impact did President Trump's aggressive pro-Israel moves in the home stretch of the campaign have on the outcome? And what does this mean for peace between Israel and Palestine, and the Trump-Netanyahu relationship going forward? SE is joined by CNN's Oren Liebermann from Jerusalem.
Published 04/11/19
While both sides are fighting over what will be redacted, what qualifies as obstruction, what meets the level of criminal liability, and who will get subpoenaed -- they're both glossing over one of the most important conclusions from the probe -- that Russia meddled in the 2016 election. After all, that's what started this whole mess. Former FBI Counterintelligence Operative Eric O'Neill joins SE to discuss Russia's election interference and whether America is ready to fend off further...
Published 04/04/19
Time is running out for British PM Theresa May to iron out a Brexit deal with Parliament. SE Cupp and Doug Heye break down her ongoing battle with lawmakers, why Putin is loving the drama, the risks of America meddling in the politics of an ally, and the "hard leave" worst-case scenario.
Published 03/21/19