Foreign policy under pressure, explained clearly.
The Burn Bag Podcast examines foreign policy at the point where strategy, crisis response, and moral consequence meet. Its conversations pair current flashpoints with deeper frameworks, from Iran and U.S.-China competition to genocide prevention and the evolution of warfare.
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The Burn Bag Podcast sits in the space between breaking foreign policy news and graduate-seminar seriousness. It is built for listeners who want the machinery of national security explained by people who have studied it, served inside it, or argued about it at close range. Recent conversations focus on a world under strain. Iran appears as both an internal political crisis and a regional military flashpoint. The show looks at protests, crackdowns, diplomacy, U.S. naval presence, military strikes, and the question of regime durability without reducing the story to a single headline. It also steps back from the daily crisis feed. Dr. Mira Rapp-Hooper’s appearance connects the international system, U.S.-China competition, American alliances, and Indo-Pacific strategy into a larger argument about structural change. That bigger-picture instinct is one of the show’s strongest habits. It asks what a decision means now, then asks what pressure made the decision possible. The interviews are formal but not bloodless. A discussion with Mark Esper moves through targeting, military objectives, escalation, and the uncertainty created when goals appear to shift. A conversation with Alex Vatanka places Iran’s unrest inside a darker account of polarization, government crackdowns, and social exhaustion. The genocide episode is especially heavy. Dr. Gregory Stanton explains frameworks for prevention, the legal weight of the term, and why naming atrocities can force action. General David Petraeus brings the show into military history and operational analysis, linking Afghanistan, Iraq, Ukraine, Gaza, and the long evolution of warfare since 1945. The pacing is calm, but the subject matter is often severe. The show favors definitions, timelines, constraints, incentives, and consequences. It is not built around punditry or personality-first banter. Its appeal comes from access to people who can describe how policy choices are made and what they cost. For PlayNext listeners, it works as a serious discovery lane for national security analysis with urgency, context, and institutional memory.
Made for: For listeners who follow national security, war, diplomacy, and U.S. foreign policy closely enough to want more than headlines. It also suits students, analysts, and politically engaged listeners who value expert interviews and structured context.
What sets it apart: The show pairs live crisis coverage with guests who can explain institutional process, military objectives, legal frameworks, and strategic tradeoffs. Its strength is moving between current events and the deeper systems shaping them.
We’re here to redefine how scholars and policymakers approach national security and foreign policy. Join us, as we make sense of a world in crisis.
Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A stark, grounded look at Iran's protests, regime violence, and the risks around Washington and Tehran.
Iran's nationwide protests open into a wider look at regime durability, public exhaustion, and the risk of escalation between Washington and Tehran.
Petraeus links military technology, maintenance, and withdrawal decisions across Afghanistan, Iraq, Ukraine, and the Middle East.
The Burn Bag Podcast gives General David Petraeus space to map the evolution of warfare since World War II, from the constraints imposed by nuclear weapons to the pressures now shaping Ukraine, the Middle East, and the Indo-Pacific.
A sober, accessible introduction to genocide prevention, with legal duty kept in view.
The Burn Bag Podcast keeps genocide grounded in process rather than abstraction, moving from definition and a ten-stage framework toward the choices that may interrupt it. Dr.
Strategic briefings from Asia’s pressure points.
Civics, books, history, and Hillsdale voices.
Antiwar geopolitics with institutional memory.
Former CIA Director and General David Petraeus discusses the evolution of warfare since 1945, drawing from his new book.
The Burn Bag Podcast hosts Dr.
The Burn Bag Podcast host André Gonoela interviews Dr.
The Burn Bag Podcast host André Gonoela interviews former Defense Secretary Mark Esper about the first week of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, including strikes launched on February 28.
Alex Vatanka says the IRGC includes conscripts, perks-seekers, and ideological diehards who could be persuaded to switch teams.
The Burn Bag Podcast's André Gonoela interviews Venezuelan journalist Tony Frangier-Mawad about daily life, U.S.
Andre Gonowela interviews Venezuelan journalist and political scientist Tony Frangie Mawad about how Hugo Chávez’s 1998 election led to institutional remaking, polarization, and gradual restrictions on media and political opposition.