Special Guest Bill Buppert
Notas do episódio
Find us at www.crisisinvesting.com
Find Bill at https://substack.com/@cgpodcast
The U.S. Military Is a Trillion-Dollar Paper Tiger—Drones, Carriers, and Strategic Failure
The hosts interview retired U.S. Army officer and military historian Bill Buppert, fellow at the Libertarian Institute and host of the Chasing Ghosts podcast, about U.S. military shortcomings and strategic failures since 1945. Buppert argues the Pentagon fields expensive "exquisite platforms" that are unfit for 21st-century peer conflict, citing lost influence in the Middle East and Africa and recurring defeats or stalemates in Iraq and Afghanistan. He critiques procurement and consolidation after the 1993 "Last Supper," and highlights troubled systems including the Zumwalt, Littoral Combat Ship, Ford-class EMALS, aircraft carriers, and the F-35's low readiness rates. He emphasizes the revolution of cheap FPV/UAV warfare, salvo competition in air defense, depleted munitions stockpiles (including Stingers), limited U.S. homeland missile defense, and vulnerabilities such as container-launched drones. The conversation also covers Ukraine's prospects against Russia, NATO red lines, Iran's terrain and history, and the importance of considering moral injury in war.
00:00 Meet Bill Buppert
01:52 Paper Tiger Pentagon
04:56 Iraq War Blowback
06:24 Rakes and Stupidity
10:22 Bureaucracy and Budgets
12:05 Navy Procurement Fails
14:05 Carrier and EMALS Risks
18:49 Drones Change Warfare
24:13 Defense Industry Monopoly
27:20 Salvo Competition IAMD
31:46 Carriers vs China Math
36:28 F-35 Readiness Disaster
39:56 Homeland Missile Defense Limits
42:58 Smuggled Nukes and Drones
44:22 Homeland Attack Scenarios
46:06 Civil Defense Blind Spot
47:12 Empire Mindset and 9/11
48:25 Bring Policy Home
51:14 Bureaucracy and Defense Waste
53:07 Drones Change Warfare
54:43 Why COIN Fails
56:58 Ukraine Forecast and NATO
59:57 Iran Nukes and Regional Power
01:08:09 Homeschooling and Trades
01:11:29 Iran Terrain and History
01:14:12 Moral Injury and Farewell