Podcast appearances and mentions of Mark G Stewart

In this episode, we discuss with our guest, Dr. John Mueller, senior fellow at the Cato Institute and political science department member at Ohio State University, the current U.S. Foreign policy challenges that we face including the war in Ukraine as well as the challenges we could face in the future. About our guest:John Mueller is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. He is also a member of the political science department and senior research scientist with the Mershon Center for International Security Studies at the Ohio State University.His most recent book is The Stupidity of War: American Foreign Policy and the Case for Complacency, published in 2021 by Cambridge University Press. A leading expert on terrorism and particularly on the reactions (or over‐​reactions) it often inspires, he is the coauthor (with Mark G. Stewart) of Chasing Ghosts: The Policing of Terrorism, published by Oxford University Press in 2016. Their Terror, Security and Money: Balancing the Risks, Benefits, and Costs of Homeland Security was published in 2011 by Oxford. Other books from Mueller include Overblown: How Politicians and the Terrorism Industry Inflate National Security Threats and Why We Believe Them (Free Press, 2006) and Atomic Obsession: Nuclear Alarmism from Hiroshima to Al‐​Qaeda (Oxford, 2010). He is also the editor of Terrorism Since 9/11: The American Cases (Mershon Center, Ohio State, 2015) and (with Christopher A. Preble) A Dangerous World? Threat Perception and U.S. National Security (Cato, 2014).Full Bio: https://www.cato.org/people/john-muellerCheck out our website at http://artofdiscussing.buzzsprout.com, on Facebook at Art of Discussing and on Instagram @artofdiscussing.Got a topic that you'd like to see discussed? Interested in being a guest on our show? Just want to reach out to share an opinion, experience, or resource? Leave us a comment below or contact us at info@artofdiscussing.com!! We'd love to hear from you! Keep Discussing!Music found on Pixabay. Song name: "Clear Your Mind" by Caffeine Creek Band"Check out our website at http://artofdiscussing.buzzsprout.com, on Facebook at Art of Discussing and on Instagram @artofdiscussing.Got a topic that you'd like to see discussed? Interested in being a guest on our show? Just want to reach out to share an opinion, experience, or resource? Leave us a comment below or contact us at info@artofdiscussing.com!! We'd love to hear from you! Keep Discussing!Music found on Pixabay. Song name: "Clear Your Mind" by Caffeine Creek Band"

Emma Ashford gives us a primer on Saudi Arabia, the oil-rich Middle Eastern nation that is also one of the last remaining absolute monarchies in the world.We talk about the history of the Saudi royal family, Saudi Arabia’s importance in Islam, the discovery of oil in Saudi Arabia after the first World War, the country’s legal system and culture, American-Saudi relations over the years, and what’s next for the kingdom as its rulership passes to a new generation.Show Notes and Further ReadingHere’s the photo Ashford references, of Franklin Delano Roosevelt meeting Ibn Saud in 1945.Here’s Thomas Friedman’s quite obsequious and gushing article about meeting Mohammad bin Salman.Other Free Thoughts episodes on the Middle East, radical Islamic terrorism, and oil-producing nations:“How Much Should We Worry About ISIS?” with Emma Ashford“Is the Iran Deal a Good Deal?” with Emma Ashford and John Glaser“What Are the Risks of Terrorism?” John Mueller and Mark G. Stewart See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Alex Nowrasteh joins us this week to talk about immigration in the wake of Donald Trump’s contentious executive order on the subject. Is immigration always good for a country?In this episode, we discuss economic arguments for and against immigration, the rate at which immigrants culturally and politically assimilate in the United States, and the real odds of a successful terrorist attack carried out by immigrants or refugees.Show Notes and Further ReadingFor a deeper understanding of Trump’s executive order restricting permanent immigration from seven majority-Muslim countries, we recommend this Vox article by Dara Lind and this New York Times op-ed by David Bier.Trevor mentions this Free Thoughts episode with John Mueller and Mark G. Stewart on the real risks of terrorism, and listeners may also be interested in the first episode we did on immigration with Alex Nowrasteh; it’s about the history of immigration in the US and the various laws governing it. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Nearly fifteen years ago, members of al-Qaeda hijacked four airplanes, killing 2,996 and injuring over 6,000 in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The unprecedented tragedy of the event led many Americans, including politicians, to wonder about the likelihood of similar atrocities in the future. This week, we welcome Sam Whipple to discuss an article written in 2012 entitled "The Terrorism Delusion: America's Overwrought Response to September 11". In the article, authors John Mueller and Mark G. Stewart suggest that the political and security responses since the attacks have been blown out of proportion and imply a false probability and reality of terrorism that statistics do not reflect. In what ways do our communal fears and feelings of empathy lead us to trust in any promise of safety? How do politicians capitalize on emotion rather than facts and statistics? How might we have a healthy conversation as a country and a globe which acknowledges both legitimate fears and consistent evidence?

Since 2001 the United States has created or restructured more than two counterterrorism organizations for every apprehension it has made of Islamists apparently planning to commit terrorism within the country. Central to this massive enterprise are the efforts of police and intelligence agencies to follow up on over ten million tips, the vast majority of which lead nowhere. In their new book, Chasing Ghosts, John Mueller and Mark G. Stewart try to answer a few simple, yet rarely asked questions: Is the chase worth the effort? Or is it excessive given the danger that terrorism actually presents? The authors will present their findings followed by questions and discussion related to the U.S. fight against terrorism. Please join us for what is sure to be a lively event. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

How did the effort to foil American terror plots change after 9/11? How are terrorists deterred from their goals?John Mueller and Mark G. Stewart join us this week to talk about why our government needs to think realistically about combating terrorism. Show Notes and Further ReadingMueller and Stewart’s new book on how our post-9/11 government ends up chasing incredible terrorist threats, Chasing Ghosts: The Policing of Terrorism (2015).Mueller mentions a 2010 comedy movie about British jihadists, Four Lions. Mueller also mentions a book of student papers that he edits that follows post-9/11 terror cases in America, Terrorism Since 9/11: The American Cases (2015).Garrett Graff’s The Threat Matrix: The FBI at War (2012) is a good overview of how the FBI currently responds to terror threats. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Programs designed to fight terrorism at home demand metrics to determine their effectiveness. All too often, these studies aren't conducted. John Mueller and Mark G. Stewart discuss their book, Chasing Ghosts. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week’s podcast challenges a political sacred cow. In fact, it might be the mother of all sacred cows. It is the belief that foreign terrorism is one of the most serious threats to the safety of Americans and the security of what since 9/11 we have called the “homeland.” That belief is deep. The facts supporting it are thin. But it is a premise so fundamental to our post-9/11 worldview that is rarely debated, challenged or reexamined. No one has tried harder to unsound the alarm, to show that the sky is not falling, than John Mueller, our guest this week, a political scientist at Ohio State University and a senior fellow at the Cato Institute in Washington. In a book coming out in the fall, “Chasing Ghosts: The Policing of Terrorism” (Oxford University Press), Mueller and co-author Mark G. Stewart take a hard-boiled, empirical look a the politics, phobias and failed leadership that feeds the sacred cow of counterrorism at any cost.