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A Dangerous Start to 2026 | Shield of the Republic

2026-01-12 News & Politics
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The Bulwark
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Description

Eric and Eliot discuss serious threats that Trump continues to make against Denmark and the possibility that the administration might use military force to seize Greenland. They also examine the seizure of the ghost fleet tanker Bella, the risks of inadvertent conflict with Russia, and ongoing negotiations in Paris over the future of the war in Ukraine. The conversation explores the odds that Russia can continue fighting in 2026 given immense battlefield losses, the country’s cratering economy, and shifts in Ukrainian domestic politics. Finally, they turn to the intensifying protests in Iran, contrasting them with earlier waves of public revulsion against the regime in the late 1990s, 2009, 2017–18, and 2022–23, and discuss what indicators might suggest the regime is truly coming apart at the seams. Shield of the Republic is a Bulwark podcast co-sponsored by the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. Become a Bulwark Youtube Plus Member here - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG4Hp1KbGw4e02N7FpPXDgQ/join

Top Comments (10)

@markg.7865 2026-01-12

Get Trump out, before he starts WW3.

108 12 replies
@stephenmcfarland7839 2026-01-12

Honoring long-standing treaties, respecting allies, deferring to the democratic will of small nations, resolving territory disputes without violence: these and more are solid reasons why even talking about using the American military in Greenland is an obscene affront to the rules-based world order and our allies.

81 14 replies
@douglashowell8368 2026-01-12

The USA has lost already. Trump has done a great job destroying America trust in the free world.

75 22 replies
@waStrel766 2026-01-12

Im 52. You guys are my kind of people. Hello from Iowa, USA. Teach on.

51 1 replies
@dariamid 2026-01-12

I appreciate the conversation and analysis. No hyperbole, no histrionics.

46
@TheDeserves 2026-01-12

Stephen Miller is filled to the brim with self loathing. It's as clear as day. It is the animating force in his existence.

28 1 replies
@PetraK1965 2026-01-12

It is as if you annoy and betray your best friend to the heart. It will destroy trust for a long long time. German here.

24
@aclearlight 2026-01-12

The utter incapacity to comprehend the meaning and function of reciprocal alliances SAYS EVERYTHING about who these amateurs are. They are narcissistic, incomplete, defective, friendless LOSERS...and for now, they are *still* in charge. God help our poor, stumbling, confused, besotted nation.

20
@fuddy3661 2026-01-12

Excellent conversation, you have helped me think of the current geopolitical events a bit differently. If this is what it’s like to “live in interesting times”, I’ll take disinteresting any day. Thank you!

19
@bennewnham4497 2026-01-12

To be an ally of America is to be subject to insults, blackmail, coercion, threats and now it seems with Greenland, attack. Canada is under threat of annexation, and apparently attacks on Mexico land targets last week too. I don't want to be in your new empire.

18

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