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Provoked with Darryl Cooper and Scott Horton

Provoked with Darryl Cooper and Scott Horton

EP:62 - Special Guest: Bill Buppert, on Iran

Sep 18, 2026 · 1h 27m

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About this episode

In this episode we speak with Bill Bupert of the Libertarian Institute about Saudi Arabia’s military limits and why wealthy states can still struggle to build effective conventional forces. We discuss oil wealth, imported labor, hierarchical structures, maintenance problems, and the difficulty of reporting bad news in military systems. We also talk about how modern war challenges large institutions, especially with drones, precision weapons, and missile warfare. A major part of the conversation focuses on the limits of U.S. missile defense, the vulnerability of expensive systems, and the risks faced by carrier strike groups and other large surface fleets in contested waters. We further…