This Friday, Condoleezza Rice lauds the objectives of the American and Israeli campaign to degrade the Iranian regime’s military capabilities; Šumit Ganguly speaks with Bill Whalen about US-India relations and India’s prospects for continued development; and Russ Roberts explains why the Chabad religious sect has nothing to do with the war against the Iranian regime.
US Foreign Policy in the Middle East
Hoover Institution Director Condoleezza Rice’s recent conversation with Brett Baier of Fox News—featured in yesterday’s Hoover Daily Report—is now available as an audio podcast. Rice emphasizes that Iran’s current regime has been at war with the United States since its inception in 1979 and has committed repeated acts of extreme violence against US troops, diplomatic personnel, and civilians, as well as American allies. Rice argues Iran made a “strategic blunder” in attacking with indiscriminate missile and drone fire neighboring Gulf States that were not involved in American and Israeli strikes. Acknowledging “the uncertainties of warfare” and the validity of concerns about plans for “the day after” in Iran following this war, Rice maintains that rendering the regime “incapable of using its military power” is a “worthy goal” for US and allied foreign policy. Listen here.
US-India Relations
Two decades shy of its 100th anniversary of statehood, how is India progressing in its goal of becoming an innovative, prosperous, environmentally friendly, and developed nation? Senior Fellow Šumit Ganguly, director of Hoover’s Huntington Program on Strengthening US-India Relations, joins Matters of Policy & Politics to discuss Hoover’s newly released Annual Survey of India 2026. Among the survey topics explored: an assessment of India’s economy; the nation’s uncertain foreign policy; Indian education at a “crossroads”; and the nation’s contemporary challenges regarding science, technology, and innovation policy. The conversation also considers how India’s “strategic autonomy” and oil needs are affected by the war in the Middle East; India’s economic competition with neighboring China; and Prime Minister Modi’s complicated relationship with the American president and US tariff policy. Watch or listen here.
Anti-Semitism and the War in Iran
At his Substack, Visiting Fellow Russ Roberts explains the origins of the Jewish religious sect Chabad. “Today it is just a particular flavor of orthodox Judaism,” Roberts writes, noting that the movement centers around locally run institutions “called Chabad Houses all over America and all over the world.” Roberts further notes that “Chabad is apolitical,” which brings him to the claim currently circulating in American populist and far-right circles that Chabad is somehow the driving force behind the current US-Israeli war against the Iranian regime. “Chabad has absolutely nothing to do with this war and I would normally not spend a single minute discussing these claims,” Roberts says. “Except that the claim that Jews want to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque and rebuild the Temple [in Jerusalem] is the pretext. . . used by Hamas on October 7th which they and their supporters around the world called the Al-Aqsa Flood resulting in the death of 1200 Israelis and the torment of the 250 people who were kidnapped.” Roberts situates the current claims about Chabad in the broader history of anti-Semitic ideology and violence over time. Read more here.
Answering Challenges to Advanced Economies
On the latest episode of Capitalism and Freedom in the Twenty-First Century, Policy Fellow Jon Hartley speaks with President of Citadel Securities Jim Esposito. Esposito reflects on the early stages of his career, his tenure in senior roles at Goldman Sachs in New York and London, and moving to Miami to run one of the world’s largest broker-dealers and market makers, Citadel Securities. They also discuss the rising role Miami is playing in global capital markets—becoming what many have termed “Wall Street South”—and the impact that Citadel’s moving its headquarters there played in this development. Hartley and Esposito also discuss ongoing trends in the economy, as well as the rising role of AI in finance and business. Read more here.
Revitalizing Education
On March 4, the Hoover Institution’s Alliance for Civics in the Academy hosted "How Can Universities Strengthen Civic Education in K–12 Schools?" with civics scholars Jennifer McNabb, Joshua Dunn, and Jenna Storey. Universities are increasingly reexamining their role as incubators of effective citizenship. An essential yet often overlooked part of this work is strengthening K–12 civic education. This webinar explores how efforts within higher education can support civic learning in K–12 schools, with particular emphasis on the academy’s role in training the next generation of educators. The panelists brought to this conversation many years of combined study and experience in analysis of the pedagogical methods and philosophical frameworks used to teach civics in the United States at all levels. Watch or listen here.
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