The “Walk of Shane” Edition

<p>This week, Alan, Quinta and Scott were joined by <em>Rational Security</em> co-host emeritus Shane Harris! Together they talked through the week's big national security news stories, including:&nbsp;</p><ul><li>“We Want to Believe.” The House recently held a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/05/17/ufo-hearing-congress/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">rare public hearing</a> on what the U.S. government knows about Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, or UAPs–also commonly called Unidentified Flying Objects, or UFOs. What did we learn about UAPs and how is U.S. policy towards them changing?</li><li>“Strategic Incongruity.” President Biden once again said the United States <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/23/us/politics/biden-taiwan-comments.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">would defend Taiwan against Chinese aggression</a>, only to have White House staff roll back his statement and confirm that there has been no change in the longstanding U.S. policy of “strategic ambiguity” on this issue. Can this policy survive the president’s repeated statements? And if so, what’s replacing it?</li><li>“Getting Thirsty in Hungary.” The premiere U.S. conservative organization CPAC is holding a part of its annual conference in Hungary, where <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/viktor-orban-hungary-cpac-2024-decisive/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">far right leader Viktor Orban called for a transnational conservative movement</a>. What will this budding relationship mean for the future of conservative movements at home and abroad?</li></ul><p>For object lessons, Quinta encouraged folks to revisit Terry Pratchett's&nbsp;<a href="https://www.terrypratchettbooks.com/book-series/discworld/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">classic "Discworld"&nbsp;series</a>, a formative reading experience in her childhood (which explains a great deal). Alan recommended the new Apple+ series on dysfunctional British spies, "<a href="https://tv.apple.com/us/show/slow-hors