Angry Planet

Are we living in a declining empire in need of renewal? Maybe.But one thing to keep in mind? Romans thought the same thing centuries before the great empire fell.So what’s up with the fascination with the decline and fall of Rome? And what lessons does it have for US politics?To help us answer that question, we’ve got Edward J. Watts. He’s a professor of history at UC San Diego and the author of a new book, The Eternal Decline and Fall of Rome.Angry Planet has a substack! Join the Information War to get weekly insights into our angry planet and hear more conversations about a world in conflict.https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribeYou can listen to Angry Planet on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. Our website is angryplanetpod.com. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/; and on Twitter: @angryplanetpod.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Life in Haiti has rarely been easy. It’s the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Corruption is rampant. And it’s been invaded more than once since independence, including by the United States.It’s little wonder that the half-Island nation has suffered repression and political turmoilAnd, on July 7, it’s president, Jovenel Moïse, was assassinated.To help us understand the current situation -- and a bit of the history as well -- I’m joined by Francois Pierre-Louis of Queens College in New York.Angry Planet has a substack! Join the Information War to get weekly insights into our angry planet and hear more conversations about a world in conflict.https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribeYou can listen to Angry Planet on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. Our website is angryplanetpod.com. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/; and on Twitter: @angryplanetpod.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When I was a kid I learned about the Alamo. It’s 1836. Houston said to Travis, fortify the Alamo. Volunteers came from across the continent to fight and die for the dream of a free and independent Texas. Like the Ballad said, One hundred and eighty five holding back five thousand.In the southern part of Texas, near the town of San Antone, like a statue on his pinto rides a cowboy all alone. And he sees the cattle grazing where a century before Santa Anna’s guns were blazing and the cannons used to roar. And his eyes turn sorta misty and his heart begins to glow and he takes his hat off slowly. To the men of the Alamo. To the thirteen days of glory at the siege of Alamo.What a load of bullshit.The Alamo and its effect on Texas, the country, and Phil Collins, is the subject of the new book Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of An American Myth. Two of its three authors are here with me today, Bryan Burrough and Chris Tomlinson. They’re both writers and they’re both from Texas, so you can be sure that what you’re about to hear is the gospel truth.Angry Planet has a substack! Join the Information War to get weekly insights into our angry planet and hear more conversations about a world in conflict.https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribeYou can listen to Angry Planet on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. Our website is angryplanetpod.com. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/; and on Twitter: @angryplanetpod.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Afghanistan, the site of America’s longest war, is changing. The Taliban is gaining ground in the North while peace talks stall. The U.S. continues its withdrawal and the Afghan military is left to pick up the pieces.Here to help us understand what’s going on is Ali M. Latifi.Latifi is an Afghan journalist living in Kabul. His work has appeared in Al Jazeera, Business Insider, and NBC News.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It doesn’t take high technology to kill someone. Simple chemicals propel pieces of lead out of steel tubes. Other simple chemicals are placed in larger vessels and are triggered by the weight of a vehicle or even a human body. Some are even set off by strings attached to fuses. Not one computer involved.But the weapons of warfare do evolve - some into trillion dollar monsters that gobble up whole defense budgets and can destroy life on earth with the turn of a key. And new weapons are always on the horizon.Today, we’ve brought on Patrick Tucker to talk about some recent developments and what may lie ahead. Patrick is the technology editor at Defense One and writes about weapons technology every day.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So far, in the political battles at the heart of our democracy, they have been AWOL. Just as they should be.The military is an expressly non-political institution, even if they do report to an elected commander-in-chief.But with political divisions deepening, could that change?Eliott Ackerman took on just that issue in a recent column for the New York Times. Ackerman is a combat veteran, journalist and author. And he’s here to talk to us today.Ackermans’ article is here:https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/14/opinion/contested-elections-military.htmlAngry Planet has a substack! Join the Information War to get weekly insights into our angry planet and hear more conversations about a world in conflict.https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribeYou can listen to Angry Planet on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. Our website is angryplanetpod.com. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/; and on Twitter: @angryplanetpod.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Over the past few months the world watched as the conflict between Israel and Palestine flared up. I’m not interested in litigating the facts of that conflict in this opening and you’ve likely already decided where you stand on the conflict.For some, it’s complicated. For others, the very idea that someone would call it complicated is an insult.Here to help us untangle some of what’s happened and to discuss the future of Palestine is Joey Ayoub. Joey is a writer, scholar, and podcaster who grew up in Lebanon and is of Palestinian descent. He writes, broadly, about the experiences of displaced peoples with a particular focus on the Middle East.Angry Planet has a substack! Join the Information War to get weekly insights into our angry planet and hear more conversations about a world in conflict.https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribeYou can listen to Angry Planet on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. Our website is angryplanetpod.com. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/; and on Twitter: @angryplanetpod.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For the last two decades, America has been possessed with a Global War on Terror. The threat of militant Islam has funded the security state and given the Pentagon an overarching goal. But that threat feels increasingly distant and a new specter is haunting America—that of white nationalism.Both groups are complicated, varied, and prone to in-fighting. Both groups rely on apocalyptic visions of the future to drive home their message. Both groups are waging war against the United States.With us to talk through all this is Dr. Sara Kamali. Kamali is a scholar of white nationalism, militant Islam, and systemic inequality. Her new book is Homegrown Hate: Why White Nationalists and Military Islamists Are Waging War Against the United States.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When you hear the word Sparta, there’s an immediate association with war and the military. Of the Greek City States, it’s the one most associated with battle. Spartan men were expected to be warriors and their society was geared almost entirely toward training for war. For generations, military leaders have drawn inspiration from Sparta.Much of the romance around Sparta centers Around the battle of Thermopylae in 480 BCE, where the Persian Empire crushed a small and ill-equipped collection of elite soldiers. Since then, historians, propagandists, Hollywood, and the American military have turned Sparta’s epic defeat at the gates of fire into a myth of slavery vs freedom, east vs west, and democracy vs despotism. But the thing is … a lot of what hear about the Spartans is bullshit, the truth is more complicated.Here to help us unpack modern day mythos around Sparta is Pauline Kaurin. Kaurin is the Chair of Military Ethics at the US Naval War College and the author of The Warrior, Military Ethics and Contemporary Warfare: Achilles Goes Asymmetrical.Disclaimer: Pauline Kaurin's opinions are her own and do not reflect the opinions or policy of the US Naval War College.Angry Planet has a substack! Join the Information War to get weekly insights into our angry planet and hear more conversations about a world in conflict.https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribeYou can listen to Angry Planet on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. Our website is angryplanetpod.com. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/; and on Twitter: @angryplanetpod.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There’s a maxim that says “No two countries that both have a McDonald’s have ever fought a war against each other.” This so-called Golden Arches theory enjoyed a brief moment of prominence in the 1990s, got shaky after 9/11, and has been out-right assaulted by pundits and political theorists in the past ten years. It died it’s final death in October when McDonald’s Azerbaijan took public sides in the fight between Armenia and Azerbaijan.Here to walk us through the Golden Arches Theory and what the hell was wrong with all of us in the 1990s is Paul Musgrave. Musgrave is an assistant professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. His recent article in Foreign Policy about this topic is titled “The Beautiful, Dumb Dream of McDonald’s Peace Theory.”Angry Planet has a substack! Join the Information War to get weekly insights into our angry planet and hear more conversations about a world in conflict.https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribeYou can listen to Angry Planet on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. Our website is angryplanetpod.com. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/; and on Twitter: @angryplanetpod.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the summer of 2020, violent riots broke out across America between ordinary citizens and police. These riots led to groups finding ways to develop their own security forces to deal with violence from police, opposition groups, and other antagonists on the ground.Here to help us understand what’s going on is Nikki West. West is a local Seattle photojournalist who was previously on the show talking about the Chapel Hill Autonomous Zone. She’s documented the push and pull between protestors and tracked the development of new tactics.One particularly unique tactic is the development of Seattle’s car brigade. This protection force consists of a multi-layered security system that is centered around a highly organized car brigade. Angry Planet has a substack! Join the Information War to get weekly insights into our angry planet and hear more conversations about a world in conflict.https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribeYou can listen to Angry Planet on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. Our website is angryplanetpod.com. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/; and on Twitter: @angryplanetpod.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Literally recorded as missiles hit and news broke.Guest: Noga Tarnopolsky, a reporter on Israel and Palestine.Angry Planet has a substack! Join the Information War to get weekly insights into our angry planet and hear more conversations about a world in conflict.https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribeYou can listen to Angry Planet on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. Our website is angryplanetpod.com. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/; and on Twitter: @angryplanetpod.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Russia and Ukraine have been fighting ever since Little Green Men invaded Crimea in 2014. That wasn’t enough for Russia. The former evil empire then aided separatist enclaves inside the rest of Ukraine.The Ukrainian military was unprepared, the world mostly sat back and watched, and an ugly stalemate ensued. If a stalemate includes tanks firing at each other.Recently, Russia massed troops on Ukraine’s border as rhetoric ratcheted up.To help us understand what exactly is going on, we have Michael Kofman. He’s a Senior Research Scientist at CNA Corporation, which advises governments and organizations on security issues.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“From mud, through blood, to the green fields beyond.” The tank was meant to push through entrenched enemy lines and put an end to the stale-mate of trench warfare during The Great War. It created a whole new kind of combat. It was high risk, high reward, as men in armored units trundled across the world.With us today is comics writer Garth Ennis. Ennis is the diabolical mind behind Sara, Hitman, War Stories, The Boys, and Preacher. He’s here today talking about his new collection of war stories—Tankies. Set during WWII and the Korean War, Tankies tells the story of British tank crews as they fight across Europe and Asia.Angry Planet has a substack! Join the Information War to get weekly insights into our angry planet and hear more conversations about a world in conflict.https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribeYou can listen to Angry Planet on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. Our website is angryplanetpod.com. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/; and on Twitter: @angryplanetpod.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Taliban - we all know them, few of us love them, and it looks like they’re going to rule Afghanistan - again.So, what was it like the first time the Islamic militants took over, in 1996?Today, we have two journalists who were in Afghanistan in the 90s. Scott Neuman was working for United Press International and wrote from the scene.Alan Chin is a photographer who went to Afghanistan to take pictures for The New York Times. I’ve known them both for more than 20 years.Angry Planet has a substack! Join the Information War to get weekly insights into our angry planet and hear more conversations about a world in conflict.https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribeYou can listen to Angry Planet on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. Our website is angryplanetpod.com. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/; and on Twitter: @angryplanetpod.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Islamic State’s capital, Raqqa, finally fell in late 2017, America wasn’t really paying close attention. We’d had nearly a year of turmoil here at home, and, in many ways, Islamic State was old news.And if we weren’t paying that much attention to the fight, we paid even less attention to the fighters. So, today we’ll tell the story of the Kurdish men and women who led the Syrian Democratic Forces.To take us through it, we have Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, who’s just published Daughters of Kobani, which tells the story of the Kurdish fight against Islamic State. Lemmon is a journalist and best-selling author who last appeared on the show to talk about her book Ashley’s War. Angry Planet has a substack! Join the Information War to get weekly insights into our angry planet and hear more conversations about a world in conflict.https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribeYou can listen to Angry Planet on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. Our website is angryplanetpod.com. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/; and on Twitter: @angryplanetpod.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guns, guns, guns. America loves them and their use is enshrined in the second amendment. It’s such a big deal here that an entire culture has grown around it. From the outside looking in, gun culture can seem...surreal and fetishistic. The truth is more complicated. The overwhelming majority of American gun owners are responsible and are not taking photos of themselves aiming a loaded weapon at their own dick. Yes, that’s a thing.Here to talk to us about the second amendment and gun culture is Tacticool Girlfriend. Tacticool Girlfriend is a YouTuber whose channel covers gun safety and gun culture. And she does it all with style and flair that you don’t normally see in the space.Angry Planet has a substack! Join the Information War to get weekly insights into our angry planet and hear more conversations about a world in conflict.https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribeYou can listen to Angry Planet on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. Our website is angryplanetpod.com. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/; and on Twitter: @angryplanetpod.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Billions of people eat fish every day and as the global population has exploded, so too have human efforts to catch more and more fish. As more people take to the high seas looking for protein, very human problems have followed them. We’re fighting over fish.Here to walk us through this is someone actively working on the problem in Washington D.C. Captain Kate Higgins-Bloom is the Strategic Foresight Director for the U.S. Coast Guard.Angry Planet has a substack! Join the Information War to get weekly insights into our angry planet and hear more conversations about a world in conflict.https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribeYou can listen to Angry Planet on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. Our website is angryplanetpod.com. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/; and on Twitter: @angryplanetpod.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Syria’s Bashar Al Assad had no such hesitancy. Thousands of people died. The U.S. threatened to strike Syria, but Russia suggested striking a deal instead.It was weird.To talk us through the Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons throughout the country’s civil war is Joby Warrick of the Washington Post. Warrick is the winner of an improbable two Pulitzer Prizes, including one for his book on ISIS, Black Flags. His new book, Red Line: The Unraveling of Syria and America's Race to Destroy the Most Dangerous Arsenal in the World, is just out.Recorded 3/19/21Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What do mid-century funnyman Tom Lehrer, nuclear Armageddon, and the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action have in common? They’re all features of the excellent podcast The Deal—a show all about the Iran nuclear deal.As its host once said, he’s not here to fix problems. He’s just here to narrate the collapse. Well, that narrator is here with us today. Dr. Jeffrey Lewis is an expert on all things nuclear, the host of The Deal, and Director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Project at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies.Recorded 3/11 because amber is the color of our energyFaulkner and hot toddieshow to make sure someone gets nuclear weaponsthe Libya of it allAngry Planet has a substack! Join the Information War to get weekly insights into our angry planet and hear more conversations about a world in conflict.https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribeYou can listen to Angry Planet on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. Our website is angryplanetpod.com. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/; and on Twitter: @angryplanetpod.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ah international waters. A quiet place to do some crimes or have crimes done to you. Welcome to Angry Ocean, a series we’re doing that examines the underreported topic of conflict on the high seas. This is part one - Outlaw Ocean.With us today is Ian Urbina. Urbina is an investigative reporter and the director of The Outlaw Ocean Project, a non-profit journalism organization based in Washington, D.C., that focuses on reporting about environmental and human rights crimes at sea.https://www.theoutlawocean.com/Angry Planet has a substack! Join the Information War to get weekly insights into our angry planet and hear more conversations about a world in conflict.https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribeYou can listen to Angry Planet on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. Our website is angryplanetpod.com. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/; and on Twitter: @angryplanetpod.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s a weird time for the US military.Endless small-scale wars.Veterans joining the riots at the capital.Right-wing extremism in the ranks.Tens of thousands of troops refusing the COVID-19 vaccine.So, time for a status check. To help us understand what’s going on, we have Meghann Myers who is the Pentagon Bureau Chief for Military Times.Angry Planet has a substack! Join the Information War to get weekly insights into our angry planet and hear more conversations about a world in conflict.https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribeYou can listen to Angry Planet on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. Our website is angryplanetpod.com. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/; and on Twitter: @angryplanetpod. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s been a long time since the sun set on the British Empire and many institutions in British society have changed a great deal. In some ways, the British Army is the exception - a living linkage between imperial great power status and the current post-colonial European nation. In other ways, like the US military, the British Army has been comprehensively transformed by the long campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan since 9/11. The way the British Army has altered - and also failed to react - over the last two decades is the subject of the new book The Changing of the Guard: The British Army Since 9/11. Here to talk about it is the book’s author Simon Akam. Akam is a journalist whose work has appeared basically everywhere, including Reuters, the Economist, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Outside, Bloomberg Businessweek and GQ.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We live in a world shaped by the Iraq War. No, not that Iraq War. No, not that one either. We’re talking about the Iran-Iraq war. Just after Iran’s Islamic Revolution, it fought an eight year war with Iraq. The details of that war are incredible, and in the west, little known. Children cleared minefields, Iraq used chemical weapons, drones flew through the air, and helicopters engaged in dog fights with jets. And the consequences of that war shaped the region and the world. The effects are still with us today.Here to help us untangle all of this is Aram Shabanian, a graduate student of Non-Proliferation and Terrorism Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. He also runs The Fulda Gap, a site dedicated to using OSINT to understand modern war.Recorded 2/18/21Angry Planet has a substack! Join the Information War to get weekly insights into our angry planet and hear more conversations about a world in conflict.https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribeYou can listen to Angry Planet on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. Our website is angryplanetpod.com. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/; and on Twitter: @angryplanetpod.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The United States’ military is an all volunteer force and has been since 1973. The people who fought both Gulf Wars and the war in Afghanistan asked to join up. They had as many reasons as there are troops, but not one was compelled by the government. Today, we’re talking to Beth Bailey, Distinguished Professor at Kansas University and the author of AMERICA'S ARMY: Making the All-Volunteer Force. We’re going to talk about the history of the draft and what came after.Recorded 1/19/21Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After surviving a poisoning attempt, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny returned to his home country and was arrested. Now he’s been sentenced to serve a 3 and a ½ year prison sentence. After Navalny’s arrest in mid-January, people took to the streets of Russia’s cities to protest. We’ve seen this before, but there is a sense that this time is different.Is it? Here to help us answer that question is Mark Galleotti. Galeotti is a frequent guest on the show, a Russia expert, and is currently the director of the consultancy firm Mayak Intelligence. His most recent books are We Need To Talk About Putin, and A Short History of Russia.Angry Planet has a substack! Join the Information War to get weekly insights into our angry planet and hear more conversations about a world in conflict.https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribeYou can listen to Angry Planet on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. Our website is angryplanetpod.com. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/; and on Twitter: @angryplanetpod.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Here's a look at what we've been working on in the premium feed. Sign up at angryplanetpod.com or angryplanet.substack.com.Angry Planet has a substack! Join the Information War to get weekly insights into our angry planet and hear more conversations about a world in conflict.https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribeYou can listen to Angry Planet on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. Our website is angryplanetpod.com. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/; and on Twitter: @angryplanetpod.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

State Houses across the country are filled with monuments to losers, traitors, and terrorists. General Robert E Lee and Benjamin Tillman are lauded alongside figures like George Washington. The reasons why are complicated, but they’re bound up in something called The Myth of the Lost Cause. If you’ve never heard of this or don’t understand why it’s so critical to understanding American history well, honey, you probably ain’t from the South.Here to help us understand what’s going on is Dr. Robert Thompson. Thompson is a historian working for Army University Press and the author of the forthcoming book Clear, Hold, and Destroy which is about the American war in Vietnam.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Please blame Jason Fields for that headline.Human trafficking and modern slavery are at the top of the news in the United States in the form of the QAnon conspiracy theory. It links together Democrats, child sex trafficking and a pizza place about a mile from my house.The pizza at Comet Ping Pong is just OK, but don’t ask to see the basement. There isn’t one.QAnon is one of the more whacko things going on in this country. Today we’re going to talk about the reality of human trafficking and how it actually works.We’re joined by Kieran Guilbert who covers human trafficking and modern slavery for the Thomson Reuters foundation. I worked for Kieran and learned a lot from him.Angry Planet has a substack! Join the Information War to get weekly insights into our angry planet and hear more conversations about a world in conflict.https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribeYou can listen to Angry Planet on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. Our website is angryplanetpod.com. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/; and on Twitter: @angryplanetpod.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It finally happened. Twitter finally suspended Trump’s account. After the capitol riots on January 6, tech companies such as Google, Apple, and Twitter took the unprecedented step of invoking their first amendment rights and removing several users from their various platforms. I just want to remind everyone that the 1958 Supreme Court Decision in  NAACP v. Alabama outlined an implied part of the first amendment—that of Freedom of Association.Is this big tech censorship? Are private companies silencing conservative voices or merely deciding who they want to do business with? Is Twitter the new townsquare or just another site among a sea of websites.Here to help us figure some of this out is Dr. Alexi Drew. Drew is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Policy Institute at King’s College London. On Monday she published the policy paper “Disinformation Kills. Now what are we going to do about it?”recorded 1/12/21Angry Planet has a substack! Join the Information War to get weekly insights into our angry planet and hear more conversations about a world in conflict.https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribeYou can listen to Angry Planet on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. Our website is angryplanetpod.com. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/; and on Twitter: @angryplanetpod.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sometimes referred to as Europe’s last dictator, Aleksandr Lukashenko has ruled Belarus since shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union.Lukashenko, formerly in charge of a collective farm, has kept a tight grip on power and on the past. Belarus has kept Soviet symbols and economic policies long after they’ve gone out of favor elsewhere.Elections have been held regularly in the country, but have been neither free nor fair. The latest, in August 2020, is considered to be the least fair of all. Since then, there has been a cycle of lies, protests and repression.To help us understand the situation, we are joined by journalist and advocate Serge Kharytonau.Recorded 1/9/21Angry Planet has a substack! Join the Information War to get weekly insights into our angry planet and hear more conversations about a world in conflict.https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribeYou can listen to Angry Planet on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. Our website is angryplanetpod.com. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/; and on Twitter: @angryplanetpod.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ghost guns. Untraceable weapons manufactured in the home. They’ve been with us forever, but they’ve taken on a new menace in the age of 3D printers and digital distribution. Here to walk us through the new phenomenon is Mark A Tallman. Tallman is an Assistant Professor of Homeland Security & Emergency Management at Massachusetts Maritime Academy. He’s also the author of Ghost Guns. Ghost Guns is an in depth, data driven, and dare I say nerdy deep dive into homemade weapons in the post-industrial age.You can buy Ghost Guns here.Recorded on 8/25/20The second amendmentCody Wilson and his terrible gunWorking on guns is like working on cars“Most gun nerds are low risk”Why ban the bump stock?Additive manufacturing and the DIY weapons of mass destructionRecycling plastics into weaponsThe security implications of the fourth industrial revolutionRaytheon has 3D printed a missileThe tech backlashThe costs of compliance only hit the open sectors, but don’t halt illicit activityThe rise of the surveillance stateSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Angry Planet has a substack! Join the Information War to get weekly insights into our angry planet and hear more conversations about a world in conflict.https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribeYou can listen to Angry Planet on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. Our website is angryplanetpod.com. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/; and on Twitter: @angryplanetpod.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you’ve ever heard the phrase one-man wrecking crew, they might well have been talking about Qassem Soleimani, Iran’s Shadow Commander.Soleimani’s first fight was against Iraq in the war that started right after Iran’s revolution and lasted until 1988. He went on to great success fighting bandits and drug lords, eventually taking over Iran’s Quds Force - Iran’s tool for diplomacy by other means.For more than 20 years, Soleimani helped Ayatollah Khamanei project power around the region-becoming a force to be reckoned with in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and more.In January, Qassem Soleimani was killed by the United States.Today, we’re joined by Arash Azizi, who literally wrote the book on Soleimani. It’s called The Shadow Commander: Soleimani, the US and Iran’s Global Ambitions, and it was published in November.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What’s a fascist anyway?It’s a word we heard a lot over the past few years. If you’re on one side of the political debate you probably used this word earnestly. If you’re on the other side, you probably think people use it because they’re too embarrassed to call their political opponent Hitler.But it’s an important word with several very real definitions. Musolini is not Hitler is not, dare I say it, Tr0ump. But, from a certain point of view, all these men are fascists. Worth noting at the top here that Jason doesn’t  agree with me on this point. Or, at least, doesn’t always agree with me. With all this baggage around the term fascist, is it even worth using?Here to help us figure that out is Jason Stanely. Stanley is a professor of Philosophy at Yale and the author of the book How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them. Sir, thank you so much for joining us.11/23/20Angry Planet has a substack! Join the Information War to get weekly insights into our angry planet and hear more conversations about a world in conflict.https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribeYou can listen to Angry Planet on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. Our website is angryplanetpod.com. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/; and on Twitter: @angryplanetpod.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

PULP EPIC. MALE. MAN’S ILLUSTRATED. MAN’S ADVENTURE. BRIGADE. VALOR. You’ve seen these magazines before. You either grew up with them or you’ve seen their bizarre covers online. There’s always a man with rippling muscles, sometimes he’s fighting a pack of weasels, other times he’s eying a scantily clad dame. Sometime’s there’s a Nazi, sometime’s there’s a woman in an SS uniform with a few buttons missing.The Pulp magazines of the Cold War shaped the culture and thinking of an entire generation of men. The sons of World War II veterans learned a fantasy version of the war from lads mags and then took those fantasies with them when they rushed headlong into their own war: Vietnam.Here to tell us all about the Pulp magazines and how they shaped our perceptions of the Cold War and Vietnam is Gregory A Daddis. Daddis is a retired Army Colonel who served in both Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom. He’s a professor of history and the USS Midway Chair in Modern History at San Diego State University. His new book is Pulp Vietnam: War and Gender in Cold War Men’s Adventure Magazines.Recorded 10/29Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The phrase climate change was originally created to soft-pedal global warming. A hotter planet doesn’t sound good, but, hey, climates change all the time - from winter to summer and back again.But it turned out to be an accurate description for what’s really going on. Deserts are drying, wet places are getting wetter. Crops are dying, and so is livestock and in some places it’s increasingly unsafe to go out during the day?So, how is this affecting human conflict? The assumption is that climate change will make things worse, but how much worse?To tell us, we have Stanford Professor Marshall Burke, who has studied the issue extensively and written numerous papers on the subject.Recorded 10/22/20Angry Planet has a substack! Join the Information War to get weekly insights into our angry planet and hear more conversations about a world in conflict.https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribeYou can listen to Angry Planet on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. Our website is angryplanetpod.com. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/; and on Twitter: @angryplanetpod.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Law and order, it’s one of the catchphrases of this election. Crime rates, in some cities in America, are on the rise but crime, in general, is down. But 2020 has been a chaotic year and our news feeds are filled with violent images of militant groups, protestors, riots, burning buildings, and everything in between. The sad fact is that not all crime in America is reported on in the same way, that the protest movement is overwhelmingly peaceful, but not always, and that police militarization has exacerbated all our current problems.Here to help us untangle some of this is Danny Gold. Gold is a Pulitzer Center grantee, a documentary producer whose work has appeared in VICE Nice, The New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. He’s also the host of the new Underworld Podcast—a series about the global criminal underworld.Recorded 10/6/20Angry Planet has a substack! Join the Information War to get weekly insights into our angry planet and hear more conversations about a world in conflict.https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribeYou can listen to Angry Planet on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. Our website is angryplanetpod.com. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/; and on Twitter: @angryplanetpod.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribe to listenArmenia and Azerbaijan are at war. Why? It’s complicated. What’s the nature of the conflict? That’s also very complicated. It’s so complicated, in fact, that Russia, Syria, and Turkey are all involved. And it threatens to pull in their allies, all over a war that’s been “frozen” since 1988.Here to help us untangle all of this is Aram Shabanian, a graduate student of Non-Proliferation and Terrorism Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. He also runs The Fulda Gap, a site dedicated to using OSINT to understand modern war. And he’s a member of the Armenian diaspora community in the United States.Recorded 10/16/20The Roots of the conflictNagorno-KarabakhWhy this war got so violent so fastExtrajudicial killingHow the war was announced via a music video on YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSh5tm2Hmn0Why 2020 has been going on for at least four yearsThe Iran of it allMilitary spending on either sideWhat happened when the Soviet Union endedThe regional players, explainedHow this all endsAngry Planet has a substack! Join the Information War to get weekly insights into our angry planet and hear more conversations about a world in conflict.https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribeYou can listen to Angry Planet on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. Our website is angryplanetpod.com. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/; and on Twitter: @angryplanetpod.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Remember back when the Berlin Wall fell and history ended? Back when we won the Cold War and America was embraced by allies old and new, becoming the world’s only superpower. The Gulf War was fought and seemingly won.Actually, maybe you don’t. It was the end of the 1980s, after all.George Bush - no, not that one - stood at the center of events, and inside that center stood James A. Baker III.To tell us about the man who ran Washington, and why he remains important, we welcome Peter Baker of the New York Times who wrote the book with his wife Susan Glasser of the New Yorker. The couple’s book, coincidentally, is called The Man Who Ran Washington.Recorded 10/9/20Hey, remember the 1980s?Who was the man who ran Washington?Foreign policy as the presidential big leaguesThe nightmare of facing Jim Baker in an election“Baker was Bush”How to win the Iraq war only to lose it laterHow to navigate the end of historySibling rivalry between Bush and BakerAngry Planet has a substack! Join the Information War to get weekly insights into our angry planet and hear more conversations about a world in conflict.https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribeYou can listen to Angry Planet on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. Our website is angryplanetpod.com. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/; and on Twitter: @angryplanetpod.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Things feel surreal all the time now. We’re told that some of our favorite online personalities may just be sock puppet accounts for foreing governments. Russia, in particular, is supposedly a master at the new soft power internet based information warfare. Some people still believe that Trump is a Russian agent, the end result of a longcon forged years ago by the KGB and ushered into power by Russian trolls. Qanon, anti-vaxers, ant-maskers, shitposts, and doing it for the lulz. It can be exhausting. But understanding the myths of the modern age and how they permeate online is a key to understanding our world today. Here to help us figure this all out is Nina Janckowicz. Janckowicz studies the intersection of democracy and technology in Central and Eastern Europe as a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in DC. She’s also the author of How to Lose the Information War: Russia, Fake News, and the Future of Conflict. She’s also … a huge musical theater fan.Recorded 10/8/20A brief digression into musical theaterWhat is an information war anyway?Russia and active measuresWhy Russia is better at it than AmericaUkraine and the human costPoland and the dangers of building a government on conspiracyAllowing RT on American soilThe responsibility of Twitter and FacebookFinishing up with a little SondheimAngry Planet has a substack! Join the Information War to get weekly insights into our angry planet and hear more conversations about a world in conflict.https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribeYou can listen to Angry Planet on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. Our website is angryplanetpod.com. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/; and on Twitter: @angryplanetpod.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nations rise and nations fall, as do their governments. Today, some people say the United States and its treasured republican virtues stand at a crossroads.But how can you tell? Are we dealing with the mere panic of the moment, or something worth panicking about?To help us get a grip on what’s going on, we’re going to reach into the past, today, to see if history is repeating or just rhyming.Joining us to help us get a grip—and we could probably all use to get grip right about now—is Patrick Wyman.Wyman is the host of the Tides of History podcast, which looks at moments when the world changed, including recent examinations of the world’s first farmers and the effects of plague on the Roman world.Recorded on 10/2/20What defines a Republic anyway?The Res publica“Don’t quote laws to men with swords”How the Roman republic workedA contract with the godsHow the grain dole workedThe private sectorWhy it’s so hard to maintain a RepublicHow cynicism degrades the political systemAngry Planet has a substack! Join the Information War to get weekly insights into our angry planet and hear more conversations about a world in conflict.https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribeYou can listen to Angry Planet on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. Our website is angryplanetpod.com. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/; and on Twitter: @angryplanetpod.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What’s the difference between a Proud Boy and a Boogaloo Boi? Are Patriot Prayer and Patriot Front the same thing? If I wear a Hawaiian shirt while eating a bowl of Lucky Charms, does that make me a member of a far right group? How many of these tacticool bearded weirdos are there, really, and are they dangerous? If it feels like the world today is weirder, wilder, and grosser than the one in the past … I feel you. 2020 has seen an explosion of Far Right groups and if you find it hard to keep track of them all, you’re not alone.Here to help us order and sort the Proud from the Boogaloo is Jason Wilson. Wilson is an independent journalist whose work has appeared in The Guardian and Bellingcat.Recorded 10/1/20What’s a proud boy?The Proud Boys debate momentWhy Portland is the rallying point for far right groupsWhat the Justice Department knows and what it’s doingShirt movements, modern and historicBoogaloo boisWhat the numbers tell usThe John Birch SocietyThe Eisenhower ConspiracyAngry Planet has a substack! Join the Information War to get weekly insights into our angry planet and hear more conversations about a world in conflict.https://angryplanet.substack.com/You can listen to Angry Planet on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. Our website is angryplanetpod.com. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/; and on Twitter: @angryplanetpod.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

America is perhaps more conservative today than it’s ever been. For some on the right, Obama, Biden and Clinton look like socialists. For people on the left, they look like moderate republicans. There’s a reason for both of those views that’s steeped in America’s recent past. U.S. culture was shaped by a suave and smooth talking President who promised we could be a beacon of hope for the world and a shining city on a hill.Here to talk about what happened is Rick Perlstein. Perlstein is a returning guest and the author of the new book Reaganland: America's Right Turn 1976-1980. The book is, among other things, the story of how a Southern Evangelical Democrat paved the way for a divorced actor from California to ascend to the presidency and shape America’s destiny.Recorded 9/10/20How voters go from voting for Johnson to voting for NixonAmerica’s moral reckoning, from Vietnam to WatergateWhat Star Wars tells us about America todayStable government under a crook vs unstable government under an honest manCall of Duty: Cold War and the hero worship of ReaganJimmy Carter as the redeemer of America’s sinsThe nightly hostage wrap upHow the Camp David Accords set the Middle East against CarterAfghanistan as a stop on the Hippie trailWhen Carter cancelled the OlympicsNuclear debatesRick’s Reagan impersonationHow the press and politicians misread the momentAngry Planet has a substack! Join the Information War to get weekly insights into our angry planet and hear more conversations about a world in conflict.https://angryplanet.substack.com/You can listen to Angry Planet on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. Our website is angryplanetpod.com. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/; and on Twitter: @War_College.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Military needs gamers. Over the past few months, the U.S. Army and Navy have spent a considerable amount of time playing video games. The Pentagon is streaming on Twitch, showing up at video game tournaments, and sponsoring esports events. And it’s all in a bid to reach a younger crowd and fill out the ranks. The military is trying to meet young people where they live and, increasingly, they live online playing video games.Is the military’s use of video games as a recruitment tool crossing the line or business as usual? To help us figure that out, we’ve got two guests today. Both returning champions.Here to help us untangle this mess is Pauline Kaurin. Kaurin is the Stockdale Chair in Professional Military Ethics at the US Naval War College and the author of the new book On Obedience: Contrasting Philosophies for the Military Citizenry and Community.We’ve also got Marty Skovlund Jr. Skovlund is a veteran of 1st Ranger Battalion and the Executive Editor of Coffee or Die Magazine.Recorded 8/28/20The long weird story of the Military going onlineActivists, trolls, and AOCWhy the military is allowed to recruit at high schoolsThe wild questions you get working as a recruiterScumbag recruitersMilitary service as a path to a middle class life and educationAngry Planet has a substack! Join the Information War to get weekly insights into our angry planet and hear more conversations about a world in conflict.https://angryplanet.substack.com/You can listen to Angry Planet on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. Our website is angryplanetpod.com. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/; and on Twitter: @War_College.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Civil wars, proxy wars, cold wars, hot wars. Economic collapse, the collapse of civil societies and governments. Hunger, torture, disease.Many parts of the world seem to be falling apart in 2020, but even then, the Middle East is its own special case.To talk about the state of one of the world’s most turbulent regions, Steven Cook joins us. Cook is the Eni Enrico Mattei senior fellow for Middle East and Africa studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.He recently wrote an overview for Foreign Policy magazine that captures much of what’s going on—“The End of Hope in the Middle East”Recorded 9/10How bad are things really?How Western powers created a sectarian system in LebanonWho is fighting on the ground in Libya?Russian mercenaries and air assetsIraq as America’s original sin of the current troubles, and why that’s wrongHow Saddam held Iraq togetherFragmentation of the Middle EastIs Saudi Arabia as stable as it seems?The importance of having a vision for the futureSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fort Hood. One of America’s largest military bases is off the long stretch of highway between Dallas and Austin. Its Commander was set to transfer out and take over command of a division at Fort Bliss, but the Army announced on Sept. 1 that wouldn’t be happening.To anyone who’s been following the news, the reasons are pretty clear. At last count, 26 soldiers have died at Fort Hood in 2020. That’s more than have died fighting in Afghanistan this year. Some have been accidents, others suicides. Five were murdered. For Fort Hood, 2020 isn’t an outlier but part of a broader trend that’s tied up in the base’s history and culture as well as its relationship to the neighboring city of Killeen.The story is so complicated and terrible that we needed to speak with two reporters to make sense of it. First we get the big picture from Task & Purpose’s Haley Britzky. Britzky is a journalist working for Task & Purpose whose recent article there This all could have been prevented’ — Inside the disappearance and death of Vanessa Guillén is a must read on this topic.Next, we speak with Rose Thayer of Stars & Stripes to dig deeper into the story and get details and specifics. Thayer is a reporter who’s been covering the story for Stars and Stripes, a native Texan, and the former military editor for the Killeen Daily Herald.Rose Thayer recorded on 9/3/20Haley Britzky recorded on 9/16/20What happened to Vanessa GuillénHow the Army handles sexual assaultWhat the numbers really tell usWho are the investigators?What it’s like to live in Killeen? The Texas of it allOn parachute reportingHow to build a better militarySupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ghost guns. Untraceable weapons manufactured in the home. They’ve been with us forever, but they’ve taken on a new menace in the age of 3D printers and digital distribution. Here to walk us through the new phenomenon is Mark A Tallman. Tallman is an Assistant Professor of Homeland Security & Emergency Management at Massachusetts Maritime Academy. He’s also the author of Ghost Guns. Ghost Guns is an in depth, data driven, and dare I say nerdy deep dive into homemade weapons in the post-industrial age.SUBSCRIBE FOR INSTANT ACCESS: angryplanetpod.comRecorded on 8/25/20The second amendmentCody Wilson and his terrible gunWorking on guns is like working on cars“Most gun nerds are low risk”Why ban the bump stock?Additive manufacturing and the DIY weapons of mass destructionRecycling plastics into weaponsThe security implications of the fourth industrial revolutionRaytheon has 3D printed a missileThe tech backlashThe costs of compliance only hit the open sectors, but don’t halt illicit activityThe rise of the surveillance stateSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On August 4, an explosion levelled a port in the Lebanese city of Beirut. Aging ammonium nitrate was the direct cause, but that the explosive fertilizer had been left for almost a decade in a storage warehouse speaks to the broader problems in Lebanon. A corrupt government, a financial crisis, a protest movement, and suffering citizens.Here to walk us through what’s going on is Blu Fiefer. Fiefer is a Lebanese performance artist who lives in Beirut who believes in signing truth to power. As the protest movement began, she performed for the crowds and livestreamed her set to the world.Recorded 8/24/20Cleaning up the streetsThe economic collapseLebanon as the “Rising Phoenix” of the Middle East“It wasn’t this bad during the revolution”The day of the explosionExploiting Beirut’s “survivor mentality”The cost of staying in LebanonWhat was lost in the explosionThe Game of Thrones analogyAngry Planet has a substack! Join the Information War to get weekly insights into our angry planet and hear more conversations about a world in conflict.https://angryplanet.substack.com/You can listen to Angry Planet on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. Our website is angryplanetpod.com. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/; and on Twitter: @War_College.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello and welcome to the final episode of War College.Don’t worry, we’re not going anywhere. We’re just becoming Angry Planet.From time to time we record things that, for whatever reason, don’t quite work. Sometimes the audio is bad. Sometimes the news cycle destroys the story. Sometimes the the very famous, big name podcast host you have on as a guest is clearly drunk and loses his end of the audio. Sometimes you find out the guest is a CIA agent who never set foot in the country he’s talking about and decide to scrap the episode.The following audio is almost one of those episodes, but I think it’s still worth a listen. Back in May just before Jason returned to the show I talked with the British journalist Gareth Browne about Syria, Russia, and Iran. We talked the geopolitics of the region and what’s been happening since Solemani’s death.Some of the information here is out of date, and there’s places where the audio is a little … scratchy. But I think this was a good conversation about some vital stuff and I thought it’d be nice to go out on something like this before we officially launch Angry Planet. We’re clearing the backlog, so to speak.Thanks for listening, we’ll miss War College but we know we’ll be happier as Angry Planet.Recording 5/26/20Russia’s goals in SyriaThe roots of Russia and the Assad family’s relationshipHow much of the country does Assad still control?Iran backed militias in Syria“War has changed”How the death of Qasem Soleimani changes everythingThe court politics of Russia, Syria, and IranThe legacy of Hafez al-AssadSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.