Departures with Robert Amsterdam

Marina Litvinenko has seen a lot in her life. In 2006, her husband, the former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, was assassinated by radioactive poisoning by agents of the Russian government. Her unrelenting quest for justice and answers has led through the courts, the media, and the highest levels of diplomacy - and yet, after all this time, there were people in the UK who still did not heed her warnings about dealing with Vladimir Putin before last year's invasion of Ukraine. In this conversation with Robert Amsterdam, Marina discusses her campaign, views and insights on the conflict in Ukraine, and how the West should deal with punishing those around Putin (while avoiding isolation of independent Russian citizens).

The period during which 'Il Duce' Benito Mussolini ruled Italy as prime minister from 1922 to 1943 remains as confusing and contested today as it did during the disastrous postwar years, due mainly to a series of myths about the man, his government, and facism in general. In the new book from the decorated historian Paul Corner, "Mussolini in Myth and Memory: The First Totalitarian Dictator," the author ruthlessly interrogates these myths, and explores what it means when we have such a large section of the Italian population continue to live in a fictional memory of a past "when the trains ran on time." Speaking in his interview with Robert Amsterdam, Corner explains that his book is about illusion, about the creation of towering myths. "We don't remember things to get them right," he says, "we remember them to get them wrong." Addressing the mistaken claims that Mussolini was somehow "strong" and "decisive" in memory, Corner documents all the incredibly inefficiencies, incompetence, corruption, and violence perpetrated by his highly repressive regime during these decades. There was not a sliver of "good governance" in fascist Italy, but a chaotic and intolerant regime which sought power, first under revolutionary socialism before switching to far-right nationalism, and has benefitted improperly from a historical narrative that has wrongly rehabilitated by parties seeking to benefit politically in today's environment.

It may just be a smattering of insignificant rocks and reefs along the Nine-dash line between the Philippines and China, but in recent years this area has become the focus of the world's most complex and dangerous maritime dispute. China's growing influence and willingness to project its will against smaller neighbors and US allies has drawn Washington into a set of intersecting disputes, while placing significant pressure on America's commitment to established international law regarding open seas. This week on Departures we are pleased to feature Gregory Poling, the Southeast Asia Program and Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC. Poling is the author of the new book, "On Dangerous Ground: America's Century in the South China Sea," which offers a detailed and highly engaging history of Washington's involvement in this part of the world and how the current tensions evolved from past unsettled issues. Poling's book takes issue with the China-centric narrative which has become embedded in the global conversation about these territorial claims, and puts the focus on strategic decisionmaking happening not just in Beijing and Washington, but also among many other smaller neighboring Southeast Asian countries with interests at play.

In the age of information and with growing calls around the world for democracy, Vladimir Putin, Lee Kuan Yew and Alberto Fujimori are redefining what it means to be a dictator in the 21st century. Through the manipulation of information, media, and using censorship, this new breed of despots are covertly monopolizing power under the guise of democracy. Sergei Guriev and Daniel Treisman's new book, "Spin Dictators: The Changing Face of Tyranny in the 21st Century," explores these new methods of discipline, postmodern propoganda, and global pillage to control the masses, while counselling the way forward for democracies and the global community at large. In his discussion with Robert Amsterdam, Guriev explains the difference between spin and fear dictators, and how free societies tendencies towards innovation can save democracy; as well as current political structures in Israel and Georgia, debating how they could be at risk of sliding into this new version of authoritarianism. His research highlights the importance of current democracies holding themselves accountable for missteps as a means to reduce whataboutism by these dictators for the purpose of mass manipulation.

In international finance, the difference between what is legal and normal and what is criminal and corrupt is often unclear, a disparity made worse by an overlapping series of laws and regulations which in some cases can put U.S. competition at a disadvantage. These networks of illicit finance, shell corporations, and offshore structures used by global elites to create, move, and conceal vast amounts of wealth is explored in great detail by Prof. Kimberly Kay Hoang in her new book, "Spiderweb Capitalism: How Global Elites Exploit Frontier Markets." Hoang's investigation, which involved some 350,000 miles of travel and dozens of field interviews with executives and market players, sheds light on this secretive and poorly understood corner of the global economy. In her discussion with Robert Amsterdam, Hoang explains how shell corporations can be set up to move funds from statelets like Guernsey, to more well known offshore havens like the Cayman Islands, as well as Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Delaware, among many others. Her investigaiton brings fresh insights to the shortcomings of laws like the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), which has imposed very high compliance costs on US companies but has done little to halt the activity of other players.

As we approach the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a number of journalists and authors have published highly detailed chronicles from the battlefield, stories of resilience and heroism of the Ukrainian resistance, and geopolitical analyses across the spectrum. But quite few of these books view the war through Russian eyes, understanding the thinking that motivated the decision to declare war, and how everything thus far has so clearly defied their expectations. This week we're pleased to feature the veteran foreign correspondent Owen Matthews, whose new book, "Overreach: The Inside Story of Putin and Russia's War Against Ukraine" investigates the historical roots of the conflict from Moscow's perspective, detailing the fog of extreme paranoia around Vladimir Putin and how perceptions of the Western threat and convictions of Ukrainian weakness led the country into disaster. "What is objectively bad for Russia is not necessarily bad for the siloviki - the men of power around Putin," says Matthews in his conversation with Robert Amsterdam. "Why is that? Because they got the Russia they wanted, they want a Russia that is cut off from the West, with an elite that does not have divided loyalties that does not earn its money in the West or spend its money in the West. (...) They really are convinced that this is a defensive war against Western aggression." Less than Putin being driven by imperial ambitions to rebuild a new Soviet Union, Matthews sees more evidence of his ethno-nationalist orientation, that he genuinely believes that he is "saving" the Russian speaking world from Western aggression - and from there, a cascading series of miscalculations begin to take shape. A fascinating book on the world's most pressing geopolitical crisis, Owen Matthews writes with clarity and a personal presence that brings deeper understanding to this most important conflict.

The role of foreign correspondents, especially during times of war, can be extraordinarily important not only in shaping public perceptions and strategic decisionmaking at the highest level, but also in informing on revolutionary shifts in social norms, as these reporters find themselves bringing their personal lives into the public and the newsmaking process into their own relationships. In Deborah Cohen's kaleidoscopic ensemble biography, "Last Call at the Hotel Imperial," the reader is given unprecedented access to the personal lives of legendary American reporters John Gunther, H. R. Knickerbocker, James Vincent "Jimmy" Sheean and Dorothy Thompson as they reported on the rise of fascism in Europe and the gradual impending horror of what was to come. In her conversation with Robert Amsterdam about the book, Cohen, who is a history professor at Northwestern University, discusses the incredible intimacy of how her subjects experienced the cultural changes that were taking place in the background in Europe in the 1920s and 1930s. Cohen describes it not only as a geopolitical history told through these colorful and glamorous journalists, but a book of personal history, of people discovering that they could not live the way that their parents did, and how the actualization of these new personal freedoms interacted with their careers.

After almost 23 years in power, Russian President Vladimir Putin currently appears more weakened and vulnerable than during any other period of his presidency, thanks in large part to his disastrous decision to invade Ukraine. On this week's Departures, we bring back the veteran journalist Luke Harding, who for years serving the Guardian's correspondent in Moscow before being expelled. Harding's latest book, "Invasion: The Inside Story of Russia's Bloody War and Ukraine's Fight for Survival," takes readers on a trip along the various battlefronts of this conflict, bringing rich detail and color to the main protagonists on both sides. As a reporter on the ground in Kyiv when the invasion started, Harding describes the sense of unreality surrounding the war, and the astounding resilience and leadership shown by the Ukrainian people and their leadership in resistance to Russian aggression. In this discussion with host Robert Amsterdam, Harding shares his views on Putin's health concerns and decisionmaking, how the conflict has reordered global affairs, especially in European security cooperation, and has contributed to a further isolation of an increasingly intolerant, totalitarian state in Russia.

When we talk about the gig economy, we usually are referring to rideshare drivers, errand runners, and all sorts of service industry freelancers. But we rarely think about the freelancers and non-state actors which take part in wars and armed conflict, doing the sometimes violent fighting and often disruptive hacking, as playing a very important role in how some of the world's most intractable competitions for influence develop into hybrid wars and eventually into conventional wars between nation states. Joining the podcast this week is the author and journalist Anna Arutunyan, whose new book, "Hybrid Warriors: Proxies, Freelancers and Moscow's Struggle for Ukraine," explores the myraid ways in which Vladimir Putin's approach to the invasion of Ukraine earlier this year was colored by his history of deploying a chaotic and decentralized network of "rogues, businessmen, enthusiasts, mercenaries and political technologists" into the separatist conflict. In her discussion with Departures host Robert Amsterdam, Arutunyan offers her vision of Moscow's rationale at the time which led to the decision to invade, how Putin's decisionmaking process left open several blindspots, and what happens when hybrid wars escalate out of control. Arutunyan's book offers surprising insights to many Western readers, drawing the granular relationships between civilians, non-state actors, and the Kremlin, which is often lost in our wider understanding of how Putin's administration works and how it has strategically approached its war on Ukraine.

Though we often view China's increasingly activist foreign policy in its trade wars, territorial disputes, and frequent collisions with Western states, less attention is paid to its gradual and quiet expansion of influence in the 'Stans of Central Asia. But it is here, among the populations of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan where one can see the true evolution of the Belt and Road Initiative, and watch the in progress departure of Russian influence over these former Soviet republics which has only accelerated since the war in Ukraine. In this episode of Departures we welcome the Raffaello Pantucci, the co-author along with the late Alexandros Petersen of the remarkably unique book, "Sinostan: China's Inadvertent Empire." Pantucci and Petersen, the latter of whom was tragically killed in an attack in Afghanistan before the book's publication, underwent more than 10 years of field research and travel to draw this incredibly detailed portrait of the evolution of China's geo-economic footprint in the resource-rich Central Asian basin. With a highly visual narrative story-telling framework, Sinostan offers readers an unprecedented look inside how many Central Asian citizens and officials feel as this accidental empire has been built up around them.

China's recent political history has taken place at breakneck speed. A historic economic transformation, the consolidation of centralized power not seen since Mao, and the eager but then later truculent participation in the global economy. How do we measure this progress and its costs, and how do we measure its shortcomings? The numbers matter, and they are rarely presented at face value. This is the point of the most recent book by Jeremy Lee Wallace, "Seeking Truth and Hiding Facts: Information, Ideology, and Authoritarianism in China." Wallace argues that China's system of excessive control has created numerous statistical distortions which lead to numerous blind spots. These blind spots only seem to be expanding in recent years. In his discussion with host Robert Amsterdam, Wallace talks about how Xi's responses have only made it worse with "aggressive anti-corruption campaigns, reassertion of party authority, and personalization of power--is an attempt fix the problems of the prior system, as well as a hedge against an inability to do so."

When we think of networks of organized crime, we tend to place them in their own category, occupying an "underworld" of its own rules separate from the norms and laws that guide our states operate in societies. In his new book, "Gangsters and Other Statesmen: Mafias, Separatists, and Torn States in a Globalized World," Danilo Mandić, a political sociologist at Harvard, challenges this assumption and points to numerous examples of crime and criminal networks being interwoven and overlaid on numerous governments and separatist movements, which of course often has a major impact in terms of how these states are formed, how peace is brokered in conflicts, and how national identity is formed. Mandić's book presents fascinating first-hand field research from some of the world's most contested regions, including disputed territories of Kosovo and South Ossetia, where he was interviewed mobsters, separatists, and policymakers along major smuggling routes. In this interview with Robert Amsterdam, Mandić discusses how often mainstream academic discourse has ignored the influential role of non-state actors in the criminal world, and argues that these groups can be a fateful determinant of state capacity, separatist success, and ethnic conflict.

To celebrate the 150th episode of Departures, we held a live recording with a terrific group of invited guests in London. We're grateful to John Lough, a former NATO officer, a Senior Vice President at the consultancy Highgate, and the author of the book, "Germany's Russia Problem," who provided introductory remarks. Our longtime friend and colleague David Satter provided a presentation of his most recent book, "Never Speak to Strangers and Other Writing from Russia and the Soviet Union," and responded to questions from the audience. And we were also fortunate to enjoy a special appearance by Ilya Ponomarev, a Kyiv-based entrepreneur and political advisor, who was able to offer unparalled insights into the conflict and give his take on how Putin is going to respond to the increasing pressures all around him. The quality of the recording is unfortunately not the best we have had, but we are grateful for the strong showing of listeners who came out for the breakfast forum as well as grateful for all of regular audience listening from afar.

Throughout the global supply chain, there are chokepoints where states and stakeholders exploit an opportunity to extract rents - and this includes nearby the origin of critical minerals, diamonds, and other natural resources in relatively ungoverned areas of Africa such as the Eastern Congo. Peer Schouten, who is a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies and who has spent years working in the DRC and the Central African Republic, has now published one of the first studies comprehensively documenting these roadblocks, how they are politically managed, and what they mean in terms of funding rebel groups and violent conflicts which have become such a high-profile geopolitical concern. With more than a decade's worth of field work, Schouten's excellent book, "Roadblock Politics: The Origins of Violence in Central Africa," challenges a number of longstanding Western presumptions about state formation and conflict in the region. His findings highlight connections between multinational corporations selling you cell phones and electric vehicles with the hyper local economies nearby mining sites, from women-run restaurants and bars to basic state services like healthcare and schools. In this critique, Schouten's book finds much to be desired with efforts by the donor community and foreign governments to restrict trade of goods associated with conflict, finding that rebel groups have easily circumvented such attempts to influence power dynamics. International observers have failed to understand, Schouten argues, that logistics in the region is not characterized by chaos, but instead by "rather consistent rules and logics of control."

Every day in the media we are told that the United States is irreparably polarized. That lines have been drawn, political opinions have been weaponized into tribal identities, and that apart from an ever-slimming section of undecideds, we are locked into this dreadful stalemate. That's why it's so refreshing to read a more optimistic take on how people can still be persuaded, how hearts and minds can still be won over despite the algorithms and toxicity of our public discourse. Today we're very honored to feature a special guest, the author and journalist Anand Giridharadas, whose new book, "The Persuaders: At the Front Lines of the Fight for Hearts, Minds, and Democracy," presents a very thoughtful take on what it takes to make change in US politics at the local level. We spoke to Anand the morning after the 2022 US midterms, which brought a surprisingly stronger performance from the Democrats than expected in key races, though certainly not universal. In his discussion with Robert Amsterdam, Anand highlights some key takeaways from this election, discusses his research of "deep canvassing" in campaigns, and gives some insights into why so many candidates focus on "mobilizing the faithful rather than wooing the skeptical." In a space that is usually consumed by anger, rage, and contention, Giridharadas' book offers positivity, making an important argument for candidates, parties, and movements to broaden their outreach, not by diluting their principles but by communicating effectively to include instead of exclude.

With the global economy going through an unprecedented energy transition away from fossil fuels, demand is exploding for critical minerals essential for batteries and electrification, such as copper, cobalt, lithium, and rare earths. Accompanying this demand is a new geopolitical playing field, most commonly dominated by China, taking place in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In his excellent authoritative new book, "Conflict Minerals, Inc.: War, Profit and White Saviourism in Eastern Congo," expert researcher Christoph N. Vogel unpacks the complex causal relationships between so-called "digital minerals" and the corruption and violent conflicts which have radically disrupted stability in the region. In his conversation with Robert Amsterdam during this episode, Vogel draws from a richly detailed history of colonialism to the formation of the current state to shine a harsh light on failed efforts by Western NGOs and governments, pointing toward new thinking about the sorts of standards which could be implemented that may be more effective in developing safety and stability for the communities living near these incredibly lucrative mineral reserves.

As Xi Jinping concludes the 20th Party Congress and becomes the first Chinese leader to secure a third term, there is arguably no one in a position quite so powerful and influential in global politics. But who is Xi Jinping and what does he really want? This is the question tackled by two veteran German journalists, Stefan Aust and Adrian Geiges in their terrific new book, "Xi Jinping: The Most Powerful Man in the World." With clear-eyed analysis which avoids some of the usual pitfalls found in US approaches to China, Aust and Geiges draw a deeply detailed portrait of Xi's rise and the foundations of his ideological drive. In this conversation with Robert Amsterdam, the two co-authors discuss the level of risk Xi has encountered by pushing China's growth into a more aggressive, confrontational posture, and debate the various scenarios we can see coming in the new several years as the third term gets underway.

Is Xi Jinping the most powerful political figure in the world? Or are his efforts to secure tighter control at home and project influence abroad more a sign of underlying weakness? As Xi sails toward an unprecedented third term at the 19th Party Congress in China, Departures is pleased to feature special guest author Frank Dikötter whose new book, "China After Mao: The Rise of a Superpower," presents a compelling and detailed portrait of the major events which led us to today. In his discussion with Robert Amsterdam, Dikötter discusses how China presented its recovery plan on 40 years of economic transformation based on reform and opening up to the world, but finds that there was actually very little reform and even less opening up. "There's a major misconception that I hope will be corrected when readers go through my book," Dikötter says. The idea that Xi Jinping is some sort of dictator who wants to go back to the Mao period - and if only we could go back to where we were before Xi Jinping, maybe there was a chance for China to develop in a different direction. Highly unlikely, Dikötter argues, as since as far back as 1972 the party has shown a very clear commitment to the monopoly on power and controlling the economic means of production. "What we are getting from Xi Jinping is hardly a departure from what has happened under other leaders," he says. Dikötter's rigorous examination of rare government archives makes this book stand out for its detailed and colorful history of this period, and contributes enormously to understanding how the West has failed to anticipate China's vision for the world order.

Some autocracies come and go, but others have a seemingly infinite shelf-life, showing a structural resiliency to any efforts at reform or democratic change that is strong, durable, and long lasting. More than 20 years ago, the rock star political scientists Lucan Way and Steven Levitsky wrote a paper examining the characteristics of successful autocratic countries, and advanced a hugely influential theory of competitive authoritarianism and hybrid regimes. Now, in 2022, they are back with a terrific new book called, "Revolution and Dictatorship: The Violent Origins of Durable Authoritarianism," which explores why the violent social revolutions in countries like China, Cuba, Iran, the Soviet Union, and Vietnam led to durable regimes. Co-author Lucan Way, a professor at the University of Toronto, joins the Departures podcast today to discuss the book with Robert Amsterdam, exploring their idea called the "reactive sequence," referring to how the intensity of international reaction and pressure ends up strengthening these regimes. Prof. Way and Amsterdam discuss how this relates to the current predicament of balancing sanctions with accommodation, and how successful foreign policy and support for improving rule and law democracy lies somewhere in between.

The sharpening polarization taking place in the United States over the past several election cycles has gradually calcified the nation's institutions into obstructionist forces which are impeding Washington's ability to project its influence abroad. Now, many are asking, is the United States really the "indispensable" power it perceives itself to be, or are we witnessing the beginning of its abdication? These are the questions that Michael Cox, an Emeritus Professor at the London School of Economics, wrestles with in his fascinating new book, "Agonies of Empire: American Power from Clinton to Biden." Professor Cox joins Robert Amsterdam on the podcast this week to discuss his study of US foreign policy across the past five presidential administrations, with particular attention paid to the less recognized achievements of geoeconomic statecraft during certain periods followed by less successful doctrines of later presidents. Cox brings a uniquely British perspective to the ways in which the American people expect their leaders to exercise power, interrogating a number of sweeping presumptions from the cultivation of patriotism, the discontent over globalization (despite benefitting immensely from it), and the strange "parochial-ness" of this lone superpower, and many other interesting questions unearthed across this period of history.

In recent years, the theme of decolonization has become a thriving industry. It dominates academia, it frames historical narratives, and makes its way into the deepest corners politics and culture to the point that it is inescapable. But what has decolonization done for us lately, asks Cornell University Professor Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò in his new polemic, "Against Decolonisation: Taking African Agency Seriously." In his conversation with Robert Amsterdam, Táíwò explains how the decolonization narrative lost its way, its meaning, and its purpose when it has been so indiscriminately applied to everything from literature, language and philosophy to sociology, psychology and medicine. This relatively short period of history, Táíwò says, has been overwhelmingly exaggerated to the point that it has deprived Africans of agency and continues to hamper thought and innovation. Pointing to the example of South Korea forming a national identity and history in which Japanese colonalism was an episode, not an origin story, Táíwò and Amsterdam also discuss the many ways in which modern authoritarians and despots in Africa use the decolonization narrative to engender further abuses upon their populations. Táíwò's book challenges traditional thinking, and demands the reader to consider whether today's 'decolonization' truly serves African empowerment, or if we need to broaden our understanding of a more complex history.

To rise to power within the rigidly authoritarian party bureaucracies of the Soviet Union and China is a feat accomplished only with great strategic acumen, backhanded political maneuvering, and, sometimes, with a certain level of violence. On this week's episode of Departures with Robert Amsterdam we are very pleased to feature Joseph Torigian, an assistant professor at the School of International Service at American University in Washington and the author of the new book, "Prestige, Manipulation, and Coercion: Elite Power Struggles in the Soviet Union and China after Stalin and Mao." Drawing on fresh insights from historical archives and expansive field research, Torigian's book picks apart the commonly assumed myths of how these reformers came to power via intra-party democratic processes and instead highlights the often flawed and aggressive personalities which shaped these elite power dynamics - with more than a few inferences which can apply to today's leadership in Moscow and Beijing.

In the past, when insurgencies challenged the power of the state, they did so from a position of occupying physical territory. But in today's wildly unregulated post-truth environment and hyperconnected society, the space that they occupy is virtual - and most democracies are not well prepared to deal with these often violent threats to the hegemony of representative government. Dr. David Ucko, a Senior Visiting Research Fellow at King's College, has recently published a fascinating new book addressing these issues titled, "The Insurgent's Dilemma: A Struggle to Prevail." Joining Robert Amsterdam in this podcast discussion, Ucko explains how extremist groups have become increasingly successful at challenging the preexisting norms and agreements that societies have, often using clever humor and familiar tropes to "break down the memetic defenses" of their audience and get people to entertain anti-democratic messaging, among other toxic ideological positions. "The image that my work on infiltrative insurgency conjures up is that of a Trojan horse," said Ucko, drawing comparisons with political parties which have ties to armed wings. "You have a strictly anti-democratic party using the democratic openness of the state to achieve power in the government, but then they follow its anti-democratic agenda to dismantle the system from within." Amsterdam and Ucko further discuss the challenges of how democracies must attempt to balance the participation of parties which do not pose a threat to the system itself, how democracies can sustain the myth of a nation state while dealing with rampant Russia-sponsored social media campaigns, and how counter-insurgency now has to involve "deeply epistemological questions of trust in authority."

As China approaches the 20th Party Congress to be held at the end of the year, President and CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping is aggressively promoting his government's superhuman achievements and infallible contributions to the glory of the state, making his case for an inevitable third term, and perhaps, leadership for life. But the problem with long-running leaders of authoritarian systems is that after a while, the people they surround themselves with are no longer the most trusted, the most competent, and the most influential - instead a pattern emerges that the leader prefers to be surrounded by weak, marginal officials who pose no threat to their leadership. This is the core argument of a fascinating book by Victor Shih of the University of California San Diego called, "Coalitions of the Weak: Elite Politics in China from Mao's Stratagem to the Rise of Xi." In his conversation with Robert Amsterdam, Shih shares fresh insights and fascinating details of the late Mao period based on a deep investigation of archival documents and data, showing how the most well networked officials were pushed aside in favor of politically tainted and incapable functionaries, leading to two generations of weak central leadership - a vacuum which provided the opening for the rise of Xi.

Today there are currently fewer global citizens living in open and free democratic systems than in 1989, a sobering fact underlining the rapid global expansion of authoritarian regimes around tthe world. According to Moisés Naím, the world has made itself safer for tyrannical leaders to install themselves, often using the "three Ps" of populism, polarisation and post-truth, putting both fragile and established democracies at risk of extinction. In Naím's latest book, "The Revenge of Power: How Autocrats Are Reinventing Politics for the 21st Century," it is argued that these environmental factors of propaganda and polarization are compounded by harsh economic circumstances, including inflation and inequality, placing greater pressure on democracies and raising public discontent with the state, paving the way forward for authoritarian opportunists. In this podcast conversation with host Robert Amsterdam, Naím discusses and contrasts his experiences in Venezuela with the tragedy of January 6th in Washington DC, and points to the utmost importance of having a well informed citizenry and what can be done to regulate disinformation while exploring what other options should be explored to better protect the world's remaining democracies from tyranny.

"Imagine that all of humanity stands before you and comes to this court and cries. These are our laws, let them prevail." -Sir Hartley Shawcross, War Crimes Trials, Nuremberg, Germany, July 27, 1946 After discovering a former Nazi who belonged to the same killing unit as her grandfather and was the subject of a posthumous criminal investigation and concurrently a rehabilitation petition in Latvia, author Linda Kinstler began to deconstruct what these laws really mean when people are removed by time and memory from historical truths. A phenomenal non-fiction debut, in "Come to this Court and Cry" Kinstler explores both her family story and the archives of ten nations, to determine what it takes to prove history in the uncertainty of the 21st century. In this week's Departures podcast, Robert Amsterdam and Kinstler discuss the implications of the neoliberal memory boom and unravel the perversions of law, when revisionism, ultra-nationalism and denialism can alter history and open rehabilitation to those who were never formally oppressed. As a new generation reckons with the crimes of the Holocaust and the shadows of the Cold War in a post-truth era, they examine what justice means when we no longer have a shared agreement of the basic facts.

"If you can't beat 'em, join 'em," is often a colloquial proverb tossed around to express a reluctant surrender to whatever dominant force one may be facing - but it might also be a decent way to express how many states have found their domestic political options increasingly constrained by in the age of globalization, whereby participation in international commerce binds a national government to the rules and norms of powerful institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. But the question of who gets to set those rules and whose interests the norms favor has continued to be a sore point of contention. In his latest book, "The Meddlers: Sovereignty, Empire, and the Birth of Global Economic Governance," Harvard historian Jamie Martin examines the birth of the global economic order, and traces back many of its foundational assumptions and ideologies to earlier imperial political conflicts. Martin's book takes a close look at the major players who shaped the Bretton Woods conference, how they evolved from the post WWI institutions like the League of Nations and Bank for International Settlements, and why they thought it necessary to create rules that could reach over national boundaries to enforce austerity, coordinate the central bank policy, oversee development programs, and regulate commodity prices. This effort to govern capitalism on a global level is fraught with problems common to most attempts to govern, including aspects of racism, colonialism, and the hubris of empires who believed they were in the best position to dictate decisions on behalf of other nations.

When one thinks of Zimbabwe, the concept of "free and fair elections" is not the first to come to mind. And yet, like many post-Cold War authoritarian states, elections are nevertheless organized and manipulated to produce something adjacent to public legitimacy, which becomes all the more treacherous when the opposition is able to actually win them. To discuss the rapidly developing situation in Zimbabwe, this week on Departures we are featuring a very special guest, Chenayi Mutambasere. Chenayi is a development economist based in the UK where she is also vice chair of Governors for UTC @MediaCityUK in Salford. She has worked for transformation projects in international banks, local government and the legal sector. Chenayi is a keen researcher and contributor to economic policy research in Zimbabwe.

State repression, whether or not it's outwardly aggressive, invites backlash. So how does the Chinese state maintain control during disruptive periods of intense urbanization, even as heavy consequences impact society? This week Departures is pleased to feature a discussion with Lynette Ong, a Professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto about her excellent new book, "Outsourcing Repression Everyday State Power in Contemporary China." Through the coordination of independent social forces, including thugs and gangsters, local governments across China have successfully repressed the masses in land expropriation cases, and through evictions for demolition projects. During the COVID-19 pandemic, these nonstate actors have morphed into medical personnel and volunteers who are known community members. Ong argues this leveraging of neighbors and familiar faces to enforce the zero covid policy contributes to social compliance amid what are seen as increasingly harsh restrictions on the most basic personal liberties. In her discussion with host Robert Amsterdam, Prof. Ong discusses the recent zero covid policy and food shortages in Shanghai, where social unrest could be reaching a level unmatched by outsourced repression. Amsterdam and Ong discuss potential structural outcomes for how the party will need to adapt to manage social crises and if the current model experiences such a high profile break down.

War doesn't always look like it used to, with just tanks, missiles, ships, and planes. It also takes place online, and observers in the West are becoming increasingly aware of the need to increase cyber defense capacities as authoritarian states like Iran and China rapidly advance. This poses important questions for democracies around the world: do open societies have more difficulty in mobilizing cyber defense than closed societies? And if so, why and what can be done to course correct? In this week's podcast we're pleased to feature special guest John Arquilla, co-founder of the Defense Analysis Department at the Naval Postgraduate School, and author of "Bitskrieg: The New Challenge of Cyberwarfare." In their discussion, Amsterdam and Arquilla explore these questions and discuss Arquilla's condemnation of U.S. leadership's lack of mobilization towards cyber defense. Arquilla argues that democracies have become canaries in a coal mine, as their reliance on cyber warfare mechanisms have been delegated to the market-based solutions of Silicon Valley and Boston area tech firms; and watered down legislation in government. Can the U.S. adopt a more nimble and effective approach to cyber warfare - or will authoritarian regimes continuing their rapid advances to gain the upper hand in cyber in the long run? Have a listen to the show and get in touch to let us know your thoughts.

Often dismissed as the edge of the Russian or Chinese empires, Central Asia hosts a complex history that informs on present day atrocities including the Russian invasion in Ukraine, and the Uyghur concentration camps in China. It is through these current events, that Central Asia has become one of the most important geopolitical regions in the world. This week's episode of Departures features Adeeb Khalid, the Jane and Raphael Bernstein Professor of Asian Studies and History at Carleton College, and author of the book, "Central Asia: A New History from the Imperial Conquests to the Present." In their discussion, Bob Amsterdam and Khalid dive deep into historical tensions between Russia and China for influence in Central Asia, particularly as the Belt and Road Initiative and other Chinese directed infrastructure projects take hold; and Russia's once favorable reputation is losing value throughout the region in light of their military attack in Ukraine. But will Russia's assault on Ukraine create an opening for China to increase its leverage over Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and the region at-large? Tune into this week's episode for expert commentary.

We can all agree that the global world order has become rather disorderly. We also seem to have trouble coming up with consistent and convincing explanations of what brought about this disorder, pointing useless at shocks such as the passage of Brexit to the Trump to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But for political scientist Helen Thompson, the author of the excellent book, "Disorder: Hard Times in the 21st Century," the makings of our current geopolitical problems were cast deep in the faultlines of history going back to the end of the Cold War and, more recently, the departure from global economic orthodoxy observed from 2005-2008. Thompson argues that the process of democratization in many countries did not quite go as planned. There was not a massive enfranchisement of lower classes in many nations - instead we saw the rich and powerful become more rich and powerful, with a greater concentration of wealth and inequality taking place within democratic societies. "What we see by the 1990s is once again the rise of aristocratic excess," Thompson says in her conversation with Amsterdam. "We can see it in the United States with the growing importance of finance in campaigns and elections. (...) In terms of European countries, this aristocratic excess was primarily shaped through the technocratic elements of the European monetary union." Thompson argues that the financialization of society laid the faultlines for the disruptive events we are currently experiencing and struggling mightily to overcome. A fascinating conversation with a deep thinker.

Before Russia invaded Ukraine, it intervened in Syria in 2015 to shore up the beleaguered regime of their ally, Bashar al-Assad. How did this experience inform upon Vladimir Putin's catastrophic decision to invade and attempt regime change of the democratically elected government in Kyiv? This week's episode of Departures features Joby Warrick, a Pulitzer Prize-winning national security reporter for the Washington Post, and author of the book, "Red Line: The Unraveling of Syria and America's Race to Destroy the Most Dangerous Arsenal in the World." In their conversation, Bob Amsterdam and Joby Warrick discuss the contrasting experiences of Russia's relatively successful military intervention in Syria, with the catastrophic setbacks they have encountered in the invasion of Ukraine, which in recent days has called attention to horrific war crimes committed by the Russian military. Through the indiscriminate targeting of residential areas and hospitals, Putin's destruction of infrastructure is designed to cripple Ukraine. Instead, the outcome has been devastating for Russian forces. Warrick argues Russia's systems are not just corrupt at the official level, but importantly at the military level, where platoons lack command and control, and forces can't operate ground support for armored battalions. But do these corrupt institutions explain Russia's failures? Or was the chaos of the Ukraine invasion primarily an issue of poor intelligence and the isolation of the Russian leader? Warrick and Amsterdam debate how the blame falls and how it will make peace negotiations more difficult and more protracted.

We last checked in with former Russian lawmaker Ilya Ponomarev about a month ago, as the Russian military began its invasion of Ukraine. Now, with things looking much different and many things not going to plan, we check back in for Dispatch #2 from inside Ukraine. Ilya Ponomarev, who was forced into self-exile from Russia following his solitary vote against the annexation of Crimea, has spent years living in Kyiv supporting governance efforts and leading new ventures. As someone who has directly interacted with Vladimir Putin and who has an intimate knowledge of the government's functioning and processing, his analysis of the current situation is both important and alarming. According to Ponomarev, Putin is a "dead man walking," without option to escape his current predicament, but this of course still makes him very dangerous. On the disastrous decisionmaking which led to the invasion, Ponomarev points out the Covid-19 pandemic as having severely narrowed Putin's available sources of information, leading him to depend on just two of his most hawkish advisors and relying on numerous low-quality history books which he has frequently cited in statements to media. What direction will the war take from here? What can be the possible negotiated outcomes? Amsterdam and Ponomarev discuss in detail.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is one of the most resource-rich nations in the world, holding the largest deposits of critical minerals which will be key to the coming industrial transformation. But it is also a nation that is well into its third decade of war - a war that in many ways is forgotten, ignored, and buried away from public attention. But one person who has been paying attention is Jason Stearns, a Senior Fellow at the Center on International Cooperation and Chair of the Advisory Board of Congo Research Group. In his exhaustively researched excellent new book, "The War That Doesn't Say Its Name: The Unending Conflict in the Congo," Stearns explores how the conflict has continued despite the 2003 peace agreement, with the fighting becoming a structural economic activity. In his discussion with Amsterdam, Stearns doesn't hold back on the enabling role he has seen in the donor community, flooding the country with millions of dollars of aid while a narrow elite class has emerged among the military and security bureaucracy while the country has remained mired in war and poverty. Stearns' sharp and insightful on the crisis in the Congo is informed by more than a decade of experience working there on the ground in human rights organizations, leading him to present very compelling theories of how conflict has subsisted, why peacekeeping efforts have failed, and how we should start to think differently about intervention in Africa writ large. A highly recommended publication - go pick up a copy.

During one specific week in December in 1941, a series of events and calculations led to Adolf Hitler's disastrous decision to declare war on the United States, putting the conflict on the eventual path toward the outcome we now regard with familiarity. The sequence of events leading from the bombing of Pearl Harbor by Japan to the entry of the United States into the war were of course very far from clear cut or certain at the time, and instead played out with the high-tension drama of a Hollywood thriller. The story of what happened during these four days is examined and retold with unusually gripping detail and surprising revelations by historians Brendan Simms and Charlie Laderman in their excellent new book, "Hitler's American Gamble: Pearl Harbor and Germany's March to Global War." Simms and Laderman's book takes readers inside the blow-by-blow strategic thinking by Hitler and his advisors that led to this momentous and ultimately catastrophic decision with extraordinary and engaging detail, as well as the reaction to events in the Roosevelt White House. Hitler's American Gamble invites readers to imagine a broad range of potential alternative outcomes which could have taken place during this week, many of which were just avoided by the slimmest of margins. As news of the attack in the Pacific spread, leaders among the various countries did not all have the same access to information or understanding of the meaning of the events - and in the end, it would be these asymmetries that would prove critical.

"100 billion people have lived on planet earth since our species evolved, and for all our archives, all our libraries, and all our museums, we have only the tiniest little sliver of any record of who these people were and what their lives were like," says Jon Grinspan in his conversation with Robert Amsterdam. "So the challenge of history is to live in the present, and try to connect with these human beings who came before us, try to understand what their meaning was." And it is with this tremendous care and attention to detail that brings all the characters to life in Grinspan's excellent new book, "The Age of Acrimony: How Americans Fought to Fix Their Democracy, 1865-1915," which examines one of the most turbulent, polarized period of America's political history. In their podcast discussion about the book, Grinspan and Amsterdam explore the striking similarities between the late 19th century and more contemporary events in the United States since Donald Trump's takeover of the Republican party, the 2021 insurrection, and the seemingly intractable partisan tribalism prevalent in politics today. Though many people have described the past five years as "unprecedented" in US history, that's actually not true, argues Grinspan. There is a deeper history of democracy in America that has been much more contested, he writes, focusing on the characters of radical congressman William "Pig Iron" Kelley and his progressive daughter, Florence Kelley. Looking at this family over the course of a critical half-century, one can see numerous lessons of what it cost the country to exit a period of tremendous dysfunction into a period of relative stability.

As tensions continue to rage between Russia and the West over its build-up on the Ukrainian border, Departures turns to expert Mark Galeotti for his analysis on the situation and a discussion of his brand new book, "The Weaponisation of Everything: A Field Guide to the New Way of War." Galeotti, who has spent years researching and writing about Russian organized crime and the security state, argues that despite the buildup of a traditional military conflict potentially in Ukraine, overall the world is seeing the practice of warfare change. Shooting wars are much too costly, from both an economic and social aspect, and hybrid warfare, disinformation, hacking, assassinations, sanctions, cultural exchanges, and even business and financial press provide a whole new series of battlefronts where rivals may clash. Galeotti and Amsterdam talk about the limits of sanctions, and why in many cases they don't work against larger nations like Russia. Although politically palatable, making the appearance of action at little cost to the policymaker, it sidesteps issues which are much more important.

Throughout the most recent intensifying conflict between Russia and the West over Ukraine, there is a common assumption that the Russian leadership is wielding its "energy weapon" to break apart European unity and advance its interests. While that may be partly true, it would be a huge mistake to assume that such a vast industrial chain of inputs, labor, refining, and transportation of these goods lay in the hands of so few people, argues Prof. Margarita Balmaceda in her new book, "Russian Energy Chains: The Remaking of Technopolitics From Siberia to Ukraine to the European Union." In her conversation with Robert Amsterdam, Dr. Balmaceda of Seton Hall University argues that for many, the flow of Russian energy exports of oil, gas, and coal often represent opportunities which are happily exploited more than constraints and threats as energy weapons. The rise of numerous Ukrainian oligarchs who took advantage of energy transit were able to transfer this to political influence, forever shaping regional dynamics that we can see playing out today, among numerous other examples. Oil and gas certainly are the lifeblood of Russian politics - but it is not a force under the sole discretion of Vladimir Putin.

Several years ago, Hakan Bulgurlu was at the top of his game. He was serving as CEO of Arçelik, a multi-billion dollar corporation. He and his family, including three young children, were enjoying a great life with frequent international travel. But he was also deeply troubled by the raw data he was seeing professionally concerning the rapidly deteriorating climate situation. And when he would speak up about these concerns, he found that people wouldn't listen and wouldn't act. So, he made a momentous decision to prepare himself to summit Mount Everest and bring attention to the cause. In his new book, "A Mountain to Climb: The Climate Crisis: A Summit Beyond Everest," Bulgurlu takes us deep inside the harrowing details of his trip to Everest in 2019, which turned out to be one of the most deadly years in terms of climber fatalities. Interspersed with the tale of the expedition, Bulgurlu's book explores the roots of the environmental crisis we find ourselves in, including interviews and commentary from climate activists and campaigners, biologists, scientists, filmmakers, academics, economists, entrepreneurs, global leaders and innovators. In this gripping account of his journey, Bulgurlu describes the challenges he faced in reaching the summit, and the challenges we all face in protecting the planet and the future of humanity.

Forget tanks, missiles, and soldiers. The forms of warfare predominantly being used against the United States today are much more often unconventional and irregular, such as large-scale offensive cyber actions, disinformation campaigns, spying, economic subversion, and smaller armed conflicts via proxies. This is a deeply worrying trend, argues Seth Jones, author of the terrific book "Three Dangerous Men: Russia, China, Iran and the Rise of Irregular Warfare," because the United States is very poorly prepared to defend itself and is instead still stuck in the old world and over-invested in the means of traditional military conflict. In this conversation with Robert Amsterdam, Jones discusses the main findings of his book, exploring various similarities from China to Russia to Iran in terms of how irregular warfare is used and deployed in support of their interests on a daily basis, and how response and countermeasures from Washington have been uninspiring. Jones and Amsterdam also discuss the problematic disregard the United States has shown toward its allies in recent years and the waning influence of its soft power. Jones argues that there has been a corresponding impact on the challenges of forging successful partnerships to withstand the onslaught of irregular warfare tactics, and the many areas in which the US should look to improve to address these security gaps.

In early December, the administration of US President Joe Biden convened a mostly virtual democracy summit, in which some of the world's largest economies were invited to participate and provide a clear framing of the agenda - and a clear poke in the eye of China and Russia. In response, Chinese state media trolled Biden with Harry Potter jokes about the fallibility of democracy as a system, and then went back to their regular efforts to redefine international norms and present its top-down authoritarian system as not just legitimate but ideologically superior to liberal multiparty democracies. This week we're very excited to have Toronto Star reporter Joanna Chiu join the podcast to discuss her book, "China Unbound: A New World Disorder," which presents eight different case studies of recent tensions and conflicts Western countries have had with China's rise which help illustrate this fundamental question of how Beijing is reacting to a series of challenges. Chiu's book examines Canada's infamously naive experience with China and the arrest of the "two Michaels," but also looks at the encroachment on Hong Kong, the persecution of underground churches, Australia's economic dependence, and the vast expansion of China's surveillance police state. Taken altogether, we can see China's drive toward authoritarianism as being shaped from the distrust of past colonial experiences, but the new world order they are creating - with little effective resistance - leaves many questions open.

Faced with challenging and intractable problems from climate change to civil conflicts to terrorism, it is tempting for many of us to look to the heavens, with billionaires pouring their resources into space exploration, expansion, and even dreams of colonization. But this is a major mistake, argues Professor Daniel Deudney of Johns Hopkins University in his fascinating new book, "'Dark Skies: Space Expansionism, Planetary Geopolitics, and the Ends of Humanity." Deudney's perspective is that the "space age" race toward developing these technologies has mainly resulted in multiplying risks for the survival of humanity itself, from hypersonic missiles being seen as space weapons, to competition for control and influence far beyond our atmosphere. "Space is an inherently violent environment," Deudney argues in his conversation with Robert Amsterdam. We are occupying a miraculous oasis of life, an enormously unique and special place, surrounded by trillions of miles of desolate and inhospitable vacuum. In terms of the complex geopolitical questions, our society is very ill-prepared for the conflicts that will be associated with space activity. The counterintuitive argument of Deudney's book? Forget about space, and get our ship in order here on earth first.

Yoweri Museveni's 35 years of iron-gripped ruthless authoritarianism in Uganda did not take place in a vacuum. It has instead been a years-long process of converting the country's institutions into instruments of arbitrary power, which has been fueled by a series of targeted moves to destabilize the social coordination that would be needed to hold leadership accountable. This has been the fascinating focus of research for Prof. Rebecca Tapscott, a visiting fellow at the University of Edinburgh's Politics and International Relations Department. She joined the Departures with Robert Amsterdam podcast this week to discuss her book, "Arbitrary States: Social Control and Modern Authoritarianism in Museveni's Uganda." Tapscott explains that for Uganda, among other countries with nationalist movements which took power, it is crucial that there is a high level of "unpredictability and arbitrariness" which shapes people's experience of how the state works, how they experience security and justice. Her research takes an interesting look into the functioning of hybrid regimes, where some vestigial presence of democratic institutions continue to exist but are largely rendered ineffective in terms of successful opposition organizing.

It was once the dream of starry-eyed proponents of globalization that the increasing pace of trade, travel, and exchanges of ideas would lead to a "borderless" world of reduced conflict and cosmopolitanism. Instead, the opposite has happened, as the lines and demarcations between nations struggling to manage their conflicts have become paramount and subject to escalating risk. Whether it's China building islands in the South China Sea or Russia seizing the arctic or even the UK having a Northern Ireland problem after Brexit, borders are increasingly becoming more hostile environments. Professor Klaus Dodds explores the issue with tremendous clarity in his fascinating new book, "Border Wars: The Conflicts that Will Define Our Future." Joining Robert Amsterdam on this episode of Departures, Prof. Dodds argues that even though we have international legal frameworks such as the Law of the Sea, it has already been demonstrated that some countries pick and choose legal principles as lawfare (such as building islands), we don't always choose to penalize violations, while there is a constant reshaping and reinterpretation of borders making it much more difficult to separate and demarcate sovereign territories with clarity. Dodds' book provides a fascinating look into the future, where climate change, pandemics, and digital surveillance are all contributing to changes in our physical world that are certain to be the source of challenging conflicts in the years to come.

As world leaders gather in Scotland for the COP26 climate change summit this week, there's a tremendous level of scrutiny not over the ambitions but the shortcomings of the world's biggest sources of emissions. This week, Departures is pleased to invite David Claydon, the founder of Kaya Group, which is an advisory firm which helps companies, investors, and governments navigate climate change policy and the decarbonization process. Claydon, who will be among the delegates in Glasgow, is clear-eyed about the stiff challenges facing the major players. Xi Jinping will not be attending, so little progress can be expected from China. Russia shows only a passing interest and little ability to transition away from its fossil fuel economy, while India is not expected to deliver much in the way of promises. US President Joe Biden, meanwhile, arrives with a dearth of trust and credibility, with his reconciliation budget package held up by the Republicans and members of his own party. Claydon points out that the pandemic has made COP26 all the more challenging. "There was a lot of hope that the COVID vaccine distribution question would be a great test of solidarity between developed countries and developing countries," says Claydon. "But if it was a test, Western countries have failed it. The lack of distribution of vaccine has been another factor undermining trust between countries." But we "shouldn't be too pessimistic," Claydon argues. The US may not have the credibility to go to COP26 and issue demands, but that's not what COP26 is all about, it's all about each nation declaring what they intend to achieve and then keeping to that. And President Joe Biden, Claydon says, should be able to muster "just enough" credibility to follow through with the decarbonization goals set out this past Earth Day.

Many of us have wondered what it would be like to be a real spy. Not necessarily the James Bond-esque car chases and shootouts, but the real practice of exercising tradecraft in the field, recruiting and handling assets, and maintaining such a complex web of relationships between your colleagues, family, and sources. There could possibly be no better book to take us deep into this world than the latest release by Douglas London, titled "The Recruiter: Spying and the Lost Art of American Intelligence." London, who was a 34-year veteran of the CIA, shares highly personal and courageous details in this memoir, which makes for such a fascinating read. London takes us from his earlier Cold War days up through 9/11 and the dawn of the war on terror, which saw an unfortunate shift within the intelligence community toward more militaristic covert action and paramilitary operations that undermined traditional espionage. And with this shift, also came a decreasing level of accountability for who is responsible when things go wrong, something London wrestles with clear moral clarity and no excuses for the mismanagement he witnessed. Along with this memoir comes a series of clear-eyed recommendations that should be taken very seriously to reform and recover the reputation of the clandestine service.

We are no longer living in a unipolar world of US dominance, argues India's brilliant former Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon in the latest episode of Departures with Robert Amsterdam, but neither have we transitioned to multipolarity or whatever is coming next. Former Ambassador Menon's new book, "India and Asian Geopolitics: The Past, Present," is slightly misleading in its title, in that it implies a regional study, when in fact his insights, analysis, and proscriptions are truly global in their validity. In this discussion with Robert Amsterdam, Menon addresses the sweeping changes which have undergone Asia in the past few decades, including the rebalancing between India and China, and makes a strong argument for the enhancement and expansion of Mumbai's integration and engagement with the international system. Menon expresses his concern over the spread of rising nationalism and nativism in many countries, which he argues often restricts their ability to negotiate and successfully engage with other nations to make progress on the world's most pressing issues. A truly fascinating discussion with one of the world's most experienced diplomats.

History is not a single continuum. There are certain stretches in which momentous change occurs in a very compact timeframe. The forty-year period between 1490 and 1530 is one of these bursts of revolutionary change. In The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shook the World, Patrick Wyman, a historian and the host of the popular podcast Tides of History, argues that the turn of the 16th century was a momentous moment in history when Europe began to break off from the rest of the world and "became recognizably the global power," ushering in the era of imperialism and colonialism – "the central problem of world history in the last 500 years." Rather than studying the centuries-long process that brought us into the modern era, Wyman looks at a particularly eventful period which began this "Great Divergence." Europe at the turn of the 16th century featured the invention of the printing press, great sea voyages, the rise of modern finance, extreme taxation, among other revolutionary developments. Of these, Wyman argues, the printing press – which allowed for the creation of mass media – is the single most important of these developments. Indeed, Colombus' voyages were "a media event as much as they were a historical event. The two aren't really separable." The period of 1490-1530 is especially notable for what Wyman describes as the "scaling effect." While in the 21st century it seems almost obvious that a revolutionary invention would lead to rapid and massive scaling up. But at the turn of the 16th century, the rapidity of the scaling effect of everything from mass media to sea voyages "scaled in a way that would have been extremely foreign at this time." The Verge also tells its story through individuals which Wyman links with a broader theme. Famous figures such as Christopher Colombus and Martin Luther feature, as do lesser-known individuals such as the banker Jakob Fugger and printer Aldus Manutius. Wyman delves into an extraordinarily important period of European history that shaped our globalized present from multiple angles and refreshing nuance.

Since Britain's annexation of Lagos in 1861 up until independence in 1960, the history of colonialism in Nigeria has almost always been told from London's perspective - often exaggerating the benevolent intentions and downplaying and blameshifting the abuses, ethnic violence, and social disarray the occupation created. Every listener to this podcast knows that we love Nigeria. Been traveling there and working there for decades, so when we heard about Max Siollun's new book, "What Britain Did to Nigeria: A Short History of Conquest and Rule," we had to get him on the podcast. In his discussion with Robert Amsterdam, Siollun emphasizes just how cynically the British colonial administrators exploited ethnic and religious identity to maintain control of territories, while forcefully rejecting the myth the Nigeria's problems are purely homegrown. Instead of solely focusing on Nigeria's modern problems of corruption, crime, and terrorism, instead it can be argued that the country, which is by far the most unique nation on earth, like a combination of Iran and Norway in the same territory, is a remarkable success story given the sheer impossible circumstances the colonizers created. Nigerians should be given credit for what they've achieved as a nation, despite the indelible and tragic legacy left behind by colonial rule.