History As It Happens

What was Vladimir Putin doing hosting Hamas' representatives two weeks after the terrorist group massacred Israeli civilians? What are Russia’s interests in a region that was so important during the Cold War? Its interests may come down to Moscow's great power ambitions in a part of the globe where it has a long history and once exercised considerable influence. In this episode, historians Sergey Radchenko and Vladislav Zubok identify continuities between the Cold War and today concerning Russian influence in the Middle East as a terrible new Arab-Israeli war recalls the region's violent past.

The wars in Eastern Europe and the Middle East shattered illusions. Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, now in its twenty-first month, dispelled the notion that major land wars between European states were a thing of the past. Hamas' savage attack on Israel on Oct. 7, which was meant to provoke massive retaliation in the tiny Gaza strip, destroyed the idea that Israel’s strategy of deterrence could be sustained indefinitely. Moreover, both conflicts are offering hourly reminders that civilians pay the heaviest price when governments choose war instead of peace. In this episode, acclaimed military historian Andrew Roberts discusses his new book, co-written with Gen. David Petraeus, “Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Ukraine.” Roberts applies his argument about the importance of strategic leadership to the conflicts in Ukraine, a mostly conventional war involving huge numbers of infantry, and Gaza, where the Israeli Defense Forces are facing a guerrilla army in a densely populated urban environment. Effective leadership is just as important today as when the Allies conquered Germany and Japan, whether wars are fought in jungles, deserts, packed city streets, or cyberspace. Russian president Vladimir Putin failed the leadership test in Ukraine. Israel is trying to destroy Hamas in Gaza. How should we define success?

In a scene that seems as unimaginable today as it did then, U.S., Israeli, and Palestinian officials gathered on the White House lawn in September 1993 to announce a new way forward. The signing of the Oslo Accords was supposed to mark a break with a violent past, leading to security for Israel and autonomy, possibly statehood, for Palestinians. After seven years of difficult negotiations that witnessed breakthroughs and setbacks, often overshadowed by outbreaks of bloodshed in the Holy Land, the Oslo peace process failed. A generation later, as a new war rages in Israel, the two-state solution is getting a new hearing. President Joseph Biden has said that once the current war ends, there can be no return to the pre-October 7 status quo and that the two-state solution must be pursued. In this episode, Khaled Elgindy, an expert on Palestinian affairs at the Middle East Institute, discusses what it would take to bring about new leaders on both sides who are amenable to peace. The fundamental problems are the same today as in 1993, only with three decades of complications piled on. Still, it remains a conflict over land underpinned by assertions of nationalism and religious faith: who gets to live where and under what authority.

The Hamas terrorist attack on Oct. 7 that killed more than 1,400 Israelis drew comparisons to the al-Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington on Sept. 11, 2001. For some, the comparison is meant to justify massive military retaliation for a righteous cause after a stunning surprise attack. For others, the parallels offer a warning about the limits of military power and revenge. In this episode, CNN national security analyst and international terrorism expert Peter Bergen, the author of "The Rise and Fall of Osama bin Laden," discusses the similarities and differences between America's global war on terrorism and Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza.  

In late 1960 the Congo crisis was front-page news. Photographers and newsreels captured the humiliating arrest and imprisonment of the newly independent country's ousted prime minister, Patrice Lumumba. In January 1961, his domestic political enemies murdered Lumumba in a remote clearing. What the world did not know at the time was the role the Eisenhower administration had played in backing the coup d'etat to topple Congo's first democratically-elected leader while covertly supporting the army officer who would then rule Congo for more than three decades, Mobutu. Also secret in late summer 1960 was Eisenhower's decision to have Lumumba assassinated, although multiple CIA killers never got to him. In this episode, Stuart Reid, the author of "The Lumumba Plot" discusses the enduring importance of a largely forgotten Cold War drama, part of a transformative period for the CIA as well as the United Nations, with utterly tragic consequences for the people of Africa.

Fifty Octobers ago, Arab oil producers agreed to an embargo against the United States and a handful of other countries, upending American politics and energy policy for years to come. The oil weapon was wielded to punish the U.S. for supporting Israel in the Yom Kippur War, which erupted on Oct. 6, 1973, and lasted for two and a half weeks. Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack in a bid to reclaim territory occupied by Israel since 1967. Today, with Israel at war again and the Palestinian problem still unresolved, would Saudi Arabia or any Arab state unsheath the oil weapon? In this episode, historian Victor McFarland, an expert on oil and U.S.-Middle East relations, contends it's unlikely. The world is a lot different than it was in 1973.

Presidents like to take credit when the economy is booming or deflect blame when things turn sour. Despite plenty of positive economic news, polls show that President Biden's economic agenda -- and his repeated invocation of Bidenomics -- still aren't catching on with the American public, however. In this episode, Northwestern University economist Robert Gordon explains why ordinary Americans relate to Bidenomics differently than the White House does. Moreover, when it comes to the president's larger aim of ameliorating income inequality, Gordon contends that formidable, long-term structural changes in global capitalism and U.S. manufacturing stand in the way of creating a more even distribution of wealth. From 1870 to 1970, a slew of one-time innovations catalyzed economic growth. Since the 1970s, the decline of unions, increases in imports and immigration, poor educational outcomes at the bottom end of the economic spectrum, the effects of automation in destroying middle-income jobs, and the decline of purchasing power of the minimum wage have helped make income inequality worse.

Today's war between Israel and Hamas has its origins in the unresolved problems caused by the events of 1948. The year that witnessed the creation of an independent Jewish state in the former British mandate of Palestine, is known by Palestinians as the nakba, or catastrophe. Internecine violence intensified in 1947 as the U.N. weighed partitioning Palestine into two independent states, one Jewish and one Arab. Then five neighboring Arab countries invaded the new state of Israel immediately after David Ben-Gurion declared independence on May 14, 1948. In all, approximately 750,000 Arabs fled or were driven from their homes by Jewish forces. Many fled to Gaza and were forbidden from returning to their homeland after the war, turning them into permanent refugees. In this episode, Middle East expert Ian Lustick of the University of Pennsylvania discusses the throughline from 1948 to 2023.

Russian president Vladimir Putin's public remarks of late have taken on a darker tone. As he blasts the West for, in his view, trying to dominate Russia, Putin is also preparing the Russian people for a very long war of an existential nature. In this episode, historian Mark Galeotti, the host of "In Moscow's Shadows," says the idea of "forever war" is now part of Putin's creed. The countries supporting Ukraine, namely the United States, must understand that Putin is willing to persist in his effort to subjugate his neighbor for years. Has Putin always felt that he's at war with the West?

The outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas shattered an illusion. The illusion was that better relations between Israel and its neighbors could be successfully pursued without resolving the Palestinian-Jewish conflict. This new war threatens to undo the recent reshaping of the political landscape in the Middle East. In this episode, Trita Parsi of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft breaks down the geopolitical complexities of a region where peace and stability, democracy and respect for human rights, have been rare.