Angry Planet

On June 13, explosions—probably from Limpet Mines—hit two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman. The United States has blamed Iran. On June 20, Iran shot down one of the United States’ Navy RQ-4 Global Hawk drones, basically a fancy unmanned spy plane.In the aftermath, US President Donald Trump considered a retaliatory action, then pulled back. I’m recording this at 5pm on Friday, June 21. It’s possible between then and the time you hear this, the situation will have changed again.Iran is complicated. In the American imagination, it’s become a stand in for a power in direct opposition to the United States. It’s famously part of George W Bush’s Axis of evil and, it often feels, Washington’s Hawks have long wanted an excuse to go to war there.So. Today. Three shows from War College’s past that, strung together, represent a closer and more nuanced look at Iran. All with remastered audio.The first is a look at the strength of the Iranian military during the end of the Obama presidency, and before the signing of the Nuclear Deal. The second is an interview with New York Times journalist Ben Hubbard about Iran’s use of Hezbollah. The third is deep dive into Iranian domestic politics and its role in Syria circa 2018.I present all of it in an attempt to paint a picture of how we got where we are today. America’s relationship with Iran is deeper, bigger, and more complicated than one President in one moment.You can listen to War College on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. Our website is warcollegepodcast.com. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/warcollegepodcast/; and on Twitter: @War_College.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

China and America are two of the world’s great powers. Their economies are intertwined, their military’s powerful, and their soft power spreading across the globe. And tensions are rising. Neither side wants to go to war, but both sides are committed to winning that war should the unthinkable ever occur.Recently, War College’s own Kevin Knodell spent time at the Army’s Joint Warfighting Assessment at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington State. The weeks long training brought together military personnel from seven different countries to train together for a nightmare scenario—a new war in the Pacific.Kevin is the producer of War College, but also a journalist whose work has appeared in Playboy, The Daily Beast, and McClatchy. He’s the co-author of several non-fiction graphic novels—including The ‘Stan and Machete Squad.You can listen to War College on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. Our website is warcollegepodcast.com. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/warcollegepodcast/; and on Twitter: @War_College.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Flying saucers. Little Green Men. UFOs. Over the past few years, reports from US Navy Pilots of strange flying objects has been hitting the pages of America’s newspapers. And no, not just the tabloids. The New York Times is talking about UFOs. So what is going on? Is this evidence of extraterrestrial life? Lights reflecting off of swamp gas, or dastardly new tech designed by America’s enemies? Here to help us answer these tough questions is the editor-in-chief of The War Zone, Tyler Rogoway.You can listen to War College on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. Our website is warcollegepodcast.com. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/warcollegepodcast/; and on Twitter: @War_College.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Soviet Union sent Sputnik into space in 1957. By 1958, thanks in part to the work of famed scientist Carl Sagan, the Pentagon had a plan to show the commies what for by nuking the moon. Thankfully, it was just a plan. One that the U.S. never acted on. But it’s far from the only military scheme the US and others cooked up over the years. From bat bombs to an aircraft carrier built from an iceberg, military history is full of outlandish and ridiculous schemes best left abandoned at the planning stages.Here to help us untangle these James Bond sounding plots is Vince Houghton. Houghton is a U.S. Army vet who served in the Balkans. Now, he is the historian and curator at the international Spy Museum in Washington D.C. He collected the wild schemes from America’s past in the new book Nuking the Moon and Other Intelligence Schemes and Military Plots Left on the Drawing Board.You can listen to War College on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. Our website is warcollegepodcast.com. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/warcollegepodcast/; and on Twitter: @War_College.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Conspiracy theories are as old as the republic. Actually, they're a lot older than OUR republic. In every country, in every culture, people believe powerful forces are colluding in ways they know nothing about.Why is that?In this week's bonus episode we talk with Jesse Walker, books editor of Reason magazine and author of "The United States of Paranoia: A Conspiracy Theory."-----------------------------------Qanon is a conspiracy theory that supposes President Donald Trump is at war with an ancient pedophile cult. When Qanon believers began to show up at Trump rallies, the mainstream media took notice. In early August, BuzzFeed published an article: www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanha…-is-probably-a that theorized the whole thing was an elaborate prank by leftists activists. Their evidence was a 1999 book about religious rebellions during the 16th century. It’s title? Q: www.amazon.com/Q-Luther-Blissett…e=&qid=1538017365.Wu Ming 1, one of the authors of that book joins us today to talk about Q, Qanon, and the importance of conspiracy theories in modern life.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Civilian casualties are a fact of war. The Pentagon, we’re told, does its best to minimize them but war is messy and it’s impossible to achieve the number zero. Unless you’re talking about Somalia. America has been at war in the African country for years and, according to the Pentagon, it has conducted that war with almost no civilian casualties. Amnesty International—a non-governmental organization focused on human rights—says that’s not true and has conducted its own investigation into the war and uncovered evidence of civilian casualties.Amnesty International's report is called The Hidden US War In Somalia Daphne Eviatar is here with us to discuss it. Eviatar is Amnesty International’s director of Security with Human Rights.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On paper, Japan is no longer a military power. Article 9 of the Japanese constitution states that “the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes” and that “land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained.” Japan is, on paper, to rely on its allies for military defense and, since World War II, American military bases have dotted its islands. But attitudes and policies are changing and as the South China sea looks more and more like a flashpoint, some are wondering if Japan will amend its constitution and re-arm.Here to help us figure that out is Kimberly Westenhiser is a journalist, photographer and artist. She writes for the Eatonville Dispatch and her work has appeared at The Seattle Globalist, Foreign Policy, War Is Boring and Playboy.You can listen to War College on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. Our website is warcollegepodcast.com. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/warcollegepodcast/; and on Twitter: @War_College.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The cliche goes that those who don’t study history are doomed to repeat it. But history is more than just a memory and a lesson, sometimes it’s a tool and a weapon. Some pundits are concerned that historians in their ivory tower of academia are neglecting the study of war and policy in favor of identity politics, and in some cases shirking their role of educating the public in favor of an academic elitism that is mostly aimed producing work for themselves and their colleagues to consume.Brian Laslie is the Deputy Command Historian at NORAD and United States Northern Command.  He previously served as the Historian of the 1st Fighter Wing at Langley Air Force Base from December 2009 to August 2012.  In 2011, he deployed as the Air Forces Central Command (Forward) Historian to Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, from September 2011 to January 2012. It was while deployed that Brian wrote the majority of what would become his first book. Brian’s views expressed here are his own and don’t reflect those of the United States government.You can listen to War College on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. Our website is warcollegepodcast.com. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/warcollegepodcast/; and on Twitter: @War_College.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Drugs and war go together like peanut butter and jelly. American soldier boys smoked the reefer in Vietnam, the Wehrmacht ran on amphetamine, and Viking Berserkers were probably on something. Soldiers have enhanced and altered perception using chemicals for centuries, but in the annals of getting fucked up and going to war you don’t hear a lot about psychedelics such as LSD and MDMA.But that might be changing. With us today is Marine Corps officer Emre Albayrak. Albayrak is an Expeditionary Ground Reconnaissance officer and has served as an intelligence officer for 12 years. He’s also the author of an interesting article in the February issue of the Marine Corps Gazette—a professional journal published by the Marine Corps Association. It’s titled Microdosing: Improving Performance Enhancements in Intelligence Analysis. It suggests, very basically, that military intelligence operations could get a boost if Marines dropped a little acidYou can listen to War College on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. Our website is warcollegepodcast.com. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/warcollegepodcast/; and on Twitter: @War_College.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s a story some of you may know, it’s been told over and over in different forms. A gaijin, an outsider, comes to Japan and ingratiates themselves with the local military power. From James Clavell’s Shogun, to a bad Tom Cruise movie, to William Adams, it’s a story told over and over in both Japan and the West. Some of those stories have a kernel of truth and few are as fascinating as that of Yasuke—a Samurai born in Africa.  Here to help us unravel the mystery and history of this legendary Samurai is Thomas Lockley. Lockley is a professor at Nihon University College in Tokyo and a visiting scholar at the University of London. Along with Geoffrey Girard, Lockley is the author of the book African SamuraI: The True Story of Yasuke, a Legendary Black Warrior in Feudal Japan.You can listen to War College on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. Our website is warcollegepodcast.com. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/warcollegepodcast/; and on Twitter: @War_College.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.