The EI Podcast

The crucifixion lodged suffering at the heart of Christianity: to suffer was to be like Christ. This reframing of suffering had far-reaching consequences for world history. Read by Leighton Pugh.  Image: Jesus Christ on the Cross with St. Mary and St John, painted by Albrecht Altdorfer, circa 1512. Credit: Niday Picture Library / Alamy Stock Photo.

There are currently around 13,000 nuclear warheads worldwide, with Russia possessing the largest nuclear arsenal.  And yet, nuclear weapons have not been deployed in combat since the US bombed Nagasaki and Hiroshima seventy-seven years ago.  So, how and why has the nuclear taboo remained intact and what may jeopardise it in the future?  In this episode of Worldview, Adam Boulton is joined by Professor Sir Lawrence Freedman and Professor Wyn Bowen to discuss the history of nuclear deterrence, the likelihood of nuclear weapons being deployed in Ukraine, and China's growing nuclear arsenal. Image description: Mock-up of the air defence system around Moscow, in the Patriot Park In Moscow Region, Russia. Credit: Nikolay Vinokurov / Alamy Stock Photo.

With forces such as identity politics and supra-national bodies gaining traction across Europe, the concept of the nation state has never been more important. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: A painting of the Dutch envoy Adriaan Pauw entering Münster around 1646 for the peace negotiations, painted by Gerard ter Borch. Credit: Wikipedia Commons/Stadtmuseum Münster

When the pioneers of computer engineering created the first integrated circuits in the 1950s they could not have envisaged how this technology would infiltrate all elements of our daily lives. The production of microchips is now rapidly becoming the defining force in geopolitics and will play a fundamental role in the conflicts of the future.  In this episode of Worldview, Adam Boulton is joined by Chris Miller, author of Chip Wars, and historian of computing, Thomas Haigh. Together, they discuss the development of the computer chip and how it fits into the coming struggle between the US and China.  Image description: A retro circuit board with germanium transistors and diodes, electrolytic and ceramic capacitors, carbon resistors, aluminium coils. Credit: KPixMining / Alamy Stock Photo

Geography and politics are closely intertwined, although that no more means that all geography is political than that all politics is geographical. Read by Leighton Pugh.  Image: An American map of the West Coast of Africa from Sierra Leone to Cape Palmas, 'including the colony of Liberia'. Credit: Everett Collection Historical / Alamy Stock Photo

The Romans burnt Carthage’s books and buildings – but ‘Punic’ identity remained influential throughout Antiquity. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Print of ancient Carthage. Source: Wiki Creative Commons

The era in world history that began with the fall of the Soviet Union is drawing to its close. The post-Cold War Eurasian settlement that the United States and its allies imposed after 1990 has three big challengers - Russia, China and Iran. Read by Leighton Pugh.  Image: A symbol of American power, the National Capitol in Washington, DC. Credit: Christian Offenberg / Alamy Stock Photo.

The West, more specifically the United States, with its major allies alongside it, has been chasing the 'fun wars' for forty years and serially coming up empty. Read by Leighton Pugh.  Image: British Prime Minister Tony Blair greets an ethnic Albanian by holding up his hand in central Pristina, Yugoslavia during a one-day visit Saturday July 31, 1999. It was Blair's first visit to Kosovo since NATO's bombing campaign against Yugoslavia. (Photo by David Brauchli)

The First World War fundamentally altered our understanding of strategy — we should heed the insights of the era's leading thinkers and generals. Read by Leighton Pugh.  Image: First World War Commanders looking at a battle plan. Painting by Francois Flameng (1856-1923), 1916. Army Museum, Paris. Credit: Leemage/Corbis via Getty Images

Crises of knowledge precipitate drives towards specialisation. In our digital age we still need polymaths. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: This chart is taken from the book 'Ars Magna Lucis Et Umbrae' which was published in 1646 by the Jesuit scientist and inventor, Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680). Credit: SSPL/Getty Images