Video games are an industry worth tens of billions of dollars. Games make more money than Hollywood and the music industry combined. Video games can be great fun and even great art, but they can also be great propaganda. A new game called IS Defense puts players on the shores of Europe to defend the continent against waves of faceless Islamic attackers. The FBI , North Korea and even PETA have tried to use games to get their points across. It doesn’t always work and it’s often silly, but go...
Apr 21, 2016•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast When Ukraine pulled itself apart in 2014, the world was confused over who was doing the pulling. Was the takeover of Luhansk, Donetsk and other regional capitals all part of a Russian plan, or a local movement? This week on War College, we speak with Antony Butts. He was in Donetsk when it all went down and has a unique story to tell. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Apr 14, 2016•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week on War College we're diving into the weeds on how weapons systems come into existence. Andrea Shalal, Reuters’ longtime aerospace correspondent, takes us through the steps. She also gives a counterpoint to the show’s very first episode, which focused on the flaws of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter plane and program. In a discussion that may surprise to some listeners, she describes a program that’s back on track, despite its possible trillion-dollar price tag. Support this show http://su...
Apr 07, 2016•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast Just months before the Sept. 11 attacks, Scott Swanson was piloting an early version of the Predator drone over Afghanistan. Swanson and his team were looking for Osama bin Laden and it looked like they found him. The predator, though, was unarmed. This week on War College, Swanson takes us through the early history of the drone program and tells us how a skunk works project became a central part of the U.S. War machine. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege . Hosted on Acast. ...
Mar 29, 2016•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week on War College, we’re talking about a secretive nation where everyone serves in the military – and not just for a year or two. In fact, once you get pulled into service in Eritrea, you could be serving for a decade or more. And no one knows how much more it could be. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Mar 17, 2016•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast Snipers play a key role in the world’s armies. They target commanders on the opposing side and other targets with an outsize impact. Working by themselves, they can pin down a group, creating fear and confusion. This week on War College we look at the history of snipers and the role they play now. It’s fair to say the role wasn’t always considered a badge of honor. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Mar 10, 2016•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast With Vladimir Putin and the United States staring at each other like the gunfighters in the final scene in the "Good, the Bad and the Ugly," War College takes a fresh look at NATO. We wanted to know what kind of shape the nearly 70-year-old alliance is in. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Mar 03, 2016•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast President Barack Obama laid out a plan to close the notorious Guantanamo Bay prison this week. Even if it were to close by the time Obama leaves office, it will have been open for 15 years. So, why is the prison still open, and what would it take to close it? And how important is it, really, to close it? This week on War College, we talk to Reuters' own David Rohde. He's written extensively about Guantanamo and he also knows captivity from the other side, as a prisoner of the Taliban for se...
Feb 25, 2016•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Russia is pulling out all the stops in showing off new weaponry — especially in Syria. Nick de Larrinaga, an expert at Jane’s Defense Weekly, joins the show and explains that the display of force is about more than winning a war. It also functions a kind of advertising campaign for the world’s second-largest arms dealer. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Feb 18, 2016•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast Garry Kasparov, a Russian opposition leader who was ranked as the world's best chess player for most of 20 years, has a problem with the West’s response to Vladimir Putin’s Russia and warns of the dangers of the nation's global influence. The title of his new book – Winter Is Coming – is a conscious play on the famous Game of Thrones TV and book series and the sense of darkness stalking the world. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege . Hosted on Acast. ...
Feb 09, 2016•16 min•Transcript available on Metacast Israel’s defense forces are among the world’s elite. Their training methods are widely copied, actions taken by their soldiers and pilots are legendary. The Raid on Entebbe, the Six Day War, the 1981 air strike that took out a nuclear reactor under construction in Iraq. But those victories were long ago and Israel’s enemies have evolved. This week on War College, journalist Noga Tarnopolsky walks us through the changing face of the IDF. In a country where everybody serves, the role of the soldie...
Feb 04, 2016•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast Saudi Arabia executes a cleric who is a member of the Saudi Shi’ite minority. Iran’s government, which sees itself as the leader of the Shi’ite world, doesn’t work very hard to stop an attack on the Saudi Embassy in Tehran that follows the execution. Saudi Arabia closes its embassy and tensions between the two nations, which had been growing for years, hit a new high. With hot wars in Yemen and Syria, billions of dollars sloshing around between governments and militias and militant groups, its a...
Jan 28, 2016•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, Russia has used natural gas as a weapon against Ukraine and Europe as a whole. Threatening to turn shut off the pipes as the weather turns cold is a pretty effective way to influence foreign policy. But now it looks like one of Vladimir Putin’s key weapons is losing some its punch. This week on War College we’re looking at how shifts in the production of oil and natural gas are effecting global security, and where that leaves the United States. Support...
Jan 20, 2016•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast North Korea sets off a nuclear bomb and how does the U.S. respond? The Pentagon sends a 65-year-old airplane to buzz Korean airspace. It wouldn’t make a lot of sense if the warplane wasn’t the B-52 bomber. Designed in the aftermath of World War Two, obsolete nearly before the last one rolled off the line in 1961 – the Stratofortress may remain in the air for another 25 years. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Jan 12, 2016•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast North Korea is the most mysterious and oppressive regime on earth. Few journalists penetrate Pyongyang and fewer still stay long enough to understand the country and its people. Jean Lee is one of those determined few. And she’s seen some strange stuff. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Jan 08, 2016•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast Islamic State has many enemies, both around the world and in the Middle East. But there’s one group of fighters that the men of Islamic State fear more than others because, rumors say, to be killed by them doesn’t lead to martyrdom, but to an eternity in hell. These fearsome warriors are members of the Kurdish Women’s Protection Units, and in this week’s War College, we look at the role they – and other women – are playing in the war against Islamic State. Support this show http://supporter.acas...
Dec 17, 2015•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast The conditions necessary to allow genocide – to provide one group the psychological “permission” to kill another en masse – come together all too often, in Europe during World War II, in Rwanda, in Bosnia, in Cambodia. This week on War College, we try to understand what those conditions are, and whether climate change may be the trigger for the next great Holocaust. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Dec 09, 2015•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast The media in Russia is lively, often entertaining and largely state controlled. Still, an illusion of freedom remains key for the Kremlin to maintain its grasp over a country that spans 11 time zones. In this episode of War College, we look at how Vladimir Putin crafts his message for both internal and external consumption. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Dec 01, 2015•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast Predator and Reaper drones hang in the sky above Pakistan, Yemen, Iraq and Syria. Mostly they observe, search for targets – and occasionally they unleash Hellfire missiles. Targets may be large gatherings of suspicious figures, convoys or training camps. They can also be private houses, and sometimes they turn out to be weddings. The theory behind strikes is not mass destruction, but to find militant leaders and kill them, as surgically as possible. But how effective have those efforts been? And...
Nov 24, 2015•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast The recent terror attacks in Paris shook the world and put the focus back on Islamic State. This week on War College, we talk with American Special Operations intelligence veteran Malcolm Nance. Nance literally wrote the textbook on Iraq’s terrorists and is the executive director of the Terror Asymmetrics Project . Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Nov 19, 2015•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast Many in the West think of the Islamic State as a loose collection of fighters -- rabble who kill, loot and burn. But the truth is more complex, though no less terrifying. Islamic State actually governs the territory it takes and it’s not terrible at it. The group levies taxes, teaches children and organizes garbage pickup. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Nov 11, 2015•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast The host of the Hardcore History podcast joins War College to discuss some of the most powerful figures in history - men and women who burned down the world they were born into and -- many generations later -- are sometimes credited with laying the foundation for progress. But that doesn't mean that's what the arsonist set out to do, or that the people in their way were happy to pay the price. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy f...
Nov 03, 2015•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast America’s Special Operations Forces have become instrumental in the war against radical Islam. But few in America know their story or how they operate. Sean Naylor wants to change that. His new book, Relentless Strike: The Secret History of American Special Operations Command , gives readers a window into this secretive world. Naylor talks to us on this week’s War College Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Oct 28, 2015•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast The annexation of Crimea, the war in eastern Ukraine and the military operation in Syria present the image of a confident Russian President Vladimir Putin willing to expend military power for political gain. The truth, according to Dr. Mark Galeotti of New York University, is far more complex. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Oct 20, 2015•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast None of the world’s great powers were ready for the carnage World War I. The armies of 1914 looked a lot like the armies of 1814 … but they didn’t go to war with 19th century weapons. The modern world was born in blood on the battlefields of Europe during the Great War … and the machine gun cut the umbilical cord. This week on War College, we sit down with Ian McCollum of Forgotten Weapons as he walks us through the Maxim Gun -- one of the earliest machine guns -- and how it changed the pace of ...
Oct 14, 2015•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast The need for armies, both ancient and modern, to travel long distances to thwart enemies and take territory has made militaries one of the driving factors behind food science. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Sep 30, 2015•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast It’s the world’s most famous weapon, popular with soldiers, insurgents and video gamers alike. As many as 100 million of the world's guns are descended from Mikhail Kalashnikov's original Avtomat Kalashnikova, first prototyped in 1947. How many lives they've taken is unknown. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Sep 23, 2015•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast War College talks to author and journalist Robert Young Pelton talks about the waves of immigrants washing up on the shores of Europe and why things have gotten worse in the last few months. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Sep 15, 2015•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week’s War College examines the state of Iran’s conventional military, as well as its guiding strategies. Jason Fields, Matthew Gault and Robert Beckhusen also discuss the likely impact of the nuclear treaty on its regular forces. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Sep 09, 2015•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast There are approximately 1,000 satellites currently in orbit, but how many of them are really weapons in disguise? Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Sep 02, 2015•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
