Humanity has never been farther from home than the moon (and that was nearly 50 years ago), but the United States may soon be getting its own Space Force. So, what are the dangers a Space Force is meant to grapple with? And what would it do that isn’t being done now by the Air Force and the other services? The War Zone’s Joseph Trevithick joins us to explain that the dangers in space are very real, even if it isn’t clear that a Space Force is the answer. You can listen to War College on iTunes ,...
Aug 20, 2018•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast Children born on Sept. 11 are old enough to fight in the war that began that day. When they go into battle, they will only know the video of the Twin Towers falling, of the Pentagon wounded and smoking, as historical footage, much like the Zapruder film of the Kennedy assassination looks to an earlier generation. Will they know why they’re fighting in Iraq in Afghanistan? Do we still know? CJ Chivers of The New York Times joins us to talk it through. You can listen to War College on iTunes , Sti...
Aug 13, 2018•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast When Syria was pulled apart seven years ago, the United States opted to stay on the sidelines. It was clear that President Bashar Al-Assad was a bad guy, but it was far less clear who the good guys were. Unfortunately, inaction has also had its price for the U.S., according to our guest Steven A. Cook, who is the Eni Enrico Mattei Senior Fellow for Middle East and Africa Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege . Hosted on Acast. See ac...
Aug 06, 2018•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast Bonus Episode: Facebook recently revealed that trolls had been at it again: creating pages intended to drive Americans ever further apart, turning the volume of online political discourse up to 11. All signs point to Russia as the instigator. Graham Brookie of the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab joins us to explain what the perpetrators revealed about themselves and what we have to look forward to in the midterms. You can listen to War College on iTunes , Stitcher , Google Play ...
Aug 03, 2018•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast One of the great strains on NATO is the question of who’s paying how much for what. But that’s not a new problem. Almost as long as the alliance has been around - 69 years - there’s been arguing over the bills. Germany has been a particular target of late, with the United States calling on the economic powerhouse to pay up. Kathleen Hicks of the Center for Strategic and International Studies offers some needed perspective. You can listen to War College on iTunes , Stitcher , Google Play or follo...
Jul 31, 2018•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast Bashar Al Assad has gassed his own people. An assassin used VX to murder Kim Jong Un’s half-brother. Now, Russia has allegedly used an obscure Cold War era chemical weapon to assassinate an old spy on British soil. The taboo against chemical weapons has eroded and, for those willing to use them, they’re an effective weapon of war. This week on War College, The Daily Beast reporter Adam Rawnsley walks us through the lastest on the chemical weapon attacks in Britain and what these eroding norms mi...
Jul 26, 2018•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast From blue-tattooed psychopaths to “businessmen” with a twist, Russia’s vory developed a code all their own - if you can call it that. Mark Galeotti takes us through the history of Russia’s mafia and how that history helped to shape Vladimir Putin’s state. For a more detailed look, check out his book “The Vory: Russia’s Super Mafia.” You can listen to War College on iTunes , Stitcher , Google Play or follow our RSS directly . Our website is warcollege.co. You can reach us on our Facebook page: ht...
Jul 16, 2018•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week we talk with the author of “Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin,” Timothy Snyder, about the current threat coming out of the East. He argues, in “The Road to Unfreedom,” that there’s more than greed behind Russian President Vladimir Putin - there’s also an ideology that directly targets democracy. You can listen to War College on iTunes , Stitcher , Google Play or follow our RSS directly . Our website is warcollege.co. You can reach us on our Facebook page: Support this show h...
Jul 09, 2018•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast Afghanistan is America’s longest war and the cynical view is that it’ll never end. Marty Skovlund Jr. doesn’t think that’s true. He just returned from Afghanistan where he embedded with American Special Operations Forces on the ground and though he says the war he saw now looks a lot like the war he himself fought years ago, there’s plenty of reasons to hope. Skovlund Jr. is a documentarian, writer, and journalist. He’s a frequent guest of the show and wrote about his recent embed in Afghanistan...
Jul 03, 2018•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast Artificial intelligence poses a number of different threats. It can make existing weapons more sophisticated and dangerous, it can help develop new weapons entirely and it can easily be used to create the ultimate surveillance state. All of that is happening particularly quickly in China, which has stated ambitions to lead the world in AI in the near future. Security expert Elsa Kania joins us to explain what’s going on. You can listen to War College on iTunes , Stitcher , Google Play or follow ...
Jun 26, 2018•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast Among the hundreds of groups fighting in Syria, one stands out. They’re the ones carrying the swastika flag. Independent journalist Jake Hanrahan joins the show to tell us about them and also why, more and more, people covering war are having to go it alone. You can listen to War College on iTunes , Stitcher , Google Play or follow our RSS directly . Our website is warcollege.co. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/warcollegepodcast/ ; and on Twitter: @War_College . S...
Jun 22, 2018•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast Things got weird in 2016. From meme magick to Alexander Dugin, from Kek to Chaos, occult ideas have become mainstream. Steve Bannon talked about occult fascist philosopher Julius Evola. U.S. President Donald Trump is an adherent of the Norman Vincent Peale and The Power of Positive Thinking . Some in America’s burgeoning neo-Nazi movement see a cartoon frog as an avatar of an Egyptian chaos god. What the hell is going on? On a bonus episode of War College author Gary Lachman joins us to explain ...
Jun 15, 2018•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast With just over 270 ships doing the work intended to be done by more than 350, the U.S. Navy is stretched thin enough for the seams to show. In order to keep enough ships at sea, training is getting short shrift, and so is sleep. And that means accidents, some of which have been deadly. What’s to be done about it? Dave Majumdar of National Interest shares a few suggestions, but none of them come cheap. You can listen to War College on iTunes , Stitcher , Google Play or follow our RSS directly . O...
Jun 13, 2018•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast Berlin in 1943. Hitler has all but conquered Europe and millions of Jews have already died in the Holocaust. In the midst of this, a group of women gathered on Rose Street to demand action. They had lost their brothers, fathers, and husbands and wanted to know what had happened to them. They wanted them back and the protested for answers. It worked. This week on War College, Carnegie Mellon University professor Jessica Hammer and Moira Turkington of War Birds Games takes us through the Rosenstra...
Jun 07, 2018•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast Only 1 percent of all Americans serve in the military. Even fewer ever see combat. All of those who do are changed by the experience. This week Tony Russo shares some of the stories he’s gathered from combat veterans for the This Is War podcast. You can listen to War College on iTunes , Stitcher , Google Play or follow our RSS directly . Our website is warcollege.co. You can reach us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/warcollegepodcast/ ; and on Twitter: @War_College . Support this s...
May 29, 2018•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast When the United States put a machine gun on top of what looked like a bomb-squad robot, it didn’t care much who it was aiming at. But on the whole, drones and other killer robots are pretty effective, and there’s more to come. This week we speak with Kelsey Atherton, a writer for C4ISRNet and Fifth Domain, who brings us up to speed on these deadly machines. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
May 22, 2018•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast Why did the United States stop building the F-22, a fifth generation fighter the Air Force loves? Especially if the F-35 program is very much up in the air - pun intended - with each batch of fighters rolling off the line at least slightly different from previous batches? And are China and Russia having better luck with their fifth gen programs? Tyler Rogaway of The War Zone joins us to shed some light. You can listen to War College on iTunes , Stitcher , Google Play or follow our RSS directly ....
May 16, 2018•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in have met. The Trump administration is on its way to talk denuclearization and the formal end of a war that’s lasted 65 years. Is it peace in our time? Here to help us cut through the noise and make sense of the news is B.R. Myers. Myers is a professor of international studies at Dongseo University in Busan, South Korea. You can listen to War College on iTunes , Stitcher , Google Play or follow our RSS directly . Our website i...
May 08, 2018•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast Luke Skywalker is a household name. Carl von Clausewitz not so much. Learning about the military—especially about strategy and tactics—is a jargon filled slog. War has a language all its own and for decades, military minds have struggled to find an easy way to teach conflict to the common citizen and aspiring officer alike. Star Wars is that language. That’s the theory behind a new book, Strategy Strikes Back, How Star Wars Explains Modern Military Conflict , which teaches military lessons using...
May 01, 2018•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast War is a bloody business and few people know this better than the medics, physician assistants, and assorted battlefield doctors. Since Vietnam, the U.S. has gotten a lot better at saving the lives of the fallen. This week on War College, we talk combat medicine with Andrew Fisher. Fisher is a physician assistant with the U.S. Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment. As a participant in more than 600 missions, Fisher knows first hand how to save lives on the battlefield and, with the help of his colleagues,...
Apr 24, 2018•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast What does the United States get out of having a human spaceflight program? For that matter, what do Russia and China get out of having one? Especially if it’s not about getting the “ultimate high ground” in any fight here on Earth. NASA historian Steven Garber takes us through what the agency is really all about and what lessons can be drawn from the space race so far. You can listen to War College on iTunes , Stitcher , Google Play or follow our RSS directly . You can reach us on our new Facebo...
Apr 17, 2018•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast When France fell less than two months after Germany invaded in the spring of 1940, conspiracy theories grew to explain the loss. One of the most common was the idea of a massive German spy network, a “Fifth Column.” Historian Marc Masurovsky takes us through what really happened. Was it subterfuge, or were the Nazi armies just that good? You can listen to War College on iTunes , Stitcher , Google Play or follow our RSS directly . You can reach us on our new Facebook page: https://www.facebook.co...
Apr 09, 2018•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast According to Presidents John Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, the United States is a shining “city upon a hill." It’s a beacon of democracy in a dark world full of cruel dictators and vicious despots. But history shows the United States has also been willing to side with despots in the name of stability. This week on War College, we talk to Brian Klaas, a Oxford University graduate and expert on political violence, about his new book – The Despot’s Accomplice: How the West is Aiding and Abetting the D...
Apr 04, 2018•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast Everything old is new again, including living with the constant threat of nuclear annihilation. North Korea is a nuclear power. The President of the United States has said he’d meet any aggression with fire and fury. Russia is manufacturing tactical nuclear weapons. It’s the Cold War all over again, but this time leaders can snipe at each other via Twitter. This week on War College, PhD student and upcoming nuclear anthropologist Martin Pfeiffer walks us through how culture’s shifting views on n...
Mar 26, 2018•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast Mark Galeotti joins us for War College’s Russian election special. The winner, Vladimir Putin, was never in doubt, but what’s the sham election all about? And what comes next for Russia and its relations with the world. And by the way, is there a Gerasimov Doctrine? No, no there isn’t. You can listen to War College on iTunes , Stitcher , Google Play or follow our RSS directly . You can reach us on our new Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/warcollegepodcast/ ; and on Twitter: @War_College ....
Mar 17, 2018•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast From the Silver Legion to the Aryan Nation, the U.S. has had its share of fascist organizations but its never had anything quite like Atomwaffen Division. Grown and organized online, the group has been linked to five murders and a bomb plot in the past eight months. The group is so extreme that even prominent leaders of the Alt-Right have denounced it. This week on War College, journalist Jake Hanrahan takes us through what the group believes, what it wants, and what it might be willing to do to...
Mar 12, 2018•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast In the minds of many Russians, the Cold War never ended. When the Soviet Union collapsed, many spies never came in from the cold and the intricate game of espionage and counter-espionage has continued to the present day. This week on War College, U.S. Naval intelligence officer Naveed Jamali shares his story about working as a double agent in the years after 9/11. Jamali posed as a Russian asset for years while passing on information to the FBI. He recounted the story in his memoir, How to Catch...
Mar 05, 2018•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week we've got a blast from the past. Here's what we said back then: This week Thomas Nichols helps us understand America’s current nuclear strategy … or lack thereof. This August marked the 70th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Seven decades later, Washington and the Kremlin control more than 7,000 nuclear warheads … each. Not all of those weapons are active. The two nations have deployed some, stockpiled more and disarmed far too few. And those numbers are down from ...
Feb 27, 2018•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast Iran is at war beyond its borders in Syria, Afghanistan, and other places, too. It’s a bit weird to hear it, but our guest, Amir Handjani, explains that one reason they’re fighting is a very similar principle to what drives the United States: Fight them over there, so we don’t have to fight them here. But that’s not easy with an economy in shambles and protests cropping up where you’d least expect them. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/priv...
Feb 19, 2018•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast NATO’s second largest army has invaded Syria. Turkey is conducting military operations in Afrin—a Kurdish city on Syria’s north western border. Russia and the U.S. wait on the edges as the world’s most complicated war zone gets even more so. This week on War College, Afrin native Can Êzîdxelo and freelance photographer Joey L. walk us through the conflict, what it means for the Kurds, and what it means for the unending Syrian Civil War. You can listen to War College on iTunes , Stitcher , Google...
Feb 12, 2018•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
