War College

Last week The Daily Beast broke some bizarre news. Several news outlets, including The Washington Examiner, RealClear Markets, and The National Interest, had been running op-eds of journalists that did not exist. AI generated photos attached to profiles and credentials that, once scrutinized, collapsed. It was a massive effort at digital propaganda and questions still remain about its provenance and purpose.Here to explain just what is going on is Marc Owen Jones. Jones is an assistant professor in Middle East Studies and Digital Humanities at Hamad bin Khalifa University and an expert in social media disinformation who helped sound the alarm about this campaign.Recorded 7/13/20Fake journalists have joined the frayTracking response of the dupe outletsThe difference between misinformation and disinformationMedia literacy in Estonia and FinlandA website that generates people who don’t existWar College has a substack! Join the Information War to get weekly insights into our angry planet and hear more conversatio

Cocaine is the second most popular illicit drug in the world and it’s controlled by a black market regulated by violence. As America’s drug war edges close to its fiftieth birthday, there is no end in sight, the conflicts it fuels have expanded to an unprecedented scale and cocaine remains incredibly profitable.Here to talk to us about cartels and cocaine is Toby Muse. Muse is a journalist and documentarian whose work has appeared in The Guardian, The New York Times, and CNN. He’s just published the book Kilo: Inside the Deadliest Cocaine Cartels—From the Jungles to the Streets.Recorded on 7/6/20We’re living in the golden age of cocaineHow cocaine shaped Colombian politicsWhat happened when the FARC negotiated peaceThe myth and reality of the sicarioWhat happens with a Hitman retires“As long as cocaine is illegal, Colombia will never know peace.”It never ends. It never ever endsYou can listen to War College on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. Our website is warcollegepodcast.com. You

This week we’re joined by P.W. Singer, co-author of Burn-In: A Novel of the Real Robotic Revolution.The future is here, it's just not evenly distributed.Stray thoughts on the Bonus Army.The future of policing might be AI and that’s terrifying.Domestic terrorism is about to get even weirder than it already is.War has already changed.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.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Elisabeth Braw​ is a Senior Research Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies in London. RUSI is the oldest defense think tank in the world and Braw leads its Modern Deterrence program. She’s also a columnist at Foreign Policy and the host of the On the Cusp podcast.Welcoming back Jason Fields to the foldWhat a difference training makesEurope’s different policing stylesThe darkside of European policingA brief history of the Stasi 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.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Our guest this week is Pauline Kaurin. Kaurin is the Stockdale Chair in Professional Military Ethics at the US Naval War College and the author of the new book On Obedience: Contrasting Philosophies for the Military Citizenry and Community.What obedience meansWhen civil disobedience is warrantedThe difference between difference and obedienceThe civl-mil divideHow to re-negotiate the social contractMisreading “A Few Good Men”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.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Our guest today is Rick Perlstein. Perlstein is a historian and author best known for Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America. He’s also written the forthcoming Reaganland: America’s Right Turn.This is more WTO in 1999 than it is 1968Why we don’t remember NewarkIs the press doing better this time?The Jimmy Carter Crisis.How the Presidency shapes the American people.Defining FascismYou 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.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The neo-Nazi movement can’t keep it together. After a series of high profile outings, murders, conspiracy charges, and other assorted run-ins with authorities, the leadership of the Neo-Nazi movement has gotten younger, more online, and more extreme.Here to walk us through this today is Zaron Burnett. Burnett is an investigative journalist and longform features writer based in Los Angeles. He covers culture, politics, race, and other perplexing mysteries for MEL Magazine. 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.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Bellingcat’s Giancarlo Fiorella is here to walk us through what may go down in history as the dumbest attempted coup of all time. On May 3, American mercenaries and Venezuelan exiles attempted to enter the country with the goal of overthrowing the Maduro regime. It didn’t go well.The Associated Press busted your coup but you went ahead anyway?What the hell is Silvercorp USA?A contract is great, but it’s not the same as paycheck.Who brings an Airsoft rifle to a warzone?Rember Óscar Alberto Pérez?How does Maduro stay in power? Why Venezuela became one of America’s favorite political footballs.With us today Giancarlo Fiorella. Fiorella is an investigator and journalist who’s been covering the story at Bellingcat. His May 5th and May 7th articles at Bellingcat demand to be read if you want to understand the weird comedy of errors playing out in Venezuela right now.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

Ecoterrorism isn’t a word you hear a lot these days and it’s usually associated with groups like Greenpeace. That might be changing. In 2011, a biotechnology researcher was shot and killed in Mexico. A group called ITS took credit. "We have said it before, we act without any compassion in the feral defense of Wild Nature," reads the group’s manifesto.Is the new generation of activists using violence to save the planet or satisfy a darker, more nihilist urge?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.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week on War College, producer Kevin Knodell is back in the states after an extended stay in Iraq. He walks us through his journey and the impact of the pandemic on the Middle East.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.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

As I keep saying, war has changed. It’s the recent theme of War College. And it’s not just conflict, but the way people cover conflict. Increasingly, journalists and researchers are using open source intelligence, social media, and academic disciplines such as history and anthropology to explain the complicated conflicts of the modern world.One of the groups doing that is Silah Report. “Silah Report is a non-commercial research project exploring contemporary and historical small arms & light weapons in the Middle East & North Africa (MENA), and Central Asia regions.”Here to talk about that work is Miles Vining and Adham Sharif. Vining is the co-founder of Silah Report and Sharif is its Podcast Coordinator and author specializing in Egyptian small arms history.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.

War is about logistics. “An army marches on its stomach,” the idiom goes. Well, a populace can’t survive without water. One water station in Northeast Syria is the heart of a growing conflict between Turkish backed rebels and the local Kurdish population. As war rages in Syria and the COVID-19 pandemic begins, water is more important than ever. Here to help us figure that out is Kimberly Westenhiser. Westenhiser is a journalist, photographer and artist. Her work has appeared at The Seattle Globalist, Foreign Policy, War Is Boring and Playboy. Her story on Turkey and Rojava’s water supply appeared on Popular Front.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.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week we're taking a moment to work through our fear, panic, and axiety.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.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

War. War never changes.Except … that’s not exactly true is it? I’d argue that war has changed demonstrably in the past two decades. It’s gotten longer, somehow less deadly, and far weirder. Also. Despite America being engaged in multiple conflicts on multiple continents … Americans are paying less attention to foreign military engagements than ever before. The current international situation, I’d say, is a bit of an anomaly.Worse, the country is fractured in a way that can be hard to understand. There’s more information than ever before and, instead of uniting us, it’s making it hard for us to settle on a consensus reality. We live in confusing, stressful, and bizarre times.How did we get here?I don’t know. If I did, I’d be selling a book and not here, with you, podcasting. What I can do is discuss a piece of art. A prescient piece of art I think helps explain how we got here.Here to discuss that piece of art is Cameron Kunzelman. Kunzelman is a media critic who has published in may illustrious publications.&

Space Force. It’s here. It’s the newest branch of the U.S. military and it’s got it’s own uniforms and a snazzy new patch that looks a lot like the emblem for the United Federation of Planets. But it’s only got one member at the moment and what, exactly, is it doing?Here to help us figure out what’s going on is Joseph Trevithick of The War Zone. 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.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In the closing days of World War II, the British Royal Air Force and United States Army Air Force dropped more than 3,900 tons of high explosives and fire bombs on the city of Dresden. It was not, strictly, only a military target and the story of the bombing has captured the imagination of everyone who survived it and those who study the war.One of those people is Sinclair McKay. McKay is a literary critic for the Telegraph and The Spectator in the UK. His latest book is The Fire and Darkness: The Bombing of Dresden 1945.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.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

From the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty to, probably, New START, all the old treaties are failing. Nuclear weapons are back in the public consciousness in a big way and old Cold War ideas that we once thought relegated to the dustbin of history are back.One of those are so-called low yield nuclear weapons. The U.S. Navy recently fielded some of these SLBMs for the first time on its nuclear capable submarines. Are these weapons actually a game changer? When it comes to nukes, what’s the difference between yields anyway?Here to help us figure out how much trouble we’re in is David Wright. Wright is a Senior Scientist and Co-Director of the Global Security Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists.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.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out informa

There’s a battle raging for the future of the internet. No, it has nothing to do with net neutrality or broadband access. This is about 5G, the shadowy world of global intelligence agencies, and a telecom giant with $108 billion in revenue that most Americans haven’t heard of.The company is Huawei, a Chinese manufacturer known the world over for its cell phones. It also makes radio arrays and is building 5G infrastructure all across the planet. Recently, the UK announced it would allow Huawei limited access to some British 5G mobile networks. The Trump White House doesn't like that and claimed Huawei’s tech is an elaborate trojan horse for a Chinese spying network.Here to help us understand the world of 5G networks and spies is Amanda Macias. Macias is CNBC’s National Security Reporter. She specializes in the business of war. Amanda, thank you so much for joining us.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

Iraq. Since October of last year, a protest movement has taken hold of the country. After 16 years of conflict, Iraq is tired. Its people want political and economic reforms.America didn’t pay attention. Until, that was, a militia stormed an embassy, America killed an Iranian General, and tensions between the U.S. and Iran flared. For a moment, the whole world paid attention.They should keep paying attention.Here to explain why is Rasha Al Aqeedi.Rasha is from the Iraqi city of Mosul. She’s the Managing Editor of Raise Your Voice, an Arabic language platform covering politics and Society in Iraq. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic and her research has appeared at George Washington University and in stories by The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Associated Press.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, producer Kevin Knodell walks us through his recent reporting in Iraq.https://coffeeordie.com/american-troops-iraq/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.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.