Angry Planet

Once upon a time, an enemy would pull up to your gates with his army and surround your city so that nothing could get in or out. In a short time, you’d be eating the horses, maybe the rats and, if things got bad enough and you weren’t entirely suicidal, you’d open the gates. Sometimes that would work out OK. Sometimes not. Nowadays, countries wanting something from each other seem to have more opt...

It’s been a concern lurking in the minds of America’s leaders for a long time: what if Russia and China could successfully work together against the United States? A combined Russo-China empire is the stuff of science fiction, perhaps, but what’s the reality today? What goals do they share and how well can they work together?  And how does that cooperation affect the potential war in Ukraine?...

Ukraine. Things are changing rapidly, but at this moment the Kremlin has the country surrounded. It’s conducting military drills in the Black Sea, marshaling troops in neighboring Belarus, and recalling mercenaries from Africa. Recently Putin even made a rape joke during a press conference to imply what he wanted from Ukraine. It doesn’t look good. But to hear Ben & Jerry's Ice cream tell it,...

The Doomsday Clock is always ticking down. Between climate change, technological advances, new diseases, and the ever present threat of nuclear war … it often feels like we’re close to the end of civilization. How close? According to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists … we’re 100 seconds to midnight. The closest we’ve ever been. But what, exactly, is the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and th...

Everyone has an opinion about Ukraine, but something I’ve noticed in Western media is that no one really seems to be asking Russians what they think of the situation. The reasons for that are extremely complicated. So let’s talk about them. Here to talk about Russia’s view of the Ukraine conflict, Putin’s motivations, and to do a little … psychoanalysis … is Peter Pomerantsev. Pomerantsev is a ret...

Genocide and disinformation. That’s the topic of today’s heady program. I hope none of you have had the pleasure of debating the Uighur genocide with friends or with, god forbid, with anonymous people on the internet. If you have, you may have noticed a certain … uniformity to the arguments despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary. It turns out there may be a reason for that. Here to help us...

The Islamic State has fallen out of the headlines, but it’s still a major force around the world. Affiliates flourish across the Middle East and, especially, in Africa. The spread of the group there has some analysts calling it the Next Jihadist Battlefront . Here to help us with all this is Ryan O'Farrell. O'Farrell is a Senior Analyst at the Bridgeway Foundation and a researcher focusing on Isla...

The former Soviet Union is looking a bit restive nowadays - putting it mildly.  Russia has more than one hundred thousand troops on Ukraine’s borders - and has invaded Ukraine before - and has been fighting a war there ever since. And in the last few days, many Americans have learned there is a country called Kazakhstan, even if they can’t find it on a map. And Russia is playing a role to pro...

The Taliban - we all know them, few of us love them, and it looks like they’re going to rule Afghanistan - again. So, what was it like the first time the Islamic militants took over, in 1996? Today, we have two journalists who were in Afghanistan in the 90s. Scott Neuman was working for United Press International and wrote from the scene. Alan Chin is a photographer who went to Afghanistan to take...

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...

It’s the greatest story you probably don’t know anything about. Or, at least, you have no idea how bad it actually is. The U.S. 7th Fleet is the most powerful Navy in the history of the world. Its area of operations stretches throughout the Pacific. It comprised of up of upwards of 70 ships, 400 aircraft, and around 40,000 sailors and Marines. For about a far too many years it was the plaything of...

Is the Syrian civil war over? Did Bashar al Assad win it? And if he did, what does winning even mean for a country of rubble? And most importantly, what’s next for the dictator and the people who live within the sort-of nation’s borders? To help us understand what’s happening, we’ve got Washington Post correspondent Liz Sly. She’s covered the war since it began in 2011 and has made many trips to S...

When the United States Air Force tests a new aircraft it needs to make sure it won't crash should a stray bird slam into the plane's side. Thankfully, the military has an artillery piece with a 60-foot barrel that hurls chicken more than 400 miles an hour. The chicken gun allows the military to make sure no stray bird will foul up its expensive jets while they're mid-flight. If you think the...

Ukraine. It started with pro European protests in the Winter of 2013. Then came the annexation of Crimea, the little green men, Igor Strelkov, the Donbas, and a long simmering war in the Eastern Ukraine. Things are changing. Ukraine’s president said that Russia has amassed 100,000 troops on the border, Latvia has mobilized its National Guard, and Poland called for an emergency meeting of NATO. To...

Guns. Guns. Guns. We Americans love them, don’t we folks? But the culture is different in other parts of the world and people who want to build their own weapons, make their own Ammo, and fire down range with a sweet semi-automatic have to break the rules to do so. Thanks to 3D printing, that’s getting a lot easier to do as groups like Deterrence Dispensed spread the good word—and the plans—of mak...

Militaries around the world are preparing for climate change. That’s true even in countries where politicians are indifferent to global warming. But what about the emissions being spewed by those militaries themselves? Joining us to talk about that today is Doug Weir. He’s Research and Policy Director, The Conflict and Environment Observatory, and has studied the issue. Angry Planet has a substack...

Hawaii. America’s latest state is a tropical paradise, a vacation hotspot, and an important strategic military asset. If you’ve never been to Hawaii you might be shocked at how much of a presence the Pentagon has on the islands. It’s America’s gateway to the Pacific and an important part of its Naval might. Something we’re going to learn the broader importance of in an upcoming episode. Here with...

Sea power was the secret of the Phoenicians, the Greeks - even the landlubber Romans when they took the upper hand against Carthage. More recently - which isn’t hard - the British Empire was won on the seas and an empire with tall ships. But how much navy is enough navy? And can a smaller, lighter, more advanced fleet do the job? Joining us today to talk about the future of the US Navy is Dr. Jerr...

The Forever War. It may be gone from Afghanistan but it’s not gone from our hearts. Our minds. Our souls. The body politic is riddled with the consequences of the last twenty years of conflict. The Department of Homeland Security is my go to. The first half of my life it didn’t exist. Now I am faced with the consequences of its disastrous policies on a daily basis. With us today is Spencer Ackerma...

The idea of terrorism as a franchise isn’t new, maybe, but nobody’s done it better than Islamic State. Most Americans thought the fight against ISIS was over with the fall of Raqqa. But on August 26, at least 169 Afghans and 13 US troops were killed in Kabul by a group calling itself ISIS-K.  Islamic State, apparently, lives on. Joby Warrick of the Washington Post joins us to talk about ISIS...

North Korea is back in the headlines, and as usual, it’s not because they’ve invented a new soft drink. No, Kim Jong Un’s fiefdom has once again launched missiles into the sea, claims to have invented hypersonic ones, is building up their capability to launch nuclear-tipped missiles from submarines and is restarting everyone’s favorite nuclear reactor at Yong Byon. So, why are we here again, and w...

Instagram is a world of influencers, models, bizarre ads and aspirational living. It’s a place where artists share their work and people go to see and be seen. It’s also the epicenter of gang violence in America and, increasingly, an important resource for law enforcement looking to solve murders and disrupt street violence. Read the charging documents or warrants of a gang-violence related case a...

A special production of Angry Planet and David Axe explores how a group of scruffy contractors pioneered the use of drones during the Vietnam War. Axe’s book, Drone War Vietnam , is out now. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The facts on the ground are undeniable. The U.S. is out, the Taliban is back in. The end was ugly and there were plenty of ugly spots along the way. Since we’re all doing what ifs, here’s ours: what would the off-ramp have looked like, and did we ever at least have our turn signal on? Joining us today is a guy who was in the room. Former diplomat Frank Ruggiero dealt directly with the Taliban, as...

Space… Is it still the final frontier? And does anyone really care about it anymore, aside from a few billionaires and maybe a millionaire or two? Does NASA have any mojo left? And are any of us alive now going to see a landing on Mars? These are all questions dear to my heart, so we have Christian Davenport who covers space for the Washington Post and is the author of the Space Barons on the show...