History As It Happens

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The American way of war is broken. Like many of his White House predecessors, Donald Trump is stuck in a stalemate of his own making. In Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq — to name four major wars — the president who went to war was unable to extricate the U.S. from the morass. It was up to his successor to salvage something from the wreckage of U.S. credibility and prestige.

Our guest is Will Walldorf, who teaches in the Department of Politics and International Affairs at Wake Forest University. He is a Senior Fellow at Defense Priorities, a Washington think tank.

His latest book is To Shape Our World For Good:  Master Narratives and Forceful Regime Change in United States Foreign Policy, 1900-2011.

Recommended reading:

Trump Needs to Defy History to End the Iran War by Will Walldorf (Foreign Policy)

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The Trump administration is attempting to topple Cuba's government through economic warfare.

An oil embargo and other punitive measures have led to severe consequences, including massive blackouts and water shortages. Ordinary Cubans are suffering, yet both they and their communist government are persevering — at least for now. The New York Times reports the CIA has established a secret task force to increase the pressure. The Cold War may be over, but U.S.-Cuba relations are frozen in time.

What explains more than six decades of hostility? Historian Alexander Aviña is our guest. He's an associate professor of Latin American history in the School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies at Arizona State University.

Further reading/listening:

Timeline of U.S.-Cuba relations (Council on Foreign Relations)

Flirting with Armageddon w/ Max Hastings on the Cuban Missile Crisis

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The world is aflame with endless wars and racial strife. Some societies are tearing themselves apart as mass migration fuels a nationalist backlash. Since the nineteenth century, ethnic nationalism has been a potent force, galvanizing peoples — imagined nations — around shared myths and historical truths.
Our guest is Sune Haugbølle, an expert on global political sociology. He specializes in social memory, the history of radical movements, and transnational solidarity at Roskilde University in Denmark.
He is the author of War and Memory in Lebanon (Cambridge Middle East Studies).
Further listening:
The Nakba: 1947-present w/ historian Mark LeVine
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This is the 70th year of Sudanese independence, but there is little to celebrate and much to lament as the country continues to tear itself apart. Three major civil wars have consumed 43 years of Sudan's seven decades, not counting the many years of violence and genocide in Darfur from 2003.
The current war has entered its fourth year with no prospect of peace. Recent fighting has drawn the world's attention to the central Sudanese city of El Obeid, where thousands of desperate civilians are sheltering from a feared onslaught by the genocidal Rapid Support Forces. Alex de Waal returns to the podcast to discuss the driving forces behind the violence and why the world is incapable or unwilling to stop it.
Alex de Waal is the Executive Director of the World Peace Foundation and one of the foremost experts on Sudan and the Horn of Africa. He is the co-author of The Sudans: Africa's Search for Peace, Democracy, and Two Viable States.

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The precarious international consensus on nuclear non-proliferation is cracking. The Trump administration announced a civilian nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia — long sought by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — which experts fear could lead to the Saudis pursuing nuclear weapons in violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The deal allows for the kingdom to enrich uranium and reprocess plutonium on its own soil.
In this episode, Joe Cirincione explains the potential danger to the U.S.-led nuclear order.
Recommended reading:
Trump's Saudi pact could be the worst nuclear deal in history by Joe Cirincione (MS Now)

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