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Are you struggling to keep up with the trending worldviews and pop culture beliefs shaping our culture? Guest teacher Aaron Pierce offers a roadmap to understanding the primary influences and philosophies of young people today. Learn how seeing the world through their eyes can help you build deeper, more authentic connections.ResourcesMessage NotesSpecial OffersConnect888-333-6003WebsiteChip Ingram AppInstagramFacebookYouTubePartner With UsDonate Online888-333-6003Resources Mentioned in TeachingNancy Pearcey - "Love Thy Body"Guest Speaker BioAaron Pierce is the International Mission Director of Steiger International, a rapidly-growing, worldwide mission organization that is called to reach and disciple the Global Youth Culture for Jesus. Steiger is active in over 100 cities around the world within the regions of Europe, Eurasia, Central Asia, the Middle East, East Asia, South America, Australasia, and North America.
There is an ongoing battle for the hearts and minds of the next generation, leaving many Bible-believing parents wondering how to effectively share the Truth. Guest teacher Aaron Pierce, from Steiger International, shares practical ways to engage your children and offers a message of hope for reaching today's youth with the Gospel.ResourcesMessage NotesSpecial OffersConnect888-333-6003WebsiteChip Ingram AppInstagramFacebookYouTubePartner With UsDonate Online888-333-6003Resources Mentioned in TeachingNancy Pearcey - "Love Thy Body"Guest Speaker BioAaron Pierce is the International Mission Director of Steiger International, a rapidly-growing, worldwide mission organization that is called to reach and disciple the Global Youth Culture for Jesus. Steiger is active in over 100 cities around the world within the regions of Europe, Eurasia, Central Asia, the Middle East, East Asia, South America, Australasia, and North America.
Promising trade talks imploded after a literal 11th-hour change from the American side. We examine the new trade barriers being erected, and the complex calculation for Prime Minister Mark Carney. In Japan Gen X workers are even still bearing the costs of an economic bubble-burst from the 1990s. And how fates of civilisations have turned on sieges throughout history. Guests and host:Hal Hodson, Americas editorMoeka Iida, East Asia reporterRichard Cockett, senior digital editorJason Palmer, co-host of “The Intelligence”Topics covered: Canada, the United States, tariffs, Mark Carney, trade warJapan, Gen X, labour marketsieges, world historyListen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to The Economist. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Promising trade talks imploded after a literal 11th-hour change from the American side. We examine the new trade barriers being erected, and the complex calculation for Prime Minister Mark Carney. In Japan Gen X workers are even still bearing the costs of an economic bubble-burst from the 1990s. And how fates of civilisations have turned on sieges throughout history. Guests and host:Hal Hodson, Americas editorMoeka Iida, East Asia reporterRichard Cockett, senior digital editorJason Palmer, co-host of “The Intelligence”Topics covered: Canada, the United States, tariffs, Mark Carney, trade warJapan, Gen X, labour marketsieges, world historyListen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to The Economist. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
If China controls maritime East Asia, what would that mean for Taiwan, the Philippines, Japan, global trade, and U.S. security?In Episode 163, Ray Powell and Jim Carouso speak with retired U.S. Navy Captain Brent Sadler, a career submariner, former U.S. defense attaché in Malaysia, Heritage Foundation Senior Fellow and author of two books: U.S. Naval Power in the 21st Century and Naval Power in Action: Seizing the Initiative in the New Cold War with China.Sadler's answer is blunt: China is exercising growing control over maritime East Asia, as Beijing has spent decades building the military, commercial, and political leverage to do exactly that. He says this is not just a question of aircraft carriers, missiles, and hull counts, but also about China's strategic commercial footprint in ports, shipping and repair infrastructure, distant-water fishing fleets, maritime militia, and the China Coast Guard.Ray and Jim ask what it means that China's coast guard vessels are operating east of Taiwan. Are these deployments preparation for a possible blockade? Why are fishing fleets moving in organized formations? And how could Beijing use gray-zone coercion to change the status quo before anyone agrees that a crisis has begun?The conversation also examines the recent China-Russia naval exercises and potential for submarine technology transfer, Russian pressure on Japan around the Kuril Islands, and Beijing's efforts to turn even limited naval interactions with countries such as Indonesia into political and propaganda victories. Sadler explains why Southeast Asian leaders' rhetoric must be weighed against what matters on the water: maritime rights, military exercises, commercial ties, and freedom of navigation.Finally, Sadler assesses the military balance approaching the much-discussed 2027 window of war concerns, China's Taiwan contingency preparations, gaps in America's carrier presence in the Indo-Pacific, U.S. shipbuilding deficits, the future of unmanned vessels, and what Ukraine's drone war may mean for Taiwan and regional partners.Sadler's larger warning is that maritime control is no longer just a contest of fleets, but a contest of coercion, commerce, access, and political will; one in which Beijing can test regional governments, reshape behavior below the threshold of war, and learn whether America and its allies will respond before temporary pressure becomes a permanent advantage.Follow Brent Sadler at the Heritage Foundation, on LinkedIn or on X, @brentdsadlerFollow us on X, @IndoPacPodcast, LinkedIn or FacebookFollow Ray on X, @GordianKnotRay, or LinkedInFollow Jim on LinkedInSponsored by BowerGroupAsia
Cory Gardner is a former U.S. Senator and Congressman from Colorado and was one of the Senate's leading Taiwan and China experts, chairing the Foreign Relations subcommittee on East Asia and authoring the Taipei Act. He is now president and CEO of NCTA, the Internet & Television Association, whose members built the nation's largest broadband platform.In this episode of Summation, Cory and Auren discuss:Why the AI race gets won on spectrum, fiber, and memory chipsThe bottleneck raising the price of your iPhone, PlayStation, and routerWhy an open society is vulnerable to a campaign to turn Americans against AIWhat a China expert thinks about our dependence on chips made off China's coastYou can find Auren Hoffman on X at @auren and Cory Gardner on X at @CoryGardner
The Aesthetics of Risk in Franco-East Asian Literatures (Cambridge UP, 2026) is the first book that examines the concept of risk in non-anglophone world literature. Focusing on how risk is produced and reshaped by literary aesthetics, Li argues that risk is a creative rather than negative force in world literature. Instead of disaster narratives, Li approaches risk from the fresh perspective of ludic aesthetics, or playful, gamelike, illusionistic and experimental literary strategies. Comparatively analysing an original selection of texts by modern and contemporary French-Francophone and East Asian writers, each chapter focuses on a particular genre such as the novel, life-writing, poetry, and image-texts. The reimagination of risk in literature is revealed to be closely related to different forms of play such as structured games, masquerade, poetic and intermedial experimentation. Franco-East Asian literatures help us rethink risk in linguistically diverse and cross-cultural contexts, providing a new paradigm for comparative criticism and world literature. Guest Xiaofan Amy Li is Associate Professor in Comparative Cultural Studies at University College London and holds a PhD in French from Queens' College, Cambridge. Her research spans comparisons and exchanges from the 20th-21st centuries between France, China, and East Asia broadly speaking. Her first monograph Comparative Encounters between Artaud, Michaux and the Zhuangzi (Legenda, 2015) re-reads two avant-garde French writers and the imaginative classical Chinese text Zhuangzi through their intertextual, poetic, and conceptual dialogues. Besides her two monographs, she has published extensively on Surrealism, poetry, and literary translation. She is a member of the AILC/ICLA (International Comparative Literature Association) Research Committee on Literary Theory. Host Gina Stamm is Associate Professor of French at The University of Alabama, with research concentrated on the environmental humanities and speculative literatures of the 20th and 21st centuries, from Surrealism to contemporary science fiction and feminist utopias, in Metropolitan France and the francophone Caribbean, with a book manuscript underreview on posthumanist ecological engagement in the surrealist movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
The Aesthetics of Risk in Franco-East Asian Literatures (Cambridge UP, 2026) is the first book that examines the concept of risk in non-anglophone world literature. Focusing on how risk is produced and reshaped by literary aesthetics, Li argues that risk is a creative rather than negative force in world literature. Instead of disaster narratives, Li approaches risk from the fresh perspective of ludic aesthetics, or playful, gamelike, illusionistic and experimental literary strategies. Comparatively analysing an original selection of texts by modern and contemporary French-Francophone and East Asian writers, each chapter focuses on a particular genre such as the novel, life-writing, poetry, and image-texts. The reimagination of risk in literature is revealed to be closely related to different forms of play such as structured games, masquerade, poetic and intermedial experimentation. Franco-East Asian literatures help us rethink risk in linguistically diverse and cross-cultural contexts, providing a new paradigm for comparative criticism and world literature. Guest Xiaofan Amy Li is Associate Professor in Comparative Cultural Studies at University College London and holds a PhD in French from Queens' College, Cambridge. Her research spans comparisons and exchanges from the 20th-21st centuries between France, China, and East Asia broadly speaking. Her first monograph Comparative Encounters between Artaud, Michaux and the Zhuangzi (Legenda, 2015) re-reads two avant-garde French writers and the imaginative classical Chinese text Zhuangzi through their intertextual, poetic, and conceptual dialogues. Besides her two monographs, she has published extensively on Surrealism, poetry, and literary translation. She is a member of the AILC/ICLA (International Comparative Literature Association) Research Committee on Literary Theory. Host Gina Stamm is Associate Professor of French at The University of Alabama, with research concentrated on the environmental humanities and speculative literatures of the 20th and 21st centuries, from Surrealism to contemporary science fiction and feminist utopias, in Metropolitan France and the francophone Caribbean, with a book manuscript underreview on posthumanist ecological engagement in the surrealist movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/east-asian-studies
The Aesthetics of Risk in Franco-East Asian Literatures (Cambridge UP, 2026) is the first book that examines the concept of risk in non-anglophone world literature. Focusing on how risk is produced and reshaped by literary aesthetics, Li argues that risk is a creative rather than negative force in world literature. Instead of disaster narratives, Li approaches risk from the fresh perspective of ludic aesthetics, or playful, gamelike, illusionistic and experimental literary strategies. Comparatively analysing an original selection of texts by modern and contemporary French-Francophone and East Asian writers, each chapter focuses on a particular genre such as the novel, life-writing, poetry, and image-texts. The reimagination of risk in literature is revealed to be closely related to different forms of play such as structured games, masquerade, poetic and intermedial experimentation. Franco-East Asian literatures help us rethink risk in linguistically diverse and cross-cultural contexts, providing a new paradigm for comparative criticism and world literature. Guest Xiaofan Amy Li is Associate Professor in Comparative Cultural Studies at University College London and holds a PhD in French from Queens' College, Cambridge. Her research spans comparisons and exchanges from the 20th-21st centuries between France, China, and East Asia broadly speaking. Her first monograph Comparative Encounters between Artaud, Michaux and the Zhuangzi (Legenda, 2015) re-reads two avant-garde French writers and the imaginative classical Chinese text Zhuangzi through their intertextual, poetic, and conceptual dialogues. Besides her two monographs, she has published extensively on Surrealism, poetry, and literary translation. She is a member of the AILC/ICLA (International Comparative Literature Association) Research Committee on Literary Theory. Host Gina Stamm is Associate Professor of French at The University of Alabama, with research concentrated on the environmental humanities and speculative literatures of the 20th and 21st centuries, from Surrealism to contemporary science fiction and feminist utopias, in Metropolitan France and the francophone Caribbean, with a book manuscript underreview on posthumanist ecological engagement in the surrealist movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literary-studies
The Aesthetics of Risk in Franco-East Asian Literatures (Cambridge UP, 2026) is the first book that examines the concept of risk in non-anglophone world literature. Focusing on how risk is produced and reshaped by literary aesthetics, Li argues that risk is a creative rather than negative force in world literature. Instead of disaster narratives, Li approaches risk from the fresh perspective of ludic aesthetics, or playful, gamelike, illusionistic and experimental literary strategies. Comparatively analysing an original selection of texts by modern and contemporary French-Francophone and East Asian writers, each chapter focuses on a particular genre such as the novel, life-writing, poetry, and image-texts. The reimagination of risk in literature is revealed to be closely related to different forms of play such as structured games, masquerade, poetic and intermedial experimentation. Franco-East Asian literatures help us rethink risk in linguistically diverse and cross-cultural contexts, providing a new paradigm for comparative criticism and world literature. Guest Xiaofan Amy Li is Associate Professor in Comparative Cultural Studies at University College London and holds a PhD in French from Queens' College, Cambridge. Her research spans comparisons and exchanges from the 20th-21st centuries between France, China, and East Asia broadly speaking. Her first monograph Comparative Encounters between Artaud, Michaux and the Zhuangzi (Legenda, 2015) re-reads two avant-garde French writers and the imaginative classical Chinese text Zhuangzi through their intertextual, poetic, and conceptual dialogues. Besides her two monographs, she has published extensively on Surrealism, poetry, and literary translation. She is a member of the AILC/ICLA (International Comparative Literature Association) Research Committee on Literary Theory. Host Gina Stamm is Associate Professor of French at The University of Alabama, with research concentrated on the environmental humanities and speculative literatures of the 20th and 21st centuries, from Surrealism to contemporary science fiction and feminist utopias, in Metropolitan France and the francophone Caribbean, with a book manuscript underreview on posthumanist ecological engagement in the surrealist movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/french-studies
The Aesthetics of Risk in Franco-East Asian Literatures (Cambridge UP, 2026) is the first book that examines the concept of risk in non-anglophone world literature. Focusing on how risk is produced and reshaped by literary aesthetics, Li argues that risk is a creative rather than negative force in world literature. Instead of disaster narratives, Li approaches risk from the fresh perspective of ludic aesthetics, or playful, gamelike, illusionistic and experimental literary strategies. Comparatively analysing an original selection of texts by modern and contemporary French-Francophone and East Asian writers, each chapter focuses on a particular genre such as the novel, life-writing, poetry, and image-texts. The reimagination of risk in literature is revealed to be closely related to different forms of play such as structured games, masquerade, poetic and intermedial experimentation. Franco-East Asian literatures help us rethink risk in linguistically diverse and cross-cultural contexts, providing a new paradigm for comparative criticism and world literature. Guest Xiaofan Amy Li is Associate Professor in Comparative Cultural Studies at University College London and holds a PhD in French from Queens' College, Cambridge. Her research spans comparisons and exchanges from the 20th-21st centuries between France, China, and East Asia broadly speaking. Her first monograph Comparative Encounters between Artaud, Michaux and the Zhuangzi (Legenda, 2015) re-reads two avant-garde French writers and the imaginative classical Chinese text Zhuangzi through their intertextual, poetic, and conceptual dialogues. Besides her two monographs, she has published extensively on Surrealism, poetry, and literary translation. She is a member of the AILC/ICLA (International Comparative Literature Association) Research Committee on Literary Theory. Host Gina Stamm is Associate Professor of French at The University of Alabama, with research concentrated on the environmental humanities and speculative literatures of the 20th and 21st centuries, from Surrealism to contemporary science fiction and feminist utopias, in Metropolitan France and the francophone Caribbean, with a book manuscript underreview on posthumanist ecological engagement in the surrealist movement.
fWotD Episode 3386: Yongle Emperor Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia's finest articles.The featured article for Wednesday, 12 August 2026, is Yongle Emperor.The Yongle Emperor (2 May 1360 – 12 August 1424), personal name Zhu Di, was the third emperor of the Ming dynasty of China, reigning from 1402 to 1424. He was the fourth son of the Hongwu Emperor, the founder of the dynasty.In 1370, Zhu Di was granted the title of Prince of Yan. By 1380, he had relocated to Beiping (present-day Beijing) and was responsible for protecting the northeastern borderlands. In the 1380s and 1390s, he proved himself to be a skilled military leader, gaining popularity among soldiers and achieving success as a statesman. In 1399, he rebelled against his nephew, the Jianwen Emperor, and launched a civil war known as the Jingnan campaign. After three years of intense fighting, he emerged victorious and declared himself emperor in 1402.After ascending the throne, the Yongle Emperor elevated Beiping to the status of a second capital, diminishing the importance of Nanjing. Construction of the new capital between 1407 and 1420 employed hundreds of thousands of workers. He also supervised the reconstruction of the Grand Canal, essential for supplying Beijing and the northern armies. The Emperor strongly supported both Confucianism and Buddhism and sponsored the compilation of the vast Yongle Encyclopedia, employing around two thousand scholars. He also ordered Neo-Confucian texts to be systematized and used as textbooks for training officials. The civil service examinations, held every three years, produced qualified candidates for government service. Unlike his father, he avoided frequent purges, resulting in longer ministerial tenures and a more professional, stable administration.The Emperor made considerable efforts to reinforce the empire's hegemonic position in East Asia through an active foreign policy. Diplomatic missions and military expeditions were dispatched to regions both near and distant, including Manchuria, Korea, Japan, the Philippines, and the Timurid Empire in Central Asia. Maritime expeditions led by the eunuch admiral Zheng He extended even further, reaching the shores of Southeast Asia, India, Persia, and East Africa. The Mongols—including southeastern Uriankhai, eastern Mongols and western Oirats—remained the empire's greatest security threat, prompting the Ming court to alternately support and confront the various groups. The Emperor personally led five campaigns into Mongolia, and his decision to transfer the government from Nanjing to Beijing was driven largely by the need to closely monitor the unstable northern frontier. Although a skilled military leader, his wars were ultimately unsuccessful, as the campaign in Đại Việt lasted until the end of his reign and his Mongolian campaigns failed to secure China's northern border.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:01 UTC on Wednesday, 12 August 2026.For the full current version of the article, see Yongle Emperor on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Bluesky at @wikioftheday.com.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Ruth.
What happens when we take our last breath? For centuries, answers to this question were reserved for religious texts and philosophical debates. Today, clinical research into Near Death Experiences provides a growing body of firsthand accounts from people who clinically died and returned.In a compelling podcast conversation between host TruthSeekah and Stephen Gray, the new documentary After Death Movie explores the mysterious intersection of science, trauma, and the spirit. The film brings together medical doctors, scientists, and survivors to evaluate real accounts of life after death."I felt my body being restored all over... an inner deep healing to my soul in a way that only Jesus could get to." — Howard Storm's Account featured in After DeathShared Patterns Across CulturesOne of the most remarkable aspects of NDE research is its cross-cultural validity. Whether examining accounts from North America, East Asia, or the Middle East, investigators routinely observe consistent core themes:Out-of-Body Awareness: Observing resuscitation efforts from a perspective above the physical body.Encounters with Light: Meeting a distinct being radiating light described as brighter than a thousand suns.Profound Transformation: NDE survivors frequently undergo immediate, lifelong shifts in values, prioritizing altruism over material gain.While positive accounts offer profound comfort, the documentary also tackles distressing near death experience stories. By including harrowing journeys through existential darkness, the film provides a complete, unfiltered look at the full spectrum of human consciousness at the threshold of death.To explore the interview, access scientific evidence of afterlife accounts, or learn about Angel Studios After Death, listen to the full episode on the TruthSeekah Podcast.✨ Join Our Global Patreon Community!✨ ✅ Get access to 40+ video lessons + Weekly LIVE calls Where We Discuss These Topics Together!✅ Worldwide Online Discord Community Access!✅ Courses, Monthly Webinars, Prayer, Meditation, Discussion!✅ Access Our Meditation Library!✅ Get Exclusive Unreleased Music!➡️ Join Our Global Patreon Community! https://patreon.com/join/truthseekah
Serhii Plokhy, Part Two: The second part focuses on the 2022 full-scale invasion, defined by Putin's catastrophic miscalculation that his troops would be welcomed as liberators. Instead, Ukraine demonstrated remarkable resilience under President Zelenskyy and military leaders like General Oleksandr Syrskyi. Plokhy highlights the "outright criminality" of Russian tactics, specifically the reckless use of nuclear sites like Chernobyl and Zaporizhzhia as military shields and tools of international blackmail. He notes that the defense of sites like the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupolbecame global symbols of Ukrainian resistance. The war has triggered profound global shifts, including Germany's "Zeitenwende" and Japan's move toward providing military support. Former "interlocutors" like Emmanuel Macronhave shifted from seeking accommodation to joining the US-led coalition, while diplomatic mediation has fallen to leaders like President Erdoğan of Turkey. Furthermore, Ukraine's effective defense has likely contributed to stability in East Asia by discouraging a Chinese military adventure in Taiwan. While Putin views the war through an imperial lens, NATO has rediscovered its purpose in defending the international order. Plokhy concludes that while Putin is destroying Russia's future, the war may eventually force the nation to rethink itself as a modern state rather than an empire. (2)
On this week's episode: We've always been at war with Eastasia ... An old Who's Woo subject gets in touch with an opportunity too good to turn down ... And presidential hopeful Tucker Carlson wants a house to go with his replacement theory.To support our show on Patreon, go here:patreon.com/skepticratTo hear more from Evil Giraffes on Mars, go here:facebook.com/EvilGiraffesOnMarsGet great deals while supporting the show by checking out our sponsors:mintmobile.com/skepticratquince.com/skepticratauraframes.com (code: SKEPTICRAT)groundnews.com/skepticratHeadline Sources: Trump basically resorts to threatening Iran with imaginary missiles: https://abcnews.com/Politics/crucial-us-missile-stockpiles-extremely-low-official/story?id=135428997 https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/08/05/trump-hegseth-clashed-camp-david-over-iran-missile-depletion-concerns/Playbooks, plagiarism and a pig's head: new claims surrounding a star Cambridge professor: https://www.theguardian.com/education/ng-interactive/2026/aug/01/playbooks-plagiarism-pigs-head-new-claims-surrounding-cambridge-professor-jason-arday The takedown of Jason Arday has overjoyed the right, and must be a wake-up call for the left: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/aug/06/jason-arday-dei-race-issues-university-of-cambridgeComey prosecution is absurd and Trump reminds us that he was a Russian asset: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/29/us/james-comey-seashells-trump-secret-service.htmlhttps://www.axios.com/2026/08/05/trump-russian-asset-comey-fbi-investigationFauci takes the 5th: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/06/us/politics/fauci-contempt-of-congress.htmlMichael Marshall has a zoom call with an unsuspecting Brian Rose: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1580651800303373 TUCKER CARLSON puts out 10-point manifesto in possible bid for president: https://www.axios.com/2026/08/06/tucker-carlson-third-party-israel-trump
Last time we spoke about the ending of the Second Battle of Changsha. In late September and early October 1941, Chinese commander Chen Cheng planned an operation to retake Yichang, a strategic Yangtze River city whose control was essential for protecting the approach to Chongqing. Japanese forces were pulling back from Changsha, weakened by supply problems and casualties, which created an opportunity for Chen to intensify his campaign. Yichang had been captured by Japan in 1940, a defeat that Chen carried as a personal and political burden. He therefore moved to encircle the Japanese 13th Division inside Yichang and drive it to collapse. Although the Chinese held a clear manpower advantage—fourteen divisions against the encircled Japanese—progress was slowed by stubborn fighting from prepared, entrenched positions. The battle inside the city produced desperate close-quarters combat and heavy casualties, showing how the fate of Yichang and the wider defense of Chongqing were tightly linked. #214 War hits the Pacific Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. The guns fell silent on October 9, 1941, as the Ninth War Zone's forces restored their pre-battle positions, marking the end of the Second Battle of Changsha. The balance sheet was grim on both sides, but it was China that bore the heavier cost. The Ninth Military Front suffered 70,672 killed, wounded, or missing. The concurrent Yichang offensive added a further 21,368 casualties to the Sixth Military Front, a force that outnumbered its Japanese opponents ten to one yet still failed to retake the city. By the time the dust settled, the Chinese army had lost nearly 100,000 men across both theatres. The Chinese command was frank, at least in private, about what had gone wrong. The Japanese had moved with a speed that recalled Blitzkrieg, advancing 130 kilometres in eleven days and withdrawing at twelve kilometres a day, catching the defenders perpetually off-balance. The 26th, 37th, 10th, and 74th Corps had been picked apart piecemeal rather than fighting in concert, the original plan to destroy the Japanese south of the Miluo River coming to nothing. Elite formations had paid a disproportionate price: the 74th Corps suffered 14,521 casualties, the 37th Corps 14,015, and the 58th Division alone lost 6,192 of its 11,907 men, nearly its entire fighting strength. Yet none of this was the story the public would hear. On October 10th, China's National Day, radio stations announced the "Second Great Victory in Northern Hunan", the annihilation of over 40,000 enemy troops. Newspapers rushed out special editions. Congratulatory telegrams flooded in from government ministries and civic organizations. Senior officials seized on the moment: Sun Ke, Premier of the Executive Yuan, declared that the victory "laid the foundation for the counter-offensive and the recapture of Hankou and Guangzhou," while General Bai Chongxi called it "the pivotal moment for us to turn defeat into victory." Chiang Kai-shek, reading through the pages of triumphant commentary produced overnight by his propagandists, was reportedly impressed by their industry, if not convinced by their content. He had not wanted to call it a victory at all, but the political calculus was unavoidable: after four years of war, an exhausted nation needed the psychological sustenance that only "victory" could provide. The gap between public performance and private reality was nowhere more visible than in the arrival of a twenty-two-member international press delegation on October 13th. Journalists from Britain, the United States, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, Hong Kong, and major Chinese newspapers were flown to Changsha and carefully guided through selected battlefields, where they inspected mountains of war trophies and heard testimony from soldiers and civilians. They left satisfied, presenting their war souvenirs—swords, binoculars, Japanese military flags—to their audiences back home as proof of Chinese heroism and Japanese defeat. Both China and Japan were claiming victory simultaneously. The only conclusion the foreign press could draw was that one side was lying, and it was not the side that had shown them the evidence. Chiang Kai-shek's real verdict came at the Third Nanyue Military Conference, held from October 16 to 21. His anger was withering. He condemned his generals for their obsession with defending sprawling outer perimeter lines while leaving city centres barely fortified, a mentality so rigid, he said, that the Japanese could announce the exact time of their advance and withdrawal in advance and still execute it on schedule without interference. "Generals, what a disgrace this is!" On the failure to capture prisoners, only 263 prisoners were claimed across the entire front, of whom only 16 names were actually published, he was almost incredulous: "We can definitely defeat the enemy, capture many enemy prisoners, and seize countless enemy weapons! Even if we cannot capture ten thousand prisoners, we should at least capture a thousand! If not a thousand, then at least a hundred! But now, you don't even have ten!" The conference handed down punishments to match the rhetoric. Liao Lingqi, commander of the shattered 58th Division, was sentenced to death for desertion and shot on October 22nd. His men were so outraged that three regimental commanders resigned in protest; the division was pulled from the order of battle entirely and given three months to rebuild. Li Yutang, commander of the 10th Corps, was dismissed—though the Third Battle of Changsha would begin before his replacement could take post, and he would be reinstated to play a key role in the city's defence. On the Japanese side, the 11th Army acknowledged 1,670 killed, 5,184 wounded, and 14 missing, far fewer than Chinese claims, though post-war regimental histories suggest the true figure was higher. Lieutenant General Anami, who had championed the operation, found himself stung by the charge that the battle had served mainly as material for Chinese propaganda. On November 23rd, he reportedly reacted with visible displeasure when someone in his headquarters said as much aloud. Anami's annoyance was easy enough to understand, but the accusation carried a troubling degree of accuracy. The Second Battle of Changsha had yielded no decisive strategic gain and no substantial alteration in the military balance. What it did generate, rather effectively, was a story and by the autumn of 1941, stories were one of the few things China still had in plentiful supply. The most consequential struggles were taking place not along the Miluo River, but in foreign ministries and embassies, in Washington and Moscow, in the messages passing between Chongqing and London, and in the increasingly strained calculations of statesmen trying to determine, amid rapidly changing circumstances, whom to support and for how long. For Chiang Kai-shek, the challenge was never merely military. It was structural, and had been so from the outset. He had always seen clearly, precisely because he understood China's weakness, that Japan could not be defeated by China alone. The country lacked the industrial base, the logistical reach, and after four years of relentless attrition more and more the manpower needed to force a decisive result on the battlefield. China's survival depended on making its war inseparable from the wars of other powers. Since 1937, Chiang's diplomacy had pursued that single objective: convincing enough great powers that their interests were aligned with China's, and holding that coalition together long enough for Japan to be subdued. That effort turned out to be vastly more difficult than it ought to have been. The problem started with the international order in which the war emerged. Chiang had hoped to assemble a concert of allies willing to help defend China against Japanese aggression. He was blocked not just by the reluctance of neutral states to aid China, but by the speed with which alliances shifted in the opening years of the Second World War. He had never welcomed the prospect of a general European conflict, correctly fearing that it would push China even further to the margins of world attention. Even so, he recognized that once the lines had hardened between the imperial democracies and fascism, new alignments might become possible. From his perspective, the growing amity between Berlin and Moscow was therefore disastrous. He had been eager to draw the USSR into war against Japan. Instead, the Soviets were now effectively aligned with the Nazis, who were themselves allied with Tokyo. The world created after Versailles had already enraged many Chinese. After all, the May Fourth demonstrations of 1919 had arisen directly from the settlement reached at the Paris Peace Conference. Yet that older order had at least possessed recognizable anchors, especially the dominance of the two great European empires and the United States. Now those empires were weakening, and no one could say with confidence what the new geopolitical order would be. For all Chiang knew, Germany might emerge as Europe's new dominant power. The early years of the European war produced a bewildering spectacle of diplomatic realignment. The Nationalist government had previously enjoyed a short-lived flirtation with Nazi Germany. In fact, Hitler's regime continued supplying Chiang with munitions in the first months of China's war against Japan. The Anti-Comintern Pact of 1936 had theoretically joined Germany, Italy, and Japan into the Axis, but mutual distrust prevented them from forming anything like a fully coherent alliance. Chiang found it useful to imply to Western powers that he might be pushed into closer alignment with Germany, a particularly disturbing possibility for the USSR, which faced enemies in both Europe and Asia. But eventually the contradictions in German policy toward East Asia became too severe. In April 1938, Germany yielded to Japanese pressure and ended its support for China. Britain offered little meaningful help. Neville Chamberlain became prime minister in May 1937 at the head of a Conservative-led National Government, and was quickly overwhelmed by the deteriorating European situation. If Czechoslovakia was for him a "far-off country of which we know nothing," China's fate was even more distant and obscure to many, perhaps most policymakers in London. The Nationalists had more success in cultivating the United States. At the Nine-Power Conference in Brussels in November 1937, the Chinese delegation failed to persuade Washington to impose sanctions on Japan and confront it directly. By the middle of 1938, however, American views were beginning to shift. As Japan pushed deeper into southern China, it became increasingly obvious that the occupied territory would be closed to foreign trade. In December 1938, Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau arranged a private American loan of $25 million to China, to be repaid through shipments of tung oil, a varnish product whose real importance lay not in itself, but in what the arrangement signified: a quiet American expression of faith that Chongqing would survive. Chiang also held on to the hope of an even less likely partnership. He had become fiercely anti-Communist during the 1920s, yet in the early years of the anti-Japanese war his greatest hope still rested on Soviet entry into the conflict. Soviet advisers and pilots had aided China from 1937 to 1939, but the USSR never formally declared war on Japan. Still, as Japanese aggression in northern Asia intensified, it remained possible that the Soviets would eventually be drawn in. Then, as so often happened whenever Chiang tried to impose some control over the course of the war, events beyond China's borders altered the struggle in fundamental ways. While Western attention remained fixed on Europe's darkening horizon, a battle with major consequences for East Asia unfolded on the frontiers of Outer Mongolia, Manchukuo, and the eastern Soviet Union. Throughout much of 1938 and early 1939, one faction within the Japanese Imperial Army sought to pressure the Soviets along their eastern frontier. The USSR appeared vulnerable; Stalin's paranoid purges had executed or exiled many of the Red Army's best officers. In May 1939, fighting broke out near Nomonhan between forces from Soviet-backed Mongolia and Japanese troops from Manchukuo. Within days, both sides had reinforced heavily, until nearly 60,000 Soviet troops faced about 40,000 soldiers from the Kwantung Army. Over the next four months, until mid-September, they fought a major battle ending in a decisive Japanese defeat and establishing the reputation of General Georgi Zhukov, who would later become one of Stalin's most celebrated wartime commanders. The much-derided Soviet Army had fought with formidable effectiveness, and the result was not only a ceasefire but also a nonaggression pact between the two sides, extinguishing, in one stroke, Chiang's hopes for a Chinese-Soviet military alliance. The final blow came after developments in northern Europe. In the Winter War of 1939–1940, the Soviet invasion of Finland led Britain and France to back a motion expelling the USSR from the League of Nations. China, then a member of the League Council, declined to use its veto to block the resolution. Stalin was enraged by Chiang's failure to prevent Soviet expulsion, and mutual suspicion thereafter poisoned relations between the two leaders for the rest of the war against Japan. China would now have to continue without further major Soviet backing. By the spring of 1940, China's position had become deeply precarious. In March, senior Japanese negotiators sought an agreement with Chiang in Chongqing, while Wang Jingwei was trying to formalize his rival Nationalist government in Nanjing. This effort, known in Chinese as the Tong Operation, and in Japanese as Operation Kiri, led to talks in Hong Kong from March 7 to 10, 1940. Militarily, the Nationalists were in grave danger: the United States remained neutral, and Europe was in chaos. Indeed, that same spring, with France seemingly near collapse, the British government also sent out discreet feelers to explore the possibility of a negotiated peace with Germany. For China, Western assistance was nowhere in sight. The Japanese judged the moment favorable for pressing Chiang toward concessions. Faced with serious danger to his regime, Chiang allowed the door to negotiation to open just slightly. As a consequence, the Japanese delayed full recognition of Wang Jingwei's new government. Through the summer and autumn of 1940, Tokyo remained uncertain about the defector. Prominent Japanese figures such as Count Arima Yoriyasu of the Privy Council said Wang's conduct demonstrated his untrustworthiness, and Foreign Minister Matsuoka Yōsuke continued to express interest in an agreement with Chongqing. Zhou Fohai captured the defectors' frustration, men who believed they had made the highest patriotic sacrifice when he wrote: "Chongqing sees us as collaborators, we see ourselves as heroes. We think only peace can save the country — that's why we think of ourselves as heroes. If we end up classed as heroes, then China and Japan will be at peace. If we end up classed as collaborators, then China and Japan will never be at peace."That formulation conveyed something genuine about the moral dizziness of the period. Most of the defectors were not men devoid of principles; they were men whose principles had carried them to a place that history would find exceptionally hard to pardon. The "New Fourth Army Incident" brought to a close one of the most consequential years in modern Chinese political history. The battle of ideas unfolding in 1940 was already visible to informed contemporaries. Early in 1941, US Ambassador Nelson Johnson sent Washington a detailed assessment of the Chinese political situation in reply to another report passed along by Major Evans Carlson, an American officer who had made an extensive journey through the Chinese interior. The contrast between the two documents revealed a widening split in American views of China. Carlson, together with his travelling companion, the New Zealander Rewi Alley, had become increasingly sympathetic to the Communists after visiting their territories in 1938 and admiring their discipline. Carlson described the Nationalists as moving toward "fascism," and argued that American aid should be conditioned on Chiang's government being compelled to adopt more "democratic" institutions. Johnson strongly disagreed. It was "only normal and natural," he wrote, that the Nationalists wanted to retain power, but during the war they had established the National Political Consultative Council, in which multiple parties, including the Communists, were represented. He also noted that the CCP could publish its own newspaper in Chongqing in a way that would have been impossible before the war. One might have expected the Nationalists to use the war as a justification "to extinguish . . . all political opposition," yet instead they had chosen to "muddle along." Johnson further thought that the influence of competing cliques inside the Nationalist Party had been overstated. Chiang Kai-shek, by contrast, had "grown in stature, as he has come to be recognized as the symbol of united resistance to Japanese encroachment"; ultimately, "it is he who makes the final decisions." Johnson did agree with Carlson that Chiang's regime was hesitant to encourage a broad-based popular movement animated by anything beyond anti-Japanese feeling, though he also pointed to Nationalist cooperative programs and county-level reforms. But he rejected the idea that American support should depend on sweeping political transformation. Chiang was committed to continuing the war against Japan, and Washington should back him in that effort. In a notably farsighted passage, Johnson wrote: "It is my view that since the fall of the Manchu dynasty and the collapse of the traditional Chinese concept of government the Chinese people have been feeling their way along toward a new evolving form of government. A definitive form of government has not yet been established and may not be established for decades; it may or may not be in the form of a democracy, but it will be a type of government that will be adapted to the needs of China and its people." The tension between these two American interpretations, Carlson's idealized belief in the Communists and Johnson's pragmatic support for Chiang was more than a minor bureaucratic dispute. It foreshadowed a debate that would dominate American foreign policy for the next decade, and would still echo when the People's Republic was proclaimed in 1949. The disastrous experience of 1940 seemed to cast doubt on whether any future for China existed outside the Japanese Empire. As 1941 wore on, another dreadful event shook the exhausted wartime capital. On June 5, Chongqing endured roughly five hours of bombing, driving the population into air-raid shelters. In one tunnel in the Shibati district, the conditions were even worse than usual. The large shelter was supposed to have lights and electric fans, but the generators had never been connected. Inside, the air was dark, hot, and suffocating. Around ten that evening, people began emerging from the tunnel when rumors spread that the Japanese were returning with poison-gas bombs. Air-raid wardens forced people back inside, even as others were still trying to come out. Bodies toppled over one another, and panic spread as people realized they could not breathe. Over the next few hours, hundreds died underground in the darkness. The exact number was never definitively established: the official figure was 461, though a contemporary police report placed it far higher, at 1,527. What rescuers remembered most vividly were the tortured expressions of the dead, people tangled together in each other's arms as they lost consciousness, clothing ripped to shreds by desperate hands clawing at one another, and bodies so drenched in sweat that they looked as though they had been soaked in water. One survivor, Tang Zhengchang, remembered a hand reaching out from a pile of corpses and pleading, "Sir, please help me . . ." The grip on Tang's shorts was so tight that it pulled them off; he escaped the tunnel naked from the waist down. Official descriptions of the disaster were softened. Even so, the tragedy deepened the city's gloom and in a place already saturated with grief, an added layer of darkness mattered a great deal. Yet events elsewhere would soon offer the National Government a narrow margin of hope. Late in 1940, Franklin D. Roosevelt won re-election as president of the United States. "I am not going to send your boys into any foreign wars," he had proclaimed during the campaign against Wendell Willkie. But Roosevelt and Secretary of State Cordell Hull both understood that Nazi domination of Europe posed a grave challenge to American influence there. And with China's "Open Door" to trade effectively shut by Japanese occupation, it was becoming increasingly clear that strict neutrality might not remain viable. In a 1941 report on China's domestic and foreign situation, Ambassador Johnson noted that during Germany's sweeping victories across Europe in mid-1940, the Chinese had become anxious about whether the Allies would remain committed to their cause. Britain's refusal to surrender, however, together with continuing Soviet goodwill, lifted public morale in China. People now looked toward the United States and Britain for support and felt that "victory" was "virtually theirs." Then, on June 22, 1941, the world awoke to news that roughly three million German soldiers were advancing into the Soviet Union. Operation Barbarossa, Hitler's invasion of the USSR, dramatically overturned the nonaggression that had governed relations between the two major European dictatorships for the previous two years. It transformed the war in Europe entirely. Less obviously, it also transformed the war in Asia. Thanks to intelligence leaks, Chiang Kai-shek had already realized that war between Germany and the USSR was likely. After the neutrality treaty between the USSR and Japan was signed on April 13, 1941, Chiang predicted that the United States would be drawn into the Asian war, and even that Japan might eventually reverse course and strike the Soviet Union. If that happened, China would become the critical Asian ally of both Washington and Moscow. Stalin had been caught off guard by the German assault — largely because he ignored increasingly urgent warnings from senior colleagues receiving intelligence from well-placed spies in Germany and the Comintern, eager to preserve its alliances, now pressed the Chinese Communists to cooperate more closely with the Nationalists. On June 23, 1941, the CCP Central Committee responded with a declaration that it would "persevere in the Anti-Japanese United Front, persevere in Nationalist-Communist cooperation," and would align itself with the British, the Americans, and others resisting the "fascist rulers" of the Axis. In Chongqing and Yan'an, the German attack on the Soviet Union was interpreted as a hopeful sign that Japan's fortunes might be beginning to turn. In Nanjing, the reaction was different. On June 22, Zhou Fohai recorded in his diary that, although the outcome "cannot be predicted," members of the Nanjing regime "all believe Germany will win and will take Moscow within two months." Zhou speculated that Japan could not easily reconcile its neutrality treaty with the USSR and its membership in the Anti-Comintern Pact, which was supposed to unite the Axis against Soviet expansionism. Still, because Germany had struck first, Japan was under no formal obligation to help. Zhou also continued to view events through a lens he had never abandoned: that of Chinese nationalism. "If Chongqing joins the Allies and they win," he wrote, "then this is good for China." If they lost, it would be disastrous for Chiang Kai-shek; but because Wang Jingwei had established a government in Nanjing under Japanese sponsorship, China now had "a foot in both boats." It was a ruthless calculation, but not a wholly dishonorable one. Zhou was not merely advancing Japanese interests. He was hedging, wagering on multiple futures in the name of a China he believed would endure beyond whatever constellation of powers happened to dominate at the moment. Whether posterity would judge that conduct prudent or collaborative was a question he could neither settle nor live to see resolved to his satisfaction. The summer of 1941 marked a major geopolitical turning point in the war. Until then, the conflicts in China and Europe had remained separate, if desperate, struggles on the Eurasian continent. Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union now forced Japan to decide whether it too would enter war against the USSR. Debate in Tokyo was brief. Although some officials, including Foreign Minister Matsuoka, favored striking north before moving south, both the Kwantung Army and the Navy advised against helping Germany at least until Germany had succeeded in drawing substantial Soviet forces away from Siberia and into Europe. Konoye, once again prime minister, agreed. With the northern option set aside, Japanese leaders turned toward another great power instead: the United States. Japan's failure to gain further decisive momentum in China had fueled demands for broader regional expansion, especially into Southeast Asia, with its abundant oil, rubber, and other strategic resources. From 1940 onward, measures such as the pressure to close the Burma Road made it increasingly obvious that Tokyo had adopted a more aggressive posture in Asia. Unable to subdue China, Japanese policymakers chose instead to escalate the conflict still further. Japanese political life had become ever more dominated by the unresolved war in China. As early as 1938, military expenditures consumed about 70 percent of the national budget, and that same year a National Mobilization Bill granted the government "total war control" over the zaibatsu, Japan's major industrial conglomerates. By 1940, the New Order was making itself felt throughout everyday life, with campaigns against luxury and extravagant consumption taking on new prominence. In February 1940, a parliamentarian was expelled from the Diet simply for daring to criticize the "holy war" in China. In such an atmosphere, retreat from imperial ambitions became increasingly unthinkable. That figure, 70 percent of the national budget devoted to the military is worth dwelling on, because it reveals something essential about the trap in which Japanese strategists had placed themselves. The war in China had not been won, yet abandoning it would have meant admitting a failure so severe that it would have shaken the ideological and institutional foundations of military supremacy in Japanese politics. The only apparent ways out required pushing further in: more conquest, more extraction, more expansion. The logic was brutally clear, and profoundly destructive. The Roosevelt administration watched these developments with growing alarm. Though still formally neutral, the United States was already using Lend-Lease to provide major assistance to Britain and the Soviet Union in their struggles against Germany. It now expanded aid to China as well. On February 10, Roosevelt's representative Lauchlin Currie visited Chongqing to inform Chiang Kai-shek that the United States would soon provide $45 million in military equipment. General John Magruder, head of the small AMMISCA mission, the American Military Mission in China had been sent to Chongqing in September 1941, as part of quiet preparation for possible Chinese entry into an alliance against Japan. The China branch of the OSS, precursor to the CIA, was led by General William "Wild Bill" Donovan, whom Roosevelt had dispatched to China in early 1941. The Americans repeatedly tried to discourage Japan from moving south into Southeast Asia, but relations only grew more confrontational. Japan occupied the southern part of French Indochina, and in response the United States imposed an oil embargo in July 1941. The consequences were immense. Japan imported around 80 percent of its oil from the United States. Without that supply, its navy, the essential instrument for southern expansion had reserves for perhaps eighteen months. The real question facing Tokyo, then, was not whether it must act, but how soon. Unable any longer to resist mounting military pressure for war, Konoye resigned on October 16 and was replaced as premier by General Tōjō Hideki. Tokyo accelerated its preparations for conflict with the Western powers. Planned targets included Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaya, the Netherlands East Indies, and the Philippines. I should note, if you want to learn about all of this history in more detail, you can go check out the pacific war channel on youtube. I have a chronological series that is just now talking about events like the Japanese invasion of french indochina and the road to pearl harbor. Throughout the autumn of 1941, increasingly desperate negotiations took place between Japan and the United States. Washington insisted that Japan withdraw from China; Tokyo was equally firm that it would do no such thing. From the Japanese point of view, the demand to leave China was not a serious negotiating position but a demand for national humiliation a call to repudiate four years of war, vast casualties, and the ideological basis of Japanese militarism in a single diplomatic act. In the end, the gulf between the two positions could not be bridged. While civilian and military leaders in Tokyo argued over the pace at which they should move toward war, few among Japan's rulers doubted that war was coming. At the imperial conference of November 5, it was formally agreed that if no satisfactory diplomatic solution had been reached by December 1, war would follow soon after. Talks in Washington between Ambassador Nomura Kichisaburō, diplomat Kurusu Saburō, and Secretary of State Cordell Hull led nowhere. On November 26, Hull delivered a note repeating the American position that Japan must withdraw from both China and Indochina. On December 1, the imperial conference resolved to go to war; the following day, the date of attack was fixed as December 8, December 7 by American time. In one sense, this was the culmination toward which the entire previous decade had been moving. The war in China had started as a localized conflict, then expanded into a continental one, and was now about to become something larger still: a truly global war, stretching from the North Atlantic to the western Pacific. China's long, lonely resistance would suddenly gain new dimensions and new allies, though not the ones Chiang had spent four years trying to cultivate, and not under circumstances he would have chosen. In the early morning of December 7, 1941, the US Pacific Fleet lay anchored at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, its sailors and officers still largely asleep as dawn crept across the Pacific. The attack did not come without warning signs, American and Japanese diplomats had been locked in increasingly desperate negotiations throughout the autumn, each side hardening its position until no room remained to maneuver. Washington had demanded that Japan withdraw from China, a condition Tokyo viewed not as a serious opening offer but as a demand for national humiliation: a call to repudiate four years of brutal war, hundreds of thousands of casualties, and the entire ideological foundation upon which Japanese militarism rested. No agreement was possible on those terms, and both sides privately knew it. The strike force assembled in secret was formidable. Six aircraft carriers, the Akagi, Kaga, Sōryū, Hiryū, Shōkaku, and Zuikaku had sailed under strict radio silence across the North Pacific, launching their aircraft in two successive waves before the American base had any meaningful chance to respond. The first wave of approximately 183 planes swept in just before 8 a.m., targeting the rows of battleships moored along Battleship Row and the military airfields at Wheeler, Hickam, and Ford Island simultaneously, ensuring that American aircraft could not scramble in time to mount an effective defense. A second wave of roughly 170 planes followed less than an hour later, pressing the attack on damaged ships and harbor installations. The destruction was staggering. The battleship Arizona suffered a catastrophic magazine explosion after a armor-piercing bomb penetrated her forward decks, killing nearly 1,177 of her crew in minutes, almost half of the total American dead from the entire attack. The Oklahoma capsized after being struck by multiple torpedoes. The West Virginia and California sank at their moorings. In total, seventeen vessels were damaged or destroyed, and the vast majority of military aircraft at the nearby airfields were caught on the ground and obliterated before they could take flight. Around 2,400 Americans were killed and another 1,100 wounded, making it the deadliest single attack on American soil or territory in the nation's history to that point. Yet the attack was not a complete strategic success for Japan. The US Pacific Fleet's aircraft carriers, the vessels that would ultimately decide the naval war in the Pacific happened to be at sea that morning and escaped unharmed. The harbor's fuel storage and repair facilities were also left largely intact, allowing the fleet to reconstitute faster than Japanese planners had anticipated. What Japan achieved in tactical devastation, it partly squandered in strategic miscalculation. The attack ended American neutrality instantly and irrevocably. The following day, President Roosevelt addressed Congress, calling December 7 "a date which will live in infamy," and within hours the United States declared war on Japan. For China, after more than four years of fighting alone, the blow that devastated Pearl Harbor paradoxically carried a thread of desperate hope at last, the great power Chiang Kai-shek had spent years trying to draw into the conflict had arrived, not under circumstances he would have chosen, but arrived nonetheless. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. After years of fighting, China's situation darkened in 1941 with intense bombing of Chongqing and fears of poison-gas attacks. Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union in June shifted alliances and pressured Japan toward wider war. Japan escalated plans for Southeast Asia, suffered an oil embargo, and negotiations with the United States broke down over withdrawing from China and Indochina. Then the Pearl Harbor attack began the Pacific War.
As we wrap up our series on precious jewels, it is kind of fun to spotlight one last gemstone. One that isn't immediately beautiful or desired.But it is the rarest!Discovered in East Asia by British mineralogist Arthur Pain, the so-called “Painite” gemstone can be found in several colors, and the various hues seen as light hits them give an uncommon view.Incredibly, only 25 such stones exist today, and the value per gram works out to $9,000! Despite the fact that many people have never heard of it, Painite is the rarest of rare jewels. For the longest time, only two had been found the world over.That kind of rarity stands out in a crowd.Proverbs 31:10 says, “She is far more precious than jewels.”Think of how rare and precious a true Proverbs 31 woman is. She is a woman remembered vividly, even with emotion, long after she goes to be with her Lord.Are you a mother beloved by your children? Do they think of you fondly? Does your husband honor you for your uncommon strength and love? Will friends seek you out when they can't turn to anyone else? If so, you are that rare gem.And you are loved indeed.Let's pray.Lord, help us be that rarest of jewels, one that points others to the light and majesty of Christ, forevermore. In Jesus' name, amen. Change your shirt, and you can change the world! Save 15% Off your entire purchase of faith-based apparel + gifts at Kerusso.com with code KDD15.
This episode of STRAT with retired Marine Intelligence Officer Hal Kempfer examines the growing shortage of advanced air defense interceptors and the strategic consequences for conflicts in Ukraine, the Middle East, and future U.S. military readiness in East Asia. Kempfer explores how Patriot and THAAD missile inventories have been depleted faster than they can be replaced, exposing vulnerabilities created by years of limited production capacity. The discussion highlights the enormous cost imbalance between intercepting inexpensive drones with multimillion-dollar missiles, while explaining why increasing production will take years. The episode also analyzes Ukraine's urgent need to destroy Russian missile launchers before they fire, the role Starlink could play in enabling precision targeting, and the political complications surrounding that request. Finally, the conversation looks ahead to emerging technologies such as directed-energy weapons while emphasizing that today's conflicts are rapidly redefining modern warfare and forcing governments to rethink defense industrial capacity, military preparedness, and strategic priorities before the next major crisis.Takeaways:Patriot and THAAD remain the backbone of U.S. and allied ballistic missile defense.Missile inventories have been depleted faster than production can replace them.Ukraine's efficient Patriot employment contrasts with higher interceptor usage elsewhere.Using multimillion-dollar interceptors against inexpensive drones is economically unsustainable.Expanding missile production is underway but meaningful increases remain years away.Ukraine increasingly depends on destroying launchers before missiles are fired.Starlink has become part of a larger strategic and political debate over battlefield connectivity.Future conflicts will require stronger defense industrial capacity alongside emerging technologies like directed-energy weapons.#STRATPodcast #HalKempfer #MutualBroadcastingSystem #StrategicRiskAnalysis #MissileDefense #PatriotMissiles #THAAD #Ukraine #Russia #Iran #AirDefense #MilitaryStrategy #NationalSecurity #DefenseIndustry #MissileProduction #DroneWarfare #EastAsia #Geopolitics #StrategicRisk #GlobalSecurity
Massive Attack respond after Singapore ban over Palestine display; record-breaking heatwaves in parts of East Asia; Myanmar leader in Thailand hand the avalanche that killed top mountaineers.
The international heatwave continues, with record temperatures and critical circumstances recorded in Asia: Lions die at a zoo, South Korea declares a national disaster, and North Koreans are urged to eat dog meat (ick factor aside, it's supposedly high in protein - not sure what that has to do with heatwaves though?!). In other news, North Korea has tested a short-range ballistic missile, putting East Asia on alert.
What does the history of human innovation tell us about the current moment we're in? It tells us that, despite the computational and AI gains of the last few decades, the world's progress is a bit flat. Why? Carl Benedikt Frey is an associate professor of AI & Work at the University of Oxford and directs the Future of Work Programme at Oxford. His latest book, How Progress Ends: Technology, Innovation, and the Fate of Nations, examines the world's start and stall relationship with progress over the last thousand years. In this episode, Carl and Greg dive into the history of how centralized and decentralized systems have impacted the world's technological innovation. They contrast China's earlier technological lead and bureaucratic state-building with Europe's decentralized politics that enabled the Scientific and Industrial Revolutions, Prussia's critical role in advancing progress, and why despite the breakthroughs with AI, the world could be facing an era of less progress and more stagnation. *unSILOed Podcast is produced by University FM.* Episode Quotes: The real driver of progress [49:28] Most progress comes from doing new and previously inconceivable things. And if we begin seeing more entry in the AI applied to entirely new products and industries, then I think it can be a much more sustained productivity growth. And so how progress ends refers to the pattern that what we've seen globally for the past two decades is productivity stagnation. And the point is not that that trend cannot be reversed, but doesn't look too encouraging at the moment, I would say. Is US innovation actually paying off? [47:16] I think even if you look at space innovation, the, sort of, real upsurge comes in the 1990s with privatization. And so since then if you look at patenting we haven't seen anything similar. And I don't want to diminish the compliments of SpaceX, but I think it's a continuation of what happened in the '90s, not the new pattern. And clearly there's innovation happening in the United States, but it's not yet showing up in the productivity statistics. And so, you can have exponential technologies without exponential growth. How historical incentives created the meritocratic state capacity behind East Asia's successful industrial policy. [14:00] To study for the civil service examination, you had to memorize the Confucian classics. There was no emphasis on science, technology, and engineering. And it was the way that you could move up in the social hierarchy. It was the best escalator for social mobility there was. And so if Galileo had been born in China, he would probably have been a bureaucrat rather than a scientist, and such were the incentives. And I think it's interesting, and I think it's a point worthwhile making, that really long-lasting legacy of a meritocratic civil service is still there in China today, and it's still there in East Asia more broadly, and it's still there in the countries that we think of as being the most successful in industrial policy, right? Show Links: Recommended Resources: Alexander Gerschenkron Escape from Rome: The Failure of Empire and the Road to Prosperity by Walter Scheidel Voltaire René Descartes Huguenots Prussian Reform Movement Crédit Mobilier scandal Losing the War with Japan | PBS Frontline Manhattan Project MIT Radiation Laboratory (Rad Lab) Guest Profile: Faculty Profile at University of Oxford Professional Website Professional Profile on LinkedIn Guest Work: How Progress Ends: Technology, Innovation, and the Fate of Nations The Technology Trap: Capital, Labor, and Power in the Age of Automation If you enjoyed this show, here are some other unSILOed episodes you may like: Economic Growth in the Age of Automation with Carl Benedikt Frey Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
In this first part of a two part series. John brings you some of the first hand accounts and lessons learned from the 2026 East Asia mission team. ___________________________________________________________Pick up your copy of John's new book, The Fundamentals of Our Faith, by clicking here! https://a.co/d/h0wLoVsWe post a weekly devotional episode every Thursday and our regular episodes on the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays of each month!Visit our website - Email us - Instagram - X - Facebook
neorealism, neoliberalism, China's views on neoliberalism and US decline, the use of disinformation/misinformation narratives to rationalize the incompetence of Western policymakers, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), bilateralism, China's preference for bilateralism, multilateralism, the decline of international institutions, why China has discredited Western multilateralism across the world, the Biden regime, Center for a New American Security (CNAS), Biden's administration as dominated by CNAS, Biden's efforts to contain China, Biden's failure to contain Israel and the the EU, the inability of the US to pivot to Asia because of allies, Trump 2.0, Trump's efforts to commit the US to Israel indefinitely, Trump's abandonment of containing China in East Asia, the EU's push for war with Russia, will the EU survive?, ARC (America, Russia, China), the AI Iron Curtain, the American/Chinese AI stacks and why the world will have to choice, why national security concerns will further erode internationalism, the inherit racism of Western internationalism, global wars of attrition, will the current war of attrition be cold or hot in North America/Western Europe?Music by: Keith Allen Dennishttps://keithallendennis.bandcamp.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
If you ever studied modern Chinese history, you likely met the “century of humiliation” in your first class. In 1840, British gunboats shattered the pride and legitimacy of the Qing empire, and the decades of semi-colonization that followed inaugurated a century of reform and revolution — all aimed at restoring an ancient, creaky civilization to unity and to the top of the world. The Kuomintang and the Communist Party told the same story and drew the same conclusion: the mandate belongs to whoever ends the humiliation.In China, history has never been merely academic. Where elections do not exist, leaders seek legitimacy in historical title deeds — which is why the Party still teaches the story in every classroom and invokes it in every speech on national rejuvenation. The battle crossed the Pacific, too. John King Fairbank absorbed the nationalist framework in wartime China and canonized it at Harvard, organizing American understanding of modern China around two dates: 1840 and 1949. He built the field of China studies as we know it, and generations of his students inherited the framework with it, until American scholarship was teaching China's nationalist mythology back to itself — and to Washington, where it still underwrites op-eds casting Xi Jinping as the new emperor. How America tells China's story shapes how America makes China policy.Dr. Alice Miller thinks we have the story wrong. From 1974 to 1990, she was a senior CIA analyst of Chinese foreign policy and domestic politics, and later a division chief supervising analysis of China, North Korea, Indochina, and Soviet policy in East Asia. She is now a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, where she edited and contributed to the China Leadership Monitor from 2001 to 2018. She published as H. Lyman Miller before her gender transition.In part two of our conversation — edited for clarity and brevity — we trace her formation at Princeton under Fritz Mote, the ferocious “Who lost China?” debates of the 1950s, the eternal feud between historians and political scientists, and her heterodox verdict on engagement: it didn't fail — it worked so well that Xi Jinping had to stomp on it. We close with a story of a different kind: her transition in 2006, and the unexpected grace with which the CIA, Hoover, and the Naval Postgraduate School received it. Part one, on her years decoding Beijing for the CIA, is here.Enjoy!LeoMusic: Carnaval Op. 9 No. 18 - “Aveu”, Bishara Haroni, Artlist Classics, Robert SchumannFor quick navigation to the specific sections:* Early sinologist debates about “who lost China?”* The fallacy of “The Century of Humiliation”* The battle between historians and political scientists over contemporary China studies* “How Did We Get China So Wrong?”* An identity transition from Harold to AlicePeking Hotel is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.About usThe Peking Hotel podcast and newsletter are digital publications in which Liu He interviews China specialists about their first-hand experiences and observations from decades past. The project grew out of Liu's research at Hoover Institution collecting oral history of China experts living in the U.S. Their stories are a reminder of what China used to be and what it is capable of becoming.We also have a Chinese-language Substack. We hope to publish more conversations like this one, so stay tuned! Get full access to Peking Hotel at pekinghotel.substack.com/subscribe
Days before ASEAN's foreign ministers landed in Manila, a Chinese Coast Guard sailor clubbed a Filipino sailor bloody at Second Thomas Shoal. Beijing normally lowers the temperature before diplomatic set pieces. This time it raised it, and nobody outside China knows whether that was a local commander improvising or a deliberate message.Co-host Ray Powell was in Manila for all of it, and this week he and Jim Carouso work through why the gray zone war across East Asia is heating up again and why it reaches well beyond a few contested reefs.The Philippines chairs ASEAN in 2026, and this month hosted regional foreign ministers as well as China's Wang Yi and America's Marco Rubio. Ray and Jim work through why a quarter-century of Code of Conduct negotiations still lead nowhere: China's nine-dash line claim is maximalist; its 1996 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea ratification carved out "historic rights" incompatible with UNCLOS itself; it rejected the UNCLOS-prescribed 2016 arbitration outright; and it profits from talks that never end, or from a code weak enough to push UNCLOS aside. Ray owns the “code-of-conduct pessimist” label and explains why.On the related political warfare front, Ray's new report traces how the CCP's United Front Work Department has captured Chinese-language education in the Philippines: teachers supplied through so-called "blood transfusion" and "blood generation" plans; Beijing-supplied materials; career pipelines into Chinese state firms; and how much if it homes back to Jinan University, whose Center for Philippine Studies-hosted symposium recently declared the Philippines' northernmost islands to be China's. Finally, the Bashi breakout: China Coast Guard patrols east of Taiwan along the Japan-Philippines EEZ boundary, radio challenges to inbound shipping and Beijing's boast of "inspecting" more than a hundred vessels. Ray's question: will we look back and say Taiwan's quarantine actually began here – not with an open declaration, but one incremental squeeze at a time, as more and more ship captains quietly decide that complying is cheaper than resisting?Subscribe for your weekly Indo-Pacific briefing.Follow us on X, @IndoPacPodcast, LinkedIn or FacebookFollow Ray Powell on X, @GordianKnotRay, or LinkedIn, or check out his maritime transparency work at SeaLightFollow Jim Carouso on LinkedInSponsored by BowerGroupAsia, a strategic advisory firm that specializes in the Indo-Pacific
Japan is launching its biggest intelligence reform since World War II, marking a major shift in how the country coordinates national security. What is driving this overhaul? Could it reshape Japan's security policy and influence the strategic balance in East Asia?
The one federal agency no one has even tried to reform is also the most powerful: CIA. Jim Erdman just resigned after a long career as an operations officer. He says the agency is completely out of control and dangerous. (00:00) The CIA's Obstruction of Justice (30:59) Media Corruption and the Risks of Being a Whistleblower (47:17) Is the Head of the CIA Compromised? Why Hasn't He Pursued Reform? (51:56) What's Stopping the Government From Releasing the JFK and 9-11 Files? (59:55) What Really Happened With Building 7? Jim Erdman is the co-founder of Feds for Freedom (F4F), a 501c(3) dedicated to health freedom and constitutional governance. F4F is suing the CIA for treating CIA employees like spies when they refused the COVID vaccine. He has previous military experience as a non-commissioned officer at the 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, as well as Echo Company 1/162, an Oregon National Guard. He worked as a Senior bioinformatics and biometrics consultant in the private sector prior to joining the Department of State and CIA. He served in the Middle East, South and East Asia, and Africa and just finished a one-year joint duty assignment at the Office of Director National Intelligence in the Director's Initiatives Group (DIG). He was responsible for the DIG's investigations into COVID origins, Havana Syndrome, and Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP). He speaks Mandarin and Arabic and has earned the Director of National Intelligence Award and CIA's Intelligence Medal of Merit. He retired from the CIA on 30 June 2026. Check out fedsforfreedom.org to find out more. Find Erdman on X: https://x.com/jerdman2005?s=21 Paid partnerships with: American Financing: NMLS 182334, nmlsconsumeraccess.org. APR for rates in the 5s start at 6.327% for well qualified borrowers. Call 800-685-5696 for details about credit costs and terms. Visit http://www.AmericanFinancing.net/Tucker. Dose: Daily supplements for the systems that support you. Use code TUCKER for 35% at https://dosedaily.co/tucker Vulnerable People Project: Stand with Christians in the land where Christianity began, go to SaveWestBankChristians.com Ethos: Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/TUCKER Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky has fired the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, Oleksandr Syrsky. That follows days of protests at his sacking of the defence minister. Our correspondent analyses the fallout. America's murder rate is falling, so why are cops killing more people? And a shift in the Japanese taboo on living in homes where people have died.Guests and host:Shashank Joshi, defence editorDaniel Knowles, US Midwest correspondentMoeka Iida, East Asia reporterRosie Blau, co-host of “The Intelligence”Topics covered: Fedorov, Syrsky, Zelensky, UkrainePolice killings, gun crime, murderJapan, haunted houses, jiko bukkenListen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to The Economist. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky has fired the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, Oleksandr Syrsky. That follows days of protests at his sacking of the defence minister. Our correspondent analyses the fallout. America's murder rate is falling, so why are cops killing more people? And a shift in the Japanese taboo on living in homes where people have died.Guests and host:Shashank Joshi, defence editorDaniel Knowles, US Midwest correspondentMoeka Iida, East Asia reporterRosie Blau, co-host of “The Intelligence”Topics covered: Fedorov, Syrsky, Zelensky, UkrainePolice killings, gun crime, murderJapan, haunted houses, jiko bukkenListen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to The Economist. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
For the first time, China's coast guard is asserting sovereignty over waters beyond the First Island Chain and out in the open Pacific, far to the east of Taiwan. To justify it, a hastily assembled group of Chinese academics has suddenly declared that the Philippines' northernmost (and very much inhabited) Batanes island province actually belongs to China.Is this a dangerous new escalation or just another day in East Asia's highly contested maritime gray zone?This week, co-hosts Ray Powell and Jim Carouso flip the script and put a reporter in the guest chair: Brad Lendon, CNN's Senior News Desk Reporter for Global Military Affairs, who's covered China's maritime rise for over a decade and authored the June 25 story that sparked this conversation, “‘Salami slicing': How China is trying to increase control in the Pacific”Brad makes the case that this "salami slicing" is nothing new. Beijing has spent years applying steady, below-the-threshold pressure using white-hulled coast guard ships rather than navy gray-hulls. But now those ships are radio-challenging commercial vessels east of Taiwan, mapping the seabed and settling in for what looks like a permanent presence outside the First Island Chain.In this episode:Why coast guard "law enforcement" ships are a more insidious tool for asserting sovereignty than warshipsWhat China's radio challenges to commercial ships could be rehearsing, and Ray's "boa constrictor" warning about a soft quarantine of Taiwan already beginningHow the out-of-nowhere Batanes claim fits Beijing's long-game strategyWhether the Japan-Philippine maritime delimitation talks were a real trigger or just a convenient pretextWhat it all means for the U.S. defense strategy built around the First Island Chain, and whether it's the right tool for a non-military threatBrad's unforgettable story from the bridge of a Canadian frigate threading the Taiwan Strait at midnightA sharp, practitioner-level look at how the map of the Western Pacific is being quietly redrawn one slice at a time.Subscribe for your weekly Indo-Pacific briefing.Follow Brad Lendon's reporting on CNN or on X, @BradLendonFollow us on X, @IndoPacPodcast, LinkedIn or FacebookFollow Ray Powell on X, @GordianKnotRay, or LinkedIn, or check out his maritime transparency work at SeaLightFollow Jim Carouso on LinkedInSponsored by BowerGroupAsia, a strategic advisory firm that specializes in the Indo-Pacific
This is the Art Life Faith Podcast, and I’m your host, Roger Lowther. I’m excited to announce to you that we just released a new book, Consolations of a Christian by Japanese writer Kanzo Uchimura. Written in 1893, it has never before been translated into English, which is surprising because this is the book that made Uchimura famous, instantly becoming a bestseller and launching his career as a writer. Here’s some backstory for this book. In 1890, the Emperor of Japan issued an Imperial Rescript on Education. Kanzo Uchimura was at that time a teacher in one of the top schools in the country, but he did not bow deeply enough to the Emperor’s signature on the document, for as a Christian, he saw this as a kind of idolatry. However, his fellow faculty members saw this as a huge sign of disrespect, and the press saw it as an act of treason. His name and face were plastered on newspapers across the country. He was fired from his job. His friends distanced themselves from him. He fell into deep poverty. And from all the stress, he got really, really sick, even to the point of death. While his wife was caring for him, she too got very sick, and then she died. This was especially crushing because they were newlyweds, having been married little more than a year. Uchimura hit rock bottom in his life, but rather than giving up, he cried out to God in ink, brush, and paper, capturing the minds and hearts of so many with his uniquely Japanese understanding of the Bible. And his book came out during a time when Christian books were mostly just translated Western authors. This book is fascinating for many reasons, but I can tell you from personal experience that I was greatly encouraged working on this project, and so I know it can be a great consolation and comfort to you as well, and anyone going through a difficult time in their life. Let me say a quick word about the translator. Chris Born is a longtime friend of our Grace City Church community here in Tokyo. First, he came for a year to work on his doctoral thesis on Uchimura, and during that time he and his family poured into the church community, helping with many of the ministries. Then he returned to the States, where he’s the Associate Professor of Japanese and Asian Studies at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. But he recently came back to Japan for post-doctoral research and to write a number of books including this one. Again, he and his family poured into the community, and even his oldest daughter worked with us as an intern, giving piano concerts, leading worship with her playing and singing, and helping out in so many ways. They go back to America this month, and we’re very sorry to see them go. They will be missed. Let me also say a word about the cover designer, created by the immensely talented Emma Grace von Fange, one of the interns who worked with us this summer. She did such a beautiful job getting inspiration from the text and making it appealing while also giving a sense of what we find inside. It’s a very attractive cover and really a work of art. I’m so grateful for her hard work on this project. Recently we had the launch day, and one of the church members threw a dinner party for the event. So I took a few minutes to sit down with a translator just before the party to invite all of you into the celebration. Here’s our conversation. Roger So today is the launch day of Consolations of a Christian by Kanzo Uchimura, translated by Christopher Born, who is sitting right next to me. Thank you so much for being with us tonight. Chris Thanks for having me, Roger. This is awesome. Roger Yeah, so we are meeting in a friend’s home downtown Tokyo. We’re going to have a launch party tonight. Some of us are already here preparing the food, and others are going to be arriving soon. You’re probably going to hear some doorbell ringing… Chris So pull up a chair and hang out with us. Roger I’m just so thankful that it’s finally out in the world as of today, July 13, 2026. Chris Wow. Unbelievable. Roger A lot of time has gone into this, hasn’t it? Chris Yes, from your own kind encouragement for me to follow through and get it done from about 10 years ago when I started it to bringing it to completion just now. It’s been quite a journey, but exciting to be part of it and also be working so closely with an amazing team. Really, you assembled a wonderful cover designer, and you’ve done so much of the editing. Roger She was great. Chris She was fantastic, and you put it together so quickly. I mean, you really have a lot of talent behind this project. You just made it pop and shine. I’m grateful. Roger I really like that about putting out books. It’s not just about the writer writing solo in a solitary room somewhere, but there are a lot of people who are part of the whole project and are excited for it when it comes out. Chris That’s right. It’s a big production team. Roger Yeah. So, how did you get into this project? Why did you translate this book? Chris So that’s a great story for me. I’ve been studying Uchimura since about 2009. When I was working at a seminary, and I was able to take courses while I was working there as like staff. I took a course called Christianity in East Asia because that was always interesting to me. And when I did my master’s in East Asian studies, we covered some tangential aspects about Christianity in the Meiji period and how it influenced social movements, how there was a big missions movement that helped grow women’s education and the YMCA, things like that, but we never focused on Japanese Christian thinkers. So this course was the first time I was exposed to an actual Japanese Christian thinker who not only originated a number of writings but also had his own theological perceptions from a Japanese perspective that he wanted to add to sort of global Christianity. And he really thought that if Japan learned about Jesus and became more Christian, it would be a light to the world. So I thought that was an interesting entryway. Roger Okay, so using Western years, when are we talking about? Chris Uchimura lived from 1861 to 1930. He became a Christian around 1873 when he went off to Sapporo Agricultural College, which is now University of Hokkaido, one of the larger state schools. And when he became a Christian, he realized monotheism was the answer to a lot of his problems because he had such a strong religiosity as a kid and would bow to every shrine and every temple. And as he got older as a student, he really still held on to those beliefs. But when monotheism was presented to him, he really didn’t want to become a Christian. He was sort of pressured into it, but he went along with it primarily because he said, well, there’s only one God I need to worship, then I don’t need to worry about all the other gods. So that I thought was interesting because Japanese are famously known for having 8 million gods or something like that. Roger Okay, so for those who don’t know their Japanese history, this is like the very beginnings of Protestant church planting in Japan. Chris Yes. Roger So he’s one of the first of modern Christians. Chris That’s right. Christianity was banned from about 1609 to 1872. In the interim, in 1859, there was some missions activity but it was kind of underground. Uchimura was a part of the early generation of the different bands. There’s the Sapporo Band and the Yokohama Band and the Kumamoto Band in Kyushu. So these were sort of early Christian groupings. Uchimura was from up north. But yeah, he was active in the 1890s when he came back to Japan. He had studied abroad in America in the 1880s and sort of grew. He was always good at English, but he went to, Amherst College and then went off to Hartford Seminary before realizing— Roger Near Boston. Chris Near Boston, yes. Northeast. In the book, you’ll see a lot of references to northeastern literature and sort of abolitionist thinkers. He loved them. Roger Yeah, actually that was fun for me because I grew up near Boston, so a lot of the things he’s mentioning only people in Boston know. Like Mount Monadnock, a mountain I climbed with my dad. Chris Does it look like Fuji? Roger Well, it stands on its own and it is kind of conical, but it’s really short. It’s not a very tall mountain at all. It’s more like a tall hill. Chris There you go. So even better comparison to how much more grandeur Fuji has, which he keeps referring to. But yeah, he loved the northeast. In his other book that was written in English called How I Became a Christian, or Diary of a Japanese Convert, he talks about his experiences in the northeast. Roger How can you explain why Uchimura is important? Why should we care? That was a long time ago. Chris As one of Japan's earliest modern Christians—I mean, his collected works are 40 volumes. He was an important thinker for the time period. Not only did he write in a Christian vernacular of the time, he attracted a number of future authors who would become aware of Christianity, at least in terms of their own understanding of the world. Even if they didn’t become Christians, they embraced a partially Christian worldview or romantic worldview. So from a literary perspective, which is what my main focus of my academic work was on how he’s an important literary figure, but I knew that he was an important Christian figure. And for Japanese theologians in general, anybody who’s going to seminary knows who Uchimura is and has read him. Now, the reason this book is important is everyone suffers, right? Everyone has a hard time. We get sick. Our wives get sick. People die. People we love are gone in an instant. We don’t know what tomorrow is going to look like. We can lose our job. We can get canceled because of the things we say and do. Even if we’re speaking the truth, we get punished for it. Roger Mm-hmm. Chris Uchimura suffered for telling the truth as he saw it, and he was willing to take that on and be that lightning rod in a society that was quickly becoming anti-Western and anti-Christian. And especially in the mid-1880s when he was still in America, there was a big turn toward emperor worship and connecting the state to religion in a very strong way, and in the 1890s when the Imperial Rescript on Education came out and later the 1891 Constitution, they really pointed to the emperor as the Confucian father of the nation that everyone must worship and obey. And Uchimura’s like, “Look, I respect the emperor as much as the next guy. He is my sovereign, but I’m not going to bow down and worship him in that way.” And as a result, that made him become persona non grata. That turned him into an anti-patriot to like the worst of the worst, the most disloyal of the disloyal, and of course in a Confucian samurai heritage worldview, that’s terrible. Disloyalty is the worst thing, right? So Uchimura suffered as a result of his own public intellectual beliefs, and then as a result, he lost everything, and part of losing everything meant he had to reinvent himself, and so he became an author as part of that process. Roger One of my favorite parts of the book is in the afterword where he’s talking about when he was writing the book and an American missionary, came in and said, so Mr. Uchimura, what are you working on? And he’s like, well, I’m writing this book. And he’s like, oh, what are you translating? He’s like, no, I’m not translating. I’m writing it, my own words. And the missionary was, was surprised and like, how can you be doing that? I mean, because Christianity came from the West, what right do you have as a Japanese to write? That was the attitude of the time. Chris Yeah, it was a very culturally bound enterprise, reproducing Western culture, civilizing the world, so to speak. And many Westerners didn’t think Japan was civilized. They had no idea how civilized it was. Roger Yeah. And you were explaining to me earlier how he was trying to figure out what it means to be Japanese and be Christian because there wasn’t— Chris It’s an identity issue. Roger There wasn’t any literature at that time. They were only looking at translated Western literature. And so he was kind of delving into this to try to figure it out, right? Chris That’s right. When he did become a Christian, the amount of stuff they had at Hokkaido University or Sapporo Agricultural College was so small. The amount of things they had to work with were so small. They were just some tracts, a few— they had a Western Bible, they had some parts of the Bible translated that was still in process, and they had things from many different denominations, so they didn’t know what was what and which one to ally with. And he became a Christian through the Methodists, but in Sapporo you had a Methodist church and an Episcopal church, and he wanted to work with both, and sort of create an independent Japanese church in Sapporo, but there was really no way to do that. They had to make it up themselves. And when the Western missionaries who they borrowed money from got wind of this, they were like, “You have to give us all our money back because you’re not part of us anymore.” So they scrimped and saved and did everything they could to pay it back. So there is this sense that independence, Japanese theology from a Japanese perspective became his life’s work. Roger So Uchimura is part of the birth of the church in Japan. So to me, as a missionary here, it’s especiallyinteresting. This is the first time ever that this book is in English. Chris That’s right. Roger I mean, it was published in 1893. Chris Yes. Roger And it’s incredibly important to missionaries today, and yet there’s never been an English version. And you translated it from classical Japanese. Chris That’s right. Roger So it’s really difficult Japanese. Chris It’s really difficult. It’s a long process of learning to be able to parse all that out. There is a modern translation now, but the original I thought was best to go from and take it from Uchimura’s own words. Roger It uses a lot of characters that aren’t used anymore. You showed me your manuscript, which is a work of art, by the way, all your notes around all of his, all the earlier published version, but like, I don’t even know what to call that. I mean, just various characters that are… Chris Yeah, kyujitai. Most Japanese don’t read it. I was talking to some students earlier today at a campus here, just kind of explaining that this book’s coming out and what it’s about, and I think maybe one or two knew who Uchimura was, and they knew about this fukeijiken or this incident of disloyalty to the emperor, or lesè-majesté as they call it, but they said they’d never read him, and when I mentioned it’s all written in this kind of really classical style Japanese, they’re like, “Yeah, we don’t really read that.” Yeah, I imagine not. He’s still unknown, so we can also help people understand that you can get a modern Japanese translation too, but I think Americans especially who want to know more about Japan at that time and about sort of authentic Japanese Christians and just from the perspective of a very sensitive soul who loves God and is searching for answers to his pain. Roger Right, that’s what I love about this book. He’s not afraid to basically be cry out to God, Why are you allowing these things things? And trying to search for the answers as a Japanese person, not trying to look for pat answers, but asking in his context, really what’s going on, how can I apply to it? And it’s just so interesting? Chris Right? Because one of the most important questions any human being will ever ask is, who is Jesus Christ and why does he matter? Roger Right. Chris And Uchimura knew who he was and why he mattered, but in the midst of this sort of dark doldrums of the soul why Jesus really mattered wasn’t just a nice, you know, it’ll all be okay someday, and just being a Christian makes everything all right. No, it’s like, Lord, you are my God, and I’m imploring you to give me an answer and give me strength and understanding to get through this situation. Roger Okay, so now you touched on this briefly. It’s called Consolations of a Christian. Why is this book important to people who may have little interest in Japan? Chris Sure, well, it certainly is full of what we call classical allusions to both Japanese literature, nature, history, and culture that are written for a Japanese audience. So he wasn’t writing it for us. So as a foreigner looking in on that, we can get a glimpse on the conversation which Uchimura is having with his own people about Christianity. Roger And with himself. Chris And of course with himself, and with God, and all the other little demonic voices that are harassing him. Roger You know, one of the things I thought was really interesting about the book, you’ve mentioned to me in conversation just how there’s a number of places where he lists scripture verses, but he doesn’t print it out. Chris That’s right. Roger And you said it was your idea that perhaps it was because he was wanting people to open the Bible for the first time. Most of the people who read this book were not Christians. Chris That’s right. Roger Because he wanted people who didn’t know anything about Christianity, very few did at that time, to read this and become interested in the God of the Bible. And he really makes that clear at the end of the book, right? Especially on the last two pages. “We looked at different answers throughout this book, but it’s clear the Bible is going to offer these answers that you really are searching for. God has those answers. Don’t stop until you find those answers.” That kind of thing. Chris That’s right. All of his literature points back to that. He doesn’t waver on that one bit. And in fact, he devoted his life to becoming a journalist for a while. He wrote for the Yorozu Choho for about 5 years, which was kind of like a New York Post or a LA Times kind of magazine, a little bit sensationalist but very political. He was the English language editor of that for a number of years until he decided to quit that and start his own work, which was called Seisho no Kenkyu (the Study of the Bible). And it was a magazine that he put out, which was all his own reading, parsing, interpreting the Bible and applying it to daily life. Roger To the general public, right? Not only to churches or Christians, but to everybody? Chris A lot of people were reading this even if they weren’t Christian. They were curious. Consolations of a Christian was a bestseller. And then as a result, he became hired as a journalist, then those copies of Yorozu Joho were also circulating, and then Seishun no Kinkyu as well. So, he really did use the words that he wrote as a way of reaching people in an evangelical way and pushing them to look at the Bible. That’s what all his life was about. Roger Well, this book was very meaningful for me. The fact that he, in the lowest point in his life, that he would turn to writing, crying to God, and trying to bring the nation along with him to cry out to God. He didn’t fall into despair, but he gave that anguish to God. Chris Yes. Roger And that's just such an important message for all of humanity. Chris Yes. Roger You know, anywhere in the world, we all suffer. Chris That’s right. Roger And the fact that he writes a whole book addressing that and trying to help us turn to God through that is so important. Chris Yeah, because the Bible says God draws near to those who are suffering, and we suffer with Christ. But Christ was there with him in that suffering. In that moment, he knew it, but he had to put that anguish towards and use it for something. And that’s what’s really cool. He never wasted the experiences he had. He says it’s not my autobiography, but it’s a record of an authentic person who’s trying to struggle with being Christian. I think that’s gorgeous. Roger So I hope many of you who are listening to this will download this book, either buy the paperback, buy the hardcover, buy the ebook, go get the Kindle. It’s such a blessing that you’ve done this. Thank you so much. Chris Thank you so much for working with me and giving me the opportunity. Roger Yeah, so I guess we better get this party started. Chris Let’s enjoy this gathering around this table in many ways similar to what Uchimura would have done. Roger All right, so thank you for talking with us now. Chris Thank you. Thanks so much. Roger You’ve been listening to the Art Life Faith Podcast. You can pick up a copy of Consolations of a Christian by Kanzo Uchimura wherever you buy your books online. As we say in Japan, “Ja, mata ne!” We’ll see you next time. BUY “CONSOLATIONS OF A CHRISTIAN”
This lecture was recorded by Dr Di Wang on the 8th of June 2026 at Barnard's Inn Hall, LondonDr Di Wang is an art historian and curator. Her work focuses on art and culture of East Asia from the late-nineteenth century to the present.Following her doctorate at the University of Oxford, she has taught as a departmental lecturer and research associate at the Department of History of Art at Oxford. Her first book project reveals the surprising entanglement of medicine, science, and revolutionary politics in the genesis of a socially engaged modern art and visual culture in China, offering the first inter-disciplinary history on how science and medicine shaped the contours of avant-garde thinking in China during the modern period.The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/nude-chinaGresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. To support Gresham's mission, please consider making a donation: https://gresham.ac.uk/support/Website: https://gresham.ac.ukTwitter: https://twitter.com/greshamcollegeFacebook: https://facebook.com/greshamcollegeInstagram: https://instagram.com/greshamcollegeSupport the show
Send us Fan MailDermatologist Dr. Muneeb Shah returns to Skin Anarchy to break down what actually works in skincare, how GLP-1 medications affect the skin, the truth about trending ingredients, and how to spot credible science communication online. Below are the biggest questions answered in this episode.Why did Dr. Muneeb Shah start his own skincare brand, Remedy?After years of educating patients one at a time in clinic and then millions online, Dr. Shah saw a gap between how dermatologists actually treat skin and how most products are formulated. Remedy was built to combine multiple ingredients backed by evidence into single formulas, control ingredient sourcing, and remove emerging allergens as the science evolves. He frames it as the natural next chapter of his work: "Content was a hill at one point, and this is my new hill... building a brand that really becomes a legacy brand."Why do so many skincare products feel identical?Because many of them are. Dr. Shah explains that contract manufacturers offer white label stock formulas, so any brand with capital and distribution can put its label on an existing product and launch it. "It's not hard to launch products if you have the capital and the distribution network to support it," he says. "It's hard to launch good products." When an ingredient trends, brands rush to license the same stock formula, which is why the market floods with nearly identical products around every viral ingredient. Remedy's policy is to never use white label formulas and to start from a patient need rather than a trend.Which skincare ingredients are actually backed by science?According to Dr. Shah, the strongest evidence still sits with the tried and true ingredients: retinoids like retinol and tretinoin, alpha hydroxy acids like glycolic acid, select peptides but not all of them, ceramides for the skin barrier, niacinamide, and azelaic acid. His formulation philosophy anchors everything around these proven actives first, with marketing layered on only afterward, never the reverse. "The products have to be really great products that people will use forever, and they have to use ingredients that truly have the efficacy studies on them."Is PDRN worth the hype?Dr. Shah does not dismiss PDRN, noting it has real traction in East Asia, where dermatologists champion it, particularly in injectable form. "I'm not saying that doesn't have validity or evidence. Time will tell if this is something that stands the test of time." His caution is about how trends work: brands slap labels on stock PDRN formulas to ride the moment, and an ingredient trending is not the same as an ingredient being proven.What does "next generation biomimetic surfactant technology" actually mean?Usually nothing. Dr. Shah points out that "they're using the same surfactants everybody's got in their formulas... no one's inventing new surfactant technologies." Terms like this are marketing language designed to make a formula seem more advanced or worth a higher price, and even sophisticated consumers fall for it because there is not enough public knowledge about what these formula components actually do.What do GLP-1 medications like Ozempic do to your skin?Rapid weight loss from GLP-1 medications can outpace the skin's ability to retract, leading to crepiness, laxity, and undulations where fat volume was lost beneath otherwise healthy skin. Dr. Shah notes dermatologists saw similar effects with gastric bypass, but it was rare enough that it never needed a name. That is no longer the case: "Now that it's 12 percent of the population, we have to really contend with this."What skincare should you use while on a GLP-1?Dr. Shah recommends topicals that support collagen throughout the weight loss period: a retinoid such as retinol or tretinoin, an alpha hydroxy acid like glycolic acid to stimulate collagen production, and peptides with collagen evidence such as Matrixyl. "Anything that's gonna support your collagen and elasticity, maybe even like a copper peptide due to the elasticity element of the skin." These support the epidermis and dermis, but he is clear that topicals alone cannot compensate for significant fat and muscle volume loss underneath.Can loose skin from GLP-1 weight loss be fixed?Sometimes it resolves on its own if weight loss is gradual, but Dr. Shah notes many patients are started on doses that are too high. "When you lose 30 pounds in a month, there's really no skin treatment that can account for that loss of weight to make your skin snap back." For skin that does not recover, professional options include lasers, deeper chemical peels, and in some cases filler around bony structures to restore support. Slower weight loss gives the skin the best chance to keep up.Why does nutrition matter so much on a GLP-1?Because appetite drops sharply, patients risk falling short on protein and essential nutrients during a period of significant muscle and fat loss. "Anyone that's on a GLP really needs to optimize their nutrition while they're on it," Dr. Shah says, "because you're eating less, but what you're eating really then matters." He argues nutrition is a layer dermatologists need to be discussing with every GLP-1 patient, ideally in collaboration with nutritionists, gastroenterologists, and weight loss specialists rather than working in silos.Do GLP-1s cause immune reactions?"A lot of people actually develop antibodies to GLPs... your body recognizes it's a foreign invader and tries to neutralize it," Dr. Shah explains, which can produce injection site reactions, fevers, muscle aches, or symptoms that feel like the flu after injecting. This immunologic layer is rarely discussed, and he draws a parallel to PD-1 inhibitors in oncology, where he and Dr. Maxfield published an early case report of a patient developing type 1 diabetes from the immune system attacking the pancreas, a side effect now well documented in the literature.Are chemical sunscreens safe?Dr. Shah personally wears chemical sunscreens and prefers how they look on his skin, but he refuses to speak in absolutes in either direction. The data shows chemical filters absorb into the body more than previously thought, and no one yet knows whether that matters. At the same time, no study has shown actual harm in people, which is why they remain on the market. "To absolutely say these are completely safe and nothing bad will ever happen to you, that's a dangerous absolute to live in, in my mind."Is longevity just antiaging rebranded?Largely, yes, in Dr. Shah's view: "Longevity is really just similar to antiaging and to bodybuilding in the sense that it's a more extreme form of maximizing your health." He compares it to how looksmaxxing extended bodybuilding culture to the face, the same pursuit taken further. What has changed is access. Anyone can now watch a billionaire biohacker's routine on YouTube and order peptides from a telehealth site, which is exactly what makes this moment both exciting and precarious.Are injectable peptides from telehealth sites regulated?Not in the way most consumers assume. "I'm excited about the technology that's coming out as a scientist," Dr. Shah says. "As a doctor, I'm nervous about the access and lack of regulation." He predicts a regulatory correction, whether imposed by government or by the industry itself, after enough people experience negative consequences from unvetted peptides and unregulated med spas. He expects consumers will eventually start asking where products come from, seeking FDA approved options, and vetting the credentials of anyone treating them.What is the danger of telehealth prescribing without integrated care?Dr. Shah gives the example of someone with hair loss who researches online, requests minoxidil, finasteride, or spironolactone through a telehealth platform, and receives it at their door. "Turns out they have thyroid disease. No one asked the question... this element of integrated medicine is being completely removed." As telemedicine grows, conditions get treated at the surface while underlying diagnoses are missed entirely.How do you know which skincare experts to trust online?Dr. Shah's rule: be wary of anyone who speaks in absolutes. "When you speak in absolutes, most of the time you're gonna be wrong because there's not enough information out there." On polarizing topics like parabens, fragrance, or chemical sunscreens, both the "completely safe" and "completely toxic" camps overstate what the evidence supports. Trustworthy communicators caveat their claims, resist being first to react before information is complete, and publicly correct themselves when new data proves them wrong. He cites the erosion of trust in medicine during COVID as the cost of premature certainty.Listen to the full episode with Dr. Muneeb Shah on Skin Anarchy, available wherever you get your podcasts.Shop Remedy SkinDon't forget to subscribe to Skin Anarchy on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your preferred platform.Reach out to us through email with any questions.Sign up for our newsletter!Shop all our episodes and products mentioned through our ShopMy Shelf!Support the show
What if AI could help older adults stay healthy and independent—without replacing the human care they still need? In this conversation, Karen Eggleston, PhD. discusses Stanford Health AI Week and shares insights from health systems across East Asia, including how AI is being used to support aging in place. We explore the importance of ethical guardrails, evidence-based evaluation, and designing care pathways that connect AI predictions to real next steps—especially in rural and underserved communities.
The Iranian regime hopes the massive crowds gathered for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's funeral will demonstrate its strength. Our correspondent says they could also reveal its weakness. Why Japan wants to change its divorce laws and custody arrangements. And the first part of our week-long road trip down America's iconic Route 66. Guests and host:Nicolas Pelham, Middle East correspondentMoeka Iida, East Asia correspondentJon Fasman, senior culture correspondentRosie Blau, co-host of “The Intelligence”Topics covered: Ayatollah, Khamenei, Iran, Supreme LeaderJapan, divorce, custodyRoute 66, Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to The Economist.For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Iranian regime hopes the massive crowds gathered for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's funeral will demonstrate its strength. Our correspondent says they could also reveal its weakness. Why Japan wants to change its divorce laws and custody arrangements. And the first part of our week-long road trip down America's iconic Route 66. Guests and host:Nicolas Pelham, Middle East correspondentMoeka Iida, East Asia correspondentJon Fasman, senior culture correspondentRosie Blau, co-host of “The Intelligence”Topics covered: Ayatollah, Khamenei, Iran, Supreme LeaderJapan, divorce, custodyRoute 66, Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to The Economist.For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
"For years, I felt that there was no connection with my hands and the sound. My perception of conducting at the time was that everything needs to be free and relaxed, no tension - and no tension when you sing. There has to be tension when you sing and conduct, because if there's no tension in the body, you're basically bones and skin on the ground. It's a matter of where the tension is. Is it good tension? Is it bad tension? There's an idea of feeling a sense of weight in the gesture, in the breath."Dr. Gary Seighman is a Professor, Director of Choral Activities, and Chair of the Music Department at Trinity University. Under his leadership, Trinity's choirs have earned numerous accolades, including invited performances at state and national conferences, tours across the United States and abroad, unique artistic collaborations, and commercial recordings. A charismatic and passionate artist, Seighman is highly sought after as a clinician, guest conductor, and speaker. He received the 2023 Innovative Concert Programming Award from the Texas Choral Directors Association and, more recently, the Guy H. Ranson Memorial Award for excellence in teaching, research, and service from the Carlos Alvarez School of Arts and Humanities. He is honored to conduct the 2025–2026 Texas Private School All-State Choir.Since 2015, he has conducted in East Asia six times, including leading the Peking University Summer Opera Program, offering graduate masterclasses in Taiwan, and participating in engagements in Japan. In 2019, he was artist-in-residence at University College Dublin, with additional work in London, Cambridge, and Liverpool. He served as chorusmaster at the Classical Music Festival in Vienna (2018) and led the TU Chamber Singers on a 2024 tour of the U.K. and France, featuring a live-broadcast evensong from Winchester Cathedral. His Carnegie Hall conducting debut came in 2022, followed by returns in 2023 and 2025 to conduct the National Honor Choir.In 2021–2022, Seighman served as a TU Public Humanities Faculty Fellow. He has authored over a dozen publications in book chapters and peer-reviewed journals, released a published conducting masterclass video with Forward Motion, and presented more than thirty sessions at conferences nationwide. Always eager to explore new artistic and creative outlets, Seighman has been signed as a model and actor with Avant Agency since 2018, appearing in print, online, on billboards, and in radio and television. His new book The Choir Playbook: Tools for the Imaginative Conductor is available from GIA Publications. In his spare time, he coaches soccer, softball, and baseball for his children, Gabrielle and Justin.To get in touch with Gary, you can find him on Instagram (@gary_seighman) or Facebook (@gary.seighman) or email him at gseighma@trinity.edu.Email choirfampodcast@gmail.com to contact our hosts.Podcast music from Podcast.coPhoto in episode artwork by Trace Hudson
In 2012, China debuted its first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, a refurbished Soviet-era ship from Ukraine. The debut of the Liaoning was largely thanks to a longtime pressure campaign by Liu Huaqing, the onetime leader of the People's Liberation Army Navy and the man responsible for transforming China's naval strategy. (China now has three carriers, and is building a fourth). When Liu began his career, China saw its military victories as coming primarily via land warfare; Liu, over decades, forced China to take naval combat seriously. Xiaobing Li writes about Liu's life in his book China's Mahan: Admiral Liu Huaqing and the Rise of the Modern Chinese Navy (Naval Institute Press, 2026), from his early career in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War and finishing with his long push to start China's aircraft carrier program. Xiaobing Li, professor of history and Don Betz Endowed Chair in International Studies at the University of Central Oklahoma, is the author of The Dragon in the Jungle, Attack at Chosin, Building Ho's Army, History of Taiwan, and The Cold War in East Asia. He is the executive editor of the Chinese Historical Review. Li served in the PLA in China. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
In 2012, China debuted its first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, a refurbished Soviet-era ship from Ukraine. The debut of the Liaoning was largely thanks to a longtime pressure campaign by Liu Huaqing, the onetime leader of the People's Liberation Army Navy and the man responsible for transforming China's naval strategy. (China now has three carriers, and is building a fourth). When Liu began his career, China saw its military victories as coming primarily via land warfare; Liu, over decades, forced China to take naval combat seriously. Xiaobing Li writes about Liu's life in his book China's Mahan: Admiral Liu Huaqing and the Rise of the Modern Chinese Navy (Naval Institute Press, 2026), from his early career in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War and finishing with his long push to start China's aircraft carrier program. Xiaobing Li, professor of history and Don Betz Endowed Chair in International Studies at the University of Central Oklahoma, is the author of The Dragon in the Jungle, Attack at Chosin, Building Ho's Army, History of Taiwan, and The Cold War in East Asia. He is the executive editor of the Chinese Historical Review. Li served in the PLA in China. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/east-asian-studies
In 2012, China debuted its first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, a refurbished Soviet-era ship from Ukraine. The debut of the Liaoning was largely thanks to a longtime pressure campaign by Liu Huaqing, the onetime leader of the People's Liberation Army Navy and the man responsible for transforming China's naval strategy. (China now has three carriers, and is building a fourth). When Liu began his career, China saw its military victories as coming primarily via land warfare; Liu, over decades, forced China to take naval combat seriously. Xiaobing Li writes about Liu's life in his book China's Mahan: Admiral Liu Huaqing and the Rise of the Modern Chinese Navy (Naval Institute Press, 2026), from his early career in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War and finishing with his long push to start China's aircraft carrier program. Xiaobing Li, professor of history and Don Betz Endowed Chair in International Studies at the University of Central Oklahoma, is the author of The Dragon in the Jungle, Attack at Chosin, Building Ho's Army, History of Taiwan, and The Cold War in East Asia. He is the executive editor of the Chinese Historical Review. Li served in the PLA in China. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/military-history
Our correspondent joins an embed in Lebanon, where Israel claims that Hizbullah's continued strength justifies its campaign. If Israel's goals diverge from America's, how does this affect peace talks over the Iran conflict? The impact of the oncoming “Godzilla" El Niño. And why Japan's popular princess will never take the throne.Guests and host:Anshel Pfeffer, Israel correspondentCatherine Brahic, environment editorMoeka Iida, East Asia correspondentRosie Blau, co-host of “The Intelligence”Jason Palmer, co-host of “The Intelligence”Topics covered: Lebanon, Hizbullah, IDF, Majdal ZounEl Niño, climate change, famineJapan, Naruhito, Aiko, Princess ToshiListen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—Subscribe to Economist Podcasts+For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Our correspondent joins an embed in Lebanon, where Israel claims that Hizbullah's continued strength justifies its campaign. If Israel's goals diverge from America's, how does this affect peace talks over the Iran conflict? The impact of the oncoming “Godzilla El Niño”. And why Japan's popular princess will never take the throne.Guests and host:Anshel Pfeffer, Israel correspondentCatherine Brahic, environment editorMoeka Iida, East Asia correspondentRosie Blau, co-host of “The Intelligence”Jason Palmer, co-host of “The Intelligence”Topics covered: Lebanon, Hizbullah, IDF, Majdal ZounEl Niño, climate change, famineJapan, Naruhito, Aiko, Princess ToshiListen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—Subscribe to Economist Podcasts+For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
On this episode of Unsupervised Learning Razib has a wide-ranging conversation, again, with Dan Hess, the man behind the More Births account on social media. An engineer with a large family in the DC area, Hess' essays on topics like Israelis' high birth rate have gained the attention of X. He has an account that has come from a few hundred followers to more than 45,000 in less than 4 years. His tweets have been boosted by Elon. Today Razib and Hess start the conversation talking about East Asia, and its massive fertility crisis. Hess makes the case against urban density, observing how low fertility is in some of these Asian cities in particular. Razib also brings up economic and cultural creativity, as he and Hess ruminate on the consequences of reduced dynamism due to an aging population. Hess also argues that we cannot rely on evolution to fix our demographic imbalances; the source nations of immigrants are experiencing demographic collapse as well.
Geopolitics has dominated this year's G7 political meeting in Evian, France. Donald Trump offered scant detail on the Iran peace deal but leaders promised to boost support for Ukraine. Though prostitution in Japan has a long history, recent scandals have drawn it into the spotlight. And Britain's Country Life magazine has a winning formula: ignore the news. Guests and host:Sophie Pedder, Paris bureau chiefMoeka Iida, East Asia reporterCatherine Nixey, Britain correspondentRosie Blau, host of “The Intelligence”Topics covered: G7, Donald Trump, Iran, UkraineProstitution, Japan, sex workCountry Life, publishing, BritainListen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—Subscribe to Economist Podcasts+For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Geopolitics has dominated this year's G7 political meeting in Evian, France. Donald Trump offered scant detail on the Iran peace deal but leaders promised to boost support for Ukraine. Though prostitution in Japan has a long history, recent scandals have drawn it into the spotlight. And Britain's Country Life magazine has a winning formula: ignore the news. Guests and host:Sophie Pedder, Paris bureau chiefMoeka Iida, East Asia reporterCatherine Nixey, Britain correspondentRosie Blau, host of “The Intelligence”Topics covered: G7, Donald Trump, Iran, UkraineProstitution, Japan, sex workCountry Life, publishing, BritainListen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—Subscribe to Economist Podcasts+For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Tell me your favorite episode for the 6th anniversary show! For thousands of years, Korea has stood at the crossroads of East Asia, shaped by powerful neighbors but never defined by them. It has been home to ancient kingdoms, Buddhist temples, Confucian scholars, devastating invasions, colonial rule, war, division, and one of the most remarkable economic and cultural transformations in modern history. Despite everything, they find themselves in the 21st century, independent but divided. Learn more about the history of Korea on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Sponsors Saily Get an exclusive 15% discount on Saily data plans! Use code everythingeverywhere at checkout. Download Saily app or go to https://saily.com/everythingeverywhere ButcherBox Get your choice between chicken breast or top sirloin for a year OR ground beef for life, PLUS $20 off when you go to ButcherBox.com/everything Quince Go to quince.com/daily for 365-day returns, plus free shipping on your order! Mint Mobile Save 50% on Unlimited premium wireless plans starting at $15/month at MintMobile.com/EED TrueWerk Get 15% off your first order at truewerk.com with code everything DripDrop Go to dripdrop.com and use promo code everything for 20% off your first order! Subscribe to the podcast! https://everything-everywhere.com/everything-everywhere-daily-podcast/ -------------------------------- Executive Producer: Charles Daniel Associate Producers: Austin Oetken & Cameron Kieffer Become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everythingeverywhere Discord Server: https://discord.gg/Ds7Rx7jvPJ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everythingeverywhere/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/everythingeverywheredaily Twitter: https://twitter.com/everywheretrip Website: https://everything-everywhere.com/ Disce aliquid novi cotidie Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
An interview with Lee Jae Myung, South Korea's president, a year into his role. Though he has stabilised a turbulent polity and overseen a stock market rally, the path ahead may be bumpy. Can India's cockroach party become a powerful political movement? And celebrating the creator of “Persepolis”, Marjane Satrapi. Watch extended clips from Insider hereGuests and host:Noah Sneider, East Asia bureau chiefTom Sasse, South Asia bureau chiefAnn Wroe, obituaries editorRosie Blau, host of “The Intelligence”Topics covered: South Korea, Lee Jae Myung, North KoreaCockroach party, Narendra Modi, Gen-Z protestsMarjane Satrapi, Iran, PersepolisListen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—Subscribe to Economist Podcasts+For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
An interview with Lee Jae Myung, South Korea's president, a year into his role. Though he has stabilised a turbulent polity and overseen a stock market rally, the path ahead may be bumpy. Can India's cockroach party become a powerful political movement? And celebrating the creator of “Persepolis”, Marjane Satrapi. Watch extended clips from Insider hereGuests and host:Noah Sneider, East Asia bureau chiefTom Sasse, South Asia bureau chiefAnn Wroe, obituaries editorRosie Blau, host of “The Intelligence”Topics covered: South Korea, Lee Jae Myung, North KoreaCockroach party, Narendra Modi, Gen-Z protestsMarjane Satrapi, Iran, PersepolisListen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—Subscribe to Economist Podcasts+For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In this episode of The President's Daily Brief: After a weekend that raised fears of a broader Middle East war, Israel and Iran are once again observing a ceasefire. We examine what changed, why both sides appear reluctant to escalate further, and what the latest developments may reveal about ongoing diplomatic efforts behind the scenes. Chinese leader Xi Jinping is heading to Pyongyang for his first visit in years. We explain why Beijing is renewing its focus on North Korea and what the trip says about China's evolving strategic priorities in East Asia. Russian authorities in occupied Crimea are tightening fuel restrictions after a series of Ukrainian strikes disrupted supply lines. We look at how Kyiv is increasingly turning the peninsula into a logistical liability for Moscow. With the World Cup just days away, intelligence and security agencies are preparing for what could be the most complex sporting event ever staged. We examine the threats officials are monitoring and the unprecedented security measures now being deployed. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President's Daily Brief by visiting https://PDBPremium.com. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The President's Daily Brief. YouTube: youtube.com/@presidentsdailybrief StopBox: Get firearm security redesigned and save 10% off @StopBoxUSA with code PDB10 at https://stopboxusa.com/PDB10 #stopboxpod Blocktrust: Move your retirement into the next generation of assets, go to https://mikebakercrypto.com now to claim your $2,500 Bitcoin bonus. Pocket Hose-Ballistic: Text PDB to 64000 for your 2 free gifts with the purchase of any Pocket Hose Ballistic hose. By Texting 64000, you agree to receive recurring automated marketing messages from Pocket Hose. Message frequency varies and data rates may apply. Text STOP at any time to opt out. Text HELP for additional Information. No purchase required. Terms apply, available at PocketHose.com/terms Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A decision was made to flood the Western world with people from foreign countries who have incompatible attitudes, cultures, and behavior. Concepts such as the Kalergi Plan have been floating around for decades, but now the theoretical has become the actual. Sub-Saharan Africa will see the largest population growth over the next 25 years, as some countries are set to almost double their populations. East Asia is facing the opposite problem, as the population rates of Japan, China, and South Korea are among the lowest in the world. Population rates and average IQ are linked together, but mention that in the U.K. on social media, and the authorities will show up at the door with handcuffs.---Video Channels - Rumble | YouTube | BrighteonActivist Post - Newsletter Sign UpAudiobooks - Hypocrazy | The Octopus of Global Controlwww.Macroaggressions.ioMerch StoreLink TreeSupport Our SponsorsReplace Your Mortgage: www.WipeOutYourMortgageNow.comGround Luxe Grounding MatsC60 Power | Promo Code: MACROChemical Free Body | Promo Code: MACROWise Wolf Gold & SilverLegalShield: www.DontGetPushedAround.comEMP Shield | Promo Code: MACROChristian Yordanov's Health ProgramAbove PhoneVan ManThe Dollar VigilanteNesa's Hemp | Promo Code: MACROAugason Farms
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