Podcasts about The Hague

Silicon Bites Ep259 - Day 1,336 - 2025-10-21 | Why the Budapest summit won't happen and why “peace” is still the last thing that Vladimir Putin has on his mind. It's Day 1,336 of Russia's criminal war against Ukraine.Why the Budapest summit won't happen (and what that really tells us). After last week's Trump–Putin call, the White House floated a rapid “peace” summit in Budapest. Since then: no date, no itinerary, no pre-meet. Russia's line hasn't budged; Europe is hardening around a different baseline; and the logistics around Putin entering European airspace are politically toxic. News just in, Poland warns that Putin risks being diverted to The Hague if he attempts to overfly European countries that are prepared to enforce the ICC warrants against Putin. What changed in 72 hours? The Kremlin says the “timing is unclear,” and Dmitry Peskov stressed you can't “postpone something that hasn't been set in stone,” adding the whole thing would need “serious preparation.” (That's Kremlin-speak for: we're not committing – in fact we're chickening out. This thing isn't going to happen.) (The Moscow Times)----------SOURCES: Reuters — Europeans say battle lines must be start point for talks (Oct 21, 2025)https://www.reuters.com/world/european-leaders-issue-statement-backing-trumps-ukraine-ceasefire-position-2025-10-21/Reuters — Russia says its terms unchanged since August; next summit unclear (digest)https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chinas-new-home-prices-fall-fastest-pace-11-months-2025-10-20/The Moscow Times — Kremlin: Budapest needs “serious preparation”; State Dept “durable resolution” phrasing (Oct 20)https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/10/20/trump-putin-to-hold-talks-in-budapest-kremlin-says-a90799Reuters — Poland warns on airspace/ICC arrest risk (Oct 21)https://www.reuters.com/world/poland-warns-putins-plane-hungary-summit-2025-10-21/Reuters — EU's Kallas on shadow fleet crackdown (Oct 20)https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/eu-needs-more-measures-help-ukraines-energy-security-kallas-says-2025-10-20/Reuters — Kremlin on “why Budapest” (Oct 20)https://www.reuters.com/world/why-budapest-kremlin-says-orban-has-good-ties-with-both-trump-putin-2025-10-20/----------SILICON CURTAIN FILM FUNDRAISERA project to make a documentary film in Ukraine, to raise awareness of Ukraine's struggle and in supporting a team running aid convoys to Ukraine's front-line towns.https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extras----------This is super important. There are so many Battalions in Ukraine, fighting to defend our freedoms, but lack basics such as vehicles. These are destroyed on a regular basis, and lack of transport is costs lives, and Ukrainian territory. Autumn Harvest: Silicon Curtain (Goal€22,000)https://car4ukraine.com/campaigns/autumn-harvest-silicon-curtain----------SILICON CURTAIN LIVE EVENTS - FUNDRAISER CAMPAIGN Events in 2025 - Advocacy for a Ukrainian victory with Silicon Curtainhttps://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extrasOur events of the first half of the year in Lviv, Kyiv and Odesa were a huge success. Now we need to maintain this momentum, and change the tide towards a Ukrainian victory. The Silicon Curtain Roadshow is an ambitious campaign to run a minimum of 12 events in 2025, and potentially many more. Any support you can provide for the fundraising campaign would be gratefully appreciated. https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extrasWe need to scale up our support for Ukraine, and these events are designed to have a major impact. Your support in making it happen is greatly appreciated. All events will be recorded professionally and published for free on the Silicon Curtain channel. Where possible, we will also live-stream events.https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extras----------SUPPORT THE CHANNEL:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain----------

Hey before I begin the podcast, I just want to thank all of you who joined the patreon, you guys are simply awesome. Please take the time to vote and comment on the patreon polls so I can best tackle the specific subjects you want to hear more about and hell it does not have to be about the Pacific War, I like ancient Rome, WW1, WW2, just toss some ideas and I will try to make it happen.   This Podcast is going to be a very remarkable story about a Korean man who fought for the IJA, the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany during the second world war.  He is also a man whom most than likely never existed.   Did that catch you off guard haha?   If you have a chance you can pull up wikipedia and search Yang Kyoungjong. The first thing you will notice is a disclaimer that states numerous historians who claim Yang Kyoungjong does not exist. Yet this man exists in some history books, there is a iconic photo of him, there is a documentary looking into him, countless Korean stories are writing loosely about him, there is a pretty decent war film and multiple youtubers have covered his so-called story. So how does this guy not exist if his story is so popular?   His story is claimed to be real by military historian Stephen Ambrose who wrote about him in his book in 1994 titled “D-day, june 6th, 1944: the Climactic battle of World War II. There is also references to him in Antony Beevor's book “the second world war” and that of defense consultant and author Steven Zaloga's book“the devil's garden: Rommel's desperate Defense of Omaha Beach on D-Day”. In 2005 a Korean SBS documentary investigated his existence and concluded there was no convincing evidence of his existence. For those of you who have ever heard of this man, I guarantee it's because of the 2011 south korean film “My Way”. That's where I found out about it by the way. Many of you probably saw the iconic photo of him, again if you pull up the wikipedia page on Yang Kyoungjong its front and center. The photo shows a asiatic man wearing a wehrmacht uniform and he has just been captured by american forces on the d-day landings.   Now I don't want to jump into the is he real or not busy just yet. So this is how the podcast will go down, very reminiscent of “Our fake History's Podcast” might I add, I am a huge fan of that guys work. I am going to tell you the story of Yang Kyoungjong, then afterwords disclose my little investigation into whether he is real or not.   So without further adieu this is the story of a man who fought for three nations during WW2.   The Story   It was June 1944, the allies had just unleashed Operation Overlord, the D-Day landings at Normandy. Lt Robert Brewer of the 506th parachute infantry regiment, 101st airborne division was overlooking the capture of Axis forces and reported to his regiment finding four Asians in Wehrmacht uniform around the Utah beach landings. Brewer nor any of his colleagues spoke the language the Asian men spoke, they assumed them to be Japanese.  The four asians were processed as POW's, listed as young Japanese and sent to a British POW camp, before he would be sent to another POW camp in the US. At some point between his capture and the POW camps, he gave his name as Yang Kyoungjong, stated he was Korean and gave an extremely incredible story. To who did he say these things, no one knows.   Yang Kyoungjong was born in 1920, in Shin Eu Joo, part of modern day North Korea. At the age of 18, Yang was forcibly conscripted into the Imperial Japanese army. Korea was one of the bread baskets of Asia and the Empire of Japan had annexed her in 1910. Japan held sovereignty over Korea, making Koreans subjects.    In 1939 the Empire of Japan faced major labor shortages and as a result began conscription of Japanese men for the military, while importing vast amounts of Korean laborers to work in mainland Japan. For the Imperial Japanese Army, Koreans were not drafted until 1944 when things were dire for Japan. Until 1944, the IJA allowed Koreans to volunteer in the army. In 1938 there was a 14% acceptance rate, by 1943 this dropped dramatically to 2%, but the number of applicants increased exponentially from 3000 per annum in 1939 to 300,000 by the end of the war. On paper it looked like Koreans were registering en masse on their on violation, but this is quite the contrary, the Japanese policy was to use force. Japanese officials began press gang efforts against Korean peasants, forcing them to sign applications, it is believed over half of the applications were done in such a manner. Other applicants registered for a variety of reasons, typically because of economic turmoil. Korea would produce 7 generals and many field grade officers. One of the most well known was Lt General Crown Prince Yi Un who would command Japanese forces in the China War.   Thus Yang Kyoungjong was forced into the IJA and would find himself stationed with the Kwantung Army. Quite unfortunately for him, he was enlisted into their service at a time where two major border skirmishes occurred with the Soviet Union. The USSR was seen as Japan's number one rival going all the way back to the Triple Intervention of 1895 when the Russians thwarted Japan's seizure of the Liaodong peninsula after they had won the first sino japanese war. This led to the Russo-Japanese war, where Japan shocked the world being victorious over the Russian Empire. When the Russian Empire fell and the Russian civil war kicked off, Japan sent the lionshare of men to fight the Red Army during the Siberian Intervention of 1918-1922.    Communism was seen as the greatest if not one of the greatest threats to the Kokutai and thus Japan as a whole. As such Japan placed the Kwantung Army along the Manchurian borderlands to thwart any possible soviet invasion. There had numerous border skirmishes, but in 1938 and 1939 two large battles occurred. In 1938 the Kwantung army intercepted a Soviet message indicating the Far East forces would be securing some unoccupied heights west of Lake Khasan that overlooked the Korean port city of Rajin. Soviet border troops did indeed move into the area and began fortifying it. The Kwantung army sent forces to dislodge them and this soon led to a full on battle. The battle was quite shocking for both sides, the Soviets lost nearly 800 men dead with 3279 wounded, the Japanese claimed they had 526 dead with 913 wounded. The Soviet lost significant armor and despite both sides agreeing to a ceasefire, the Kwantung army considered it a significant victory and proof the Soviets were not capable of thwarting them.   In theory Yang Kyoungjong would be in training and would eventually reach the Manchuria borders by 1939. Another man sent over would be Georgy Zhukov who was given the task of taking command of the 57th special corps and to eliminate Japanese provocations. What was expected of Zhukov was if the Japanese pressed again for battle, to deliver them a crushing and decisive blow. On May 11th, 1939 some Mongolian cavalry units were grazing their horses in a disputed area. On that very same day, Manchu cavalry attacked the Mongols to drive them past the river of Khalkhin Gol. Two days later the Mongols returned in greater numbers and this time the Manchu were unable to dislodge them.    What was rather funny to say, a conflict of some horses grazing on disputed land, led to a fully mechanized battle. On May 14th, Lt Colonel Yaozo Azuma led some regiments to dislodge the Mongols, but they were being supported by the Red Army. Azuma force suffered 63% casualties, devastating. June saw the battle expand enormously, Japan was tossing 30,000 men in the region, the Soviets tossed Zhukov at them alongside motorized and armored forces. The IJA lacking good armored units, tossed air forces to smash the nearby Soviet airbase at Tamsakbulak. In July the IJA engaged the Red Army with nearly 100 tanks and tankettes, too which Zhukov unleashed 450 tanks and armored cars. The Japanese had more infantry support, but the Soviet armor encircled and crushed them. The two armies spared with another for weeks, the Japanese assumed the Soviets would suffer logistical problems but Zhukoev assembled a fleet of 2600 trucks to supply his forces, simply incredible. Both sides were suffering tremendous casualties, then in August global politics shifted. It was apparent a war in Europe was going to break out, Zhukov was ordered to be decisive, the Soviets could not deal with a two front war. So Zhukov now using a fleet of 4000 trucks began transported supplies from Chita to the front next to a armada of tanks and mechanized brigades. The Soviets tossed 3 rifle divisions, two tank divisions and 2 tank brigades, nearly 500 tanks in all, with two motorized infantry divisions and 550 fighters and bombers.    The stalemate was shattered when Zhukov unleashed is armada, some 50,000 Soviets and Mongols hit the east bank of Khalkhin Gol. The Japanese were immediately pinned down, while the Soviets were employing a double envelopment. The Japanese tried to counter attack and it failed horribly. The Japanese then scrambled to break out of the encirclement and failed. The surrounded Japanese forces refused to surrender as the Soviets smashed them with artillery and aerial bombardment. By the end of August the Japanese forces on the Mongolian side of the border were annihilated. On September 15th the USSR and Japan signed a ceasefire.    The battle of Khalkhin Gol was devastating for both sides. The Japanese claim they had 8440 deaths, 8766 wounded, lost 162 aircraft and 42 tanks. Its estimated 500-600 Japanese forces were taken prisoner. Because of IJA doctrine these men were considered killed in action. Some sources will claim the real numbers for Japanese casualties could have been as high as 30,000. The Soviets claim 9703 deaths, 15,251 wounded, the destruction of 253 tanks, 250 aircraft, 96 artillery pieces and 133 armored cars. Of those tank losses, its estimated 75-80% were destroyed by anti-tank guns, 15-20% field artillery, 5-10% infantry thrown incendiary bombs, 3% mines and another 3% for aircraft bombing.   Back to Yang Kyoungjong, he alongside the other Japanese, Manchu and Korean POW's were sent to Gulags in Siberia. As the war on the Eastern Front kicked off between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, facing annihilation the Soviets did anything possible to survive. One of these actions was to create the Shtrafbats, “Penal battalions”. Stalins order No 227 created the first penal battalions, who were supposed to be around 800 men strong. The first Shtrafbat battalion was deployed to the Stalingrad Front on August 22nd of 1942.   On order was issued on November 26, 1942 “status of Penal units of the army”, it was issued by Georgy Zhukov, now deputy commander in chief who was the man who formally standardized soviet penal units. The Shtrafbats were around 360 men per battalion commanded by mid range Red Army officers and politruks. The men forced into these were permanents or temporaries. Permanents were officers, commanders, the higher ranks guys. Temporary known as shtrafniki “punishees” were the grunts, typically prisoners and those convicted of crimes. From september 1942 to May of 1945 422,700 men would be forced into penal battalions.    Typically those forced into penal military units were one of two things: 1) those convicted of dissertation or cowardice, 2) Soviet Gulag labor camp inmates. It seems Yang Kyoungjong found himself in a very awkward situation as he would be forced into one of these penal battalions and sent to fight on the eastern front. As pertaining to Order No. 227, each Army was to have 3–5 barrier squads of up to 200 persons each, these units would be made up of penal units.    So back toYang Kyoungjong, he would find himself deployed at the third battle of Kharkov. This battle was part of a series of battles fought on the eastern front. As the German 6th army was encircling Stalingrad, the Soviets launched a series of wide counter attacks, as pertaining to “operation star”. Operation star saw massive offensives against Kharkov, Belgorod, Kursk, Voroshilovgrad and Izium. The Soviets earned great victories, but they also overextended themselves. Field Marshal Erich von Manstein seeing the opening, performed a counter-strike against Kharkov on February 19th of 1943, using fresh troops of the 2nd SS Panzer Corps alongside two other panzer armies. Manstein also had massive air support from field Marshal Wolfram von Richthofens Luftflotte 4, 1214 aircraft tossed 1000 sorties per day from February 20th to march 15th. The Red army had approximately 210,000 troops who fought in the Voronezh-Kharkov offensive, the Germans would have roughly 160,000 men, but their tanks outnumbered the Soviets 7-1, they had roughly 350 of them.   The Germans quickly outflanked the Soviets, managing to encircle and annihilate many units. Whenever soviets units made attempts to escape encirclements, the German air forces placed pressure upon them. The German air forces had the dual job of airlifting supplies to the front lines giving the Soviets no breathing space. Gradually the fight focused around the city of Kharkov seeing the Soviets dislodged. The Germans caused severe casualties, perhaps 45,000 dead or missing with another 41,000 wounded. The Germans suffered 4500 deaths, 7000 wounded. The Germans took a large number of prisoners, and Yang Kyoungjong was one of them.   Yet again a prisoner Yang Kyoungjong was coerced into serving another nation, this time for Die Ost-Bataillone. The Eastern Front had absolutely crippled Germany and as a result Germany began to enlist units from just about any nation possible and this included former Soviet citizens. There were countless different units, like the Russian liberation Army, die Hilfswillige, Ukrainian collaborationists, and there were also non-Russians from the USSR who formed the Ost-Bataillone. These eastern battalions would comprise a rough total of 175,000 men. Many of the Ost-Bataillone were conscripted or coerced into serving, though plenty also volunteered. Countless were recruited from POW camps, choosing to serve instead of labor in camps. The Osttruppen were to typically deployed for coastal defense, rear area activities, security stuff, all the less important roles to free up the German units to perform front line service.   There were two different groups, the Ost-Legionen “eastern legions” and Ost-Bataillone “eastern battalions”. The Ostlegionen were large foreign legion type units raised amongst members of specific ethnic or racial groups. The Ost-Bataillone were composed of numerous nationalities, usually plucked from POW camps in eastern europe. They were tossed together into battalion sized units and integrated individually into German combat formations. Obviously the Germans did not get their hands on large numbers of Koreans, so Yang Kyoungjong found himself in a Ost-Bataillone.    In 1944, due to massive losses in the Eastern Front, and in preparation for the allies about to open a second front, the Germans began deploying a lot of Ost-Bataillone along the coastal defense line at Cherbourg. Yang Kyoungjong was enlisted in the 709th static infantry division, a coastal defense unit assigned to defend the eastern and northern coasts of the Cotentin Peninsula. This would include the Utah beach landing site and numerous US airborne landing zones. The sector was roughly 250 km running northeast of Carentan, via Barfleur-Cherbourg-Cap de la Hague to the western point of Barneville. This also included the 65 km of land just in font of Cherbourg harbor. A significant portion of the 709th were Ost-bataillon, countless were from eastern europe, many were former Soviet POW'S. There were also two battalions of the 739th Grenadier regiment whom were Georgian battalions. A significant amount of the 709th had no combat experience, but had trained extensively in the area.   The 709th would be heavily engaged on D-day meeting US airborne units and the 4th infantry division who landed at Utah beach. In the early hours of June 6th, the US 82nd and 101st airborne divisions landed at the base of the Cotentin peninsula and managed to secure a general area for the US 4th infantry division to land at Utah beach, with very few casualties compared to other beach landings. After the landings the forces tried to link up with other forces further east. By June 9th they had crossed the Douve river valley and captured Carentan. House to house fighting was seen in the battle for Carentan, the Germans tossed a few counterattacks, but the Americans held on with the help of armor units of the 13th.    The Americans then advanced to cut off the Cotentin Peninsula, now supported by 3 other infantry divisions. The Germans had few armored or mobilized infantry in the area. By June 16th the German command was tossed into chaos as Erwin Rommel wanted them to pull out and man the Atlantic Wall at Cherbourg, but Hitler demanded they hold their present lines of defense. By the 17th Hitler agreed to the withdrawal, under some provisions the men still took up limited defenses spanning the entire peninsula. On the 18th the US 9th infantry division reached the west coast of the peninsula thus isolating the Cherbourg garrison. A battle was unleashed for 24 hours with the 4th, 9th and 79th US infantry divisions driving north on a broad front. They faced little opposition on the western side and the eastern, the center held much stronger resistance. The Americans would find several caches of V-1 flying bombs and V-2 rocket installations at Brix. After two days the Americans were in striking distance of Cherbourg. The garrison commander Lt General Karl-Wilhelm von Schlieben had 21,000 men, but many were naval personnel and labor units. Schliebens 709th had performed a fighting withdrawal to Cherbourg and were completely exhausted. The trapped forces were low in provisions, fuel and ammunition. The luftwaffe tried dropping supplies on their positions but it was inadequate.    A general assault began on the 22nd and the German forces put up stiff resistance within their concrete pillboxes. Allied warships bombarded the city on the 25th of june and on the 26th a British elite force, No. 30 Commando launched an assault against Octeville, a suburb of southwestern Cherbourg. The commandos quickly captured 20 officers and 500 men of the Kriegmarine naval intelligence HQ at Villa Meurice. As the Germans were ground down, Schlieben was captured and with that a surrender was made on the 29th.   The Americans suffered nearly 3000 deaths with 13,500 wounded during the operation. The Germans suffered 8000 deaths with 30,000 captured. For the 709th who took a lionshare of the fighting they reported sustaining 4000 casualties.    Amongst the captured was Yang Kyoungjong. As I said in the beginning Lt Robert Brewer of the 506th parachute infantry regiment, 101st airborne division was overlooking the capture of Axis forces and reported to his regiment finding four Asians in Wehrmacht uniform around the Utah beach landings. Brewer nor any of his colleagues spoke the language the Asian men spoke, they assumed them to be Japanese.  The four asians were processed as POW's, listed as young Japanese and sent to a British POW camp, before he would be sent to another POW camp in the US. At some point between his capture and the POW camps, he gave his name as Yang Kyoungjong, stated he was Korean and gave the story. Apparently Yang Kyoungjob was granted US citizenship and would spend the rest of his life in Illinois until his death in 1992.   So that is the story of Yang Kyoungjong.    The truth Did Yang Kyoungjong exist? Where does his story originate? For those of you who have not guessed it yet, the story I told you was full of details, I simply added based on historical events, with zero evidence at all any man named Yang Kyoungjong was involved in them. I did this specifically to highlight, thats exactly what others have done over the course of many years, creating a sort of mythos. If you know the game broken telephone, thats what I would theorize makes up most of this mans story. But lets go through some actual evidence why don't we?   From the digging I have done, the story seemed to originate with historian Stephen Ambrose book in 1994 titled “D-day, june 6th, 1944: the Climactic battle of World War II”. While writing this book, Ambrose interviewed Robert Burnham Brewer, who served E Company, 2nd battalion, 506th parachute infantry regiment of the 101st airborne division. This same man was portrayed in Band of Brothers by the way. Brewer gave one rather ambiguous account where he spoke about capturing 4 asian men in Wehrmacht uniforms.    Here is patient zero as told to us by Ambrose's book (Page 34, no footnote on the page)   The so-called Ost battalions became increasingly unreliable after the German defeat at Kursk; they were, therefore, sent to france in exchange for German troops. At the beach called Utah on the day on the invasion, Lt Robert Brewer of the 506th Parachute infantry regiment, 101st airborne division, US Army, captured four asians in Wehrmacht uniforms. No one could speak their language; eventually it was learned that they were Koreans. How on earth did Koreans end up fighting for Hitler to defend france against Americans? It seems they had been conscripted into the Japanese army in 1938-Korea was then a Japanese colony-captured by the Red Army in the border battles with Japan in 1939, forced into the Red Army, captured by the Wehrmacht in December 1941 outside Moscow, forced into the German army, and sent to France”. What happened to them, Lt Brewer never found out, but presumably they were sent back to Korea. If so, they would almost certainly have been conscripted again, either into the south or north korean army. It is possible than in 1950 they ended up fighting once again, either against the US army or with it, depending on what part of Korea they came from. Such are the vagaries of politics in the 20th century. By June 1944, one in six German rifleman in France was from an Ost battalion.   Now digging further since there are no footnotes, it seems Ambrose took an oral account from Lt Brewer, but did not directly quote him and instead abstractly expanded upon his story. Ambrose was guilty of doing this often. As multiple historians have pointed out, Brewer was living in the 1940s and was by no means an ethnographer, he was not a person who could have accurately known the nationality of the four asian men he captured. It is plausible he or other US units around him, just came up with Korean for the four asians who could have been from nearly anywhere in central to east asia. For all we know the men found could have been from Turkestan. What was “asian” to westerners of the 1940's is extremely broad.    If you look up the Ost-Bataillone or Ostlegionen you will see they consisted of captured former soviet soldiers. During the d-day landings, 1/6th of the German forces defending the atlantic coast were made up of the Ost-battailones. They came from numerous places, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, India, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkestan, Mongolia and numerous parts of the USSR. Needless to say, there were a ton of people whom would be considered asian and could be mistaken to be from Korea, Japan, Burma, etc.    It seems Brewer's vague account was transformed by Amrose, but this only covers one part of all of this, the story, what about the photo?    The iconic photograph is another matter entirely. The photograph has nothing to do with Brewer's account, it is simply a random photograph taken at Utah beach of a captured asian soldier wearing a Wehrmacht uniform. The official description of the photo states “Capture Jap in Nazi uniform. France, fearful of his future, this young Jap wearing a nazi uniform, is checked off in a roundup of German prisoners on the beaches of france. An american army captain takes the Jap's name and serial number” Author Martin Morgan believes the man in the photograph is not Yang Kyoungjong, but instead an ethnic Georgian from the 795th Georgian Battalion, which was composed of Georgian Osttruppen troops or someone who was Turkistani. In 2002 word of the story became more popularized online and in 2004 the iconic photo also began to circulate heavily on the internet. The Korean media became aware of the story in 2002 and when they saw the picture the Korean news site DKBNews investigated the matter. Apparently a reader of the DKBNews submitted biographical details about the soldier in the photo, including his name, date of birth, the general story we now know, his release, life in Illinois and death. The DKBNews journalist requested sources and none were provided, typical.   So some random unknown reader of the DKBNews gave a name, place and time of birth and even where he ended up and died.  In 2005 the Seoul broadcasting system aired a documentary specifically investigating the existence of the asian soldiers who fought for Germany on d-day.   In the SBS special “The Korean in Normandy,” produced and broadcast in 2005 based on rumors of Yang kyoungjog,  they searched for records of Korean prisoners of war during the Battle of khalkhin gol and records of Korean people who participated in the German-Japanese War, and records related to the German Army's eastern unit, but could not find traces of such a person. In addition, the soldiers who served in the Soviet army, who were captured, and then transferred to the German army's eastern units were considered by the Soviet Union to be serious traitors. Accordingly, under a secret agreement between the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union, they were forcibly repatriated to the Soviet Union after the war and held in Gulags.. The SBS production team stated that the rumors that a 'Korean from Normandy' had gone to the United States and that he died in seclusion near Northwestern University under the name of 'Yang Kyoungjong', which they were unaware of, were false. The investigative team looked for any traces of a Yang Kyoungjong and found none, so they concluded although there were accounts of asian soldiers in the German army during WW2, there was zero evidence of the existence of Yang Kyoungjong or any Koreans fighting on D-day for that matter.    The 2005 SBS Special documentary sprang forth a bunch of stories by Korean authors, expanding the mythos of Yang Kyoungjong.   In 2007 author Jo Jeong-rae published a novel titled “human mask” which told the story of SHin Gilman, The story ends with Shin Gil-man, who was conscripted into the Japanese army at the age of 20, as a prisoner of war in Normandy, then transported back to the Soviet Union and eventually executed by firing squad. Another novel called “D-day” by author Kim Byeong-in was release in 2011, just prior to the film My War, the plot is extremely similar to the movie. The main characters are Han Dae-sik and Yoichi, who met as children as the sons of a Japanese landowner and the house's housekeeper, harboring animosity toward each other, and grew up to become marathon runners representing Joseon and Japan. As they experience the war together, they feel a strange sense of kinship and develop reconciliation and friendship.   And of course the most famous story would find its way to the big screen. In 2011 the film My Way came out, back then the most expensive south korean film ever made at around 23$ million.   Then in 2012 a unknown person created a wikipedia page piecing together the Ambrose story, the photo and the unknown DBK readers information. With all of this information becoming more viral suddenly in 2013, two history books hit the scene and would you know it, both have “Yang Kyoungjong” in them.    These are Antony Beevor's book “the second world war” and that of defense consultant and author Steven Zaloga in his book “the devil's garden: Rommel's desperate Defense of Omaha Beach on D-Day”. Both authors took the story, name and iconic photo and expanded on the mythos by adding further details as to how the Korean man would have gone from Korea to Cherbourg france.   So Ambrose's story spreads across the internet alongside this photo. Both spark interest in Korea and an investigation receives some random guys testimony, which quite honestly was groundless. Despite the korean documentary stating there was no evidence of a Yang Kyoungjong, it sparks further interest, more stories and a famous film in 2011. 2012 sees a wikipage, it becomes more viral and now seeps into other historians work.   And I would be remiss not to mention the bizarre controversy that broke out in my nation of Canada. A nation so full of controversies today, dear god. Debbie Hanlon a city councilor in St John Newfoundland was absolutely wrecked online in 2018 for an advertisement promoting her real estate business stating “Korean Yang kyoungjong fought with Japan against the USSR. He then fought with the USSR against Germany. Then with Germany against the US! Want an agent who fights for you, call me!” Really weird ad by the way. So it seems her ad was to point out how far she was willing to go for her real estate clients. It was considered extremely offensive, and not the first time she pulled this off, her husband Oral Mews had recently come under fire for another ad he made using a photo of the Puerto Rican cab driver Victor Perez Cardona, where the vehicle turned into a casket. That ad said “He can't give you a lift because he's dead. He's propped up in his cab at his wake! Need a lift to great service, call me!” Hanlon was surprised at the amount of backlash she received since the ads had been running for over 4 years online. She claimed to be the victim of cyberbullying and trolls. So yeah, that happened.    Did Yang Kyoungjong exist, more than likely not, was it possible some Koreans found themselves in a position his story pertains to, you know what it's quite possible. During War a lot of weird things happen. I hope you liked this episode, please let me know in the comments on the Patreon what you think, how I can improve things and of course what you want to hear about next!

HEADLINE: China's Coordinated Aggression in the South China Sea: Analyzing the Philippine Vessel Ramming Incident GUEST NAMES: John Batchelor (Host) and Jim Fanell, Retired US Navy Intelligence Officer 1000-WORD SUMMARY: The program featured an in-depth discussion between host John Batchelor and Jim Fanell, a retired United States Navy intelligence officer, focusing on a recent and troubling ramming incident in the contested waters of the South China Sea's Spratly Islands. This incident involved Chinese vessels deliberately ramming a Philippine resupply ship that was en route to a Philippine outpost, marking another escalation in the ongoing territorial disputes that have made the South China Sea one of the world's most volatile maritime flashpoints. Fanell provided expert analysis that fundamentally reframes how this incident should be understood. Rather than viewing it as an isolated action by an overzealous ship captain acting independently or a spontaneous confrontation that escalated beyond control, Fanell argues that the ramming was a carefully coordinated operation directed from the highest levels of the Chinese Communist Party. This assessment carries significant implications for understanding China's strategic intentions and the level of state control exercised over what might otherwise appear to be tactical-level maritime incidents. The coordinated nature of the operation becomes evident when examining the composition and deployment of Chinese forces involved in the incident. Fanell detailed that the ramming was not carried out by a single vessel but was instead supported by a substantial flotilla of Chinese maritime assets. This included vessels from China's maritime militia—ostensibly civilian fishing vessels that operate under state direction and serve paramilitary functions—multiple Coast Guard cutters representing China's official law enforcement presence at sea, and significantly, a warship from the People's Liberation Army Navy, representing the direct involvement of China's military forces. This multi-layered deployment of assets from different organizational structures within China's maritime forces demonstrates a level of coordination and planning that could only originate from centralized command authority. The presence of military, paramilitary, and quasi-civilian forces operating in concert reveals a sophisticated strategy designed to apply overwhelming pressure while maintaining some degree of plausible deniability about the military nature of the confrontation. Fanell emphasized that this incident is not an isolated occurrence but rather part of a consistent and identifiable pattern of Chinese operations concentrated in several key areas of the South China Sea. He specifically mentioned Scarborough Shoal, Sandy Cay, and Second Thomas Shoal as focal points of these coordinated Chinese activities. Each of these locations represents a contested feature in the South China Sea where the Philippines maintains claims and, in some cases, physical presence through grounded vessels or small outposts that serve as territorial markers. Scarborough Shoal, located approximately 120 miles from the Philippine coast, has been under effective Chinese control since a 2012 standoff, despite lying well within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone as defined by international law. Second Thomas Shoal has become particularly contentious because the Philippines deliberately grounded a World War II-era vessel, the Sierra Madre, on the shoal in 1999 to serve as a permanent outpost. The vessel houses a small garrison of Philippine marines, and China has repeatedly attempted to prevent resupply missions to this outpost, creating recurring confrontations. The pattern Fanell describes reveals a strategy of incremental pressure designed to exhaust the Philippines' ability and willingness to maintain its presence in these disputed areas. By consistently interfering with resupply operations, China aims to make it prohibitively difficult, dangerous, and expensive for the Philippines to sustain its outposts, potentially forcing their eventual abandonment and allowing China to assert de facto control. Fanell's analysis places this aggressive maritime behavior within the broader context of China's strategic objectives in the South China Sea. The Chinese Communist Party's ultimate goal, according to Fanell, is to establish complete sovereignty over the entire South China Sea, despite the overlapping claims of multiple neighboring countries including the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan, and despite a 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague that rejected China's expansive claims as having no legal basis under international law. Control of the South China Sea would provide China with several strategic advantages. The region contains vital shipping lanes through which approximately one-third of global maritime trade passes, including substantial energy shipments to East Asian economies. The area is believed to contain significant oil and natural gas reserves, though estimates vary widely. Additionally, control of the South China Sea would extend China's defensive perimeter far from its mainland coast and provide greater ability to project power throughout the Indo-Pacific region. Fanell also contextualized the ramming incident within the current state of US-China relations, suggesting that China's aggressive actions are partly designed to apply pressure on the United States during a period of heightened economic tensions between the two powers. The United States has maintained that it has a national interest in preserving freedom of navigation in the South China Sea and has conducted regular "freedom of navigation operations" to challenge what it views as excessive Chinese maritime claims. The United States also maintains a mutual defense treaty with the Philippines, though the precise circumstances under which this treaty would be invoked in response to incidents in disputed waters remains a subject of ongoing strategic ambiguity. The incident and Fanell's analysis raise critical questions about the trajectory of tensions in the South China Sea and the potential for escalation. If China continues to employ increasingly aggressive tactics, coordinated at the highest levels of government, the risk of a serious confrontation—whether with the Philippines directly or with the United States in its role as a treaty ally—increases substantially. The international community faces the challenge of responding to Chinese actions that systematically erode the rules-based international order while stopping short of the kind of overt military aggression that would trigger clear and immediate responses. 1939 REUBEN JAMES

Today, more than half the world's population live in cities – and as our numbers swell, so will our cities, especially those around the Pacific Rim, where it's predicted our largest megacities of 10 million plus will be situated. And herein lies an opportunity: 60% of the buildings needed for 2050 are not yet built.Could we shape our cities into places that are good for the climate and also good for our mental health? Can we design buildings and infrastructure that make green decisions easier and also help us deal with stress or depression?In a programme first broadcast in 2024, Jordan Dunbar hears about examples in the Netherlands and Egypt. Are there win-win options out there that can help the world deal with two of its biggest challenges?Contributors: Houssam Elokda -Urban Planner, with Happy Cities, Vancouver Sally Nabil - BBC Arabic Egypt Correspondent, Cairo Anna Holligan - BBC Correspondent, The Hague, NetherlandsProduction Team: Graihagh Jackson, Octavia Woodward, Brenda Brown Sound Design: Tom Brignell Editor: Simon WattsGot a question? Email us: theclimatequestion@bbc.com

Moldova's recent elections dealt another blow to Moscow's influence, but can its fragile democracy withstand the Kremlin's next moves? Across Eastern Europe, Ukraine fights for survival, Georgia teeters between Brussels and Moscow, and Russian interference looms over them all. What tools does Vladimir Putin still have to destabilize the region—and how can Europe and the United States help defend its newest democracies without overreaching?In this episode, Jacob Heilbrunn speaks with Shelby Magid, Deputy Director of the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center. Magid previously served at the German Marshall Fund of the United States and at the International Federation for Human Rights' office in The Hague, where she worked with the International Criminal Court and conducted research on human rights violations.Music by Aleksey Chistilin from Pixabay

Juliette McIntyre explains what's happening at the International Court of Justice and what she'll be looking out for in upcoming genocide cases. If it's interesting, do like, subscribe and leave us a review. Want to find out more? Check out all the background information on our website including hundreds more podcasts on international justice covering all the angles: https://www.asymmetricalhaircuts.com/ Or you can sign up to our newsletter: https://www.asymmetricalhaircuts.com/newsletters/ Did you like what you heard? Tip us here: https://www.asymmetricalhaircuts.com/support-us/ Or want to support us long term? Check out our Patreon, where - for the price of a cup of coffee every month - you also become part of our War Criminals Bookclub and can make recommendations on what we should review next, here: https://www.patreon.com/c/AsymmetricalHaircuts Asymmetrical Haircuts is created, produced and presented by Janet Anderson and Stephanie van den Berg, together with a small team of producers, assistant producers, researchers and interns. Check out the team here: https://www.asymmetricalhaircuts.com/what-about-asymmetrical-haircuts/

Danielle is an internationally acclaimed concert harpist and multi-faceted artist.She was admitted to the young talent department of the Royal Conservatory in the Netherlands at the age of 12. It marked the beginning of a successful international career as a soloist, chamber musician, and principal orchestra harpist. Danielle is the prizewinner of major national and international harp competitions. She has performed all over the world with renowned musicians and maestros, in cities such as Amsterdam, Berlin, Vienna, Paris, and Madrid. For 15 years, she served as the principal harpist of the Symphony Orchestra of The Hague, Netherlands.In 2020, Danielle moved to the Algarve in Portugal where she offers harp concerts, sound journeys, 1:1 sessions, and movement classes. Here, she also created her intimate ‘Meditative Harp concerts,' a ceremonial space that starts with a sound journey with sacred instruments and a heart opening meditation, followed by a meditative harp concert.www.danielleriegel.love

What happens when a CEO treats thought leadership as essential as strategy? In this episode of Leveraging Thought Leadership, host Peter Winick sits down with Des Hague, an acclaimed executive who has led global brands like PepsiCo, IHOP, and Centerplate, and now advises startups, nonprofits, and private equity firms. He's also the author of "Think Your Way to the Top" and "15 Minutes of Shame", with a third book on the way. Des doesn't see thought leadership as an optional side project. For him, it's the natural extension of leadership itself—codifying the models, frameworks, and mindsets that fuel success. He shares why talent is always the starting point, how leaders must prioritize relentlessly, and why making time for writing and reflection is a choice, not a luxury. We dig into the dangers of mediocrity and entitlement, the critical role of sacrifice, and how to stay focused in a world addicted to distraction. Des's mantra, NSL—Never Stop Learning—pushes leaders to reject complacency and demand excellence from themselves and others. He also opens up about resilience, accountability, and how leaders respond to their lowest moments. Through transparency and candor, Des reframes failure as a lesson, not a life sentence. His story challenges executives to hold themselves to higher standards, embrace growth, and remain relentless in their pursuit of impact. This is an episode for leaders who want more than buzzwords. It's about discipline, clarity, and the courage to lead with integrity—even when the spotlight is harsh. Three Key Takeaways: • Thought leadership is leadership. Codifying frameworks, sharing ideas, and investing in personal development are essential for leading organizations and people effectively. • Focus and sacrifice drive results. Great leaders prioritize ruthlessly, avoid distractions, and make deliberate trade-offs to create time for what matters most. • Resilience and accountability matter. Owning mistakes, learning from setbacks, and maintaining a growth mindset separate leaders who stagnate from those who continue to make an impact. If you enjoyed Des Hague's perspective on leadership, focus, and turning ideas into impact, you'll want to dive into our episode with Will Milano. Both conversations tackle the discipline behind thought leadership—how leaders move beyond inspiration to frameworks, focus, and execution. Des shows how personal accountability and clarity shape great leadership, while Will unpacks how organizations can build a repeatable engine that scales those ideas into measurable business results. Together, these episodes give you a 360° view: the mindset of the leader and the system that powers the enterprise. Listen to both, and you'll walk away with practical insights for making thought leadership not just personal, but organizational. Listen to Will's episode here.

In this edition of Plein Publiek, Ianthe Mosselman interviews theatre and film director Tea Tupajić. She survived the Bosnian war as a girl and twenty years later spoke with dozens of Dutch veterans about their experiences. In July 1995, 8.400 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed by Bosnian Serb forces, an act that was later declared genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague. Her impressive book Zwarte Zomer is a poetic account of conversations with six veterans who were present.Tea Tupajić (Sarajevo, 1984) is a Croatian theatre and film director. Her works have been presented across Europe and The United States to international acclaim. In The Netherlands, about the Dutchbat she created the performance “DARK NUMBERS” and film “Darkness There and Nothing More” which premiered at IDFA2021 competition deserving the nominations for Best Dutch Film and Best First Feature.Tea Tupajić is a published writer and has served as a guest editor for the arts magazine Frakcija. Her texts have been translated into English, German, Dutch, Polish, Arabic and Hebrew. Zwarte zomer is her first book.Zie het privacybeleid op https://art19.com/privacy en de privacyverklaring van Californië op https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this brand new series of Gem Pursuit, we step into the world of fine art to uncover the jewels hidden on canvas. Jewellery in Paintings explores how artists captured the sparkle, symbolism, and status of gems throughout history. We begin with one of the most iconic images in Western art: Johannes Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring. Often called the “Mona Lisa of the North,” this enigmatic portrait has fascinated viewers for centuries. But what about the jewel itself? In this episode, we explore the mystery of the pearl, what it reveals about 17th-century Dutch society, and why such a simple adornment continues to shine as a timeless ideal of beauty. Whether you're standing in front of the painting in The Hague or simply picturing it in your mind, this episode offers a sparkling new perspective on an old master. www.courtville.ie Get social with Courtville, follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok This podcast was produced for Courtville by Tape Deck

Welcome to Ep.276 of Catfish On Ice Live Stream! -Halfway through the preseason. The guys list their Clutch Performers through 3 preseason games. -Nicolas Hague will miss at least 1 month. Who steps in to play with Roman Josi. The guys discuss the options. -The young prospects are making a significant impact in training camp? How does that affect Andrew Brunette's decision making? -A look around the NHL at standings projections for 2025-26. What are the experts saying about the Predators' chances of improving from last season? We dissect the analytics. Presented by DraftKings and their Pick6 app. $50 in BONUS PICKS with Promo Code THPN for new users. https://pick6.draftkings.com/promos?w... Subscribe to the YouTube channel, hit LIKE and throw us a comment! (201) Catfish On Ice Podcast - YouTube Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The eruption of far-right violence in The Hague destroys the fragile hopes of a civil, constructive election campaign. Housing minister Mona Keijzer keeps Marjolein Faber's legacy alive by ploughing on with her asylum policies in the face of a withering assessment by the Council of State. More than 40% of voters say Gaza will influence their choice on October 29 and half want tougher sanctions against Israel. The Dutch Rugby Union decides to allow trans players in women's teams. And Rotterdam's Blijdorp zoo hatches a plan to rescue a batch of stowaways from Iceland. Link to Italian member of the resistance: https://www.vprogids.nl/podcasts/lees/artikelen/2024/Luciana--Italiaanse-overgrootmoeder-blijkt-verzetsheldin-te-zijn.html

A complex legal shuffle is going on in The Hague currently, where the former president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte is being held at the International Criminal Court Detention Unit. Duterte faces potential charges related to a campaign against drugs sellers buyers and users in which at least 7,000 Filipinos were killed. Why is it complex? Well, any ICC case […]

Merlin Daleman (b.1977) is a British photographer who has spent most of his adult life living in the Netherlands. He attended South Devon College, Torquay, the University of Central England (now Birmingham City University) in the UK, and graduated from The Royal College of Art in The Hague, the Netherlands. He works as a freelance documentary photographer for leading Dutch publications, including NRC Handelsblad, Dagblad Trouw, Financieel Dagblad, and De Groene Amsterdammer. He is the recipient of awards including the Silver Camera awards for Documentary Photography in the Netherlands in 2008 and 2010 and had received grants from the EU Journalism Foundation Grant and the Robert Bosch Foundation Fellowship. His debut photobook, Mutiny, published by GOST Books in August 2025, builds on his long-term projects, such as the new black lung epidemic in Kentucky, USA and exploring the lives of families separated by labour migration in Ukraine.In episode 265 Merlin discusses, among other things:How the Mutiny project came aboutHow he funded it and set about shooting itSome of the stories behind images in the bookBlack lung story in AppalachiaHow a major motorycle accident helped his photographyWebsite | Instagram Become a A Small Voice podcast member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of 200+ previous episodes for £5 per month.Subscribe to my weekly newsletter here for everything A Small Voice related and much more besides.Follow me on Instagram here.Build Yourself a Squarespace Website video course here.

Hello Youtube Members, Patreons and Pacific War week by week listeners. Yes this was intended to be an exclusive episode to join the 29 others over on my Youtube Membership and Patreon, but since we are drawing to the end of the Pacific War week by week series, I felt compelled to make some special episodes to answer some of the bigger questions.   Hey before I begin I just want to thank all of you who have joined the patreon, you guys are awesome. Please let me know what other figures, events or other things you want to hear about in the future and I will try to make it happen.   So as you can see the title of this episode is, Why did the Japanese perform so many Atrocities during the Pacific War. Phewww, its honestly a difficult one to tackle, for there are countless reasons. I had a university professor who taught; ancient and modern Japanese history, history of the Japanese empire and the Pacific War. He actually answered this very question in a single lecture and in many ways I found it to be one of the most illuminating things I ever learnt about the Pacific War. To truly understand the reasons why they did such horrible things, you actually need to learn the general history of Japan, particularly the changes from Tokugawa, to Meiji, to Showa. I am going to do my very best, but I know many of you might be asking “what were the worst things they did?”, not everyone takes a special interest into such a niche part of history. May I recommend for those with strong stomachs “the knights of Bushido” by Edward Russel that covers pretty much all the atrocities of the Asia-Pacific War. For those of you who like darker things, check out Unit 731: Japan's Secret Biological Warfare in World War II by David Wallace and Peter Williams, absolute nightmare fuel.   I can't go through the entire history of Japan, but I think it's important to start off with the first Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. This was the first time the Empire of Japan fought a true war with a foreign nation, that being the Qing dynasty. At this point in time, there really emerged a sort of, to be blunt, race war. The Chinese had historically referred to the Japanese as “woren”, a racist term meaning dwarf. Now historically the Japanese had always revered the Chinese, kind of like in the way a little brother looks up to his big brother. In tokugawa Japan they would learn from the Chinese, but as the Meiji restoration began this dramatically changed. Japan watched as the Chinese were humiliating and abused by the western powers and failed to modernize. Meanwhile Japan emulated the best of the west, to modernize and become a great power themselves. In many ways, Japan saw itself become big brother and now China was little brother. The Meiji restoration had an element of nationalism built into it that would explode come the Show era. Japan for its entire history had this belief they were the “Yamato Race” dating back to the 6th century. Now while the Meiji restoration sought to emulate the west, they also emulated racism and propaganda, which in the 19th century was kind of a big deal. The Japanese government gradually began a long term campaign promoting the idea the Japanese, or Yamato people were superior to that of the other asian races. Who was the next big asian boy on the block? China, so it was inevitable they would direct a lot of racist attitudes towards the Chinese. During the first sino-japanese war, the Chinese, particularly Manchu had a habit of performing atrocities upon the Japanese. They would often cut off body parts of Japanese soldiers in grotesque manners and leave them to be found by their comrades. This was honestly a pretty typical thing of war in the region, but it did also have a racist element to it, the Chinese certainly saw the Japanese as lesser people. Just before the battle of Port Arthur, the Japanese found mutilated remains of the comrades, here is a passage from Makio Okabe who was there:   As we entered the town of Port Arthur, we saw the head of a Japanese soldier displayed on a wooden stake. This filled us with rage and a desire to crush any Chinese soldier. Anyone we saw in the town, we killed. The streets were filled with corpses, so many they blocked our way. We killed people in their homes; by and large, there wasn't a single house without from three to six dead. Blood was flowing and the smell was awful. We sent out search parties. We shot some, hacked at others. The Chinese troops just dropped their arms and fled. Firing and slashing, it was unbounded joy. At this time, our artillery troops were at the rear, giving three cheers [banzai] for the emperor.   The Japanese performed a massacre at Port Arthur, butchering perhaps up to 3000 Chinese civilians, some claim 10's of thousands and in full few of western war correspondents. It became a huge controversy that destroyed the image of the IJA internationally and hurt the Japanese governments efforts at riding themselves of unequal treaties with the western powers. The Japanese learnt a hell of a lesson and an Imperial Proclamation was made in 1894 stating that Japanese soldiers should make every effort to win the war without violating international laws. According to Japanese historian Yuki Tanaka, Japanese forces during the First Sino-Japanese War released 1,790 Chinese prisoners without harm, once they signed an agreement not to take up arms against Japan if they were released.   During the next major war the Japanese performed a dramatic 180, well at least to their enemy. During the Russo-Japanese War, over 80,000 Russian POWs were held by the IJA who were treated in accordance with the Hague conventions of 1899. The Japanese paid them for labor, housed them in conventional POW camps, made sure they received good medical treatment, ironically better than the Russians were capable of. The Japanese did all of this, making sure the foreign war correspondents wrote about it. It was a massive PR stunt in many ways. The Japanese were emulating how a world power should act, because they sought to be one. Meanwhile the Japanese swallowed their pride at being called yellow monkeys, as the prevalent Yellow Peril ideology was being pushed by Kaiser Wilhehelm and Tsar Nicholas II heavily. The Japanese treated the entire war like gentlemen and suffered horrific higher casualties than necessary because of it. But something many people don't take much notice of, because the IJA made sure of it, was they horrible treatment of the Chinese during the war.   Now the Russians in Manchuria looted, killed and raped many Chinese, pushed quite a bit by the Yellow Peril. The Chinese, certainly the Honghuzi bandits were working for the Japanese to attack them, so its not like they had no reasons. The IJA was more professional and had orders not to molest the Chinese, as they were helping the war effort, but this did not prevent it. The Japanese also looted, killed and raped Chinese. The Japanese would often wave it off as reprisals against potential spies. I only bring this up as it was very apparent, the Japanese treated the Russians much different than the chinese.   Fast forward to WW1, the Japanese had a battle against the Germans and Austro-Hungarians known in the west as the Siege of Tsingtau. The Japanese took up an identical methodology to the Russo-Japanese war with their approach to the Germans, but even took it a step further. After winning the siege, the Japanese seized nearly 5000 German POW's who were treated with a surreal amount of respect. They were brought back to Japan and housed for the rest of the war in 12 cities around Tokyo and Kumamoto. The POW's enjoyed humane treatment and a rather famous event occurred at the Bando camp where a large orchestra was formed of German POW's who toured the nation performing 100 concerts, lectures and plays. Evidence the Germans were treated well can be seen in the fact 170 prisoners never left Japan and sought wives and lives there. Now is this all a feel good love story, no, just like during the Russo-Japanese War, Japan was playing up the PR, for during WW1 they wanted official recognition as a world power and that of being racially equal to the whites.    Japan was officially recognized as a world power during the treaty of Versailles, but when Japan gave its racial equality proposal, President Woodrow Wilson of the US and Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes refused to allow it to pass, even though they received majority votes. Now The Japanese had been for a lack of better words, fucked over, during the first sino-japanese war when the triple intervention of France, Germany and Russia stole away their war earning of the Liaodong peninsula. During the Russo-Japanese war, Theodore Roosevelt limited the Japanese war gains and now here after WW1 the Japanese received another humiliation. To the Japanese, it was the last straw and it was a major reason they went to war with the west, who they viewed, and honestly rightfully so, would never see them as equals.   Ompf, lot of history there, but now we come to the Showa era, which was molded by the feelings of the past decades.   In 1937 Japan and China enter an unofficial war that saw one of the worst wartime atrocities in human history, the rape of Nanjing. It began on December 13th of 1937, lasting 6 or so weeks seeing the murder of possibly 300,000 civilians and pows, the mass rape of 20,000 and untold hardship upon the Chinese people. The Japanese followed this up with numerous other massacres in China such as the Changjiao Massacre claiming possibly 30,000 Chinese civilian lives, the Alexandra Hospital Massacre killing 200 patients and medical staff in Hong Kong, the Laha Massacre on Ambon island where 300 members of the Gull force were executed, the Bangka island massacre where 60 Australian and British soldiers and 22 Australian nurses were murdered, the Parit Sulong massacre in Malay where 150 wounded Australian and Indian POW's were executed, the Bataan Death march where negligence and brutality took the lives of 650 Americans and perhaps a possible 18,000 Filipinos, the Manila massacres claiming the lives of perhaps 54,000 filipinos including women and children in the Philippines, the Balikpapan massacre in the dutch east indies taking the lives of 78 Dutch Civilians, I can keep going and going. Where the Japanese went, massacres and horrors occurred.    Again if you really want to delve into these stories check out “the knights of Bushido”.   The Japanese also had the infamous special units like 731, who conducted horrifying experiments on civilians and POWs like vivisectioning live people without anesthesia, testing biological and chemical weapons on live people, the freezing peoples to study frostbite treatment and giving people sexually transmitted diseases to study. Lt General Shiro Ishii's unit 731 deployed plague infested fleas, cholera, bubonic plague and other nasty weapons upon Chinese civilians killing perhaps up to 500,000. This was seen during the battle of Changde and famously during operation Sei-go also known as the Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign.    The Japanese also enacted the infamous “Sanko Sakusen / three all's policy : kill all, urn all, loot all” in retaliation to the Chinese communists Hundred regiments offensive in December of 1940. Sanctioned by Hirohito personally, it is thought this act resulted in the death of 2.7 million Chinese civilians. According to author Werner Gruhl 8 million Chinese civilian deaths could be attributable to the Japanese.     So then we come back to the big question, why? So now that I've covered the loose history for coherency sake I want to list here the largest reasons for the atrocities and by no means is this official categories or even all of them, I am simply stating kind of my top ones I guess you can say:   Treaties signed or not signed War strategy and indoctrination  Ultra-Nationalism and Racism Surrender & the Bastardization of the Bushido code The Brutality of the Japanese military Treaties signed or not signed   Yes its time to talk about treaties, yawn. Now I said previously Japan did sign the Hague Conventions of 1899 and would ratify them in 1907. The Hague conventions did contain laws for prisoners of war, protection of civilians. Alongside this, in 1894 an imperial proclamation was made stating Japanese soldiers should make every effort to win a war without violating international laws. More significantly Japan “signed” but unlike the majority of other world powers did not ratify the Geneva convention of 1929. Why? To be blunt, the geneva conventions did not really benefit the Japanese military from their point of view.   First the Japanese had a very specific perspective on surrendering, they simply did not do it, so they did not expect many of their soldiers to ever become POW's, so how would it benefit them to ratify such a thing? If they are not going to have many POW's, why would they burden themselves with upholding all the conventional laws for POW's they would obtain during war?  Another glaring reason involved aerial bombing. Many Japanese leaders, like Kanji Ishiwara, believed the home islands would be subjected to massive aerial bombing if a global war broke out. If Japan was subjected to aerial bombing and ratified the geneva convention, this meant they would have to take the pilots who were caught prisoner. The Japanese believed this would encourage further bombing. Lastly the convention had rules for POW treatment that literally contradicted how Japanese soldiers were treated by their own superiors. More about that in the last part about the military's brutality, but summarized, the Japanese army were abusive as hell and to sign such a thing would literally contradict how they did things.   Emperor Hirohito personally ratified a decision to remove certain constraints of the Hague Conventions when it came to the treatment of Chinese POW's in the directive of 5 August 1937. This notification advised staff officers to simply stop using the term "prisoners of war". They would refer to their enemy as bandits, guerillas and such, anything but soldiers so they would not have to take any prisoners, though they typically did not leave anyone alive in China regardless. The Geneva Convention exempted POWs of sergeant rank or higher from manual labor, and stipulated that prisoners performing work should be provided with extra rations and other essentials. The Japanese in the later half of the war would be starved of provisions and resources, thus its to no surprise they could not meet these demands, even if they sought to uphold them. I will note in 1942, Japan indicated they would “follow” the Geneva rules and would observe the Hague Convention of 1907 outlining the laws and customs of war. Yet this is like a verbal confirmation, it had no legal basis, something the Japanese particularly loved to do during the war.   According to Dr. William Skelton III, who produced a document entitled American Ex Prisoners of War for the U.S. Department of Veterans' Affairs, more POWs died at the hands of the Japanese in the Pacific theater and specifically in the Philippines than in any other conflict to date. For example in Germany, POWs died at a rate 1.2%. In the Pacific theater the rate was 37%. In the Philippines, POWs died at a rate of 40%.    Now these pieces of paper that were signed or not signed, what does this really matter when it comes to war, its obvious they were not upholding certain rules, but how did this quote en quote make them more brutal and perform more atrocities? Well here is the sticky thing, if you are part of the Japanese military and you know your nation did not ratify certain rules of war, this meant your enemy had no supposed legal basis to follow said rules against you either.    So I want you to think of two aspects of this. If your nation did not sign or ratify certain treaties, then you could not expect the enemy to respect such rules when it comes to you. But more importantly, what if the leader of your nation…just told you to believe that?    In early 1942, Great Britain, the United States of America and other great powers did officially let the Japanese know that they would, on their  part, observe all the provisions of the Convention and requested reciprocity. Japanese foreign minister at the time, Hideki Tojo gave a formal assurance that although Japan was not bound by the Geneva convention, the Japanese would apply it “mutatis mutandis” towards the Americans, British, Canadians, Australians and New Zealander POW's, note he most definitely did not extend this to the asiatic groups, nor the Dutch whom I guess he just forgot about. But this did morally bind Japan to comply with the convention. However the top brass of the Japanese military, notably Hideki Tojo in these cases, went out of his way to instill beliefs within the military as to what they should expect from the enemy. As you will see in the next points, this was basically a type of indoctrination.   War strategy and indoctrination    The leaders of Japan knew full well how unmatched they were in terms of resources and productivity before they began the war with the west. How could they possibly win the war? The IJN was dead set on a decisive naval battle, but for the IJA to compensate for their lack of resources, they believed their “spirit” would overcome the enemy. In many ways this spirit meant going above and beyond normal human endurance, to literally outperform the allies and notably to conduct the war with absolutely zero mercy. Once Japan lost the initiative in the war, after Guadalcanal, the IJA were forced to fight a war of attrition. Now they would prolong and exact maximum casualties upon the allies hoping to force them to the peace table. The idea was quite simple, the IJA would do everything possible to make the allies believe they would never give up and it would far too costly to defeat them. How does one go about achieving these aims? Well the IJA officers would tell you “by steeling your hearts”. To achieve all of this required extreme indoctrination.    Japanese children grew up in regimentation, they were desensitized to violence through tales of martial glory, and were taught that their purpose in life was to serve the emperor. Upon entering  military service, they were trained out of any individualistic spirit, and taught that compassion was a weakness and had no place in the field of war. The soldier's motto was faith equaled strength.  Faith being devotion to duty and service to the Divine Emperor. Apart from ideology and spiritual toughening, training in the Japanese Imperial Army was also extremely harsh and violent. This was not even particularly a special aspect of Showa Japan, it went all the way back to the Meiji era. From a young age children's education directed them, like a pipeline for military duty.   Now at the offset of the war, Hideki Tojo released the “Senjinkun” “instructions for the battlefield”. This was basically a manual for soldiers on how to conduct war. The document was used to establish standards of behavior for Japanese troops and improve discipline and morale within the Army, it also included things like a prohibition against being taken prisoner. It stated if you were captured by the enemy, because Japan did not sign or ratify certain treaties, you would be killed or tortured by the allies, and if you survived you and your family would face shame back home, and punishment resulting typically in 6 months of prison.   Here is a small excerpt from the document Those who know shame are weak. Always think of [preserving] the honor of your community and be a credit to yourself and your family. Redouble your efforts and respond to their expectations. Never live to experience shame as a prisoner. By dying you will avoid leaving a stain on your honor.   The purpose was basically psychological warfare, against their own army. Those like Hideki Tojo believed Japan could only defeat the resource rich Americans with spirit. Thus the manuals like Senjinkun demanded the forces not ever surrender, because the allies would do horrible things, it was shameful to do so and there were disciplinary actions for any who did. In 1942 the Army amended its criminal code to specify that officers who surrendered soldiers under their command faced at least six months imprisonment, regardless of the circumstances in which the surrender took place. This change attracted little attention, however, as the Senjinkun imposed more severe consequences and had greater moral force.   In a report dated June 1945, the U.S. Office of War Information noted that 84 percent of one group of interrogated Japanese prisoners, many of whom had been injured or unconscious when captured stated that they had expected to be killed or tortured by the Allies if taken prisoner. The OWI analysts described this as being typical, and concluded that fear of the consequences of surrender, “rather than Bushido,” was the motivation for many Japanese battle deaths in hopeless circumstances–as much as, and probably more than, the other two major considerations: fear of disgrace at home, and “the positive desire to die for one's nation, ancestors, and god-emperor.”   Something barely talked about in the west, was during the Pacific War, the Americans had a habit of taking human trophies. Human trophies were Japanese skulls, gold teeth, finger bones and such. The famous novel “With the Old Breed” by Eugene Sledge spoke of his personal accounts of these actions, its a rather gruesome and dark part of the war. Now some of these actions were publicized, despite the US military's efforts to quell and hush it down. Time magazine famously had an iconic photo of a woman whose enlisted boyfriend sent her home a Japanese skull. FDR also famously was given a letter opener carved out of Japanese bones. These stories were seized up greedily by the Japanese government who used them as propaganda to prove to their soldiers what would happen if they were captured. It had a profound effect as you can imagine. And this was not limited to Japanese soldiers. The propaganda machine would contribute at the end of the war to mass civilian suicides on Okinawa and Saipan.   Back to the POW subject. When it came to the treatment of POW's, Hideki Tojo began submitting in May of 1942 a series of memorandum, basic orders as to how POW's should be treated. “Prisoners of war can be used for the enlargement of our production and as military labor, white prisoners of war will be confined successively in Korea, Formosa and Manchuria. Superior technicians and high ranking officers -- Colonels and above -- will be included among the prisoners of war confined in Formosa. Those who are not suitable for use in enlargement of our production will be confined in prisoner of war camps which will be built immediately on the spot.Although the working of prisoner of war officers and warrant officers is forbidden by the Regulations of 1903, the policy of the control authorities is that under the situation of our country where not one person now eats without working they want them to set to work. It is desired that you give proper orders on this.The present situation of affairs in this country does not permit anyone to lie idle doing nothing but eating freely. With that in view, in dealing with prisoners of war, I hope you will see that they may be usefully employed. In Japan, we have our own ideology concerning prisoners of war, which should naturally make their treatment more or less different from that in Europe and America. In dealing with them, you should, of course, observe the various Regulations concerned, aim at an adequate application of them . . . At the same time, you must not allow them to lie idle doing nothing but eating freely for even a single day. Their labor and technical skill should be fully utilized for the replenishment of production, and contribution rendered toward the prosecution of the Greater East Asiatic War for which no effort ought to be spared."   Thus in the end as a grunt in the IJA you were led to believe: if I am captured I will be tortured, killed maybe turned into a letter opener, or someone will place my skull on their mantle. If I surrender and survive and make it back home, I will be severely punished and worst of all me and my family will be shamed. I could not expect any humanity from the enemy, because my nation did not sign or ratify treaties like the Geneva convention. More so, because my armies conduct was so unbelievably barbaric, I could only expect the very same from my enemy. It was a vicious cycle. You perform atrocities, expecting the enemy to do the same, and thus it just keeps perpetuating itself. Ultra-Nationalism and Racism   Now we spoke a little bit about the concept of the Yamato race, the Japanese were indoctrinated to believe they were a superior race and that their emperor was something akin to a living god. Until this war, the Japanese empire was on a hell of a winning streak going all the way back to the Meiji Era. For the first half of the Pacific war, the Japanese won nearly every battle. This led to something historians called “victory disease” that made them become somewhat arrogant and cocky, but it also made them feel “superhuman”. The allies' news reporting at the beginning of the war began to frantically refer to the Japanese as “supermen”or  “super jungle fighters”. Particularly because of the Malay campaign, the Japanese soldier just seemed to be tougher, could survive harsher jungle climates, even doing so with less food or war materials. The Japanese read the allied news reports and came to the conclusion that had been driven down their throats by their government, indeed the Japanese spirit was winning the war. The Japanese public ate this up in their propaganda and it perpetuated their ultra-nationalistic beliefs. The Japanese truly came to believe they were destined to rule the asia-pacific. Look at the results in China for example. Within a short amount of time they conquered much of China, though the public really had no idea how bad the China was bottled down by 1940. Then came the greater east asia co-prosperity sphere propaganda, which is an excellent example of their megalomania.    Yet alongside their ultra-nationalism, seen more strongly perpetuated against other Asian groups, the Japanese also indoctrinated their public with racism against them. The Yellow Peril of the 19th century and anti-japanese or anti-asian racism fueled the Japanese soldiers. The Japanese as a people had faced brutal racist hardships historically at the hands of the west, particularly from their point of view from America. There was the slights against them during the first sino-japanese war, the infamous triple intervention of france, germany and Russia stealing away their prize that was the liaodong peninsula. Then during the Boxer rebellion they faced racism, not being allowed to lead mutli national army formations, despite them being the lionshare of said military force. The Russo-Japanese war saw from their point of view, America stealing their war prizes. Last but not least, after WW1 they were told to their faces that they were a world power, but not racially equal. The Japanese faced anti-Japanese and anti-asian immigration laws when it came to America in the form of the gentleman's agreement and Australia's “great white Australia policy”. During the war, the American propaganda machine began pumping out racist caricatures of Japanese as rats, goggle eyed  bucktooth people, literal yellow monkey's.   For the IJA the pacific war in many was a holy war directed at the arrogant whites who had abused them for so long. This will probably sound controversial, but indeed, the pacific war was very much a race war. If you are not convinced of that, I recommend reading “War without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War” by John Dower. The human trophy taking, anti-japanese bucktooth, rat people cartoon propaganda, history of racial abuse like the japanese concentration camps, the gentleman's agreement, the stealing of victories during the first sino-japanese war, russo-japanese war and ww1 all plagued the mind of a Japanese soldier. To them in many ways, the “whites had it coming”. Which is rather ironic given how the Japanese would treat the other asian racial groups they came into contact with. But such is the contradictory nature of the Imperial Japanese military.    The Japanese also held racist beliefs about the westerners. The Japanese soldiers were taught the allies were akin to demons or beasts. They were described often as “the hairy ones” or “anglo-American demons”. Taught these men would rape women and girls, stample upon the civilians they captured with the treads of their tanks. The marines were especially dreaded.  According to a story circulated widely among the Japanese on Saipan, all Marine Corps recruits were compelled to murder their own parents before being inducted into service. It was said that Japanese soldiers taken prisoner would suffer hideous tortures—their ears, noses, and limbs would be cut off; they would be blinded and castrated; they could also be cooked and fed to dogs. As silly as this may sound, do remember the Americans were taking human trophies so the Japanese propaganda machine had its evidence. Tons of photos of skulls atop american tanks for example were displayed to the Japanese public. Another famous one was the cartoon appearing in an American servicemen's magazine, which was later reproduced and translated in the Japanese press. It suggested the existence of “Japanese hunting licenses, promising open season on the enemy, complete with free ammunition and equipment—with pay!    In terms of how the Japanese exacted their own racism towards their fellow asians. During the War the Japanese dragged into forced labor, Koreans, Chinese and southeast asians. 670,000 Koreans were brought to Japan to work mines and heavy industry, around 60,000 of them died to harsh conditions. Between April 1943 to May 1945, 41,862 Chinese were sent to Japan to work, 2800 died before even reaching the home islands. 6872 died in the work sites again from brutal conditions. When it comes to southeast asian numbers are hard to pinpoint but its safe to say at least 300,000 Javanese, Malay, Burmese, Tamil and other groups were mobilized to construct the Burma-Siam railroad between October 1942 to november 1943 and 60,000 perished. This all went for the men, for the women, all those racial groups would face the horrors of becoming comfort women, historians estimate there could have been 50-200,000 pressed into it. But for the Japanese, believing their were superior to these other asiatic groups, groups whom they would publicly say were like children, they as the father figure would guide, well they simply abused them.   So in a contradictive fashion, the Japanese believed they were superior and could do horrible things to their Asian neighbors while simultaneously decrying the racism cast towards them by western powers as justification for their brutal actions against them. These types of feelings and perspectives molded the mind of the average Japanese soldier, dehumanizing others has always been a standard military practice afterall.    Surrender & the Bastardization of the Bushido code   I think this is one the vast majority of WW2 history buffs know, the Japanese perspective on surrender and the bushido code. In the book “military trials of war criminals in the Netherlands east indies 1946-1949” Fred Borch had this to say about the variable of bushido for the brutality   As Japan continued its modernization in the early 20th century, her armed forces became convinced that success in battle would be assured if Japanese soldiers, sailors, and airmen had the "spirit" of Bushido. ... The result was that the Bushido code of behavior "was inculcated into the Japanese soldier as part of his basic training." Each soldier was indoctrinated to accept that it was the greatest honor to die for the Emperor and it was cowardly to surrender to the enemy. ... Bushido therefore explains why the Japanese soldiers who were stationed in the NEI so mistreated POWs in their custody. Those who had surrendered to the Japanese—regardless of how courageously or honorably they had fought—merited nothing but contempt; they had forfeited all honor and literally deserved nothing. Consequently, when the Japanese murdered POWs by shooting, beheading, and drowning, these acts were excused since they involved the killing of men who had forfeited all rights to be treated with dignity or respect. While civilian internees were certainly in a different category from POWs, it is reasonable to think that there was a "spill-over" effect from the tenets of Bushido.   It is very true, the Japanese soldiers and sailors were taught Japan was a sacred nation. Traditional samurai values of bushido were merged with modern training and weaponry. The government propagandized the figure of the Emperor as a living god who embodied the Japanese state, the Kokutai. Emperor Hirohito and his family were the spiritual essence of Japan. To even show your back to the enemy let alone surrender was deemed cowardly and brought dishonor upon your family. As written by Inouye Jukichi in 1910, something read by many Japanese “The Japanese warriors looked upon it as shame to themselves not to die when their Lord was hard pressed . . . their own shame was the shame upon their parents, their family, their house and their whole clan, and with this idea deeply impressed upon their minds, the Samurai, no matter of what rank, held their lives light as feathers when compared with the weight they attached to the maintenance of a spotless name”.    Young men of Japan were taught that "The greatest honor is to die for the Emperor" Additionally precept the Japanese were taught that it is an ignominy to surrender to the enemy. The combined effect of these two precepts was to inculcate in the Japanese soldier a spirit of contempt for Allied soldiers who surrendered, which, in defiance of the rules of war, was demonstrated in their ill-treatment of prisoners. They made no distinction between the soldier who fought honorably and courageously up to an inevitable surrender, and the soldier who surrendered without a fight. All enemy soldiers who surrendered under any circumstance were to be regarded as being disgraced and entitled to live only by the tolerance of their captors.   Surrender was unforgivable under their code, drilled into them through the Imperial Japanese education system and military. When the Japanese would come across vast swathes of the enemy surrendering, particularly if the enemy used up all their ammunition killing their comrades and then surrendered, well it added fuel to their brutality. One only needs to look at the deaths due to Banzai charges, take for example the incredibly massive one at the battle of Saipan seeing around 4000 dead Japanese. IJA officers brought ancestral katana's to the war, the Japanese cut off the heads of the enemies as it was seen to be honorable. When faced with death, many chose to commit seppuku, the bushido propaganda was intense.    A brutal practice emerged in the Pacific island hopping campaign, whereupon wounded Japanese would pretend to be dead or surrender only to explode grenades upon allied forces coming closer. This began to be noticed by US marines during the battle of Guadalcanal and Australians in New Guinea. This began a vicious cycle . There were of course Japanese who would surrender. Hell the Koreans forced into service often did try to surrender, but they would all be hampered by something. Because of the actions of those Japanese feinted death and taking down allied soldiers with them, the allied soldiers gradually began a practice of not bothering to accept surrender. It became a self fulfilling prophecy. Many Japanese made the allies believe all they could expect was a grenade death, thus the allies became more brutal to them. This simply led the Japanese to conclude their government was accurate about how the allies would treat them, so more and more did not surrender. An absolutely horrible cycle that went on to the very end of the war, though the allies did figure out means to get Japanese to surrender more in the last year.    The Brutality of the Japanese military   I think this is probably one of the most important factors, and its also one the “normies” would not know as much about. The Imperial Japanese military, more so the Army, had what I can only describe as a built in system of abuse. As described to me by the same university professor I keep bringing up in podcasts, picture a literal pecking order. Going from the highest ranked general to the very bottom grunt. Imagine each one who is higher than the other, routinely physically abuses them. For example, it was very typical for a colonel to slap a major across the face, the major would then strike one of his captains, and the abuse would continue through the ranks to the grunts who would have no one to abuse, thus they turned to POW's or civilian populations. This was not just an accepted part of the Japanese Imperial Army it was indoctrinated.    From day one of basic training, IJA officers taught their men, races like the Chinese were their blood enemies and racially inferior. These were people the Japanese would rule over one day. The trainers would toss the boys into rigorous training activities involving physical violence towards another alongside the notion any orders given by a higher ranking officer was infallible and to be treated as if the divine emperor himself, the living god was giving it.    The Japanese army even taught methods of torture that would be employed in all areas they occupied. Among these tortures were the water treatment, burning, electric shocks, the knee spread, suspension, kneeling on sharp instruments and flogging. The Kempetai, were the ones doing the lionshare of these tortures. Other Army and Navy units, however, used the same methods as the Kempetai. Camp guards performed similar methods, local police forces organized by the Kempetai in the occupied territories also applied the same methods of torture. The Kempetai were administered by the War Ministry, trained at specialized schools who were maintained and operated by the War Ministry in Japan. Thus the conduct of Kempetai and the camp guards directly reflected the policy of the War Ministry.    The Japanese army leadership made sure recruits were physically and mentally abused, they were given strenuously duty tasks and pushed to their absolute limit. During the war given where they were deployed, take guadalcanal for example, the Japanese soldiers would be facing starvation as well. Being half starved, beaten and suffering the effects of war would drive anyone to perform horrifying acts. The life of a Japanese solider was simply at the whims of an extremely toxic management culture. The lowest ranking echelons received the lionshare of abuse and they took out their frustration with whomever they could find deemed lower than them, ie: POW's, civilians, etc.   All of these variables combined contributed to the creation of a military willing to perform just about any atrocity they thought necessary to win the war. It was a war they could not hope to win, but many of them went to their deaths trying to defeat the hands of fate. There are countless other reasons of course for the atrocities committed in cold or hot blood. Countless books have been written on this subject, please do check out the few I mentioned. With that again, a big thanks to you patreons, you guys are awesome. Please let me know what you think in the comments, and what you want to hear more about in the future. This has been the pacific war channel over and out.

My Story   Talk 27  More Activities in Europe Welcome to Talk 27 in our series where I'm reflecting on God's goodness to me throughout my life. Last time I was talking about our off-campus activities while we were at Mattersey. I began by talking about activities in Britain and concluded with our activities in Europe, particularly in connection with EPTA, the European Pentecostal Theological Association. Today we'll be saying more about Europe, first with regard to our activities in the Pentecostal European Fellowship, and then about my preaching in national leaders' conferences as well as in local churches. The Pentecostal European Fellowship As I have already explained, PEF was formed as a result of a merger between PEC and EPF. Little did I know when I accepted the invitation to preach at the PEC conference in 1978 that it would eventually lead not only to the founding of EPTA but also to a ministry within PEF itself, and ultimately to representing Europe on the Presidium of the Pentecostal World Conference. Because of my experience in Europe, I was first asked by the AoG Executive Council, as its chairman, to represent AoG on the PEF committee. Jakob Zopfi from Swtizerland had been its chairman for many years and, after Reinhold Ulonska retired as vice-chairman, the PEF Committee elected me to take his place. Major features of the work of PEF were the conferences it usually held once every three years. Thousands of people from all over Europe came to these conferences, though the majority on each occasion came from the country that was hosting it. Relatively few, however, came from the UK. This may have been because of the cost of crossing the channel, or even because the preaching was always done through an interpreter which English speaking people often find it hard to get used to. After preaching at the conference in The Hague in 1978, the next PEF conference we attended was in Böblingen near Stuttgart in 1984, but not in any official capacity. Eileen and I went on to attend conferences in Jönköping, (Sweden, 1991), Bordeaux (France, 1994), Fridek-Mistek (Czech Republic, 1997), Helsinki (Finland, 2000), and Berlin (Germany, 2003). There are many towns in Sweden with a name ending in -koping. It's connected with our English word shopping and is roughly equivalent to market. It was at Jönköping (pronounced yernsherping) that I was appointed to serve as Vice Chairman of PEF. We travelled there by car, which may seem surprising bearing in mind the distance, but it meant that Eileen could come with me, and the trip would cost no more than the price of one air ticket for me. And it turned out that, as most of the delegates had arrived by plane, there was little transport available between the hotel and the conference centre. This meant that we were able to transport Dr Ray Hughes, who was the chairman of the Pentecostal World Conference and the guest speaker from America, to and from the meetings. It gave him the opportunity to get to know us and may have been partly the reason why the following year I was appointed to serve on the PWC advisory committee, and eventually as a member of its presidium. We also travelled by car to the Bordeaux conference in 1994, combining it with a holiday exploring south-western France and visiting Castera Verduzan in Gascony, and Mauléon-Licharre and Eaux Bonnes in the Pyrenees. The conference was particularly significant for Eileen because she was the wife of the Vice-Chairman. This normally carried no specific responsibility, but Sylvia Zopfi, the wife of the Chairman, had broken her leg and was unable to attend. Consequently, it fell to Eileen to preside at a meal for ladies, most of whom were French speaking. Of course there was an interpreter, but Eileen never saw herself as an ‘up front' person and was understandably nervous. Because it was a meal for ladies, I was unable to attend, but I found out later that Herman von Ameron, the husband of the guest speaker, had crept in at the back. So I asked him privately how Eileen had got on, and he replied, She was magnificent. She was like the Queen! Following the political reforms known as perestroika introduced by Russian President Mikhail Gorbachov in the late 1980s, Czechoslovakia was divided into two separated nations, the Czech Republic (or Czechia) and Slovakia. Fridek-Mistek was the venue chosen for the 1997 PEF conference, because it lies on the border of these two countries and so provided delegates from both equal opportunities to attend. Once again, Eileen and I travelled by car, taking extra care in Czechia not to exceed the speed limit, as we'd heard that the Czech police were likely to impose heavy fines on foreigners for any minor infringement. We took the opportunity to visit Prague, a beautiful city, for a weekend before travelling on to the conference. It was now almost 20 years since I had first preached at the conference in The Hague, but for the next decade I was to become a regular speaker with the special responsibility of preaching on the Baptism in the Holy Spirit and praying for people to receive. Sadly there are still many people who attend Pentecostal churches who have not yet come into the experience and in a conference where thousands are in attendance the numbers coming forward for prayer were likely to be enormous. Pentecostal pastors often seem reluctant to teach on the subject, possibly because they are frightened that, when they lay hands on those they pray for, they will not begin to speak in tongues. So I felt the need to preach not only to the people, but also to the pastors. And at Fridek-Mistek I decided to pray for the pastors before I prayed for the people. I asked all the pastors who wanted the Lord to use them in laying hands on people to receive the baptism, to come forward first. I explained that I would pray for them first so that they could then join with me in praying for the people. Dozens of pastors came forward and after I had prayed for them I asked them to turn round and face the congregation. I then called the people to come forward. Hundreds came and each pastor had a queue of people to pray for. Of course, it's impossible to know how many spoke in tongues for the first time, especially in a meeting where so many different languages are spoken! And, even with the people I personally prayed for, there was no way of knowing if they were speaking in tongues or if they were just praying in their own native language. But one thing was particularly noteworthy. When teaching on the baptism I have always been careful to stress that the evidence we are expecting is tongues, not tingles – or shaking, or falling over, or anything else that has no clear biblical basis! However, when one of the people I prayed for did fall over, there was an immediate reaction in the queue next to mine. People started to move into my queue. Perhaps they felt that, despite all I had said, they would somehow get something extra if they fell over! There is still a desperate need for teaching on this throughout the Pentecostal movement and the charismatic renewal worldwide. After the conference we drove into Austria and stayed in an apartment in the church in Bad Ischl where Klaus Winter, the PEF treasurer, was the pastor. I preached in his church and we had a wonderful ten days there exploring Salzburg and the Salzkammergut, the wonderful area where The Sound of Music was filmed. The Helsinki conference was held in the summer of the year 2000 but was preceded by an EPTA conference held in Kaggeholme near Stockholm. We travelled by car as far as Kaggeholme but after EPTA we parked it at Arlanda airport and flew to Helsinki. As Jakob Zopfi was unable to attend because of an illness, it was my responsibility to chair the conference. I also preached on the baptism in the Holy Spirit and, as at Fridek-Mistek, had the privilege of praying for many who were seeking. Shortly after that Jakob Zopfi retired as the PEF chairman and I confess that I was rather relieved not to be appointed as his successor. I too was soon to retire from Mattersey and frankly I didn't want the responsibility. Ingolf Ellsel, a younger man who was the leader of the BFP in Germany, was appointed as chairman, and I was happy to continue to serve as vice chairman. In 2003 the conference was held in Berlin in June. En route we stopped at Liège preaching there over the weekend. We reached Berlin in good time for the conference travelling at times at almost 150 m.p.h. on the autobahns where there was no speed limit. We stayed in a hotel on the outskirts of Berlin in Spandau, famous for its ballet company, and travelled in by underground train to the conference meetings. As in previous years I preached and prayed for people to receive the baptism and hundreds came forward. When Ingolf Ellsel asked who had spoken in tongues for the first time it seemed like just about everybody who had been prayed for raised their hand. It was experiences like this that were undoubtedly the reason why I was asked to speak at so many churches and conferences for national leaders. Churches and National Leaders' Conferences During the years I was at Mattersey I spoke at several national leaders' conferences as well as ministering in local churches. Most of the teaching I did at national conferences centred on the baptism and gifts of the Holy Spirit and how to encourage them at local church level.  These included Germany and Hungary (1989), Iceland (1990), Austria (1999), Belgium (2003) and France (2004) where I was required to preach six times in French on a variety of topics.   The conference was held in Léognan, near Bordeaux, and close to the site of the ADD Bible College. (ADD Assemblées de Dieu i.e. AoG). I taught several sessions in the college in the week preceding the conference and then preached at a youth event held in a marquee in the college grounds. This was an occasion where I really needed the Lord to help me. Of course we always need his help, but this time even more so. I had completely forgotten that I was scheduled to be the speaker at this event, so I said to the principal of the college,             I don't really need to be at the youth meeting this afternoon, do I? To which he replied,             Mais si, vous êtes le prédicteur! (But yes, you are the preacher!) But I had nothing prepared, and I had never preached to young people in French before. Fortunately, several of my books have been translated into French including The Holy Spirit – an Introduction. I had little more than an hour before the meeting began and so, helped the French text of the section on the fruit of the Spirit, I hurriedly prepared a message on this, using examples from the life of Jesus. And the Lord really blessed it. Dozens of young people came forward responding to the appeal to seek to rededicate their lives to Christ. That really encouraged me as the I was preaching in the thousand strong assembly in Bordeaux where Daniel Hébert, whom I had met through PEF, was the pastor. But before leaving the subject of national conferences I need to mention that it was at that conference that David Cizéron gave me a book about his father's work in a part of France I had never heard of, something which will become relevant in a later talk. As far as preaching in local churches is concerned, there are of course far too many to mention them all. I have already talked about my trips to Sweden when I preached in local churches as well as teaching in Bible Colleges. One highlight of these trips was preaching in the Filadelfia church in Stockholm founded by the renowned Pentecostal pioneer, Lewi Pethrus (whose name, incidentally, features immediately before mine in the International Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements). Another highlight was travelling with Eileen to Kristinehamn at the northern end of Lake Vänern, the largest lake in Sweden, and preaching for a week for Paul Gren, one of our former Mattersey students. Germany was another country I also visited frequently. My contact with Germany came from three different though interrelated sources – EPTA which I have already mentioned, the national leaders of the Volksmission group of churches, and the local church in Heidenheim. Herbert Ros and Günter Kaupp were president and vice-president of Volksmission and had both been students at Kenley under the principalships of Donald Gee and John Carter respectively. They both had a great respect for what we were doing at Mattersey and over the years sent us a good number of excellent students who, after they had returned to Germany to take up pastorates there, invited us to minister for them whenever we were in Germany. It was also through my contacts with the leadership of Volksmission that I was invited on several occasions to travel round the churches for a couple of weeks often preaching for just one evening in each church. I was usually accompanied by Eileen, who loved travelling with me and enjoying the beautiful scenery of southern Germany and the warm hospitality we received in homes wherever we went. We undertook such trips in 1998, and 1999, when I was also the guest speaker at the BFP national leaders' conference. (BFP was the wider Pentecostal movement in Germany of which Volksmission had become a part). We made similar trips in 1994, '95, and '96. But it was the church at Heidenheim that we visited most frequently. The pastor there was Albert Bühler. In the early eighties his son-in-law Jürgen Single had heard about a youth camp we were holding at Mattersey during the summer vacation and asked if he could visit it with a coachload of young people from their church as they were arranging a tour of England. We were delighted to receive them and that was the beginning of a lovely relationship we enjoyed with the Bühler-Single family and the church in Heidenheim. We also visited Luxembourg on several occasions due to our relationship with John and Ann Leese who, as AoG missionaries, did an amazing job over many years planting a church there. John had been a student at Kenley when I first started teaching there. We first visited them for a weekend with William and Anthea Kay in 1990 and then again for a holiday in '92 with our daughter Debbie, her husband David, and their one-year-old daughter, Emily, who was our first grandchild. We have visited them many times since including 2001 when John asked me to take care of the preaching (in French, not Luxembourgish) while he and Ann were on holiday. It's also through our contact with Luxembourg that some of my books were translated into French. I will always be grateful to Caroline Hutin, a French schoolteacher who specialised in English, who spent many hours translating You'd Better Believe It, Body Builders, and Just a Taste of Heaven. Having these available was very helpful when I was preaching or teaching in French-speaking countries like France and Belgium. I am so grateful to the Lord that people have enjoyed my teaching and have usually wanted to know more. And my books, in whatever language, have made that possible. My ministry in Belgium was concentrated largely in and around Brussels, at the Continental Theological Seminary where I taught regularly for several years, and at the Christian Centre which held services in both English and French. Daniel Costanza, the pastor of the French speaking church, has used my books as a basis for teaching various courses of Bible study. Jacques Dernelle, who teaches regular courses at CTS, also pastors a great church in Tubize where I have also had the privilege of teaching and preaching. And on at least two occasions I visited Liège and gave a series of teaching which seemed to be well appreciated by the people there. In France where we frequently went on holiday we always sought to attend the nearest ADD church on Sunday mornings and I was often asked to preach. I remember preaching in Versailles, Pau, Mourrenx, Clermont-Ferrand, and Toulouse. However, in Embrun they didn't know who I was and anyway there was already a guest preacher, a French pastor, Samuel Foucart, from Pavilly near Rouen. I enjoyed his preaching and spoke with him afterwards. We exchanged contact details and as a result I was invited in the year 2000 to do a week's teaching on the Holy Spirit. Countries I visited only once or twice during this period were Austria, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, and Italy. In 1982 at the invitation of Carl Pocklington we went to Austria for a week and I preached in Villach and Klagenfürt. And in 2000 I taught for a few days in the church in Linz where Eddie Griesfelder was the pastor. On two occasions I preached for a week in Messina in Sicily where Giuseppe Melusso was the pastor of large AoG church. In 1991 I preached in Reykjavik (Iceland), and in Nokia (Finland) where Teuvo Valkama, one of our former students was the pastor. And in 2002 I preached in Copenhagen (Denmark) and Limerick in Ireland. I look back on all these experiences with great joy and a profound sense of gratitude to the Lord for the privilege of declaring his word in so many places and to so many people. Next time we'll be talking about our service for the Lord beyond Europe.

Send us a textOn part 2 of Episode 63 we finish up our look into Frank Hague. Last week, we talked about Hague's rise to power, that saw him literally change the political landscape of not only Jersey City, but the region of Jersey that it occupied as whole. As Hague cemented a nearly autocratic regime as Mayor in the city. But this week, we'll talk about what he did with that power during his 32 years in power, and how he eventually lost it. Including how he dodged multiple attempts by the GOP to unseat him from his position. How he continued to manipulate and furthered his control over the electorate of Jersey City. As well as his unlikely alliance with Franklin D. Roosevelt, that would see New Deal politics save his mayoral career, and flood his city with 10's of millions of dollars.Sources:Background Music:Music: Dark Flashes by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.comIntro Music:Music: Void Glider by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.comIntro audio sources:Lufthansa clip belongs to The Fox Corporation“New York City is a warzone” clip belongs to CBS Broadcasting Inc.Joey Gallo and “Leave by violence” clip belongs to the American Broadcasting CompanySupport the show

In his weekly Pirates mailbag podcast, Post-Gazette insider Noah Hiles answers reader questions. Among them: Should they commence a search for a new hitting coach this offseason after a lackluster first year from Matt Hague? What are the chances either Mitch Keller or Bryan Reynolds — or both — is traded this offseason? Now that top prospect Bubba Chandler is in the major league rotation, will he be there out of next season's spring training, too? Which player should fans be most excited for in 2026? And what current minor leaguers could actually help Don Kelly's club win next season? Noah answers those questions and more. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Mshukiwa wa mauaji ya kimbari ya Rwanda, Félicien Kabuga anakabiliana na wakati mgumu kupata nchi itakayo mpokea kwa muda kutoka gereza la The Hague, Uholanzi.

Today in the interrogation chair, it's debut author Gene Koon with his book, ANOTHER TRY. Find out why Jeffery Deaver said, "I love this novel!" and why Michael Connelly called it, "Wonderful." Hear about Gene's work in The Hague working on the Slobodan Milošević trial and how he grew up with an airplane wing in his bedroom. Welcome, to The Dossier Podcast! genekoon.com | thewritersdossier.com | Voice credit: Hillary Huber

My Story   Talk 26  Off-campus Activities Most of what I have said about our years at Mattersey so far has related to what happened on the campus, and that was certainly where we spent most of our time. But our ministry was by no means confined to the campus. It was becoming increasingly international and interdenominational. So in this talk I'll begin by describing some of my activities within Britain which took place beyond the College campus before proceeding to our travels in Europe and further afield.   Activities within Britain Apart from my regular preaching in local churches around the country my main activities in Britain during this centred around:   The AoG Executive Council My relationships with the charismatic renewal and expanding my writing ministry.   The AoG Executive Council I have already mentioned some of the positions I had held within AoG before becoming Principal of the Bible College, but in 1984 I was elected to the Executive Council. This was important because it meant that the College had a voice at national level and that I could ensure that the interests of the College were always taken into consideration. And it became even more relevant when in 1987 I became its chairman, a position I held until 2007 when the structure of AoG was radically changed and about which I shall say more in a later talk.   Since its inception in 1924 the final authority in AoG was the General Council which met annually at the General Conference. The role of the Executive was to take responsibility between conferences for promoting and safeguarding the welfare of the Fellowship. It was a great privilege for me to serve alongside respected older brothers like Veyne Austin, Herbert Harrison, Aaron Linford, Keith Monument, Aeron Morgan, Keith Munday, John Phillips, Douglas Quy, and Colin Whittaker, as well as younger men like Paul Newberry, Warwick Shenton, and Paul Weaver, who were all newly appointed at the same time as me.   Each year the Executive Council elected its own chairman to serve for a year and in 1987 I was appointed. These elections were always held by secret ballot, and I was surprised to be reappointed year after year for the next 20 years. This obviously gave me added responsibility especially when it was decided in 1993 to form AoG Inc., which made Executive Council members the sole members of a new charitable company, Assemblies of God Incorporated.   The purpose of the company was to protect AoG churches and ministers from any personal liability for actions taken by AoG. This was felt necessary to avoid any crises like the vast debt that had been incurred by the Overseas Missions Council over a situation that had arisen in Paderborn, the details of which I do not need to go into here. The Board of Directors of this new company was comprised of all members of the Executive Council. As directors we were given financial responsibility for the affairs of the Fellowship with the safeguard that each director was only personally liable up to the value of £1. It also gave us legal power over all the assets of the Fellowship without reference to the Conference. However, as we were appointed by the General Council by being elected to the Executive Council at the General Conference, we were always aware of our responsibility to abide by the wishes of the Fellowship as a whole. Despite the legal authority we had been given, as a matter of integrity we would never have taken independent action on any major matter without bringing it to Conference. This, as we will see later, was to change in 2007.   My relationship with the Charismatic Renewal But my ministry in Britain was by no means confined to AoG. I had not grown up in AoG and ever since I heard about the baptism in the Spirit my heart has always been for Christians of other denominations to come into the experience. That had been a major part of my ministry when I had travelled round the universities in the sixties, preaching and laying hands on people to receive the Spirit. Those were the days when the charismatic renewal was getting under way, and in the seventies, while we were at Basingstoke, I had good fellowship with Barney Coombs, the Spirit-filled pastor of the Baptist Church, who was holding regular ministers' breakfasts and monthly All Saints Nights for Christians of all denominations to hear about the things of the Spirit.   So when, early in my time at Mattersey I received an invitation from Michael Harper to attend something called the Charismatic Leaders' Conference at Whirlow Grange near Sheffield, I was pleased to accept. It was at these conferences that I met people like Roger and Faith Forster, David Pawson, Terry Virgo, Colin Urquhart, Gerald Coates and other charismatic leaders.   For several years I was part of the planning committee that organised these conferences some of which were held at Mattersey. I was also a member of committee that planned the International Charismatic Consultation on Worldwide Evangelisation (ICCOWE) held in Brighton in June 1991.   I continued to participate in the conferences throughout and beyond my time at Mattersey, and in fact at the time of writing this I am expecting to attend one this year. I have learnt that, although Pentecostals in Britain have been considerably influenced by charismatics, there is still very much that they can learn from us. For example, I am told by friends and family members that even in flourishing charismatic churches there is still little clear teaching on the baptism in the Spirit and spiritual gifts. But sadly, the same could be said of many Pentecostal churches.   So it became my vision that Mattersey should become more than a college that prepared people to be AoG ministers and missionaries, and we advertised the college as having a distinctly charismatic emphasis. As a result several of our graduates are now doing a great job for God as Anglican, Baptist, or Methodist ministers. It also had the benefit of introducing AoG students at Mattersey to a wider cross-section of the Christian church than just their own denomination.   Expanding my writing ministry But whether it be in AoG or any other denomination, the fact is that people need teaching. Genuine spiritual experience comes from a correct understanding of biblical truth. That was surely the purpose of a Bible College! And as it is not possible for everyone to come to Bible College, I was determined to make our teaching more readily available to a wider audience. I was able to do this in some measure through articles I contributed to the AoG magazine and Renewal, but in 1998 I had a distinct impression that the Lord wanted me to write more books, using the teaching I was giving at Mattersey as a basis.   That expanding my writing ministry was the way the Lord was leading me was confirmed in a wonderful way by César Castellanos who in 1998 was the guest preacher at our AoG conference in Prestatyn. At the end of a late-night meeting where César had been speaking to the members of our Executive Council and their wives, he prayed for each one of us in turn. When he came to me, instead of praying, he prophesied. His prophecy included the following statement: This is what the Holy Spirit says: I will greatly anoint your pen and your writing will be a blessing to thousands and thousands of people. Now that prophecy was remarkable for at least three reasons. Firstly, César did not know me. He had only just met me that evening. Secondly, he knew I was a Christian leader, but he did not know that I was a writer! And thirdly, as I have said, in the weeks leading up to that conference I had been feeling that God wanted me to give more time to writing. César's prophecy came as a wonderful confirmation. Since that time I have written several more books, some of which have been translated into at least fifteen different languages. They have certainly reached thousands already. I'm so grateful to the Lord that even while we were still at Mattersey he was still using me to be a blessing beyond Mattersey, not only in the UK but much further afield. But that brings me to my ministry in Europe.   Activities in Europe In an earlier talk I explained how my ministry in Europe began in the seventies while pastoring the church in Basingstoke. This was as the result of contacts with Willy Droz in Switzerland and George and Warren Flattery, American missionaries working in Belgium. These relationships continued while we were at Mattersey. For several years Eileen and I led teams of students on missions to Switzerland and I had regular contact with the Flatterys through the work with I.C.I., Continental Bible College, and EPTA.   And indeed, most of my work in Europe was related to either: EPTA, the European Pentecostal Theological Association, or PEF, The Pentecostal European Fellowship   The European Pentecostal Theological Association EPTA was formed as a result of the Pentecostal European Conference held in The Hague in August 1978 at which I had been invited to preach. Apart from the main meetings held each morning and evening there were workshops each afternoon for various special interest groups including Bible Colleges. As the recently appointed Principal at Mattersey I was naturally interested to attend these and found them very helpful.   It was good to meet with faculty and staff from other Bible Colleges and share what we were doing and what our hopes for the future were. I found myself wondering if it would be possible for us to meet on an annual basis.  The PEC conferences were held every three years, so it was clear that something separate from PEC needed to be organised, and I suggested this while a few of us were chatting after one of the sessions.   As there seemed to be a general agreement about the matter, we decided to look for a suitable venue and dates for the following year. I knew already that the European Pentecostal Fellowship were holding a conference in Vienna in 1979 and suggested that this might be a good time to hold a planning meeting. (EPF and PEC were at that time separate bodies, but a few years later merged to form the Pentecostal European Fellowship, about which I will say more later).   So in 1979 Eileen and I, along with several other AoG personnel, attended the EPF conference in Vienna. The meeting with other Bible College people was not an official part of the conference but was tagged on at the end. However, during the conference itself I was unexpectedly asked by John Wildrianne to be the speaker at one of the sessions, as a brother from France who was scheduled to speak had been unable to come.   The subject was Spiritual Gifts and fortunately I already had plenty of material on that topic and was grateful for the opportunity to speak to leaders from across Europe on a subject that was close to my heart. The talk was well received and, together with my preaching in the Hague the previous year, proved to be the beginning of a much wider ministry in Europe than I had ever expected.   The meeting for Bible College leaders that we had arranged to take place after the conference lasted only a couple of hours but was a good starting point at which it was agreed to call ourselves EPTA, the European Pentecostal Theological Association. At the invitation of the brothers from ICI, we agreed to hold our first conference the following year in Brussels where, in addition to hearing papers on subjects of mutual interest, we would discuss a doctrinal statement for EPTA, conditions of membership and other related matters.   The meeting in Brussels was a great success and was the first of many annual gatherings of college personnel from all over Western Europe. And when Eastern Europe opened up after the destruction of the Berlin Wall in 1989, we were delighted to welcome delegates from those countries too. Over the years conferences were held in England, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Poland, Slovakia, France, and Portugal.   They were times of great blessing. Despite the name, they were not just an opportunity for theological discussion. Their primary purpose was for colleges to help each other by sharing mutual concerns, many of which had little to do with theology! It was good to know that other colleges faced the same problems as you did – practical issues like student discipline, catering, timetable, finance, governance and, something which was a major topic for several years, accreditation.   In addition to all this there were great times of worship and prayer. Working in a Bible College often means facing stressful challenges and faculty and staff found EPTA conferences times of refreshing and spiritual renewal. And they were especially relaxing when we held them during the summer vacations when many combined them with a family holiday. The ones held at Mattersey were particularly popular.   Eileen and I formed great relationships with many of our EPTA friends and trips to EPTA helped forge stronger relationships with our own faculty members too. I well remember the fun we had when we travelled by minibus to Germany with Dave and Beryl Allen and Brian and Audrey Quar, spending a few days relaxing in Switzerland before staying with friends in Heidenheim enabling us to attend the PEF Conference near Stuttgart followed by an EPTA conference in Erzhausen. Much of the blessing we enjoyed at Mattersey sprang from the strength of those relationships.   For many years I served on the planning committee for these conferences. In the days before the internet this necessitated flying to various venues in Europe most of which I enjoyed immensely despite the occasional problem with flights, and the anxiety you experience when you don't speak the language and the person you're expecting to pick you up doesn't arrive! The American brother who was picking me up had mistaken my arrival time at Stuttgart, which was 14.40 as 4.30 in the afternoon! But we learn from these experiences – I know he did – and these trips also gave me opportunity to preach in one of the local churches on Sunday morning before flying back in time for work at Mattersey on Monday.   But possibly the most fruitful result of founding EPTA was the openings it gave me to teach and preach in several of its affiliated colleges. I have taught courses both at bachelors and masters level in Sweden, Finland, Germany, Poland, Denmark, Germany, Portugal, and Ireland. I made several visits to Sweden where the system was rather different from the other countries I have mentioned. Because of the number of large Pentecostal churches there, there was no national college, but there were several colleges offering full-time courses based in the local church. The church at Gothenburg, for example, when I preached there had a Sunday morning congregation of over 2000 and had a large enough complex to house a full time Bible college.   Stig and Marianne Hedstrom, who led that college, had brought a party of young people to Mattersey and heard me teach on spiritual gifts, told me that they needed this teaching in Sweden and asked me if I would come. On two separate occasions they organised teaching tours for me, the first starting at Gothenburg on the west coast and travelling across to Stockholm on the east. En route I visited colleges in Jonkoping, Linkoping,  Mariannelund, and Brommaskolen and Kaggeholme,  both in Stockholm. On the second tour about two years later I visited the same places but in reverse order, this time travelling east to west.   Some of the other countries I mentioned, Belgium, Finland and Portugal for example, I also visited more frequently after my time at Mattersey and I will comment on them in a later talk. But what most of them had in common was the fact that my initial contact with each of them came through EPTA. So whether it was the annual conference, or the trips to help plan them, or teaching in some of its member colleges, EPTA was a source of personal enrichment for me, and I will always be grateful to God for the prompting he gave me to suggest it back in the PEC conference in 1978.   Next time – more about PEF and my involvement with the World Pentecostal Conference.

In this edition of our banking litigation podcast, we consider some recent cases that will be most relevant to in-house lawyers at banks and financial institutions. This episode is hosted by John Corrie, a partner in our banking litigation team, who is joined by Ceri Morgan and special guest Nic Patmore. You can find links to our blog posts on the case covered in this podcast below: • Supreme Court decision in Hopcraft motor finance commission appeal – key implications for financial services firms https://www.hsfkramer.com/notes/bankinglitigation/2025-08/supreme-court-decision-in-hopcraft-motor-finance-commission-appeal • Banking Litigation Podcast Episode 54: Hopcraft Special Edition https://www.hsfkramer.com/notes/bankinglitigation/2025-08/banking-litigation-podcast-episode-54-hopcraft-special-edition • English High Court decides in favour of banks in EuroChem bond claim, confirming payment under on-demand bonds prohibited due to Russian sanctions https://www.hsfkramer.com/notes/bankinglitigation/2025-08/english-high-court-decides-in-favour-of-banks-in-eurochem-bond-claim • High Court grants bank stakeholder relief under CPR Part 86 in USD 11 million deposit dispute involving competing claims https://www.hsfkramer.com/notes/bankinglitigation/2025-08/high-court-grants-bank-stakeholder-relief-under-cpr-part-86 • High Court permits documents obtained via Norwich Pharmacal Order to be used against disclosing bank in related APP fraud claim https://www.hsfkramer.com/notes/bankinglitigation/2025-08/high-court-permits-documents-obtained-via-norwich-pharmacal-order • Financial List finds claim for declaratory relief brought by ultimate beneficial owners of loan notes against issuer is arguable https://www.hsfkramer.com/notes/bankinglitigation/2025-04/financial-list-finds-claim-for-declaratory-relief • Privy Council abrogates so-called "Shareholder Rule" under English law: companies can assert privilege against their shareholders https://www.hsfkramer.com/notes/bankinglitigation/2025-04/privy-council-abrogates-so-called-shareholder-rule-under-english-law-companies-can-assert-privilege-against-their-shareholders • Hague 2019 Judgments Convention comes into force in UK https://www.hsfkramer.com/notes/litigation/2025-07/hague-2019-judgments-convention-comes-into-force-in-uk • Civil Justice Council's final report on litigation funding recommends "light touch" statutory regulation https://www.hsfkramer.com/notes/bankinglitigation/2025-04/civil-justice-councils-final-report-on-litigation-funding-recommends-light-touch-statutory-regulation Don't forget to subscribe to the banking litigation blog https://hsfnotes.com/bankinglitigation/subscribe/

A “place for his rifle,” “fighting a dragon,” and “whipping yourself in the river” — none are Urban Dictionary euphemisms; all found their way into this week's show.Will Paulo and Dori witness a crime before the show is over? They pass the time with some Dutch Golden Girls in The Hague, where nobody knows your name.How do you say kaftan in the Netherlands?Dori saw Lady Chatterley's Lover, Paulo saw a man's bum in a bucket — no one won that day.If not for The Hoff's charisma, we'd have had a very different Knight Rider. And what exactly was on the Pope's 80s playlist?Jump To:Things you didn't know about 80s Sitcom Theme Songs (00:03:16): https://www.cracked.com/article_47918_stuff-you-never-knew-about-6-iconic-sitcom-theme-songs.htmlDutch Golden Girls and International Spin-offs (00:09:34): https://youtu.be/OPYq7bmpldw?si=qNACR-laGApq0fzMLady Chatterley's Lover Movie Review (00:14:12): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzqitsGl09QMatt Houston: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083447/mediaviewer/rm707663872/?ref_=ext_shr_lnkNot Matt Houston's bottom: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082640/mediaviewer/rm1834651649/?ref_=ext_shr_lnkKnight Riders Movie Review (00:22:05): https://youtu.be/5RB3DoJRoYc?si=3sdG4r1HdgcTrLmrTwo 80s Truths and a Lie (00:33:43): https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/aug/25/how-we-made-young-at-heart-the-bluebells-siobhan-fahey# 80s Show, # podcast, # Dori, # iconic sitcoms, # theme songs, # Cheers, # The Jeffersons, # The Golden Girls, # Thank You for Being a Friend, # sitcom trivia, # Cracked article, # 1980s nostalgia, # Lady Chatterley's Lover, # erotic drama, # George Romero, # Knight Riders, # motorbikes, # Arthurian ideals, # LGBTQ representation, # progressive themes, # 80s movies, # cultural commentary, # Two Truths and a Lie, # Freddy Krueger, # red and green colors, # Pope John Paul II, # Bananarama, # The Bluebells, # pop culture, # 80s music, # international versions, # spin-offs, # nostalgia, # film recommendations, # sitcom themes, # Emmanuelle, # Matt Houston, # classic novels, # movie trailers, # character analysis, # societal norms, # comedy, # television history.

Send us a textOn part 1 of Episode 63, we delve into the story of Frank Hague. The former mayor of Jersey City, who would form one of the most powerful and corrupt local government regimes in the entire United States. Including how he started out as a constable, with backing from a local political boss, and using his cunning and treachery to rise through the ranks of government. From being the Chief custodian at city hall, to a seat on the city street and water board, to commissioner of public safety, and only then to the position of mayor. We'll talk about how Hague's rise to power would changed the political landscape, system of government, and even local culture in Jersey City. As well as how he extended his reach to effect politics in not only his city, but the region as a whole, and all the way up to the governor's office.Sources:Background Music:Music: Dark Flashes by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.comIntro Music:Music: Void Glider by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.comIntro audio sources:Lufthansa clip belongs to The Fox Corporation“New York City is a warzone” clip belongs to CBS Broadcasting Inc.Joey Gallo and “Leave by violence” clip belongs to the American Broadcasting CompanySupport the show

Royal Dutch Shell Oil, Miss America PageantLencola Sullivan Verseveldt is a American news anchor, singer and former beauty queen who has competed in the Miss America pageant & the 1st Black Runner-Up ever in that Pageant. She was the first African-American to be crowned Miss Arkansas.The oldest of five children born to Richard and Macie Sullivan. She attended the University of Central Arkansas where she received a degree in broadcasting.Sullivan won the Miss Arkansas title in July 1980 and represented Arkansas in the Miss America 1981 pageant held later that year in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Sullivan and Doris Hayes (Washington) became the first African-American women to win preliminary talent awards in the pageant. She was also the first to place among the top five, where she was fourth runner-up.Lencola became a news reporter on KARK-TV in Little Rock, Arkansas, and later moved to New York City. She has also worked for KTTV-TV in Austin, Texas, and sang with renown music artists Stevie Wonder, Kool & the Gang (for example on the album Unite) and Jazz Legend Lionel Hampton & his Orchestra, among many other things.She married Roel P. Verseveldt, a native of the Netherlands, in Little Rock, Arkansas. She and her husband have since been involved in international business activities. Among other things, Sullivan also works at Royal Dutch Shell and teaches and guest-lectures at the University of Groningen, both in the area of diversity and inclusion. She currently lives in The Hague. ~© 2025 Building Abundant Success!!2025 All Rights ReservedJoin Me on ~ iHeart Radio @ https://tinyurl.com/iHeartBASSpot Me on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/yxuy23baAmazon ~ https://tinyurl.com/AmzBAS

Police have a balance to manage as they continue the hunt for Marokopa fugitive father Tom Phillips and his three children. Police have released CCTV footage of a retail burglary in the King Country town of Piopio on Wednesday involving two people they believe to be the Marokopa father and one of his children. Lawyer Matthew Hague, who has served in the Police and Defence Force, says Police need to balance bringing this to a conclusion - with the risk of Phillips having weapons. But he told Heather du Plessis-Allan that this doesn't mean Police will be passive. Hague says they'll be working with the community, and using a variety of resources - but they'll be trying to avoid a direction confrontation. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Send us a textWhen a relationship breaks down and one parent relocates a child to another country without the ongoing consent of the other parent, the 1980 Hague Abduction Convention can be invoked. Anita Gera, co founder of Hague Explained joins the Women's Rights Network to explain the key principles and little known pitfalls of the Convention that have resulted in an increasing number of mothers and children being ripped apart.A fascinating, disturbing expose of an international treaty that trumps all UK law and has the power to inflict irreparable damage on mothers and their children.If you enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to hear more, go to womensrights.network/wrn-podcast to listen, download and subscribe to more of our episodes. And if you'd like to join our conversations, go to womensrights.network/join-wrn

Send us a textThis is a public talk I delivered on the concept of genocide and the arguments presented in the South African genocide charge against Israel in late 2023.  Several people who wanted to attend but could not asked if it could be recorded. We tried, but somehow that did not work out.  To the extent possible I tried to be scholarly and  analytical in this talk.  But how can we be scholarly and detached and analytical when we see Miss Rachel singing "hop little bunny" as a three-year-old Palestinian child dances gleefully around on her new artificial legs?  And the evening news (if you watch a good source) is beyond distressing.  There are times when I think of that line from Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness:  "The horror!  The horror!  I have delivered this talk three times, once at a university, once at a church, and once at a retirement community.  In all three cases, the audience was open and responsive, and the post-talk discussion was serious and engaging. I hope you find this talk helpful.  Also, I delivered a full hour-long podcast discussion of that South African document soon after it was filed with the High Court of Justice in the Hague. 

Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom.Are you considering adopting internationally? You need to listen to this interview about the laws and processes that you will be required to follow. We'll be talking with Kelly Dempsey, a partner with Fox Rothschild, who specializes in adoption and assisted reproduction. She is a fellow in the Academy of Adoption & Assisted Reproduction Attorneys and an adoptive parent through both international and domestic adoptions.In this episode, we discuss:Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption Purpose Key Elements of the Hague Treaty:Central Authority Determining the child's eligibility for intercountry adoptionAccredited or Approved Adoption AgenciesTransparencyThe Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) INA 101(b)(1)(F) I-600 “Orphan Route” Child must qualify as an orphan under US definitionOnly one parent – incapable of providing supportDeadlines: I600A before child's 16th birthday -- only have 180 days to file the I-600, after USCIS approves the I-600 INA 101(b)(1)(G) I-800 “Convention Route”Work with CA Art 12, Art 16Eligibility decided by CA COO, but if consulate does an I-604 investigation that disqualifies child, then case will be deniedDeadlines: Must file I-800A before age 16 and within 180 days of the approval of the I-800A, must file the I-800 (even w/o Art 16)Children adopted from other countries must first obtain a U.S. visa before they can travel or move to the United States. Visas are issued at the U.S. Embassy or Consulate in the foreign country where a child resides. Since a child being adopted abroad by a U.S. citizen parent(s) will usually be brought to live in the United States, that child will need an immigrant visa.International Accreditation ActProcess When Adopting from a Hague Country. Process When Adopting from a Non-Hague countries. Must qualify as orphans as defined by the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) before they can be considered for U.S. permanent residence or citizenship.Get more information at the State Department - Adoption Process/Non-Hague Visa Process. More information on the Hague Convention and other applicable Federal regulations US State Department - International AdoptionUS Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)  US Department of State has a section on their website on “Understanding the Hague Convention” US Department of State has a section on their website on “Support the showPlease leave us a rating or review. This podcast is produced by www.CreatingaFamily.org. We are a national non-profit with the mission to strengthen and inspire adoptive, foster & kinship parents and the professionals who support them.Creating a Family brings you the following trauma-informed, expert-based content: Weekly podcasts Weekly articles/blog posts Resource pages on all aspects of family building

The Notes: Cleaning your ears with joy! The 3 Worst Times to Fall Asleep! Fame, do we want to live forever!? Family, or new, undiscovered islands!? You're their immortal great-great-grandpa, they have to invite you to the cookout! The trip-me-ups and pitfalls of immortality! Bill Shavehole! Good advice for mortal and immortal alike! Kids, always have a clean, new identity on you! Once again we spit on the grave our fallen adversary! The fatal flaw of Applebee's! A top notch frame-up! There are better ways to get rid of grease! There are very few accidental war crimes! The only war crimes our listeners have committed are ones that can be legitimately explained away, and yes we realize that's the excuse of a lot of war criminals! @SpicyBeefGaus's experience handling alleged war criminals! Leave us a detailed message cataloguing your war crime deets! While we don't condone war crimes, we are shockingly popular amongst war criminals! Don't look at us, in re: that war criminal discount, that was a third-party discount! The path from ICC prison to courtroom is one Double Deuce long! Let's take that shit to the Hague! Contact Us! Follow Us! Love Us! Email: doubledeucepod@gmail.com Twitter & Instagram: @doubledeucepod Bluesky: @doubledeucepod.bsky.social Facebook: www.facebook.com/DoubleDeucePod/ Patreon: patreon.com/DoubleDeucePod Also, please subscribe/rate/review/share us! We're on Apple, Android, Libsyn, Stitcher, Google, Spotify, Amazon, Radio.com, RadioPublic, pretty much anywhere they got podcasts, you can find the Deuce! Podcast logo art by Jason Keezer! Find his art online at Keezograms! Intro & Outro featuring Rob Schulte! Check out his many podcasts! Brought to you in part by sponsorship from Courtney Shipley, Official Superfans Stefan Rider, Amber Fraley, Nate Copt, and listeners like you! Join a tier on our Patreon! Advertise with us! If you want that good, all-natural focus and energy, our DOUBLEDEUCE20 code still works at www.magicmind.com/doubledeuce for 20% off all purchases and subscriptions. Check out the Lawrence Times's 785 Collective at https://lawrencekstimes.com/785collective/ for a list of local LFK podcasts including this one!  

President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday in Anchorage, Alaska, to discuss the future of the war in Ukraine (which Putin started). While Trump insisted Wednesday there would be “very severe consequences” if Putin doesn't agree to some kind of ceasefire, the Russian president has given no indication he plans to give up his goal of eventually taking over all of Ukraine. And Ukraine continues to insist it will not cede any of its territory to Russia. In short: The war is still at a stalemate, and the president of the United States wants to move the needle by hosting the aggressor — an international pariah who faces an arrest warrant on war crimes from the Hague – right here on American soil. Julia Ioffe, a founding member of Puck News and a long-time Russian politics expert, joins us to talk about the Alaska summit and what could come out of it.And in headlines: Trump suggested he may extend federal control of the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department beyond the 30-day limit, a panel of appeals court judges opened the door for the White House to suspend or terminate billions in foreign aid funding, and fewer Americans say they're drinking alcohol.Show Notes:Pre-order Julia's book – https://tinyurl.com/2btnv3pkCall Congress – 202-224-3121Subscribe to the What A Day Newsletter – https://tinyurl.com/3kk4nyz8What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcastFollow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday

21 years ago today, 166 people were massacred in a refugee camp in Burundi. Greg and Holly talk with one of the survivors, Esperance "Espy" Nasezerano -- who was just 11 years old at the time of the attack, living in the Gatumba refugee camp with her family. The hosts also go in-depth on prosecuting war crimes as we continue this discussion on genocide with Utah Supreme Court Justice Paige Petersen, to talk about prosecuting ethnic cleansing of Albanians from Kosovo at The Hague.

Tòa án Hình sự Quốc tế – hay ICC – được giao nhiệm vụ điều tra các tội ác chiến tranh, tội ác chống lại loài người và tội diệt chủng. Graham Blewitt AM từng là phó công tố viên của một tòa án xử tội ác chiến tranh ở The Hague trong một thập kỷ, và ông chia sẻ suy nghĩ về cách các tội ác bị cáo buộc trong các cuộc xung đột như Gaza và Ukraine có thể được điều tra.

Payam Akhavan has witnessed appalling episodes of human cruelty and suffering. And that's helped forge his commitment to pursuing justice for the victims of human rights abuses. The human rights lawyer and former UN prosecutor at The Hague argues that our salvation as a species will come ultimately through realizing that we're all one people and must live that way. In 2017, he delivered the Massey Lectures titled In Search of a Better World: A Human Rights Odyssey. He explains how the themes explored in his lectures have taken on even more relevance in today's divided and conflict-ridden world. *This episode originally aired on June 26, 2024.

The International Criminal Court – or ICC - is tasked with investigating war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. But a retired Australian lawyer whose work helped establish the ICC in 2002, says some world leaders are undermining the court's ability to hold those responsible to account. Graham Blewitt AM was the deputy prosecutor of a war crimes tribunal in The Hague for a decade, and he reflects on how alleged atrocities in conflicts such as Gaza and Ukraine could be investigated.

While Israel continues its genocide of the Palestinians, all the Republicans in the Senate and half of the Democrats voted once again to continue facilitating the genocide. This song names the names of the genocide-supporting Democratic Senators, all of whom should obviously not be in positions of power -- all of whom should be locked up in the Hague, for that matter. This version is another brilliant remix from Chet, bound eventually for another album.

In Episode 131 of the Award Travel 101 podcast, hosts Angie Sparks, Anthony Cave, and Justin Walter kicked things off with a community discussion where member Antha asked whether to use points for a premium cabin on the outbound or return leg of a trip. The consensus leaned toward upgrading the overnight flight for better rest, with 66% of the poll agreeing. The episode also covered a range of updates: Choice Privileges launched a sweepstakes, Hyatt added more Standard and Bunkhouse properties (though with limited Globalist benefits), and Delta is celebrating its 100th anniversary with a slew of SkyMiles promos. Alaska Airlines and Choice Privileges were also named the top travel rewards programs of the year. Meanwhile, all Southwest credit cards underwent significant changes—higher annual fees, reduced benefits, and elevated welcome offers that could help earn the Companion Pass if timed right.In personal updates, Angie closed her BOA Travel Rewards card and debated keeping her WF Autograph Journey. Justin finished a $20K Amex Business Platinum bonus and is planning a trip to Paris, while Anthony just returned from The Hague and is anticipating Alaska's rumored premium card. The main topic focused on EU261, the European regulation that provides broad passenger rights for delays, cancellations, and other travel disruptions. Both Anthony and Justin praised EU261, calling it one of the most passenger-friendly laws globally and noting that its coverage is often enough to make up for the lack of credit card travel protections when booking flights in Europe.Links to Topics DiscussedChoice Privileges SweepstakesHyatt, The Standard BrandUS News Best Travel Rewards ProgramsDelta Airlines Beyond the Summer PromotionsSouthwWhere to Find Us The Free 110k+ member Award Travel 101 Community. To book time with our team, check out Award Travel 1-on-1. You can also email us at 101@award.travel Tickets are now ON SALE for our next meetup in Miami September 19-21. Secure your spot today at https://award.travel/miami2025 Our partner CardPointers helps us get the most from our cards. We love being able to automatically add all of our offers and quickly seeing the best card to use for every purchase. Signup today at https://cardpointers.com/at101 for a 30% discount on annual and lifetime subscriptions! Lastly, we appreciate your support of the AT101 Podcast/Community when you signup for your next card! Technical note: Some user experience difficulty streaming the podcast while connected to a VPN. If you have difficulty, disconnect from your VPN.

Today on Unsupervised Learning Razib talks to David van Ofwegen, a philosophy teacher based in Thailand. Razib and Ofwegen first met by chance while he was traveling in the US in 2003. A Dutch national, educated at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands and then the University of Hawaii, specializing in the philosophical underpinnings of Social Darwinism, Ofwegen has been based in Thailand for the last 15 years. Razib and Ofwegen's initial connection was over their shared interest in the turmoil in Europe post-9/11 and the 2002 assassination of the right-wing Dutch politician Pim Fortyun. They discuss what has happened in the Netherlands over the last generation, with both immigrant assimilation into Dutch society, and the assimilation of Dutch society to immigrants. Ofwegen reflects on returning to a homeland where he encounters bartenders who don't speak Dutch, only English, and youth culture where white Dutch affect the accents of Moroccan immigrants. He also observes that in his hometown of the Hague, it is as common to hear Arabic or Turkish on the streets as Dutch. This is in contrast with the countryside outside of the large cities, which remain overwhelmingly white and native-born. Ofwegen also notes that global multiculturalism has had an impact on the practice of some Dutch customs, in particular the traditions surrounding Black Pete (Zwarte Piet), a character in Dutch Christmas celebrations that is wildly offensive to American sensibilities, given the longtime convention of blackface. Ofwegen argues that the Netherlands is becoming less Dutch and more global, homogenizing into a node in the pan-American cultural sphere. They also discuss the contrasts between Thailand and the Netherlands, and what it is like living outside the developed world. Though in nominal terms the GDP per capita of Thailand is about 10% of that of the Netherlands, Ofwegen does not feel that his adopted homeland is particularly underdeveloped or behind the times. Bangkok in particular is fully in the modern world, with all the comforts and technologies we avail ourselves of in the West. Ofwegen also observes that while the poor in the West live in deprived ghettos, in Thailand, the poor are usually rural peasants who own their own property. Nevertheless, he is clearly a guest. Though married to a Thai native and with a child who has Thai citizenship, he is legally an expatriate of the Netherlands. He notes that the same is true of Thailand's large Burmese and Cambodian populations. The Thai have a very clear idea of their nation and its identity, in contrast to the more globalized vision common among Western elites.

From coral reefs and mangroves to raising the land itself, how small island nations are using natural and innovative techniques to adapt to rising sea levels and extreme weather events linked to climate change. Jordan Dunbar chats to Tina Stege, climate envoy for the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and Dr. Rosanne Martyr, senior scientist on coastal vulnerability and adaptation, Climate Analytics. Plus, Anna Holligan, the BBC's correspondent in The Hague, has the latest on a landmark climate case brought by Pacific Islanders at the International Court of Justice.Got a comment or a question you'd like us to answer? Send an email to: TheClimateQuestion@bbc.com or whatsapp us on +44 8000 321 721 Presenter: Jordan Dunbar Producer: Diane Richardson Production Co-Ordinator: Brenda Brown Sound Engineers: Tom Brignell, Rohan Madison and Frank McWeeny Editor: Simon Watts

“An Existential Problem of Planetary Proportions”International Court of Justice President Yuji Iwasawa just delivered a landmark advisory opinion on climate change and human rights - one that could transform global climate action and accountability.A dancing and crying Christiana Figueres is joined by Tom Rivett-Carnac and Paul Dickinson, to react in real-time, and speak with two of the lawyers who helped make it happen. Fresh from the courtroom, Julian Aguon, the indigenous human rights lawyer who represented Pacific nations, and Jennifer Robinson, barrister for Vanuatu and the Marshall Islands, bring their raw, unfiltered reactions to this history-making ruling (before heading off to celebrate).As governments, legal teams, and corporate leaders worldwide scramble to interpret its implications, we have everything you need to know about what just happened in The Hague.The ICJ's unanimous opinion states:Climate action is now a legal duty: States are obligated under international law to prevent dangerous climate change.1.5°C has legal weight: States must pursue their “highest possible ambition” in their Nationally Determined Contributions and ensure collective measures can limit warming to 1.5°C.Failure to act is unlawful: Granting fossil fuel licenses, providing subsidies, or failing to regulate emissions may constitute an internationally wrongful act.Reparations are possible: Countries could be required to compensate or remedy the damage caused by their emissions - anywhere in the world.Could this be the legal tipping point that forces governments to act? Across capitals and boardrooms, the conversations have already started - and what happens next could reshape how nations and companies are held to account. Listen in and join us as this story unfolds.Learn more Listen back to our two previous episodes that explore the background to this case:

On July 17, as The Hague Group, a coalition of nations committed to diplomatic and legal actions to end the genocide in Palestine, held an emergency summit in Bogota, Colombia, civil society groups also met to launch the Friends of The Hague Group (FoTHG). The FoTHG was convened by Palestinian organizations and joined by major international movements to support and expand The Hague Group, but also to challenge it to place Palestinian demands at the forefront and to take strong actions. Clearing the FOG speaks with Jacqueline Luqman of the Black Alliance for Peace, a member of the FoTHG, about the launch, what US activists can learn from collaborating with other social movements, and why it is a critical time to organize new multilateral anti-imperialist and anti-colonialist structures. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

The Feds shut down a covert North Korean IT operation. Google releases an emergency update to fix a new Chrome zero-day. A major U.S. trade show and event marketing firm suffers a data breach. NetScaler patches a pair of critical vulnerabilities. A sophisticated cyber attack targets The Hague. An Iran-linked hacking group threatens to release emails allegedly stolen from aides to President Trump. A ransomware attack exposes sensitive data linked to multiple Swiss federal government offices. The U.S. Treasury Department faces scrutiny after a string of cyberattacks. The FBI's phone security tips draw fire from Senator Wyden. Tim Starks from CyberScoop describes how ubiquitous surveillance turned deadly. AI proves its pentesting prowess. Remember to leave us a 5-star rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Miss an episode? Sign-up for our daily intelligence roundup, Daily Briefing, and you'll never miss a beat. And be sure to follow CyberWire Daily on LinkedIn. CyberWire Guest We are joined today by Tim Starks, Senior Reporter from CyberScoop, discussing his story "Hacker helped kill FBI sources, witnesses in El Chapo case, according to watchdog report." Selected Reading US government takes down major North Korean 'remote IT workers' operation (TechCrunch) Google fixes fourth actively exploited Chrome zero-day of 2025 (Bleeping Computer) NetScaler Critical Security Updates for CVE-2025-6543 and CVE-2025-5777 (NetScaler) International Criminal Court hit with cyber security attack (AP News) Iran-linked hackers threaten to release Trump aides' emails (Reuters) Swiss government data compromised in ransomware attack on health foundation Radix (Beyond Machines) Trade show management firm Nth Degree hit by data breach, exposing sensitive data (Beyond Machines) A Trio of US Treasury Hacks Exposes a Pattern Making Banks Nervous (Bloomberg) Senator Chides FBI for Weak Advice on Mobile Security (Krebs on Security) The top red teamer in the US is an AI bot (CSO Online) Audience Survey Complete our annual audience survey before August 31. Want to hear your company in the show? You too can reach the most influential leaders and operators in the industry. Here's our media kit. Contact us at cyberwire@n2k.com to request more info. The CyberWire is a production of N2K Networks, your source for strategic workforce intelligence. © N2K Networks, Inc. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

PREVIEW NATO: Colleague John Hardie of FDD praises the results of the NATO meeting at The Hague. More. 1837 THE HAGUE

President Trump ended the NATO summit in The Hague with a warmer view of the alliance. A federal judge has ordered the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who the government wrongly deported to El Salvador. And Senate Republicans have hit some roadblocks in the race to pass President Trump's signature policy bill by next week. Want more comprehensive analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.Today's episode of Up First was edited by Roberta Rampton, Gigi Douban, Kelsey Snell, Jason Breslow, Janaya Williams and Alice Woelfle. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott. And our technical director is Carleigh Strange.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Check out our sponsors: ✅ Birch Gold - Text CHAD to 989898 ✅ Allied Oil - https://alliedoilfield.com/ ✅ Verified Privacy - https://vp.net/CHAD Episode Description: In this episode, Chad dives headfirst into President Trump's bold performance at the NATO summit in The Hague, breaking down how he pushed allies to pony up 5% of their GDP for defense spending—while calling out Spain's resistance. Is Trump reshaping global alliances with his America-first swagger, or stirring the pot with old foes like Iran and new tensions with Ukraine? Then, it's on to the Big Apple, where democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani's stunning mayoral primary win over Andrew Cuomo has sent shockwaves through the Democratic Party. What does this mean for New York's future, and is it a sign of a broader leftward lurch? Chad unpacks the chaos with his signature humor, pulling no punches on what a socialist mayor could spell for the city that never sleeps. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Fawcett breaks down today's top stories, including President Trump's historic trip to the Hague, where he secured a monumental agreement with NATO on military spending, the reactions from NATO allies, and the ongoing tensions with the media. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A.M. Edition for June 24. After a week and a half of fighting, Israel and Iran say they've agreed to a cease-fire. Journal deputy Middle East bureau chief Shayndi Raice says despite the deal being confirmed by President Trump on social media yesterday evening, fresh missile attacks by Iran are raising questions about its longevity. Plus, NATO allies look set to more than double defense spending as they meet in The Hague today. And banks are hiking fees on their most exclusive credit cards, testing the limits of loyal customers. Luke Vargas hosts. Sign up for the WSJ's free What's News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SHOW SCHEDULE MONDAY 23 JUNE 2025. Good evening: The show begins in an Iran under attack by the strategic weapon, the USAF B-2... 1850 SUBURB OF TEHRAN CBS EYE ON THE WORLD WITH JOHN BATCHELOR FIRST HOUR 9:00-9:15 Iran: Threat. Bill Roggio, FDD. Husain Haqqani, Hudson Institute. 9:15-9:30 Iran: Doubts of a short war. Bill Roggio, FDD. Husain Haqqani, Hudson Institute 9:30-9:45 Iran: Attacking the Gulf including Qatar. Ahmad Sharawi, Bill Roggio, FDD 9:45-10:00 Iran: Attacking the Gulf including Qatar. Ahmad Sharawi, Bill Roggio, FDD continued SECOND HOUR 10:00-10:15 USA: Most serious warning of homeland terror. Striking the infamous Evin Prison. Malcolm Hoenlein @conf_of_pres @mhoenlein1@thadmccotter @theamgreatness 10:15-10:30 Syria: Damascus terror by ISIS. Malcolm Hoenlein @conf_of_pres @mhoenlein1@thadmccotter @theamgreatness 10:30-10:45 PRC: The August CCP review of Xi's flagging leadership. Anne Stevenson-Yang, @gordongchang, Gatestone, Newsweek, The Hill 10:45-11:00 PRC: Swarming South China Sea, swarming Taiwan Strait. Rick Fisher, @gordongchang, Gatestone, Newsweek, The Hill THIRD HOUR 11:00-11:15 Iran: What is inside Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz? Andrea Stricker, FDD 11:15-11:30 Iran: The hunt for the 60% enriched ore. Andrea Stricker, FDD 11:30-11:45 Iran: B-2 over Iran. David Daoud, Bill Roggio, FDD 11:45-12:00 Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen: The Tehran agents. David Daoud, Bill Roggio, FDD FOURTH HOUR 12:00-12:15 #NewWorldReport: Kirchner's links to Hezbollah, Iran, mass murder and assassination. Joseph Humire @jmhumire @securefreesoc. Ernesto Araujo, former Foreign Minister Republic of Brazil. #newworldreporthumire 12:15-12:30 #NewWorldReport: Lawfare and the Bolsonaros. Joseph Humire @jmhumire @securefreesoc. Ernesto Araujo, former Foreign Minister Republic of Brazil. #newworldreporthumire 12:30-12:45 Ukraine: Iran confers with Putin. John Hardie, Bill Roggio, FDD. 12:45-1:00 AM NATO: Lowered expectations at The Hague. John Hardie, Bill Roggio, FDD.

PREVIEW NATO: Colleague John Hardie comments on the modest expectations of this week's NATO meeting at The Hague. More. 1838 THE HAGUE

NATO: LOWERED EXPECTATIONS AT THE HAGUE. JOHN HARDIE, BILL ROGGIO, FDD. 1594 THE HAGUE