Podcasts about Soviet Union

SEASON 4 EPISODE 13: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN Fraud News Channel morning anchor Brian Kilmeade "apologizes" FOUR DAYS LATER for saying America’s 771,000 homeless (that'd include 33,000 Homeless Veterans and 140,000 Homeless Kids should be killed. By “involuntary lethal injection. Or something. Just kill them.” His co-host Lawrence Jones agreed with him. Fox did nothing about it. They planned to get away with it, and would have, but for Media Matters saving the original clip from last Wednesday and Aaron Rupar re-posting it Saturday morning. I had seen the clip and thought it was fake. It's that bad. And finally Sunday Kilmeade issued a wallet-felt apology. We are in such a place in this country – thanks to Trump, thanks to MAGA, thanks to the late Charlie Kirk, thanks to the Tea Party, thanks to Bush, thanks to… the list continues backwards almost indefinitely and infinitely – that this horrific vision, which in its essence is mass murder of the homeless (the most widely accepted high-end estimate of homelessness in this country is 771-thousand) – and no Kilmeade didn’t say let’s submit 771-thousand people to quote “involuntary lethal injection” – he didn’t have to. Is 771 people somehow less horrific? 77? What’s your threshold to be enraged at the prospect of simply pulling SOME homeless people off the street and lethally injecting them? Seven? One? We know what you are Kilmeade. We are just arguing about the price...to be spent on lethal injections. Fire him now. SHOCK: TRUMP HELPS PUTIN AGAIN as he escalates his attempt to rebuild the Soviet Union. Now it's test drones at the Poland border (again) and the Romanian border (new). Waiting to see if Trump blinked. He blinked so much he could've been sending Morse Code. St. CHARLIE OF KIRK: So, as Andrew Lawrence of Media Matters summarized it: Kirk "was a champion of free speech and if you disagree youre under arrest” The Trojan Horse phony bi-partisan governor of Utah is now down to insisting the family says the shooter had been indoctrinated with left wing ideology. What kind of left wing ideology? That he said he was "not a fan" of Kirk. Funny, the most venomous, most threatening criticism of Kirk in the last 60 days was Nick Fuentes saying Kirk could no longer call himself a Christian and his college events should be interrupted and he should be shouted down, and Laura Loomer insist Kirk "stabs Trump in the back." Hmmm. If harsh words killed Charlie Kirk, is that leftist ideology Fuentes and Loomer were spouting, or right wing guilt? B-Block (37:04) MORE ON CHARLIE KIRK: There are bigger issues in play. It is clear now that there were two different public Charlie Kirks. On the left we saw a slick but rather run-of-the-mill hate monger who mocked Democratic victims of political violence and wanted to see public executions. On the right, they literally never saw those videos. They only saw a "beautiful man, armed only with a bible" preaching family values. How? Different social media feeds. The other big issue with the right's collective mania and desire to punish the left for Kirk's death when it still looks like the far right did as much or more? All of those right wing influencers just assumed God was on their side and was protecting them like he "protected" Trump last year. Oops. C-Block (1:00:20) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: This is the longest all-new episode ever but always time for worsts. Ezra Klein last week? "Charlie Kirk Practiced Politics The Right Way." So, Ezra Klein next week? "Brian Kilmeade Practiced Television The Right Way?" Ken Paxton is screwing around again? Does he have a wandering eye oh right. And when MSNBC fired Matt Dowd for, you know, telling the truth about the death of Kirk, where were Rachel Maddow, Chris Hayes, and Lawrence O'Donnell, risking a dollar or two to defend accurate commentary? I mean they whiffed so badly that they made the anchor who was on with Dowd look perfect by contrast: Katy Tur.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The events of September 11, 2001 changed the world. Julian reflects on several interpretations of what they meant, proposing that each is a kind of Rorschach-test result based on our own religious and political beliefs, backgrounds, and social conditioning.  The conspiracy theorist simply can't believe something like that could happen to America, going in search of complicated alternative explanations that exist outside of the “official narrative,” even of reality itself. Where the Christian conservative might see a call to Holy War signaling that the End Times is near, Neocon warhawks surrounding Bush observe an opportunity to enact plans for maintaining economic and political power and security. Meanwhile, many on the left see the attack as justifiable “blowback” against American imperialism, Cold War atrocities, and Western colonialism. Religion is merely an inflaming of a fundamentalist minority based on political injustices. What about the Soviet Union? The history of political Islam and massive Muslim caliphates that ruled for nearly 1,300 years? The intractable sectarian conflicts and the multiple internal ideologies vying for control over the Middle East? There may be no easy answers, but perhaps engaging with these different perspectives can allow us to name some of the many factors that got us to 9/11 and the seemingly unsolvable dilemmas of our world today. Show Notes Popular Mechanics on 911 conspiracies Noam Chomsky on 911 conspiracies Pilger on Project for A New American Century NYT 2023 Piece on the Reasons for Iraq War Saddam's Ruthless Purge CNN on Kabul attitudes after US Invasion Polling of Iraqis Mahmood Mamdani Good Muslim, Bad Muslim Interview Human Rights Watch on Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan Taimur Rahman's Red Star History of Political Islam Lectures Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alexander Solzhenitsyn was the “writer who took down an empire” His work, the Gulag Archipelago, detailed the horrors of life in the Soviet Union and made a global mockery of the evil regime.The Gulag Archipelago is a massive tome and can be challenging for many to digest. However, Sean Berube extracted helpful nuggets from the work and explored its themes. Those themes are relevant for Christians today, just as they were for Christians struggling under the Soviet Union.How can Christians destroy evil empires? Can individualbelievers make any impact at all when so much seems systematically designed to suppress truth, goodness and beauty?Listen to this episode and gain valuable insights into truths Solzhenitsyn dusted off all those years ago. You will be encouraged and reminded that there is more strength in Christians – and the Church – than you imagine.If you find this episode helpful, please give us a positive rating and review wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. Also share this episode with a friend so they too can be blessed by these insights.To learn more about resources mentioned in this episode, see the following.Sean Berube (Twitter/X): @SeanBerube4How to Destroy an Evil Empire (Twitter/XThread by Sean Berube): ThreadChristian Emergency Podcast Episode 59 with Ignat Solzhenitsyn (Episode)Christian Emergency Podcast Episode with Juan Riesco, a Christian businessman targeted in Chicago (Episode)Christian Emergency Alliance (Website)Christian Emergency Alliance (Twitter / X):@ChristianEmerg1Christian Emergency Alliance (Facebook):@ChristianEmergencyChristian Emergency Alliance (Instagram)The Christian Emergency Podcast is a production of the Christian Emergency Alliance.Soli Deo Gloria

What does it really mean to be free? In this episode of Stories of Change and Creativity, Judy Oskam sits down with Christian Ray Flores—a high-performance coach, entrepreneur, and author of the Little Book of Big Reasons to Love America: A Love Letter from an Immigrant. Christian has lived through revolutions and the fall of the Soviet Union. From that perspective, he offers a powerful take on the American spirit and freedom. He also shares how living your brand and leaning into your unique expertise can open the door and make a real impact.In this episode you'll learn Why freedom is personal powerHow the spirit of America shapes opportunity and resilienceThe risks of trading freedom for comfort and certaintyHow to live your brand and turn your expertise into impactContact Christian Ray FloresWebsiteBook: 10 Reasons to Love AmericaLinkedInInstagramXHi Friend - If you're enjoying Stories of Change and Creativity, make sure to follow, rate, and leave a 5-star review—it helps more people discover the show. Check out my TEDx talk. Why you should take action - then figure it out.

Send us a textJust wanted to share the plans I have for the podcast, which will continue for at least another year. Support the show

It was a massive week in the world of UAPs. So enormous, in fact, that the decision was made to put out a new Episode of Unidentified History to try and stay on top of everything that went down. A monumental UAP Hearing took place this past week. Five witnesses testified to incredible events they observed, tracked, discussed, or investigated. We heard amazing stories about glowing red rectangles the size of a football field, massive black triangular craft hovering overhead, a formation of tic-tacs racing away from the USS Jackson, UFO sightings in the Soviet Union, and so much more. But, more importantly, several whistleblowers testified to the retaliation and repercussions they have faced for their decision to come forward. With the theme of the hearing being to provide greater protection for national security whistleblowers, the question of whether anything can really be done has to be asked. But then, Representative Eric Burlison showed a video that has the whole world talking. Did a UFO really deflect one of our Hellfire missiles, or was this just a video of something with a much more earthly explanation? The next day, we got an update on our friend, 3i/atlas. This supposed comet continues to do things comets are not supposed to, and this time out, it has changed color and shape. Is it time to panic yet? And then, to top it all off, NASA announced that they very well might have found signs of ancient microbial life....on Mars! Yes, you heard that right. NASA has pretty much confirmed life on another planet! Dave, Tunney, and, making his Unidentified History debut, Rob break all this down for you.In the second half of the show, the guys do a deep dive into another fascinating UAP event. The 1946 Ghost Rocket sightings captivated and terrorized much of Scandinavia. Over 2,000 of these ghost rocket sightings were made during 1946. Some of them were seen crashing into lakes, with no debris ever being found. Were these all just misidentified meteors? Were they possibly the USSR testing captured Nazi weaponry in the months after WWII? Was it just mass hysteria from citizens of a continent that had already endured the horrors of the most destructive war in world history? Or was there a more unidentified and anomalous explanation for these events? Please tune in to this special episode of Unidentified History as the guys give you their thoughts on the first true mass UFO flap in Europe in the post-WWII era.Once thought to be solely the stuff of science fiction, UAPs (UFOs) are very real to thousands around the world. In 2021, the US Government confirmed that leaked UAP video was legitimate. Ever since, there has been an explosion of interest in the topic. Yet, we are no closer to understanding UAPs, where they come from, or who/what is behind the phenomenon. In this new series, we look to bridge the gap between the past and present by looking at some of the most important UAP sightings in history and determining whether the question of "are we alone in the universe?" might have already been answered.About the Chairshot Radio NetworkLaunched in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in sports, entertainment, and sports entertainment. Wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts + the most interesting content + the most engaging hosts = the most entertaining podcasts you'll find! MONDAY - Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture) TUESDAY - 4 Corners Podcast (sports) WEDNESDAY - The Greg DeMarco Show (wrestling) THURSDAY - POD is WAR FRIDAY - DWI Podcast (Drunk Wrestling Intellect) SATURDAY - The Mindless Wrestling Podcast SUNDAY - Keeping the news ridiculous... The Oddity / The Front and Center Sports Podcast CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history) http://TheChairshot.com PRESENTS...IMMEDIATE POST WWE PLE REACTIONS w/ DJ(Mindless), Tunney(DWI) & Friends Patrick O'Dowd's 5X5Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/chairshot-radio-network/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Jason W. Moore discusses the problematic history of the nature-society divide, his alternative world-ecology approach and the challenges of building socialism.   Shownotes Jason's personal website: https://jasonwmoore.com/ Jason at Binghamtom University: https://www.binghamton.edu/sociology/faculty/profile.html?id=jwmoore The World-Ecology Research Collective: https://worldecologynetwork.wordpress.com/ https://www.researchgate.net/lab/World-Ecology-Research-Collective-Jason-W-Moore Moore, J. W., & Patel, R. (2020).  A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things. A Guide to Capitalism, Nature, and the Future of the Planet. Verso. https://www.versobooks.com/products/817-a-history-of-the-world-in-seven-cheap-things Moore, J. W. (2015). Capitalism in the Web of Life. Ecology and the Accumulation of Capital. Verso. https://www.versobooks.com/products/74-capitalism-in-the-web-of-life for an overview of different approaches to conceptualizing society/capitalism and nature: https://www.historicalmaterialism.org/ecology-marxism-andreas-malm/ on Andreas Malm: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreas_Malm Malm, A. (2018). The Progress of this Storm. Nature and Society in a Warming World. Verso. https://www.versobooks.com/products/574-the-progress-of-this-storm Malm, A. (2016). Fossil Capital. The Rise of Steam Power and the Roots of Global Warming. Verso. https://www.versobooks.com/products/135-fossil-capital Federici, S. (2004). Caliban and the Witch. Autonomedia. https://files.libcom.org/files/Caliban%20and%20the%20Witch.pdf on Ernst Haeckel: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Haeckel see also the chapter on Haeckel and the German Monist League in: Gasman, D. (2017). The scientific Origins of National Socialism. Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781315134789/scientific-origins-national-socialism-daniel-gasman on Actor-Network Theory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actor%E2%80%93network_theory on Bruno Latour: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruno_Latour on John Bellamy Foster: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bellamy_Foster Bellamy, J. F. (2000) Marx's Ecology. Materialism and Nature. Monthly Review Press. https://ia904504.us.archive.org/9/items/526394/John%20Bellamy%20Foster.%20Marx%27s%20Ecology..pdf on Kohei Saito: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kohei_Saito on Pietro Verri: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pietro_Verri Marx, K. (1976). Capital. A Critique of Political Economy. Volume One. Penguin. https://www.surplusvalue.org.au/Marxism/Capital%20-%20Vol.%201%20Penguin.pdf Marx's Theses on Feuerbach: https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/theses/theses.htm Marx's Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844: https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/manuscripts/preface.htm Marx's and Engel's German Ideology: https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/german-ideology/ Marx's Capital Vol. 3.: https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1894-c3/ Marx's On The Jewish Question: https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/jewish-question/ on Alfred Sohn-Rethel: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Sohn-Rethel Machado, C. & Miguel, N. (2013). The Money of the Mind and the God of Commodities. The real abstraction according to Sohn-Rethel. https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/48961/1/MPRA_paper_48961.pdf on Donna Haraway: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donna_Haraway on the “Special Period” in Cuba: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Period on James Lovelock: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Lovelock Lovelock, J. (1979). Gaia. A New Look at Life on Earth. Oxford University Press. https://global.oup.com/academic/product/gaia-9780198784883?cc=de&lang=en&# on “Social metabolism”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_metabolism on Raymond Williams: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Williams Smele, J. D. (2016). The ‘Russian' Civil Wars, 1916-1926. Ten Years that Shook the World. Hurst. https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/the-russian-civil-wars-1916-1926/ Engel-Di Mauro, S. (2021). Socialist States and the Environment. Lessons for Eco-Socialist Futures. Pluto Press. https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745340418/socialist-states-and-the-environment/ Amin, S. (1990). Delinking. Towards a Polycentric World. Zed Books. https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/delinking-9780862328030/ on material and energy flow accounting: see the chapter on that topic in: Bartelmus, P. (2008). Quantitative Eco-nomics. How sustainable are our economies. Springer. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-4020-6966-6 Zeug, W. (2025). INDEP talk with Walther Zeug: Democratic Economic Planning through Cybernetics & Holistic Accounting. https://youtu.be/I4_8_lDfwEw?si=J-kdRzjIehZqPgs0 Kula, W. (2016). Measures and Men. Princeton University Press. https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691639079/measures-and-men Echterhölter, A. M. (2019). Quantification as Conflict. Witold Kula's Political Metrology and Its Reception in the West . Historyka : studia metodologiczne, 49, 117-141 . Article 9. https://journals.pan.pl/Content/114031/PDF/7%20ECHTERH%C3%96LTER.pdf on Max Weber: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Weber on Double-entry bookkeeping: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-entry_bookkeeping on “proletarian science”: Moore, J.W. (2025). Nature and other dangerous words: Marx, method and the proletarian standpoint in the web of life. Dialectical Anthropology. 49, 149–167. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10624-025-09775-x on Ecosystem services: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecosystem_service on the “Ecological footprint” concept: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecological_footprint on Thomas Müntzer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_M%C3%BCntzer on the Royal Botanic Gardens/Kew Gardens: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Botanic_Gardens_(Kew) on the Stakhanovite movement: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stakhanovite_movement on Cybernetics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybernetics on Earth systems science: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_system_science Selcer, P. (2018). The Postwar Origins of the Global Environment. How the United Nations Built Spaceship Earth. Columbia University Press. https://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-postwar-origins-of-the-global-environment/9780231166485/ Medina, E. (2014). Cybernetic Revolutionaries. Technology and Politics in Allende's Chile. MIT Press. https://uberty.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Eden_Medina_Cybernetic_Revolutionaries.pdf on Cybernetics in the Soviet Union: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybernetics_in_the_Soviet_Union on the Transitional demand: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transitional_demand see also: Trotsky's The Transitional Program: https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1938/tp/ on the Green New Deal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_New_Deal on the European Green Deal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Green_Deal on Geoengineering: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoengineering on Johan Rockström: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johan_Rockstr%C3%B6m on Planetary boundaries: https://www.stockholmresilience.org/research/planetary-boundaries.html Klein, N. (2015). This Changes Everything. Capitalism vs. the Climate. Penguin. https://thischangeseverything.org/book/ Kushi, S., & Toft, M. D. (2022). Introducing the Military Intervention Project: A New Dataset on US Military Interventions, 1776–2019. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 67(4), 752-779. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00220027221117546 on Allen Dulles: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_Dulles on Reinhard Gehlen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinhard_Gehlen Talbot, D. (2016). The Devil's Chessboard. Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government. Harper Collins. https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-devils-chessboard-david-talbot?variant=32207669559330 on the concept of the Deep State: Scott, P. D. (1996). Deep Politics and the Death of JFK. University of California Press. https://www.ucpress.edu/books/deep-politics-and-the-death-of-jfk/paper Scott, P. D. (2017). The American Deep State. Big Money, Big Oil, and the Struggle for U.S. Democracy. Rowman & Littlefield. https://archive.org/details/americandeepstat0000scot/page/n5/mode/2up Good, A. (2022). American Exception. Empire and the Deep State. Skyhorse Publishing. https://www.skyhorsepublishing.com/9781510769144/american-exception/ on the origin of the concept: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_state_in_Turkey https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susurluk_car_crash recently released files relating to the assassination of JFK on the website of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA): https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/release-2025 on the current state of knowledge on the Nord Stream Pipeline Explosion: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/what-is-known-about-nord-stream-gas-pipeline-explosions-2025-08-21/ on the Nord Stream Pipeline Explosion releasing massive Amounts of Methane: https://youtu.be/7KBsf7bX9Nc?si=tDIxlFFF2ThO6Aeb on Systems Dynamics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_dynamics the ‘Limits to Growth' Report, commissioned by the Club of Rome: https://www.clubofrome.org/publication/the-limits-to-growth/ the Club of Rome: https://www.clubofrome.org/ on Jay Wright Forrester: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Wright_Forrester on the concept of the Anthropocene: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropocene on James C. Scott: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_C._Scott Mies, M. & Bennholdt-Thomsen, V. (1999). The Subsistence Perspective. Beyond the Globalised Economy. Zed Books. https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/subsistence-perspective-9781856497763/ on the New Economic Policy (NEP): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Economic_Policy on the Belt and Road Initiative: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belt_and_Road_Initiative Nachmani, A. (1990). Civil War and Foreign Intervention in Greece: 1946-49. Journal of Contemporary History, 25(4), 489–522. https://www.jstor.org/stable/260759 on the “Soft Coup against the Wilson Labour Government”: https://www.declassifieduk.org/a-possible-coup-against-the-labour-government/ https://www.mi5.gov.uk/history/the-cold-war/the-wilson-plot https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2006/mar/15/comment.labour1 on the actions of the US against North Korea in the Korean War: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_crimes_in_the_Korean_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_North_Korea https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegations_of_biological_warfare_in_the_Korean_War on the Cultural Revolution: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Revolution on Mao's concept of the Mass Line: https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/works/red-book/ch11.htm on Jung's concept of the Collective unconscious: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_unconscious on (Neo-)Malthusianism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malthusianism Ehrlich, P. R. (1971). The Population Bomb. Ballantine Books. http://pinguet.free.fr/ehrlich68.pdf Tainter, J. A. (1988). The Collapse of Complex Societies. Cambridge University Press. https://www.sustainable.soltechdesigns.com/Joseph-A-Tainter-The-collapse-of-complex-societies.pdf on Millenarianism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millenarianism Enzensberger, H. M. (1978). Two Notes on the End of the World. New Left Review. I/110. https://newleftreview.org/issues/i110/articles/hans-magnus-enzensberger-two-notes-on-the-end-of-the-world Hansen, J. (2010). Storms of my Grandchildren. The Truth about the Coming Climate Catastrophe and Our Last Chance to Save Humanity. Bloomsbury. https://www.bloomsbury.com/in/storms-of-my-grandchildren-9781408807460/ Sweezy, P.M. (1990). Monopoly Capitalism. In: Eatwell, J., Milgate, M., Newman, P. (eds) Marxian Economics. Palgrave Macmillan. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-349-20572-1_44 on Technofeudalism: Varoufakis, Y. (2024). Technofeudalism. What Killed Capitalism. Penguin. https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/451795/technofeudalism-by-varoufakis-yanis/9781529926095 Durand, C. (2024). How Silicon Valley Unleashed Techno-feudalism. The Making of the Digital Economy. Verso. https://www.versobooks.com/products/2790-how-silicon-valley-unleashed-techno-feudalism Culture, Power and Politics Podcast episode on the debate around the concept “Technofeudalism”: https://culturepowerpolitics.org/2025/07/04/is-capitalism-over-the-technofeudalism-debate/ Conservation International: https://www.conservation.org/ Earth League International: https://earthleagueinternational.org/ Rockström, J. et al. (2024). The Planetary Commons. A new Paradigm for Safeguarding Earth-regulating Systems in the Anthropocene. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2301531121 the Trilateral Commission: https://www.trilateral.org/ the Earth Commission: https://earthcommission.org/ Johan Rockström's interview in the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/may/29/johan-rockstrom-interview-breaking-boundaries-attenborough-biden   Future Histories Episodes on Related Topics S3E44 | Anna Kornbluh on Climate Counteraesthetics https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s03/e44-anna-kornbluh-on-climate-counteraesthetics/ S03E33 | Tadzio Müller zu solidarischem Preppen im Kollaps https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s03/e33-tadzio-mueller-zu-solidarischem-preppen-im-kollaps/ S03E30 | Matt Huber & Kohei Saito on Growth, Progress and Left Imaginaries https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s03/e30-matt-huber-kohei-saito-on-growth-progress-and-left-imaginaries/ S03E23 | Andreas Malm on Overshooting into Climate Breakdown https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s03/e23-andreas-malm-on-overshooting-into-climate-breakdown/ S03E19 | Wendy Brown on Socialist Governmentality https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s03/e19-wendy-brown-on-socialist-governmentality/   --- If you are interested in democratic economic planning, these resources might be of help: Democratic planning – an information website https://www.democratic-planning.com/ Sorg, C. & Groos, J. (eds.)(2025). Rethinking Economic Planning. Competition & Change Special Issue Volume 29 Issue 1. https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/ccha/29/1 Groos, J. & Sorg, C. (2025). Creative Construction - Democratic Planning in the 21st Century and Beyond. Bristol University Press. [for a review copy, please contact: amber.lanfranchi[at]bristol.ac.uk] https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/creative-construction International Network for Democratic Economic Planning https://www.indep.network/ Democratic Planning Research Platform: https://www.planningresearch.net/ --- Future Histories Contact & Support If you like Future Histories, please consider supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/join/FutureHistories Contact: office@futurehistories.today Twitter: https://twitter.com/FutureHpodcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/futurehpodcast/ Mastodon: https://mstdn.social/@FutureHistories English webpage: https://futurehistories-international.com   Episode Keywords #JasonWMoore, #JanGroos, #Interview, #FutureHistories, #FutureHistoriesInternational, #futurehistoriesinternational, #DemocraticPlanning, #DemocraticEconomicPlanning, #PoliticalEconomy, #History, #Revolution, #Revolutions, #Ecology, #Environmental, #Colonialism, #Imperialism, #Capitalism, #Economics, #DeepState, #WorldEcology, #NatureSocietyDivide, #KarlMarx, #Socialism, #Cybernetics

The Nuremberg and Tokyo Trials were based on the London Agreement, signed on August 8, 1945, which was an accord between the United States, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union to establish an International Military Tribunal to prosecute the major war criminals of the European Axis. It provided a legal framework that codified crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, laying the foundation for the Nuremberg and Tokyo Trials. Beginning on November 20, 1945, 22 Nazi officials were brought to trial in the city of Nuremberg in Germany. And on May 3, 1946, 28 Japanese Military and Civil Leaders were brought to trial in Tokyo.  

In 1933, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin had his secret police goons round up hundreds of thousands of former farmers and he sent them into Siberia to create labor camps where they would be forced to work. Many would die along the way, including the over 6,000 unfortunate enough to end up on Nazino Island, where innocent people were dumped with no food other than raw flour, no clean water, no shelter, no medicine, and no protection from each other. Starvation and desperation quickly led to cannibalism, mutilation, and death.For Merch and everything else Bad Magic related, head to: https://www.badmagicproductions.com

The relationship between the United States and Israel has long been the subject of intense scrutiny, very often distorted by polemic and conspiracy. One of the most influential articulations of these distortions came in 2007, when the political scientists John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt argued that American foreign policy had been hijacked by a powerful Israel lobby—an argument that, despite its weaknesses, has shaped how many Americans view relations between these two nations. My guest today, the historian and policy scholar Daniel Samet, has written a new book that aims to set the record straight. Drawing on archival research and much evidence, Samet demonstrates that U.S. policy toward Israel during the cold war was not the product of special pleading and manipulation, but of America's own strategic interests. By examining presidencies from Harry Truman through George H.W. Bush, he shows how American leaders, whatever their personal sympathies, consistently acted to advance U.S. national priorities—and how Israel sometimes fit into that strategy, and sometimes did not. In this episode of the Tikvah Podcast, Samet joins the host and editor of Mosaic Jonathan Silver to discuss how Israel was perceived in Washington during America's long struggle with the Soviet Union, what lessons that history holds for America's rivalry with China today, and why misconceptions about the “Israel lobby” persist in our political discourse. Daniel Samet is a Jean Kirkpatrick Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he works on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. His book, U.S. Defense Policy Toward Israel, was published earlier this year.

Separated by decades, the U.S. war in Vietnam and the Israeli war in Gaza are very different. Vietnam had support from China and the Soviet Union. The Palestinians have no allies. The sheer scale of the U.S. assault on not only Vietnam but Cambodia and Laos as well immeasurably dwarfs the death toll Israel is exacting in Gaza. In both wars, there was massive use of airpower. It didn't work in Vietnam, and it's not working in Gaza. On the home front, it took years for people to protest the U.S. war. In the case of Gaza, it was almost immediate, and it continues. Media coverage was also different. Vietnam was famously called “the living room war.” Israel has banned journalists from reporting in Gaza but most of our stalwarts of the Fourth Estate have remained silent.

It's June 1941. Nazi Germany invades the Soviet Union, and German soldiers arrive in Eyshishok. Zvi, Miriam and Leon's lives are flipped upside down.View Episode TranscriptThank you for listening. What did you think of the show? Take a quick survey, send your comments via email to podcast@ushmm.org.

I had the pleasure of hosting one of the most extraordinary guests I've ever had on Chatter That Matters during the 80th sessions of the United Nations Assembly happening in New York. My guest is someone who has made a powerful and positive impact on our universe: Dr. Oscar Arias, a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and two-time President of Costa Rica.  Oscar takes us back to a time when Central America was on fire, civil wars raged, and the United States and the Soviet Union armed opposing sides.  The region was drowning in ideology, bloodshed, and fear.   Then came Oscar Arias, the newly elected President of Costa Rica, a nation that had disbanded their military decades before. While others escalated the violence, Arias chose defiance. He stared down Ronald Reagan, had U.S.-backed rebels expelled from Costa Rican soil, rejected global pressure, and authored the Arias Peace Plan. This bold diplomatic initiative helped bring five nations to the table and bring an end to years of war. Oscar Arias didn't just defy world leaders; he defied the odds and changed the course of history. In 1987, Arias was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. But he didn't stop there. Through the Arias Foundation for Peace & Human Progress, he helped spark the UN Arms Trade Treaty—the first legally binding agreement to regulate the global weapons trade. And now, in his 80s, Oscar Arias is on another peace mission. To build a Global Peace Museum in Costa Rica. A place to remind the world that peace isn't idealistic, it's possible, if given a chance.   (And for history buffs, you will be mesmerized by the stories of how Oscar Arias encountered and, over time, built extraordinary relationships with Reagan, Bush, Thatcher, Gorbachev, Castro, Mulroney, the Pope and many more.)

Japan devastated the United States' fleet with a surprise attack at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7th, 1941.  The Japanese followed up on their Pearl Harbor attack by seizing Guam, Wake Island, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the Philippines.  The Japanese seemed almost unstoppable while the United States asked itself, “What are we going to do, or what can we do, now?”  With direction from President Roosevelt to strike Japan, the United States came up with a plan.   On April 18, 1942, sixteen U.S. Army bombers took off from the USS Hornet on a one-way mission to bomb Japan.  James Scott explains how this raid was planned and executed in “Target Tokyo: Jimmy Doolittle and the Raid that Avenged Pearl Harbor.”  Equally important, Scott explains the outsized impact of the raid on United States' morale and Japan's sense of security.

The Communist's Secret is Book 2 of the Leningrad Trilogy. Driven by a blind devotion to the Communist Party, self-centered Katya Karavayeva has broken the most important rule in Soviet society: never say anything that can be used against you. On the heels of that betrayal, Nazi Germany invades and the Soviet Union mobilizes. Katya hopes to halt her downward spiral by joining the volunteer militia, but within a few short weeks finds herself under attack.After escaping with another volunteer, Katya spends weeks on the run before landing in a town under Nazi occupation. There, she finds a place and a purpose and learns to fight a different kind of war, repaying German brutality with a harsh justice of her own. All the while she struggles against her inner demons and dreams of reunion with her daughter and forgiveness from her husband - the one she betrayed.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-unplugged-totally-uncut--994165/support.

Gerry Did It!: Gerry Hemming and the Assassination of JFK - Mr. Alan Jules WebermanMr. Alan Jules Weberman Gerry Patrick Hemming invented Oswald. He first met him at Subic Bay when they were both in the Marines and him and Oswald when Huk hunting together - sneaking off base a killing Philippine communist guerrillas. Having committed murders together Oswald trusted Hemming who introducted hi to Angleton who sent Oswald to the Soviet Union to give info needed to shoot down U-2 and sabotage Summit Talks. Oswald returned, a re-defector, a Hemming got the bright idea to use him in a plot to kill the President of the United States and blame it on Fidel Castro. He had Oswald doing all kinds of stuff prior to the assassination like shooting at his friend Walker, going to the Sportsdrome Range and more. He offered him twice what Oswald paid for his Mannlicher Carcano and had he bring it to the TSBD the day of the big event. I got to know Gerry Hemming and his family pretty well and believe me he was a piece of work. He was unpredictable. He served as a conscience for Frank Sturgis who was a psychopathic killer. Hemming wrote this incredible scenario, Oswald forms Fair Play for Cuba Committee, gets in a staged fight with anti-Castro types, goes to Mexico City to get a visa to travel to Cuba. If he had been granted the visa he would have just got back from Cuba before he did the hit and it would look like Fidel put him up to it. You got to understand that all these dudes knew Fidel and was part of his revolution only to find out he was a Communist and a traitor. Hemming was locked up by Castro. The named INTERPEN, his anti-Castro group is in Oswald's Address Book. Read The Oswald Code.https://www.amazon.com/Oswald-Code-Secrets-Oswalds-Address/dp/1490463674/ref=as_sl_pc_qf_sp_asin_til?tag=theopprep-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=b1d840153a6129f116b64032578607a1&creativeASIN=1490463674Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.

About the Lecture This presentation will explore the scope and evolution of Russian information and cyber warfare, drawing key lessons from the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Ambassador Smith will begin with an overview of Russia's cyber capabilities and principal actors, then examine how Russian cyber attacks on Ukraine have developed over time and the implications for Ukraine, the United States, and the future of modern warfare. About the Speaker Ambassador David J. Smith is a foreign policy professional with over 40 years of experience spanning the U.S. military, Pentagon, State Department, Congress, diplomatic delegations, defense industry, research institutes, and democratic development initiatives. His expertise includes NATO, the former Soviet Union, the Caucasus and Black Sea regions, arms control, missile defense, and cybersecurity policy. A former U.S. Air Force officer and Professor of Cybersecurity Policy at Utica College, Ambassador Smith has served as the U.S. Chief Negotiator at the U.S.-Soviet Defense and Space talks, a Senior Fellow at the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies, and founder of the Georgian Security Analysis Center. His work in Georgia from 2002 to 2014 placed him at the forefront of studying the first combined kinetic and cyber war during Russia's 2008 attack on Georgia. Ambassador Smith has delivered his continually updated presentation, Russian Cyber Capabilities, Policy, and Practice, to audiences around the world since 2010.

In the years following Stalin's death in 1953, a new phenomenon emerged within the Soviet Union: so-called 'dissidents'. Preferring to think of themselves as 'rights defenders', these individuals advocated a form of 'civil obedience' – a demand that the state abide by its own constitution and the basic rights and freedoms it promised on paper. Historian Benjamin Nathans speaks to Danny Bird about his Cundill Prize-nominated book To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause, which examines this extraordinary movement. To find out more about the Cundill History Prize, go to https://www.cundillprize.com/ (Ad) Benjamin Nathans is the author of To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement (Princeton University Press, 2024). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Success-Our-Hopeless-Cause-Dissident-ebook/dp/B0CW1FHMSQ/?tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty. The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On February 22, 1946, George F. Kennan, a career diplomat working in the American embassy in Moscow, sent an 8,000-word cable to the State Department in Washington.In it, he explained why the Soviet Union behaved as it did, outlining its unique combination of a communist ideology and historical Russian paranoia and suspicion.  He also gave a prescription for how the United States should respond. Although he couldn't have known it at the time, that message became the foundation for American policy during the Cold War.  Learn more about the Long Telegram and how it influenced American foreign policy during the Cold War on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Sponsors Quince Go to quince.com/daily for 365-day returns, plus free shipping on your order! Mint Mobile Get your 3-month Unlimited wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month at mintmobile.com/eed Stash Go to get.stash.com/EVERYTHING to see how you can receive $25 towards your first stock purchase. ExpressVPN Go to expressvpn.com/EED to get an extra four months of ExpressVPN for free!w Subscribe to the podcast!  https://everything-everywhere.com/everything-everywhere-daily-podcast/ -------------------------------- Executive Producer: Charles Daniel Associate Producers: Austin Oetken & Cameron Kieffer   Become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everythingeverywhere Discord Server: https://discord.gg/UkRUJFh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everythingeverywhere/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/everythingeverywheredaily Twitter: https://twitter.com/everywheretrip Website: https://everything-everywhere.com/  Disce aliquid novi cotidie Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Michael Johnson, President of the Slavic Gospel Association (SGA), joins the show to share his journey from high-powered New York advertising executive to leading one of the most impactful global ministries of our time. With nearly 90 years of history, SGA partners with more than 6,000 evangelical churches across Russia and the former Soviet Union, meeting urgent needs and advancing the Gospel in some of the world's most difficult places.In this conversation, Michael reflects on his early calling, the lessons learned through decades of leadership, and SGA's mission to reach orphans, support pastors, and bring hope where it's needed most. From grassroots aid distribution to church planting and crisis response, Michael offers a powerful reminder that faithful stewardship and bold obedience can change lives for generations.https://www.sga.org/leadership/Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/i-am-refocused-radio--2671113/support.Thank you for tuning in to I Am Refocused Radio. For more inspiring conversations, visit IAmRefocusedRadio.com and stay connected with our community.Don't miss new episodes—subscribe now at YouTube.com/@RefocusedRadio

Step back in time to a vanished world of state-run circus schools, train journeys across the Soviet Union, and the dramatic moment when the Berlin Wall fell. In this captivating conversation, foot juggler Antje Pode shares her remarkable journey from a young gymnast in East Germany to an internationally acclaimed circus artist.Antje reveals the fascinating, rarely-discussed reality of the communist-era circus system, where performers were government employees with guaranteed lifetime positions. Selected from hundreds of applicants at age 17, she trained in the prestigious East German circus school before touring with the state circus. Her vivid descriptions transport us to a time when circus was considered high art, performers lived in caravans on flatbed train cars rolling through Russia, and elephants walked from train stations to circus lots as mobile advertisements.The political and personal merge dramatically as Antje recounts being thousands of miles from home in Moldova when the Berlin Wall unexpectedly fell in November 1989. Through her eyes, we experience both the hope and uncertainty of that pivotal moment in history, learning how the peaceful Monday demonstrations eventually led to revolution without violence.Beyond historical insights, Antje shares the technical mastery behind her extraordinary foot juggling act, where she manipulates suitcases with remarkable precision while balancing, spinning, and juggling simultaneously. Her description of needing three weeks to adapt to a new suitcase reveals the invisible precision required in circus arts.Whether you're fascinated by political history, circus traditions, or the dedication required for artistic mastery, this conversation offers a unique window into a world that has largely disappeared. Subscribe now to hear more conversations that explore the intersection of showmanship, art, and human experience.-You can find Antje Pode on social media and on her website Antjepode.deSupport the show...Now you can get t-shirts and hoodies with our wonderful logo. This is the best new way to suport the podcast project. Become a proud parader of your passion for Showmanship and our glorious Craft whilst simultanously helping to gather more followers for the Way.You'll find the store here: https://thewayoftheshowman.printdrop.com.auIf you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.If you want to contact me about anything, including wanting me to collaborate on one of your projects you can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.comor find out more on the Way of the Showman website.you can follow the Way of Instagram where it is, not surprisingly thewayoftheshowman.If you find it in you and you have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

Last time we spoke about the surrender of Japan. Emperor Hirohito announced the surrender on August 15, prompting mixed public reactions: grief, shock, and sympathy for the Emperor, tempered by fear of hardship and occupation. The government's response included resignations and suicide as new leadership was brought in under Prime Minister Higashikuni, with Mamoru Shigemitsu as Foreign Minister and Kawabe Torashiro heading a delegation to Manila. General MacArthur directed the occupation plan, “Blacklist,” prioritizing rapid, phased entry into key Japanese areas and Korea, while demobilizing enemy forces. The surrender ceremony occurred aboard the Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, with Wainwright, Percival, Nimitz, and UN representatives in attendance. Civilians and soldiers across Asia began surrendering, and postwar rehabilitation, Indochina and Vietnam's independence movements, and Southeast Asian transitions rapidly unfolded as Allied forces established control. This episode is the Aftermath of the Pacific War Welcome to the Pacific War Podcast Week by Week, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about world war two? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on world war two and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel you can find a few videos all the way from the Opium Wars of the 1800's until the end of the Pacific War in 1945.  The Pacific War has ended. Peace has been restored by the Allies and most of the places conquered by the Japanese Empire have been liberated. In this post-war period, new challenges would be faced for those who won the war; and from the ashes of an empire, a defeated nation was also seeking to rebuild. As the Japanese demobilized their armed forces, many young boys were set to return to their homeland, even if they had previously thought that they wouldn't survive the ordeal. And yet, there were some cases of isolated men that would continue to fight for decades even, unaware that the war had already ended.  As we last saw, after the Japanese surrender, General MacArthur's forces began the occupation of the Japanese home islands, while their overseas empire was being dismantled by the Allies. To handle civil administration, MacArthur established the Military Government Section, commanded by Brigadier-General William Crist, staffed by hundreds of US experts trained in civil governance who were reassigned from Okinawa and the Philippines. As the occupation began, Americans dispatched tactical units and Military Government Teams to each prefecture to ensure that policies were faithfully carried out. By mid-September, General Eichelberger's 8th Army had taken over the Tokyo Bay region and began deploying to occupy Hokkaido and the northern half of Honshu. Then General Krueger's 6th Army arrived in late September, taking southern Honshu and Shikoku, with its base in Kyoto. In December, 6th Army was relieved of its occupation duties; in January 1946, it was deactivated, leaving the 8th Army as the main garrison force. By late 1945, about 430,000 American soldiers were garrisoned across Japan. President Truman approved inviting Allied involvement on American terms, with occupation armies integrated into a US command structure. Yet with the Chinese civil war and Russia's reluctance to place its forces under MacArthur's control, only Australia, Britain, India, and New Zealand sent brigades, more than 40,000 troops in southwestern Japan. Japanese troops were gradually disarmed by order of their own commanders, so the stigma of surrender would be less keenly felt by the individual soldier. In the homeland, about 1.5 million men were discharged and returned home by the end of August. Demobilization overseas, however, proceeded, not quickly, but as a long, difficult process of repatriation. In compliance with General Order No. 1, the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters disbanded on September 13 and was superseded by the Japanese War Department to manage demobilization. By November 1, the homeland had demobilized 2,228,761 personnel, roughly 97% of the Homeland Army. Yet some 6,413,215 men remained to be repatriated from overseas. On December 1, the Japanese War Ministry dissolved, and the First Demobilization Ministry took its place. The Second Demobilization Ministry was established to handle IJN demobilization, with 1,299,868 sailors, 81% of the Navy, demobilized by December 17. Japanese warships and merchant ships had their weapons rendered inoperative, and suicide craft were destroyed. Forty percent of naval vessels were allocated to evacuations in the Philippines, and 60% to evacuations of other Pacific islands. This effort eventually repatriated about 823,984 men to Japan by February 15, 1946. As repatriation accelerated, by October 15 only 1,909,401 men remained to be repatriated, most of them in the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, the Higashikuni Cabinet and Foreign Minister Shigemitsu Mamoru managed to persuade MacArthur not to impose direct military rule or martial law over all of Japan. Instead, the occupation would be indirect, guided by the Japanese government under the Emperor's direction. An early decision to feed occupation forces from American supplies, and to allow the Japanese to use their own limited food stores, helped ease a core fear: that Imperial forces would impose forced deliveries on the people they conquered. On September 17, MacArthur transferred his headquarters from Yokohama to Tokyo, setting up primary offices on the sixth floor of the Dai-Ichi Mutual Life Insurance Building, an imposing edifice overlooking the moat and the Imperial palace grounds in Hibiya, a symbolic heart of the nation.  While the average soldier did not fit the rapacious image of wartime Japanese propagandists, occupation personnel often behaved like neo-colonial overlords. The conquerors claimed privileges unimaginable to most Japanese. Entire trains and train compartments, fitted with dining cars, were set aside for the exclusive use of occupation forces. These silenced, half-empty trains sped past crowded platforms, provoking ire as Japanese passengers were forced to enter and exit packed cars through punched-out windows, or perch on carriage roofs, couplings, and running boards, often with tragic consequences. The luxury express coaches became irresistible targets for anonymous stone-throwers. During the war, retrenchment measures had closed restaurants, cabarets, beer halls, geisha houses, and theatres in Tokyo and other large cities. Now, a vast leisure industry sprang up to cater to the needs of the foreign occupants. Reopened restaurants and theatres, along with train stations, buses, and streetcars, were sometimes kept off limits to Allied personnel, partly for security, partly to avoid burdening Japanese resources, but a costly service infrastructure was built to the occupiers' specifications. Facilities reserved for occupation troops bore large signs reading “Japanese Keep Out” or “For Allied Personnel Only.” In downtown Tokyo, important public buildings requisitioned for occupation use had separate entrances for Americans and Japanese. The effect? A subtle but clear colour bar between the predominantly white conquerors and the conquered “Asiatic” Japanese. Although MacArthur was ready to work through the Japanese government, he lacked the organizational infrastructure to administer a nation of 74 million. Consequently, on October 2, MacArthur dissolved the Military Government Section and inaugurated General Headquarters, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, a separate headquarters focused on civil affairs and operating in tandem with the Army high command. SCAP immediately assumed responsibility for administering the Japanese home islands. It commandeered every large building not burned down to house thousands of civilians and requisitioned vast tracts of prime real estate to quarter several hundred thousand troops in the Tokyo–Yokohama area alone. Amidst the rise of American privilege, entire buildings were refurbished as officers' clubs, replete with slot machines and gambling parlours installed at occupation expense. The Stars and Stripes were hoisted over Tokyo, while the display of the Rising Sun was banned; and the downtown area, known as “Little America,” was transformed into a US enclave. The enclave mentality of this cocooned existence was reinforced by the arrival within the first six months of roughly 700 American families. At the peak of the occupation, about 14,800 families employed some 25,000 Japanese servants to ease the “rigours” of overseas duty. Even enlisted men in the sparse quonset-hut towns around the city lived like kings compared with ordinary Japanese. Japanese workers cleaned barracks, did kitchen chores, and handled other base duties. The lowest private earned a 25% hardship bonus until these special allotments were discontinued in 1949. Most military families quickly adjusted to a pampered lifestyle that went beyond maids and “boys,” including cooks, laundresses, babysitters, gardeners, and masseuses. Perks included spacious quarters with swimming pools, central heating, hot running water, and modern plumbing. Two observers compared GHQ to the British Raj at its height. George F. Kennan, head of the State Department's Policy Planning Staff, warned during his 1948 mission to Japan that Americans had monopolized “everything that smacks of comfort or elegance or luxury,” criticizing what he called the “American brand of philistinism” and the “monumental imperviousness” of MacArthur's staff to the Japanese suffering. This conqueror's mentality also showed in the bullying attitudes many top occupation officials displayed toward the Japanese with whom they dealt. Major Faubion Bowers, MacArthur's military secretary, later said, “I and nearly all the occupation people I knew were extremely conceited and extremely arrogant and used our power every inch of the way.” Initially, there were spasms of defiance against the occupation forces, such as anonymous stone-throwing, while armed robbery and minor assaults against occupation personnel were rife in the weeks and months after capitulation. Yet active resistance was neither widespread nor organized. The Americans successfully completed their initial deployment without violence, an astonishing feat given a heavily armed and vastly superior enemy operating on home terrain. The average citizen regarded the occupation as akin to force majeure, the unfortunate but inevitable aftermath of a natural calamity. Japan lay prostrate. Industrial output had fallen to about 10% of pre-war levels, and as late as 1946, more than 13 million remained unemployed. Nearly 40% of Japan's urban areas had been turned to rubble, and some 9 million people were homeless. The war-displaced, many of them orphans, slept in doorways and hallways, in bombed-out ruins, dugouts and packing crates, under bridges or on pavements, and crowded the hallways of train and subway stations. As winter 1945 descended, with food, fuel, and clothing scarce, people froze to death. Bonfires lit the streets to ward off the chill. "The only warm hands I have shaken thus far in Japan belonged to Americans," Mark Gayn noted in December 1945. "The Japanese do not have much of a chance to thaw out, and their hands are cold and red." Unable to afford shoes, many wore straw sandals; those with geta felt themselves privileged. The sight of a man wearing a woman's high-buttoned shoes in winter epitomized the daily struggle to stay dry and warm. Shantytowns built of scrap wood, rusted metal, and scavenged odds and ends sprang up everywhere, resembling vast junk yards. The poorest searched smouldering refuse heaps for castoffs that might be bartered for a scrap to eat or wear. Black markets (yami'ichi) run by Japanese, Koreans, and For-mosans mushroomed to replace collapsed distribution channels and cash in on inflated prices. Tokyo became "a world of scarcity in which every nail, every rag, and even a tangerine peel [had a] market value." Psychologically numbed, disoriented, and disillusioned with their leaders, demobilized veterans and civilians alike struggled to get their bearings, shed militaristic ideologies, and begin to embrace new values. In the vacuum of defeat, the Japanese people appeared ready to reject the past and grasp at the straw held out by the former enemy. Relations between occupier and occupied were not smooth, however. American troops comported themselves like conquerors, especially in the early weeks and months of occupation. Much of the violence was directed against women, with the first attacks beginning within hours after the landing of advance units. When US paratroopers landed in Sapporo, an orgy of looting, sexual violence, and drunken brawling ensued. Newspaper accounts reported 931 serious offences by GIs in the Yokohama area during the first week of occupation, including 487 armed robberies, 411 thefts of currency or goods, 9 rapes, 5 break-ins, 3 cases of assault and battery, and 16 other acts of lawlessness. In the first 10 days of occupation, there were 1,336 reported rapes by US soldiers in Kanagawa Prefecture alone. Americans were not the only perpetrators. A former prostitute recalled that when Australian troops arrived in Kure in early 1946, they “dragged young women into their jeeps, took them to the mountain, and then raped them. I heard them screaming for help nearly every night.” Such behaviour was commonplace, but news of criminal activity by occupation forces was quickly suppressed. On September 10, 1945, SCAP issued press and pre-censorship codes outlawing the publication of reports and statistics "inimical to the objectives of the occupation." In the sole instance of self-help General Eichelberger records in his memoirs, when locals formed a vigilante group and retaliated against off-duty GIs, 8th Army ordered armored vehicles into the streets and arrested the ringleaders, who received lengthy prison terms. Misbehavior ranged from black-market activity, petty theft, reckless driving, and disorderly conduct to vandalism, arson, murder, and rape. Soldiers and sailors often broke the law with impunity, and incidents of robbery, rape, and even murder were widely reported. Gang rapes and other sex atrocities were not infrequent; victims, shunned as outcasts, sometimes turned to prostitution in desperation, while others took their own lives to avoid bringing shame to their families. Military courts arrested relatively few soldiers for these offenses and convicted even fewer; Japanese attempts at self-defense were punished severely, and restitution for victims was rare. Fearing the worst, Japanese authorities had already prepared countermeasures against the supposed rapacity of foreign soldiers. Imperial troops in East Asia and the Pacific had behaved brutally toward women, so the government established “sexual comfort-stations” manned by geisha, bar hostesses, and prostitutes to “satisfy the lust of the Occupation forces,” as the Higashikuni Cabinet put it. A budget of 100 million yen was set aside for these Recreation and Amusement Associations, financed initially with public funds but run as private enterprises under police supervision. Through these, the government hoped to protect the daughters of the well-born and middle class by turning to lower-class women to satisfy the soldiers' sexual appetites. By the end of 1945, brothel operators had rounded up an estimated 20,000 young women and herded them into RAA establishments nationwide. Eventually, as many as 70,000 are said to have ended up in the state-run sex industry. Thankfully, as military discipline took hold and fresh troops replaced the Allied veterans responsible for the early crime wave, violence subsided and the occupier's patronising behavior and the ugly misdeeds of a lawless few were gradually overlooked. However, fraternisation was frowned upon by both sides, and segregation was practiced in principle, with the Japanese excluded from areas reserved for Allied personnel until September 1949, when MacArthur lifted virtually all restrictions on friendly association, stating that he was “establishing the same relations between occupation personnel and the Japanese population as exists between troops stationed in the United States and the American people.” In principle, the Occupation's administrative structure was highly complex. The Far Eastern Commission, based in Washington, included representatives from all 13 countries that had fought against Japan and was established in 1946 to formulate basic principles. The Allied Council for Japan was created in the same year to assist in developing and implementing surrender terms and in administering the country. It consisted of representatives from the USA, the USSR, Nationalist China, and the British Commonwealth. Although both bodies were active at first, they were largely ineffectual due to unwieldy decision-making, disagreements between the national delegations (especially the USA and USSR), and the obstructionism of General Douglas MacArthur. In practice, SCAP, the executive authority of the occupation, effectively ruled Japan from 1945 to 1952. And since it took orders only from the US government, the Occupation became primarily an American affair. The US occupation program, effectively carried out by SCAP, was revolutionary and rested on a two-pronged approach. To ensure Japan would never again become a menace to the United States or to world peace, SCAP pursued disarmament and demilitarization, with continuing control over Japan's capacity to make war. This involved destroying military supplies and installations, demobilizing more than five million Japanese soldiers, and thoroughly discrediting the military establishment. Accordingly, SCAP ordered the purge of tens of thousands of designated persons from public service positions, including accused war criminals, military officers, leaders of ultranationalist societies, leaders in the Imperial Rule Assistance Association, business leaders tied to overseas expansion, governors of former Japanese colonies, and national leaders who had steered Japan into war. In addition, MacArthur's International Military Tribunal for the Far East established a military court in Tokyo. It had jurisdiction over those charged with Class A crimes, top leaders who had planned and directed the war. Also considered were Class B charges, covering conventional war crimes, and Class C charges, covering crimes against humanity. Yet the military court in Tokyo wouldn't be the only one. More than 5,700 lower-ranking personnel were charged with conventional war crimes in separate trials convened by Australia, China, France, the Dutch East Indies, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Of the 5,700 Japanese individuals indicted for Class B war crimes, 984 were sentenced to death; 475 received life sentences; 2,944 were given more limited prison terms; 1,018 were acquitted; and 279 were never brought to trial or not sentenced. Among these, many, like General Ando Rikichi and Lieutenant-General Nomi Toshio, chose to commit suicide before facing prosecution. Notable cases include Lieutenant-General Tani Hisao, who was sentenced to death by the Nanjing War Crimes Tribunal for his role in the Nanjing Massacre; Lieutenant-General Sakai Takashi, who was executed in Nanjing for the murder of British and Chinese civilians during the occupation of Hong Kong. General Okamura Yasuji was convicted of war crimes by the Tribunal, yet he was immediately protected by the personal order of Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-Shek, who kept him as a military adviser for the Kuomintang. In the Manila trials, General Yamashita Tomoyuki was sentenced to death as he was in overall command during the Sook Ching massacre, the Rape of Manila, and other atrocities. Lieutenant-General Homma Masaharu was likewise executed in Manila for atrocities committed by troops under his command during the Bataan Death March. General Imamura Hitoshi was sentenced to ten years in prison, but he considered the punishment too light and even had a replica of the prison built in his garden, remaining there until his death in 1968. Lieutenant-General Kanda Masatane received a 14-year sentence for war crimes on Bougainville, though he served only four years. Lieutenant-General Adachi Hatazo was sentenced to life imprisonment for war crimes in New Guinea and subsequently committed suicide on September 10, 1947. Lieutenant-General Teshima Fusataro received three years of forced labour for using a hospital ship to transport troops. Lieutenant-General Baba Masao was sentenced to death for ordering the Sandakan Death Marches, during which over 2,200 Australian and British prisoners of war perished. Lieutenant-General Tanabe Moritake was sentenced to death by a Dutch military tribunal for unspecified war crimes. Rear-Admiral Sakaibara Shigematsu was executed in Guam for ordering the Wake Island massacre, in which 98 American civilians were murdered. Lieutenant-General Inoue Sadae was condemned to death in Guam for permitting subordinates to execute three downed American airmen captured in Palau, though his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in 1951 and he was released in 1953. Lieutenant-General Tachibana Yoshio was sentenced to death in Guam for his role in the Chichijima Incident, in which eight American airmen were cannibalized. By mid-1945, due to the Allied naval blockade, the 25,000 Japanese troops on Chichijima had run low on supplies. However, although the daily rice ration had been reduced from 400 grams per person per day to 240 grams, the troops were not at risk of starvation. In February and March 1945, in what would later be called the Chichijima incident, Tachibana Yoshio's senior staff turned to cannibalism. Nine American airmen had escaped from their planes after being shot down during bombing raids on Chichijima, eight of whom were captured. The ninth, the only one to evade capture, was future US President George H. W. Bush, then a 20-year-old pilot. Over several months, the prisoners were executed, and reportedly by the order of Major Matoba Sueyo, their bodies were butchered by the division's medical orderlies, with the livers and other organs consumed by the senior staff, including Matoba's superior Tachibana. In the Yokohama War Crimes Trials, Lieutenant-Generals Inada Masazumi and Yokoyama Isamu were convicted for their complicity in vivisection and other human medical experiments performed at Kyushu Imperial University on downed Allied airmen. The Tokyo War Crimes Trial, which began in May 1946 and lasted two and a half years, resulted in the execution by hanging of Generals Doihara Kenji and Itagaki Seishiro, and former Prime Ministers Hirota Koki and Tojo Hideki, for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes against peace, specifically for the escalation of the Pacific War and for permitting the inhumane treatment of prisoners of war. Also sentenced to death were Lieutenant-General Muto Akira for his role in the Nanjing and Manila massacres; General Kimura Heitaro for planning the war strategy in China and Southeast Asia and for laxity in preventing atrocities against prisoners of war in Burma; and General Matsui Iwane for his involvement in the Rape of Nanjing. The seven defendants who were sentenced to death were executed at Sugamo Prison in Ikebukuro on December 23, 1948. Sixteen others were sentenced to life imprisonment, including the last Field Marshal Hata Shunroku, Generals Araki Sadao, Minami Hiro, and Umezu Shojiro, Admiral Shimada Shigetaro, former Prime Ministers Hiranuma Kiichiro and Koiso Kuniaki, Marquis Kido Koichi, and Colonel Hashimoto Kingoro, a major instigator of the second Sino-Japanese War. Additionally, former Foreign Ministers Togo Shigenori and Shigemitsu Mamoru received seven- and twenty-year sentences, respectively. The Soviet Union and Chinese Communist forces also held trials of Japanese war criminals, including the Khabarovsk War Crime Trials, which tried and found guilty some members of Japan's bacteriological and chemical warfare unit known as Unit 731. However, those who surrendered to the Americans were never brought to trial, as MacArthur granted immunity to Lieutenant-General Ishii Shiro and all members of the bacteriological research units in exchange for germ-w warfare data derived from human experimentation. If you would like to learn more about what I like to call Japan's Operation Paper clip, whereupon the US grabbed many scientists from Unit 731, check out my exclusive podcast. The SCAP-turn to democratization began with the drafting of a new constitution in 1947, addressing Japan's enduring feudal social structure. In the charter, sovereignty was vested in the people, and the emperor was designated a “symbol of the state and the unity of the people, deriving his position from the will of the people in whom resides sovereign power.” Because the emperor now possessed fewer powers than European constitutional monarchs, some have gone so far as to say that Japan became “a republic in fact if not in name.” Yet the retention of the emperor was, in fact, a compromise that suited both those who wanted to preserve the essence of the nation for stability and those who demanded that the emperor system, though not necessarily the emperor, should be expunged. In line with the democratic spirit of the new constitution, the peerage was abolished and the two-chamber Diet, to which the cabinet was now responsible, became the highest organ of state. The judiciary was made independent and local autonomy was granted in vital areas of jurisdiction such as education and the police. Moreover, the constitution stipulated that “the people shall not be prevented from enjoying any of the fundamental human rights,” that they “shall be respected as individuals,” and that “their right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness shall … be the supreme consideration in legislation.” Its 29 articles guaranteed basic human rights: equality, freedom from discrimination on the basis of race, creed, sex, social status or family origin, freedom of thought and freedom of religion. Finally, in its most controversial section, Article 9, the “peace clause,” Japan “renounce[d] war as a sovereign right of the nation” and vowed not to maintain any military forces and “other war potential.” To instill a thoroughly democratic ethos, reforms touched every facet of society. The dissolution of the zaibatsu decentralised economic power; the 1945 Labour Union Law and the 1946 Labour Relations Act guaranteed workers the right to collective action; the 1947 Labour Standards Law established basic working standards for men and women; and the revised Civil Code of 1948 abolished the patriarchal household and enshrined sexual equality. Reflecting core American principles, SCAP introduced a 6-3-3 schooling system, six years of compulsory elementary education, three years of junior high, and an optional three years of senior high, along with the aim of secular, locally controlled education. More crucially, ideological reform followed: censorship of feudal material in media, revision of textbooks, and prohibition of ideas glorifying war, dying for the emperor, or venerating war heroes. With women enfranchised and young people shaped to counter militarism and ultranationalism, rural Japan was transformed to undermine lingering class divisions. The land reform program provided for the purchase of all land held by absentee landlords, allowed resident landlords and owner-farmers to retain a set amount of land, and required that the remaining land be sold to the government so it could be offered to existing tenants. In 1948, amid the intensifying tensions of the Cold War that would soon culminate in the Korean War, the occupation's focus shifted from demilitarization and democratization toward economic rehabilitation and, ultimately, the remilitarization of Japan, an shift now known as the “Reverse Course.” The country was thus rebuilt as the Pacific region's primary bulwark against the spread of Communism. An Economic Stabilisation Programme was introduced, including a five-year plan to coordinate production and target capital through the Reconstruction Finance Bank. In 1949, the anti-inflationary Dodge Plan was adopted, advocating balanced budgets, fixing the exchange rate at 360 yen to the dollar, and ending broad government intervention. Additionally, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry was formed and supported the formation of conglomerates centered around banks, which encouraged the reemergence of a somewhat weakened set of zaibatsu, including Mitsui and Mitsubishi. By the end of the Occupation era, Japan was on the verge of surpassing its 1934–1936 levels of economic growth. Equally important was Japan's rearmament in alignment with American foreign policy: a National Police Reserve of about 75,000 was created with the outbreak of the Korean War; by 1952 it had expanded to 110,000 and was renamed the Self-Defense Force after the inclusion of an air force. However, the Reverse Course also facilitated the reestablishment of conservative politics and the rollback of gains made by women and the reforms of local autonomy and education. As the Occupation progressed, the Americans permitted greater Japanese initiative, and power gradually shifted from the reformers to the moderates. By 1949, the purge of the right came under review, and many who had been condemned began returning to influence, if not to the Diet, then to behind-the-scenes power. At the same time, Japanese authorities, with MacArthur's support, began purging left-wing activists. In June 1950, for example, the central office of the Japan Communist Party and the editorial board of The Red Flag were purged. The gains made by women also seemed to be reversed. Women were elected to 8% of available seats in the first lower-house election in 1946, but to only 2% in 1952, a trend not reversed until the so-called Madonna Boom of the 1980s. Although the number of women voting continued to rise, female politicisation remained more superficial than might be imagined. Women's employment also appeared little affected by labour legislation: though women formed nearly 40% of the labor force in 1952, they earned only 45% as much as men. Indeed, women's attitudes toward labor were influenced less by the new ethos of fulfilling individual potential than by traditional views of family and workplace responsibilities. In the areas of local autonomy and education, substantial modifications were made to the reforms. Because local authorities lacked sufficient power to tax, they were unable to realise their extensive powers, and, as a result, key responsibilities were transferred back to national jurisdiction. In 1951, for example, 90% of villages and towns placed their police forces under the control of the newly formed National Police Agency. Central control over education was also gradually reasserted; in 1951, the Yoshida government attempted to reintroduce ethics classes, proposed tighter central oversight of textbooks, and recommended abolishing local school board elections. By the end of the decade, all these changes had been implemented. The Soviet occupation of the Kurile Islands and the Habomai Islets was completed with Russian troops fully deployed by September 5. Immediately after the onset of the occupation, amid a climate of insecurity and fear marked by reports of sporadic rape and physical assault and widespread looting by occupying troops, an estimated 4,000 islanders fled to Hokkaido rather than face an uncertain repatriation. As Soviet forces moved in, they seized or destroyed telephone and telegraph installations and halted ship movements into and out of the islands, leaving residents without adequate food and other winter provisions. Yet, unlike Manchuria, where Japanese civilians faced widespread sexual violence and pillage, systematic violence against the civilian population on the Kuriles appears to have been exceptional. A series of military government proclamations assured islanders of safety so long as they did not resist Soviet rule and carried on normally; however, these orders also prohibited activities not explicitly authorized by the Red Army, which imposed many hardships on civilians. Residents endured harsh conditions under Soviet rule until late 1948, when Japanese repatriation out of the Kurils was completed. The Kuriles posed a special diplomatic problem, as the occupation of the southernmost islands—the Northern Territories—ignited a long-standing dispute between Tokyo and Moscow that continues to impede the normalisation of relations today. Although the Kuriles were promised to the Soviet Union in the Yalta agreement, Japan and the United States argued that this did not apply to the Northern Territories, since they were not part of the Kurile Islands. A substantial dispute regarding the status of the Kurile Islands arose between the United States and the Soviet Union during the preparation of the Treaty of San Francisco, which was intended as a permanent peace treaty between Japan and the Allied Powers of World War II. The treaty was ultimately signed by 49 nations in San Francisco on September 8, 1951, and came into force on April 28, 1952. It ended Japan's role as an imperial power, allocated compensation to Allied nations and former prisoners of war who had suffered Japanese war crimes, ended the Allied post-war occupation of Japan, and returned full sovereignty to Japan. Effectively, the document officially renounced Japan's treaty rights derived from the Boxer Protocol of 1901 and its rights to Korea, Formosa and the Pescadores, the Kurile Islands, the Spratly Islands, Antarctica, and South Sakhalin. Japan's South Seas Mandate, namely the Mariana Islands, Marshall Islands, and Caroline Islands, had already been formally revoked by the United Nations on July 18, 1947, making the United States responsible for administration of those islands under a UN trusteeship agreement that established the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. In turn, the Bonin, Volcano, and Ryukyu Islands were progressively restored to Japan between 1953 and 1972, along with the Senkaku Islands, which were disputed by both Communist and Nationalist China. In addition, alongside the Treaty of San Francisco, Japan and the United States signed a Security Treaty that established a long-lasting military alliance between them. Although Japan renounced its rights to the Kuriles, the U.S. State Department later clarified that “the Habomai Islands and Shikotan ... are properly part of Hokkaido and that Japan is entitled to sovereignty over them,” hence why the Soviets refused to sign the treaty. Britain and the United States agreed that territorial rights would not be granted to nations that did not sign the Treaty of San Francisco, and as a result the Kurile Islands were not formally recognized as Soviet territory. A separate peace treaty, the Treaty of Taipei (formally the Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty), was signed in Taipei on April 28, 1952 between Japan and the Kuomintang, and on June 9 of that year the Treaty of Peace Between Japan and India followed. Finally, Japan and the Soviet Union ended their formal state of war with the Soviet–Japanese Joint Declaration of 1956, though this did not settle the Kurile Islands dispute. Even after these formal steps, Japan as a nation was not in a formal state of war, and many Japanese continued to believe the war was ongoing; those who held out after the surrender came to be known as Japanese holdouts.  Captain Oba Sakae and his medical company participated in the Saipan campaign beginning on July 7, 1944, and took part in what would become the largest banzai charge of the Pacific War. After 15 hours of intense hand-to-hand combat, almost 4,300 Japanese soldiers were dead, and Oba and his men were presumed among them. In reality, however, he survived the battle and gradually assumed command of over a hundred additional soldiers. Only five men from his original unit survived the battle, two of whom died in the following months. Oba then led over 200 Japanese civilians deeper into the jungles to evade capture, organizing them into mountain caves and hidden jungle villages. When the soldiers were not assisting the civilians with survival tasks, Oba and his men continued their battle against the garrison of US Marines. He used the 1,552‑ft Mount Tapochau as their primary base, which offered an unobstructed 360-degree view of the island. From their base camp on the western slope of the mountain, Oba and his men occasionally conducted guerrilla-style raids on American positions. Due to the speed and stealth of these operations, and the Marines' frustrated attempts to find him, the Saipan Marines eventually referred to Oba as “The Fox.” Oba and his men held out on the island for 512 days, or about 16 months. On November 27, 1945, former Major-General Amo Umahachi was able to draw out some of the Japanese in hiding by singing the anthem of the Japanese infantry branch. Amo was then able to present documents from the defunct IGHQ to Oba ordering him and his 46 remaining men to surrender themselves to the Americans. On December 1, the Japanese soldiers gathered on Tapochau and sang a song of departure to the spirits of the war dead; Oba led his people out of the jungle and they presented themselves to the Marines of the 18th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Company. With great formality and commensurate dignity, Oba surrendered his sword to Lieutenant Colonel Howard G. Kirgis, and his men surrendered their arms and colors. On January 2, 1946, 20 Japanese soldiers hiding in a tunnel at Corregidor Island surrendered after learning the war had ended from a newspaper found while collecting water. In that same month, 120 Japanese were routed after a battle in the mountains 150 miles south of Manila. In April, during a seven-week campaign to clear Lubang Island, 41 more Japanese emerged from the jungle, unaware that the war had ended; however, a group of four Japanese continued to resist. In early 1947, Lieutenant Yamaguchi Ei and his band of 33 soldiers renewed fighting with the small Marine garrison on Peleliu, prompting reinforcements under Rear-Admiral Charles Pownall to be brought to the island to hunt down the guerrilla group. Along with them came former Rear-Admiral Sumikawa Michio, who ultimately convinced Yamaguchi to surrender in April after almost three years of guerrilla warfare. Also in April, seven Japanese emerged from Palawan Island and fifteen armed stragglers emerged from Luzon. In January 1948, 200 troops surrendered on Mindanao; and on May 12, the Associated Press reported that two unnamed Japanese soldiers had surrendered to civilian policemen in Guam the day before. On January 6, 1949, two former IJN soldiers, machine gunners Matsudo Rikio and Yamakage Kufuku, were discovered on Iwo Jima and surrendered peacefully. In March 1950, Private Akatsu Yūichi surrendered in the village of Looc, leaving only three Japanese still resisting on Lubang. By 1951 a group of Japanese on Anatahan Island refused to believe that the war was over and resisted every attempt by the Navy to remove them. This group was first discovered in February 1945, when several Chamorros from Saipan were sent to the island to recover the bodies of a Saipan-based B-29. The Chamorros reported that there were about thirty Japanese survivors from three ships sunk in June 1944, one of which was an Okinawan woman. Personal aggravations developed from the close confines of a small group on a small island and from tuba drinking; among the holdouts, 6 of 11 deaths were the result of violence, and one man displayed 13 knife wounds. The presence of only one woman, Higa Kazuko, caused considerable difficulty as she would transfer her affections among at least four men after each of them mysteriously disappeared, purportedly “swallowed by the waves while fishing.” According to the more sensational versions of the Anatahan tale, 11 of the 30 navy sailors stranded on the island died due to violent struggles over her affections. In July 1950, Higa went to the beach when an American vessel appeared offshore and finally asked to be removed from the island. She was taken to Saipan aboard the Miss Susie and, upon arrival, told authorities that the men on the island did not believe the war was over. As the Japanese government showed interest in the situation on Anatahan, the families of the holdouts were contacted in Japan and urged by the Navy to write letters stating that the war was over and that the holdouts should surrender. The letters were dropped by air on June 26 and ultimately convinced the holdouts to give themselves up. Thus, six years after the end of World War II, “Operation Removal” commenced from Saipan under the command of Lt. Commander James B. Johnson, USNR, aboard the Navy Tug USS Cocopa. Johnson and an interpreter went ashore by rubber boat and formally accepted the surrender on the morning of June 30, 1951. The Anatahan femme fatale story later inspired the 1953 Japanese film Anatahan and the 1998 novel Cage on the Sea. In 1953, Murata Susumu, the last holdout on Tinian, was finally captured. The next year, on May 7, Corporal Sumada Shoichi was killed in a clash with Filipino soldiers, leaving only two Japanese still resisting on Lubang. In November 1955, Seaman Kinoshita Noboru was captured in the Luzon jungle but soon after committed suicide rather than “return to Japan in defeat.” That same year, four Japanese airmen surrendered at Hollandia in Dutch New Guinea; and in 1956, nine soldiers were located and sent home from Morotai, while four men surrendered on Mindoro. In May 1960, Sergeant Ito Masashi became one of the last Japanese to surrender at Guam after the capture of his comrade Private Minagawa Bunzo, but the final surrender at Guam would come later with Sergeant Yokoi Shoichi. Sergeant Yokoi Shoichi survived in the jungles of Guam by living for years in an elaborately dug hole, subsisting on snails and lizards, a fate that, while undignified, showcased his ingenuity and resilience and earned him a warm welcome on his return to Japan. His capture was not heroic in the traditional sense: he was found half-starving by a group of villagers while foraging for shrimp in a stream, and the broader context included his awareness as early as 1952 that the war had ended. He explained that the wartime bushido code, emphasizing self-sacrifice or suicide rather than self-preservation, had left him fearing that repatriation would label him a deserter and likely lead to execution. Emerging from the jungle, Yokoi also became a vocal critic of Japan's wartime leadership, including Emperor Hirohito, which fits a view of him as a product of, and a prisoner within, his own education, military training, and the censorship and propaganda of the era. When asked by a young nephew how he survived so long on an island just a short distance from a major American airbase, he replied simply, “I was really good at hide and seek.”  That same year, Private Kozuka Kinshichi was killed in a shootout with Philippine police in October, leaving Lieutenant Onoda Hiroo still resisting on Lubang. Lieutenant Onoda Hiroo had been on Lubang since 1944, a few months before the Americans retook the Philippines. The last instructions he had received from his immediate superior ordered him to retreat to the interior of the island and harass the Allied occupying forces until the IJA eventually returned. Despite efforts by the Philippine Army, letters and newspapers left for him, radio broadcasts, and even a plea from Onoda's brother, he did not believe the war was over. On February 20, 1974, Onoda encountered a young Japanese university dropout named Suzuki Norio, who was traveling the world and had told friends that he planned to “look for Lieutenant Onoda, a panda, and the abominable snowman, in that order.” The two became friends, but Onoda stated that he was waiting for orders from one of his commanders. On March 9, 1974, Onoda went to an agreed-upon place and found a note left by Suzuki. Suzuki had brought along Onoda's former commander, Major Taniguchi, who delivered the oral orders for Onoda to surrender. Intelligence Officer 2nd Lt. Onoda Hiroo thus emerged from Lubang's jungle with his .25 caliber rifle, 500 rounds of ammunition, and several hand grenades. He surrendered 29 years after Japan's formal surrender, and 15 years after being declared legally dead in Japan. When he accepted that the war was over, he wept openly. He received a hero's welcome upon his return to Japan in 1974. The Japanese government offered him a large sum of money in back pay, which he refused. When money was pressed on him by well-wishers, he donated it to Yasukuni Shrine. Onoda was reportedly unhappy with the attention and what he saw as the withering of traditional Japanese values. He wrote No Surrender: My Thirty-Year War, a best-selling autobiography published in 1974. Yet the last Japanese to surrender would be Private Nakamura Teruo, an Amis aborigine from Formosa and a member of the Takasago Volunteers. Private Nakamura Teruo spent the tail end of World War II with a dwindling band on Morotai, repeatedly dispersing and reassembling in the jungle as they hunted for food. The group suffered continuous losses to starvation and disease, and survivors described Nakamura as highly self-sufficient. He left to live alone somewhere in the Morotai highlands between 1946 and 1947, rejoined the main group in 1950, and then disappeared again a few years later. Nakamura hinted in print that he fled into the jungle because he feared the other holdouts might murder him. He survives for decades beyond the war, eventually being found by 11 Indonesian soldiers. The emergence of an indigenous Taiwanese soldier among the search party embarrassed Japan as it sought to move past its imperial past. Many Japanese felt Nakamura deserved compensation for decades of loyalty, only to learn that his back pay for three decades of service amounted to 68,000 yen.   Nakamura's experience of peace was complex. When a journalist asked how he felt about “wasting” three decades of his life on Morotai, he replied that the years had not been wasted; he had been serving his country. Yet the country he returned to was Taiwan, and upon disembarking in Taipei in early January 1975, he learned that his wife had a son he had never met and that she had remarried a decade after his official death. Nakamura eventually lived with a daughter, and his story concluded with a bittersweet note when his wife reconsidered and reconciled with him. Several Japanese soldiers joined local Communist and insurgent groups after the war to avoid surrender. Notably, in 1956 and 1958, two soldiers returned to Japan after service in China's People's Liberation Army. Two others who defected with a larger group to the Malayan Communist Party around 1945 laid down their arms in 1989 and repatriated the next year, becoming among the last to return home. That is all for today, but fear not I will provide a few more goodies over the next few weeks. I will be releasing some of my exclusive podcast episodes from my youtube membership and patreon that are about pacific war subjects. Like I promised the first one will be on why Emperor Hirohito surrendered. Until then if you need your fix you know where to find me: eastern front week by week, fall and rise of china, echoes of war or on my Youtube membership of patreon at www.patreon.com/pacificwarchannel.

The incredible tale of Oleg Lyalin, a KGB officer based in London in the 1970s who turned defector for rather untraditional reasons

Ok guys this was the livestream i did on youtube. So if you want video of it go herehttps://www.youtube.com/live/PvOPDLlhWO4?si=7Nhzi3uCakCNSytmIt was so much fun just hanging out and goofing around. So sit back and enjoyAlso new store announcmentThewhiskeyshaman.comBadmotivatorbarrels.com/shop/?aff=3https://www.instagram.com/zsmithwhiskeyandmixology?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=MWZ4dGp2MzlucjVvdw==Who has a. birthday on september 6Famous individuals who were born on September 6 include actor Idris Elba, singer Macy Gray, and comedian Jeff Foxworthy. Actors and performersIdris Elba: English actor known for The Wire and Luther.Macy Gray: American R&B and soul singer.Rosie Perez: Academy Award-nominated actress and choreographer.Anika Noni Rose: Tony Award-winning actress and singer.Naomie Harris: British actress nominated for an Academy Award for her role in Moonlight.Jeff Foxworthy: Comedian known for his "You might be a redneck" jokes.Jane Curtin: Emmy Award-winning actress and original cast member of Saturday Night Live.Swoosie Kurtz: Tony Award-winning actress.Lauren Lapkus: Actress and comedian known for her role in Orange Is the New Black.Justina Machado: Actress known for her work on Six Feet Under and One Day at a Time.Michael Winslow: Actor and comedian known for his vocal sound effects, particularly in the Police Academy films.Asher Angel: Actor who starred in the film Shazam! and the series Andi Mack. Roger Waters: Co-founder, bassist, and songwriter for the rock band Pink Floyd.Dolores O'Riordan: Late lead singer of the Irish rock band The Cranberries.Lil Xan: American rapper and singer. Jane Addams: Sociologist, pacifist, and social activist who co-founded Hull House.John Dalton: English chemist, physicist, and meteorologist who developed the modern atomic theory.Marquis de Lafayette: French aristocrat and military officer who fought in the American Revolutionary War.Joseph P. Kennedy Sr.: American businessman, investor, and politician, and father of U.S. President John F. Kennedy.Chris Christie: American politician and former governor of New JerseyWere any notable historical events on September 6?Throughout history, September 6 has been the date of several notable events, from the first circumnavigation of the globe to assassinations and record-breaking sports achievements. World events1522: Ferdinand Magellan's expedition completes the first circumnavigation of the world. After Magellan was killed in the Philippines, his one remaining ship, the Victoria, returned to Spain under the command of Juan Sebastian de Elcano.1914: The First Battle of the Marne begins. This decisive battle during World War I involved a French and British counter-offensive against the German army, northeast of Paris.1941: The Nazi German regime orders all Jews in German-occupied territory to wear a Star of David.1966: South African Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd is assassinated. The architect of the apartheid system was stabbed to death in a parliamentary meeting in Cape Town.1972: Munich Olympics massacre. After a failed rescue attempt at the Fürstenfeldbruck air base, nine Israeli Olympic team members held hostage by Palestinian terrorists were killed. Five of the terrorists and one West German police officer were also killed.1991: The Soviet Union recognizes the independence of the Baltic states, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.1991: The Russian city of Leningrad is renamed St. Petersburg. Its name was changed back from Leningrad, which it had been called since 1924 in honor of Vladimir Lenin.1997: Funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales. The funeral for Princess Diana, who had died in a car crash on August 31, was televised to an estimated 2.5 billion viewers worldwide. 1870: The first woman in the U.S. legally casts a ballot. Louisa Ann Swain of Laramie, Wyoming, voted in the territory's general election. Wyoming was the first U.S. territory to grant women's suffrage.

Paddy O'Connell speaks to Professor Francis Fukuyama about the threats to liberal democracies around the world. The American political economist and international relations scholar, who is currently a senior fellow at Stanford University, has written widely on issues about development and international politics. He is best-known for his 1992 book ‘The End of History and the Last Man'. He argued that the end of the Cold War, marked by the fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, represented the end point of mankind's ideological evolution, and the universalisation of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government.But three decades on, Western liberal democracy appears to be struggling to adapt to the many challenges of the 21st century. Amid geopolitical instability, its future does not appear as universal as Fukuyama once proposed, even in the US. The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC. You can listen on the BBC World Service, Mondays and Wednesdays at 0700 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out twice a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.Presenter: Paddy O'Connell Producer: Ben Cooper Editor: Nick HollandGet in touch with us on email TheInterview@bbc.co.uk and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.(Image: Professor Francis Fukuyama. Photo by Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images)

FAN MAIL--We would love YOUR feedback--Send us a Text MessageGermany's defeat in World War II wasn't merely a matter of battlefield losses but rather a predictable outcome rooted in fundamental strategic, economic, and leadership failures. Drawing from Victor Davis Hanson's masterful analysis in "The Second World Wars," this episode reveals the three decisive factors that sealed Nazi Germany's fate from the beginning.The first fatal flaw was Germany's profound economic weakness. Despite creating Europe's most formidable military machine, Germany simply lacked the industrial capacity to sustain a global conflict against enemies with vastly superior resources. The production disparities were staggering—by 1945, America's GDP alone exceeded all Axis powers combined. While German engineers developed advanced weapons, their resource constraints prevented effective mass production, creating an insurmountable disadvantage against Allied manufacturing might.Hitler's strategic overreach represents perhaps his most catastrophic error. After succeeding in limited border wars against weaker European states between 1939-1941, Hitler transformed what should have remained regional conflicts into a global war Germany couldn't possibly win. The critical turning point came with Operation Barbarossa in June 1941—invading the Soviet Union while still fighting Britain—a decision Hanson calls "probably the biggest blunder in military history." When Hitler then declared war on America following Pearl Harbor, he ensured Germany would face enemies whose combined population and industrial capacity made Allied victory mathematically inevitable.Most damning was Hitler's own strategic incompetence. Having never visited America, Britain, or Russia, he made decisions based on maps rather than understanding of terrain, climate, or logistics. He routinely overruled his generals, diverted resources from military objectives to implement the Holocaust, and relied on emotional fantasy rather than strategic reality. As Hanson notes, Hitler had "no blueprint to end the war-making power" of his enemies, dooming Germany from the moment he abandoned limited objectives for impossible global ambitions. Key Points from the Episode:• Economic weakness and limited industrial capacity made Germany unable to sustain a prolonged global conflict• By 1945, US GDP alone exceeded all Axis powers combined, creating an insurmountable production advantage• Operation Barbarossa created a fatal two-front war while Germany was still fighting Britain• Hitler's declaration of war against America brought the world's largest industrial power into the conflict• German forces lacked critical resources, especially oil, while facing enemies with superior manufacturing capabilities• Hitler had never visited America, Britain or Russia - the very countries he chose to fight• Resources were diverted from military objectives to implement the Holocaust• Germany's early victories (1939-1941) created a dangerous illusion of invincibility• The war was preventable, facilitated by Soviet collusion, American isolationism, and British-French appeasement• Once Allied industrial potential fully mobilized by 1942-43, Germany's defeat was mathematically certainBe sure to check out our show page at teammojoacademy.com, where we have everything we discussed in this podcast, as well as other great resources.Other resources: Liberty Minute #62--An Empire of WealthWant to leave a review? Click here, and if we earned a five-star review from you **high five and knuckle bumps**, we appreciate it greatl

EXETER UFO FESTIVAL: INHERTING A FATHER'S UFO BLUEPRINT? Nat Sticco- discussing her and her husband Genes work into Soviet era reverse engineering programs of UFOs. A Blueprint. Cold War era. The fall of the USSR. A Fathers Duty to Protect State secrets. #ufo #Disclosure #TotalDisclosureBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/total-disclosure-ufos-coverups-conspiracy--5975113/support.Featuring Steven Bassett of PRG www.paradigmresearchgroup.org Featuring Nat and Gene Sticco www.Engineeringinfinitybook.com

In this inspiring conversation, Julie Smolansky, CEO of Lifeway, shares her journey of resilience, healing, and leadership. From escaping the Soviet Union with her family to unexpectedly becoming a CEO at 27 after her father's sudden passing, Julie opens up about overcoming trauma, sexism, and self-doubt while building a successful business rooted in the mind-gut connection. She also reveals her passion for advocacy—producing The Hunting Ground to raise awareness about unreported crimes on campus, co-founding Test400k to fight for justice, and navigating the painful boundaries of addiction within her own family. This interview is a powerful reminder that growth, empowerment, and mental health are possible when we honor our truth and lead with courage. Read the show notes for today's episode at terricole.com/757

Was the Grand Alliance simply a partnership born of necessity? Or was it also a missed opportunity for post-war civilizational cooperation among the United Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union? Once it became clear that the Allies would eventually defeat Hitler's Germany, the varying post-war ambitions and political goals of Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt quickly brought cooperation to an end. Humanities West asks on the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II: What were Stalin's strategic goals for Russia's and its neighbors' futures as victory became assured? How did Churchill's strategies to retain as much as possible of the British Empire interfere with those goals? And was an aging Roosevelt capable of thwarting both those strategies and imposing, however inadequately and insincerely, a vision of Pax Americana on the globe? "From Their Archives" Norman Naimark will attempt to untangle what Stalin was thinking about how he wanted to shape the future once it was clear that the Allies would win the war. There is much we still do not know about Stalin's “real” intentions, but the opening of the Soviet archives for research in the 1990s offer important insights into the way the Soviet dictator thought about the world. "In Their Own Words" Ian Morris will convey, in their own words, Churchill's and Roosevelt's perspectives on the Grand Alliance and the post-war world order. Churchill: I can never trust Stalin but can in the fullness of time talk around Roosevelt; and even without India, we can rebuild the world with the British Empire at its core. Roosevelt: I can usually handle Stalin and can always flatter Churchill; it's the Republicans I can't abide. But even without them, we can rebuild the world with democracy and American money at its core. "Walking in a Father's WWII Footsteps" Bill Hammond will describe walking in a father's WWII footsteps, an October 2023 trip to Europe he took with two of his brothers, where they traced their father's path from his landing at Salerno, Italy, through Avellino, Monte Cassino and Rome, to his landing on the French Riviera at St. Raphael, and then up through Draguignan, Remiremont and the Foret Domaniale du Champ du Feu, earning two silver stars and two purple hearts before crossing the Rhine in a dash through southern Germany to finish the war near Kufstein, Austria. A Humanities Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. In association with Humanities West. Organizer: George Hammond  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Multipolar Shifts at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) SummitTopicsSCO Summit in Tianjin, ChinaChina-India ThawPower of Siberia Gas PipelineWhat's in it for Armenia?GuestGilbert DoctorowHostsHovik ManucharyanAsbed BedrossianEpisode 469 | Recorded: September 4, 2025Subscribe and follow us everywhere you are: linktr.ee/groong

Few countries are more aware of the fragility of democracy than Poland. 45 years ago, Lech Walesa started Poland's Solidarity Movement, stared down the Soviet Union, and became his country's first democratically elected president. He joins the show from Phoenix, Arizona to discuss today's dangers and his own extraordinary personal and political story.  Also on today's show: author Elizabeth A. Hanks, daughter of Tom Hanks, discusses her new autobiography, "The Ten"; FEMA veterans Katherine Landers & Deanne Criswell  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Voyager frontman Danny Estrin on his unconventional path from heavy metal to law and on to the Eurovision grand final (R).Danny Estrin is one of the few Australians who knows what it's like to perform at Eurovision. As frontman for the progressive synth metal band, Voyager, Danny commanded the stage in the 2023 competition, wind machine and all. His musical education started early, on a piano gifted by his babushka and freighted from the Soviet Union to his childhood home in Hamburg.After moving from Germany to Perth as a child, Danny turned to heavy metal as a way of finding belonging.Danny is also an immigration lawyer, but by night he quite literally lets his hair down, swapping his suit and tie for a keytar and microphone.Just months after Sarah first spoke to Danny in 2023, he received a stage four cancer diagnosis.Voyager had to cancel all the shows they'd booked after their Eurovision performance, as Danny started treatment, supported by his wife and two girls.While his cancer is terminal, Danny has been doing really well, defying everyone's expectations.This year he even got the band back together, and when he's not undergoing treatment, Danny is back on stage with Voyager.Further informationOriginally broadcast in August, 2023.Danny is currently working on a television show about people's love affairs with their cars.This episode of Conversations was produced by Tamar Cranswick.It explores music, heavy metal, Eurovision, migration stories, migration law, Russia, Germany, multiculturalism in Australia, classical music, how to have a career in music, family, fatherhood, love, marriage, father of daughters, cancer diagnosis, terminal cancer, cars, hot rods.To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you'll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

In this episode of Explaining History, we explore Mikhail Gorbachev's bold diplomatic strategy during the mid-1980s. Between 1985 and 1988, Gorbachev sought to end the crippling arms race with the United States and ease the immense economic burden of Cold War militarisation on the Soviet Union.We examine the key moments of his diplomacy: the Geneva and Reykjavik summits, his pursuit of arms reduction agreements with President Reagan, and the wider goal of redirecting Soviet resources away from military expenditure and towards much-needed economic reform.By reassessing both superpowers' assumptions about security, Gorbachev challenged decades of Cold War orthodoxy. But his reforms also carried risks, provoking resistance from hardliners at home and raising questions about the future of the Soviet empire.Join us as we unpack how Gorbachev's efforts to reduce the arms spending burden helped reshape the Cold War, and how his diplomacy set in motion forces that he could neither fully control nor contain.Newsflash: You can find everything Explaining History on Substack, join free hereHelp the podcast to continue bringing you history each weekIf you enjoy the Explaining History podcast and its many years of content and would like to help the show continue, please consider supporting it in the following ways:If you want to go ad-free, you can take out a membership hereOrYou can support the podcast via Patreon hereOr you can just say some nice things about it here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We are back, baby! This week we are joined by graphic novelist Rebecca Michaud as we talk about the DC Elseworld comic, Superman: Red Son by Mark Millar, Dave Johnson, and Killian Plunkett; Superman the pinko, classic!  Host: Dr. Nic Hoffmann, Mike Burns, and Mike Carroll. Guest: Rebecca Michaud   Imagine a reality where the world's most powerful super-being does not grow up in Smallville, Kansas—or even America, for that matter… Superman: Red Son is a vivid tale of Cold War paranoia, that reveals how the ship carrying the infant who would later be known as Superman lands in the midst of the 1950s Soviet Union.  Raised on a collective, the infant grows up and becomes a symbol to the Soviet people, and the world changes drastically from what we know - bringing Superman into conflict with Batman, Lex Luthor and many others.

In 1994, Ukraine surrendered the world's third-largest nuclear arsenal, inherited from the collapsed Soviet Union, in exchange for security assurances from the US, Russia, and the UK. Ukraine's denuclearisation is often considered a huge success story in nuclear non-proliferation, but in retrospect, it may have paved the way for Putin's 2022 invasion. As talk of US-European security guarantees for Ukraine resurfaces in the context of tentative Russia-Ukraine peace talks, we speak with BBC Paris correspondent Andrew Harding about the history of the 1994 agreement, and consider whether Ukraine would ever again believe promises made to protect it.Producers: Sam Chantarasak and Xandra Ellin Executive producer: Annie Brown Mix: Travis Evans Senior news editor: China CollinsFrance's President Emmanuel Macron (R) and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky arrive to chair the Coalition of the Willing Summit, at the Elysee presidential palace in Paris, on September 4, 2025. Ludovic Marin/ Getty

 John Batchelor 09-03 segment 6.mp3 Guests: Gordon Chang and Peter Huessy, President of Geostrategic Analysis, a fellow at the National Institute for Deterrent Studies. China's Nuclear Ambitions and Arms Control Challenges Peter Huessy describes China's nuclear weapons as tools for coercion and hegemonic goals, a stark contrast to the US view of deterrence. He notes China's rapid nuclear buildup, exceeding Soviet Union rates during the Cold War. Huessy and Gordon Chang discuss the imminent expiration of the New Start treaty with Russia and the absence of arms control talks with China, which has historically aided proliferation. This signals a "brave new world" with zero legal restraint on nuclear weapons. 1917 PEKING YMCA

SHOW SCHEDULE  9-3-25 CBS EYE ON THE WORLD WITH JOHN BATCHELOR GOOD EVENING: The show begins in Beijing, watching the trio of Xi, Putin and Kim review the display of offensive weapons and offensive battalions. FIRST HOUR 9-915 John Batchelor 09-03 segment 1.mp3 Guest: Colonel Jeff McCausland, United States Army retired artilleryman, CBS News, Dickinson College visiting professor, and Diamond 6 Leadership and Strategy CEO. Global Geopolitics and Military Displays Colonel Jeff McCausland discusses a Beijing military parade featuring Xi Jinping, Kim Jong-un, and Vladimir Putin, interpreting it as a message of strength and innovation, not peace, while downplaying the US role in WWII. He also covers the static battle lines in Ukraine, European proposals for a military force, and US involvement in Middle East conflicts in Yemen and Gaza, noting a tactical agreement with the Houthis. 915-930 : John Batchelor 09-03 segment 2.mp3 Guest: Colonel Jeff McCausland, United States Army retired artilleryman, CBS News, Dickinson College visiting professor, and Diamond 6 Leadership and Strategy CEO. Pentagon's Evolving Mission and Global Order Colonel Jeff McCausland discusses the new national military strategy emphasizing homeland defense as the primary mission for the Department of Defense, shifting from an international "cop on the beat" role to a domestic one. This is reflected in increased border forces and Caribbean operations. McCausland also touches on China's ambition to establish a new global order, returning to its perceived historical position as a superpower, utilizing organizations like BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.930-945 John Batchelor 09-03 segment 3.mp3 Guest: John Cochrane at the Hoover Institution. Federal Reserve Independence and Financial Regulation John Cochrane explores the complex debate on whether financial regulation should be integrated with or separated from monetary policy and less independent of Congress. He raises concerns about the Fed's independence, its failure to foresee the Silicon Valley Bank collapse, and the "too big to fail" phenomenon. Cochrane also discusses the risks of the Fed monetizing debt, its stance on stablecoins, and how its actions influence fiscal policy. 945-1000 John Batchelor 09-03 segment 4.mp3 Guest: John Cochrane of the Hoover Institution. Reforming the Federal Reserve's Role John Cochrane addresses proposals to reorganize the Federal Reserve, questioning whether it should become more political or have its scope narrowed to monetary policy, his preferred option. He criticizes the Fed'spandemic response, specifically its decision to print trillions of dollars for deficits, which he argues was a choice leading to the 2022 inflation. Cochrane also examines the wisdom of Quantitative Easing (QE), suggesting it had limited economic impact but expanded the Fed's political influence. SECOND HOUR 10-1015 John Batchelor 09-03 segment 5.mp3 Guests: Gordon Chang and General Blaine Holt, US Air Force General, retired. China's Historical Revisionism and Autocratic Alliances Gordon Chang and General Blaine Holtdiscuss China's military parade, led by Xi Jinping, which falsely claims Chinese victory over Japan in WWII, omitting the US and Allied contributions. Holt views the parade as theater for a crumbling Belt and Road Initiative, not a united front. They note India's absence from the parade due to animosity with China. Despite appearances, Putin and Kim Jong-un also have underlying animosity towards Xi Jinping, making their alliance one of expediency, not unity.1015-1030 John Batchelor 09-03 segment 6.mp3 Guests: Gordon Chang and Peter Huessy, President of Geostrategic Analysis, a fellow at the National Institute for Deterrent Studies. China's Nuclear Ambitions and Arms Control Challenges Peter Huessy describes China's nuclear weapons as tools for coercion and hegemonic goals, a stark contrast to the US view of deterrence. He notes China's rapid nuclear buildup, exceeding Soviet Union rates during the Cold War. Huessy and Gordon Chang discuss the imminent expiration of the New Start treaty with Russia and the absence of arms control talks with China, which has historically aided proliferation. This signals a "brave new world" with zero legal restraint on nuclear weapons.1030-1045 : John Batchelor 09-03 segment 7.mp3 Guests: Gordon Chang and Captain James Fanell, United States Navy retired, intelligence officer for the Seventh Fleet and for the Indo-Pacific Theater. Pacific Tensions: Philippines, China, and US Naval Strategy Captain James Fanell and Gordon Chang analyze China's strategic ambition to subjugate the Philippines, building militarized islands in the South China Sea. Fanell highlights Scarborough Shoal as a critical "cork in the bottle," potentially used by China as a military base. He notes the Philippines' new forward operating base with anti-ship missiles in the Bashi Channel as a counter. Fanell suggests a reinvigorated US Navymorale and a shift in the Pentagon's approach to deter China.1045-1100 John Batchelor 09-03 segment 8.mp3 Guests: Gordon Chang and Rebecca Grant, Vice President of the Lexington Institute. Venezuela, Guyana, and US Deterrence in the Caribbean Rebecca Grant discusses Guyana'sburgeoning oil wealth and Venezuela's threatening territorial claims under Maduro, who also opposes democracy. She and Gordon Chang analyze a significant US Navy presence off Venezuela's coast, including destroyers and a Marine Expeditionary Unit, as a strong deterrent against Maduro's actions and his alliances with Russia and China. Grantindicates improving morale and combat readiness within the US Navy, emphasizing its vital role in global operations. THIRD HOUR John Batchelor 09-03 segment 9.mp3 Guest: Brett Arends of Market Watch (Return on Investment). Bond Market Anxiety and Federal Reserve Pressures Brett Arends explains the bond market's current unhappiness stems from unsustainable national debt and uncertainty surrounding President Trump's tariffs. He clarifies that the Fedcontrols short-term rates, while the bond market sets long-term rates. Arends warns that Trump's pressure on the Fed to cut short-term rates could paradoxically cause long-term rates, including mortgage rates, to rise, hurting the economy and exacerbating market nervousness. He emphasizes the need for fiscal sustainability. 1100-1115 : John Batchelor 09-03 segment 9.mp3 Guest: Brett Arends of Market Watch (Return on Investment). Bond Market Anxiety and Federal Reserve Pressures Brett Arends explains the bond market's current unhappiness stems from unsustainable national debt and uncertainty surrounding President Trump's tariffs. He clarifies that the Fedcontrols short-term rates, while the bond market sets long-term rates. Arends warns that Trump's pressure on the Fed to cut short-term rates could paradoxically cause long-term rates, including mortgage rates, to rise, hurting the economy and exacerbating market nervousness. He emphasizes the need for fiscal sustainability. 1115-1130 John Batchelor 09-03 segment 10.mp3 Guest: Brett Arends of Market Watch. Addressing Bond Market Turmoil Brett Arends explains that the troubled bond market stems from unsustainable national debt and recent court rulings questioning President Trump's tariffs. He advises Donald Trump to support Federal Reserve independence, abandon attacks on Jerome Powell and Lisa Cook, and work with Congress on tariffs to ensure fiscal sustainability and calm market anxieties. Arends notes that gold's all-time high reflects a lack of market confidence.1130-1145 John Batchelor 09-03 segment 11.mp3 Guest: Bob Zimmerman who keeps the website Behind the Black. New Discoveries in Space and Planetary Science Bob Zimmerman highlights new solar research using the European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter probe, improving predictions of solar events that impact Earth's technology. He discusses the uniqueness of stars, Juice's Venus flyby en route to Jupiter, and Mars' chaotic mantle structure. Zimmermanemphasizes Mars' ample near-surface ice, making it attractive for colonization, and presents an exoplanet found in an accretion disc, challenging planetary formation theories.1145-1200 John Batchelor 09-03 segment 12.mp3 Guest: Bob Zimmerman who keeps the website Behind the Black. NASA Unionization and SpaceX Milestones Bob Zimmerman addresses the recent executive order by President Trumpeliminating unions at NASA and other agencies, arguing that government unions are inefficient and costly. He then praises SpaceX's achievements, including a Falcon 9 first stage completing its 30th flight—a new reuse record. Zimmerman notes SpaceX is significantly reducing launch costs and enabling new space technologies like Starlink, also mentioning the reuse of a Starship super heavy booster. FOURTH HOUR 12-1215 John Batchelor 09-03 segment 13.mp3 Guest: Simon Constable writing for The Wall Street Journal and other distinguished publications. European Politics, Commodities, and Digital Identity Debates Simon Constable reports on pleasant weather in the South of France and seasonal produce. He reviews commodity prices, noting gold's all-time high, coffee's surge, and orange juice's decline. Constable discusses political crises in France, with President Macronfacing a no-confidence vote, and the UK, where Keir Starmer struggles with spending cuts and migration. He advocates for digital national ID cards as the only reasonable solution to migration.1215-1230 : John Batchelor 09-03 segment 14.mp3 Guest: Simon Constable writing for The Wall Street Journal and other distinguished publications. The Rise of AI in Romance Simon Constable shares surprising polling data from the Kinsey Institute on romantic engagement with AI. He reveals that 16% of single adult Americans romantically interact with AI, with Gen Z being the most likely cohort at 33%. Furthermore, 44% of single Americans dating AI believe emotional support from an AI partner is superior to human support, highlighting a stark generational shift in romantic relationships.1230-1245 John Batchelor 09-03 segment 15.mp3 Guest: Janatyn Sayeh from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Iran's Nuclear Dilemma and Regional Threats Janatyn Sayeh discusses the looming snapback mechanism of the 2015 JCPOA, which could reinstate UN sanctions on Iran if it fails to comply with demands. Iran's non-compliance has its currency hitting new lows, yet Tehran threatens regional war and exiting the NPT if sanctions return. Sayeh notes Iran seeks rearmament, primarily from China, with Belarus and North Korea acting as potential intermediaries for Russian weapons.1245-100 AM John Batchelor 09-03 segment 16.mp3 Guest: Ivana Stradner from the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. Autocracy and Protests in the Western Balkans Ivana Stradner reports on mass protests in Belgrade demanding snap elections following a fatal accident and criticizing President Alexander Vučić's autocratic regime, which she likens to "Belarus 2.0". Vučić is accused of corruption and suppressing free media, while fostering close military and economic ties with China and Russia to maintain power and "blackmail" the West. Stradner expresses concern over the repression against Serbian people.

“World War II was a brilliant work of American strategy, productivity, and courage and sacrifice. And the result was we destroyed the greatest threat to mankind, and we did it as economically as we could in American cost and lives,” Victor Davis Hanson says. He also addresses why the U.S. allied with the Soviet Union during the war: "We fought World War II and won the war, and we came away with losing very few soldiers. At the end of the war, the Soviet Union had no intention … of honoring their commitments made both at Yalta and then before the Japanese theater had ended at Potsdam. “But nevertheless, when the war was over, the United States was the preeminent power in the world—except for Britain—had lost fewer combatants than any of the major three allies, Britain, the United States, Russia, and China as well, and had lost fewer than Japan and Germany. “So, we fought that war very economically by giving material aid to the Soviet Union, who used their manpower and lost 20 million people to kill three out of every four German soldiers. “That's not an argument that you like the Soviet Union. I detest the Soviet Union. But it's an argument that in the ability of the United States to defeat Germany in 1941, it was a wise military strategy to use a third party to kill the German army, kill it off, and that's what happened, it was a success."

With Eliot traveling, Eric welcomes Stephan Kieninger, author of Securing Peace in Europe: Strobe Talbott, NATO and Russia After the Cold War. They discuss the role of Strobe Talbott, a close Clinton confidante and Deputy Secretary of State, in crafting Clinton's strategy for building a “Europe whole and free” after the collapse of the Soviet Union. They cover U.S. efforts to stabilize Russia's move toward a free market and democracy in the 1990s, the negotiation of the Budapest Memorandum, which led to the return of Soviet nuclear weapons left on Ukrainian soil after the breakup of the USSR, and the Bosnia crisis, including Talbott's part in bringing Richard Holbrooke to lead its resolution. They examine at length Talbott's strategy for enlarging NATO at the 1997 Madrid Summit while also negotiating a NATO-Russia agreement, offering Russia a voice, but not a veto, in European security. They close their conversation by considering the Clinton Administration's role in supporting Russian reform efforts during the 1998 economic meltdown, the souring effect of the war in Kosovo on NATO-Russia relations, and the rise of Vladimir Putin. Securing Peace in Europe: Strobe Talbott, NATO, and Russia After the Cold War: https://cup.columbia.edu/series/woodrow-wilson-center-series/

The U.S. is suffering from similar conditions as Japan was during WWII. Citizens have been all but cut off from the rest of the world and are told daily they are number one and could never lose anything. Meanwhile, the world builds resistance and alliances, if not over western imperialism, then over its death pact with Israel. Power is shifting eastward and even U.S. sentiment on Israel is waining, conditions that are ripe for a global war. Alex Karp of Palantir is ready for this war, and predicts the Chinese and Russians will fight the Americans. The ‘axis of upheaval' meeting in China this week, involving Russia and more than a dozen other countries, signaled to the world that an eastern alliance is taking a stand. But, see, the west pushed Putin away and in many ways created China in the same way they propped up the Soviet Union and allowed it to flourish. China may manufacture our bandages and bullets, but we exercise considerable power in other ways that indicate a global war will not be anything we can conceive of and probably won't last very long. Israel plays an oversized role in this too, because guess who gives China U.S. military secrets and technology that undoubtedly was on display at the military parade earlier this week? And any resistance to this emerging New World Order has been branded Nazi and Hitler, at least according to the Atlantic journalist named Rosenberg, and according to the ADL. Looking deeper into the issue we find the Russians and Chinese seeking life extension and super soldiers, just like the Americans and other countries. *The is the FREE archive, which includes advertisements. If you want an ad-free experience, you can subscribe below underneath the show description.FREE ARCHIVE (w. ads)SUBSCRIPTION ARCHIVEX / TWITTER FACEBOOKWEBSITEDISCORD CHATCashApp: $rdgable EMAIL: rdgable@yahoo.com / TSTRadio@protonmail.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-secret-teachings--5328407/support.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, many Western elites declared the end of history. Politics had been solved, and the only question was how long it would take for every nation to submit to the universal order. It has now become clear that the death of politics has been greatly overstated and the global hegemony of liberal democracy is breaking down. Russian philosopher Alexander Dugin joins me to discuss multipolarity, the end of postmodernism, and Nick Land's accelerationism. Follow on: Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3S6z4LB... Substack: https://auronmacintyre.substack.com/ Twitter: / auronmacintyre Gab: https://gab.com/AuronMacIntyre YouTube: / auronmacintyre Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/c-390155 Odysee: https://odysee.com/@AuronMacIntyre:f Instagram: / auronmacintyre Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last time we spoke about the battle of Lake Tai. In November 1937, as Japanese forces advanced, Nanjing's fate hung in the balance. Commander Tang Shengzhi led the desperate defense amidst disarray among Chinese generals, many advocating retreat. Despite political strife, civilians rallied, fortifying the city, knowing its fall could destroy Chiang Kai-Shek's government. On November 19, Japanese Commander Yanagawa seized the moment, directing his troops towards Nanjing, igniting panic in Tokyo.  As fierce battles erupted around Lake Tai, the Chinese forces, though outmatched in technology, employed guerilla tactics and stubborn resistance. Chinese artillery delivered devastating blows, and bold counterattacks kept Japanese momentum in check. However, as the month closed, the tide turned, logistical challenges and internal chaos hampered communication. The stage was set for one of the darkest chapters of modern Chinese history, where the battle for Nanjing would symbolize the struggle against oppression.   #165 Nanjing Surrounded Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. On December 1st, Jiangyin fell. That same day Japanese Army General Staff Deputy Chief Tada Hayao arrived to the Shanghai region to conduct an inspection of the front lines and personally deliver Tokyo's orders authorizing an assault upon Nanjing. The directive was exceptionally brief: “The Central China Area Army is to attack Nanjing in coordination with the Navy.”  Later that same day, at 7:00 pm more detailed instructions were issued by the Central China Area Army. The 10th Army was set to begin its decisive assault on Nanjing on December 3, advancing along two primary routes toward the capital. The left flank was to advance through Wuhu, while the right flank would move via the city of Lishui. The Shanghai Expeditionary Force, having endured more strain than the 10th Army due to its longer tenure at the front, was scheduled to launch its attack two days later, concentrating its forces around Danyang and Jurong. On December 2nd, Matsui received a promotion, given overall command of the Central China Area Army. The responsibility for the Shanghai Expeditionary Force was entrusted to a recent appointee in the Shanghai theater, Prince Asaka Yasuhiko, a member of the Imperial family. As Matsui noted in his diary that day "It's a great honor”. He promptly issued orders to ensure the prince's comfort and safety by all available means. At the age of 55, Prince Asaka, Emperor Hirohito's uncle, boasted a successful military background, including a tenure at the Japanese embassy in Paris. However, this experience had left its mark on him in two significant ways: he walked with a limp due to a car accident in France and spoke French fluently. Despite his talents and efforts, he did not earn the highest regard from Hirohito. He had not demonstrated the loyalty expected of him during the February 26th Coup attempt in 1936 and had since been met with a cold shoulder from the emperor Command in China presented a crucial opportunity for him to restore his standing in the eyes of Hirohito. Meanwhile over in the capital a war for air supremacy raged. More and more soviet pilots were arriving alongside their Polikarpov I-16 fighters. Exhausted from the long distance travel to Nanjing, the Soviet pilots were given no respite and tossed into the fray, performing 5 sorties in their first day. The Soviets were kept very busy as the Japanese increasingly unleashed raids against the airfields in the Nanjing region. The raids became so intense, the Chinese had to relocate their aircraft to bases hundreds of miles behind the front. While the Polikarpov I-16's were severely hampering the Japanese, suddenly a new adversary emerged. The Mitsubishi A5M fighter, still a prototype was rushed into service to help escort the bombers. This was the predecessor to the legendary A6M Zero fighter. Like I mentioned previously I wrote the Kings and Generals episode on the A6M Zero Fighter's history and over at my patreon I have a hour long podcast on it. Needless to say the A5M changed everything in the theater, taking away the advantage the Soviet fighters had wielded for a brief window of time.  At 9:00 am on December 2, a small customs cruiser waving a swastika flag docked at the Nanjing waterfront after making an overnight journey down the Yangtze River from Wuhan. German Ambassador Oskar Trautmann quickly disembarked, accompanied by embassy councilor Heinz Lautenschlager and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Xu Mo. Trautmann's mission was so secretive that although he had dined with a secretary from the Italian embassy, an Axis partner just hours before departing from Wuhan, he made no mention of his impending trip.  Despite the secrecy surrounding his visit, news of Trautmann's arrival in Nanjing spread rapidly within the German community. Businessman John Rabe, noted in his diary that day “I assume his return has something to do with Germany's attempt to act as a mediator”. Just before Trautmann's arrival, Chiang Kai-shek had a meeting with his closest advisers, primarily military generals. Vice Foreign Minister Xu briefed those present on the peace conditions proposed by the Japanese nearly a month prior. Many in attendance were hearing these terms for the first time and were startled to discover that Japan did not require reductions in Chinese armaments. Bai Chongxi was the first to speak “If these are the only terms, then why should there be war?” Given that the Japanese proposal seemed to allow for the continuity of the Kuomintang led Chinese nation, the generals present, including Tang Shengzhi, agreed to use it as a basis for negotiations. Later, at 5:00 pm Chiang met with Trautmann. The German diplomat said “I believe it is necessary for China to declare its willingness to discuss the Japanese terms in a conciliatory spirit.” Chiang replied, “I intend to do so, but I also expect the same from Japan.” Chiang then explained that they needed to be addressed for peace talks with Japan to proceed, explicitly stating that he would not accept Japanese control over northern China and that he was unwilling to sacrifice his recent friendship with the Soviet Union to achieve peace with Japan. Having secured Chiang's agreement to initiate talks with Japan, Trautmann promptly returned to the German embassy to report to his superiors in Berlin. He then headed back to the docks, boarding the same vessel that had brought him to Nanjing, traveling back up the dark Yangtze River. One particular concern weighed heavily on Trautmann's mind: a request from Chiang to maintain absolute secrecy regarding the upcoming Sino-Japanese negotiations. Trautmann believed that Germany should support this request. He was convinced that if news leaked about Chiang's willingness to engage with the despised Japanese, it could spell the end of his government in China, allowing the Soviets to take charge. At this time, both the Germans and Japanese feared fragmenting China further. Both wanted the Kuomintang to remain in charge and maintain the status quo as they benefitted from it greatly. Staff officer Kawabe Torashiro after a recent tour of the front lines had this to say, “To dismantle the Chiang regime would leave it in a dire situation, giving it the desperate tenacity of a cornered rat in its struggle against Japan. Whether we destroy it or not, we would ultimately contribute to a fragmented China for many years, one that would be a significant drain on the Empire's resources well into the future.” Meanwhile, the city of Changzhou fell on December 2nd, without any resistance. Private Azuma Shiro landed at Changzhou and was ordered alongside his 20th regiment to prepare an assault upon Danyang,  a walled city located about 25 miles northwest of Changzhou. The road between the two locations was nearly straight, running parallel to the railway connecting Shanghai and Nanjing, allowing the 20th Regiment to make swift progress. Upon arriving at Danyang, Azuma's platoon cautiously approached a bamboo grove concealing a Chinese position. Suddenly, a ZB vz 26 machine gun opened fire. Taking cover, the Japanese soldiers entered a nearby cemetery, where the small grave mounds offered some protection. The platoon's knee mortars responded, firing shells that silenced the machine gun. Seizing the opportunity, they launched their assault, swords raised and bayonets fixed, shouting at the top of their lungs. As they closed the distance to the bamboo grove, the machine gun sliced them down. When they finally reached the trench, they discovered it was already abandoned; the occupants had fled mere moments before. Danyang also fell on December 2, clearing one of the significant obstacles in the 16th Division's path to Jurong. Meanwhile to the south, the 9th Division was advancing from Tianwangsi towards Chunhua village, just miles from the capital, while elements of the 3rd Division were also making significant headway. At the northern end of the front, the Amaya Detachment was approaching the Yangtze port city of Zhenjiang, preparing to cross the river and sweep west along the opposite bank. As Matsui noted in his diary that day “The enemy's entire defensive line has been breached, and their morale has declined sharply. I believe there won't be much fight left in them moving forward”. Although the Shanghai Expeditionary Force had yet to launch its final assault on the capital, the soldiers were managing to advance at an impressive pace. Matsui noted in his diary on December 4th “I plan for an orderly occupation of Nanjing. Before entering the city, we must offer Chiang Kai-shek or the garrison commander the opportunity to surrender. While occupying Nanjing, I hope we can avoid unnecessary damage to the city and harm to the population.” Over in Nanjing, Henri Johan Diederick de Fremery, a Dutch officer serving as an advisor to the Chinese army, had assessed the city's fortifications prior to the war and found them lacking. He noted that coastal batteries had been installed to the north and northeast of the city, including outdated muzzle-loaders. In his report he stated  “They might serve against warship attacks, but who would think of attacking this city with warships?” Although some artillery pieces were positioned along the city wall, they were insufficient in number. Some locations were poorly constructed due to material shortages. For instance, a portion of the wall between Sun Yat-sen Gate and the Gate of Enlightenment had been reinforced with makeshift structures, concrete on the outside and a fragile network of bamboo within. It was a façade that would collapse upon the impact of the first Japanese shell. Natural obstacles like Purple Mountain to the east and the Yuhuatai hills to the south existed, but little was done to incorporate these features into the defensive network. The river, which served as a natural moat, became shallower on the eastern side, allowing for relatively easy crossing. As further noted by de Fremery “Nanking cannot be justifiably termed a heavily defended city”. Meanwhile the Chinese Army was engaged in a frantic effort to prepare for the anticipated Japanese onslaught. Engineers readied to demolish strategic bridges, and in many cases, entire villages were set ablaze, blackening the horizon with thick smoke. Heart-wrenching scenes unfolded as farmers were evicted from homes that had been in their families for generations.  By the end of the first week of winter, distant bombings echoed through the air, with explosions powerful enough to rattle windows within the city. The front lines were alarmingly close, leading to a steady influx of injured Chinese soldiers into Nanjing on foot. A pervasive sense of foreboding enveloped the city. Amidst the gloom, there lingered a belief that despite impending challenges, life would somehow continue. On the morning of December 3, a ship departed from Nanjing, loaded with treasures that represented three millennia of Chinese history. Thousands of crates filled with irreplaceable bronzes, porcelain, paintings, and other art objects were sent upriver. These invaluable items had been moved from Beijing four years earlier and stored in vaults in Nanjing. It was evident that the situation could deteriorate rapidly, leaving little time to respond. On December 5, all US citizens in Nanjing were urged to pack their essential belongings and be prepared to leave the city on short notice. The following day, a final order was issued: all American passport holders were directed to make their way to the Yangtze docks and board a river gunboat awaiting them, the USS Panay. As the Japanese Army advanced westward toward Nanjing, it left behind a horrifying trail of arson, rape, and murder. Helpless civilians who fell into the hands of the victorious soldiers endured brutal treatment that often defied comprehension. Now similar to other episodes I have done on my own channel or Pacific War Week by Week, this is a disclaimer, I am about to talk about some gut wrenching horrifying stuff. We are reaching Nanjing, and yes the infamous massacre is going to be told to the fullest. So warning, its about to get graphic. At the hamlet of Nanqiantou 38 residents were met with atrocities that would become more and more common. The Japanese Army set fire to the twelve homes that comprised the hamlet, forcing the captives to witness the destruction. When some of the residents attempted to escape and salvage their belongings, the soldiers trapped them inside, locking the doors and sealing their fate as the roofs collapsed in flames. Among the victims, two women, one of whom was pregnant, were subjected to repeated rapes. In a particularly gruesome act, the soldiers “cut open the belly of the pregnant woman and gouged out the fetus.” Amid the chaos, a 2 year old boy cried out, and a soldier seized him from his mother's arms, throwing him into the flames. The frantic mother was bayoneted and discarded into a nearby creek. The remaining captives met a similar fate, dragged to the water's edge, stabbed, and pushed into the stream. The 170 miles between Shanghai and Nanjing transformed into a nightmarish wasteland of death and destruction. For miles, the only living beings visible were the deceased. The reputation of the Japanese soldiers preceded them, leading many Chinese civilians to prefer a swift death at their own hands rather than the prospect of a slow demise at the hands of the Japanese. While passing through the town of Pinghu on their way to Nanjing, First Lieutenant Nishizawa Benkichi and his men from the 114th Division spotted two Chinese girls across a river. They appeared to be strolling hand in hand, possibly sisters. As they stepped onto a bridge, the girls began to walk towards the Japanese soldiers but suddenly stopped. Still clasping hands, they jumped into the river, disappearing into the swift current. Military efficiency was accompanied by a staggering brutality, where victories against armed opponents were often followed by the massacre of unarmed women and children. This pattern parallels the incomprehensible behavior of German soldiers on the Eastern Front, though there are significant differences. The Germans viewed themselves as a superior race compared to their Slavic adversaries, labeling them as "untermensch." In contrast, the Japanese could not deny their connections to the Chinese. Japan's historical role as a major influence on Chinese civilization was undeniable, as reflected in aspects as basic as the shared writing system. To many Japanese, their nation's relationship with China resembled that of two brothers, one younger and righteous, the other older and misguided, in need of redemption. Matsui Iwane embodied this perspective. Alongside his military duties, he held a deep interest in fostering cooperation among the peoples of Asia, who he believed remained under the yoke of Western imperialism. Since his youth, Matsui had been captivated by China, and while other ambitious officers sought postings in Western capitals like Paris or London, he applied to serve in China, remaining there for nearly a decade as part of Japan's diplomatic representation. By the 1930s, Matsui's commitment to this pan-Asian vision had gained a political dimension, leading him to become a prominent founder of the Greater Asia Association in 1933. This of course was created mostly through the work of Kanji Ishiwara. What was once a exclusive on my patreon can be found over at Echoes of War or my youtube channel, its a four part series on the life of Ishiwara and it goes into the history of how he tried to forge pan asianism, but ultimately failed against his adversaries like Hideki Tojo. Its fascinating stuff, please if you are interested check it out on youtube and comment where you came from.  This organization, though dominated by Japan, has been described as "probably the single most influential organization propagating Pan-Asianism during the 15 year war. During a visit to China in late 1935, Matsui helped establish the Chinese Greater Asia Association in the northern port city of Tianjin. For individuals like Matsui, Japan's actions on the Asian mainland were akin to liberating its peoples. They viewed the establishment of the Japanese-controlled puppet state, Manchukuo, in northeast China in 1932, as a bold experiment in nation-building, hoping the rest of China would benefit similarly. As Matsui wrote in 1933 “Next, we must also extend to the 400 million people of China the same help and deep sympathy that we provided to Manchuria, relieving them of their miserable condition of political, economic, and intellectual subjugation by various countries of the world.” The violence perpetrated by the Japanese Army stemmed from numerous variables. One was a grotesque belief they were actually liberators to what they deemed, ungrateful Chinese. The Japanese believed their presence in China was partly for the benefit of the Chinese people and felt a messianic obligation to save them. This led to frustration akin to that of a father confronting a disobedient son, compelling them to punish what they perceived as disobedience. While the rank-and-file soldiers might not have reflected deeply on these issues, such philosophies filtered down from their leaders. Of course there is a lot more to it, and sorry again for shamelessly plugging it, but on my patreon I specifically did an episode titled “why the Japanese army was so brutal” where I went through everything involved. It ran from cultural issues, to the brutal system of abuse in the military, to racism, radicalization of male youth in Japan, its a very complicated matter. Because again, most of the atrocities were committed by 20-30 year old grunts who had families back home. This was not like the traditional “I was following orders” type of situation, these were atrocities committed by the lowest ranks upwards.  The safety zone, created by Rabe and a handful of other foreigners, began to take shape in the first week of December. It was officially announced, and four committees were established to manage food, housing, finances, and sanitation. Once the plans for the zone were publicized in local newspapers, scared Chinese civilians flocked to it by the hundreds. From its inception, the zone faced numerous problems. Thousands of bags of rice and flour intended for the future residents of the zone were left unguarded and quickly looted, leading many to assume they had been stolen by military personnel. More troubling were the issues that arose when Chinese military units began digging trenches and setting up field telephones within the safety zone, putting it at heightened risk of a Japanese attack. Chinese officers assured organizers that they would vacate the area, but the delay led to growing frustration among those overseeing the zone. Until all Chinese soldiers withdrew, the organizers could not erect flags to formally designate the area as demilitarized. Although the Japanese refused to officially recognize the safety zone, they pledged to respect it.    Following the outbreak of the battle for Shanghai, the Chinese Red Cross stepped in where military medicine had faltered, establishing first-aid teams and emergency hospitals while ensuring that wounded soldiers were accommodated in existing medical facilities. In October, they opened a 3,000-bed hospital on the campus of the National Central University, staffed by 300 doctors, nurses, and 400 orderlies. By the end of October, the hospital had admitted 1,200 patients and performed over 50 operations daily, primarily amputations. However, as the Japanese forces advanced toward Nanjing, doctors and nurses were evacuated westward along the Yangtze River. The entire Red Cross hospital was dismantled, and at the American Mission Hospital, the staff, which had initially numbered nearly 200 doctors, nurses, and trained personnel, dwindled to just 11 by the onset of winter.  With medical facilities on the brink of collapse, a group of foreigners took the initiative to improve conditions, achieving small victories along the way.  Back at the front, the 10th Army continued their march to Nanjing. On the right flank, the 114th Division had marched through Liyang within hours, covering 40 miles over the next two days to reach Lishui on December 4. Behind them, the 6th Division was still lagging somewhat, struggling to catch up after making a large detour east of Lake Tai. The Kunisaki Detachment was tasked with reaching the Yangtze at Taiping, crossing the river, and heading for Pukou, directly opposite Nanjing, to cut off any retreating Chinese forces. To the left of the 6th and 114th Divisions, the 18th Division received orders on December 2 to march northwest from the Guangde area toward Nanjing. However, when intelligence reports indicated that large numbers of Chinese troops were withdrawing south toward Ningguo, trying to escape encirclement, thus the 18th Division had its mission altered. On December 4, they were instructed to change course and press straight west, aiming to trap as many Chinese soldiers as possible. The residents of Nanjing were jolted awake by the roar of airplanes shortly before 6:00 am on December 7. It was the sound of Chiang Kai-shek and Song Meiling departing the capital. Three days before his departure, Japanese forces had advanced dangerously close, and their shelling had intensified to the point that he was forced to move from his residence on Purple Mountain to a villa belonging to a famous scholar who had since passed away, located within the city walls. While organizing his departure, Chiang kept the morale of the troops and civilians trapped in Nanjing at the forefront of his mind. In his diary, Chiang noted, “Staying in Nanjing until the last moment has not only enabled us to complete military preparations, but it has also boosted the morale of soldiers and civilians alike. The evacuation of necessary material has been carried out without disorder. I cannot imagine what might have happened if I had left ten days earlier.” On one of his last nights in Nanjing, Chiang gathered all officers of major general rank and above at Tang Shengzhi's headquarters in the Railroad Ministry. With the First Lady by his side, he delivered an inspiring pep talk ahead of the impending battle, emphasizing that although the Chinese had faced temporary setbacks, they had managed to strike back at the Japanese forces, thwarting their plans for a swift victory. Additionally, he noted that China had garnered the sympathy and support of the international community. “You're being watched by the entire nation, indeed by the whole world. We cannot abandon Nanjing!” He then formally handed overall responsibility for the defense of the capital to Tang Shengzhi, urging the officers to obey him as they would obey Chiang himself. He insisted that this would not be merely a symbolic fight; a sustained defense of Nanjing could tie down Japanese forces, giving the bulk of the Chinese Army the opportunity to regroup and strengthen. He promised that three divisions, fully equipped and at peak strength, would soon arrive from the southwestern province of Yunnan. He pledged to personally lead them back to Nanjing to break the siege.  Meanwhile on the front of the Shanghai Expeditionary Force, the 16th Division had broken through Chinese lines at the crucial town of Jurong, located 30 miles east of the Nanjing city wall, and was now advancing toward the village of Tangshui. To the south, the 9th Division had reached Chunhua, another strategic town straddling the approaches to the capital. Meanwhile, to the north, soldiers from the 13th Division were crossing the Yangtze River at Zhenjiang to establish a foothold on the other side. Progress was similarly swift in the 10th Army's sector. The 114th Division had advanced all the way to Molingguan, a town less than 20 miles south of Nanjing. The 6th Division, having rushed to the front since the order to capture China's capital had been issued in early December, was expected to arrive later that day. To the south of these two divisions, the 18th Division was set to capture the city of Ningguo while continuing its push toward the Yangtze, effectively completing the encirclement of Nanjing. By December 5th, Matsui and his staff completed its transfer from Shanghai to Suzhou, they issued a general directive for the attack on Nanjing. This order outlined two possible scenarios. In the best-case outcome, the Chinese defenders would surrender and open the city gates. In that event, each Japanese division would send in one battalion to complete the pacification of the city and eliminate any remaining pockets of resistance from soldiers unwilling to capitulate. In the worst-case scenario, if the Chinese commanders disregarded Japanese offers to surrender and prepared for a prolonged defense of their capital, Japan would unleash the full force of its artillery on the city. Each division would then send in one regiment to breach the city gates and engage in a fierce battle, fighting street by street and house by house. It quickly became evident to the Japanese, the Chinese had no intention to simply hand over their capital. New York times correspondent, F Tillman Durdin witnessed action between the recently arrived 154th and 156th divisions from southern China who were quickly encircled atop a cone-shaped peak. “The Japanese set a ring of fire around the peak. The flames, consuming trees and grass, gradually crept closer and closer to the summit, forcing the Chinese upward until, huddled together, they were mercilessly machine-gunned to death.” As the Japanese troops closed in on Nanjing, the level of destruction left in the wake of the Chinese defenders became increasingly apparent. Near the capital, hardly a bridge remained intact as efforts intensified to hinder the invaders. The rush to reach Nanjing heightened rivalries within the Japanese Army. In early December, soldiers from the 16th Infantry Division traversed hilly terrain at what they believed was a vigorous pace. Suddenly, to their left, they spotted a parallel column of Japanese soldiers, quickly identifying them as members of the 9th Infantry Division's 35th Regiment. The company commander shouted “Don't let the 35th beat us to Nanjing! Get moving!”  Cities, towns, villages, and hamlets lay in the path of Japan's multifaceted advance on Nanjing. Some areas fell without much resistance, while others were fiercely defended by Chinese soldiers determined to hold their ground until the end. Chunhua, a town located roughly 15 miles southeast of Nanjing, was among the latter. The town was defended by troops from the Chinese 51st Infantry Division, who had participated in some of the toughest battles around Shanghai during the autumn months. The 51st Division found its withdrawal to Nanjing cut off by fast-moving Japanese columns. Only with the assistance of local civilians were various units able to sneak back to the capital, filtering through enemy lines. Upon arrival, the division's soldiers had hoped for a chance to cross the Yangtze for much-needed rest. Instead, Chiang Kai-shek ordered them to immediately reinforce the defenses at Chunhua. As the troops arrived in Chunhua village in early December, they were dismayed to find the pillboxes in disrepair. Some bunkers had been buried too deep to function effectively as defensive structures, while others had excessively large embrasures that offered little to no protection from enemy fire. Most frustratingly, keys to the bunkers were often missing, making entry problematic. The division worked tirelessly to improve their positions using whatever materials could be requisitioned from the area, but time was too short to bring the defenses up to the standard the commanders desired. Nonetheless, they achieved significant upgrades: three lines of defenses in front of Chunhua, centered around several pillboxes; two rows of barbed wire; and an antitank ditch to complicate any advance. Hidden machine gun nests also provided surprises for the Japanese infantry. On December 4, the Japanese vanguard, a column of about 500 soldiers from the 9th Division, was spotted, and over the next two days, the solitary company at Shuhu endured intense assaults. The Chinese dispatched an armored platoon as temporary reinforcements, marking one of the rare instances when Chinese tanks confronted Japanese infantry directly. The Chinese lost three armored vehicles, while the Japanese reported around 40 casualties among their infantry. By the afternoon of December 6, the surviving Chinese soldiers at Shuhu, numbering fewer than 30, abandoned their positions and fought their way back to Chunhua, leaving their fallen comrades behind. Advancing units of Japan's 9th Division closely followed, initially avoiding contact with the Chinese defenses to conduct reconnaissance. Based on their observations, the Japanese concluded that although the Chinese defenses appeared well-prepared, they were thinly manned. Costly fighting resulted in the Japanese gaining control over only the first of the three Chinese defense lines. Determined to capture the next two lines, they once again depended heavily on their artillery.  In several sectors along the front, soldiers of the 9th Japanese Division found themselves caught in the deadly crossfire of Chinese machine guns, creating a virtual kill zone from which there was no escape. For the Chinese defenders, the conditions were equally horrific. As recalled by the commander of the Chinese 51st division, Wang Yaowu “The shelling was incessant. Body parts were flying through the air. Some men lost legs, others arms. Brains were splattered everywhere”. The division's 301st Regiment, which bore the brunt of the battle, suffered approximately 1,500 casualties among its officers and soldiers. On the second day of the battle for Chunhua, December 7, their left flank made some gains, penetrating the area behind the village. The breakthrough, however, came in the afternoon of December 8 when an entire regiment that had been lagging behind the rest of the 9th Division arrived just in time to join the fight. This bolstered the morale of the Japanese troops and provided momentum to their attack. By the end of that day, Chunhua was firmly under Japanese control. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. As the Japanese forces advanced, Nanjing's fate teetered on the brink. Commander Tang Shengzhi led a beleaguered defense amidst chaos, while civilians fortified the city, aware of its significance. On December 1, General Matsui officially ordered an assault on Nanjing. As Japanese troops closed in, brutality loomed on the horizon, heralding one of China's darkest chapters in its fight against oppression.

In the summer of 1941, Soviet archaeologists opened the tomb of Timur—also known as Tamerlane—the legendary conqueror of Central Asia. Inside, they found chilling inscriptions warning that whoever disturbed his rest would unleash a catastrophe “more terrible than can be imagined.” Just days later, Nazi Germany launched its invasion of the Soviet Union. Coincidence or curse? The story of Timur's Tomb has haunted historians for decades. From the warnings etched on the coffin to the timing of Operation Barbarossa, and even the reburial of Timur's remains, this tale raises questions about fate, legend, and the power of belief. Join us as we dig into the eerie history of one of the world's most infamous curses.

In June 1956, a delegation of American Orthodox rabbis traveled to the Soviet Union, marking the first significant contact between U.S. Jews and the Soviet Jewish community in nearly four decades. The rabbis' mission was to bring hope to Soviet Jewry and learn first-hand of their oppression. Among the five travelers was Rabbi Herschel Schacter, a former U.S. Army chaplain who had ministered to the survivors in Buchenwald. Narrated by Rebecca Naomi Jones and featuring Dr. Rafael Medoff, founding Director of the David Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, and author of The Rabbi of Buchenwald: The Life and Times of Herschel Schacter.   Episode Image: Pamphlet published by the Journal American containing trip reports from the delegation of American Orthodox Rabbis in 1956. From the Subject Files Collection in the Archive of the American Soviet Jewry Movement at AJHS, I-424.   The Wreckage is made possible by funding from the Ford Foundation.   Additional funding is provided through the American Jewish Education Program, generously supported by Sid and Ruth Lapidus.

Air Date 9/1/2025 The way people consume almost every variety of media, entertainment, and art is different now than it was only 10-15 years ago. That means that the way protest music, revolutionary art, and even mass market productions and performances are going to be different, feel different, and likely find you in different ways than in the past. But the drive to create never dies and art will always be part of the resistance to oppression. Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991, message us on Signal at the handle bestoftheleft.01, or email Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com Full Show Notes Check out our new show, SOLVED! on YouTube! BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Members Get Bonus Shows + No Ads!) Use our links to shop Bookshop.org and Libro.fm for a non-evil book and audiobook purchasing experience! Join our Discord community! KEY POINTS (00:49:08) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR On the strength of diversity that comes through in art DEEPER DIVES (00:56:08) SECTION A: CULTURE (01:29:28) SECTION B: ART (02:20:20) SECTION C: MUSIC (02:46:54) SECTION D: ANDOR SHOW IMAGE CREDITS Description: Photo of street art depicting a stenciled version of Putin and Trump kissing a la the art on the Berlin Wall satirically depicting the “fraternal kiss” between the leaders of the Soviet Union and the German Democratic Republic. Credit: “Hamburg 2020” by Ittmust | CC BY 2.0 | Changes: Slightly cropped

Send us a textToday, we begin our two-part series covering the Soviet Space Program from its early days in the 1930s up to the launch of the three Sputnik satellites.Support the show

In the annals of US military history, there are no doubt many unsolved and perplexing mysteries, but few could compare to the fate of the US Navy spy ship that was mercilessly attacked by one of its closest allies intentionally and without warning. One of the reasons it is still a mystery is because it is also the only peacetime attack on a US naval vessel that, to this day, has never been investigated by the Congress of the United States.The USS Liberty was a 455-foot, 10,150-ton electronic intercept spy ship, originally a standard-design Victory Ship--a more evolved version of the World War II Liberty Ships--which were built as supply ships, not intended for direct fighting. The Liberty had been converted to an Auxiliary Technical Research Ship (AGTR), known colloquially as a "spy ship," first deployed in 1965; its top speed was only 18 knots.Yet the Liberty's fate, one of the most enigmatic, unresolved military mysteries of all time, is, paradoxically at its core, quite clear-cut and undisputed. The basic facts generally accepted by all are that, on the fourth day of the Six Day War between Israel and its Arab neighbors (Egypt, Syria and Jordan), the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) savagely attacked the U.S. spy ship, the USS Liberty.On the warm, sunny-bright day of June 8, 1967, starting at about 6:00 a.m., at least twelve, possibly thirteen Israeli aircraft of different types began surveilling the Liberty, some of which were only 1,000 feet or less in altitude, apparently to photograph and "map" her for later targeting purposes. The precision of the later attack could only have been accomplished through such pre-planning, specifically identifying the priority targets, starting with the gun mounts to render the ship defenseless, followed by all of the forty-five different radio antennae and related transmitting equipment. . Beginning just before 2:00 p.m., three unmarked French-built Mirage III-C swept-wing fighter jets, without warning, settled into a triangular formation, aimed straight at the Liberty and proceeded to bore down on the ship in a fast low-level attack that began with rockets targeted at the four gun mounts and heat-seeking missiles aimed at the communications gear, with their warmed transmitters. . When the attack was over, thirty-four men were dead and one hundred seventy-four were injured to varying degrees, some near death.Unlike all other books ever written about the tragic attack - none of which provide a satisfactory explanation of what really caused it - Remember the Liberty! examines it in complete context of how it was positioned there by Johnson himself, for the very purpose of being attacked, and sunk, with every one of the 294 men on board going to the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea. His purpose was to use that event - while blaming Egyptian President Gamal Nasser for the attack - as a pretext for joining Israel in the war, even at the risk of igniting World War III with the Soviet Union. This book provides the only realistic explanation for why Lyndon Johnson did what he did, and why, in the heat of battle, he intervened with his Navy officers who were determined to rescue the Liberty and ordered them to recall the squadrons of fighter jets they had already dispatched - twice, 90 minutes apart - for that purpose.When the heroic crew saved the ship from sinking, it stopped Johnson's plan to join Israel in the war and thereby saved the world from certain nuclear conflagration. It also prevented his strategy of entering what he felt would be a "popular war" (unlike his other one in Vietnam) in order to give him a better chance to be reelected president the following year. When that failed to materialize, so did his reelection campaign; ten months later he was forced to announce his decision to not re-run for the office that he had always considered his destiny.https://amzn.to/4n9s0zkBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.

In this gripping episode of The Proven Entrepreneur Show, host Don Williams welcomes back a familiar voice—Vladimir Gendelman, founder of CompanyFolders.com. But this isn't just a business chat. It's a journey that begins in the gray, uniform streets of the Soviet Union and unfolds into the vibrant, unpredictable world of American entrepreneurship. Vladimir's story isn't just about building a company—it's about rediscovering identity, embracing freedom, and learning how to stand out in a world that once demanded conformity.As Vladimir recounts his early days in Ukraine, listeners are transported to a time when choices were few and individuality was suppressed. His move to the U.S. as a teenager brought culture shock wrapped in abundance—aisles of cheese, colorful clothing, and the freedom to express. But it wasn't just the variety that changed him—it was the realization that in America, you could build something entirely your own. That realization sparked the birth of CompanyFolders.com, a business born from a single customer request and a gap in the market no one else saw.The conversation takes a dramatic turn as Vladimir opens up about a near-fatal mistake—an SEO strategy that once catapulted his site to the top of Google, only to be penalized and buried when algorithms evolved. The fallout was brutal: traffic plummeted, bankruptcy loomed, and even weekend sushi outings with his daughter became luxuries. But what followed was a masterclass in resilience. With grit, humility, and a loyal team, Vladimir rebuilt his company from the ground up—this time, with integrity and a foundation that could weather any storm.Beyond business, this episode explores the human side of entrepreneurship. Vladimir shares his philosophy on authenticity, the power of making others feel seen, and the importance of listening with intent. His advice isn't just for entrepreneurs—it's for anyone who wants to lead with heart and leave a legacy that lasts. From co-authoring a book on gratitude with his wife Janet to mentoring future generations, Vladimir's story is a testament to the impact of kindness, courage, and connection.If you're looking for more than just business tips—if you crave a story that stirs your soul and sharpens your mind—this episode is for you. Tune in to discover how one man's journey from Soviet silence to entrepreneurial voice can inspire your own path to purpose. But be warned: once you start listening, you won't want to stop.Topics Discussed:Life in the Soviet Union vs. the U.S.The birth of CompanyFolders.comSEO mistakes and recovery strategiesEntrepreneurial resilience and authenticityThe power of gratitude and human connectionAdvice for future generations of entrepreneursEntities Mentioned:Vladimir Gendelman (Guest)Don Williams (Host)CompanyFolders.comGoogle (SEO algorithm updates)Janet Gendelman (Co-author in Gratitude Stories)Jeri Walla (Mutual friend from the UK)Book: Gratitude Stories from Our HeartsWhether you're a startup founder, digital marketer, or someone seeking inspiration from real-world entrepreneurial grit, this episode delivers valuable lessons wrapped in a heartfelt narrative.

In 2010, the world was stunned when the United States exposed a covert Russian spy network operating on its soil. Seemingly all-American families living in white-picket-fenced suburbia were in fact deep undercover Russian agents. Many had been living under assumed identities for decades, lying even to their own children. In this episode, journalist Shaun Walker speaks to Danny Bird about Moscow's longlasting ‘illegals' programme – perhaps the most audacious chapter in the history of espionage. He reveals how the roots of the operation reached back more than a century to before the Bolshevik Revolution; how the Soviet Union deployed it against supposedly ‘friendly' states; and how today's Russia reveres these spies as patriotic heroes. (Ad) Shaun Walker is the author of The Illegals: Russia's Most Audacious Spies and the Plot to Infiltrate the West (Profile Books, 2025). Buy it now from Waterstones: https://go.skimresources.com?id=71026X1535947&xcust=historyextra-social-histboty&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.waterstones.com%2Fbook%2Fthe-illegals%2Fshaun-walker%2F9781788167772. The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

“Comrade Stalin, now that he is general secretary, has concentrated immense power in his hands, and I am not sure whether he will always be capable of exercising this power with sufficient caution.” This is the story of Joseph Stalin's path to becoming the dictator of the USSR.  Ioseb (Joseph) Jughashvili, or little “Soso,” is a good student. A choir boy, in fact. But that changes as the Orthodox Georgian increasingly puts his faith in the Bolshevik branch of Russia's Social Democrats. Under Vladimir Lenin's leadership, Soso, now going by Joseph Stalin, becomes a true revolutionary. One who embraces violence and murder as an acceptable means to an end amid Russia's shift from revolution to civil war. With Lenin's passing in 1924, it's clear that someone has to step into his shoes, and Stalin deftly outmaneuvers Leon Trotsky to be that someone. But he won't just lead it. Stalin will remake the Soviet Union in his own image, industrializing and consolidating his power at all costs. Millions will die. Millions more disappear into the gulags, never to be seen again. This is the rise and reign of Joseph “the Man of Steel” Stalin. ____ Connect with us on HTDSpodcast.com and go deep into episode bibliographies and book recommendations join discussions in our Facebook community get news and discounts from The HTDS Gazette  come see a live show get HTDS merch or become an HTDS premium member for bonus episodes and other perks. HTDS is part of Audacy media network. Interested in advertising on the History That Doesn't Suck? Contact Audacyinc.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices