Podcasts about war project

This week is mainly devoted to listener questions and feedback. First, Ralph answers some of the questions you have submitted over the past few weeks. Then we invite back last week's guest, Erica Payne, of Patriotic Millionaires, to respond to your very thoughtful comments on the interview we did with that group's plan for preserving democracy by taxing the rich. Plus, Ralph highlights the outrages of the Trump/Musk assault on government programs that help ordinary people.Erica Payne is the founder and president of Patriotic Millionaires, an organization of high-net-worth individuals that aims to restructure America's political economy to suit the needs of all Americans. Their work includes advocating for a highly progressive tax system, a livable minimum wage, and equal political representation for all citizens. She is the co-author, with Morris Pearl, of Tax the Rich: How Lies, Loopholes and Lobbyists Make the Rich Even Richer.The real reason for taxation is democracy protection.Erica PayneI think the question is not: do we need to fix the estate tax? The question is: what is the best, most defensible mechanism through which you can tax the transfer of wealth from one generation to the other in order to protect American democracy from dynastic wealth—that is sufficient that you find five generations from now Elon Musk's kid isn't spending as much money on these elections as their great great great great great granddaddy is.Erica PayneAusterity applied at a federal level to a society that is in distress does the exact opposite of what the proponents of austerity are saying it should do. The tightening of the belt actually cuts off the circulation of the society.Erica PayneNews 5/9/251. While the Catholic clergy convene in Rome for the Papal Conclave, Pope Francis graces the world with one final gift. Vatican News reports, “His popemobile, the very vehicle from which he waved and was close to millions of faithful all around the world, is being transformed into a mobile health unit for the children of Gaza.” This article states this was Francis' “final wish,” and quotes his refrain that “Children are not numbers. They are faces. Names. Stories. And each one is sacred.” The vehicle is reportedly being outfitted with equipment for “diagnosis, examination, and treatment – including rapid tests for infections, diagnostic instruments, vaccines, suture kits, and other life-saving supplies,” and it will be staffed by doctors and medics. Yet, given Israel's track record for the destruction of medical facilities in Gaza, it is unclear how long this mobile health unit itself will survive.2. In more distressing news from Gaza, CNN reports that “A Gaza-bound activist aid ship [part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition] caught fire and issued an SOS, after what its organizers claimed was an Israeli drone attack off the coast of Malta…[on] Friday.” Per CNN, the ship was due to make port in Malta and pick up “a large contingent of activists” there before departing for Gaza. These included environmental activist Greta Thunberg and retired US Army Colonel Mary Ann Wright. Thunberg said this flotilla “is one of many attempts to open up a humanitarian corridor and…[try] to break Israel's illegal siege on Gaza,” adding “for two months now, not a single bottle of water has entered Gaza…it's a systematic starvation of 2 million people.” The United Nations World Food Programme said this week “its warehouses are…empty; soup kitchens that are still running are severely rationing their last stocks; and what little food remains in Gaza's markets is being sold for exorbitant prices that most cannot afford.”3. Pro-Palestine activists scored a major victory in Michigan this week. The Guardian reports, “Michigan's attorney general, Dana Nessel, announced on Monday that she was dropping all charges against seven pro-[Palestine] demonstrators arrested last May at a University of Michigan encampment.” As this report notes, “The announcement came just moments before the judge was to decide on a defense motion to disqualify Nessel's office over alleged bias.” The Guardian itself published a major report “detailing Nessel's extensive personal, financial and political connections to university regents calling for the activists to be prosecuted,” last October. Defense attorney Amir Makled is quoted saying “This was a case of selective prosecution…rooted in bias, not in public safety issues…We're hoping this sends a message to other institutions locally and nationally that protest is not a crime, and dissent is not disorder.”4. In another legal victory, Prem Thakker reported on May 6th that “A federal court has [denied] the Trump administration's attempt to move Mahmoud Khalil's case…out of New Jersey.” The government attempted to move the venue to Louisiana, where they have Khalil detained. A press release by the ACLU, their New York and New Jersey affiliates, and the Center for Constitutional Rights states, “It is the fundamental job of the judiciary to stand up to…government manipulation of our basic rights. We hope the court's order sends a strong message to other courts around the country facing government attempts to shop for favorable jurisdictions by moving people detained on unconstitutional immigration charges around and making it difficult or impossible for their lawyers to know where to seek their immediate release.”5. Trump has released his budget for Fiscal Year 2026. This budget cuts nondefense spending by 23%, per Reuters, while allocating 75% of discretionary spending to military and police, per Stephen Semler of the Cost of War Project. This includes a 13% increase in military spending that tips the Pentagon budget over $1 trillion for the first time. So much for increasing government efficiency.6. At the same time, this country's infrastructure and transportation safety agencies continue to crumble. Just this week, NPR reported “Hundreds of flight delays and cancellations…[hit]… Newark Liberty International Airport at once: [due to] air traffic controller staffing shortages, aging technology, bad weather and the closure of one of the airport's busiest runways.” The air traffic controller staffing shortages, a chronic issue, has been compounded in recent months by the mass layoffs initiated by the Trump administration. NBC News reports that one air traffic controller handling Newark airspace said, “Don't fly into Newark. Avoid Newark at all costs.”7. It might be nice to have competent, energetic leadership among the Democrats on the House Oversight Committee right about now. Unfortunately, the party opted to install 75-year-old, cancer-ridden Gerry Connolly to serve as Ranking Member on that committee instead of AOC. Now, Axios reports Connolly is stepping down from this position after just four months and will not seek reelection to his seat in Congress, citing his declining health. AOC, once-bitten, has opted not to seek the position a second time, the Hill reports. Instead, the top contenders emerging to fill Conolly's seat are Stephen Lynch, a 70-year-old Congressman who won his seat in 2001 and is currently filling Conolly's role on an interim basis, and Eleanor Holmes-Norton, the non-voting delegate representing Washington D.C. Norton is the most senior Democrat on the committee at 87-years-old, having assumed office in 1991.8. Another ghost is coming back to haunt the Democrats: former Senator Bob Menendez. The New Jersey Globe reports, “The New Jersey Attorney General's office will seek a court order to permanently bar…Menendez from ever holding public employment in the state following his conviction on federal corruption charges last year.” Critically if a Superior Court judge approves the action, Menendez could lose his state pension. Menendez still draws over $1,000 per month from his New Jersey public employee pension, even after being sentenced to 11 years in prison for corruption last July. More recently, Menendez has sought to cozy up to Trump in an effort to obtain a pardon. So far, no dice.9. In some positive news, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum continues an unbelievable run. Back in April, KJZZ reported that Mexico will invest nearly $3 billion in “food sovereignty,” to “produce more staples like corn, beans and rice in Mexico over the next five years.” This money will be directed at small and medium sized farms in Mexico and is intended to anchor both the rural economy and the nation's food supply amidst the growing uncertainty of trade with the United States vis a vis Trump's erratic trade policy. Then, after May Day, Labor Minister Marath Bolaños said that “before the end of President Claudia Sheinbaum's term…the government would gradually install a…40-hour workweek,” Mexico News Daily reports. The standard workweek in Mexico currently sits at 48 hours. As this report notes, the 40-hour workweek is Number 60 on Sheinbaum's list of 100 promises. Americans can only dream of having a government that even makes that many promises, let alone keeps them. Perhaps the most impressive of Sheinbaum's recent actions however is her recent rejection of Trump's attempt to strongarm her into allowing American troops to enter Mexico. Democracy Now! reports Sheinbaum told the American president, “The territory is sacrosanct. Sovereignty is sacrosanct. Sovereignty is not for sale.”10. Finally, on the other end of the presidential spectrum, there's Trump furiously posting on Truth Social about the “Movie Industry in America…DYING a very fast death,” deeming that this is “a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat,” and threatening a “100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands.” Obviously, this screed is basically nonsensical and it remains to be seen what will actually come of this threat, but what is notable is the response from organized labor. The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) issued a statement threading the needle between supporting Trump's effort to “return and maintain U.S. film and television jobs, while not…harming the industry overall.” On the other hand, the Teamsters – led by Sean O'Brien who has tied himself to Trump more and more since he spoke at the 2024 RNC – issued a statement “thank[ing] President Trump for boldly supporting good union jobs when others have turned their heads.” Would such a policy truly revitalize the workforce of the American entertainment industry? We'll have to wait for the sequel to find out.This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven't Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe

How will automated systems and artificial intelligence change the nature of weaponry?What ethical issues are at play when we discuss lethal autonomous weapons? Can weapons be programmed to follow the laws of armed conflict?How does public literacy influence perceptions of weapons systems?In this episode, Zena Assaad and Lauren Sanders join Danielle Ireland-Piper to discuss weapons regulation, and how artificial intelligence and autonomous systems changes the arms landscape.Dr Zena Assaad is a Senior Research Fellow with the School of Engineering at the Australian National University (ANU).Dr Lauren Sanders is a Senior Research Fellow with the TC Beirne School of Law at the University of Queensland, in the Law and Future of War Project.Dr Danielle-Ireland Piper is Academic Director and Associate Professor at the ANU National Security College (NSC). TRANSCRIPTShow notesListener survey: The Nation Security Podcast NSC academic programs – find out more UN Report on Governing AI EU AI Act Responsible AI in the Military Summit Legal review of autonomous weapons systems We'd love to hear from you! Send in your questions, comments, and suggestions to NatSecPod@anu,edu.au. You can tweet us @NSC_ANU and be sure to subscribe so you don't miss out on future episodes. The National Security Podcast is available on Acast, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever you get your podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ralph welcomes back William Hartung of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. They'll discuss the Cost of War Project's latest reports on US military spending in support of Israel, and the humanitarian costs of the war in Gaza. Then, Ralph is joined by Palestinian writer and analyst Sumaya Awad to discuss the mass civil disobedience at the New York Stock Exchange, which was organized by Jewish Voice for Peace to protest the weapons manufacturers that are making millions off the genocide in Gaza.William Hartung is an expert on the arms industry and US military budget, and a Senior Research Fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. He is the author of Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex, and the co-editor of Lessons from Iraq: Avoiding the Next War.In all my years of watching the operations of Washington—including the Bush/Cheney criminal invasion of Iraq—I have never seen such a servile position by top officials of an administration to a foreign power. Not even close. They are humiliating the United States of America. They are jeopardizing the United States of America—because as you know, the Department of Defense, CIA, NSA have studies and scenarios of blowback. So this war in the Middle East is gonna come back to the US in terms of reprisal and retaliation. And we are not able to anticipate that because we think, as the ruling empire in the world, that we're invulnerable. But we're not invulnerable.Ralph NaderThe Biden administration is living in the past. They've got this “Israel, right or wrong” ideology. They think it's a political detriment to criticize Israel, and the fact that the younger generation is not locked into that point of view. But I think they're going to hurt themselves more by enabling the war crimes that Israel is committing than they would by taking a stand. And of course, they keep trying to say that they're pushing for a ceasefire…But as long as they're doing the weapons and the financing, that is laughable.William HartungIt's just stunning. Given the record of this century—two failed wars, $8 trillion spent, hundreds of thousands killed—and yet they could say with a straight face, “We need a dominant military.” As if that's the tool that's gonna solve any of these problems, rather than make them worse.William HartungSumaya Awad is a Palestinian writer and analyst based in New York City, and she is the spokesperson for Jewish Voice for Peace's mass civil disobedience event at the New York Stock Exchange. Ms. Awad directs strategy and communications for the Adalah Justice Project, and she is a cofounder of the Against Canary Mission Project, which defends student activists targeted by blacklists for their Palestinian rights advocacy. She is the co-author of Palestine and Elections and co-editor of Palestine: A Socialist Introduction.There were over 200 arrests—the majority of them anti-Zionist Jewish New Yorkers, who want to send a clear message both to the US government and the American people that Israel weaponizes their identity in order to justify crimes against humanity and that they are not okay with this. That they refuse for their identity and Jewish people to be weaponized in this way. And that in fact, what Israel is doing and what the US government is funding and politically backing is actively making this country and certainly the rest of the world unsafe not just for Jewish people, but for others.Sumaya AwadWe are strategizing about how to push back against the role of AIPAC and the grip of AIPAC. I think the reality is that there are many people in Congress that are actually benefiting financially from what is happening in Gaza. We know that at least 50 members of Congress have links to the military-industrial complex—whether that's through stocks or other things. And so it's about unraveling this network, these connections between our government, the way it's profiting from the genocide and then what that means in terms of these elections across the country.Sumaya AwadIn Case You Haven't Heard with Francesco DeSantisNews 10/16/241. The Israeli government is finally dropping the facade that the genocide in Gaza is about ‘returning the hostages.' Haaretz reports “According to senior defense officials, the Israeli government is not seeking to revive hostage talks and the political leadership is pushing for the gradual annexation of large parts of the Gaza Strip.” Not only that, apparently “Israel's political leaders have not held any discussions with the various security branches about the condition of the hostages.” In other words, Israel clearly does not care about the hostages at all and are simply using them as political props to prolong their campaign of terror. In addition, the AP reports “Netanyahu is examining a plan to seal off humanitarian aid to northern Gaza,” and if Palestinians are unable or unwilling to leave their homes, they “would be considered combatants — meaning military regulations would allow troops to kill them.” Last weekend, Israel launched an offensive against the Jabaliya refugee camp, resulting in gruesome footage of Palestinians burnt alive while still connected to IV tubes in field hospital tents.2. Responding to a report by NBC, the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), is sounding the alarm that “US officials have discussed joining Israel in offensive strikes against Iran, and passing them off as ‘defensive' after the fact.” As Just Foreign Policy notes, this would not only violate the War Powers Resolution, but “Unnamed US officials” are seeking to circumvent the debate and Congressional vote required for such an act under the Constitution. Now the question becomes whether the American empire will allow itself to be drawn into a rapidly escalating regional war based on Israel's aggression.3. On October 10th, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) reported “This morning, two peacekeepers were injured after an IDF Merkava tank fired its weapon toward an observation tower at UNIFIL's headquarters in Naqoura, directly hitting it and causing them to fall. The injuries are fortunately, this time, not serious, but they remain in hospital.” Beyond this attack, UNIFIL also reports that the IDF fired on the UN positions in Labbouneh and Ras Naqoura, ending by writing “Any deliberate attack on peacekeepers is a grave violation of international humanitarian law and of Security Council resolution 1701.”4. On October 8th, Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal released a statement decrying the lack of action by the organs of U.S. foreign policy regarding the killing of American citizen Aysenur Eygi in the West Bank. Jayapal writes “It has been 32 days…and we have seen no movement toward an independent investigation by the U.S. government and no additional information on changes in the practices of the…IDF…units that are using live ammunition on those who are peacefully protesting…I am frankly appalled…If the Israeli government is unwilling or unable to follow our own domestic laws as well as international humanitarian laws…we must initiate our own investigation into Eygi's killing.”5. In the UK, Jeremy Corbyn and the parliamentary Independent Alliance have sent a letter to Foreign Secretary David Lammy expressing their “disgust over the government's complicity in one of the greatest crimes of our lifetime.” This letter goes on to explain how “the government could have...opposed the genocide in Gaza. It could have ended military, economic and diplomatic support...[and] defended the equal application of international law. Instead, the failure to bring Israel to justice emboldened it to kill thousands of people in Lebanon and now, wage war on the UN.” The letter then asks a series of questions to the British government, including “what red lines, if any, does Israel have to cross for the government to end its diplomatic and political support?” and “does the UK government oppose genocide?”6. In a humiliation for Elon Musk, Forbes reports that Tesla stock slid by nearly $70 billion following the “sour” reaction to the company's unveiling of their absurd new products including a “robotaxi” and “Optimus” humanoid robots. In fact, disappointment in Tesla's “cybercab” was so acute that Uber shares spiked by 11% and Lyft's by 10%. Another story signaling that Tesla is vastly overvalued comes from the Orange County Register, which reports the Irvine Police Department spent over $150,000 on the first ever police Cybertruck. What is the department planning to use this eye-wateringly expensive boondoggle for? According to this report “the department does not plan to use the truck for patrols. The Cybertruck will…principally be driven by DARE officers to schools.”7. According to USA Today, “A study from the University of California Berkeley's Institute for Research on Labor and Employment found that a California state law [which] raised the minimum wage for fast food workers did not lead to large job loses or price hikes.” The law in question, AB 1228 established a “$20 per hour minimum wage for those working at fast food restaurants with less than 60 locations nationwide and restaurants located inside airports, stadiums and convention centers. The law further gave employees stronger protections and the ability to bargain as a sector.” The study found that this law effectively raised average pay of these non-managerial employees by almost 18%, a truly remarkable margin, while prices went up only about 15 cents per $4 item. Hopefully this study will finally put an end to the old canard that raising wages for fast food workers leads to widespread job loss and price increases.8. A depressing story from NPR exposes the US Department of Agriculture's “Wildlife Services” program, described as “a holdover from the 1930s, when Congress gave the federal government broad authority to kill wildlife at the request of private landowners….So long as livestock or human life are threatened.” Employees of this program continue to kill “hundreds of thousands of noninvasive animals a year…Even species considered [endangered]…like grizzly bears.” Yet even within the broad mandate of this program, data shows “employees frequently kill native wild animals without evidence of livestock loss,” including 11,000 in Montana. The USDA and the Bureau of Land Management now face increasing calls to overhaul this outdated program.9. Politiken, a prominent Danish newspaper, reports local harbormaster John Anker Nielsen encountered US Navy vessels at the scene of the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage operation in 2022, per Al Mayadeen. Nielsen, the harbormaster of Christianso, told Politiken that in the days after the explosion he tried to initiate a rescue mission “after noticing ships with their transponders turned off and presuming an emergency.” Yet once they drew near, they discovered the vessels to be US Navy warships. According to Nielsen, “the Naval Command then instructed…[him] to turn back.” This report conforms to the narrative of the Nord Stream sabotage as presented by legendary investigative journalist Seymour Hersh and directly contradicts the narrative put forward by the U.S. government.10. Finally, on October 11th the Democratic National Committee released what it claims is “its first-ever ad focused on third-party candidates,” per DNC Chair Jamie Harrison. The ad features Green Party nominee Jill Stein grotesquely morphing into Donald Trump with dialogue arguing that “a vote for Stein is really a vote for Trump.” As many have remarked, the DNC feeling the need to disseminate such an ad is an ill omen for their chances in the coming election, particularly in Michigan where recent polling shows Stein drawing 40% of Muslim voters, compared to 18% for Trump and just 12% for Kamala Harris, per Reuters. Of course, the DNC could instead direct their efforts to improving their standing with Muslim and Arab voters in Michigan – as well as young progressives throughout the country – by taking a stand against the ongoing genocide in Palestine, but then that isn't really their style.This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven't Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe

pWotD Episode 2689: September 11 attacks Welcome to Popular Wiki of the Day, spotlighting Wikipedia's most visited pages, giving you a peek into what the world is curious about today.With 488,772 views on Wednesday, 11 September 2024 our article of the day is September 11 attacks.The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. On that morning, 19 terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners scheduled to travel from the East Coast to California. The hijackers crashed the first two planes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and aimed the next two flights toward targets in or near Washington, D. C., in an attack on the nation's capital. The third team succeeded in striking the Pentagon, the headquarters of the U. S. Department of Defense in Arlington County, Virginia, while the fourth plane crashed in rural Pennsylvania during a passenger revolt. The September 11 attacks killed 2,977 people, making it the deadliest terrorist attack in history. In response to the attacks, the United States waged the multi-decade global war on terror to eliminate hostile groups deemed terrorist organizations, as well as the foreign governments purported to support them, in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and several other countries.Ringleader Mohamed Atta flew American Airlines Flight 11 into the North Tower of the World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan at 8:46 a.m. Seventeen minutes later, at 9:03, the World Trade Center's South Tower was hit by United Airlines Flight 175. Both 110-story skyscrapers collapsed within an hour and forty-one minutes, bringing about the destruction of the remaining five structures in the WTC complex and damaging or destroying nearby buildings. American Airlines Flight 77 flew towards Washington, D. C. and crashed into the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m., causing a partial collapse. The fourth and final flight, United Airlines Flight 93, also changed course towards Washington, believed by investigators to target either the United States Capitol or the White House. Alerted to the previous attacks, the passengers revolted against the hijackers who then crashed the aircraft into a Stonycreek Township field, near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, at 10:03 a.m. The Federal Aviation Administration ordered an indefinite ground stop for all air traffic in U. S. airspace at 9:45 a.m. (59 minutes following the first impact), preventing any further aircraft departures until September 13 and requiring all airborne aircraft to return to their point of origin or divert to Canada. The actions undertaken in Canada to support incoming aircraft and their occupants were collectively titled Operation Yellow Ribbon.That evening, the Central Intelligence Agency informed President George W. Bush that its Counterterrorism Center had identified the attacks as having been the work of Al-Qaeda under Osama bin Laden. The United States formally responded by launching the war on terror and invading Afghanistan to depose the Taliban, which rejected the conditions of U. S. terms to expel Al-Qaeda from Afghanistan and extradite its leaders. The U. S.'s invocation of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty—its only usage to date—called upon allies to fight Al-Qaeda. As U. S. and NATO invasion forces swept through Afghanistan, bin Laden eluded them by disappearing into the White Mountains. He denied any involvement until 2004, when excerpts of a taped statement in which he accepted responsibility for the attacks were released. Al-Qaeda's cited motivations included U. S. support of Israel, the presence of U. S. military bases in Saudi Arabia and sanctions against Iraq. The nearly decade-long manhunt for bin Laden concluded on May 2, 2011, when he was killed during a U. S. military raid on his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. The war in Afghanistan continued for another eight years until the agreement was made in February 2020 for American and NATO troops to withdraw from the country. The last members of the U. S. armed forces left the region on August 30, 2021, after which the Taliban rapidly returned to power. Ayman al-Zawahiri, another planner of the attacks who succeeded bin Laden as leader of Al-Qaeda, was killed by U. S. drone strikes in Kabul, Afghanistan on July 31, 2022.Excluding the hijackers, the attacks killed 2,977 people, injured thousands more and gave rise to substantial long-term health consequences while also causing at least $10 billion in infrastructure and property damage. It remains the deadliest terrorist attack in history as well as the deadliest incident for firefighters and law enforcement personnel in American history, killing 343 and 72 members, respectively. The loss of life stemming from the impact of Flight 11 made it the most lethal multi-plane crash in aviation history followed by the death toll incurred by Flight 175. The destruction of the World Trade Center and its environs seriously harmed the U. S. economy and induced global market shocks. Many other countries strengthened anti-terrorism legislation and expanded their powers of law enforcement and intelligence agencies. The total number of deaths caused by the attacks, combined with the death tolls from the conflicts they directly incited, has been estimated by the Costs of War Project to be over 4.5 million. Cleanup of the World Trade Center site (colloquially "Ground Zero") took eight months and was completed in May 2002, while the Pentagon was repaired within a year. After delays in the design of a replacement complex, six new buildings were planned to replace the lost towers, along with a museum and memorial dedicated to those who were killed or injured in the attacks. The tallest building, One World Trade Center, began construction in November 2006; it opened in November 2014. Memorials to the attacks include the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York City, the Pentagon Memorial in Arlington County, Virginia, and the Flight 93 National Memorial at the Pennsylvania crash site.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:20 UTC on Thursday, 12 September 2024.For the full current version of the article, see September 11 attacks on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm standard Matthew.

Scott interviews Matthew Hoh about his experience trying to steer the Obama administration's Afghanistan policy away from the edge and his experience helping both himself and others confront PTSD. Hoh starts by recounting his Afghanistan experience. He and Scott then discuss the war more broadly. At the end, Hoh described his experience with PTSD, explained the scope of the problem facing veterans of the terror wars and offered up some resources for listeners who may be struggling themselves.  Discussed on the show: Obama's Wars by Bob Woodward The Best and the Brightest by David Halberstam A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam by Neil Sheehan “Deserted: The U.S. Military's Sexual Assault Crisis as a Cost of War” (Cost of War Project) r/VeteransBenefits Matthew Hoh is associate director at the Eisenhower Media Network and formerly worked for the U.S. State Department. Hoh received the Ridenhour Prize Recipient for Truth Telling in 2010. Subscribe to his Substack and follow him on Twitter @MatthewPHoh  This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Roberts and Robers Brokerage Incorporated; Tom Woods' Liberty Classroom; Libertas Bella; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott. Get Scott's interviews before anyone else! Subscribe to the Substack. Shop Libertarian Institute merch or donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal or Bitcoin: 1DZBZNJrxUhQhEzgDh7k8JXHXRjY Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 Download Episode. Scott interviews Matthew Hoh about his experience trying to steer the Obama administration's Afghanistan policy away from the edge and his experience helping both himself and others confront PTSD. Hoh starts by recounting his Afghanistan experience. He and Scott then discuss the war more broadly. At the end, Hoh described his experience with PTSD, explained the scope of the problem facing veterans of the terror wars and offered up some resources for listeners who may be struggling themselves.  Discussed on the show: Obama's Wars by Bob Woodward The Best and the Brightest by David Halberstam A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam by Neil Sheehan “Deserted: The U.S. Military's Sexual Assault Crisis as a Cost of War” (Cost of War Project) r/VeteransBenefits Matthew Hoh is associate director at the Eisenhower Media Network and formerly worked for the U.S. State Department. Hoh received the Ridenhour Prize Recipient for Truth Telling in 2010. Subscribe to his Substack and follow him on Twitter @MatthewPHoh  This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Roberts and Robers Brokerage Incorporated; Tom Woods' Liberty Classroom; Libertas Bella; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott. Get Scott's interviews before anyone else! Subscribe to the Substack. Shop Libertarian Institute merch or donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal or Bitcoin: 1DZBZNJrxUhQhEzgDh7k8JXHXRjY

We begin this new season of International Horizons with an interview by RBI Director John Torpey with Neta Crawford from Oxford University and the Cost of War Project. Prof. Crawford argues that conflict is less lethal than in the past, although the overall costs of war exceed the duration of previous wars in many dimensions. The conversation delves into the possibilities of a conflict with China and Crawford's concern that the U.S's overreaction to the Chinese challenge could be extremely perilous. That said, misperceptions and misconceptions of the so-called "China threat" can be mitigated through diplomatic exchanges. Finally, Professor Crawford discusses the costs of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, arguing that war has both domestic and external causes and consequences – a point that needs to be better understood when we think about war today. International Horizons is a podcast of the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies that brings scholarly expertise to bear on our understanding of international issues. John Torpey, the host of the podcast and director of the Ralph Bunche Institute, holds conversations with prominent scholars and figures in state-of-the-art international issues in our weekly episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

We begin this new season of International Horizons with an interview by RBI Director John Torpey with Neta Crawford from Oxford University and the Cost of War Project. Prof. Crawford argues that conflict is less lethal than in the past, although the overall costs of war exceed the duration of previous wars in many dimensions. The conversation delves into the possibilities of a conflict with China and Crawford's concern that the U.S's overreaction to the Chinese challenge could be extremely perilous. That said, misperceptions and misconceptions of the so-called "China threat" can be mitigated through diplomatic exchanges. Finally, Professor Crawford discusses the costs of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, arguing that war has both domestic and external causes and consequences – a point that needs to be better understood when we think about war today. International Horizons is a podcast of the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies that brings scholarly expertise to bear on our understanding of international issues. John Torpey, the host of the podcast and director of the Ralph Bunche Institute, holds conversations with prominent scholars and figures in state-of-the-art international issues in our weekly episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

We begin this new season of International Horizons with an interview by RBI Director John Torpey with Neta Crawford from Oxford University and the Cost of War Project. Prof. Crawford argues that conflict is less lethal than in the past, although the overall costs of war exceed the duration of previous wars in many dimensions. The conversation delves into the possibilities of a conflict with China and Crawford's concern that the U.S's overreaction to the Chinese challenge could be extremely perilous. That said, misperceptions and misconceptions of the so-called "China threat" can be mitigated through diplomatic exchanges. Finally, Professor Crawford discusses the costs of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, arguing that war has both domestic and external causes and consequences – a point that needs to be better understood when we think about war today. International Horizons is a podcast of the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies that brings scholarly expertise to bear on our understanding of international issues. John Torpey, the host of the podcast and director of the Ralph Bunche Institute, holds conversations with prominent scholars and figures in state-of-the-art international issues in our weekly episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/military-history

We begin this new season of International Horizons with an interview by RBI Director John Torpey with Neta Crawford from Oxford University and the Cost of War Project. Prof. Crawford argues that conflict is less lethal than in the past, although the overall costs of war exceed the duration of previous wars in many dimensions. The conversation delves into the possibilities of a conflict with China and Crawford's concern that the U.S's overreaction to the Chinese challenge could be extremely perilous. That said, misperceptions and misconceptions of the so-called "China threat" can be mitigated through diplomatic exchanges. Finally, Professor Crawford discusses the costs of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, arguing that war has both domestic and external causes and consequences – a point that needs to be better understood when we think about war today. International Horizons is a podcast of the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies that brings scholarly expertise to bear on our understanding of international issues. John Torpey, the host of the podcast and director of the Ralph Bunche Institute, holds conversations with prominent scholars and figures in state-of-the-art international issues in our weekly episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science

We begin this new season of International Horizons with an interview by RBI Director John Torpey with Neta Crawford from Oxford University and the Cost of War Project. Prof. Crawford argues that conflict is less lethal than in the past, although the overall costs of war exceed the duration of previous wars in many dimensions. The conversation delves into the possibilities of a conflict with China and Crawford's concern that the U.S's overreaction to the Chinese challenge could be extremely perilous. That said, misperceptions and misconceptions of the so-called "China threat" can be mitigated through diplomatic exchanges. Finally, Professor Crawford discusses the costs of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, arguing that war has both domestic and external causes and consequences – a point that needs to be better understood when we think about war today. International Horizons is a podcast of the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies that brings scholarly expertise to bear on our understanding of international issues. John Torpey, the host of the podcast and director of the Ralph Bunche Institute, holds conversations with prominent scholars and figures in state-of-the-art international issues in our weekly episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/world-affairs

We begin this new season of International Horizons with an interview by RBI Director John Torpey with Neta Crawford from Oxford University and the Cost of War Project. Prof. Crawford argues that conflict is less lethal than in the past, although the overall costs of war exceed the duration of previous wars in many dimensions. The conversation delves into the possibilities of a conflict with China and Crawford's concern that the U.S's overreaction to the Chinese challenge could be extremely perilous. That said, misperceptions and misconceptions of the so-called "China threat" can be mitigated through diplomatic exchanges. Finally, Professor Crawford discusses the costs of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, arguing that war has both domestic and external causes and consequences – a point that needs to be better understood when we think about war today. International Horizons is a podcast of the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies that brings scholarly expertise to bear on our understanding of international issues. John Torpey, the host of the podcast and director of the Ralph Bunche Institute, holds conversations with prominent scholars and figures in state-of-the-art international issues in our weekly episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/economics

We begin this new season of International Horizons with an interview by RBI Director John Torpey with Neta Crawford from Oxford University and the Cost of War Project. Prof. Crawford argues that conflict is less lethal than in the past, although the overall costs of war exceed the duration of previous wars in many dimensions. The conversation delves into the possibilities of a conflict with China and Crawford's concern that the U.S's overreaction to the Chinese challenge could be extremely perilous. That said, misperceptions and misconceptions of the so-called "China threat" can be mitigated through diplomatic exchanges. Finally, Professor Crawford discusses the costs of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, arguing that war has both domestic and external causes and consequences – a point that needs to be better understood when we think about war today. International Horizons is a podcast of the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies that brings scholarly expertise to bear on our understanding of international issues. John Torpey, the host of the podcast and director of the Ralph Bunche Institute, holds conversations with prominent scholars and figures in state-of-the-art international issues in our weekly episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We begin this new season of International Horizons with an interview by RBI Director John Torpey with Neta Crawford from Oxford University and the Cost of War Project. Prof. Crawford argues that conflict is less lethal than in the past, although the overall costs of war exceed the duration of previous wars in many dimensions. The conversation delves into the possibilities of a conflict with China and Crawford's concern that the U.S's overreaction to the Chinese challenge could be extremely perilous. That said, misperceptions and misconceptions of the so-called "China threat" can be mitigated through diplomatic exchanges. Finally, Professor Crawford discusses the costs of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, arguing that war has both domestic and external causes and consequences – a point that needs to be better understood when we think about war today. International Horizons is a podcast of the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies that brings scholarly expertise to bear on our understanding of international issues. John Torpey, the host of the podcast and director of the Ralph Bunche Institute, holds conversations with prominent scholars and figures in state-of-the-art international issues in our weekly episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

William Hartung of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft explains the problem of retired military brass working for the arms industry and how this revolving door tends to militarize U.S. foreign policy. He also discusses China's military buildup and why it shouldn't automatically translate to bigger U.S. defense budgets. Other topics include the military industrial complex, Eisenhower's Farewell Address, the Pentagon's inability to pass an audit, and threat inflation, among others.Show NotesWilliam Hartung and Dillon Fisher, "March of the Four-Stars: The Role of Retired Generals and Admirals in the Arms Industry, " Quincy Brief No. 47, October 4, 2023.William Hartung, "Reality Check: Chinese Military Spending in Context," Costs of War Project at Brown University's Watson Institute, December 5, 2023.William Hartung, "Good Times for the Military Industrial Complex," TomDispatch.com, November 12, 2023. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

America is addicted to war. But its citizens rarely see the brutal realities of the U.S. military-industrial complex up close. That is because our pliant media hides the carnage from the public, refusing to report on the victims of the war machine, and uses euphemisms like “surgical strikes” and “enhanced interrogation techniques” to mask the barbarity meted out by Washington around the world. A recent study from the Costs of War Project at Brown University found that the post-9/11 wars have been responsible for some 4.5 million deaths worldwide, with at least 38 million also displaced from their homes. Our guest today has literally written the book on how the harsh realities of America's global empire are blocked from our views. Norman Solomon is a journalist, activist and media critic who co-founded activism website RootsAction.Org. He is the author of the new book, “War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine,” which has been endorsed by a wide range of academics and public figures, from Daniel Ellsberg, Noam Chomsky and Medea Benjamin to Naomi Klein and Amy Goodman. Solomon contended that, while the United States has suffered serious military setbacks and embarrassments in the 21st century, the military-industrial complex driving the war machine has gone from strength to strength, telling “MintCast” host Alan MacLeod that:  “Raytheon, Boeing and other military contractors never lose a war. It is always extremely profitable [for them]. But in terms of geopolitical positioning, it is very difficult to maintain an empire in decline, which is not a bad description of the United States in the last decades.” While the U.S.' “forever wars” in West Asia might finally be dying down, tensions with Russia and China are being consciously ramped up in Washington, leading to an extremely dangerous standoff against two nuclear-armed nations. Russia and China have, between them, thousands of nuclear warheads, and a conflict with either, Solomon told MacLeod, could end the world. As he said: “The U.S. is on a collision course with sanity around the survival of humanity in the nuclear age, ginning up [passions] rather than engaging in diplomacy over the conflict in Ukraine, and the consequences, to put it mildly, are not only horrific in the present, but potentially omnicidal.” Support the showMintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud. Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey's new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

This summer, military forces in the West African country of Niger pushed the country's president, Mohamed Bazoum, out of power.This was not the first coup in Niger's history, or in the recent history of the Sahel region of Africa. In the last few years there have been coups in multiple countries in the region, including Burkina Faso and Mali. But this one has put the West especially on edge. Why?Listening to U.S. officials or much of the reporting on the topic, you'd think this coup has huge ramifications for the fight against Islamist militant groups in West Africa, and for the U.S. and Russia's race to gain influence across Africa. But as Stephanie Savell, an expert on U.S.-Niger relations and a co-director of the Costs of War Project at the Watson Institute, explains, those framings of the coup largely miss what's really going on in the region. And worse still — they might actually make it more difficult to bring peace and stability to this part of the world. Read more from Stephanie Savell on the coup in NigerTranscript coming soon to our websiteLearn more about the Costs of War projectLearn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts

MILITARY ANALYSIS, KOREAN WAR PROJECT FUNDING AND WAR HORSES FOR VETERANS Dr. Rebecca Grant,  Frequent guest on national news programs as well as Veterans Radio, provides fact-based global military analysis Ted Barker, consultant to the DOD regarding the military personnel and actions in the Korean War Patrick Benson, co-founder of War Horses for Veterans and Coordinator for the War Horse Challenge in Las Vegas August 26 Dr. Grant is a Military Historian/Author/Commentator and President of IRIS Independent Research. She is a regular guest on Fox Business with Charles Payne and several other news channels to inform citizens of the facts related to global military status. THE KOREAN WAR PROJECT NEEDS OUR HELP Hal and Ted Barker have been administrators of the www.koreanwar.org website since January of 1994. They began their quest for information in the late 70s when looking for more information about the Silver Star awarded to their father, Major Edward Lee Barker. Their personal quest quickly grew into a deeper interest, perhaps obsession, for all the military knowledge they could gather that related to the Korean War. WAR HORSES FOR VETERANS – WAR HORSE CHALLENGE IN LAS VEGAS AUGUST 26 For more information: www.whfv.org

The 2003 invasion and occupation of Iraq resulted in massive death and destruction, and fueled sectarian tensions, which culminated in a violent civil war. More than 300,000 Iraqis have died from direct war violence and 9.2 million people have been internally displaced, according to Brown University's Costs of War Project. The brutal invasion and occupation of Iraq entrenched the country in a cycle of sectarian violence and impacted every aspect of life in Iraq, from governance to health care, infrastructure, economy and the environment and long term trauma In a recent piece in the Guardian, one of today's guests Professor Sinan Antoon writes, “I had always hoped to see the end of Saddam's dictatorship at the hands of the Iraqi people, not courtesy of a neocolonial project that would dismantle what had remained of the Iraqi state and replace it with a regime based on ethno-sectarian dynamics, plunging the country into violent chaos and civil wars." This week, we bring you the first part of our conversation about the reasons behind the catastrophic invasion of Iraq.

Memorial Day is a federal holiday in the United States for honoring and mourning the U.S. military personnel who have died while serving in the United States Armed Forces According to the Costs of War Project at Brown University, U.S. wars since the September 11th attacks have cost over $8 trillion. A separate report by the group estimates 4.6 million people have died since 9/11 as a result of the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, Yemen, Libya and Somalia. And over the past 16 months, Congress has approved more than $113 billion for Ukraine following Russia's invasion. This Sunday, we replay our show on how young people are targeted by the military and highlight the amazing work that is being done to counter that recruitment. We will hear from Amanda Jordan-Starks about the work of Project YANO based in San Diego and Joanne Sheehan from the War Resisters League.

Scott was joined by Stephanie Savell of the Cost of War Project to discuss her organization's new report on indirect deaths in America's post-9/11 wars. Savell's research now points to between 4.5 million and 4.6 million indirect deaths that have already occurred in the countries affected by the wars as an indirect result of U.S. intervention. In this interview, Scott and Savell discuss the methods used, what constitutes indirect deaths vs. direct deaths and how the devastation differed from country to country. Discussed on the show: “How Death Outlives War” (Cost of War Project) “Yemeni Civil War Unleashes a Plague of Locusts” (Antiwar.com) Stephanie Savell is the co-director of the Costs of War project at Brown University's Watson Institute. Savell is an anthropologist who studies security, militarized policing, and civic engagement in relation to the United States post-9/11 wars and policing in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She is the co-author of The Civic Imagination: Making a Difference in American Political Life. This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Tom Woods' Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott. Get Scott's interviews before anyone else! Subscribe to the Substack. Shop Libertarian Institute merch or donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal or Bitcoin: 1DZBZNJrxUhQhEzgDh7k8JXHXRjY Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 Download Episode. Scott was joined by Stephanie Savell of the Cost of War Project to discuss her organization's new report on indirect deaths in America's post-9/11 wars. Savell's research now points to between 4.5 million and 4.6 million indirect deaths that have already occurred in the countries affected by the wars as an indirect result of U.S. intervention. In this interview, Scott and Savell discuss the methods used, what constitutes indirect deaths vs. direct deaths and how the devastation differed from country to country. Discussed on the show: “How Death Outlives War” (Cost of War Project) “Yemeni Civil War Unleashes a Plague of Locusts” (Antiwar.com) Stephanie Savell is the co-director of the Costs of War project at Brown University's Watson Institute. Savell is an anthropologist who studies security, militarized policing, and civic engagement in relation to the United States post-9/11 wars and policing in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She is the co-author of The Civic Imagination: Making a Difference in American Political Life. This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Tom Woods' Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott. Get Scott's interviews before anyone else! Subscribe to the Substack. Shop Libertarian Institute merch or donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal or Bitcoin: 1DZBZNJrxUhQhEzgDh7k8JXHXRjY

The US launched its so-called 'war on terror' in the wake of 9/11. Invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq followed with a huge loss of life. Instability spread across many parts of the Middle East. So, what's been the true impact of this so-dubbed war?  Join host Nastasya Tay.Guests: Stephanie Savell - Co-Director of Costs of War Project at Brown University. Ruba Ali Al-Hassani - Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Lancaster University. Michael O'Hanlon - Director of Research in Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution. 

•  Since 9/11, four times as many in the military die by suicide than in combat • “The more veterans I talk to these days are ashamed of their military service”   (Total Recorded Time is 29:22)    Active-duty military know they could be asked to put their lives on the line in times of armed conflict.   But to see a steady loss of life during peacetime because of suicide – that's a problem a former Army officer says needs to be better addressed.   Tara Fields resigned her commission as a captain with the Kansas National Guard after her efforts failed to get top brass to deal with the steady loss of lives through suicide.   “I love the Army,” says Ms. Fields, author of the new book Tracer Patient.  “I would do it again but … the more veterans I talk to these days are ashamed of their military service. ”   She says while the large majority in the military do a good job, a minority, including many in positions of power over policies, are incompetent or worse. “We quietly retire them. We sweep them under the rug,” she says.     Tara Fields talks about the suicide problem and what could be done to solve it in this edition of Bizgnus Interviews.    Please click here to watch the interview: https://youtu.be/OwFO3S6U2zY   It's not a small problem.  According to data reported in 2021 by Brown University's Cost of War Project, about 7,057 service members had been killed in various military operations since 9/11, while more than four times as many -- 30,177 – had taken their own lives.   Department of Defense data show that the National Guard has a higher overall suicide rate than other branches, including active-duty soldiers.   “This should not be happening in the world's best miliary,” she says. “We can do better.”   Ms. Fields served 12 years in the military, eight of those on active duty. In the Kansas National Guard, she was a behavioral health officer.  She says she quit after her calls for changes were largely ignored by those up the military food chain.   She is the author of the new book, “Tracer Patient,” (Writers Republic LLC, March 2023).   For more information:  www.t4therapy.org

A new study by Brown University's Cost of War Project has estimated that post-9/11 wars launched by the west have directly and indirectly resulted in more than 4.5 million dead, most of them civilians. Also today, France, US, and UK set to begin training Ukrainians to pilot western fighter jets.

On COI #422, Kyle Anzalone breaks down a new report from the Cost of War Project. Odysee Rumble  Donate LBRY Credits bTTEiLoteVdMbLS7YqDVSZyjEY1eMgW7CP Donate Bitcoin 36PP4kT28jjUZcL44dXDonFwrVVDHntsrk Donate Bitcoin Cash Qp6gznu4xm97cj7j9vqepqxcfuctq2exvvqu7aamz6 Patreon Subscribe Star YouTube Facebook  Twitter  MeWe Apple Podcast  Amazon Music Google Podcasts Spotify iHeart Radio

On COI #422, Kyle Anzalone breaks down a new report from the Cost of War Project.

The political and security situation in Sudan is melting down. In Burkino Faso this week, the military dictatorship has been blamed for the massacre of 60 people. Security vacuums in Chad and Mali are attracting business from the Wagner Group, the notorious Russian private military contractor. It seems all over Africa, especially in places where the West and the U.S. have their fingerprints, things are boiling over. Why?Our guest this week, Stephanie Savell, co-director of The Costs of War Project, just returned from Niger and has plenty of thoughts about how Washington security programs throughout the region have set the stage for the kind of problems we have now and what should be the focus of our attention — and isn't.In the first segment, Dan & Kelley talk about the Biden Administration's weak sauce on Sudan, and the China select committee in the House hosting a war game run by the ultimate military-industrial think tank, the Center for a New American Security. More from Stephanie Savell:The 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force: a Comprehensive Look at Where and How it's been Used, Costs of War Project This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit crashingthewarparty.substack.com

The US government is frequently defined generally as an army with an insurance company.  Regarding the latter, podcast listeners are well aware federal healthcare policymakers have essentially done nothing to address the healthcare industry's annual 500 million ton carbon footprint, 9% of total annual US GHG emissions, despite the fact that at $1.5 trillion the federal government is far and away the largest purchaser of healthcare services.  What about the army?  The army, or the Department of Defense (DOD), is the single largest institutional fossil fuel user and consequently the single largest GHG emitter in the world.  The DOD along with the military-industrial complex annually emit over 110 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions that represents 80% of the federal governments total annual GHG emissions.  This reality is particularly disturbing and paradoxical because the DOD's contribution to the climate crisis compromises its mission to ensure our nation's security.  Despite the fact climate crisis-caused geopolitical instability is increasing, absent proactively working toward building climate security, or climate crisis-related conflict prevention the Pentagon is, Prof. Crawford concludes, inadvertently or deliberately militarizing climate change, that is preparing to fight climate-related battles.  (Listeners are also encouraged to read MIT Press's related 2021 work by Gus Speth titled, They Knew, The US Fed Govt's 50 Year Role in Causing the Climate Crisis.)       This 35-minute interview begins by Prof. Crawford describing what largely accounts for the DOD GHG emissions and problems associated with calculating total DOD emissions.  She explains the 1997 Kyoto agreement that permitted countries to exempt military emissions from nations' reduction goals.  She explains the DOD's use of fossil fuels since Vietnam to present and reductions in DOD emissions over the past few years, discusses US continuing the emission costs of continuing to defend the Persian Gulf, the debate between DOD building resilience versus mitigating GHG emissions and the interview concludes with Prof. Crawford's comments concerning whether increasing climate disruption will necessarily lead to conflict or war.         Neta Crawford is Montague Burton Chair in International Relations and also holds a Professorial Fellowship at Balliol College, Oxford.  She previously taught Boston University and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.   Prof. Crawford is a co-founder and co-director of the Costs of War Project, based at Brown University and since 2017 has served on the board of the nuclear non-proliferation advocacy organization, Council for a Livable World.   She also serves on the editorial boards of The Journal of Political Philosophy and Global Perspectives.  Prof. Crawford received the Distinguished Scholar award from the International Ethics section of the International Studies Association in 2018.   She was a co-winner of the 2003 American Political Science Association Jervis and Schroeder Award for best book in International History and Politics for her work, Argument and Change in World Politics: Ethics, Decolonization, Humanitarian Intervention.  Professor Crawford's most recent publication is The Pentagon, Climate Change, and War (MIT Press, 2022). She is also working on To Make Heaven Weep: Civilians and the American Way of War.  She has authored several other books including, Accountability for Killing: Moral Responsibility for Collateral Damage in America's Post‑9/11 Wars (2013).  Her opinion pieces have appeared in The Washington Post.  Prof. Crawford earned her undergraduate degree at Brown and her doctorate in political science at MIT.  Information on Prof. Crawford's book is at: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262047487/the-pentagon-climate-change-and-war/. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thehealthcarepolicypodcast.com

This is the first in a multi-part series of episodes marking the 20th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, which began on March 20, 2003. Have Americans truly learned the lessons of the failed war in Iraq? Catherine Lutz at Brown University's Costs of War Project and historian Andrew Bacevich of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft contend that the war's disastrous consequences, including hundreds of thousands killed and millions displaced, have been memory-holed. Rather than reckon with a misplaced confidence in the efficacy of military power projection, most Americans are indifferent to or generally supportive of U.S. hegemony. In Bacevich's words, a reckoning that wasn't.

In an extended interview, we speak with Neta Crawford, co-director of the Costs of War Project at Brown University, about her book, “The Pentagon, Climate Change, and War: Charting the Rise and Fall of U.S. Military Emissions.”

In an extended interview, we speak with Neta Crawford, co-director of the Costs of War Project at Brown University, about her book, “The Pentagon, Climate Change, and War: Charting the Rise and Fall of U.S. Military Emissions.”

My new book LOSERTHINK, available now on Amazon https://tinyurl.com/rqmjc2a Find my "extra" content on Locals: https://ScottAdams.Locals.com Content: Senator Fetterman's condition Project Veritas, James O'Keefe Dilbert filter on Pfizer GoF meeting NYT goes after VP Harris Can civilians legally kill invading soldiers? Whiteboard: Cartel ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you would like to enjoy this same content plus bonus content from Scott Adams, including micro-lessons on lots of useful topics to build your talent stack, please see scottadams.locals.com for full access to that secret treasure. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/scott-adams00/support

2022 is coming to a close, but one of the most consequential events of the last year continues unabated: the War in Ukraine. As we approach the one-year mark of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, experts and casual observers (not to mention countless Ukrainians and Russians) are all left wondering: how might this war end? Should the US and NATO support Ukraine at all costs? Or should they push Ukraine and Russia towards a negotiated settlement? What would such a settlement even look like? Meanwhile, new conflicts around the world continue to emerge, each with their own seemingly impossible questions. This is why we're launching ‘Escalation,' a new limited series from Trending Globally. Over the next few months, you'll hear from experts about the history, philosophy, and even psychology of conflict escalation, and what can be done to reduce global conflicts going forward. Our first episode in the series features Lyle Goldstein, a visiting Professor at the Watson Institute and Director of Asia Engagement at the think-tank Defense Priorities. He's an expert on the effects of great power conflict, and the theories that explain them. Professor Goldstein has been following the war in Ukraine closely through both Western and Russian media. He recently published a paper with Watson's Costs of War Project looking at how, while there are no obvious paths out of this war, there are at least paths we should know to avoid. Host Dan Richards and Professor Goldstein explore the poor assumptions and misunderstandings that drive many ideas in this conflict, as well as what a better path forward might look like. Learn more about Professor Goldstein's recent paper with the Costs of War Project. Learn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts. Transcript coming soon to our website.

This past year, Trending Globally has been teaming up with the Costs of War Project to explore the effects of 20 years of America's post-9/11 wars. Past episodes have explored America's growing military presence around the world, the refugee crisis these wars have created, and the effects they've had on our planet and environment.  This episode takes a closer look at how these wars have changed life in the United States – in cities, towns, and communities across the country. The first part of the episode focuses on a transformation that's become all too visible in the past few years: the militarization of America's police. The second part of the episode focuses on a less-visible phenomenon, but one that's killed more servicepeople and veterans than all 20 years of combat combined.  Guests on this episode: https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/people/contributors/jessica-katzenstein (Dr. Jessica Katzenstein)  https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/people/contributors/thomas-h-ben-suitt-iii (Dr. Ben Suitt)  https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/ (Learn more about the Costs of War Project) https://watson.brown.edu/news/podcasts (Learn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts) Transcript coming soon

This episode of A Cosmic Void Aaron Donaldson from the Reel War Project comes on to discuss the podcast's first sports movie: Moneyball. In addition to breaking the movie down we examine how sabermetrics has transformed all of sports, how sports movies occupy a similar space with war movies, what a Stanley Kubrick Disney film would look like, and so much more! Follow on Amazon Music, Spotify, Stitcher, or where you get your podcasts https://open.spotify.com/show/4uDdQrjtmgBN0wRIeFIDQW Send us an email acosmicvoid@gmail.com Follow the podcast and our network on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/redwood_sound_labs or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/RedwoodSoundLabs Check out Reel War Project https://open.spotify.com/show/3nnK9FtFfGZD6HLSnaFWiU --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/acosmicvoid/message

In this episode, we continued our special focus on #Russia and #Ukraine. Last time we were here, Russian President Vladimir Putin had just recognized the “People's Republics” of Luhansk and Donetsk, delivered a speech filled with historical myths and grievances, and Belarus had announced that the Russian military units there for exercises were not, in fact leaving. Only a few days later, Russia launched its long-feared invasion of Ukraine, attacking from multiple directions, bombarding cities with missile and artillery strikes, and causing a humanitarian crisis that now stands at over 1,000,000 refugees having fled Ukraine. To tell us where things stand and what more might unfold, we welcome two of our Krulak Center Fellows. Dr. Yuval Weber is one of our Distinguished Fellows here at the Krulak Center. He is a Research Assistant Professor at Texas A&M's Bush School of Government and Public Service in Washington, DC. Prior to Texas A&M, Dr. Weber served as the Kennan Institute Associate Professor of Russian and Eurasian Studies at the Daniel Morgan Graduate School, as a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Government at Harvard University, and as an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow. Dr. Weber has held research positions at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University, the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, and the Carnegie Moscow Center. He has published on a range of Russian and Eurasian security, political, and economic topics in academic journals and for the popular press in the United States and Russia. Dr. Rosella Cappella Zielinski is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Boston University specializing in the study of political economy of security. Her book How States Pay for Wars (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2016) won the 2017 American Political Science Association Robert L. Jervis and Paul W. Schroeder Best Book Award in International History and Politics. Her other works can be found in Conflict Management and Peace Science, European Journal of International Relations, Journal of Global Security Studies, Journal of Peace Research, and Security Studies, as well as Foreign Affairs, Texas National Security Review, and War on the Rocks. She is one of #TeamKrulak's Non-Resident Fellows, and is also affiliated with the Costs of War Project. In addition to her academic research, she is committed to promoting the study of political economy of national security, and is the founder and Co-Director of Boston University's Project for the Political Economy of Security. Intro/outro music is "Evolution" from BenSound.com (https://www.bensound.com) Follow the Krulak Center: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thekrulakcenter Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thekrulakcenter/ Twitter: @TheKrulakCenter YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcIYZ84VMuP8bDw0T9K8S3g LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/brute-krulak-center-for-innovation-and-future-warfare Krulak Center homepage on The Landing: https://unum.nsin.us/kcic

In this episode, Dr Lauren Sanders talks with Damian Copeland about one of the most important legal issues raised by autonomous weapons: how states might carry out weapons reviews of these technologies. The application of this obligation to autonomous weapons will have several challenges. Where a device has the capacity for self-learning, will one single review suffice? Will States be able to take on trust reviews carried out by weapons developers? Damian Copeland is a part-time Senior Research Fellow with the UQ Law and Future of War Project. He is also a serving member of the Australian Defence Force and a Director at International Weapons Review, an Incorporated Legal Practice specialising in the legal review of new technology weapons. Further reading:ICRC - A Guide to the Review of New Weapons, Methods and Means of Warfare, updated 2020Tim McFarland - The status of autonomous weapon systems under international humanitarian law, published 2017Natalia Jevglevskaja - International Law and Weapons Review,  published 22 Jan 2022Dustin Lewis - Legal reviews of weapons, means and methods of warfare involving artificial intelligence: 16 elements to consider, published 21 Mar 2019

The B-2 Spirit, known as the ‘Stealth Bomber,' is one of the most advanced aircrafts in the US military. It has a fuel efficiency of about 4.2 gallons per mile. (That's not a typo; it's less than one mile per gallon.) Burning a full tank of gas in a B-2 releases roughly 250 metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. That's more than 50 times what the average car releases in an entire year.  And that's just for one trip, for one plane in the US military – the world's largest institutional consumer of fossil fuel.  “The size of that consumption is kind of hard to get your head around,” says Neta Crawford on this episode of Trending Globally.  Neta Crawford is a professor of political science at Boston University and co-founder of the Costs of War project, which is housed at the Watson Institute. The project works to uncover the financial, human, political, and environmental costs of America's post-9/11 wars. This year Trending Globally has teamed up with the Costs of War project to explore what they've found. On this episode you'll hear from Neta Crawford on her groundbreaking work calculating the size and scope of the US military's carbon footprint. In the process of uncovering the extent of the military's fuel consumption and carbon emissions, she also traces the long and complex relationship between national security, fossil fuels, and climate change.  https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/costs/social/environment (Learn more about Neta Crawford's work. ) https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/ (Learn more about the Costs of War Project.) https://watson.brown.edu/news/podcasts (Learn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts.)

This week, Stephanie Savell, researcher and co-founder of Brown University's Costs of War Project, joins us to talk about her study of how U.S. military assistance — ostensibly for counterterrorism — has created more terrorists and killed untold more people over the last 20 years. She also talks about how Costs of War became an essential tool for measuring not only the financial toll, but the human destruction left behind in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In our first segment, Kelley and Dan talk about the new "Global Posture Review" and how the Biden Administration doesn't seem keen on scaling back the military footprint abroad, at all. More from Stephanie Savell:The Costs of United States’ Post-9/11 “Security Assistance”:How Counterterrorism Intensified Conflict in Burkina Faso and Around the World (March 4, 2021)“The Problem with War: Digital Exclusive Panel” with Jon Stewart (television panelist, October 4, 2021) Subscribe at crashingthewarparty.substack.com

This episode of A Cosmic Void we look back to an episode of Reel Roulette from four years ago when Biggs and Aaron Donaldson pulled apart Deep Blue Sea. We'll be back with new episodes next week, see you then! Follow on Amazon Music, Spotify, Stitcher, or where you get your podcasts! https://open.spotify.com/show/4uDdQrjtmgBN0wRIeFIDQW --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/acosmicvoid/message

On today's show, we are joined once again by Dr. John Oddo, Associate Professor of English at Carnegie Mellon University, for a retrospective discussion of “War on Terror” rhetoric 20 years after September 11th, 2001. Ever since the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. government and national news media have consistently used Us and Them categories of enemy- and threat-construction, drawing on a conceptual metaphor of terrorism as an act of war (as opposed to a criminal act) to justify preventative military action. There have also been some notable shifts in U.S. war rhetoric in recent years: for one thing, references to September 11th as an inciting event have become scarcer as leaders have reframed the fight against global terrorism as an end in itself. And whereas earlier in the war, media and political figures tended to conflate specific terrorist organizations and so-called “state sponsors of terrorism”, they are now more likely to advocate a “targeted” approach: opposing large-scale troop deployments while nevertheless supporting missile attacks, special forces operations, cyberwarfare, and other forms of state violence.After John walks us through the material and social reasons for these continuities and shifts, we analyze specific examples of post-9/11 war propaganda, comparing Larry P. Goodson's November 2001 op-ed “U.S. Troops Must Go In” with Ryan Crocker's August 2021 “Why Biden's Lack of Strategic Patience Led to Disaster.” We examine their rhetorical strategies and discuss the greater implications of how some key tropes have evolved across texts and time: framing the war as a “clash of civilizations,” using the oppression of women and children as justificatory narratives, employing euphemisms like “patience” in foreign policy strategies, and zooming in on U.S. enemies' violence while eliding the violence done by our military and its allies.Lastly, we turn to a discussion of the ongoing drone war in the Middle East and Africa, in which we highlight John's new research project on media construals of drone strike victims. John concludes with a blistering critique of an enduring problem in U.S. political rhetoric: the metaphor of war deaths as “payments” for which we deserve some return, which obscures how inflicting suffering and killing is always an irrevocable moral act. Texts Analyzed in this Episode:Biden, J. (2021, 31 Aug.). Address to the nation on the end of the war in Afghanistan [Speech audio recording]. Transcript, video, and audio available from American Rhetoric: https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/joebidenendofafghanistanwar.htmCrocker, R. (2021, 21 Aug.). Why Biden's lack of strategic patience led to disaster. The New York Times. Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/21/opinion/us-afghanistan-pakistan-taliban.htmlDowd, M. (2001, 18 Nov.). Liberties; Cleopatra and Osama. The New York Times. Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/18/opinion/liberties-cleopatra-and-osama.htmlGoodson, L. P. (2001, 14 Nov.). U.S. troops must go in. The New York Times. Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/14/opinion/us-troops-must-go-in.htmlWorks and Concepts Cited in this Episode:Chomsky, N., & Herman, E. S. (1994). Manufacturing consent: The political economy of the mass media. London: Vintage Books.Cloud, D. L. (2004). “To veil the threat of terror”: Afghan women and the ⟨clash of civilizations⟩ in the imagery of the US war on terrorism. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 90(3), 285-306.Goodby, J.E. & Gross, D. (2010, 22 Dec.). Strategic patience has become strategic passivity. The Brookings Institution. Retrieved from: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/strategic-patience-has-become-strategic-passivity/Gopal, A. (2021, 6 Sept.). The other Afghan women: In the countryside, the endless killing of civilians turned women against the occupiers who claimed to be helping them. The New Yorker. Retrieved from: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/09/13/the-other-afghan-womenHodges, A. (2011). The" War on terror" narrative: discourse and intertextuality in the construction and contestation of sociopolitical reality. OUP USA.Oddo, J. (2011). War legitimation discourse: Representing ‘Us' and ‘Them' in four US presidential addresses. Discourse & Society, 22(3), 287-314.Oddo, J. (2014). Intertextuality and the 24-hour News Cycle: A Day in the Rhetorical Life of Colin Powell's UN Address. Michigan State University Press.Oddo, J. (2018). The discourse of propaganda: Case studies from the Persian Gulf War and the War on Terror. Penn State Press.Safire, W. (1999, 3 Jan.). On language; Not so fast! The New York Times Magazine. Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/1999/01/03/magazine/on-language-not-so-fast.html [Contextual analysis on the evolution of the term “strategic patience” and Strobe Talbott's original usage]re:blurb episode on Conceptual MetaphorOur first episode with Dr. Oddo, in which he articulates his theory of war propagandaThe Watson Institute at Brown University's “Costs of War” Project

社评：美国嗜战，世界遭殃| US war record not one to boast ofUS Secretary of State Antony Blinken was grilled by lawmakers in acontentious hearing on Monday before the House Foreign Affairs Committee over how the administration hadmishandled the military withdrawal from Afghanistan.美国国务卿安东尼•布林肯周一在众议院外交事务委员会就从阿富汗撤军问题举行的争议性听证会上受到议员们的盘问。They called the process "a disaster" and "a disgrace". They tried to seek answers as to why Americans and Afghans who had worked for the US government for years were left behind in total chaos before the military completed its withdrawal on Aug 30. They demanded accountability.他们称这个过程为“一场灾难”和“耻辱”。他们试图找出答案，为什么在8月30日军方完成撤军之前，为美国政府工作多年的美国人和阿富汗人被抛在了完全混乱局面的后面。他们要求追究责任。Yet what they forgot or chose not to ask is why the United States had got itselfmired in the mess of the "Graveyard of Empires" in the first place. To ensure the US avoids repeating the same mistake in the years to come, they should have taken the opportunity to start a collective soul-searching into why the world's sole superpower is so addicted to wars. According to National Interest magazine, from 1948 to 1991, the US engaged in 46 military interventions. From 1992 to 2017 the number increased fourfold to 188.然而，他们忘记或不问的是，为什么美国一开始就陷入了“帝国坟场”的混乱之中。为了确保美国在未来几年避免重蹈覆辙，他们本应借此机会开始集体反省，研究为什么这个世界上唯一的超级大国如此沉迷于战争。据《国家利益》杂志报道，从1948年至1991年，美国进行了46次军事干预。从1992年至2017年，这一数字增加了四倍，达到188。Actually, the US has enjoyed only 16 years of peace in its 242-year history, making the country "the most warlike nation in the history of the world", as former US president Jimmy Carter noted in 2019 when he spoke with thenincumbent leader Donald Trump. Carter attributed thepenchant for war to the US trying to force other countries to "adopt our American principles".事实上，美国在242年的历史中只享有了16年的和平，使美国成为“世界历史上最好战的国家”，正如美国前总统吉米·卡特在2019年与当时的现任总统唐纳德·特朗普交谈时指出的那样。卡特将美国嗜站归因于总是迫使其他国家“采纳我们美国的原则”。Wars are costly, and it is US taxpayers who foot the bill. The war on terror that started in 2001, has cost the US an estimated $8 trillion, and claimed over 900,000 lives around the world over the past two decades, according to a report issued recently by the Costs of War Project of Brown University. The war in Afghanistan alone has cost $2.3 trillion. That represents $300 million a day over the 20 years.战争代价高昂，而买单的是美国纳税人。布朗大学一项“战争成本项目”课题组最近发布的一份报告显示，始于2001年的反恐战争，在过去20年中，已使美国损失了约8万亿美元，并夺去了全世界90多万人的生命。仅阿富汗战争就花费了2.3万亿美元。这相当于20年来每天花费3亿美元。Yet despite the high costs, some in the US may still believe the wars that Washington initiates are worth it as they are convinced by the rhetoric that they are launched for noble purposes — to free people from tyranny and repression, or in defense of freedom, democracy and human rights. But the fact is, concerns about US power and influence have risen in many countries around the world. According to a 2017 Pew survey, 39 percent of the respondents across 38 countries consider US influence and power a direct and major threat to their countries.然而，尽管代价很高，但美国一些人可能仍然认为美国发动的战争是值得的，因为他们相信，这些战争是为了高尚的目的——使人民摆脱暴政和镇压，或捍卫自由、民主和人权。但事实是，世界上许多国家因美国的实力和影响力而逐渐担忧。根据2017年皮尤调查，38个国家的39%的受访者认为美国的影响力和权力对其国家构成直接重大威胁。It is time the US learned the lessons of its failed wars. The world does not want its declaration that "America is back" to be a promise of more wars to come.现在是美国从失败的战争中吸取教训的时候了。世界不希望其宣称的“美国回来了”成为未来带来更多战争宣告。 1. contentious美 [kən'tenʃəs] 英 [kən'tenʃəs]adj.可能引起争论的；爱争论的；充满争吵的网络：好争吵的；有争议的；引起争议的 2. mishandle美 [mɪs'hænd(ə)l] 英 [mɪs'hænd(ə)l]v.用错；瞎弄；虐待；办错网络：胡乱操作的；乱弄；不能处理 3. mired美 [maɪrd] 英 [maɪə(r)d]adj.陷入困境；处境艰难；陷入泥沼；深陷泥潭网络：使……深陷泥潭；陷於困境；麦瑞德 4. incumbent美 [ɪn'kʌmbənt] 英 [ɪn'kʌmbənt]n.在职者；现任者adj.在职的；现任的；有责任；必须履行网络：义不容辞的；任职者；职责所在的 5. penchant美 ['penʃənt] 英 ['pɒʃɑn]n.爱好；嗜爱网络：倾向；嗜好；强烈的倾向

This fall marks the 20th year of American military engagement abroad following the events of 9/11. This year Trending Globally is teaming up with scholars at the Costs of War project to explore the effects of two decades of war. The Costs of War project is an interdisciplinary group of scholars who have stepped in where the government has often failed, working to measure the true financial, human, political, and environmental costs of America's post-9/11 wars.  On this episode Sarah Baldwin '87 talks with Stephanie Savell, one of the project's directors, about how the organization started and why its work is more necessary than ever. Dan Richards talks with David Vine about one of the most heartbreaking costs of these wars: the more than 38 million people who have been displaced from their homes in countries including Afghanistan and Iraq. https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/ (Learn more about the Costs of War Project.)  https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520385689/the-united-states-of-war (Learn more about and purchase David Vine's book ​​The United States of War) https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520385689/the-united-states-of-war (A Global History of America's Endless Conflicts, from Columbus to the Islamic State.) https://watson.brown.edu/news/podcasts (Learn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts.  )

This episode of A Cosmic Void we're covering Man of Steel with returning guest, and unabashed Superman lover, Aaron Donaldson. We point out what they got right, what they got wrong, the toxic masculinity, the alien tropes, and the Jesus of it all. And of course we weigh in on every Superman movie. And we do it all in a single bound! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/acosmicvoid/message

In this episode, Alice and Nicolas introduce their colleagues Dr. Laura Mills and Dr. Ken Mavor, who are part of the Visualising War research team at the University of St Andrews. Laura explains what her background in International Relations brings to the project; and Ken discusses what his study of psychology can contribute to our understanding of how war stories work and what they do to us. They swap notes about war stories that have influenced them and talk about their plans to involve artists, film makers, journalists, veterans and peace activists (among many others) in the podcast series. For more information about individuals and their projects, access to resources and more, please have a look on the University of St Andrews Visualising War website. Music composed by Jonathan Young Sound mixing by Zofia Guertin

Welcome to the Visualising War podcast! In our introductory episode, Dr. Alice König and Dr. Nicolas Wiater explain what their exciting multidisciplinary project is all about. They discuss what we can learn by exploring past and present habits of representing war - and why it is important to examine how war stories work and what they do to us. They talk about their aims for the podcast, the exciting guests they have lined up, and what they hope listeners will get out of it. As they explain, this podcast is for anyone who has ever been moved or horrified or fascinated or excited by a war story and wants to understand why. We hope you enjoy the episode!For more information about individuals and their projects, access to resources and more, please have a look on the University of St Andrews Visualising War website.   Music composed by Jonathan Young Sound mixing by Zofia Guertin  

Emma Moore is a Research Associate for the Military, Veterans, and Society Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). Moore is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Brute Krulak Center for Innovation and Creativity at Marine Corps University. Prior to joining CNAS, Moore served as Executive Assistant and Social Media Lead for Narrative Strategies, a group of experts using strategic communication to combat violent extremism. Previously, she worked as a Program Manager with ProVetus, a veteran peer-mentoring organization, interned at the US Naval War College's Center on Irregular Warfare and Armed Groups, and worked with Brown University's the Cost of War Project. Moore earned a Master of Arts in War Studies from King's College London and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from Brown University. Intro/outro music is "Evolution" from BenSound.com (https://www.bensound.com) Follow the Krulak Center's activities below: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brute.krulak.39 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thekrulakcenter/ Twitter: @TheKrulakCenter YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcIYZ84VMuP8bDw0T9K8S3g Krulak Center homepage on The Landing: https://unum.nsin.us/kcic

Jon and Matt were joined by Dr. David Vine to discuss the perpetual warfare state that the U.S has been since even before its independence. For its 244 years history, there have only been 11 years for which the United States was not engaged in military combat. These wars have almost all been offensive in nature, have killed tens of millions of people, and destroyed the lives of exponentially more. The history of the United States is a history of aggressive war. We need to have a reckoning with this blood soaked past. Dr. Vine is a professor of political anthropology at American University, a board member on the Costs of War Project, a co founder of the Overseas Base Realignment and Closure Coalition, and the author of Base Nation, The United States of War, Island of Shame: The Secret History of the U.S. Military Base on Diego Garcia. Specifically Discussed: - David's background and his development of an interest in exposing the imperial history of the United States - The ways in which the US is an empire and the various phases of that imperialism - The aggressive nature of nearly all US wars - Debunking the myth that the massive size of the Department of War and its 800 foreign bases does anything in terms of defense of the United States - The inseparable nature of racism and war - The need for truth and reconciliation and accountability for the mass death and destruction caused the our imperial wars of aggression David's Work: Please Support Him! David's Website David's books: Island of Shame: The Secret History of the U.S. Military Base on Diego Garcia., Base Nation, and The United States of War, Our Work Read our "In the Context of Empire" blog with corresponding and expanded posts to this content! Social Media: Twitter- @Mattylongruns.

Jon, Dan and Matt were honored to speak with Dr. Neta C. Crawford about the utter destruction that has been caused by the United States' 2 decade "War on Terror." Dr. Crawford is the co-director of the Costs of War Project at Brown University, Professor and Chair of Political Science at Boston University, and the author of several books including Accountability for Killing: Moral Responsibility for Collateral Damage in America's Post-9/11 Wars. Specifically discussed: Dr. Crawford's background with regards to her interest in revealing the toll of American militarism Human costs: direct and indirect deaths, injuries (physical and psychological) Living Under Drones- study of psychological damage of drone war on civilians Financial Costs- trillions spent, huge deficits, opportunity costs to US citizens- infrastructure, education, healthcare etc. The environmental costs: The US military's shocking fossil fuel consumption, greenhouse gas emissions of other ways in which the Pentagon causes extreme degradation of the environment Dr. Crawford's Work. Please Support Her! The Costs of War Project Costs and Consequences of US Post-9/11 Wars: Focus on Climate Change- Video Pentagon Fuel Use, Climate Change, and the Costs of War- Paper Dr Crawford's book: Accountability for Killing: Moral Responsibility for Collateral Damage in America's Post-9/11 Wars Our Work: Read our "In the Context of Empire" blog with corresponding and expanded posts to this content! Social Media: Twitter- @Mattylongruns.