In lieu of a News Roundup this week, Danny and Derek welcome René Rojas—assistant professor of human development at SUNY Binghamton, member of the editorial board of Catalyst, and contributor to Jacobin—to discuss the September 4 Chilean constitutional plebiscite and what it means for Chilean politics.

Check out René’s latest essay in Catalyst, “Chile’s Resurgent Left”. Also, keep an eye out for his piece on the plebiscite in Jacobin this coming weekend, as well as an upcoming book on 21st Century leftist movements for Verso.

Recorded Friday, September 9, 2022

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Danny and Derek welcome Jason Stearns, assistant professor at Simon Fraser University and director of the Congo Research Group at NYU, for a discussion of the conflicts currently transpiring in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). They unpack a number of topics, including the background of the March 23 Movement (M23), the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), the controversy over UN and East African peacekeeping missions, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), the Ituri Conflict, and more.

Grab copies of Jason’s books Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa and The War That Doesn't Say Its Name: The Unending Conflict in the Congo.

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Danny and Derek welcome back Tim Nunan, lecturer in global history at the Free University of Berlin, for the eighth episode on Afghanistan's history. They pick up at the end of the Obama administration, examining the Afghanistan War’s place in the American imagination, why the war was hardly discussed in the 2016 election, Abdul Rashid Dostum, Jalaluddin Haqqani and the Haqqani Network, the push for peace talks, Trump’s influence on the war, and the 2019 Afghanistan presidential election.

Check out Tim's book here!  

Danny and Derek discuss flooding in Pakistan (0:30), the Greenland ice sheet melting (3:11), violence in Baghdad (4:39), factional fighting in Tripoli, Libya (8:15), the expansion of the Tigray War in Ethiopia (10:45), IAEA inspectors and the beginning of a counteroffensive in Ukraine (13:31), the EU suspending visas for Russians (17:54), tension in the Solomon Islands (20:11), and the Pentagon’s new initiative to minimize civilian casualties (23:50).

Recorded Thursday, September 1, 2022.

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Danny and Derek welcome Michael Brenes, associate director of the Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy and lecturer in history at Yale University, to discuss his book For Might and Right: Cold War Defense Spending and the Remaking of American Democracy. They discuss the origins of the military-industrial complex (MIC), the MIC-New Deal connection, NSC-68, the MIC as a tool of social mobility, labor unions’ relation to the security state, and more.

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It’s time for subscribers’ favorite feature: Danny and Derek divulging their personal financial data! No, our mailbags don’t get quite so transactional, but the two hosts happily respond to questions and comments from our dear subscribers. Topics of this mailbag include: CPAC, Ukraine, the art of regional branding, an update on the Blob, a prognosis on Brazil, and more.

Recorded Wednesday, August 17, 2022

Danny and Derek discuss fighting between U.S. and Syrian militias, the JCPOA, Imran Khan's legal troubles, the resumption of fighting in Ethiopia, the murder of Darya Dugina, and Joe Biden's $3 billion arms transfer to Ukraine.

Recorded Thursday, August 25, 2022

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Danny and Derek welcome Assal Rad, research director at the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), and Pouya Alimagham, historian of the Middle East at MIT, for the first episode in a series on modern Iran. The crew sets the stage for the 1953 coup against prime minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, discussing Iranians’ attempts to wrest sovereignty from the hands of foreign powers since the 19th century, the 1890 tobacco concession, the ousting of the Qajars, the rise of the Pahlavis, the 1941 allied occupation, Mosaddegh’s background, “Third World” nationalism, and more.

Pre-order your copy of Assal’s book, The State of Resistance: Politics, Culture, and Identity in Modern Iran, and also pick up Pouya’s book, Contesting the Iranian Revolution: The Green Uprisings.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.americanprestigepod.com

Danny and Derek welcome back Daniel Immerwahr, professor of history at Northwestern University, to talk about about his new essay, “The Galactic Vietnam: Technology, Modernization, and Empire in George Lucas’s Star Wars”. They discuss the ideological projects of Lucas’ early work, Star Wars as a “Vietnam film”, its characters’ real-life counterparts, the franchise’s orientalism, and more.

Check out Daniel’s chapter in the volume Ideology in U.S. Foreign Relations: New Histories.

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With the recent FBI raid at Mar-a-Lago and the revelations of this particular investigation into Donald Trump, the Espionage Act is the talk of the town. Danny and Derek spoke with Maryam Jamshidi, professor of law at the University of Florida and specialist in national security law, in order to contextualize the Espionage Act, past cases where it has been implemented, and more.

Recorded Friday, August 19, 2022