American Prestige

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.

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

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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

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 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.

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

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.americanprestigepod.com

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

Danny and Derek talk about the Kenyan presidential election (0:35), the UK prime minister race poll (4:53), Ukraine (7:11), the Iran nuclear talks (14:39), and Biden's decision not to release Afghan central bank funds (18:17). 

Recorded Thursday, August 18, 2022

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 to the show Aziz Rana, Richard and Lois Cole Professor of Law at Cornell University, for a discussion on his recent article in Dissent, “Left Internationalism in the Heart of Empire”. They discuss left foreign policy as it relates to postcolonial movements, transnational programs like the NIEO, the post-Bernie moment, institutional impediments past and present, the post-Cold War era, and more.

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

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Danny and Derek are once again joined by Djene Bajalan, associate professor of history at Missouri State University, to continue their miniseries on the history of the Kurds. In this episode, they begin in post-World War I Turkey. They discuss life under the Kamalist regime, the new republic’s changing geostrategic position in the 1920s, the “Kurdish Question”, the Sheikh Said Rebellion and other Kurdish nationalist uprisings, the influence of fascism in the 1930s, and more.