Welcome to the new year at Angry Planet.

For the last 100 years, American defense policy has been aided by elaborate war games. SIGMA, the Cold War Game, and the Millenium Challenge are just some of the most famous. Sometimes these games are played with dice and boards, other times they’re purely electronic. Why do we do this, when did we start, and what does it all mean? More importantly, how do we make sure the board games don’t play us?

Here to answer those questions is Director of the Hoover Wargaming and Crisis Simulation Initiative, Jacquelyn Schneider.

What War Games Really Reveal

One episode of The Crisis Game on YouTube

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When President Dwight David Eisenhower left the stage as president of the United States in 1961, he warned of the military-industrial complex he was leaving behind. Sounds ominous, right? And that complex has had 60 years to harden in place since Eisenhower’s farewell address.

But what is the military-industrial complex? Is it a war-mongering machine out to kill us all at a profit? Is it a bunch of old boys networking to sell $700 hammers to the Pentagon through no-bid deals? Was Eisenhower overstating a problem that only he could see?

We spoke with Emma Salisbury, who just finished a Ph.D. thesis on the subject. As with virtually everything on Angry Planet, the truth was more complicated than you might think.

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Forty years ago, a made for TV movie aired on ABC that changed the world. It was called The Day After, and it depicted life in Kansas and Missouri after a nuclear exchange with the Soviet Union. More than 100 million people watched it when it aired. One of them was president Ronald Reagan.

“I ran the tape of the movie ABC is running on the air Nov. 20. It’s called “The Day After.” It has Lawrence Kansas wiped out in a nuclear war with Russia. It is powerfully done—all $7 mil. worth. It’s very effective & left me greatly depressed,” he wrote in his diary after watching an early screening in 1983. “So far they haven’t sold any of the 25 spot ads scheduled & I can see why. Whether it will be of help to the ‘anti nukes’ or not, I cant say. My own reaction was one of our having to do all we can to have a deterrent & to see there is never a nuclear war.”

This week on Angry Planet, we talk with David Craig about his new book Apocalypse Television: How the Day After Helped End the Cold War. More than just a “making-of” story, Craig’s book is a reminder of the transcendent power of art to change the world.

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Here’s an episode for anyone who thinks art can’t change the world. Tom Clancy topped the best seller charts for decades. He’s so popular that even his death couldn’t stop sales, and the flow of new products. Books, TV shows, movies, and video games all bear his name. But Clancy wasn’t just a popular author—he was also a geopolitical player.

On the show this week is writer Matt Farwell, creator of the The Hunt For Tom Clancy substack. Farwell’s unique blend of memoir, history, and critique casts a light on the weird world we live in now. A world that Clancy helped create.

https://thehuntfortomclancy.substack.com/

I would have liked to have seen Montana

Over The Top in Texas

The Teeth of the The Tiger

The Sum of All Fears

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The war between Israel and Hamas shows no sign of slowing. More and more (just as was predicted on this show) sympathy for the Jewish State is drying up around the world amid horrific losses among Palestinian civilians, especially children. College campuses are flooded with students and faculty calling for the end of Israel itself.

In this episode, we look into the origins of the conflict, as well as its causes, with Steven Cook of the Council on Foreign relations. Everyone's done that, though. What makes this episode worth listening to—beyond our natural charms—is that we try to get a grip on the region and even what the end game could possibly look like.

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This week on the show we talked with Canadian-Palestinian doctor Tarek Loubani about his work as an emergency room doctor in Gaza. Loubani helped pioneer the use of 3D printers in Gaza to produce low-cost medical equipment like stethoscopes. In 2018, he was shot in the legs by the IDF while delivering medical supplies.

In this wide ranging conversation, he talks about the importance of low cost medical supplies, the 3D printing revolution, and what it’s like to work in a hospital under siege.

The Glia Project

Makers of 3D-Printed Medical Equipment Struggle to Save Lives In Gaza Under Siege

Israel Bombs Emergency Medical Equipment 3D-Printing Facility in Gaza (Published 2021)

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This episode was recorded on 10/10/23.

Every war comes with a fog that makes it hard, if not impossible, to tell what’s going on while it’s being fought. The Israel-Hamas War is no different. What sets it apart is a digital information space rife AI generated images, perverse incentives, and outright propaganda. 

This week on Angry Planet we sat down with Emauel Maiberg and Joseph Cox of 404 Media come on the show to talk about covering the war’s and how the digital world has supercharged disinformation.

‘Verified’ OSINT Accounts Are Destroying the Israel-Palestine Information Ecosystem

Elon Musk Broke All the Tools Historians Need to Archive Tweets About Israel-Gaza War

Netanyahu’s Government Is Trying to Suspend the Freedom of Information

AI Images Detectors Are Being Used to Discredit the Real Horrors of War

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This week’s episode is a long conversation with Joey Ayoub about Gaza, Palestine, and Israel.

We cover a lot of ground and we’ve got a lot of show notes that accompany this episode.

Show notes from Joey:

Where the Palestinian Political Project Goes from Here

“Divide and Rule”: How Israel Helped Start Hamas to Weaken Palestinian Hopes for Statehood

Joey’s excellent podcast, The Fire These Times and its Patreon.

Follow Joey on Mastodon.

Show Notes on Robert Malley

The Smear Job

Inside Iran’s influence operation

House is investigating Biden’s former Iran envoy

An Iran mouthpiece’s ‘scoop’ draws Republican ire

Angry Planet has a Substack! Join to get weekly insights into our angry planet and hear more conversations about a world in conflict.

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Writing a blurb to describe a podcast episode isn't typically a difficult thing to do—between myself and Matthew, we've been writing for about 50 years—but as all things with Israel and the Palestinians, even writing a blurb is bound to offend someone. That's not our goal, but if you listen to the show, don't be surprised if there are a few things that you don't agree with, or even some that make you angry. It's in the name of the show, after all.

This week we're talking about the Hamas attacks on Israel and their immediate aftermath. Joining us is Joseph Epstein. He's a fellow at the Endowment of Middle East Truth and a veteran of the Israel Defense Forces, and an all around smart guy.

This is only the first episode we're going to have on this developing war, not the last. If this POV isn't for you, we'll be looking at some others in the weeks to come.

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Paul Rieckhoff is a veteran with a lot to say about the state of the world. He came on Angry Planet to help us understand what happened when former President Donald Trump and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley crossed paths. What does it mean to swear allegiance to the Constitution above all, rather than to any particular commander-in-chief? What do you do if that person at the top wants you to do something unlawful, and who gets to judge what is unlawful?

Fun stuff? Tough stuff—but Paul Rieckhoff is both. You can hear more from him at his fabulous Independent Americans podcast, where someone is finally talking a little sense about this country.

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