Angry Planet

As Jason and Matthew sleep off their holiday induced Turkey Comas, War College presents an episode from the early days of the show. Here’s what we said back then—

The media in Russia is lively, often entertaining and largely state controlled. Still, an illusion of freedom remains key for the Kremlin to maintain its grasp over a country that spans 11 time zones.

In this episode of War College, we look at how Russian president Vladimir Putin crafts his message for both internal and external consumption.

For many in the West, watching Russian TV is like staring into a broken mirror. At first glance, networks such as RT seem like any other channel, but viewers who watch long enough are treated to a bevy of bizarre pundits and conspiratorial spin.

That’s by design.

We’re speaking with journalist, author and former Russian TV producer Peter Pomerantsev. His book Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible explores Putin’s postmodern dictatorship and how the Kremlin uses television to control the country.

“If Stalin was 75 percent violence and 25 percent propaganda,” Pomerantsev explains. “Putin is 75 percent propaganda and 25 percent violence.”

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If you just look at the number of warheads, the U.S. nuclear arsenal is a small fraction of the size it was during the Cold War. But is that even the right measure anymore? This week on War College, Reuters’ Scott Paltrow discusses a special report the wire service will release this week.

Paltrow’s investigation discovered vast improvements to bombs whose names have stayed the same as their power increased tenfold, and weapons with adjustable yields that could lead to the ultimate temptation—dropping the big one.

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War is hell and the people who fight often have a hard time coming home. Kevin Lacz didn’t. Lacz is a former U.S. Navy SEAL who served alongside Chris Kyle in the battle of Ramadi. He survived, came home, and thrived. He’s written books, spoken to crowds, and even played himself in Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper.

This week on War College, Lacz tells us what it’s like to go to war, what it’s like to want to kill people, and how to turn off the warrior when you come home.

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Joseph Stalin’s Bolsheviks were atheists. At least in the traditional sense. But that didn’t mean they didn’t believe in prophecy. In fact, it was prophecy that guided their nearly every action.

If people would just obey the rules of communism, peace, prosperity, justice and brotherhood would grow from the soil and be mass produced in the factories.

So, what happens when a decade passes and the Bolshevik bible has no answers?

Blood.

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An ambush killed four U.S. Special Operations soldiers in the North African country of Niger. Before the incident, few Americans had ever heard of Niger and fewer knew American soldiers were fighting and dying on the continent.

What were the troops (a mix of Green Berets and support troops) doing there, and who is ultimately responsible for their deaths? This week, War College looks for some answers along with Derek Gannon, a retired Green Beret, and Joseph Trevithick, who’s been studying the fluid situation in Africa for years.

You can listen to War College on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. You can reach us on our new Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/warcollegepodcast/; and on Twitter: @War_College.

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The Kurds live in Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Iraq but have no country to call their own. When they decided to create one for themselves inside Iraq, it didn’t go well.

After Iraq's Kurds held an independence referendum—which passed with more than 90 percent of the vote—Baghdad's armed forces moved fast. Its armies and allied Shi'ite militias took the city of Kirkuk and the surrounding oil fields. Within days, the Kurd’s economic engine was gone.

At the same time, Kurds in Syria captured Islamic State's capital, Raqqa. The United States, which has backed Kurds in both countries, had little to say about either event.

So what's really going on with this U.S. ally without a country?

You can listen to War College on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. You can reach us on our new Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/warcollegepodcast/; and on Twitter: @War_College.

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Tensions between North Korea and the United States are at a fever pitch. The DPRK’s nukes are scary, but once the first missile flies there’s no way to know who might join the fight and how it might end. That’s scarier.

So just how bad could it get? Would global nuclear war leave nothing alive but the cockroaches? We talked with Neil Halloran, who has literally done the math. The answer wasn’t what we expected.

You can see Halloran’s full analysis in his fantastic animated film:

http://www.fallen.io/shadow-peace/1/

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Barack Obama ordered the U.S. military to directly prepare for climate change. Donald Trump’s White House reversed that policy.

So what’s a general to do?

Tara Copp, Pentagon bureau chief for Military Times, takes us deep into the five-sided box to tell us what the military is doing to fight what they see as a real threat, not just a political football. With more and more civilians in need of rescue, shipyards sinking below sea level, and Arctic ice breaking up, top brass is taking action now and leaving labels for another day.

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Sometimes the only way a spy agency can hide a secret is under the brightest of spotlights. This week, we talk with author Josh Dean about how the CIA’s Directorate of Science and Technology works and about some of its most audacious projects, including the SR-71 Blackbird.

According to Dean, though, nothing tops the CIA plan to recover a sunken Soviet submarine from 3-miles deep in the Pacific. Even more than 40 years later, the technology used to do it is nearly state of the art, and the cover story seems even more unlikely.

We cover a lot of ground in the podcast, but for even more, check out Dean’s book: The Taking of K-129: How the CIA Used Howard Hughes to Steal a Russian Sub in the Most Daring Covert Operation in History. 

You can listen to War College on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. You can reach us on our new Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/warcollegepodcast/; and on Twitter: @War_College.

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On August 6, 2011, an American Chinook helicopter named Extortion 17 carried 38 people—including 15 members of SEAL Team Six—to an area 40 miles southwest of Kabul. As the helicopter made its final descent to land, a group of insurgents fired an RPG at it. The lucky shot destroyed the helicopter’s rear rotor and the subsequent crash killed everyone on board. It was the greatest loss of life from a single incident in the Afghan war.

This week on War College, journalist Ed Darack walks us through the last moments of Extortion 17. It’s the subject of his new book The Final Mission of Extortion 17: Special Ops, Helicopter Support, SEAL Team Six, and the Deadliest Day of the U.S. War in Afghanistan. Darack’s meticulous reporting sets the record straight on a tragic accident that’s long been the subject of conspiracy theories.

Pick up a copy of Darack’s book.

You can listen to War College on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or follow our RSS directly. You can reach us on our new Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/warcollegepodcast/; and on Twitter: @War_College.

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