Angry Planet Subscriber Feed

Just months before the Sept. 11 attacks, Scott Swanson was piloting an early version of the Predator drone over Afghanistan. Swanson and his team were looking for Osama bin Laden and it looked like they found him. The predator, though, was unarmed. This week on War College, Swanson takes us through the early history of the drone program and tells us how a skunk works project became a central part of the U.S. War machine.

 

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit angryplanetpod.com/subscribe

This week on War College, we’re talking about a secretive nation where everyone serves in the military – and not just for a year or two. In fact, once you get pulled into service in Eritrea, you could be serving for a decade or more. And no one knows how much more it could be. 

 

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit angryplanetpod.com/subscribe

Snipers play a key role in the world’s armies. They target commanders on the opposing side and other targets with an outsize impact. Working by themselves, they can pin down a group, creating fear and confusion. This week on War College we look at the history of snipers and the role they play now. It’s fair to say the role wasn’t always considered a badge of honor.

 

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit angryplanetpod.com/subscribe

With Vladimir Putin and the United States staring at each other like the gunfighters in the final scene in the "Good, the Bad and the Ugly," War College takes a fresh look at NATO. We wanted to know what kind of shape the nearly 70-year-old alliance is in.

 

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit angryplanetpod.com/subscribe

President Barack Obama laid out a plan to close the notorious Guantanamo Bay prison this week. Even if it were to close by the time Obama leaves office, it will have been open for 15 years. So, why is the prison still open, and what would it take to close it? And how important is it, really, to close it?

This week on War College, we talk to Reuters' own David Rohde. He's written extensively about Guantanamo and he also knows captivity from the other side, as a prisoner of the Taliban for seven months.

 

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit angryplanetpod.com/subscribe

Russia is pulling out all the stops in showing off new weaponry — especially in Syria. Nick de Larrinaga, an expert at Jane’s Defense Weekly, joins the show and explains that the display of force is about more than winning a war. It also functions a kind of advertising campaign for the world’s second-largest arms dealer.

 

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit angryplanetpod.com/subscribe

Garry Kasparov, a Russian opposition leader who was ranked as the world's best chess player for most of 20 years, has a problem with the West’s response to Vladimir Putin’s Russia and warns of the dangers of the nation's global influence. The title of his new book – Winter Is Coming – is a conscious play on the famous Game of Thrones TV and book series and the sense of darkness stalking the world.

 

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit angryplanetpod.com/subscribe

Israel’s defense forces are among the world’s elite. Their training methods are widely copied, actions taken by their soldiers and pilots are legendary. The Raid on Entebbe, the Six Day War, the 1981 air strike that took out a nuclear reactor under construction in Iraq.

But those victories were long ago and Israel’s enemies have evolved. This week on War College, journalist Noga Tarnopolsky walks us through the changing face of the IDF. In a country where everybody serves, the role of the soldier is more highly scrutinized and respected than in America.

Tarnopolsky explains why Israel is cutting back on officers, strengthening its borders and worrying less about Iran than you might expect.

 

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit angryplanetpod.com/subscribe

Saudi Arabia executes a cleric who is a member of the Saudi Shi’ite minority. Iran’s government, which sees itself as the leader of the Shi’ite world, doesn’t work very hard to stop an attack on the Saudi Embassy in Tehran that follows the execution. Saudi Arabia closes its embassy and tensions between the two nations, which had been growing for years, hit a new high. With hot wars in Yemen and Syria, billions of dollars sloshing around between governments and militias and militant groups, its a good time to look at what’s really going on and what’s likely to happen next.

 

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit angryplanetpod.com/subscribe

Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, Russia has used natural gas as a weapon against Ukraine and Europe as a whole. Threatening to turn shut off the pipes as the weather turns cold is a pretty effective way to influence foreign policy. But now it looks like one of Vladimir Putin’s key weapons is losing some its punch. This week on War College we’re looking at how shifts in the production of oil and natural gas are effecting global security, and where that leaves the United States.

 

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit angryplanetpod.com/subscribe