Earlylands in Conversation

“Critical minerals” – a phrase that we hear nearly every day yet one that is too often used with little explanation.  What exactly are critical minerals, where are they found, and why are they so “critical?"   

We are joined for this episode by someone who is uniquely well-equipped to help us answer these and many other questions. Journalist Ernest Scheyder is the author of the award-winning book “The War Below: Lithium, Copper, and the Global Battle to Power Our Lives.” The book was longlisted in 2024 for the National Book Award for Nonfiction and the Financial Times and Schroders Business Book fo the Year. The FT called it “a nuanced and invaluable deep dive into the questions that need to be addressed if we are to fight climate change and achieve energy security.”

2026 has started with a proverbial bang, with the hard realities of military force brought squarely into the headlines with the US operation to seize Nicholas Maduro. And, of course, the grinding war of attrition continues in Ukraine as do conflicts in countries as varied as Sudan and Myanmar. While so much of the media coverage of these wars focuses on the role of technology and the apparent video game-like quality of the contemporary battlefield, our guest today argues that the reality of modern war remains very similar to what was experienced by infantryman throughout the conflicts of the 20th century and even centuries before.

Ben Connable is the author of the recently published book, Ground Combat: Puncturing the Myths of Modern War. Thebook serves as a compelling argument against any belief that conflict is now more about joysticks and video screens than it is about the deprivation, fear, and uncertainty that have been associated with ground war since time immemorial.

Ben, who holds a PhD in War Studies from King’s College London, is the executive director of the Battle Research Group. He also is an adjunct professor of security studies at Georgetown University and a former senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation.  Ben is a retired Marine Corpsintelligence and Middle East foreign area officer.

Books & Documentaries Mentioned on the Podcast

Ground Combat: Puncturing the Myths of Modern War by Ben Connable

Hell in a Very Small Place by Bernard Fall

2000 Metres to Andriivka

The Last 600 Meters

"Orwell himself has become what academics would call a floating signifier. He's escaped from his original grounding like a hot air balloon and gone floating off across the landscapes of the world. And he means virtually anything that anybody wants him to mean." DJ Taylor on the legacy of George Orwell

As we close out 2025, a year that has undoubtedly been one of the most consequential in recent memory, the Earlylands team thought it would be appropriate to have a conversation that could shed light on a man – George Orwell – whose name has become an adjective that is an ever increasing part of daily discourse.

We are very fortunate to be joined in this endeavor by DJ Taylor, who is considered Orwell’s leading biographer (in addition to being a highly successful novelist and short story writer). Taylor published in 2023 Orwell: The New Life, which served as a major revision to his previous award-winning work, Orwell: The Life, which was released in 2003. The most recent book received wide critical praise, such as the Wall Street Journal noting that, “Expertly told and subtle in judgment, 'The New Life' will not be the last word in the ever-growing field of Orwelliana, but it will become its central monument.”

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Books mentioned on the podcast:

Orwell: The New Life by DJ Taylor

On 1984 by DJ Taylor

Finding George Orwell in Burma by Emma Larkin

Eileen: The Making of George Orwell by Sylvia Topp

Orwell's Roses by Rebecca Solnit

The release earlier this month of the Trump administration's new National Security Strategy vividly captures the tectonic shifts that are occurring in global affairs. For many observers of the international order, it can feel as if there is no framework or structure to the chaotic period in which we are living. If that opinion resonates with you, then today's guest may be able to offer an analytic lens through which to understand our present state of affairs.

Professor Michael Beckley published in the November/December 2025 issue of Foreign Affairs a feature article entitled "The Stagnant Order." In this thoughtful and deeply researched piece, Professor Beckley argues that the “era of power transitions is ending. For the first time in centuries, no country is rising fast enough to overturn the global balance.” Yet while he argues that the likelihood of a global conflict like last century’s world wars is receding, “The age of rising powers is ending, but its immediate aftermath may prove no less violent.”

Michael Beckley is an associate professor of political science at Tufts University and a Jeane Kirkpatrick Visiting Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. His research on great power competition has received numerous scholarly awards and been featured in a wide variety of leading media outlets. In addition to numerous articles and essays, he is also the author of Unrivaled: Why America Will Remain the World’s Sole Superpower (2018) and Danger Zone: The Coming Conflict With China (2022).

Articles and Books Referenced in the Episode

"The Stagnant Order" - Foreign AffairsThe Rise and Fall of Great Powers by Paul Kennedy

The Rise and Fall of American Growth by Robert Gordon

Why the West Rules - For Now by Ian Morris

The Global Transformation - History, Modernity, and the Making of International Relations by Barry Buzan and George Lawson

Ethiopia is one of the most consequential states on the African continent. With more than 130 million people, one of the largest armies in Africa, and a critical role as a supplier of low-cost power, developments in Ethiopia reverberate far beyond its borders. At the center of the country’s contemporary story is its prime minister, Abiy Ahmed.

For this episode we welcome Tom Gardner, The Economist’s Africa correspondent and author of The Abiy Project: God, Power, and War in the New Ethiopia. Foreign Affairs called the book “essential reading,” while the LA Review of Books described it as “groundbreaking.” The book is a critical read for anyone seeking to understand this fascinating country.

Books referenced in the podcast

The Wife's Tale: A Personal History by Aida Edemariam - https://tinyurl.com/3pmctm5b

Oromay by Baaalu Girma - https://tinyurl.com/k7dvpup9

South Africa this month is hosting the G20 summit in Johannesburg, an opportunity for the government of Cyril Ramaphosa to shift the focus from a steady drumbeat of news about the country's highly contentious relations with the US. We are very fortunate to be joined for this episode by prominent analyst of South Africa, Dr. Terence McNamee. Terence published this month in the Christian Science Monitor a cover story entitled “End of the Rainbow?,” a title that bluntly describes a country that he feels has dramatically lost its way. In this conversation we look at what has gone wrong in the Rainbow Nation and also what gives Terence hope about a land and people with such potential.

Based in Johannesburg, Terence is a fellow at the Montreal Institute for Global Security. Educated in his native Canada and the UK, he completed a doctorate at the London School of Economics on South Africa’s nuclear weapons program. For more than two decades he led research initiatives and shaped strategy sessions at leading think tanks on two continents – the Royal United Services Institute in London and The Brenthurst Foundation in Johannesburg – that drew presidents, generals, and global CEOs. From 2018-2024 he was a Global Fellow of The Wilson Center in Washington, DC. 

Articles and Books Mentioned in the Podcast

-"End of the Rainbow?" Christian Science Monitor

-"My Traitor's Heart" by Rian Malan

-"Born a Crime" by Trevor Noah

For episode 15 we welcome Perry Boyle, who has fast established himself as one of the most prominent Western investors – via his firm MITS Capital – in Ukraine’s burgeoning defense industry. Ukrainian defense technology, whether it be highly capable yet low-cost unmanned aerial and ground systems to path-breaking electronic warfare products, isgrabbing the attention of Western investors and highlighting the fact that defense innovation does not need to involve development cycles taking multiple years and tens of millions of dollars of investment. Perry and MITS Capital, and the just launched MITS Industries, is at the leading edge of this trend. Two quick notes – this interview was recorded just a few weeks before President Zelensky announced that the Ukrainian defense industry would be allowed to begin exporting certain types of products. And, finally, while our editing tool has impressive capabilities to cut out background noise, please be advised that this interview was recorded while Perry was in an airport lounge and there are a few moments where the bustle of global travel can be heard in the background.

Podcast references

https://mits.capital/

https://mits.industries/

https://www.boma.ngo/

Christian-Geraud Neema is one of the foremost commentators on the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Today we’re excited to discuss with him the DRC's always fascinating and often vexing politics. Geraud wears many hats, including serving as Africa Editor of the China-Global South Project and as a nonresident scholar in the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Africa Program. A technical note - because of recording issues, Todd's voice track isn't as clear as usual, but fortunately Geraud's is unimpacted.

"When Putin was a student in the KGB university, he was perfect in a subject called 'verbovka.' In Russian, that means recruiting new agents. So he's perfect in manipulation of people." -Former Latvian President Valdis Zatlers

President Valdis Zatlers served as Latvia’s head of state from 2007-2011, a period that coincided with the global financial crisis that hit Latvia arguably harder than any country in the world. President Zatlers also was the first and only Latvian leader to visit Moscow on a state visit, where he gained first-hand knowledge of what drives President Putin and how the Russian leader engages with his counterparts. President Zatlers offers insights into how he sees the war in Ukraine developing in the months ahead and fascinating vignettes from a career that includes not only affairs of state, but also serving as a surgeon responding to the disaster at Chernobyl in 1986.

In episode 12 we look at the Baltic region, which has repeatedly been in the headlines of late as it sits on the frontline of NATO’s physical and rhetorical face-off with Russia. Just a few days ago, Russian military aircraft penetrated Estonian airspace for 12 minutes, in yet another challenge to the Western defense alliance. We are extremely fortunate to have with us Oliver Moody, who is the Times of London’s correspondent in Berlin. Early this year Oliver published the book Baltic, which has been called a “timely analysis” by the Financial Times and “fascinating…essential reading” by noted political economist Helen Thompson. Oliver helps us understand a region that far too often is ignored in discussions about Europe but which he argues plays an absolutely critical role in geopolitics.

Books Mentioned in the Podcast -

"The Northern Crusades" by Eric Christiansen

"Peter the Great" by Robert K. Massie

"Understanding the Baltic States" edited by Charles Clarke