Escalation

By the late 90’s, Russia is reverting back to its corrupt, authoritarian ways and Ukraine begins to slide backward with it. In Ukraine, that corruption will lead to a gruesome murder and cover-up. While in Russia, that corruption will destroy any hopes for an emerging democracy. But after 9/11, The United States is solely focused on the fight against terrorism.

About Escalation:

In this narrative series from Lawfare and Goat Rodeo, Escalation lays bare the stakes of the Ukraine-Russia War through powerful storytelling and compelling voices. It reveals forgotten promises and fragile alliances that have shaped the U.S.-Ukraine relationship and how the decisions of policymakers in Washington, Kyiv, and Moscow have global consequences.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Newly-independent Ukraine has inherited thousands of nuclear weapons from the former Soviet Union. So The United States, Russia and Ukraine craft a high-stakes deal to disarm Ukraine in exchange for national security protection. But has Washington held up their end of the bargain? Or has Ukraine been betrayed?

About Escalation:

In this narrative series from Lawfare and Goat Rodeo, Escalation lays bare the stakes of the Ukraine-Russia War through powerful storytelling and compelling voices. It reveals forgotten promises and fragile alliances that have shaped the U.S.-Ukraine relationship and how the decisions of policymakers in Washington, Kyiv, and Moscow have global consequences.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The world watches The Cold War end and The Soviet Union break apart. And after centuries of Russian rule, Ukrainians may soon have their independence back. But in Washington, there’s fear that that independence could actually make the world more dangerous.

About Escalation:

In this new narrative series from Lawfare and Goat Rodeo, Escalation lays bare the stakes of the Ukraine-Russia War through powerful storytelling and compelling voices. It reveals forgotten promises and fragile alliances that have shaped the U.S.-Ukraine relationship and how the decisions of policymakers in Washington, Kyiv, and Moscow have global consequences.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Russia invades Ukraine in February 2022, the Western world is shocked. But to Ukrainians, the invasion has been centuries in the making. So how did we end up here? And have American efforts to avoid escalation in Ukraine & Russia created something deadly in its wake?

COMING FEB 24TH

In this new narrative series from Lawfare and Goat Rodeo, Escalation lays bare the stakes of the Ukraine-Russia War through powerful storytelling and compelling voices. It reveals forgotten promises and fragile alliances that have shaped the U.S.-Ukraine relationship and how the decisions of policymakers in Washington, Kyiv, and Moscow have global consequences.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The fate of Donald Trump and the Jan. 6 prisoners are intertwined. The prisoners' biggest hope for freedom is if Donald Trump wins the 2024 election, takes office and makes the federal cases go away. But the people who stormed the Capitol committed straightforward crimes that were easier to investigate, easier to indict, easier to prove. Three years after Jan. 6, the story of how they have been held criminally accountable is mostly over.

But for Trump and other Jan. 6 plotters, that story is just beginning.

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It’s December 2020. Donald Trump continues to deny that he has lost the election. He and his inner circle are working feverishly to try to overturn it while Trump is getting more and more irate. Then, on Dec. 21, he meets a man named Jeffrey Clark. Suddenly, the full might of the Justice Department is within reach. And he plans to use it. 

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Social media was key to Jan. 6. End to end. It was key to gathering the crowd that stormed the Capitol. It was key to generating the sentiment that led people to drop their lives to come to Washington willing to commit crimes. It was key to sending them home when the deed was done. Of course, we’re all on social media. But how does social media propel people to action, even inspire them to move from online to on the ground—and to the grounds of the Capitol? It’s impossible to track. But we know that some accounts wielded enormous influence, and none more so than Donald Trump’s. The thing is, Trump wasn’t the only one behind his social media face. He had one trusted aide who ran the accounts with him.

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In December 2020, The President and his advisors are still fighting to overturn the results of November’s presidential election. Then, in the middle of the month, a lawyer in Wisconsin sends a memo to the president’s legal team. This memo marks the beginning of a scheme that works its way through state legislatures and the halls of Congress, then to Trump himself. It is a scheme that ends with the Vice President of the United States in mortal danger. The main architect and proponent of this scheme is a little-known law professor from California, John Eastman.

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