On 20th August 1968, in the horrors of Operation Danube unfolded on the peoples of Czechoslovakia.

This Podcast is dedicated to all those to lost their lives in the 1968 Soviet led Warsaw Pact invasion. The Historian Prokop Tomek puts that figure at 137 but hopes and dreams of millions were crushed by the invasion.

Under the leadership of Alexander Dubček, the communist party in Czechoslovakia took a giant leap and started reforms that would attract the wrath of hardliners, both at home and in Moscow. But what were these reforms? Dubček and his entourage wanted to reform the party from within, they wanted to give socialism a human face.

Dubček captured the imagination of hungry democratic minds and even ended up of the cover of Time magazine.

He ushered a period of hope and the stifled populations could finally feel a breath of fresh air. The Prague Spring was born!

Sadly, the events in August 1968 brought the reforms to the grinding halt.

Czechoslovakia fought on and hard, in its own way, until the Berlin wall came crumbling down.

History, as we know it tends to glorify violence and death. We are guilty of not admiring the power of the powerless.

Music coursey: Wikicommons Music The Czech anthem, instrumental version. The Prague National Theatre Orchestra

Seventy-six years ago, on this very day, India got her independence. The death of the British Raj at least in the Indian subcontinent led to the birth of India and Pakistan. In 1947, India was partitioned on religious grounds. The Muslims of the Indian subcontinent felt they would be better off under Islamic law in their own land. On the 15th of August, India declared herself as secular, but on the 14th of August a day before India, Pakistan embarked on its journey under Sharia. If we are to understand India at 76, then it is essential that we bear in mind that Indian and Pakistani independence are both deeply entrenched in religious divides.  The challenges that lie ahead for India are multiple. But here are four paired aspects to dwell on.

1.     Democracy & Demography

2.     Nationalism & Narratives

3.     Broadcasting & Billionaires

4.     Religion & Riots

As India turns 76 and proudly takes its place as the world’s largest democracy, it begs the question, Can India evolve into a liberal, just and enlightened nation or will its sheer numbers end up diluting democracy.

At the outset, I'd like to dedicate this podcast to Frits Veerman, the Dutch Whistleblower.

This episode explores Oppenheimer's fears of a global nuclear race.

How did North Korea get its Nuclear Bomb?

Did you know that Gaddafi, the despot gave up his nuclear technology in exchange for closer ties to the West?

Listen to the episode learn more!

When Great democracies peddle lies, despots, dictators, and theocrats are empowered to undermine the very idea of democracy.

Two lessons to take away from Iraq’s Invasion of Kuwait in August 1990

Too Many Books, too Few Centuries!

When I read Franz Fischer’s book titled, Germany’s Aims in the First World War, I was left with the impression that Germany was indeed guilty as charged. History is a narrative best sold with facts, but historians or even writers (for that matter) use a certain set of facts to garrison their narrative and they naturally tend to drop the facts not useful to their storyline or narrative. I have a deep sense of admiration for his book, his work omits every other great power and firmly focuses on Germany. What with over 25, 000 books and academic articles, you'd think we've got WWI all sorted. But WWI is a perfect case of, the more we know the less we understand.

For my part, apart from Fischer, I've read Max Hastings’, Catastrophe 1914 Europe goes to war, Margaret Macmillan’s, The War that ended peace, the Road to 1914, and Sean McMeekin, July 1914 Countdown to War amongst others. However, the two books I hungrily devoured were, The Deluge by Adam Tooze, ( who incidentally has his own podcast, I am doing a bit of well-deserved publicity of him) and the brilliant Christopher Clark’s, The Sleepwalkers How Europe went to war in 1914.

I also find the urge to do une petite publicité ( a little publicity as we say) for francophones. For those interested in widening their knowledge on this topic, please consider reading  the prolific French historian Jean-Jacques Becker who sadly passed away about two weeks ago, but not without leaving us his great works on WWI.

The bulk of the historians laid blame on Germany, but with passing time, new historians have revisited the scene of the crime and they paint a more plausible picture of the past. WW1 was a collision of Great powers who had a trust deficit, and their poor diplomatic skills could only spell doom.

Thus, the Hawks took off and doves took cover.

The Austro-Hungarian empire was enormous in size only second to Russia, but a lot weaker than Germany, France, Russia and  of course, Great Britain.

Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm was Queen Victoria's oldest grandson and until 1914 had enjoyed great popularity in Great Britain. Not a soul could imagine that Great Britain would go to war with Germany.

But the Balance of powers in the region was changing But by 1914, Serbia had doubled in size since its victory in the first Balkan Wars and its mere rise in power was threatening Austro-Hungarian dominance in Geopolitical terms. 

Austria fired its first shot on 28th Of July 1914 with the Kaiser's backing, but the war would only end four years later and would hand down a guilty verdict to Kaiser Wilhelm II.  Versaille Assigned war guilt and criminalised the Kaiser. 

Historians still struggle with Kriegsschuldfrage, or  question de la responsabilité dans la guerre or the question of war guilt.

The War as we know ended in 1918 with poppies and promises of peace. But who really stood to gain from Europe's folly?

Britain went from being amongst the greatest creditors to greatest debtors. By 1916, the horrors of Verdun and Somme would be etched in British, French and German minds forever. By the end of 1921, Britain owned the US taxPayer 4. 5 Billion, France 3:5 billion, Italy 1.8 billion. 

The United States stayed neutral from 1914 to April 1917 until they decided they had to fight a moral crusade for Freedom and democracy, rather lofty ideals at times when Great Britain had about 57 colonies, France at its peak had 72. Why even brave little Belgium had managed to seize Congo a territory 77 times its size! 

WWI shaped a new global order and it elevated America's status to a great power in the great game.

Welcome to A livre Ouvert with me Avanti Victoire, A Livre Ouvert literally means an open book, but it also implies the promise of transparency and knowledge. If you are exhausted with Left or Right electoral politics & wish to explore different views on current affairs, then your journey begins here. My first episode is titled , To French or not to French.

I wrote this article in the aftermath of the June riots in 2023. It has become imperative to specify which riot because rioting, it seems, comes easy to us French. However, this riot is just the tip of the iceberg and a symptom of a deeper malaise we suffer in France due to poor integration and assimilation.

I've titled this one To French or not to French because I believe that a New France is on the rise and it is at loggerheads with an Old France. More alarmingly, our core French values of liberté égalité fraternité and laïcité are ebbing fast.