The Hated and the Dead

Gabriele D'Annunzio was an Italian writer, journalist and poet who wrote himself irrevocably into history in 1919. In the chaotic aftermath of World War One, D'Annunzio led a small band of irregular Italian forces to the Free City of Rijeka (Italian name Fiume), and seized it in the name of Italian irredentism.

D'Annunzio proclaimed the Free City to be the new Italian Regency of Carnario, with himself as Comandante and Duce. My guest’s stories about what happened in The Regency of Carnaro during its short existence make Anthony Burgess' descriptions of London in A Clockwork Orange sound gentile, with sex, drugs and a glorification of violence impossible to ignore.

Though the Regency quickly fell apart, D'Annunzio's bombastic political style rolled the pitch for the fascist takeover of Italy in 1922, with Benito Mussolini proclaiming D'Annunzio "The John the Baptist of Italian fascism".

My guest today is Lucy Hughes-Hallett. Lucy is a British historian who has written books about a variety of different historical figures, including Cleopatra, Sir Francis Drake, Achilles, and our subject today. Her book on Gabriele D’Annunzio is The Pike, for which Lucy won the 2013 Samuel Johnson Prize for Nonfiction, and the Costa Book Award.

Hugo Chávez was the President of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013. 

Despite attempts to harness Venezuela’s enormous oil revenues for the public good, Chávez left behind a country riddled with economic problems and with little to show for the President’s claim to build socialism in the 21st century. Billions of dollars in oil revenues were hoovered up by corrupt elites. Promises of new hospitals, schools and roads went undelivered. 16,000 Venezuelans were murdered each year under Chávez’s leadership- the equivalent of nearly 35,000 murders happening in the UK every single year. Venezuela now has the highest rate of inflation in any country in the World, and many millions of Venezuelans have fled the country. 

Was another path possible? Given America’s distaste for socialism on the American continent, is the noteworthy thing about Chávez not what his project did or did not deliver, but that it got off the ground at all? Has the so-called Monroe Doctrine rendered a moderate approach to left politics in Latin America totally impossible? These are the fundamental questions my guest and I grapple with in today’s conversation. 

That guest is Phil Gunson. Phil is a British journalist and the Andes Senior Project Manager at the International Crisis Group, and has lived in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital, since the start of the Chávez presidency nearly 25 years ago. 

Ariel Sharon served as prime minister of Israel between 2001 and 2006. As a politician and military leader, Sharon always courted controversy. He frequently ignored the orders of his superiors in an attempt to push further into Arab territory and as a politician infamously visited Al-Aqsa Mosque on Temple Mount, sparking riots and terror attacks. Most notoriously of all, he was found responsible for the 1982 Massacre at Sabra and Shatila, where thousands of Palestinians and Lebanese Muslims were slaughtered by Lebanese Christians in territory controlled by Israeli forces.

This might lead one to conclude that Sharon the politician is the recipient of unconditional praise by the Israeli hard right. But in the highly polarised environment of 2023, this isn’t the case; as prime minister, a post Sharon held between 2001 and 2006, he presided over Israel’s disengagement from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, something which angered the so called “Settlers”- Jews who live in lands occupied after the Six Day War of 1967.

My guest today is Einat Wilf. Einat is an Israeli politician and author who served as a member of the Knesset- Israel’s Parliament- from 2010 until 2013. She also served as a foreign policy advisor to another Israeli prime minister and President, Shimon Peres, and in this capacity encountered Sharon in the final years of his political career. 

Barack Obama served as the 44th President of the United States between 2009 and 2017. For early Gen Zers like me, he was the most recognisable politician of our childhood. For those who voted for him, and for many others around the World, his message of Hope and Change was a vessel for their aspirations; aspirations which, amid the fallout from the 2008 financial crisis, had been dealt a serious blow. 

But for all Obama’s mesmerising campaigning in 2008, two facts remain stubbornly true about his presidency. One; Obama was never as popular inside America as he was in internationally. And secondly, the polarisation that has come to define American politics since the 1990s reached new heights during Obama’s two terms in the White House.

This is intriguing, as Obama’s presidency was not nearly as distinguished or notable as his campaign, or the man himself. Obama was a centrist liberal president, but not a progressive one. So why, after such a conventional presidency, was the backlash to the Obama presidency quite so ferocious? And what does the backlash tell us about the state of American politics?

My guest today is Peter Baker. Peter is the Chief White House Correspondent for the New York Times, and he also worked as a reporter for the Washington Post for 20 years. He has seen the presidency close up under five occupants of the White House, so it’s fair to say he was a fitting guest for the podcast’s 100th episode. 

Yoon Suk Yeol has been the President of South Korea since May 2022. A public prosecutor until two years ago, Yoon won the Presidency on a knife-edge, having thrown in his lot with the "New Right", a pro-American, capitalist faction which rails against the cultural liberalism espoused by Korean progressives. 

His election suggests a degree of cultural polarisation, but debates over economic policy since Yoon took office has been relatively narrow and non-polarised. This is perhaps an indication that the country's democracy, amid a looming demographic crisis, is in fact fairly stable.

My guest today is Jack Greenberg. Jack is a Global Korea Scholar at the National Institute for International Education, Korea University. In a wide ranging interview, we discussed: the end of the South Korean dictatorship in 1987, the pervasiveness of corruption in the country today, the effect North Korean proximity has had on the South’s politics, South Korean’s obsessive relationship to education and work, and the country’s prospects in the medium term. 

Erich Mielke was the head of East Germany's Ministry of State Security- also known as The Stasi- from 1957 until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. 

Given the Stasi has a reputation as perhaps the most meticulous secret police service in history, Mielke, hardened by the communist underworld of Weimar Germany, the Spanish Civil War and a Second World War labour camp, certainly has a lot to answer for. 

Mielke, and the Stasi, were the product of the creation of an inorganic, unnatural unit in East Germany. A communist country unloved and unwanted by its international protector, the Soviet Union, East Germany was not a country anybody in it had envisaged before it emerged onto the World map in 1949. It is impossible to separate the Stasi's influence from this challenging origin story.

My guest for today’s episode is Katja Hoyer. Katja is a German historian, journalist and writer who was born in East Germany and was a young child when the Berlin Wall collapsed in 1989. She is the author of two books: Blood and Iron, which examines the 1871-1918 German Empire, and, pertinent to this conversation, Beyond the Wall, which was released this year and sheds new light on life in East Germany.

Mohamed bin Zayed has been the de facto leader of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) since 2014, and the federation's President since 2022. 

Bin Zayed, or MbZ, has presided over a massive centralisation of power into the hands of the Abu Dhabi elite, and particularly his ruling family, the al-Nahyans. This has helped to construct an image of the UAE as being orderly, stable and dependable for global powers.

However, this image hides a dreadful human rights record in the UAE, characterised by coercion, harassment, renunciation of citizenship, and torture. In addition, the UAE have used these methods of repression against foreigners. One such person is my guest today. 

He is Matthew Hedges. Matthew is a British academic and author of Reinventing the Sheikhdom, which details the methods by which Mohamed bin Zayed has brought the state under his control. In May 2018, whilst researching the book, Matthew was prevented from boarding his flight at Abu Dhabi International, detained, and subjected to torture for the next six months. His story is horrifying, but fascinating, and reveals a great deal about the UK-UAE relationship. 

Golda Meir served as prime minister of Israel from 1969 until 1974. Taking control of her country during a period of euphoria after the 1967 Six Day War, Meir was a member of Israel's founding generation. 

However, Israel's sense of infallibility was shattered after a surprise attack by Egypt and Syria, in what became the Yom Kippur War. Though Israel defeated its Arab neighbours for the third time in 25 years, Meir was quickly accused of complacency and unpreparedness, and resigned in near disgrace just 8 months after the conflict in 1974. 

But is this fair? Did Yom Kippur, as well as Meir’s political style, which quickly became outdated after she left office, invalidate her earlier achievements? Today’s episode seeks to shed light on this and more.

My guest today is Blake Flayton. Blake is a columnist with the Jewish Journal, an independent newspaper serving the Jewish community of Los Angeles. As well as Golda Meir’s career, we discuss the fraught founding of Israel in 1948, and the prospects for the Israeli left, which in recent years has lost ground to an even greater extent than the left in European countries

Hafizullah Amin was the communist leader of Afghanistan for three ill-fated months in 1979. The end of his time in power- also the end of his life- marked the start of Afghanistan's descent into a forty year war. So disastrous was Amin's time in power that my guest considers him possibly the worst man in modern Afghan history. 

Amin reveals that most things in politics, and in war, are not inevitable. Countries end up the way they are, often due to choices, but also due to happenstance; as you’re about to hear, Amin was very lucky to even reach 50th birthday, even though it would be his last. Amin’s luck turned out to be Afghanistan’s deep misfortune. 

My guest today is Stephan Jensen. Stephan was an officer in the Norwegian Army, and in that capacity served in Mali and Afghanistan. He is currently writing a book on Afghanistan, titled The Triumph of Chaos: A History of the War in Afghanistan 1978-2021, which will be released next year. As well as Amin’s life, we delve into the Afghanistan Amin left behind, and whether the country will ever recover the relatively benign government it had before 1978. 

Kais Saied has been the President of Tunisia since 2019. Just a few short years ago, Saied was a constitutional law professor, and Tunisia was seen as the only success story of the uprisings known as the Arab Spring. Now, Tunisia is slipping back into autocracy.

Why didn’t Tunisia’s flirtation with democracy work? Should we be surprised it didn’t work? What lessons do the last twelve years hold for other countries- and indeed, for future generations of Tunisians? These are the questions my guest and I grapple with today.

My guest today is Sarah Yerkes. Sarah has extensive experience studying and working in Tunisia, having worked as a Foreign Affairs Officer and Policy Planner at the US State Department. Now, Sarah is a Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.