Worldly

Zack and Alex are joined by Ben Pauker, Vox’s managing editor for news and a longtime foreign correspondent, to talk about the war in Afghanistan — and why the US can’t seem to win it. They discuss the reasons that Afghanistan is fertile ground for an insurgency, why the Taliban has become a particularly effective bunch of militants, and why the US’ ultimate goal — building up an Afghan government and military that can sure the country in its absence — is so hard to achieve. Come for the policy pessimism, stay for Zack’s oblique reference to a dril tweet.

Read this interview Alex did with warfare expert Dominic Tierney on why the US has trouble winning wars.

The New York Times has a good history (with pictures!) of why many have tried and failed to win in Afghanistan.

Here’s how the US “won” in Iraq

Alex wrote about how the Taliban has very slightly moderated its stances towards women and minorities in recent years.

Yes, a Taliban fighter really did say “You have the watches. We have the time.”

Here’s what you need to know about the US-backed president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai

A US government report from this August found that the size of the Afghan army fell by 42,000 soldiers — mostly they had been paying 42,000 people who don’t actually exist. 

Zack mentioned that the US even put treadmills in bases 

Hosts:

Zack Beauchamp (@zackbeauchamp), Senior Correspondent, Vox

Alex Ward (@AlexWardVox), National security reporter, Vox

Guest:

Ben Paulker (@benpaulker), Managing Editor, Vox

More to explore:

Subscribe for free to Today, Explained, Vox’s daily news podcast to help you understand the news, hosted by Sean Rameswaram.

About Vox

:Vox is a news network that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines.

Follow Us:

Vox.com Newsletter: Vox Sentences 

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In this special crossover episode, Weeds host Matt Yglesias talks to Emma Ashford, Research Fellow in Defense and Foreign Policy at the Cato Institute. It's a wide ranging discussion covering everything from China to the middle east, our relationship with Russia since the cold war, and the defense budget. They also explore the difference between restraint and realism, and whether or not Trump is an isolationist.

Guest Host:

Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias)

Guest

Emma Ashford (@emmamashford)

More to explore:

Subscribe for free to The Weeds. On Vox’s twice-weekly policy and politics podcast, Matthew Yglesias is joined by Ezra Klein, Dara Lind, Jane Coaston and other Vox voices to dig into important national issues, including healthcare, immigration, housing, and everything else that matters.

About Vox:

Vox is a news network that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines.

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Zack and Jenn are joined by Vox foreign writer Jen Kirby to talk about UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decision to “prorogue” Parliament — meaning suspend it for five weeks — during the runup to the October 31st Brexit deadline. They explain how this is an obvious maneuver to prevent Parliament from blocking a no-deal Brexit, and then break down what Parliament could do in response, and how all of this represents a serious challenge for British democracy.

Here’s Jen Kirby’s explainer on the whole proroguing controversy.

We mentioned that the UK government’s own analyses suggest a no-deal Brexit would be a disaster for the UK.

And here’s a link to our past episode “The looming Brexit catastrophe” on what a no-deal Brexit could mean for Britain.

The UK House of Commons Library has a good summary of how proroguing normally works.

Here’s more on how the opposition Labour Party was planning to thwart Johnson before all this happened.

Here’s a member of Johnson’s Conservative Party, Dominic Grieve, calling Johnson’s move "tantamount to a coup against Parliament."

We referenced this BuzzFeed article about possible ideas Johnson has floated to try to force Brexit through.

Business Insider has a good piece explaining the debate about how involved the queen should get in all this.

Hosts:Jennifer Williams (@jenn_ruth), Senior Foreign Editor, VoxZack Beauchamp (@zackbeauchamp), Senior Correspondent, VoxAlex Ward (@AlexWardVox), National security reporter, Vox

More to explore:Subscribe for free to Today, Explained, Vox’s daily news podcast to help you understand the news, hosted by Sean Rameswaram.

About Vox:Vox is a news network that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines.

Follow Us:Vox.com Newsletter: Vox Sentences 

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In Jenn’s and Alex’s absence, Zack is joined by Umair Irfan, a climate change reporter at Vox, to talk about the wildfires raging in Siberia, Greenland, and — most worryingly — the Amazon rainforest. They explain why preserving the health of the massive rainforest is vital to addressing climate change, and how the policies of Brazil’s right-wing populist president, Jair Bolsonaro, have helped cause the wildfires and jeopardized the Amazon rainforest’s very survival. Umair tells stories from his recent visit to Brazil, while Zack recalls a sweaty walk to work.

Links!

Here’s Umair’s piece on all the fires raging around the world right now.

Vox’s Jen Kirby explained Bolsonaro 101.

Some background on Bolsonaro’s environmental policy. It’s very bad!

Bolsonaro has gone after indigenous rights since literally the first day of his presidency.

São Paulo’s drought problem has been really serious.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s big new report on land use and climate change.

Information on one of several international initiatives to protect the Amazon.

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Zack, Jenn, and Alex discuss the recently deceased Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty — a Cold War-era agreement that was supposed to stop the US and Russia from putting destabilizing missiles too close to each other. They explain where the treaty came from, why it mattered, and why Trump pulled out of it — and cap it off with a discussion of whether the treaty’s demise was a good thing or not. Zack does his best (worst?) Yaakov Smirnoff impression, Jenn breaks down the song “99 Red Balloons” at length, and Alex laughs at Mikhail Gorbachev’s jokes.

Alex’s recent INF treaty explainer

US President Reagan and Soviet leader Gorbachev sign the INF in 1987

Here’s the full text of the treaty if you want to read it yourself.

The Worldly hosts prefer this cover of “99 Red Balloons” by Goldfinger, but their producer Byrd maintains that the Nena version is best. Editorial director Liz Nelson, meanwhile, recommends this version from the punk band 7 Seconds.

Zack mentioned that there were several times we came close to nuclear war thanks to misinterpretations or accidents. If you want to know even more, we recommend reading the chilling book Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety.

Here’s more background on the Obama administration’s policy toward the INF treaty and Russia’s apparent violation of it. And here’s then-US Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats in November 2018 laying out the evidence the intelligence community has showing that Russia violated the terms of the treaty.

Oh, and here’s Russia’s government denying it did so, and instead accusing the US of having violated the treaty.

Also, more on the “missile gap”

Here is a smart op-ed laying out the case for pulling out of the treaty and building more of these missiles, and here’s a smart op-ed laying out the case against pulling out of the treaty.

Here’s some more background on National Security Adviser John Bolton’s well-known loathing of arms control agreements. 

And we mentioned that China recently warned the US that it would take unspecified “countermeasures” if the US were to deploy these missiles near China.

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Zack, Jenn, and Alex talk about India’s decision to revoke Article 370 of its constitution, the provision giving special status to the majority-Muslim state of Jammu and Kashmir, a decision that has sparked a political crisis with Pakistan. The Worldly team explains why Kashmiri autonomy is so sensitive, the ideological reasons why Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi chose to do something so destabilizing and provocative, and what this could mean for the always-volatile India-Pakistan relationship.

Alex has an explainer about India’s Kashmir power grab.

The New Yorker has a good piece on the India-Pakistan partition.

Vox also has an explainer on the violence between Pakistan and India earlier this year.

A part of Article 370 of India’s constitution reads: “[T]he President may, by public notification, declare that this article shall cease to be operative or shall be operative only with such exceptions and modifications and from such date as he may specify.”

India’s home minister said Modi’s government would give Jammu and Kashmir its statehood back once normalcy returned to the area, but also that Modi’s government still lays claim to Pakistan’s part of Kashmir.

People, including Pakistan’s prime minister, are afraid there will be ethnic cleansing.

Pakistan’s army chief said his nation would “go to any extent” to protect Kashmir’s residents, and Imran Khan, the prime minister, warned that a fight could break out.

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Zack, Jenn, and Alex break down the tension between the US and one of its major NATO allies, Turkey. The most recent fight is over Turkey’s purchase of a Russian missile system, but that’s emblematic of a much deeper rift relating to the Turkish government’s drift towards authoritarianism and the two ally’s diametrically opposed policies in Syria. They also then venture some guesses about whether this could get better — but since this is Worldly, you probably know where our hosts are going to come down on that.

Links!

Alex explains the background on the S-400 missile situation.

Turkey’s bid to join NATO was approved in 1951 (though it was technically effective in 1952).

Here’s a diplomatic cable from 1964 on how the Johnson administration’s handling of Cyprus shaped the US-Turkey relationship (wasn’t good!)

Alex’s piece also has a good short explanation on Gulf War tensions between the US and Turkey.

Here’s a Zack piece on the complicated US-Turkey-Kurdish tensions in Syria.

And another Zack piece on Turkey’s conflict with Kurdish separatists inside its borders.

Pastor Andrew Brunson, explained.

And here’s some solid background on how Turkey and Russia are growing closer.

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Zack and Jenn are joined by Jen Kirby, Vox’s chief Brexit correspondent, to discuss the UK’s new prime minister: Boris Johnson. They trace his rise to power, his political persona that is both funny and troubling, and his distinct lack of political conviction. They also discuss why we should be skeptical that Johnson can make a Brexit deal by October 31, as he’s suggested he would — and what could happen if he doesn’t.

Here’s Boris, explained. And Boris explained, again, just in a lot fewer words.

In the Guardian, Jennifer Rankin and Jim Waterson examine the impact of Johnson’s journalism.

Jenn Williams explains Johnson’s offensive comments.

The Guardian describes the zipline malfunction seen ’round the world.

Jen Kirby writes on how Brexit finally brought Theresa May down.

The future of Brexit under Boris ... maybe.

Boris Johnson says Britain’s can-do spirit can solve Brexit, in the Daily Telegraph.

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Alex Ward joins The Weeds' Jane Coaston  and Matt Yglesias to explain Trump's more-tedious-than-it-sounds plan for military domination of the final frontier.

Recommended reading:

“Trump really, really wants troops in space” by Alex Ward

“Trump wants a ‘Space Force.’ We have many questions.” by Alex Ward

“Trump’s call for a Space Force, explained” by Alex Ward

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Zack, Jenn, and Alex discuss the saga of Kim Darroch, the recently-resigned UK Ambassador to the US. Some of Darroch’s private cables back home, where he referred to President Trump as “inept” (among other things), were leaked and published in a British tabloid — leading to a sequence of events that led to Darroch’s resignation and reveals quite a lot about Britain’s post-Brexit standing in the world and the US-UK relationship. For elsewhere, they discuss the Women’s World Cup — why some countries are much better than others at women’s soccer and the surprisingly deep socio-political reasons that the US is particularly dominant.

References!

Here’s the Daily Mail’s piece on the leaked cables.

The Atlantic has a good piece on how Boris Johnson effectively sank Kim Darroch’s chances of keeping his job.

This is the “Love Actually” scene Alex talked about.

Yes, a British parliamentarian called Johnson Trump’s poodle in a tweet

WikiLeaks has already released thousands of diplomatic cables

Political science shows more equality for women leads to better soccer teams

The University of Rochester explains Title IX

The US has the best infrastructure to nurture women’s soccer than anywhere in the world

Here’s the Buzzfeed piece Jenn noted about young girls inspired by the US women’s national team

Our sister podcast -- Today, Explained -- did an entire episode on the equal pay issue

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