Geopolitics and Analysis

Listen to this episode commercial free at<a href="https://angryplanetpod.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> https://angryplanetpod.com</a> All things move towards their end, even seemingly omnipotent political leaders, and authoritarian systems are shaped by the question of succession long before the leader dies. Xi Jinping is 72 years old and the Chinese Communist Party has started to consider what comes next. Those conversations are shaping the political reality of the country. On this episode of Angry Planet, Brown University professor Tyler Jost comes on the show to explain China is navigating what life may look like after Xi. <ul><li>How succession shapes politics in an authoritarian system</li><li>How does China’s government actually work?</li><li>The path to the Chinese presidency</li><li>As always, it’s all about who you know</li><li>Princelings</li><li>Xi’s path to power</li><li>Corruption as influence</li><li>When the eye of the leader lands upon you</li><li>“Cyberpunk hellscape”</li><li>Some parting notes on American Maoism</li></ul> <a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/china/after-xi-jinping-jost-mattingly" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">After Xi—The Succession Question Obscuring China’s Future—and Unsettling Its Present</a> <a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/bureaucracies-at-war-the-institutional-origins-of-miscalculation-tyler-jost/20960683?ean=9781009307222&amp;next=t" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bureaucracies at War</a>Support this show <a target="_blank" rel="payment" href="http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege">http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege</a>.<hr> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

After Xi

Listen to this episode commercial free at<a href="https://angryplanetpod.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> https://angryplanetpod.com</a> The Pacific Northwest is known for its startling natural beauty, precocious rainfall, and propensity to birth serial killers. Why? Caroline Fraser has a theory and it’s a good one. This week on Angry Planet, Fraser takes us on a journey through the American past and into the dark heart of the PNW. Her new book Murderland weaves together memoir, true crime, history, and science into a compelling narrative that’s as beautiful and deadly as the forests around Tacoma. <ul><li>Lead in the time of serial killers</li><li>Crazywall as map</li><li>America’s ultra-leaded 1970s</li><li>The killer hubristic roadways of the Pacific Northwest</li><li>The unique draw of Ted Bundy</li><li>The beauty and horror of the PNW’s woods</li><li>Lead poisoned psychos become pop culture geniuses</li><li>Anne Rule and the different eras of true crime writing</li><li>The Olympic–Wallowa lineament</li><li>The current state of the true crime genre</li></ul> <a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/murderland-crime-and-bloodlust-in-the-time-of-serial-killers-caroline-fraser/156e2df8d7c9c05c?ean=9780593657225&amp;next=t" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Murdlerand: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers</a> <a href="https://ecology.wa.gov/spills-cleanup/contamination-cleanup/cleanup-sites/tacoma-smelter" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Tacoma Smelter Plume project</a> <a href="https://www.pittmed.health.pitt.edu/story/houses-butterflies" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Houses of Butterflies</a> <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/from-the-archives-a-look-back-on-i-90-floating-bridges-before-light-rail-work-begins/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">A look back at the I-90 floating bridges before light-rail work begins</a> <a href="https://hunningham.biblionumis.it/domesday-book/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Domesday Book</a>Support this show <a target="_blank" rel="payment" href="http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege">http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege</a>.<hr> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Traveling America’s ‘Murderland’

Listen to this episode commercial free at<a href="https://angryplanetpod.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> https://angryplanetpod.com</a> On September 2, 2025 the United States escalated its decades long War on Drugs with a tactic borrowed from the War on Terror. It used a drone to blow up a boat it said was full of drugs then said the 11 people killed in the strike were terrorists. Is this legal? Does that matter? On this week’s Angry Planet, journalist Mike LaSusa of InSight Crime comes on the show to walk us through the ins and outs of America’s long-running War on Drugs and how War on Terror tactics are shaping the fight. <ul><li>What’s Tren de Aragua?</li><li>The real connections between Tren de Aragua and the government of Venezuela</li><li>Is this legal?</li><li>How America’s drug interdiction works</li><li>Does violence deter?</li><li>On narcoterrorism</li><li>Cartel as misnomer</li><li>Violence isn’t sustainable</li><li>“We don’t even know these people’s names.”</li><li>America’s partners in the War on Terror on Drugs</li><li>“Motivations matter.”</li><li>How do you solve a problem like illicit drugs?</li><li>How the Trump admin hurt its own cause in the drug war</li><li>Poppies in Afghanistan</li><li>Drug use as a moral failing</li><li>11 is a lot people for a drug boat</li><li>The Cartel of the Suns</li></ul> <a href="https://insightcrime.org/event/how-war-on-terror-tactics-could-change-the-fight-against-organized-crime/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">How War-on-Terror Tactics Could Change the Fight Against Organized Crime</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/10/us/trump-drug-boat-venezuela-strike.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Boat Suspected of Smuggling Drugs Is Said to Have Turned Before U.S. Attacked It</a> <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/10/trump-venezuela-boat-attack-drone/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Rand Paul Reveals Venezuela Boat Attack Was a Drone Strike</a> <a href="https://insightcrime.org/investigations/tren-de-aragua-fact-fiction/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Tren de Aragua: Fact vs. Fiction</a> <a href="https://insightcrime.org/news/how-trumps-anti-money-laundering-rollback-could-help-latam-criminals/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">How Trump’s Anti-Money Laundering Rollback Could Help LatAm Criminals</a>Support this show <a target="_blank" rel="payment" href="http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege">http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege</a>.<hr> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

The War On Terror on Drugs

Listen to this episode commercial free at https://angryplanetpod.com Political assassins often have incoherent politics and Tyler Robinson is no different. The young man who killed Charlie Kirk inscribed the shell casings of his bullets with obscure memes that say less about what he believed and more about where he spent time online. Robinson isn’t alone. Earlier this year the Annunciation Church shooter showed off a rifle inscribed with similar memes pulled from the internet. The Christchurch shooter in 2019 livestreamed their killing and left behind a meme laden manifesto. So what the hell is going on? On this episode of Angry Planet, Michael Senters—a PhD candidate at Virginia Tech—has some unsatisfying answers. Senters painstakingly walks us through each message on Robinson’s bullets and explains the online spaces from whence they came.If you don’t know a gropyer from a Helldiver or have never heard “OwO” said aloud, this episode is for you. It will not make you feel better. <ul><li>4,000 hours in seven games</li><li>A painfully specific explanation of every shell casing meme</li><li>“It can’t be Helldivers”</li><li>“This kid has probably fried his brain online.”</li><li>Hearts of Iron IV’s place in online fascist discourse</li><li>Son, what’s a groyper?</li><li>There’s no compelling evidence Robinson was a Groyper</li><li>The terrible embarrassment of explaining memes out loud</li><li>The 10 year old meme on the shell that killed Kirk</li><li>Constructing an ideology here is a Sisyphian task</li><li>Being online is about irony and performance</li><li>How a moment in time becomes a memetic hieroglyph</li><li>Assassination as performance</li><li>Gamergate as a “critical junction” in the Republican party</li><li>How GG spread the irony-poisoned posting style like a virus</li><li>Filming a TikTok video at an assassination</li><li>Re-evaluating our relationship to the internet</li><li>A little bit about working in a bookstore</li><li>The charging documents drop at the end of our conversation</li></ul> <a href="https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/charlie-kirk-killing-tyler-robinson-shell-casings-rcna230933" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">What the shell casings in the assassination of Charlie Kirk do – and don't – tell us</a> <a href="https://www.liberalcurrents.com/yes-its-the-guns-its-also-the-phones/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Yes, It’s the Guns. It’s Also the Phones.</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/09/16/us/tyler-robinson-charges.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Read the Charges Against Tyler Robinson</a> <a href="https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/exclusive-leaked-messages-from-charlie" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Exclusive: Leaked Messages from Charlie Kirk Assassin</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSWKtuaV2fY" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The “Notices Bulge OwO” video</a> <a href="https://cad-comic.com/comic/loss/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The “Loss” comic</a>Support this show <a target="_blank" rel="payment" href="http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege">http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege</a>.<hr> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Assassinations Are Shitposts Now

Listen to this episode commercial free at https://angryplanetpod.com The episode is about Vanessa Guillén, a US soldier who was murdered at Fort Hood in 2020. She also experienced sexual harassment while in the military. I spoke with ABC Special Correspondent John Quiñones about his new podcast, Vanished. It’s a good podcast that covers Guillén’s case in-depth and highlights the reforms the Pentagon instituted after. We recorded the show on September 30, Guillén’s birthday. That morning, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth delivered a long speech about his own military reforms. Many of the changes Hegseth has pushed through conflict with the changes that Guillén’s death ushered in. As such, I thought it was important to get John’s reaction to Hegseth’s speech. Before we began recording,I told him I planned to ask him about this and he agreed to talk about it. When I asked the question during recording, a public relations person from ABC jumped on the line and asked me to stop talking about Hegseth. I pushed back, but not hard enough. The next day, ABC PR reached out via email to ask if I would cut this moment from the show. I will not. It’s included here in full. Further, I want to take a moment at the top to highlight the reasons why I brought up Hegseth’s speech. There’s a lot to it and, honestly, it demands its own episode. Here are Hegseth’s thoughts on toxic leaders. <blockquote>“Today, at my direction, we’re undertaking a full review of the Department’s Definitions of so-called toxic leadership, bullying and hazing, to empower leaders to enforce standards without fear of retribution or second guessing. Of course, you can’t do, like nasty bullying and hazing. We’re talking about words like bullying and hazing and toxic. They’ve been weaponized and bastardized inside our formations, undercutting commanders and NCOs. No more. Setting, achieving, and maintaining high standards is what you all do. And if that makes me toxic, then so be it.”</blockquote> Guillén’s case also changed the way the Army investigates sexual harassment. Here are the secretary’s thoughts on the current state of official internal military investigations: <blockquote>“We are overhauling an inspector-general process, the IG that has been weaponized, putting complainers, ideologues and poor performers in the driver’s seat. We’re doing the same with the Equal Opportunity and Military Equal Opportunity policies, the EO and MEO, at our department. No more frivolous complaints, no more anonymous complaints, no more repeat complaints, no more smearing reputations, no more endless waiting, no more legal limbo, no more side-tracking careers, no more walking on eggshells. “Of course, being a racist has been illegal in our formation since 1948. The same goes for sexual harassment. Both are wrong and illegal. Those kinds of infractions will be ruthlessly enforced.”</blockquote> After the speech, Hegseth signed 11 memos that detailed these changes. I’ll link them in the show notes. The memos say that the military’s definition of “harassment” is overly broad, calls for the end of “anonymous complaints”—something Hegesth also said in his speech, and asks that investigations be completed quickly with the assistance of artificial intelligence. I believe that is all important context for this episode. I also believe that Hegseth’s speech and the policy directives represent a regression in the American armed services. I will not pretend otherwise. <a href="https://abc.com/news/0d06790b-c79c-4be1-bd99-6292955b4002/category/1138628" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Listen to the All-New ‘Vanished: What Happened to Vanessa’ Podcast</a> Support this show <a target="_blank" rel="payment" href="http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege">http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege</a>.<hr> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Vanessa Guillén and the Importance of Speaking Up

On June 5, 2018, Dr. Christopher D. Yung explores China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China’s version of the Marshall Plan, during a lecture "Who's Afraid of China's Belt and Road Initiative? Getting to the Heart of China's Controversial Marshall Plan" at The Institute of World Politics.

Who's Afraid of China's Belt and Road Initiative?

GPF Director Jacob Shapiro welcomes special guest Dario Fabbri, Senior Analyst at Limes, to talk about Italy's view of Europe. Along the way, they touch on Italy's relationship with the U.S., Germany's lack of strategy and France's double-edged demographic advantage. Sign up for free updates on topics like this! Go here:  https://goo.gl/zt6tzx

Italy's View of France and Germany

This week, the head of NATO wrote a column politely reminding everyone about the use of the military alliance. Can NATO continue to meet the needs of all its members? Sign up for free updates on topics like this! Go here:  https://goo.gl/zt6tzx

Is NATO Obsolete?

Kings Maritime Seminar Series 2017-2018. Helen Sellers presents on the topic of 'Australia and India at Sea: The Contemporary Security implications of Two Maritime Histories from ancient to modern times.'. The seminar took place on the 7th December 2017 in the Department of War Studies, Kings College London.

Maritime Seminars 2017-2018: Australia and India at Sea: Contemporary Security, Helen Sellers

Author John Lehman talked about his book "OCEANS VENTURED: Winning The Cold War at Sea" during a lecture on June 25, 2018, at The Institute of World Politics.

About the Book:

A thrilling story of the Cold War, told by a former navy secretary on the basis of recently declassified documents. When Ronald Reagan took office in January 1981, the United States and NATO were losing the Cold War. The USSR had superiority in conventional weapons and manpower in Europe, and had embarked on a construction program to gain naval preeminence. But Reagan already had a plan. Reagan pushed Congress to build the navy back to its 1945 strength of 600 major ships. He gathered a circle of experienced naval planners, including the author, to devise an aggressive strategy that would move our fleets within spitting distance of Soviet waters. New radars, sensors, and emissions technology would make ghosts of our submarines and surface fleets. We would operate aircraft carriers in Arctic waters, which no navy had attempted. The Soviets, surrounded by our forward naval strategy, bankrupted their economy trying to keep pace. It wasn’t long before the Berlin Wall fell and the USSR was disbanded.

About the Author:

John Lehman, a former U.S. Navy pilot, served as United States Secretary of the Navy from 1981 to 1987. From 2003 to 2004 he was a member of the 9/11 Commission. He lives in New York.

OCEANS VENTURED: Winning The Cold War at Sea

One of the great strains on NATO is the question of who’s paying how much for what. But that’s not a new problem. Almost as long as the alliance has been around - 69 years - there’s been arguing over the bills. Germany has been a particular target of late, with the United States calling on the economic powerhouse to pay up. Kathleen Hicks of the Center for Strategic and International Studies offers some needed perspective. You can listen to War College on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/war-college/id1023774600?mt=2" target="_blank">iTunes</a>, <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/jason-fields/war-college" target="_blank">Stitcher</a>, <a href="https://play.google.com/music/listen#/ps/Ioueaqtuifyfrxlbf6e6ec6difm" target="_blank">Google Play</a> or follow our <a href="http://rss.acast.com/warcollege" target="_blank">RSS directly</a>. Our website is warcollegepodcast.com. You can reach us on our Facebook page: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/warcollegepodcast/" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/warcollegepodcast/</a>; and on Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/War_College" target="_blank">@War_College</a>.

Why Germany Isn’t Picking Up More of NATO’s Tab

Conversations about conflict on an Angry Planet

Why Germany Isn’t Picking Up More of NATO’s Tab

Angry Planet

Related tracks