Oct 23, 2024
This episode was first published on Feb. 22, 2024 as part of a series marking the second anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Original show notes:
In every war, there is a battle over its origins. In this episode, historians Michael Kimmage and Mark Galeotti discuss Kimmage's new book, "Collisions," which seeks...
Jan 11, 2024
Before Gaza became synonymous with poverty and human misery, the area was a thriving commercial hub and a crossroads for the armies of empires. Before it became the much smaller Gaza Strip and a seedbed of Palestinian nationalism, it was home to 80,000 Arabs and of little interest to Zionists. But since the middle of...
Dec 7, 2023
Urban warfare, an appalling civilian death toll, and international outcry: Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza shares parallels with its failed invasion of Lebanon in 1982, which was also meant to destroy a terrorist enemy (guerrilla units of the PLO) on the other side of the border. Whatever similarities and differences...
Nov 21, 2023
Partisans and activists on either side of the Israel-Hamas war are lobbing allegations of genocide against the other. Some respected legal scholars and historians are also weighing in, however, in an effort to elevate a debate that can easily turn ugly. After all, there's no more serious crime than genocide, which is...
Nov 14, 2023
The wars in Eastern Europe and the Middle East shattered illusions. Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, now in its twenty-first month, dispelled the notion that major land wars between European states were a thing of the past. Hamas' savage attack on Israel on Oct. 7, which was meant to provoke...