It’s 2023. It’s time for authoritarian leaders to update their aesthetic. Sure a stuffy military uniform used to lend an air of authority, but today’s young leaders are looking more and more like silicon valley tech billionaires. A backwards baseball cap. Laser eyes on their Twitter profile. Plans to build a city powered by a volcano that mines bitcoin. Mega-prisons ripped from the pages of Judge Dredd. That kind of thing. This week we’re talking about El Salvador and its millennial leader Nayib Bukele. With us here to do that is Tiziano Breda, an expert on the region who has covered it for the International Crisis Group and is now with IAI, the Italian international affairs institute. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T6atCMAVfE Angry Planet <a href="https://angryplanet.substack.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">has a Substack</a>!<a href="https://angryplanet.substack.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> </a>Join to get weekly insights into our angry planet and hear more conversations about a world in conflict. <a href="https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribe" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribe</a> You can listen to Angry Planet on<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/war-college/id1023774600?mt=2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> iTunes</a>,<a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/jason-fields/war-college" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Stitcher</a>,<a href="https://play.google.com/music/listen#/ps/Ioueaqtuifyfrxlbf6e6ec6difm" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Google Play</a> or follow our<a href="http://rss.acast.com/warcollege" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> RSS directly</a>.

Mega Prisons and Bitcoin in El Salvador

There are authoritarians and there are tyrants, and sometimes they’re the same person. But would a true tyrant put himself up to face the people in an election that could be free and maybe even fair? With Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, we’re going to find out the exact flavor of authoritarian he is on Sunday, May 14, and in the days immediately following. Erdogan has been in power in his nation of more than 80 million people for nearly two decades, and in some ways, he’s brought it to near ruin, with economic policies based more on his gut <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/turkish-interest-rates-climbing-election-approaches-2023-04-18/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">than sound economic theory</a>.He’s also not much on newspapers, freedom of information, or <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/19/erdogan-turkey-journalists-democracy/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">freedom of speech</a>. On the other hand, no one is going to doubt the importance of his country on the world stage. Erdogan has become something like the Bosporus itself, a gateway or meeting point between NATO and Moscow, and <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2023-05-10/turkey-syria-russia-and-iran-hold-highest-level-talks-since-syrian-war" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">even Iran occasionally</a>. That sounds good, but it hasn’t made the West particularly happy. In one of the most recent examples, Turkey’s veto is the only thing standing between Sweden and NATO membership. Erdogan says it has to do with Sweden harboring Kurdish terrorists, but, like buying S-400 missile batteries from Russia, it could just be a thumb in the eye of all concerned. Maybe the U.S. should just sell Turkey <a href="https://apnews.com/article/turkey-f16-nato-4becd2815cd4eb0b418b214de15d3689" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">those F-16s it wants</a>. The main question, however, is what Erdogan will do when all the votes are counted. If he loses, does he go away? If he wins, does he take away more freedoms from Turks and become the tyrant he always had the potential of becoming? To answer these questions, Angry Planet spoke with Steven Cook of the Council on Foreign relations. He had some surprising thoughts—and a wager. Angry Planet <a href="https://angryplanet.substack.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">has a Substack</a>!<a href="https://angryplanet.substack.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> </a>Join to get weekly insights into our angry planet and hear more conversations about a world in conflict. <a href="https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribe" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribe</a> You can listen to Angry Planet on<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/war-college/id1023774600?mt=2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> iTunes</a>,<a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/jason-fields/war-college" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Stitcher</a>,<a href="https://play.google.com/music/listen#/ps/Ioueaqtuifyfrxlbf6e6ec6difm" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Google Play</a> or follow our<a href="http://rss.acast.com/warcollege" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> RSS directly</a>.

Talking Turkey Ahead of the Vote

It’s a subscriber only episode of Angry Planet where we sit down with drone and UAP journalist Kelsey Atherton to deliver on an old promise: making up for a balloon-related episode from February some of you didn’t like. But first, we got into the news of the drone attack on the Kremlin, which occurred a few hours before we sat down to record. After that, Atherton takes us through his thoughts on the great high altitude object panic of 2023 and we dig into the meat of the episode: why it’s so hard to report on UAPs and why it’s often deeply professionally unpleasant to do so. Angry Planet <a href="https://angryplanet.substack.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">has a Substack</a>!<a href="https://angryplanet.substack.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> </a>Join to get weekly insights into our angry planet and hear more conversations about a world in conflict. <a href="https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribe" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribe</a> You can listen to Angry Planet on<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/war-college/id1023774600?mt=2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> iTunes</a>,<a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/jason-fields/war-college" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Stitcher</a>,<a href="https://play.google.com/music/listen#/ps/Ioueaqtuifyfrxlbf6e6ec6difm" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Google Play</a> or follow our<a href="http://rss.acast.com/warcollege" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> RSS directly</a>. Our website is<a href="http://angryplanetpod.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> angryplanetpod.com</a>. You can reach us on our Facebook page:<a href="https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/</a>; and on Twitter:<a href="https://twitter.com/angryplanetpod" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> @angryplanetpod</a>.

Teaser: Why UAPs Are So Hard to Talk About

You may have noticed that we end our show with a snippet of the video game Fallout (my favorite). “War - war never changes.” What if that’s both true and not true? You have to love a dichotomy. Anyway, we are lucky today to have University of Chicago professor Paul Poast on the show. He looks at foreign policy—war—using statistics to make some sense of it all. This is a break down of why wars popular on the history channel (World War II, the Civil War) aren’t indicative of how wars are actually fought. The smaller proxy wars the U.S. and Russia have been fighting for the past 30 years are the status-quo, not some new kind of conflict. Angry Planet <a href="https://angryplanet.substack.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">has a Substack</a>!<a href="https://angryplanet.substack.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> </a>Join to get weekly insights into our angry planet and hear more conversations about a world in conflict. <a href="https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribe" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribe</a> You can listen to Angry Planet on<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/war-college/id1023774600?mt=2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> iTunes</a>,<a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/jason-fields/war-college" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Stitcher</a>,<a href="https://play.google.com/music/listen#/ps/Ioueaqtuifyfrxlbf6e6ec6difm" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Google Play</a> or follow our<a href="http://rss.acast.com/warcollege" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> RSS directly</a>. Our website is<a href="http://angryplanetpod.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> angryplanetpod.com</a>. You can reach us on our Facebook page:<a href="https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/</a>; and on Twitter:<a href="https://twitter.com/angryplanetpod" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> @angryplanetpod</a>.

Why War Never Changes

How is that a 21-year-old Air National Guardsman posted government secrets to a private Discord group for almost a year before anyone noticed? On today’s episode of Angry Planet, Bellingcat’s Aric Toler walks us through the culture that created poster and edgelord Jack Teixeira. Toler also talks about working with The New York Times, dodging phone calls from the FBI, and the digital forensics he used to identify Teixeira. We talk about the Something Awful Forums, 4chan and KiwiFarms, and why Teixeira isn’t a “leaker” at all, he’s a poster. Angry Planet <a href="https://angryplanet.substack.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">has a Substack</a>!<a href="https://angryplanet.substack.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> </a>Join to get weekly insights into our angry planet and hear more conversations about a world in conflict. <a href="https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribe" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribe</a> You can listen to Angry Planet on<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/war-college/id1023774600?mt=2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> iTunes</a>,<a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/jason-fields/war-college" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Stitcher</a>,<a href="https://play.google.com/music/listen#/ps/Ioueaqtuifyfrxlbf6e6ec6difm" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Google Play</a> or follow our<a href="http://rss.acast.com/warcollege" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> RSS directly</a>. Our website is<a href="http://angryplanetpod.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> angryplanetpod.com</a>. You can reach us on our Facebook page:<a href="https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/</a>; and on Twitter:<a href="https://twitter.com/angryplanetpod" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> @angryplanetpod</a>.

How a 21-Year-Old Edgelord Stole Pentagon Secrets

The Islamic State has largely fallen out of the western press with the weird exception of ISIS brides. And when we talk about the Islamic State, western press often ignores its broader crimes. The plight of the Yazidi, specifically, is largely ignored by press and NGOs. The plight of the so-called “ISIS bride,” however, is very much in fasion. But I wanted that photo and that testimony to lead off this post. Today’s episode is mostly about the women of the Islamic State, but the Yazidis are a crucial part of that story and we shouldn’t forget them. When Islamic State still had a caliphate that galvanized Western militaries, young men and women from around the world left their homes to join up. Their reasons were varied but their passion seems unwavering. Now the Islamic State is fractured and the Caliphate is in ruin but many of the fighters and so-called ISIS brides remain. Now, some of them want to go home, and Western media has looked at them with a shockingly sympathetic eye. Today’s show is a long interview with journalist Norma Costello, who has spent time in al-Hol where many of the women of the Islamic State now live. She’s written about them in <a href="https://unherd.com/2022/11/how-the-media-whitewashed-isis-brides/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">UnHerd</a>.<blockquote>Around the beginning of the pandemic, family and friends of Isis members began to gently craft a new narrative about their women. They had never supported the caliphate. They were innocents forced to travel there by men. They were, in their own way, victims. These grown women had been “trafficked” into Isis territory. Ignore the fact that many of them bought their own tickets.</blockquote>After we’re done talking about the Islamic State, Norma and I switch gears and get onto a very Angry Planet topic: <a href="https://unherd.com/2022/11/ukraine-has-silenced-irelands-tankies/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Irish tankies</a> and their strained relationship with Russia and its war in Ukraine.

Why the West Loves 'ISIS Brides'

In 1983, President Ronald Reagan stood before the American public and promised to put lasers in space. The Strategic Defense Initiative was meant to be the ultimate bulwark against communist intercontinental ballistic missile. It didn’t work. Deriseively called Star Wars, the system never worked. To this day, methods for shooting an ICBM out of the sky are shoddy at best and fantasy at worst. Joining us today is Joe Cirincione. In his own words on his substack at <a href="http://joecirincione.substack.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">joecirincione.substack.com</a>. He is a national security expert and author with 40 years of experience on these issues in Washington, D.C. and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and has held a number of prestigious roles in the nation’s capitol. To see the clip of science fiction authors Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven talking about meeting with Reagan and “winnninng the Cold War with Star Wars” go here: https://youtu.be/i-lSr2ud8Nc Angry Planet <a href="https://angryplanet.substack.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">has a Substack</a>!<a href="https://angryplanet.substack.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> </a>Join to get weekly insights into our angry planet and hear more conversations about a world in conflict. <a href="https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribe" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribe</a> You can listen to Angry Planet on<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/war-college/id1023774600?mt=2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> iTunes</a>,<a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/jason-fields/war-college" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Stitcher</a>,<a href="https://play.google.com/music/listen#/ps/Ioueaqtuifyfrxlbf6e6ec6difm" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Google Play</a> or follow our<a href="http://rss.acast.com/warcollege" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> RSS directly</a>. Our website is<a href="http://angryplanetpod.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> angryplanetpod.com</a>. You can reach us on our Facebook page:<a href="https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/</a>; and on Twitter:<a href="https://twitter.com/angryplanetpod" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> @angryplanetpod</a>.

Reagan's Failed Attempt to Put Lasers in Space

Dictatorships of the last century had some famous youth groups. Hitler had his Youth, Lenin had his Young Pioneers, and Mussolini had his Opera Nazionale Balilla.Such groups once attracted huge followings but have largely fallen out of favor in the West. But, like so much else with the irredentist Vladimir Putin, he’s bringing it back.To help us understand this new youth movement and what it means for the future, we have the perfect guest. Ian Garner is a historian and analyst of Russian culture and war propaganda. He’s got a new book that’s coming out this spring <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Generation-Heart-Russias-Fascist-Youth/dp/1787389286/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=z+generation&amp;qid=1679691844&amp;sprefix=z+gene%2Caps%2C83&amp;sr=8-4" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Z Generation Into the Heart of Russia’s Fascist Youth</a>. He’s also a professor. Queens University Kingston Ontario. Angry Planet <a href="https://angryplanet.substack.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">has a Substack</a>!<a href="https://angryplanet.substack.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> </a>Join to get weekly insights into our angry planet and hear more conversations about a world in conflict. <a href="https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribe" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribe</a> You can listen to Angry Planet on<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/war-college/id1023774600?mt=2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> iTunes</a>,<a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/jason-fields/war-college" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Stitcher</a>,<a href="https://play.google.com/music/listen#/ps/Ioueaqtuifyfrxlbf6e6ec6difm" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Google Play</a> or follow our<a href="http://rss.acast.com/warcollege" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> RSS directly</a>. Our website is<a href="http://angryplanetpod.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> angryplanetpod.com</a>. You can reach us on our Facebook page:<a href="https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/</a>; and on Twitter:<a href="https://twitter.com/angryplanetpod" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> @angryplanetpod</a>.

Russia's Fascist Youth Groups

You know, we wanted to talk about European (and especially German) views of the war in Ukraine today. And we still will. What’s an IRIS-T, for example. What’s up with those Leopard tanks? But then a Russian Su-27 fighter jet crashed into an American MQ-9 Reaper above the Black Sea and the guest we planned to have on, well, she knows a lot about drones. With us today is Ulrike Franke. Franke is a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. She’s an expert in all things Germany, drones, and AI. She got a PhD from Oxford and she hosts a podcast on German defense, the name of which I will absolutely butcher if I attempt to pronounce. Angry Planet <a href="https://angryplanet.substack.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">has a Substack</a>!<a href="https://angryplanet.substack.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> </a>Join to get weekly insights into our angry planet and hear more conversations about a world in conflict. <a href="https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribe" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://angryplanet.substack.com/subscribe</a> You can listen to Angry Planet on<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/war-college/id1023774600?mt=2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> iTunes</a>,<a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/jason-fields/war-college" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Stitcher</a>,<a href="https://play.google.com/music/listen#/ps/Ioueaqtuifyfrxlbf6e6ec6difm" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Google Play</a> or follow our<a href="http://rss.acast.com/warcollege" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> RSS directly</a>. Our website is<a href="http://angryplanetpod.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> angryplanetpod.com</a>. You can reach us on our Facebook page:<a href="https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> https://www.facebook.com/angryplanetpodcast/</a>; and on Twitter:<a href="https://twitter.com/angryplanetpod" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> @angryplanetpod</a>. Support this show <a href="http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege</a>.

The Drones Above Ukraine

Conversations about conflict on an angry planet. 


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Conversations about conflict on an angry planet. Created, produced, and hosted by Matthew Gault and Jason Fields 781951

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