Ep 221: Joel Wuthnow and Phillip Saunders on China’s PLA
Joel Wuthnow and Phillip Saunders, both of the U.S. National Defense University and authors of China's Quest for Military Supremacy, join the show to discuss the origins, organization, and strategic outlook of China’s military.
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Times
• 01:22 Introduction
• 01:57 Origins
• 06:58 Crisis control
• 08:48 PLA structure
• 13:05 1960
• 20:17 Horizontal escalation
• 24:34 By land or sea
• 28:23 American resolve
• 30:54 Xi
• 36:41 A lack of experience
• 44:10 Military diplomacy
• 48:17 Reading list
• 50:43 Be unpredictable
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Ep 220: Marc LiVecche on Hiroshima and Morality
Marc LiVecche, McDonald Distinguished Scholar of Ethics, War, and Public Life at Providence and author of The Good Kill: Just War and Moral Injury, joins the show to discuss Just War Theory and whether the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki fit in that framework.
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Times
• 01:23 Introduction
• 01:30 Misspent youth
• 07:51 Moral injury
• 13:27 Conflicting views
• 19:15 Richard Frank
• 28:53 Right not moral
• 39:12 Not the same
• 40:36 Gifts from heaven
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Ep 219: Stephen Platt on Mao's China and the Original Marine Raider
Stephen Platt, professor of Chinese history at UMass Amherst and author of The Raider: The Untold Story of a Renegade Marine and the Birth of U.S. Special Forces in World War II, joins the show to discuss the incredible life of Evans Carlson.
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Times
• 01:48 Introduction
• 02:50 American quirk
• 08:14 China
• 10:18 Soviet policy
• 14:01 Nicaragua
• 16:29 Edgar Snow
• 21:11 FDR
• 24:42 8th Route Army
• 31:52 Embargo
• 38:30 Raiders
• 42:40 Makin Island
• 46:30 Force multiplier
• 52:44 1946
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Ep 218: Lawerence Freedman on Endless Wars
Lawerence Freedman, Emeritus Professor of War Studies at King’s College London and author of ‘The Age of Forever Wars’ in Foreign Affairs Magazine, joins the show to discuss why protracted warfare seems to be a mark of the era.
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Times
• 01:32 Introduction
• 02:01 Aligning strategy
• 04:37 Mass
• 07:14 Iraq and Afghanistan
• 11:14 Al Qaeda
• 14:25 Survive
• 17:50 Results matter
• 22:04 Trade-offs
• 27:23 Avoiding mistakes
• 32:13 Why does Putin continue?
• 38:29 Concessions
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Ep 217: Steven Rabalais on Ike’s Mentor
Steven Rabalais, litigator and author of General Fox Conner: Pershing's Chief of Operations and Eisenhower's Mentor, joins the show to discuss the extraordinary influence of now-forgotten General Fox Connor on the outcome of WWI and Eisenhower’s career.
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Times
• 01:51 Introduction
• 03:10 Growing up with history
• 05:47 A southern story
• 07:44 West Point struggles
• 12:07 A reader
• 14:50 Coastal artillery
• 20:46 Rocks and airplanes
• 23:51 Mechanism of victory
• 27:54 WWI logistics
• 32:47 Summer 1918
• 46:03 Eisenhower
• 51:24 Panama
• 01:01:58 Foreshadowing
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This podcast seeks to learn what war teaches. There has been a steady decline in the study of military history and its associated theoretical discipline, strategy.This podcast seeks to fill that gap through in-depth interviews on military and diplomatic history. Our guests have included former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the Cold War historian John Lewis Gaddis, and former China Select Committee chairman Mike Gallagher. We discuss the battlefield commanders, diplomats, strategists, policymakers, and statesmen who have had to make wartime decisions in the ancient and modern eras. The subject of an episode may be an historical battle, campaign, or conflict; the conduct of policy in the course of a major international incident; the work of a famous strategist; the nature of a famous weapon; or the legacy of an important military commander or political leader.
Aaron MacLean is a senior fellow at Hudson Institute. He has worked as a foreign policy advisor and legislative director to Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and spent seven years in the U.S. Marine Corps.
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