Angry Planet

Matthew Gault and Jason Fields
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Angry Planet

Conversations about conflict on an angry planet. Created, produced, and hosted by Matthew Gault and Jason Fields 781951 Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. 6 DAYS AGO

    Erdogan’s Path to Pure Authoritarianism

    Listen to this episode commercial free at https://angryplanetpod.com Turkey’s president has grabbed a bit more power for himself with the recent arrest of the mayor of Istanbul. The mayor was thought to be one of the few politicians who could challenge Erdogan. Steven Cook will take us through it. Talking about authoritarians is one of the things we do here, so strap in for another tale of turmoil on an angry planet. Shilling for kagi.com“Competitive authoritarianism”Negotiating with the Kurdistan Workers’ PartyHow to court the Kurdish vote while killing KurdsA stable of failsons“The Turkish Marc Andreessen”Why Erdogan hates PennsylvaniaDisproving McDonald’s Diplomacy, once againLeveling a park to build a mallHow Erdogan processed the Arab Spring“Fools, knaves, and rubes”—Oh my! Turkey Can’t Live With, or Without, Erdogan Ukraine Has Written a Folk Song About Its Drone Turkey and Israel are becoming deadly rivals in Syria Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 2m

  2. 11 APR

    Immigration Policy As Defense Policy

    Listen to this episode commercial free at https://angryplanetpod.com Special for our international listeners, did you know you can now buy a pathway to U.S. citizenship for the low, low price of $5 million sent directly to the U.S. treasury? For decades America’s immigration policies were a boon to its national defense. No one has better intelligence on a rival country than a fleeing dissident with firsthand knowledge. Times have changed. Gil Guerra of the Niskanen Center is here to talk all about those changes. It’s an episode packed with bizarre anecdotes and interesting tidbits about how America runs now. You’ll learn why evangelical Christians are turning their back on refugees, why China won’t accept deportation flights, and how to navigate the Darien Gap using short form video posts. Immigration is a foreign policy toolDissident refugees as a strategic winWhat we know about how the “Gold Card” will work“You simply can’t create greencards out of nowhere.”How Mexico uses immigration to get concessions from the U.S.“At a certain point the people who send you into the blades look like the bastards.”Dealing with a dictator20,000 Chinese nationals at the southern borderThe internet has made it easier to immigrateNavigating the Darien Gap, one TikTok video at a time Op-ed: Trump’s gold card visa, explained Domestic debate, global strategy: Revisiting immigration in U.S. foreign policy China owns 380,000 acres of land in the U.S. Here's where Weapons of Mass Migration Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    59 min

  3. 4 APR

    Life Inside Wagner Before and After Prigozhin

    Listen to this episode commercial free at https://angryplanetpod.com For mercenaries, death is a business. It’s all about finding the right market. Wagner and other Russian mercenary groups have found willing markets in Africa. Journalist John Lechner spent years in Africa among the mercenaries and he’s on the show today to tell us about what he learned. Lechner tells us how Wagner’s men think the U.S. media killed Prigozhin, why every theater (or market) is different, and the training regimen of a fresh convict recruit. It’s all in his new book Death Is Our Business: Mercenaries and the New Era of Private Warfare. The threats change…but the mercenaries stay the same. Interlinking militant Islam and the rise of modern mercenariesRussian mercenaries before WagnerPrigozhin risingPutin’s Chef was the father of ‘Hybrid War’Wagner in Africa‘No one said mercenary life was gonna be easy.’Life inside Wagner‘Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.’You can’t judge intent by resultsThe Russian “royal” court is full of self starters and entrepreneurs The Tip of Russia’s Spear Death Is Our Business Pardoned for Serving in Ukraine, They Return to Russia to Kill Again Taliban Bureaucrats Hate Working Online All Day, ‘Miss the Days of Jihad’ Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 2m

  4. 25 MAR

    The Cult of Rationalism in Silicon Valley

    A lot of the people designing America’s technology and close to the center of American power believe some deeply weird shit. We already talked to journalist Gil Duran about the Nerd Reich, the rise of the destructive anti-democratic ideology. In this episode, we dive into another weird section of Silicon Valley: the cult of Rationalism. Max Read, the journalist behind the Read Max Substack, is here to help us through it. Rationalism is responsible for a lot more than you might think and Read lays out how it’s influenced the world we live in today and how it created the environment for a cult that’s got a body count. Defining rationalism: “Something between a movement, a community, and a self-help program.”Eliezer Yudkowsky and the dangers of AIWhat the hell is AGI?The Singleton Guide to Global GovernanceThe danger of thought experimentsAs always, follow the moneyVulgar bayesianismWhat’s a Zizian?Sith VegansAnselm: Ontological Argument for God’s ExistenceSBF and Effective Altruism READ MAX! The Zizians and the Rationalist death cults Pausing AI Developments Isn’t Enough. We Need to Shut it All Down - Eliezer Yudkowsky’s TIME Magazine piece Explaining Roko’s Basilisk, the Thought Experiment That Brought Elon Musk and Grimes Together The Delirious, Violent, Impossible True Story of the Zizians The Government Knows AGI is Coming | The Ezra Klein Show The archived ‘Is Trump Racist’ rational post Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 2m

  5. 10 MAR

    How Israel Is Using Microsoft AI to Pick Targets in Gaza

    Listen to this episode commercial free at https://angryplanetpod.com The Israeli military is using AI products from Microsoft to conduct its war in Gaza. Off the shelf AI products powered by the tech company’s Azure cloud computing system and OpenAI are helping the IDF sort through data, translate Arabic, and even pick targets. But AI translations aren’t perfect and these systems often make mistakes. What happens when the consequences are life and death? Associated Press global investigative reporters Garance Burke and Michael Biesecker are part of a team that broke the story about Israel’s use of Microsoft’s commercial AI in a war. They’re on the show today to help us sort through it all. Defining “AI”Off the shelf solutions for warMicrosoft Azure as war’s translator and search engine“The Israel military is one of the leading militaries in the world adopting the use of AI to assist in its war efforts. They’ve been doing this for years.”AI is picking targetsStudents to militantsAI’s mistranslationsBlaming AI for human sinsMatthew’s vision of a hellish automated futureEmployees push backThe money is just too good How US tech giants supplied Israel with AI models, raising questions about tech’s role in warfare As Israel uses US-made AI models in war, concerns arise about tech’s role in who lives and who dies Microsoft workers protest sale of AI and cloud services to Israeli military Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    29 min

  6. 3 MAR

    Welcome to the Nerd Reich

    Listen to this episode commercial free at https://angryplanetpod.com We’re living in a bizarre age of technofascism. The richest man who has ever lived, a man who dreams of colonizing Mars with his children, is America’s CEO. Donald Trump, the man people voted for, is just the chairman of the board. What does Elon Musk believe? Is there a playbook for DOGE? How bad are things going to get? On this episode of Angry Planet journalist Gil Duran, author of The Nerd Reich newsletter, walks us through what’s coming. Over on The Shatter Zone, journalist and former Angry Planet guest Robert Evans has published a document that Democratic think tanks are passing around. It gives extra context to Duran’s reporting. All the major players and themes we talk about in this episode are there: Curtis Yarvin, Nick Land, the Butterfly Effect. If you want to understand why so many federal workers are getting fired and the Silicon Valley ideology that’s infected D.C., then give us a listen. Curtis Yarvin’s unimpressive programming career“Democracy doesn’t work”Bullshit and cherriesRAGE and RebootThe Chairman of the BoardIt’s always about the money“Move fast and break things” comes to D.C.The Engineer’s DiseaseNick Land is mentioned and I’m sorry“Trump is more intellectual property than man.”The horror of comedySelling the Nerd Reich to the Religious Right The Nerd Reich AI Video of Trump Sucking Musk's Toes Blasted on Government Office TVs Trump’s AI Gaza Video Is the Tip of a Horrifying ‘Gaz-A-Lago’ Iceberg Techno-Fascism Comes to America Curtis Yarvin Says Democracy Is Done. Powerful Conservatives Are Listening. 'Reboot' Revealed: Elon Musk's CEO-Dictator Playbook Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 5m

  7. 19 FEB

    The American Iron Dome Is an Expensive Boondoggle That Won’t Work

    Listen to this episode commercial free at https://angryplanetpod.com President Donald Trump wants to build an American Iron Dome. He even signed an executive order to make it happen. It’s a terrible idea, one we’ve tried before, and one that will make America less safe. In this episode, Joseph Cirincione returns to the program to detail his personal history with complicated and costly missile defense systems. It all starts during a snowstorm in 1982 and with the High FrontierZombie defense pitchesIt’s almost impossible to knock a bullet out of space with a bulletHow Israel’s Iron Dome worksSlow and hot vs fast and coldLasers don’t work, thanks TellerPitch: lasers in space. Reality: missile batteries in AlaskaThese systems only work half the time and only under perfect conditionsSpaceX contracts abound!A Pentagon Powerpoint slide enters chatJason’s Superman reverie, starring Gene Hackman as Lex LuthorHow do China and Russia react?“The enemy gets a vote.”The last arms control treatyRonald Reagan: anti-nuclear advocateHow SDI kept us from eliminating nuclear weaponsAnatomy of an arms raceAI is coming to nuclear command and control Project 2025 and Trump Are Cooking Up a Recipe for a New Nuclear Arms Race The Iron Dome for America Executive Order The national missile defense fantasy—again Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture Why the US General In Charge of Nuclear Weapons Said He Needs AI Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    53 min

  8. 10 FEB

    The End of U.S. Soft Power

    Listen to this episode commercial free at https://angryplanetpod.com U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is the interim head of USAID, for however much longer the agency lasts. For 60 years, the massive bureaucracy was a vehicle for American soft power abroad. Trump, Elon Musk, and all their creatures don’t like it. It might soon be gone. Nicole Widdersheim is the deputy Washington director of Human Rights Watch with a long history of humanitarian work. She’s here on Angry Planet today to walk us through this new era of the American Empire. A brief history of USAIDThe size and cost of USAIDCritiquing a bureaucracyPeople like you when you give them stuffDefense, diplomacy, developmentThe real world consequences of the ending of foreign aidA mallet, not a scalpelSupporters need to get cynicalUSAID did a bad job of defending itselfAmericans don’t care about the human costThe Glorious Republic of Jasonvania wants food aidCongressionally approved rice to North KoreaIt turns out the cruelty is, in fact, the pointAt USAID, Waste and Abuse Runs DeepNo one read those reports on AfghanistanHow China’s “Belt and Road” actually worksThe end of USAID will screw over American farmersTrumpism is a lack of consistency  Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    59 min
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About

Conversations about conflict on an angry planet. Created, produced, and hosted by Matthew Gault and Jason Fields 781951 Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Information

  • Creator
    Matthew Gault and Jason Fields
  • Years Active
    2015 - 2025
  • Episodes
    463
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © War College LLC
  • Show Website
    Angry Planet

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