POD RECS: Britain's Nuclear deterrent, Vietnam's lessons for Gaza

Germany and Tax

Mega Orderers,

Friend of the podcast Tom Newton Dunn has just launched his new pod with The Times (of London): entitle The General and the Journalist and in the first episode with Sir Simon Case (Former Cabinet Secretary) they discuss the state of global order. They portray China as wanting order on its own terms and Russia as global disorder. The also delve into the personalities inside the British cabinets of the last decade… it is a little inside British political baseball… very charming for a UK audience. To me the most interesting bit was about Britain’s Nuclear Deterrent which uses missiles leased from Lockheed Martin… they really explain how the nuclear deterrent works and fits into larger British strategic and budgetary contexts

Next, Friend of the Pod Andrew Keen just hosted our New Book’s Network Partner Marshall Poe on his Pod

History, Marshall Poe wrote in December 2023, shows that Israel will never win a "war of occupation". Eighteen months later, with Israel on the brink of a full scale occupation of Gaza, Poe's argument is even more relevant. the Gaza war, the historian warns, is turning into Israel's Vietnam - an unwinnable occupation that will only bring shame on the invaders. Trust Poe on the Vietnam analogy. His last book was about the Mai Lai massacre in Vietnam, so he's all too familiar with the catastrophic consequences of imperial wars of counter-insurgency.

Five Takeaways

* Counterinsurgency operations typically evolve into prolonged occupations, as forces cannot easily identify and eliminate insurgents without alienating the local population.

* Military occupations historically fail when the entire civilian population becomes hostile to occupying forces, leading to ethical compromises and potential atrocities.

* The My Lai massacre in Vietnam exemplifies how poor intelligence and leadership can result in civilian casualties when soldiers cannot distinguish between combatants and non-combatants.

For Marshall’s writing on Mai Lai visit here..: https://militaryhistorynow.com/2023/11/02/murder-at-my-lai-just-who-was-responsible-for-americas-most-infamous-war-crime/

* Population relocation, a strategy being discussed for Gaza, has historically been catastrophic whenever attempted in the 20th century.

* The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has limited viable solutions, with Poe suggesting the two-state solution is no longer realistic and expressing skepticism that external powers like the US can resolve the situation.

Marshall Tillbrook Poe is an American historian, writer, editor, and founder of the New Books Network, an online collection of podcast interviews with a wide range of nonfiction authors. He has taught Russian, European, Eurasian, and world history at various universities including Harvard, Columbia, University of Iowa, and, currently, the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Poe is the author or editor of a number of books for children and adults.

I think all Mega Orderers will enjoy this straight talking hard hitting conversation.

---

And now for some bonus memes for the Mega Orders on the Paid subscription only.. join to see what you are missing :)