Rejoice greatly, the Disorder pod celebrates its 1 year anniversary
Plus Jane Kinninmont's take on Disorder and nuclear proliferation / Jonathan Winer's on a potential post-Nov Trumpian judicial coup / and bonus content on US voters
Rejoice, Rejoice, Rejoice Greatly, the Disorder pod celebrates its year anniversary (listen here)
And even the broadsheets in our industry are taking notice!
(From Podnews’s homepage.)
Therefore, for those of you on this substack list who mostly just read this newsletter rather than listening to our pod this is truly your moment to listen to the advice of such an august and venerable 18th century publication such as Podnews.net and finally check out Disorder. I agree with their learned and erudite editors that this special bonus ep is truly one of our best episodes ever, it will likely still be being referenced in a few centuries time. :-)
No seriously, I was in Philadelphia last week meeting an old friend and he said he can trace his lineage back to the Mayflower and he reads the Ordering the Disorder substack but he doesn’t know how to listen to the Disorder pod. And this is a man who works in tech.
What did I conclude? Friends don’t let friends just read their substack and not listen to the pod. It isn’t in good taste and it simply isn’t done. It would be like serving cheese after dinner without port (or sauternes). It simply isn’t done, it violates the natural order of the universe.
The substack exists only to compliment the pod. The cheese is only served after dinner to balance the sweetness of the port (I mean by that point no one is hungry anyway). So please if you aren’t already a listener pls give pod a shot and peace a chance by clicking here and clicking the icon of your favourite podcast app or just listening directly.
Today Sept 19th, 2024 we are celebrating Disorder’s One Year Anniversary, so we start the pod with Alex and myself recapping the shows Greatest Hits, share their thoughts on their favourite guests; explain how their views of the world have changed over the last year; speculate on how today’s disorder is different from what came before; and disagree slightly agreeably about how the moral failings of the Anglo-American colonial empire of bygone days is or is not different from the Chinese and Russian empires of today. After proceeding through these reminiscences, we take listeners questions about Putin, AI, China, imperialism, how recording the podcast has changed how Alex and I see the world, and if there are any new orderers on the world stage. We go over some of our favourite guests. Can you identify them? (they are in increasing order of difficulty):
The first person who writes me and can name all four of these podcasts guests (without cheating and putting the photos into some AI or google search) gets a free shout out on the pod as Season 1s top mega orderer.
And now to close season one with some moral clarity:
For more rejoicing greatly or general nostalgia here are links to our favourite episodes (hint hint, very savvy potential mega orderers might be able to match some names below to some faces above although it is a not a full overlap):
Listen to our first episode here: https://pod.link/1706818264/episode/63ff389b562a075c49a81c86e239b85c
And listen to some of the other favourite episodes that this episode references,
With Bill Browder (on Navalny’s death): https://pod.link/1706818264/episode/a36160dede2b990a59c34c3c4e8eeece
With Evegenia Kara Murza (whose husband has just been released in the prisoner swap): https://pod.link/1706818264/episode/8eff8cc4caece2708249ee7bec567ad8
With Miles Taylor (author of the famous Anonymous article in the NYT): https://pod.link/1706818264/episode/42c97d2971c72d251b59b92d47d6c0ed
With Armen Sarkissian (the former President of Armenian - Part 1): https://pod.link/1706818264/episode/380a900513c99b34f849e4d74119f46a
And the one containing arguably our greatest moment with Kurt Volker: https://pod.link/1706818264/episode/f20a464df3a71e64f887891339b720dc
Now for some exclusive substack content FROM JANE KINNINMONT:
I’ve been excited to join Disorder several times this year as a friend of the show, starting with our May episode on the return of the nuclear threat. We talked about how global disorder is driving a growing debate about nukes are the answer to security threats - which is no longer limited to so-called rogue states but is now taking place in western allies like South Korea and even Germany, which are already protected by U.S. extended deterrence. This debate about the nuclear option reflects the insecurity many feel about the US’s commitment to its global role as Europe discusses “Trump-proofing” its security or devising new options for “strategic autonomy”. Spoiler alert - grabbing some of the world’s worst weapons just isn’t going to be the quick fix it seems.
I also massively enjoyed the fact that Jason as happy to discuss everything from how 9/11 spurred us both to go and learn about the Middle East and some better options than endless civilisational war, to my previous life in underground music subcultures. Before podcasts there were fanzines, when something like social media self-publishing was possible, but only through photocopying and the postal service. People used to send me a pound coin and a stamped addressed envelope for the pleasure of my writing. Aren’t you glad you live nowadays instead?!
Since our inaugural chat Jason and I have been able to debate the big surprises of the big elections this year - from the excitement of Rishi Sunak’s snap election which Jason dubbed “Independence Day from neo-populists”, and frankly too much information about Jason’s man-crush on Sir Keir, to the seeming low point of Biden’s presidential debate disaster, which actually turned into a moment of opportunity as the Dems reset the race and regained momentum. And we’ve come back to the Middle East, with fellow friend of the podcast Arthur Snell, to assess how leaders there are trying to navigate the deepening disorder. Many of us analysts who have worked on the Middle East are quite used to analysing the politics of populist and un democratic leaders who use identity politics, conspiracy theories and disinformation to distract from their governance failures - its just a shame this has turned out to be a skill that is really quite transferable to the rest of the world too.
I look forward to more discussions in the coming months, including conversations about conflicts, peacemaking, foresight and of course disorder, and I’m glad to hear from Jason that his mum can understand my Glaswegian accent after all, although his attempt to do an impression of it is still banned for the foreseeable future. After all, we have to have some order in the world.
FRIEND OF THE POD Ambassador Jonathan Winer (guest on our initial launch episode number 3 on neopopulism—actually my favourite episode from an audio/editing perspective) has written an insightful/scathing/and terrifying look for the Washington Spectator about how Republicans and Trump apparatchiks have been preparing Disorder for the wake of any failed electoral prospects. Ambassador Winer is a lawyer and he understands the various legal mechanisms at play at the different levels of government and how they can be pulled to dispute/challenge/and not adhere to the will of the people. Trump is already threatening election officials for ‘cheating’ and claiming he will prosecute them if he wins. Read about this phenomenon from The Hill here. ) Now back to Amb Winer, here are some highlights from his piece of pure legal insight and moral clarity:
Donald Trump’s plans for overturning the election result if he loses again have become increasingly visible. This year, Team Trump’s attack on our election system encompasses three distinct phases.
In Phase One, state and local officials loyal to Trump—aided and abetted by outside pressure groups and lawyers—erect obstacles designed to suppress votes for Harris, Walz, and Democratic candidates up and down the ballot. The Brennan Center has documented the systemic enactment of laws designed to make it harder for eligible Americans to register, stay on the voter rolls, or vote. These Republican schemes were enabled by the Supreme Court’s shameful decision in Shelby County v. Holder, in which the conservative majority voted 5-4 to narrow the Voting Rights Act…..
There is also the risk of direct action by Trump supporters seeking to physically block electors in states narrowly won by Harris from meeting in compliance with state law to cast, sign, seal up and certify their electoral votes on December 17. Such illegal and potentially violent interventions would be aimed at preventing the state from submitting its electoral votes in the time and manner required by the ECRA….
Phase Three would be activated should the Harris/Walz electors certified by the states constitute a majority of votes in the Electoral College. Phase Three has three minimum prerequisites. First, MAGA forces must achieve control over at least one house of Congress – and preferably both. Second, they must be united in their determination to overturn the election by decertifying the electoral votes for Harris/Walz in one or more states in which the state executives have certified the Democratic ticket has won. Third, the MAGA-leaning majority of the Supreme Court would have to find that Congress has the power to throw out electoral votes that the Congressional majority doesn’t like.
Let’s look concretely how Team Trump would get there.
Using Control of Congress to Control the Presidential Result…..
You can read the full article about this slow moving coup and potential future mega-disorder here.
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