The Rest is Classified Episode 101: Putin’s Secret Army: Wagner’s Control of Africa (Episode 4) As the French withdrew from the Central African Republic, Yevgeny Prigozhin and the infamous Wagner Group saw an opportunity to make themselves useful to the Kremlin by globalizing his model and applying it to new conflicts. After all, the East Indian Company had used this privatized company model of colonization way back in the 18th century. In the end, is there a difference between mercenaries and a government contractor? For quite some time, Prigozhin denied any involvement in Africa, adopting some fairly risible disguises when flying in for meetings. He made a deal with Sudan in exchange for gold; he took advantage of the Civil War in Libya after Gaddafi; in Mozambique different countries were pitching for deals. In exchange for his security and information warfare, he received mining concessions. Ever the publicist, he was heavily into branding, and started making his own publicity films in Africa, starring his own troops. But by January 2022 he came into conflict with the Russian Ministry of the Defence who, he felt, were locking him out.
The Rest is History Episode 637 Revolution in Iran: The Rise of the Ayatollah Part 2. The Iranian Revolution, despite being characterized in the west as ‘medieval’, is a classic 20th century revolution, with the involvement of the petite-bourgeousie, young unemployed working class men and students but also with the addition of clerics and religious students. The Shah neither repressed nor appeased the protestors, and U.S. President Jimmy Carter was completely out of his depth. He appointed the dovish Cyrus Vance as Secretary of State (of course, Tom points out the irony of having a man called Cyrus being appointed to Iranian (Persian) affairs given the historical Cyrus the Great) as well as the hawkish, anti-Russian Zbigniew Brzezinski as National Security Advisor. Needless to say, the two men did not get on. In October 1978 the Sunni, Arab, Baathist Saddam Hussein expelled Khomeini from Iraq, and he went to Paris where he made himself very available to the world press, who were happy to report his anti-colonial, anti-imperialist views. He did express to the international press his radical view that the mullahs should run the state, but he was quite open about it in his taped lectures which were sent home to Iran and circulated widely. On New Years Eve he issued a call for nine days of protests, and by 19 January 1979 the Shah had agreed to leave, wanting to go to California, which led to more conflict between Vance and Brzezinski over US’ responsibility to the Shah. On 1 February 1979 Khomeini returned after fifteen years’ exile and was greeted by crowds. Brzezinki was urging a coup, but the US Ambassador to Iran, Sullivan, rejected this plan, arguing that there were fears for US businessmen and that oil prices would skyrocket. Meanwhile, back in America, evangelical Jimmy Carter was convinced that US was gripped by a spiritual crisis, exemplified by what came to be known as his televised ‘malaise’ speech, calling for people to use less oil- not the sort of message Americans are accustomed to hearing from their President. Khomeini announced the export of Sharia Law, and the increasingly ill Shah was stuck in the Middle East.
Journey Through Time Episode 63 The Spanish Civil War: Fighting Fascism With Hemingway and Orwell (Episode 2) Despite their governments’ squeamishness about getting involved in the Spanish Civil War, combatants from more than 53 countries came to support the Republicans under Comintern. In fact, the Lincoln Battalion, a force of volunteers from the United States who served on the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War from January 1937 until November 1938, was the first racially integrated US military force. Despite the Republican fighters’ enthusiasm, they were amateurs: some came to Spain intentionally, others just happened to be in Barcelona for the 1936 Peoples Olympiad, set up in opposition to Hitler’s Olympics, which ended up being cancelled anyway because of the outbreak of the Civil War. The Republican effort was working class, but its public image has been largely shaped by the writers and photographers who attended, who had the contacts with publishers to get their work out. Women were involved too, defending the feminism in Republican Spain compared with the sexual violence amongst the Nationalists, who were not beyond using systematic rape. The Republican military training was more ideological than practical. Because of Spain’s neutrality during WWI, the Nationalist troops were not particularly experienced either, and the battle-hardened leaders from the foreign legions took control in Franco’s army. Nonetheless, the battle for Madrid was hard fought on both sides.
Late Night Live Barry Jones on a life of public service and the state of politics today Barry Jones might be 93 years old, and in frail health, but his feats of memory are amazing. Obviously interviewer David Marr was apprehensive that Jones might ramble on and kept him on a fairly tight leash, even ringing an imaginary bell when Jones went on for too long. I couldn’t believe how easily Jones could bring to mind names and acronyms in a wide-ranging conversation: none of the -oh-it’s-on-the-tip-of-my-tongue lapses of people half his age. I loved his discussion of the ‘numinous’.
The Resident Judge of Port Phillip 