Lions Led By Donkeys Podcast

On this iteration of the Donkey Reading Series Joe is joined by our friendly neighborhood Nuclear Anthropologist Martin Pfeiffer (@NuclearAnthro) to discuss the War on the Rocks article "America Needs A dead Hand". The article: https://warontherocks.com/2019/08/america-needs-a-dead-hand/ Support the show and get bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/notifications Buy a shirt: https://teespring.com/stores/lions-led-by-donkeys-store

Joseph Dresnok was a Private in the US Army stationed along the Korean DMZ. He quickly became depressed and developed one hell of an addiction to booze and sex workers. After getting in trouble one too many times and fearing he would get a courts martial, he took off running across the DMZ towards North Korea. Support the show and get bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys buy a shirt: https://teespring.com/stores/lions-led-by-donkeys-store Sources: "Crossing the Line" BBC 4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yd2dCk3N8cE https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/08/21/a-u-s-soldier-who-defected-to-north-korea-in-1962-has-died-his-pyongyang-born-sons-say/ Jenkins Robert. The Reluctant Communist: My Desertion, Court-Martial, and Forty-Year Imprisonment in North Korea. 2007. https://foreignpolicy.com/2014/04/29/meet-the-four-americans-who-defected-to-north-korea-in-the-1960s/

Tarrare and Charles Domery were soldiers who fought in the War of the First Coalition. They were also afflicted with a never ending, voracious hunger that cannot be explained. What if Eli Roth created a gritty reboot of Kirby? Support the show and get bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys Get a shirt: https://teespring.com/stores/lions-led-by-donkeys-store sources: https://allthatsinteresting.com/tarrare https://io9.gizmodo.com/what-caused-these-men-to-eat-cats-and-candles-1685293458

Project 100,000 was a Vietnam War Era experiment conducted by the United States to see how low they could lower the standards for enlistment or conscription. Thousands of developmentally disabled Americans would be killed. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys Buy a book: https://www.amazon.com/Citizen-Earth-Galaxy-Fire-Book-ebook/dp/B07NSMFSHN/ref=dp_kinw_strp_1 Buy a shirt: https://teespring.com/stores/lions-led-by-donkeys-store sources: https://bigthink.com/politics-current-affairs/story-behind-mcnamaras-morons https://www.historynet.com/mcnamaras-boys.htm

This is the story of how Pepsi, yes that Pepsi, ended up controlling the world's sixth largest submarine navy. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys Buy a shirt: https://teespring.com/stores/lions-led-by-donkeys-store Buy Joe's new book: https://www.amazon.com/Citizen-Earth-Galaxy-Joseph-Kassabian/dp/1949645347 sources: https://www.redkalinka.com/Russian-Blog/78/_The-day-Pepsi-became-a-great-military-power/ https://www.nytimes.com/1990/04/09/business/international-report-pepsi-will-be-bartered-for-ships-vodka-deal-with-soviets.html https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/soviet-union-pepsi-ships

A gritty look at conscript life in the Soviet Afghan war. Shortchanged recruits, brutal institutional hazing, and systematic theft. Widespread substance abuse and makeshift drinking hacks. Racism, criminalization of units, and who actually fought versus who occupied. Unsafe vehicles and combat failures that fed desertion, fragging, and lasting stigma for returnees.

On part 6 the Soviet Union has to figure out how to pull their army out of Afghanistan while the entire country collapses around them while new journalistic freedoms show everyday Soviet citizens the horrors of war for the first time. Support the show and get bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys Buy a shirt: https://teespring.com/stores/lions-led-by-donkeys-store Buy Joe's new book: https://www.amazon.com/Citizen-Earth-Galaxy-Fire-Book-ebook/dp/B07NSMFSHN/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1563803263&sr=8-1

Babrak Karmal is a failure and the Soviets know he has to be replaced if they are ever going to get a functioning Afghan government. Enter Muhammed Najibullah, a mass murdering psychopath. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys Buy a shirt: https://teespring.com/stores/lions-led-by-donkeys-store Buy Joe's new book Citizen of Earth: https://www.amazon.com/Citizen-Earth-Galaxy-Joseph-Kassabian/dp/1949645347/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2UP4API8XF65N&keywords=citizen+of+earth+joseph+kassabian&qid=1563190222&s=gateway&sprefix=citizen+of+earth%2Caps%2C198&sr=8-1

As the Soviet Union struggles in Afghanistan, U.S. involvement escalates dramatically, thanks in part to a controversial Texas congressman. The podcast dives into how the CIA's covert operations and funding strategies shifted the balance of power, including the pivotal role of Stinger missiles. Listeners learn about the complex web of U.S., Saudi, and Pakistani coordination that fueled the Afghan resistance. The discussion also touches on the unintended consequences of this support, warning of the long-term rise of militant forces and regional instability.

In a deep dive into the Soviet-Afghan War, discover how Tajik warlord Ahmed Shah Massoud challenged Soviet forces with guerrilla tactics and terrain advantages. The podcast highlights the miscalculations of Soviet leaders, logistical failures, and the troubling effects of their military strategies on civilians. Listen as they recount Massoud's tactical evolution, the catastrophic Selang Tunnel Disaster, and how brutal reprisals sparked greater resistance. The discussion also touches on the shifting dynamics of Afghan resistance and the ultimate failures of the Soviet campaign.