None Of The Above

From the Crimean War of 1853 to Russia's invasion of Ukraine this year, journalists, reporters, and the media have shaped the public's understanding of war. But do the stories we read and the photos we see provide an impartial picture of the wars they document? As the Eurasia Group Foundation's Mark Hannah recently explained in Foreign Policy, certain aspects of American war coverage—reliance on government sources and incentives to simplify geopolitics as battles between good and evil—have long compelled news organizations to tilt toward military action. In this special episode of None Of The Above, host of WNYC's On The Media Brooke Gladstone and Slate's "War Stories" columnist Fred Kaplan, are interviewed by Mark at the American Academy in Rome. Together, in these excerpts from that conversation, they unpack the media's coverage of Russia's war on Ukraine and the biases which influence how the media understand and depict these conflicts. To listen to previous episodes and learn more about None Of The Above, go to www.noneoftheabovepodcast.org. To learn more about the Eurasia Group Foundation, please visit www.egfound.org and subscribe to our newsletter. Brooke Gladstone is a journalist and host of On the Media, a Peabody Award-winning podcast by WNYC Studios. Brooke is also the Rea S. Hederman Critic in Residence at the American Academy in Rome and the author of The Influencing Machine (2011) and The Trouble with Reality: A Rumination on Moral Panic in Our Time (2017). Fred Kaplan is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and columnist for Slate, where he authors the "War Stories" column. Fred's most recent book is The Bomb: Presidents, Generals, and the Secret History of Nuclear War (2020).

The Russian military withdrew from Bucha at the end of March, a suburb of Ukraine's capital, Kyiv. Soon after, photos and stories revealed Russian atrocities, including the apparent intentional killing of civilians. This is sadly characteristic of the Russian way of war in other conflicts beyond Ukraine. Some, including President Biden, have accused Russia of committing genocide in Ukraine. But even if Putin's military is guilty of acts of genocide and war crimes, will the world actually be able to hold it accountable? In this episode of None Of The Above, the Eurasia Group Foundation's Mark Hannah looks back at history with New York Times columnist Max Fisher to understand the roots of the Russian military's targeting of civilians and past efforts to bring war criminals to justice. Though prosecuting those in power is difficult, Max argues justice might come in other forms. To listen to previous episodes and learn more about None Of The Above, go to www.noneoftheabovepodcast.org. To learn more about the Eurasia Group Foundation, please visit www.egfound.org and subscribe to our newsletter.

In October 2021, the United States and Mexico put an end to the Mérida Initiative—a thirteen-year, $3 billion security assistance package central to a new "war on drugs." Despite years of weapons sales, military training, and intelligence sharing, the initiative failed to reduce crime and drug trafficking. Instead, violence and homicides increased throughout Mexico. Why? Our guests this week, Mexican movie star Diego Luna and scholar Ernesto López Portillo, argue America's and Mexico's militarized approach to security is to blame. Recently back from Mexico where she explores the consequences of the Mérida Initiative, Eurasia Group Foundation senior researcher and producer Caroline Gray speaks with Diego and Ernesto about the US-Mexico drug war, the accountability problems that plague both countries, and what non-military solutions to insecurity in Mexico might look like. Diego Luna is an actor, director, and producer who has starred in Narcos: Mexico, Rogue One: A Star War Story, and Y tu mamá también. He is a co-founder of Corriente De Golfo, a Mexico-based production company. Ernesto López Portillo is the coordinator of the Citizen Security Program at Ibero-American University in Mexico City, where he researches policing and militarism. To listen to more episodes or learn more about None Of The Above, go to www.noneoftheabovepodcast.org. To learn more about the Eurasia Group Foundation, please visit www.egfound.org and subscribe to our newsletter.

Saturday marked the nineteenth anniversary of the beginning of the second Iraq War—a war Congress never formally declared. Instead, just like with America's invasion of Afghanistan, Congress passed an Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF). Together, these AUMFs provide the legal basis for the ongoing war on terror and have been loosely interpreted by every president since 2001 to authorize military action anywhere with little to no Congressional oversight. Though these AUMFs remain on the books today, the past year has seen a push by lawmakers from both sides of the aisle to reclaim Congress's role in matters of war and peace—an issue that extends beyond America's post 9/11 wars. Questions of Congressional oversight remain pertinent as the United States debates how to respond to Russia's war in Ukraine. This week, we're revisiting our season two conversation with ​​Heather Brandon Smith and Rita Siemion, both experts on AUMFs and advocates for their repeal. They discuss the history of these AUMFs, prospects for reform under the Biden administration, and why repealing them is necessary to end America's post-9/11 wars.

It is day fourteen of Russia's war on Ukraine. Ukrainian resistance and Russian logistical issues have together denied Moscow a quick victory, but the fighting continues—and intensifies. Meanwhile, despite several rounds of diplomatic talks, a peaceful settlement does not seem to be in sight. However, our guest this week, Russia expert Anatol Lieven, offers proposals that he thinks could end the war. Days before Ukrainian and Russian officials met for the third time for negotiations, Anatol joined the Eurasia Group Foundation's Mark Hannah to discuss Russia's invasion, Ukraine's and Russia's interwoven history, and what a peace deal might look like. As the costs of war mount, Anatol makes it clear that compromise, though painful, is in the interest of both countries. Anatol Lieven is a senior research fellow on Russia and Europe at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and author of several books including, Ukraine and Russia: A Fraternal Rivalry. To listen to previous episodes and learn more about None Of The Above, go to www.noneoftheabovepodcast.org. To learn more about the Eurasia Group Foundation, please visit www.egfound.org and subscribe to our newsletter. Show Notes: "How to get to a place of peace for Ukraine," (Anatol Lieven, Responsible Statecraft, March 3, 2022) "It's time to ask: what would a Ukraine-Russia peace deal look like?" (Anatol Lieven, The Guardian, March 4, 2022)

This episode contains explicit language. On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into eastern Ukraine. This follows months of tensions precipitated by Russia's mobilization of its military on the Ukrainian border. Putin's order came shortly after a gruff speech in which he accused Ukraine of rejecting its historical links to Russia and asserted the independence of two breakaway regions — the self-declared People's Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk. In the week before the Kremlin's orders, the Eurasia Group Foundation's Mark Hannah spoke with journalists Nataliya Gumenyuk and Peter Pomerantsev, who help us better understand the history behind today's crisis, Ukraine's perseverance under the threat of invasion, and Putin's seeming obsession with Ukraine. To listen to more episodes or learn more about None Of The Above, go to www.noneoftheabovepodcast.org. To learn more about the Eurasia Group Foundation, please visit www.egfound.org and subscribe to our newsletter.

The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics are underway and more than just athletic competition has drawn international attention. Amid calls for a complete boycott due to China's crackdown on Hong Kong and its persecution of the Uyghurs and other vulnerable populations, the United States has issued a diplomatic boycott of the games. On this episode of None of The Above, we revisit an important conversation between Isaac Stone Fish and Stephen Orlins, two China experts with divergent points of view on the US-China relationship. Against the backdrop of protests in Hong Kong and the Trump administration's trade war with China in 2019, we discussed many of the issues and questions currently accentuated by the Olympics: How should the United States approach China, and how should the US respond to China's human rights violations? To listen to more episodes or learn more about None Of The Above, go to www.noneoftheabovepodcast.org. To learn more about the Eurasia Group Foundation, please visit www.egfound.org and subscribe to our newsletter. Stephen Orlins is the president of the National Committee on United States-China Relations. Prior to that, he was the managing director of Carlyle Asia and the chairman of one of Taiwan's largest cable television and high-speed internet providers. Isaac Stone Fish is the founder and CEO of Strategy Risks. He is also a contributing columnist for The Washington Post, a visiting fellow at the Atlantic Council, and an adjunct instructor at New York University's Center for Global Affairs.

Eight years after it annexed Crimea and instigated a civil war in Eastern Ukraine, Russia has mobilized 100,000 troops near the Ukrainian border. With the threat of a Russian invasion looming, negotiations between Washington and Moscow are at an impasse. Moscow's demands, which call for a transformation of the US-backed security order in Europe, were summarily dismissed by Washington. But according to our guests this week, the authors of the recent Politico article, "How to Get What We Want From Putin," there is still room for a diplomatic resolution. On this episode of None Of The Above, The Eurasia Group Foundation's Mark Hannah is joined by Thomas Graham and Rajan Menon, who provide a roadmap for negotiation which, combined with shrewd strategic thinking and skilled diplomacy, could not only quell the immediate crisis but lay the foundations for a more stable Europe. To listen to more episodes or learn more about None Of The Above, go to www.noneoftheabovepodcast.org. To learn more about the Eurasia Group Foundation, please visit www.egfound.org and subscribe to our newsletter. Thomas Graham is a distinguished fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a senior advisor at Kissinger Associates, Inc. During the George W. Bush administration, he was the senior director for Russia on the National Security Council. Rajan Menon is the director of the grand strategy program at Defense Priorities. He is also the Anne and Bernard Spitzer Professor of International Relations at City College of New York and a senior research scholar at the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace at Columbia University.

World War II is nostalgically remembered throughout American culture as the "good war"––a conflict where Americans idealistically banded together to free the world from tyranny. Of course there is more to this story, but is this simplified popular understanding dangerous? In this week's episode of None Of The Above, the Eurasia Group Foundation's Mark Hannah talks with West Point English professor Elizabeth Samet about the importance of literature for preparing America's future officer corps for life in and out of uniform, and about Americans' collective memory of the Second World War. Elizabeth shows how our romanticized reading of history has led US policymakers to overstate the effectiveness and righteousness of military force. To listen to more episodes or learn more about None Of The Above, go to www.noneoftheabovepodcast.org. To learn more about the Eurasia Group Foundation, please visit www.egfound.org and subscribe to our newsletter. Elizabeth Samet is the author of Looking For the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness and a Professor of English at West Point. The views Elizabeth expresses here do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, the Department of Defense, or the US Government.

Speaking at the United Nations Climate Conference this November, President Biden called climate change "the existential threat to human existence." And in October, the Department of Defense issued its own warning, noting the effects of climate change are "exacerbating existing risks and creating new security challenges for U.S. interests." But while the Pentagon takes climate change's risks seriously, it remains one of the worlds largest emitters of greenhouse gasses. This week, we're revisiting another favorite episode from season 1 with Murtaza Hussain, a political and national security reporter for The Intercept, who helped us understand the ecological and health ramifications of America's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and how the military's expansive footprint exacerbates the climate crisis. Murtaza Hussain is a journalist for The Intercept whose work focuses on national security, foreign policy, and human rights. He is the author of the 2019 article, "Industrialized Militaries Are a Bigger Part of the Climate Emergency Than You Know."