The EI Podcast brings you weekly conversations with leading writers, thinkers and historians. Hosted by Alastair Benn, Jack Dickens and Paul Lay. Produced by Max Mitchell.
Charly Salonius-Pasternak on how Nordic and Baltic countries are preparing for war
Jan 19, 2024
Show notes
Thinking about 'war in our time' and our region is no longer an activity restricted to historians or military planners. Politicians and citizens in the countries bordering the Baltic Sea have been forced to accept that it has become necessary to prepare for an unwelcome guest: war. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: A naval operation staged as part of the Freezing Winds military exercise, led by the Finnish Navy. Credit: Sipa US / Alamy Stock Photo
The life and work of Mayazaki Hayao
Jan 19, 2024
Show notes
Alastair Benn is joined by Christopher Harding, cultural historian of Japan and author of The Light of Asia: A History of Western Fascination with the East, to discuss the life and work of celebrated animator Mayazaki Hayao, co-founder of Studio Ghibli, and his latest (and last?) film, The Boy and the Heron, a semi-autobiographical exploration of wartime bereavement, courage and ultimate redemption. Image: A still from The Boy and the Heron directed by Miyazaki Hayao. Credit: BFA / Alamy Stock Photo
Kimberly Kagan on the United States and the new way of war
Jan 12, 2024
Show notes
The United States, still the dominant military power in the world, is immersed in a new era of warfare that it has not yet recognised as endemic and enduring. America is losing its wars to less powerful but more adaptable adversaries, while preparing inadequately for future inter-state conflicts. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Posters of slain Iranian Revolutionary Guard General Qassem Soleimani. Credit: Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo
A month that shook the world
Jan 12, 2024
Show notes
In December 1941, the Japanese military attacked Pearl Harbor, making the Second World War a truly global conflict. Paul Lay is joined by Charlie Laderman to discuss a month that shook the world. Image: Three US battleships stricken during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941. Credit: GRANGER - Historical Picture Archive / Alamy Stock Photo
Pascal Vennesson on the rise of transnational war-making
Jan 05, 2024
Show notes
Political success for the global insurgents can arise not only from a military victory on the ground, but from a military stalemate and even a military defeat. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Mock Houthi-made drones and missiles are set up in a city square in Yemen. Credit: Zuma Press / Alamy Stock Photo
Rolf Ekéus on how to end wars
Dec 22, 2023
Show notes
There is only one way out of total destruction and collapse, which is creative diplomacy. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Dutch envoy Cornelis Calkoen received by the Ottoman grand vizier. Credit: World History Archive / Alamy Stock Photo
Philip Bobbitt on the new global disorder
Dec 15, 2023
Show notes
We cannot understand what is going wrong in the international order without first understanding what is going wrong in the constitutional order of states. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: The Statue of Liberty seen through a broken window on Ellis Island. Credit: Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo
Setting 2023 in perspective
Dec 15, 2023
Show notes
What is the deep meaning of 2023? Alastair Benn is joined by Paul Lay and Iain Martin to set a dramatic year in perspective. Image: A woman lights a candle to express solidarity with Israel. Credit: ZUMA Press, Inc. / Alamy Stock Photo
Yu Jie on the deep historical roots of China's global ambition
Dec 08, 2023
Show notes
China projects its power and secures its national interests in three ways: exercising might, spending money and expressing its own mindset. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: CCP propaganda printed in rice fields. Credit: Fabio Nodari / Alamy Stock Photo
A new world of intelligence
Dec 07, 2023
Show notes
Paul Lay and Alastair Benn are joined by Matthew Hefler, post-doctoral fellow at the Ax:son Johnson Institute for Statecraft and Diplomacy, to discuss the changing role of intelligence services in an era of intense geopolitical competition. Image: The MI6 building in Vauxhall, London. Credit: Alex Segre / Alamy Stock Photo
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