How We Got Here #9

It’s Friday, time to post another podcast. This week’s is perfect for the history-behind-the-headlines theme–The World’s Clark Boyd takes us to Guatemala and the unfolding story of the archives of the former National Police there. They were discovered in 2005 and Clark did a story last year about the massive project underway to clean up, preserve ,and scan the documents so they could be used by prosecutors, human rights activists, journalists, historians, and  posterity. Now he’s updated the story with news of the first arrest in connection with evidence from the archives.  It’s great stuff–the story itself and the radio journalism unpacking it. Clark also did a TV piece for the PBS show Frontline/World.   

You can find How We Got Here on iTunes,  via RSS feed, or right here, neat.

And here’s the Facebook page.

And some links to the Guatemala info:

The National Security Archive

Guatemalan National Police Archive Project

Ominous warnings on Sri Lanka

Here’s a Q & A from Reuters and this warning from Lakhdar Brahami of The International Crisis Group:

The already severe humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka is on the brink of catastrophe. It will take the quick arrival of humanitarian relief and high-level international political muscle to bring the nightmarish situation to an end and prevent a slaughter.

Here’s the full piece.

How We Got Here #8

Listen on iTunes or via RSS feed or here. 

Episode 8 tackles the Cold War and the Middle East. Lisa Mullins interviews Rashid Khalidi of Columbia University about his new book, Sowing Crisis: The Cold War and American Dominance in the Middle East.  It’s a great topic for a week in which President Obama makes another overture toward Iran.  It’s great to be able to use the podcast to showcase items in the radio show with historical themes. Lots to say on this topic obviously but it’s a great starting point for further discussion. If you want more check out Patrick Cox’s series on the history of the Middle East and my own on the history of U.S.-Iranian relations.

How We Got Here #7

Apologies for not posting much here, too busy travelling and podcasting!  HWGH#7 is an interview with Ali B. Ali-Dinar of the African Studies Center at the University of Pennsylvania about Sudan’s now-indicted President Omar al-Bashir. I’m so struck in all the coverage of Darfur and Sudan how little we’ve learned about Bashir himself and the party he represents and what it has meant for Sudan these past two decades. Here’s my attempt to begin filling in the blanks.  Listen on iTunes or via RSS feed or here. 

Meanwhile I’m working on a radio piece about the lessons of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.  Stay tuned.

How We Got Here #6

Podcast is ready–President Obama told the troops he wanted to talk about how the war in Iraq will end. Well, how will it end?  And how have wars ended in the past?  This week’s offering can be heard in all the usual ways:

 Through  iTunes , by RSS feed or find the audio here. 

Please leave thoughts, comments, suggestions here on the blog or at the following email address: howwegothere at gmail.com or join the How We Got Here Facebook Group.  Thanks for listening!