Ep. 13: The Always Stumbling US Empire
Added 2017-10-25 14:35:55 +0000 UTCThe media does a lot mind-reading when it comes to U.S. foreign policy. The idea that the United States and, often, its allies operate in “good faith” is taken for granted for most of the American press - so much so that we don’t really think much about it.
On this episode, Adam and Nima explore the media's commitment to the narrative of "United States as reluctant warrior," whose leadership and decision-making always has the "best intentions." We also examine the new Ken Burns and Lynn Novick series on Vietnam with our guest, Professor Hannah Gurman.
The Guest
Professor Hannah Gurman is an associate professor at New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Study and author of "The Dissent Papers: The Voices of Diplomats in the Cold War and Beyond."
An historian of the United States with a PhD in literary studies, Prof. Gurman's research focuses on national-security information as a site of political contest that reflects deeper struggles over the nature and meaning of US national security. Her book, The Dissent Papers: The Voices of Diplomats in the Cold War and Beyond, was published in 2012 by Columbia University Press. She is also editor of Hearts and Minds: A People’s History of Counterinsurgency (The New Press, 2013). Her work has appeared in American Quarterly, Diplomatic History, and the Journal of Contemporary History, as well as The Nation, Salon, and Huffington Post.
Show Notes
As we rethink the Vietnam War, we have to grapple with its racial implications
Hannah Gurman | October 6, 2017 | Washington Post
Syria the Latest Case of US ‘Stumbling’ Into War
Adam Johnson | June 22, 2017 | FAIR
Nima Shirazi | October 3, 2017 | Wide Asleep in America
The Ken Burns Vietnam War Documentary Glosses Over Devastating Civilian Toll
Nick Turse | September 28, 2017 | The Intercept
Ken Burns’ Vietnam War: An Object Lesson in the Failures of the Objective Lens
Reed Richardson | September 28, 2017 | FAIR
Ken Burns’s Vietnam Documentary Promotes Misleading History
Jeremy Kuzmarov | September 18, 2017 | Huffington Post
Vietnam War: New Ken Burns Documentary Dismisses the Origins of Futile, Disastrous Conflict
Jeff Stein | September 17, 2017 | Newsweek
There Is No Rehabilitating the Vietnam War
Robert Freeman | September 24, 2017 | Common Dreams
Referenced
Kill Anything That Moves by Nick Turse
Nikki Haley at the UN Security Council [video]
LBJ's Gulf of Tonkin Speech [video]
'The American War' - Washington Post Podcast with Ken Burns
Reagan Advisers Run Parallel Government -- Miami Herald, July 1987
Comments
You guys brought up Oliver Stone at the end in passing but I was wondering if you have seen the History doc he did for Showtime?
2017-10-30 13:02:48 +0000 UTCKen Burns: "It's interesting that we are in a military dynamic now in which that is one of the things up with which the military will not put. Which is the loss of civilian life, and they are struggling mightily hard to hit their targets." up with which the military will not put..
sensorsweep
2017-10-27 01:30:28 +0000 UTCGreat ep, guys...I really enjoyed this one. Not sure if you're looking for ideas, but as a spin-off of this, it might be interesting to look at US propaganda in regards to nuclear weapons, and how the US criticizes North Korea for being "reckless" with nuclear weapons despite the US having tested, destroyed, harmed, and killed far more people with them. Also, all the BS propaganda swirling around the US nuking of Japan, which "single-handedly stopped the war". Cheers and loving everything so far!
2017-10-26 21:25:47 +0000 UTCUS military bases spring, fully formed, from the Syrian soil
MoldyTolge
2017-10-25 15:56:30 +0000 UTC
