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Radio War Nerd EP #102 — Russian Civil War + Remembering Stanislav Petrov (Patreon)

Published:
2017-09-22 19:28:53
Imported:
2026-06

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  • rwn_ep_102_v3.mp3

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Content

Guest: Alex Zaitchik, journalist & author

In this two-part episode, first the War Nerd talks to journalist and former eXile colleague Alex Zaichik—just back from the oil-poisoned jungles of Peru—about his evening with Stanislav Petrov, "the man who saved the world" from nuclear holocaust in 1983, who just died this week.

At 40:08 we discuss The Committee to Investigate Russia, the bazillionth liberal-neocon-CIA project, this one headed up by Rob "Meathead" Reiner, to resurrect Cold War fever.

At 1:04:26 we begin our segment on the Russian Civil War, a huge topic about a very alien (and much romanticized) world. The War Nerd gives both an overview of the various phases of battle & some of the major figures. Later we dive deeper into some of the incredible episodes of the war, such as the peasant rebellions and the extraordinary anarchist partisan leader Nestor Makhno. The War Nerd ends with a list of his favorite Russian Civil War novels and writers...

Maps:

* General war map

* Map of anti-Bolshevik Whites-Entente alliance's deepest advances into European Soviet Russia, 1918-19

* Map of Makhno's anarchist army movements in southern Ukraine

* Map of Czech Legion armored train movement & battles

* Czech Legion

* White Army propaganda poster

Total time: 2:58:47

 Direct link to this episode's mp3 here 

Files

Comments

Antoni Gumbau

I am reading now in Spanish Evan Mawdsley "Whites vs Reds". Downloading right now. I'll enjoy It for sure.

Avery

Alex Zaitchik's past indigenous reporting: <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/murder-in-the-rainforest-20141216" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/murder-in-the-rainforest-20141216</a> <a href="http://www.salon.com/2013/02/10/to_get_the_gold_they_will_have_to_kill_every_one_of_us/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://www.salon.com/2013/02/10/to_get_the_gold_they_will_have_to_kill_every_one_of_us/</a> <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/63472/forest-fighters" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://newrepublic.com/article/63472/forest-fighters</a>

xnfec

Fascinating show. I really did not think I would have anything to add to this, but no.. In contemporary science fiction, a writer called Charles Stross has a really good series known as the Laundry Novels. In the third one, called "The Fuller Memorandum", who should be a historical part of the plot but Baron Roman Nicolaus Maximilian von Ungern-Sternberg! Further down the line in the series, there is a very good description of modern warfare and weaponry in "The Nightmare Stacks". The books are scary and comical at the same time but I'm only getting some of the jokes now after following them for years. His recent-time books like Halting State are also very good. Great stuff. I'm looking forward to the episode on the Polish-Bolshevik war. Also, did you ever finish with the Uighers? regards

Karl Knight

6 minutes in... I love you guys.

Henry

I read somewhere that a lot of the soldiers on both sides were German and Austro-Hungarian POWs who had nothing better to do.

Steve Mathews

Lots of book and movie names in here...can you do a War Nerd Reading/Viewing list for those of us who listen while driving or something...?

Steve Mathews

OK, just saw goodreads...but what about movies?

Ben Hosen

I wasted several minutes hate-watching that atrocious Ken Burns Vietnam apologia before remembering I had some fresh RWN to look forward to. Really hope you guys enjoy doing this; I know I'm not the only person who looks forward to it every week.

Patrick Reilly

Your guests are always first class, but you might consider switching it up by bringing on someone whom you respect but have disagreements with . . . of course listening to you two ambush a loudmouth asshole hack would be priceless . . . but that would be quite hard to pull off . . .

Nick

Loved the episode, it's always great to listen to you two talk about anything Russian. Your first hand knowledge and perspective are sorely needed given the idiotic Russophobia that dominates American discourse at the moment. Really looking forward to to the Polish Soviet War episode.

Nick

And speaking of first hand knowledge, I think a Kurdistan episode would be great, would love to hear the War Nerd's perspective on the referendum, KRG vs PKK/YPG, America's role, ect. Keep up the great work

Sophia Monday

David Graeber has been talking a bit about Kurdistan, but I don't have any background understanding. I agree, it would be awesome to have a RWN episode explainer.

Karl Knight

I'd like to hear Mark Ames, John Dolan, and Glenn Greenwald go at it sometime. That would be very interesting. Ames and Dolan have been very critical of Greenwald in the past, but conceded several episodes ago that Greenwald was doing some good reporting, on Russiagate if memory serves me. Another RWN subscriber once commented that Mark and Glenn should "bury the hatchet" a ways back. I think no holds barred episode with Greenwald would be very fun to listen to. We could see where they've reached some consensus and where their differences still lie.

Jed Hovey

I don't mean to be pedantic, but several times you contrasted Trotsky's views with Lenin's, which is good, but then blame it on the latter's adherence to Hegelian views of history. This is a pretty crude misreading of both Lenin, who would have likely balked at that characterization of his opposition, as well as Hegel. Lenin was a devotee of Hegel to the point where in his last days, when he was semi-paralyzed and dying, he went to his library to get three volumes of Hegel's works (it's in Kotkin's recent biography of Stalin, "The Paradoxes of Power").

Jed Hovey

Also, on that subject, given that the second volume of his Stalin biography is coming out, Stephen Kotkin might be a pretty solid idea for a RWN guest. Just throwing that out there.

VictorBout

I am a semi-regular listener of RWN, an old fan of both of your work from the Exile (though I was introduced to the publication a year before its shutdown), and a communist. I was a bit disappointed by this episode, however, for the following reasons- 1. Definitely too broad a topic to do a single episode on... why not just dedicate the episode to something more specific, like the literature and movies of the Russian Civil War (that was only discussed at the very end) I feel like a lot of people who follow RWN and formerly the Exile are pretty well-versed on the basics of the Russian Civil War considering their likely interests (Russia, leftism, warfare, etc.) 2. Speaking of movies, there is a decent number of good, artistically valuable Soviet films on the subject, alongside the excessively propagandist ones, but I was surprised that the one chosen for discussion was a marginal movie that was a product of perestroika culture. Wagonloads of corpses? You I am sure are aware of the atrocity-pandering, only partially based on facts, that was so common in that period and in the early 90's Russia. It should not be mistakenly confused with an objective re-analysis of the Revolution. 3. Why not include a discussion of the October Revolution and its effect on the development of world history, and the development of left wing politics specifically? Was it a watershed moment or a mistake? Did it bolster and inspire left-wing politics or confuse, demoralize , and discredit them in the long term? There are many perspectives but I am surprised that you guys, as self-described leftists, do not offer your analysis. I suspect that maybe it is because you are worried about alienating a part of your readership, but I could be wrong. Perhaps this is something you might look into in a future episode? Thank you and best regards.

Ghu Ribun

Thanks a lot for these maps. Really helps to have all them in one page instead of looking for it when one incomprehensible name pops in. It is said that Roosevelt addressed his fellow citizens during the war through radio, beginning his educative discourse by asking people to get their map and then pointing to them places to understand the situation... From FDR to RWN!

075

As a latin american well aware of the history of our relationship with the US since the beginning of time...its soooo funny to see how paranoid the US people (yeah, I wont say "Americans" cuz that is freaking wrong!!!) are about this whole "fake news" and "interference with our democratic system" hysteria. Spreading "fake news" and messing with other countries' democratic systems and elections have been the US standard procedure since as far as I can remember in Latin America. This is not new or something that the Russians just invented. "IF" the Russians are doing this to the US (and that is a big IF to me, Im more inclined to believe this is another one of your regular scare tactics applied to your own people) then this is nothing more but karma, you have no moral ground to complain since you have done this to everyone else (including the russians) first and I'm glad Putin is giving you a taste of your own medicine.