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Radio War Nerd EP #590 — Bahrain and the Iran "Situation", feat. Aamer (Patreon)

Published:
2026-03-19 18:37:30
Edited:
2026-03-20 14:17:19
Imported:
2026-03
Tags:

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Content

Guest: AamerRecorded: March 18, 2026

Aamer returns to discuss how Bahrain is managing the US-Israel-Iran "situation", the early videos of Bahrainis cheering on the Iranian missiles hitting US bases, the loathed ruling family, Bahrain's relations with other GCC states, and more.

Further listening with Aamer:-EP #246 — Arab Conquests, Part I: Pre-Islamic Arabia to Muhammad (4-part series)-EP #286 — Bahrain-EP #279 — Inglorious Qataris' Bustards

Maps

Total time: 1:33:41Direct link to this episode's mp3 here

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Buy & review John Dolan's new book, They Should Have Been Hanged: War Nerd Essays on the U.S. Civil War

Subscribe to Radio War Nerd at patreon.com/radiowarnerd

Sound production by Telescope Audio

Files

Comments

NYCM&AHole

It’s bahraining missiles and drones

Avtomatt

Good to hear from Aamer again, was hoping you guys would do another episode with him in light of recent events.

GC

Looking very forward to the episode, much as I wish its predicate facts hadn't happened. That Alex Chilton/Big Star song reliably wrecks me. It's on a personal list with "The Outer Skin" (Tall Dwarfs), "I Bet On Losing Dogs," a couple of Vic Chesnutt songs, and not that many others: songs that go down and don't go up again, stuff I actually have to be careful about listening to. That can't have been a pleasant drive, John. Hang in there!

GC

Oooh, absolutely. With bonus points for the old "major modulation makes things even worse" move. That song needs yellow CAUTION tape around it. This reminds me that she's put out a bunch of solo records that I need to catch up with. Thanks!

Xander Udo

Thanks! Very much appreciated Aamer

blazed uncle

Oh man what a tantalizing tidbit about the Ghost of Kuwait. Great guest, great episode.

Juan Gonzalez

This is the last place I expected Mitski to be mentioned, but what an incredible song

NYCM&AHole

Whoever smelter it dealter it

GC

haha yes good point about the incongruity, but yeah, it's a bruiser for sure. If you haven't, check the AEA Sessions version; sometimes it hits me harder than the album cut

Kawaii Leonard

Absolutely excellent episode! The War Nerd Army is so stocked with great insightful voices across the world. Perfect guest at a time like this especially, and I loved his Arab Conquest series as well

Miko

World War I was described as nations sleepwalking into war, the comment in the podcast about the apathy about it all made me think of it. Likewise Europe and the rest of the Arab states just seem to be on cruise control. The center cannot hold and the gyre keeps widening.

NYCM&AHole

Still listening to Exodus’s Tempo of the Damned, esp tracks “war is my shepherd” and “scar spangled banner”. George dubya brought back a wave of great metal

Kamran Husain

there are two states that matter more than israel, connecticut and California

CR

How is this going to affect all the Blood Gold that the UAE has been buying from Eastern Africa?

Gary

how do i get an rss link for the podcast?

Hana

Name the states!!!

Mungo Franczak

I’m a newer listener and I gotta say I appreciate the inclusion of maps in the posts. I like to think I’m pretty knowledgeable on geography, yet I had no idea Bahrain was an island lmao

etienne

you'd imagine that the average denizen of Flyover America would be happy that, say, Portland Oregon would get hit by suicide drones, but in 2001 when New York City, the HQ of Liberals and the hated finance capital, it seemed to have been considered a bad thing by the majority of americans

a clash of purple

Well, the U.S. is really in love with its famous landmarks, for one thing. That's why they selected these big symbolic targets rather than going after weak points in the infrastructure that could have theoretically done a lot more damage. And New York is a lot more than just the HQ of liberals and Jews. That's part of it, but it's also got the biggest police force of any city on Earth, and reactionary scum love cops, and a lot of first responders died when the towers fell. Also, 9/11 was a useful rallying cry to get the government to murder a lot of Arabs. If the only people who died were Arabs and Jews, I'm pretty sure the types of Americans you're thinking about would say they brought it on themselves for not being good conservative Christians or whatever. The hard right, the neo-Nazi right, are pretty open about celebrating the 9/11 attacks, both because it was a symbolic blow against the Jews and because they worship death and killing in general. I don't know how representative they are of the Republicans in general, but it's worth mentioning.

etienne

I was trying to design in a lab a state that the average american would be less willing to defend than Israel but yeah I can see your logic, there isn't one

a clash of purple

Well, keep in mind, the "average American" isn't so hot on Israel right now. The Israeli-U.S. alliance is strictly an elite project on the American side. The typical American isn't even especially in favor of giving military aid to Israel, and a fairly large percentage are outraged and disgusted by the genocide. The faction who are pro-Israel are very loud but very small. I would be shocked if even 10% of the population was actively pro-Israeli (there's maybe 30% who are passively pro-Israel). Zionist Jews and Christian doomsday cultists have power and influence vastly disproportionate to their actual numbers. It's just that, you know, the United States isn't a democracy, so it doesn't really matter.

Javier

On the mention of the "American alley" place filled with underage girls for sex, it dawned on me that every place that has soldiers is bound to have a brothel industry nearby... not just Vietnam with the Thai girls. I can only imagine the size of the prostitution ring in the middle east with so many USA bases.

etienne

yeah I agree with you

JoR

This is def a fair point. The true “maga-ites” (if you can call them that, they all think trump betrayed them on immigration and Israel) openly dream for a nuclear war “destroying our cities” because “it’s where all the brown people live” (not really paraphrasing either). But if push came to shove and our cities were attacked again, like 9/11, I think that group would similarly become patriotic (wanting war) again. At the end of the day it’s humiliating for any country , especially a culture like ours, to be attacked lol. Maybe especially ours

Schaeffer Mallory

Great interview. The RWN brain trust only grows stronger 💪

Michael

Before this war Dubai sounds like what Moscow was like in the 90s. The eXile Dubai would have been great.

J P 3

Within the context of the U.S. system, I don't think putting this Iran war just on Trump is sufficient. Congress has war powers and funding -- two major levers -- that it could exercise. They aren't using these powers because a clear majority of the elected leadership in both parties supports the war. These elected leaders, however, are cynical enough not to go on record co-signing a war that is already a quagmire. The politicians assume their voters are stupid. However, it is interesting to note that a clear majority of Democrats disapprove of the party right now. The politics of this era are going to play out in ways that I don't think anyone can predict.

drizzly_november

And the band played Waltzing Matilda, As Pete Hegseth reeled from the booze; After two weeks he’d found, He needs boots on the ground, And they sent me away to Hormuz.

Hans Anders

The Bahrein situation is both more interesting and less spectacular than I thought. Thank you for the insightful episode!

Terry Dunk

Moscow minus all of the culture, politics, and thousand year history