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Radio War Nerd EP #367 — Ethiopia-Tigray War, feat. Ann Neumann (Patreon)

Published:
2023-02-23 21:14:09
Imported:
2026-06
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Guest: Ann Neumann, journalist 

Recorded: February 17, 2023

We talk to Ann Neumann, one of the few journalists to report from Ethiopia on the ongoing war against Tigray, which has resulted in at least 600,000 civilian deaths, mostly in Tigray, as well as revenge atrocities in border regions south-southwest of Tigray. 

Read Ann Neumann's article in Harpers, "Falling Like Leaves. The war in Ethiopia and its crimes against civilians". Buy Ann's book The Good Death: An Exploration of Dying in America. Follow Ann on Twitter.

NB: If you think you can help Ann's guide, who's currently stuck in a migrant camp in Italy, please send us or Ann a note.

*Map

Total time: 1:33:40

Direct link to this episode's mp3 here 

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Comments

Ben Chisholm

That was so good and so informative. Thank you for having her on.

aaron sewards

Hope they talk about howling winds on this one.

HarshMalarkey

From Reuters on Tuesday, Denmark and Sweden investigations have "not yet concluded"

Nicholas Levis

I'm paying for this so every once in a while when you have an even more outstanding episode than usual have to step into the comments and tell you what a good job, what a great guest, how exceptionally informative, thank you.

Sean Dickey

Thanks for shouting out the East Palestine train derailment in the introduction of this episode. I live here in Pittsburgh and grew up to the northwest, in between the city and East Palestine. So many terrible reactions from people or otherwise writing the entire region off, again. Empathy once again appears in short supply these days.

cl

Saw that OSINT "debunking" of the Hersh story by Oliver Alexander, and since the story was so exciting I thought I'd look into it myself. To start, these analyses are pretty irritating because despite being labeled "open-source", the resources for looking retrospectively at the data (e.g. ship path tracking AIS data) are expensive. So the claims can't actually be verified easily. I assume this is a benefit of the open-source approach: throw enough "public" data at people to mystify them, but prevent eager online nerds from examining it closely. The basic argument is that all of the ships in the class Hersh claims mined the pipelines were tracked throughout the BALTOPS exercises, and none were ever near the pipelines. The evidence itself is weak (6 satellite images across 7 days supposedly proves ship tracking was 100% accurate across all 7 days), and I don't think proves much of anything as presented except that the NS2 sabotage did not take place as public satellites flew overhead with known paths easily obtainable by anyone planning a covert operation. There are various missing pieces that undermine the conclusions of the piece (not all boats were tracked, satellites give very limited data, important data he could have included was not included without justification, etc). This hasn't stopped the author and his OSINT collaborators from preening around Twitter triumphantly, now moving on to his own absurd, evidence-free pet theory that the explosions were accidental. Article has gone mostly unchallenged. Pretty gross. The whole OSINT industry seems like a sham. Couple of weeks ago they reported satellite images of Russian military buildup in camps near the border in Voronezh and Kursk oblasts. I've kept a close eye on those areas, and both camps have clearly been evacuated since their initial reports. Why no follow up? Wouldn't a good OSINT analyst continue to follow potential buildup closely, and report the halting of buildup if it happened? In fact, from some quick searching around on Twitter, it seems that not a single (English-speaking at least) person has noticed the camps were cleared out. Not very thorough work...

T

Excuse the gendered language, but jeez what a bad ass chick. Motorcycle accidents and all!

CR

NATO stooges: "He used one source" U.S. Intelligence Community: Uses one unconfirmed source "Curveball" to sell the Iraq war. It's always projection with these dipshits.

CR

The entire OSINT industry was, on its face, fired spooks in the 90s selling their "expertise" to private clients because it was all the rage and "n% of our job is just reading the papers." Naturally, it would also serve as an excellent cut-outs, and GWOT/Iraq was a way to launder money, reputation, and plausible deniability. Social media's explosion gave them the opportunity to provide counterintelligence chaff and noise or to amplify the official line. It's so simple and obvious in retrospect but easy to miss in real-time. Thankfully, they've gotten so smug and lazy they have given up the ruse.

Joe McNiff

first time long time just commenting to say what a great guest this episode was fantastic

a clash of purple

Let's recap the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor's illustrious career in service to the United States of America, the world's most powerful superpower. You'll notice how important its very expensive and hyped stealth capabilities have been to its missions. - Dropped some bombs on Islamic State in Syria. - Dropped some bombs on opium farmers in Afghanistan. - Shot down not one, not two, but THREE balloons (hilariously credited as 'air-to-air kills'). Yup, this was definitely $67 billion well spent. After accruing such a storied and venerable record in its time flying for the USAF, it'll be sad to see it go.

William Brame

I don’t know who to trust about Ethiopia but needless to say, it’s not three white people. You guys are good on most stuff, especially the Civil War, but I still am rubbed the wrong way by the stark difference and pro-TPLF Stance you take on Ethiopia.

a clash of purple

This is such an odd kneejerk reaction... White people can't possibly know anything about Africa? I mean, flip it the other way. Who had the clearest contemporary perspective on the U.S. Civil War? Count Gorowski and Garibaldi (I don't know if Slavs or Italians were considered 'white' at the time). Being an outsider is an asset when you're trying to understand charged political issues, especially when there's sectarian or ethnic divides involved.

DumbDumDumbDumb

I hate when white people take the side of the oppressed minority that’s currently being genocided!!!! oooo it makes me sooooo mad!

William Brame

It’s not that white people don’t know about africa, it’s that they are instrumental in its exploitation. It’s that this lady’s first sentences are “my dad worked at a secret base in Eritrea”

William Brame

Yeah they are SO oppressed they have enough guns to INITIATE a civil war that takes two countries to quell.

a clash of purple

Ames and Dolan have their opinions about the various factions involved, but they're not rooting for the TPLF to win the war, they want there to not be a war in the first place.

Gordon Schmidt

I really wish Neumann had elaborated more on her visit to Eritrea. I am absolutely fascinated with that country and the regime in power there. If you could have her back on to talk more about that, I would be very excited.

William Brame

Could’ve fooled me. Seems like they genuineness have been rooting for them from the start.

a clash of purple

No, and to even think that requires a bad faith reading on your part. There are wars where they come down on one side or another, like the U.S. Civil War (pro-Union) or the Syrian Civil War (pro-Rojava), and they don't hide their bias in that case. This is not one of those times. They don't like Ethiopia, Tigray, and Eritrea equally, or believe that "one side is as bad as the other," but that's not the same as wanting war to happen, or wishing one side would 'win.'

Craig Range

These hosts can seem to understand the relationship between the US and Europe is not one of peer allies. It’s kinda hilarious in the face of so much contrary evidence.

Of course

Lol, if you want to be taken seriously in the RWN comment section, here's a pro tip: avoid the guilty white liberal trip of standpoint theory. The idea that Ursula van der Leyen, Antony Blinken, Chrystia Freeland, Victoria Nuland, Donald Trump, or Joe Biden are "racially qualified" to act or speak on the Kiev regime with any credibility is laughable. Ditto Colin Powell, Lloyd Austin, Condi Rice, Kamala Harris, Hakim Jeffries, or - if we really want to get serious - Nancy Pelosi or Chuck Schumer in kente cloth... on anything related to Africa.

Baron

Was kinda confused at the end by what Dolan meant by the comment that Italian people are pretty racially considerate compared to elsewhere in Europe. The first time I visited family near Pescara, my 40 year old cousin there started out immediately with hard Rs on the way back from Rome’s airport as we passed migrant pedestrians. I don’t know, maybe they’re nicer up in Trieste.

William Brame

Hey did you not notice my profile picture? I’m the giant black dude in it lol. Never did I equate RWN to US officials. My stand point comes from the very real-actual leftist and Ethiopian refutation of the claims they are making. So it’s literally a who do you believe situation. I’ve been a patron for about a year or so, whenever Mark went on Trueanon first. I like the show and besides their coverage on Ethiopia, and the war in Ukraine, I like these guys and see them as having valuable insight.

William Brame

Man now you want me to dig up quotes and shit and I’m not about to do that, but yeah, they def had a very “pro Tigray” seeming outlook. Went from, “damn Abi’s going down, to oh no, they being genocided”

William Brame

How they even know about hard Rs?!? Lol. This is why I dont fuck with Europe.

Mark Ames

These are both great summaries of the OSINT propaganda racket -- supposedly apolitical "data" supposedly transparent and verifiable and devoid of the corrupting influence of human subjectivity, wrapped in the same sort of techbro tropes that wow hacks who bought into the crypto and privacy rackets. I saw that OSINT dweeb's "accident theory" angle, which has been ignored outside his little circle because it's so preposterous, and because it's a theory that can be tested, which creates propaganda problems. The point is that his Hersh OSINT smear served a useful purpose, so all the Natoland bluechecks quote tweeted it; the accident theory can actually be tested and that doesn't serve a purpose. Anything that might easily discredit his bonafides is best ignored.

G W

Expressing distress about mass starvation is being pro tigray...

Martin Davis

Thanks for this update on what's happening, especially through the eyes of someone who is both informed and who so recently visited the scene. Would love a similar update on a now once again forgotten war, in the Yemen. Awful things happen when conflicts are no longer fashionable.

Martin Davis

Also, kudos to Mark for securing and hanging on in with Hersh. Well worth it. The gem for me: 'I asked the pipeline guys' - uncommon sense or what!

Discount Cagliostro

John if you want to see more submerged grocery carts and heavy Scottish riparian industry I recommend the Pride of the Clyde cruise