Gladio Free Europe

Japanese-occupied China was a place of immense violence and constant intrigues. We invited Carl Zha to talk about the 2007 film Lust, Caution and the real-life events that inspired the movie...

Everyone’s favorite Ukrainian-Canadian diaspora chronicler Jim takes us to the Carpathians for an episode on peasants, poultices, and Parajanov. We discuss the director’s 1964 film Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors and what this classic of Soviet surrealism can tell us about the past.

Check out Jim’s podcast, The Past with Jim.

Hosted by Liam, Abram and Jim.

Further listening:

• E24 Kievan Rus'
• E18 Soy Cuba ft...

After watching a little bit of 90s MTV we decided to talk about the history of suburban extreme sports (skateboarding, roller skating, BMX) and the subculture that grew around it.

Hosted by Liam, and Abram.

Grab your balalaika and drinking horn, because this week we’re paddling up the Volga to look at the origins of the Kievan Rus'. Russian Sam takes us on a crash course of the early history of this famous rowdy bunch, from the earliest Roman references to Slavic-speaking tribes to the impact the Rus' have on modern Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian nationalism...

Only two of us this week to discuss the American experience, from hip hop, suburbs, jeans, to burgers, and how that’s been exported and adopted all over the world.

Hosted by Halal Sam, and Abram.

Nosferatu is the 1922 expressionist horror silent film whose creation is dramatized in the movie Shadow of the Vampire. We watched both these films and discuss both their stories, and the stories of how the vampire came to be in the popular imagination.

Hosted by Liam, Russian Sam, and Halal Sam.

The Iron Giant asks us, how would American react if a sentient giant robot crash landed from space in the height of the Cold War? We discuss it, and with the help of special guest Daniel Bessner, the Cold War paranoia sweeping the nation in the 1950s and 60s.

Hosted by Liam, Russian Sam, Halal Sam, and Daniel Bessner.

Our good friend Kevin is back to help use trace the roots of Zionism as an ideology and the various religious, cultural, and "socialist" strands that existed before 1948.

Hosted by Russian Sam, Halal Sam, and Kevin.

Why is Christopher Columbus considered a hero to Italian-Americans, and why did they fight so hard to give us a national holiday to celebrate him? We take a long look at the history of the Italian immigrant experience, and how that got us to Columbus Day (now co-named Indigenous Peoples' Day).

Hosted by Liam, Russian Sam, and Halal Sam.

This Soviet made piece of art, Soy Cuba, tells four stories during the final days of the Batista regime. With the help of Russian Sam and Cuban Jaime we discuss how and why this movie was made, and the response in Cuba and the Soviet Union.

Hosted by Liam, Russian Sam, and Jaime.