In this episode of the Cold War podcast, Cam and Ray continue their wild ride through Cuban history, focusing on the rise and fall of Gerardo “Macho Man” Machado, the proto-strongman president who turned Cuba into a playground for rich tourists—and a pressure cooker for everyone else. From political repression and violent union crackdowns to communist organizing and student uprisings, this chapter sets the stage for Cuba’s eventual revolution. Along the way, we meet fascinating figures like Julio Antonio Mella (the OG Castro prototype), discuss the communist roots of Cuban resistance, and learn how America played both arsonist and firefighter in the region. Plus: cigars, lesbians, and martinis. You’re welcome.

For nearly two decades, the CIA ran a covert operation designed to train Tibetan insurgents and gather intelligence about the Chinese, while smuggling weapons and money into Tibet, pushing Tibetan supporters of the Dalai Lama to launch violent uprisings, and using “black propaganda” to spread lies about Chinese atrocities in the region. But the U.S. never supported Tibetan independence. They were just another pawn in the Cold War.

Part four (!!!) of our “quick” biography on Fidel Castro, using the New York Times’ obituary, breaking it down, line by line, to uncover the propaganda. And we’re making these Castro episodes free to guests.This is absolutely the last part, we promise!

Part two of our “quick” biography on Fidel Castro, using the New York Times’ obituary, breaking it down, line by line, to uncover the propaganda. And we’re making these Castro episodes free to guests.

When the U.S. troops landed in Cuba, it changed the nature of the war. The old racism returned. Of course, when the war was over in July, the U.S. had no intention of letting the Cuban people have their independence. As the commander of US forces in Cuba said: “Why, these people are no more fit for self-government than gunpowder is for hell.” In the fight for freedom, lives had been lost and the country had been wiped out economically. Yet the Cubans still weren’t going to get their independence.

Although you may not think of Israel as part of the Cold War paradigm, it’s played such a huge role in American foreign policy, and we have to cover it. It’s also played, and continues to play, a huge role in the story of oil, which is, of course, a huge part of the Cold War story. Because, as you know, the Cold War was all about economics. In this episode, we give a quick overview of anti-Semitism and the creation of the State of Israel. In our next episodes we’re going to go deep into the story of Zionism. 

Americans were SHOCKED to discover that Russia had interfered in their 2016 Presidential elections. How dare they interfere with the democratic process of a sovereign nation! Of course, those same Americans probably have no idea that their own country has, according to the research done by my guest today, done the same thing over 80 times since the end of WWII.

Today I interview Dov H. Levin Ph.D, Assistant Professor, Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Hong Kong about his research on what he calls his Partisan Electoral Intervention by the Great Powers dataset (PEIG). It shows how many times the USA and USSR/Russia intervened in foreign elections in the years 1946 – 2000.

Episode 298 follows Fidel Castro’s disastrous return to Cuba aboard the *Granma* and the near-total collapse of his carefully laid plans within days of landing. What was meant to be a coordinated uprising turns into a brutal fight for survival as delays at sea, bad weather, poor logistics, and immediate detection by Batista’s forces leave Castro’s men sick, starving, scattered, and under constant aerial and ground attack. Drawing heavily on Castro’s later reflections and Che Guevara’s diaries, the episode explores leadership under failure, revolutionary psychology, and the razor-thin line between annihilation and persistence. With only a handful of surviving fighters and a few rifles, Castro reframes catastrophe into resolve, convinced that even seven guns are enough to win a revolution.

As Mossadegh wins the hearts and minds of Americans and the world, the British re-elect Churchill who considered Mossadegh “an elderly lunatic bent on wrecking his country and handing it over to the communists.”

Part Two of our mini-biography of FDR.

Professor Campbell Craig is the Professor of International Relations at Cardiff University.

He has held senior fellowships at Yale University, the Norwegian Nobel Institute, the European University Institute, and, most recently, at the Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of Bristol, and has given invited lectures at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, Chicago, Columbia, Cambridge, Sciences-Po, the Free University of Berlin, the London School of Economics, University of Copenhagen, and other universities.

His most recent books are The Atomic Bomb and the Origins of the Cold War (with Sergey Radchenko), and America’s Cold War: the Politics of Insecurity (with Fredrik Logevall).

After The Peel Commission recommending moving hundreds of thousands of Palestinians off their land by force, the Arab Revolt re-emerged with hundreds of terrorist attacks during 1937-38 against the British and Jews – and even against Arab collaborators. The British cracked down and deported many of their leaders. Irgun, the Jewish militant group, met this threat with their own terrorism. Hitler used the situation to score propaganda points against the Jews and the British.

With the recent death of Fidel Castro, we decided to take a quick detour from our linear narrative to jump ahead in time and talk about one of the major figures, not only of the Cold War, but of the 20th century. A hero to many, reviled by just as many, his death brought on a new spate of Western media coverage. After reading much of it, we just had to provide our own perspective. We decided to tackle the subject by taking one of the major media obituaries, by the New York Times, and break it down, line by line, to uncover the propaganda. And we’re making this episode free to guests.