Radio War Nerd EP #580 — Blowback: Angola Wars, feat. Brendan James & Noah Kulwin
Guests: Brendan James & Noah Kulwin, Blowback
Recorded: February 6, 2026
The co-hosts of the great Blowback show return to RWN to talk about their series covering the long, bloody series of wars in Angola, from its independence from Portugal in 1975, when the US put a bead on Angola as its next Cold War battlefield, through the wars against apartheid South Africa with Angola's Cuban allies, and into the gory post-Cold War/post-apartheid era, when UNITA's charismatic sociopath Jonas Savimbi launched a new phase of Angola bloodletting.
Subscribe to Blowback and get all the seasons & extras!
Further RWN listening:
-EP #475 — Blowback: Cambodia
-EP #395 — Blowback: Afghanistan
-EP #341 — Blowback: The Korean War
-EP #232 — Cuba in Angola Wars, with Piero Gleijeses
Total time: 1:32:51
Direct link to this episode's mp3 here
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Sound production by Telescope Audio
Comments (17)
Worth noting the fourth player at the Jamba Jamboree was Neo Hom, a Laotian insurgent group operating against the LPDR at the time and I would love to hear an episode on the post 1975 insurgent in Laos one day
https://youtu.be/GGiLJGHQ2bw?si=cU-T69wc7chMenlK Tapper Zukie - MPLA Had to be done :)
Always love African episodes!
One day we’ll get a Biafran war episode
Cuban doctors, nurses, and scientists are some of the most admirable people I have ever met. But I should say that a Cuban vet from the Angola Civil War that I met in Havana had mixed feelings about his involvement there.
Jonas Savimbi hosted a party for all the different anti Soviet guerrillas at the same time that Hollywood was accusing the Soviets of doing the same thing (naked gun scene where Leslie Nielsen crashes a dinner where all of America's enemies are)
Jokingly accusing but probably subtly affirming govt propaganda
What all books were mentioned in this episode?
We have a 4yrold shitzu-poodle mix and finally carved her out a run in the backyard snow so she can get her zoomies out. On walks, she just refuses to go on and you have to pick her up. Good luck with the pup!
Theres a Portuguese phrase “para inglês ver”, that means laws for the English to see, that specifically originated in Brazil in the 19th century to demonstrate nominal compliance with basic human rights while perpetuating the status quo.
I am very excited to listen to this but this brings to mind the episode you guys did with Piero Gleijesis on the Angolan war. I read conflicting missions after that he is one of the best guests you’ve ever had, it’s always on my shortlist of recs when converting new war nerds
Thanks for spelling his name out because i listed to the whole series but would have guessed “Pierre Yglesias”
Great episode!
Make no mistake what America has done to Cuba are slow rolling genocidal acts not on the same level as Israel to Palestinians (I know the G word gets tossed around too much sometimes) but it’s ramping up to full genocidal intent. Social democratic countries are unwilling to intervene to a country that has sent medical, military and humanitarian aid to the most wretched of the earth as well as literally offering doctors to 9/11 and Katrina victims. We are strangling a poor government that helps the worst off around the world. America is “the great Satan” and there is no equivocating. If you are pro human and support the U.S. government in any form you are anti human. It doesn’t matter whether it’s democrat or republican. Both parties are overwhelmingly genocidal and only care about their free healthcare and six figure salaries over the bodies of hundreds of millions of people historically. Enough is enough.
Uh-huh. So what're you going to do about it besides post on the internet? I mean, I'm sympathetic, believe me, but it's one thing to say "enough is enough." Those in power don't care what the public thinks and don't really need their support either. I hope at the very least you're tossing some money at worthy causes.
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but per Blowback's interview with Chas Freeman, it was stated by Freeman that cerebral malaria was what made Savimbi murderous, not syphilis. I know it's a pedantic correction, but I felt it necessary to point that out. Whether or not Savimbi actually had cerebral malaria is another matter. Anyway, great interview with Brenden and Noah, as always. Season 6 of Blowback is excellent. It's a must listen.
Catalog of contras: I could easily see these guys doing a season on Ukraine