Radio War Nerd EP #599 — World of Wars: Triumph of the Arch + Cuba War Talk, Iran Ceasefire Talk
Recorded: April 16, 2026
As the War Nerd prepares to have his brain checked in Turin, we discuss Trump's Triumphal Arch and plans for a war on Cuba, as well as the shaky ceasefire in the US-Israel war on Iran and Lebanon.
Total time: 1:10:51
Direct link to this episode's mp3 here
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Sound production by Telescope Audio
Comments (28)
The prospective location of Trump's DC arch is a place called Columbia Island. Columbia Island was built up over time thanks to dredging from the Potomac River and nearby areas. Maybe some engineer can weigh in here. However, I wonder if a 250 foot marble arch placed on top of dredged up land is going to be the most stable structure.
On Cuba I think i'm not willing to assume that the revolutionary fervour held on for nearly 70 years and they are still up for it. These things have a half life and possibly the key mistake of Trump in Iran was to go after them when the generation of frontline officers who fought the Iraq war was still providing the countries leadership. That said if any American adversary had thought to give Cuba drones and satellite Intel the Trump clique is heavily invested in Florida, now I haven't seen the range bubble or Iranian strategic munitions super imposed on to Cuba but you have to wonder what Mara Lago's air defences are like.
"Coverage of..." Like Greenland and Venezuela? The outrage over Greenland compared to Venezuela, they abducted their fucking President and we moved on. The discrepancy and reason for that discrepancy is pretty stark.
basically erecting a Triump Arch over winning an election by 1.5% in a cost of living crisis and thinking you got dispatched by the almighty lord
I hear what you're saying, but at the same time, the whole concept of triumph is a matter of perspective and propaganda. If you tell everyone you won the biggest victory of all time, and no one convincingly and publicly smacks you down for it, then who's to say you're wrong?
Loved the airplane chat as well. As a kid I enjoyed nerdily reading magazines about jets.
With respect to John's remark about the stupidity of needing to move US troops into hotels, I remind everyone of the single largest mass casualty event in Operation Desert Storm, when a Scud missile hit a re-purposed warehouse used to house US troops, killing 28 and wounding over 100. Same stupidity of not preparing appropriate shelter for in-theater troops. It is amazing how slowly militaries learn.
<3 Sabrina
Graham Platner is 100% going to be the next fetterman/sinema. Both of them also ran as "truth talkers", made progressive noises, had cleaner records, and far fewer red flags, than this guy. Nazi tattoo blackwater guy from the wealthy family is just an obvious disaster in the making, he's a bunch of red flags in a trenchcoat.
I myself will only vote for vagrants with no family, it's the only way I can be sure that a candidate is pure.
Trump building a triumphal arch now is like if Napoleon built the arc de triumph after the battle of Waterloo
Technically, the Arc de Triomph wasn't finished until after the Bourbon Restoration, so...
We have an Arch in Hartford for the Civil War
Bay of pigs 2 will likely go down the same as isreal’s recent “invasion” of Lebanon. I do want to see the US humiliated but I don’t want to see war come to the island
John Fetterman suffered a stroke a couple years ago following his election to the senate and ever since he’s just gone more and more off the deep end
Multiple COVID infections probably damaged his brain on top of that.
I thought the FT said Iran *bought* the satellite from the Chinese?
I only have access to the Reuters article about it cause I don’t sub to FT but Reuters says: “Iran secretly acquired a Chinese spy satellite in late 2024 that has allowed it to target U.S. military bases across the Middle East during the current war, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday, an account Beijing dismissed as untrue. The TEE-01B satellite, built and launched by Chinese company Earth Eye Co, was acquired by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Aerospace Force after it was launched into space from China, the report said, citing leaked Iranian military documents.” Still not entirely clear
Idk why, but at ~ 13:00 a vision of John as Wallace Shawn’s character in The Princess Bride appeared in my head saying, “Ever heard of Alexander the Great? Clausewitz? Suvorov? .. Morons”
"You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is 'Never get involved in a land war in Asia!'" Maybe Americans don't realize that the Middle East is part of Asia... Actually, friend of the show Brace Belden interviewed Wallace Shawn on TrueAnon podcast just recently, funnily enough.
I believe Mark was comparing the UAE to Scrappy Doo?
Maybe a guest can articulate or answer this question better, but: what will a ceasefire even look like if agreed upon again? Or even a full “peace deal”? It seems very easy for Israel to just claim a provocation, break the ceasefire, and have the US (Trump and both parties) to go along with it. Maybe that’s a bit simplistic, but a simple solution (say, the US saying “no more weapon deals until you stop”) seems impossible too. Unless we’re literally a few days away from an economic apocalypse? I dunno .
Won't it just be yet another "frozen conflict" where the shooting (mostly) stops and everyone agrees to passive-aggressively stare at each other in silence until someone snaps?
Would be sick to have an episode elaborating the point about the structural barriers to 3rd parties
It’s the First Past The Post system—means you split the left (right) vote if >2 parties run unless the third party is truly not drawing any people from left or right.
Loving the number of uploads lately 🔥
First
Second 🗡