Radio War Nerd EP #115 — Reviewing 2017 Wars & RWN + The Yoshio Kodama Story
First: The shocking news that Thatcher's spies plotted to assassinate Ireland's leader & attack Ireland with anthrax and other biological weapons. . . . Next: looking back at 2017, the War Nerd talks about the most underreported story ongoing: Saudi Arabia's total military failure in Yemen, despite all the best US/UK weapons, assistance, training . . . The War Nerd tries imagining what a Saudi-Iran War would look like . . .
After a break (at 1:41:00) we look back proudly at the last year of RWN episodes — and our fantastic guests — thanks to our subscribers! . . . Lastly (2:19:00) Ames takes a deep dive into the story of Yoshio Kodama— Japanese "Class A" war criminal, postwar fascist leader, yakuza don, CIA asset, and Lockheed bribery conduit in the Lockheed Bribery Scandal story . . .
Images:
-Yoshio Kodama
-Kodama with Nobusuke Kishi, the grandfather of current Japan prime minister Shinzo Abe
-Ryoichi Sasakawa, Class A War Criminal
-Jimmy Carter jogging with Sasakawa
Total time: 3:07:43
Comments (19)
Going back and listening to old episodes while I'm working. This one was really great and helps create a clear picture of the US hand propping up the LDP since its inception. When Mr. Ames was talking about the uyoku dantai (right wing gangs) he mentioned one called like the "Japanese Goblin Party" I think? I'm wondering if the original Japanese name involved the word Tengu. Tengu gets sorta annoyingly translated as "goblin" but the name (天狗 ) literally means "heavenly dog" (or can be read a sentinel). They're winged bird men that often appear in Japanese folklore, sometimes as malevolent forces and sometimes as helpful spirits. The two you see a lot of the time are "karasatengu" who have more bird like features (karasu means crow) and "daitengu" or "great tengu" who are huge men with redskin and comically long noses who are often treated as lesser gods of mountains. It's certainly a funny sounding party name but since by the 1800s the tengu were seen more often as protectors rather than as villains, it could explain why they would choose that name, if that even was the word they were using for the party. I'm planning on getting that Yakuza book so hopefully it will have the untranslated name in it too. Also link to wikipedia's article on tengu, cause there are a lot of great pictures of them https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tengu
My favorite nickname for the F-104 is the Lawn Dart, which pilots in the RCAF called it sometimes.
Hi Gary Brecher AKA War Nerd. Nice to hear from you! (It’s nice to be noticed by one’s intellectual hero!) I thoroughly enjoy your show! Is there anyway, as a patron, I can have access to your past newsletters (I just enjoy reading your articles!). Should I increase my patronage to do so?
Hi MAK, send me your email address at radiowarnerd@gmail.com and I'll see what I can do...
Hi.. Great show! Keep producing more podcasts. It’s my best driving companion! (Just became a patron with £5.00. Just wondering why I’m not getting the war Nerd newsletter to my registered email...)
Thanks for your support. Apologies, I didn't manage to write a newsletter in the last couple of weeks but there should be one in your inbox soon.
Just subscribed. Is the patron app it's own podcast interface ? I downloaded this episode & it went to my Android podcast player but it's not on file as a download.. What's the best way to download an episode ?
You can use the RSS feed to plug into your podcast app. I just just listen to it on Patreon App
One episode you didn't mention in the year-in-review was the Robin Pierson one. I still hope you'll have him back on. Love some more Byzantine content.
Yeah, that's true. It was a great interview. There's always the danger of slighting a lot of good episodes in a review like that. I've always been a Byzantine loyalist myself so I'm totally in favour of that. Those spoiled Roman-Romans, fighting mobs of spoiled lumberjacks from Germany. They get all the credit even though they faced the easy opponents!
It's a small world after all. As I was doing research for the Richard Kim Interview on ancient links between Korea and Japan, I came across this article on "The Horse-rider Theory" : <a href="https://www.ancient.eu/article/1105/the-horse-rider-theory-in-ancient-japan/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.ancient.eu/article/1105/the-horse-rider-theory-in-ancient-japan/</a> The bottom of the article states "This article was made possible with generous support from the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation" which was established by Nippon Foundation founded by Ryōichi Sasakawa. Any way we just released the Richard Kim interview on CLASH!: <a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/16212966">https://www.patreon.com/posts/16212966</a>
What a great episode! I greatly enjoyed the roasting of Gettleman episode. Just finished listening today on the drive home. Great investigative journalism on Kodama and Sasakawa! Great 2017 roundup !
Those points that Mark made about the stagnating body-counts are well made. I remember the NYT suspending their daily updates of the mounting death toll for the Gaza massacre of 2014 at around the 1,800 mark.
I remember periodic reporting in the UK press of German Starfighter crashes in the 60's.
Yes. Just saw this quote: 'Problems began to arise almost from the beginning of the introduction of the aircraft into Luftwaffe service. At the time of the introduction of the Starfighter in 1961, there were two crashes. An intensification of flying regimens saw an increased accident rate with the type. As the years progressed, so did the number of crashes in the type. The year 1962 saw seven crashes, 1964 saw 12 F-104s lost, and in 1965 nearly 28 aircraft were lost in accidents. The lost rate calculated to nearly two aircraft lost each month. In 1966, sixty one F-104Gs would crash claiming the lives of thirty five Luftwaffe pilots. The alarming rate of loss of the aircraft soon became known as the ‘Starfighter Crisis’ with alarming records surfacing. The Crisis would peak with a loss rate of 139 aircraft for every 100,000 flying hours. '
Ahahah of course John has seen Father Ted. Perfect.
Note in relation to Charles Haughey - as Minister for Finance in 1970 he had taken part in an attempt to smuggle arms to the IRA. He also enraged Thatcher by his policy on the Falklands when in government.
I'm so glad you guys brought up the Jeffrey Gettleman episode. I thought it was insanely condescending and just downright annoying at parts, but you guys didn't mention it again in later episodes so I was beginning to think I was the weird one for disliking that interview.
On a higher note—dying to get you back on RWN to do the Imjin War