Radio War Nerd EP #649 — Weaponizing Ukraine from 1947-present, feat. Stephen Kinzer
Guest: Stephen Kinzer
Recorded: November 9, 2026
Author Stephen Kinzer joins us to discuss his new book Boiling Point: How America Brought War to Ukraine, about Washington's decades-long investments in Ukrainian nationalism and fascism in order to kneecap the Empire's rival in Moscow.
Buy Stephen's book Boiling Point: How America Brought War to Ukraine. Follow Stephen on Twitter. Check out his home page.
Further listening:
-RWN #148—Spanish-American War, Neocons & Anti-Interventionists, with Stephen Kinzer
*US Democratic Senator Ruben Gallegos, laying it all out in plain sight
Total time: 1:00:59
Direct link to this episode's mp3 here
*
John's new essay collection, To The Crows, is available to subscribers. You can also order a hard copy on Amazon - read it, know it, review it!
Subscribe to Radio War Nerd at patreon.com/radiowarnerd
Sound production by Telescope Audio
Comments (22)
Great ep, shame he had to run out as I think Mark was building to a interesting discussion on Maidan and Minsk II.
Stephen is an excellent guest but he sounds like Weird Al and I can’t unhear it!
Great ep, only thought I had was when Kinzer remarked that no other ethnic or national diaspora has successfully infiltrated the echelons of US foreign policy and turned it toward gratifying their own vengefulness toward their homeland, he's forgetting about the exiles from a certain island in the Caribbean living mostly in Miami who have certainly done exactly that!
I studied Russian in college and spent a semester there and multiple other trips…years ago. I too learned history from another perspective, and will always have love for mother Russia. Don’t get me wrong Im not supporting this war or Putin, at all. But it’s been frustrating having to either bite my tongue when people spew hatred towards Russia, or jumping in and trying to add context, which never changes anyone’s mind and Im pretty sure just results in people thinking im a right winger, which is hilarious. What are ya gonna do? I don’t know, but it makes me depressed to see so many people, seemingly kind and intelligent people, lap up and regurgitate the Russian hate.
I feel this. People have had their perspectives so thoroughly manipulated around this subject. A gen-x anti war hippy guy I know turned into a nato, pro security state liberal over the past 10 years because of the NYT narratives about russia. How do you go from being a hippy to someone who gets personally enraged by jensen huang's behavior threatening the US empire's strategic advantage over China in terms of AI capability? Poison yourself with media, a little bit every day, for a very, very long time.
All the Shah’s Men was a banger but depressing
Mexico is not an apt comparison if talking about Ukrainian USSR. More like China sending guns, commandos and propaganda to Navajo Nation separatists or a bunch of rabid Oath Keepers on a ranch in Nevada.
This is why I have to grade Soviet history on a curve: they spent the first 50 years of their existence struggling against violent actors in some form or other, and the US did not have to deal with that, so it's insane to act like the USSR developed according to normal conditions, if those even exist.
Also, very funny to call your ethnicity a "national organism"
Personally, I think the Mexico example is too hypothetical. Cuba is right there
It seemed like Stephen understood about halfway in that he was on a podcast that allowed a bit more depth in his story
I have a question, and this is open to any one to answer because I genuinely have no idea. Why, all throughout the RussiaGate kerfuffle, through the Ukraine business, even during Peak Biden Ukraine War moralizing, Russia and the US kept training space crews together and flying joint missions with American/EU and Russian crews from both US and Russian launch sites. Not a peep about this from the Russia hawks. Apparently when the Ukraine war started, the head of the Russian space program said Russia would leave the ISS program. He was immediately given the boot by Putin. It's genuinely weird and nobody has offered an explanation.
Is a really good question. And not covered at all in the media. I reckon mutual dependence would be a lot less for the us since spaceX, but maybe they want to keep it as a back channel?
Great interview. Can't wait to read this book
Wow, Stephen King.
Stephen Kinzer is so great. Overthrow is one I recommend to basically everyone and he’s so focused with his explanations in this episode.
Oh, those liberals! They just love fascists who stay in their lane and do as they're told . . . .
I'm sick in bed so I'm a bit daffy, but I mistook the Ruben Gallegos tweets for the comments section for this episode. I was thinking, "OK, do I get involved, help out this Ruben guy, reassure everyone that he's kidding? First lemme makes sure..."
Always instructive!
Good stuff. Might be a good Christmas gift for family with an interest in history but susceptible to the empires narrative.
I saw “Stephen K…” and my mind immediately jumped to “Kotkin” lol
🙌🏻