Radio War Nerd EP #60—Assassinations + Standing Rock Protest

New subscriber and big fan of the show. Just wanted to say there was one attempt on Nixon's life, in 1974 a mentally ill man named Samuel Byck attempted to hijack a grounded plane with the intention of flying it into the Whitehouse, which frankly would have been really cool. Predictably. <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Byck" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Byck</a>

I am a huge fan of the podcast, and I will continue being a patron, but I have a bone to pick with the way you guys portrayed recent Israeli history in this podcast. My main contention is that Yitzchak Rabin was not only replaceable, he was replaced. Ariel Sharon, leader of the Likud party after the second intifada, had formed a 3rd party (the Kadima Party) in order to separate himself from the Likud Party. Sharon's objective was to remove Israeli settlements from the West Bank, just like Rabin wanted. Sharon's plans failed because he had a stroke, but his political influence and objectives were almost a perfect match for Rabin. Second, Sharon's dominance of Israeli politics in the early-mid 2000s directly contradicts the assertion that "(Binyamin Netanyahu) has dominated Israeli politics in the wake of Rabin's assassination". Rabin's labor party held onto power for about 6 years post assassination, followed by Sharon's ascendance, the 2nd intifada, and the Kadima administration of Ehud Olmert. Netanyahu only ascended to power after Olmert's fall due to corruption. I love your podcast, I just wanted to add some precision to the details of Israeli political history.

Thanks for the great segment!Thirded making the Zaitchik interview available for redistribution in some way. Very high stakes there.

Just increased my funding for RWN. Keep the excellent comment coming guys! The world-at-war and current issues updates are particularly valuable to me.

On Castro's death and the decades of risible CIA assassination attempts, this ClickHole article is a nice coda: <a href="http://www.clickhole.com/article/one-last-humiliation-cia-just-bungled-attempt-drop-5205" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://www.clickhole.com/article/one-last-humiliation-cia-just-bungled-attempt-drop-5205</a>

The standing rock protest, although admirable in many ways, sounds like a pretty doomed project, and the territorial angle doesn't help (Mao would disapprove). In general, I wonder if or when radical leftists are going to realize that mass protest and civil disobedience as means of achieving power died with the sovereignty of nation states, and that the rise of globalization and corporate power demands a fundamentally different approach to revolution, or more relevant in this case, resistance.

Did the assassinations of McKinley and Garfield have any consequences? Also, you could look at failed assassinations and see where those led. Say the Hitler attempt or the Gunpowder plot or even assassinationby natural causes like the death of James Ist's son Henry who might have got England involved in the 30 years war had he lived. Another famous one was the death of Henry IV of France.

I'd second making the Zaitchik segment an open repost - it's a fantastic interview and might be worth getting it out there before the situation deteriorates further.

I haven't listened yet but I appreciate the expanded show notes in the description. Including song name credits would be a nice addition also, I have really enjoyed some of the music in previous shows. Thanks!

Does anyone have a reference for the piece that Mark Ames mentioned on Holland Michigan, home of the Devos/Prince family?

Great work! Thank you

Could we get the first half hr Standing rock stuff as a free post? Cause...wow. I'd like to pass that around. I don't really care about the water rights/environmental factors. I do care about government condoned violence and particularly respect for anyone willing to get their shit kicked for what they believe in. I'm reminded about Gary Spence and the Ruby Ridge trial. If this goes to fruition, well, a lot of people are going to be hurt and if there isn't any consequences politically/legally people will be taking justice into their own hands. Justice meaning revenge of course. But at a slight remove.

Looking into the Standing Rock siege from France, it really reminds me of the way environmental conflicts are dealt with by our government here. A protester was actually killed by a "non-lethal" stun grenade, during the siege of Sivens Dam protesters encampment in 2014 by the National Gendarmerie, which sparked national outrage, and eventually the end of the dam project there.

Was Churchill really an empire builder ? He's always struck me as the kind of power hungry leech who lives of the laurels of his predecessors.