The Wa tribe, an indigenous tribe residing in the mountainous Burma China borderlands, has long had a reputation as a people not to be trifled with. And yes, they were actually headhunters, well into the 20th century. Known as powerful warriors who weren't keen on outsiders telling them what to do, they were able to carve out their own autonomous state in My ... Show More
Nov 11
The Tijuana Cartel's Bloody Rise and Fall
When the godfather Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo got busted in '89, he divvied up his empire from a prison cell and handed the coveted Tijuana plaza to the Arellano Felix Brothers, who transformed it into one of the most violent drug organizations in Mexico. At their peak, the brot ... Show More
1h 1m
Jun 2023
Behind the Bamboo Curtain | CIA
When two CIA officers were captured in an ambush on Chinese territory, it seemed as though their story was over. In fact, their ordeal had only just begun. Two decades later, their fates still hung in the balance between the power-players of Beijing and Washington.
Professor John ... Show More
50m 20s
Aug 2023
Episode 348: The truth behind the world of money laundering, drugs and international narco-terrorism
An intrepid Irish American cop joins the dots between Hezbollah, Syrian Dictator Bashar Al Assad’s brutal war, and some of Europe’s biggest drug lords.It sounds the plot from an episode of Homelands but it’s all true and forms the incredible geo political story that plays out on ... Show More
47m 37s
Aug 2020
“Prince Prosperous” Pt. 1: Khun Sa
By the early 1950s, the teenaged Khun Sa was already a militia leader in war-torn northeast Burma (present-day Myanmar). Over the next decade, his power as a warlord only increased. When the Burmese government came to him with an offer of allyship, he set himself up to become the ... Show More
39m 45s
Jul 2020
Mao Zedong Part 1: Peasant’s Son, Communist Rebel
In the centre of China’s capital city, Beijing, lies a corpse that no one dares remove. It’s been 44 years since Mao Zedong’s body was laid to rest in the grandiose Chairman Mao Memorial Hall. He may be gone but he is not forgotten. To some, he’s the father of modern China. To ma ... Show More
42m 43s
Apr 2009
Yuma Totani, “The Tokyo War Crimes Trials: The Pursuit of Justice in the Wake of World War II” (Harvard UP, 2008)
Most everyone has heard of the Nuremberg Trials. Popular books have been written about them. Hollywood made movies about them. Some of us can even name a few of the convicted (Hermann Goering, Albert Speer, etc.). But fewer of us know about what might be called “Nuremberg East,” ... Show More
1h 5m