It’s 1960. The world hangs on the brink of nuclear war. But in Moscow, a man’s about to emerge from the shadows with an offer for the CIA. His name is Oleg Penkovsky and he wants to supply the US with the Soviet Union’s greatest nuclear secrets. But is he for real or part of an elaborate trap?
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Feb 2025
16. Crossing the Iron Curtain: Escape From the KGB (Ep 3)
How would you disguise a cyanide pill for a CIA spy in Moscow during the Cold War? What risks could Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and The Beatles pose to Adolf Tolkachev’s mission against the Soviet state? And will the CIA’s mole in Moscow be discovered by the KGB?
It’s 1985, and fo ... Show More
47m 1s
Mar 2024
Fatal Neutrality: Lumumba, the CIA, and the Cold War
In 1960, the Congo gained independence from Belgium. Patrice Lumumba was elected prime minister and Joseph Kasavubu president. Within a year, Lumumba was deposed and assassinated. This week on Deconstructed, executive editor of Foreign Affairs and author Stuart Reid joins Ryan Gr ... Show More
46m 10s
Jan 2024
120. Is Putin looking for a Ceasefire?
In our second Battleground podcast of 2024 Saul and Patrick return to the war in Ukraine, as in the past week has seen a tit for tat of missile and drone strikes – the majority, needless to say, fired from Russia. They also discuss both the possibility and the feasibility of rece ... Show More
35m 23s