Americans were SHOCKED to discover that Russia had interfered in their 2016 Presidential elections. How dare they interfere with the democratic process of a sovereign nation! Of course, those same Americans probably have no idea that their own country has, according to the research done by my guest today, done the same thing over 80 times since the end of WWII.

Today I interview Dov H. Levin Ph.D, Assistant Professor, Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Hong Kong about his research on what he calls his Partisan Electoral Intervention by the Great Powers dataset (PEIG). It shows how many times the USA and USSR/Russia intervened in foreign elections in the years 1946 – 2000.

Today we interview Andrea Balis & Elizabeth Levy, co-authors of the book “Witch Hunt: The Cold War, Joe McCarthy, and the Red Scare”, a cutting-edge look into a pivotal moment in US history: McCarthy’s infamous “witch hunt” for communists during the 1950’s Red Scare.

This is the first of two episodes about the Cambridge Five!

This week – Kim Philby, arguably the most effective spy in the history of spying.

 Part One of our mini-biography of everyone’s favorite wheelchair pilot, FDR. His family background (opium traders), his rise, his polio, his affairs, his reforms, his ballsy attitude, his assassination attempt, his concentration camps and how incredibly fucked America was when he was sworn in. In 1933, the US was in dire straits. Three years into the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, and a third-rate military. When he died in 1945, it was the world’s leading economic and military superpower.

In this episode, Fidel Castro steps out of prison in 1955 and straight into revolutionary planning. We trace his transformation from imprisoned dissident to a man preparing an armed insurrection in exile. We explore his belief in luck, conviction and humility, his frustrating attempt to re-enter Cuban politics, his move to Mexico, and his first electrifying meeting with Ernesto “Che” Guevara. Cameron and Ray dig into why Castro’s charisma made him dangerous to Batista, how Che’s time in Guatemala radicalised him, and how American corporate interests helped crush democracy in Latin America. Along the way we hear about cigars, motorcycle diaries, CIA “successes” that produced decades of bloodshed, Cuban rum, and why delusional certainty sometimes wins revolutions.

In this episode, Cameron and Ray delve into the complex internal and external power struggles facing Fidel Castro in the late 1950s as he attempts to consolidate his leadership over the anti-Batista movement. The discussion highlights the stark divide between Castro’s rural guerrilla army—influenced by the increasingly Marxist leanings of Raul Castro and Che Guevara—and the urban resistance led by Frank País, who sought middle-class and American support. The hosts explore the “draconian” discipline maintained within the rebel ranks, including the summary execution of spies, and the elimination of rival revolutionary groups like the Directorio Revolucionario after their failed 1957 assassination attempt on Batista. The episode concludes with Castro’s calculated rejection of the “Miami Pact,” a move designed to prevent the old political elite from co-opting the revolution and to ensure that his guerrilla forces remain the ultimate authority in a post-Batista Cuba.

Mossadegh had two non-negotiables that drove his political game. First, he was a die-hard believer in the rule of law, which put him on a collision course with autocrats like Reza Shah. Second, he was all about Iranian self-rule, making him Public Enemy No. 1 for the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. He wasn’t just against them; he was their kryptonite.

As the Yalta conference now turns to whether or not France should have a role in the occupation of Germany, the Allied Control Commission and the UN Security Council, we thought it was a good time to do a quick bio on France’s post-WWII leader, Charles de Gaulle, aka “The Big Asparagus Stalk”, aka “Chucky D”.

In this raucous and revelatory episode of _The Cold War Podcast_, Cameron and Ray finally reach the man of the hour: Fulgencio Batista. From humble military stenographer to kingmaker of a chaotic Cuba, Batista’s rise is traced through coups, constitutions, and crushing dissent. Cameron performs a blistering freestyle rap tribute to Ray (“Ray Bear Has No Hair”), then the duo dive into Batista’s reign, the boom years of WWII, puppet governments, violent suppression of opposition, and the eerie parallels to authoritarian creep in modern democracies. The episode also explores the cultural fallout of constant violence, Fidel Castro’s formative influences, and the suicide of Eduardo Chibás on live radio—a moment that cemented Castro’s revolutionary zeal. Come for the history, stay for the dick jokes, cos this one’s got everything.

It’s April 1958, and Cuba is a powder keg with a sputtering fuse. Fulgencio Batista is bleeding support from every direction — the church, the business elite, even his American backers — while Fidel Castro’s rebel movement is growing stronger in the Sierra Maestra mountains.

Part 2 of our three-part series on economics and war. Still talking about trade and access to foreign markets. We look at the CIA’s overthrow of the Iranian government in 1953, the Marshall Plan and the Open Door policy.

After The Peel Commission recommending moving hundreds of thousands of Palestinians off their land by force, the Arab Revolt re-emerged with hundreds of terrorist attacks during 1937-38 against the British and Jews – and even against Arab collaborators. The British cracked down and deported many of their leaders. Irgun, the Jewish militant group, met this threat with their own terrorism. Hitler used the situation to score propaganda points against the Jews and the British.

Part two of our “quick” biography on Fidel Castro, using the New York Times’ obituary, breaking it down, line by line, to uncover the propaganda. And we’re making these Castro episodes free to guests.