Nilpod - Nick and Wil talk, we listen

In the world of podcasts there are many personal story podcasts, just as there are personal story blogs. The additional option with podcast, however, is to have a personal conversation recording that is shared with the world. On the report a podcast page a new podcast of that kind was submitted for review: Nilpod (feed).

Nilpod is made by two Irishmen Nicky Coghlan and Wil McDermott who merged their first names into nil, added to pod. This name suggests what you actually get: Nick and Wil talking, talking about anything that they would normally talk about, as if they were sitting in the pub or driving together on a boring journey. In order to force a little bit more structure, they have questions prepared they can ask each other to keep the talk going and over the episodes these questions have begun to stick to a theme. And so we have had conversations about fashion, about religion, about holidays and more.

I have reviewed a conversation podcast before, Real Talk and what goes there, goes for Nilpod as well. It is funny, it is relaxed, but how long can this go on? I was pretty much saturated after one episode and a half. How long can you stay interested in someone you do not know? If it is not very sharp wit that will keep you in, it must be the embarrassment factor; will they become confrontational or divulge sensitive data? Furthermore, how long can Wil and Nick put up with this? As far as I can see Real Talk is discontinued and if Nilpod is not going to be very creative in innovating itself, I guess it is probably going to wear off very fast, for the listeners as well as the makers.

HH Asquith - veertien achttien podcast recensie

De podcast Veertien Achttien vertelt het verhaal van de Eerste Wereldoorlog in biografieën. Elke biografie is niet alleen het verhaal van een persoon die de oorlog meemaakte, maar ook een weergave van een bepaald aspect van de oorlog. Zoals zo vaak, het unieke heeft ook altijd universele waarde. Het is echter niet altijd voorspelbaar welk uniek onderdeel universaliteit bezit.

Als de laatste aflevering begint en je begrijpt dat de hoofdrolspeler deze keer de Engelse premier H.H. Asquith is, dan ligt het voor de hand te denken dat de lotgevallen van deze politicus, een representatie zijn om het politieke verhaal van WO 1 te ontdekken, maar dat blijkt slechts ten dele waar. Natuurlijk is Asquith niet de enige grote politicus van voor de oorlog die tijdens de oorlog zijn reputatie niet waarmaakt. Wellicht is de versplintering van Asquith's liberale partij een weergave van waar de politieke tegenstellingen na de oorlog heengaan. En het is natuurlijk altijd intrigerend om te vernemen over Asquith's penvriendinnen.

Waarin het verhaal van Asquith echter universeel is, is naar mijn mening in het persoonlijk onheil dat hem treft: een van zijn zoons sneuvelt in de oorlog. En met zo vele andere elite-persoonlijkheden, generaals, ministers enzovoort, deelt hij het lot van de gewone families in deze oorlog: iedereen verliest zijn zonen aan het front. En Asquith lijdt eronder zoals menig ander vader. Luister naar de podcast om te vernemen hoe Asquith zijn verdriet verwoordt.

Meer Veertien Achttien:
Anton Kröller,
Rosa Luxemburg,
Marie Curie,
August von Mackensen,
Franz Hipper.

Lakhdar Brahimi about Afghanistan and Iraq - UChannel podcast

A talk that I missed on LSE, made it through UChannel Podcast to my iPod. Former UN envoy and advisor Lakhdar Brahimi answered assorted questions about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan describing how difficult the UN position is there and how bad the wars have been to both countries.

Brahimi's tales are a sad lot and point rather repeatedly at the US as the villain that undermines the UN, makes war for the wrong reasons, with the wrong methods and, of course, disseminating the wrong information. Brahimi reminds us naturally of the WMD allegation with regards to Iraq, but less known and therefore more interesting is his evaluation of the Taliban. They come out much less as the crooks the US representation made them to be.

Brahimi himself comes out as the unfortunate diplomat and the one with the eye on the ball, but during the questions from the audience, he is severely attacked by one of the listeners. It is a pity the man loses it, because this allows Brahimi to evade the implied question. It illustrates what Brahimi identifies as the biggest problem of all: the UN is losing its credibility. Once the UN will no longer be perceived as the representative of supranational order, but rather a tool in the box of empires, its missions will become impossible and the UN will become a target of violence, like in the Algiers bombing in August 2003.

More UChannel Podcast:
Europe versus Islam,
Power of Cities,
Gaza (Tony Blair),
Whither the Middle East,
Kafka comes to America.

Lies, Truths and Jan Struys - New Books in History podcast review

Thanks to Marje's History Podcast Favorites I have discovered a very good new History Podcast: New Books In History (feed). NBIH is an interview podcast - rare among history podcasts - in which historian Marshall Poe interviews fellow historians about their latest book. This allows for an in depth entry into the historic subject at hand and also for some insight in historiography.

The first interview I decided to listen to, I chose because of the name of the guest: Kees Boterbloem. As I expected this historian is indeed a Dutchman. He was a specialist in Soviet history, but gradually developed towards Russian history in a much wider spectrum. This career has brought him to Canada and afterwards to the US. He speaks about his latest book The Fiction and Reality of Jan Struys. A Seventeenth-Century Dutch Globetrotter. Jan Struys traveled in during his lifetime around the continent of Eurasia, mostly in Russia and wrote a book, which earned him a nice fortune, even if serious doubt has been cast upon the veracity of his tales.

Struys's book was translated into English and French and eventually also Russian which version remained read with interest in spite of the questionable nature of the stories. Apparently Boterbloem assumes there is enough truth in Struys's tales and spends a large part of the interview telling what in his opinion was Struys's history. As to the value of the book, he explains mostly the Russian interest: one in the reception of Russia in the west. In addition to that it fascinated me how the 17th century was already a globalized world and a man like Struys from the lowly villages near Amsterdam, made it to serving the Genoese, the Muscovites, the Danes and on and on and had business from the Baltic to Persia, back to the West. I am off to hear more podcasts in this series - this can prove to be really, really good.

The Mandate - LSE Events podcast review

In the current polemics about the Arab-Israeli conflict references are rarely made to the history before 1948, when the state of Israel was declared. The conflict, however, is much older than that. It goes at least as far back as the 1920's, but even by the end of the nineteenth century when the first waves of Jewish immigrants arrived, the reception by the indigenous Arab population was tense, if not hostile. At that time the Ottoman empire still had a firm grip on the region. Things didn't take a sharp turn until the era of the British Mandate in Palestine (1919-1948).

It is about the British Mandate professor Norman Rose was invited to speak at the London School of Economics. (LSE Events podcast) During the mandate, the British were less and less successful of maintaining order in Palestine and keep the warring parties apart. Until by 1948, there were too many troops there, too little interest served and opposition leader Winston Churchill scolded the English to be involved in a 'senseless, squalid war.' These words became the title Professor Rose wrote about the Mandate: A Senseless, Squalid War: Voices from Palestine 1945-1948 (Amazon)

The Mandate period is formative for the conflict as we know it today, however knowledge of it is not widespread at all. During Rose's lecture the complexity comes out and the question whether this all could have been prevented almost receives a firm negative answer. The Jews wouldn't stop coming in and the Arabs felt any kind of agreement would be a surrender. And so, the community conflict we have today, was by no means new in 1948. Rose has it start already by 1921, even if the Arab militias were mostly attacking the Brits, their aim was to remove the Jews from their land.

What amazingly few people know, I find again and again, is how the Jews got there. As one discerns from the questions the audience poses, also they do not know. The assumption is made that the Jews also before 1948 took the land by violence and Rose hardly gets the opportunity to refute the accusation. What he manages to squeeze in are the facts as I know them as well: land was purchased from Arab landowners who were all too happy to sell. It was not until after the Second World War, the first irregularities arise. It can be debated (and is hotly debated) whether the Jews systematically removed Arabs from the land and the towns as of 1948, but any such accusation before that I have never seen substantiated. I am sure this is what Rose wants to say on the podcast, but the chaos from the audience and the running out of time makes it impossible.

More LSE Events:
Iran Today,
Science and Religion,
The crisis,
Desiring walls,
The Post-American World.

Anne is a Man in the week of March 9

I have 7 reviews planned for the rest of this week. Here is a list of them and afterwards a mention of some of the regulars on my playing list, even if they are not reviewed this week or regularly otherwise.

-On the podcast of the London School of Economics (LSE Events), professor Norman Rose was invited to tell about The British Mandate in Palestine. Not only does this give some facts of the history preceding the establishment of the State of Israel, but also gives rise to some heated questions from the audience.

-Thanks to my reader 'marje' and his own list of history podcasts, I have found two new history podcasts, one of which is New books in History. I will review the episode in which historian Kees Boterbloem tells about the 17th century traveler Jan Struys

-This week the UChannel Podcast a huge load of new episodes and many of them very interesting at face value. I have about 6 of them on my playlist and by tomorrow I will review at least one them.

-In the Dutch podcast Veertien Achttien, this week's attention goes to the British Prime Minister H.H. Asquith

-A new podcast was reported through the report page. It is a conversation podcast between two Irishmen: nilpod.

-Making History with Ran Levi, the Hebrew podcast about the history of science has a new episode out and it is all about blood

-Another podcast I have found through 'marje' is the memory palace. Short monologues about tidbits in history. With a literary flavor.

Podcasts I am likely not to review this week, even though I faithfully listen to all episodes are:
-In Our Time (BBC), which had an issue about physics that went way over my head
-Thinking Allowed (BBC) about the latest research in the social sciences
-From Israelite to Jew by Michael Satlow, about how the Hebrews became religious ethnic group around 500 BCE
-Hoor! Geschiedenis a Dutch history podcast retelling Netherlands history chonologically in daily installments. By Feico Houweling.
-Volkis Stimme a German podcast satirizing the news, by Volker Klärchen

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