Month: April 2023

Sudan is Descending Into a Destructive and Bloody Civil War Along the Lines of Syria and Libya

We begin with the likelihood that Sudan will descend into a bloody and destructive civil war along the lines of Syria and Libya as two warlords fight it out for power with bombs, tanks and artillery with civilians collateral damage as they hunker down without food or medicine as battles rage around them. Joining us to explain the role of internal power struggles and external exploitation is Alden Young, the Vice Chair and an associate professor of the African American Studies Department at the University of California Los Angeles as well a faculty member of the International Development Studies program of the UCLA International Institute. A political and economic historian of Africa, he is the author of Transforming Sudan: Decolonization, Economic Development and State Formation and has done extensive fieldwork in Egypt, Ethiopia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Sudan. His current research examines how Sudanese intellectuals and businessmen conceptualized the rise of the Arab Gulf beginning in the 1970s and built economic, political and labor relationships between Sudan and the Gulf region.

An Extensive Look Into Military Preparations For a Ukrainian Spring Offensive Aimed at a Decisive Victory Over Russia

Then we take an extensive look into the military preparations for a spring offensive by Ukrainian forces and the extent to which they are sufficiently armed by the U.S. and NATO to assess whether they will achieve some sort of decisive victory or a knockout blow in a war that is predicted to last another two to three years. Joining us is Branislav Slantchev, Professor of Political Science at the University of California San Diego where he teaches courses in international relations, national security, and game theory and studies military coercion, intrawar negotiations, the conduct of war, and war termination. His articles have appeared in the American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Political Science, International Studies Quarterly, and Security Studies, among others, and he is the author of Military Threats: The Costs of Coercion and the Price of Peace.