Chatter: Hockey, Global Politics, and Freedom with Ethan Scheiner
The Lawfare Podcast
The Lawfare Institute
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 6 July 2023
⏱️ 90 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Political scientist Ethan Scheiner appeared on Chatter in early 2022, right before the Olympics in Beijing, to talk about the fascinating intersection of politics, security, and Olympic events. This week, he returns to talk about the compelling connections between hockey and international relations--with a special focus on Czechoslovakia before, during, and after the Cold War. His new book, Freedom To Win, uses the stories of a range of larger-than-life characters across several decades to describe the importance of international hockey play to the Czech and Slovak national experience and to increase awareness of a too-little-known quest for freedom from oppression.
David Priess and Scheiner discussed the broad intersection of hockey and politics, the intensity of the Swedish-Finnish rivalry on the ice, the origins of the game in Europe, how Czechoslovakian hockey players used their sport to fight back against Soviet domination, the 1969 Ice Hockey World Championships in Stockholm, prominent sports figures' defections from the Warsaw Pact countries during the Cold War, the internationalization of the US National Hockey League, hockey in the former Czechoslovakia after the end of Communist rule in Eastern Europe, and more.
Among the works mentioned in this episode:
The Chatter episode The Olympics, Politics, and Security
The book Freedom to Win: A Cold War Story of the Courageous Hockey Team that Fought the Soviets for the Soul of its People--and Olympic Gold, by Ethan Scheiner
Chatter is a production of Lawfare and Goat Rodeo. This episode was produced and edited by Cara Shillenn of Goat Rodeo. Podcast theme by David Priess, featuring music created using Groovepad.
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Transcript
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| 0:18.2 | Also, check out LawFair's other podcast offerings, rational security, chatter, LawFair |
| 0:25.6 | no bull and the aftermath. |
| 0:55.6 | Acost Network shows are ad-free for prime subscribers. |
| 0:59.2 | Other shows may have ads. |
| 1:08.9 | Welcome to chatter. |
| 1:09.9 | I'm David Pries. |
| 1:11.1 | This week, political scientist and author Ethan Shiner on Hockey, Global Politics and Freedom. |
| 1:19.9 | As a result of this rioting, then people referred to it as the Hockey riots. |
| 1:25.0 | The Soviet Union decided from this point on, Czechoslovakia doesn't get any kind of freedom |
| 1:32.2 | anymore. |
| 1:35.4 | The biggest way to succeed in Communist society was to become a member of the Communist |
| 1:39.9 | Party. |
| 1:40.9 | There's another way of becoming a significant person in a communist country, and that is to |
| 1:46.2 | become a great athlete. |
| 1:51.8 | Ethan Canadian Hockey player referred to this summit series in 1972, Canadian vs. Soviet |
| 1:57.3 | Union. |
| 1:58.3 | It's our way of life against theirs. |
| 2:00.9 | So, there's this real sense of when you play the Soviets in international hockey, this |
| 2:05.6 | has real geopolitical implications. |
... |
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