Free Thinking - Is War Good for Us?
Arts & Ideas
BBC
4.2 • 599 Ratings
🗓️ 3 April 2014
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Anne McElvoy looks at the impact of war, the Afghan elections and childhood violence. She's joined by Professor Hew Strachan and Ian Morris. Film critic Charlotte O Sullivan has been watching 'I Declare War,' Jason Lapeyre and Robert Wilson's film about childhood games which turn sour. And in the week that the British Command handed over to the Americans in Helmand province, Noorjahan Akbar and Hamdullah Mohib talk about what has happened to their culture and society in Afghanistan over that time and what might change with national elections at the week-end.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome back to the home of the oxymoron. Evil genius. He asked the newspaper to print his obituary early so he'd enjoy it. That's like hiding at your own funeral. Yeah, it's a big, great gig. I'm Russell Kane. Join me to weigh in on whether the biggest players in history are more evil or genius. Becoming that rich, I'd say that at some level of genius. It also helps |
| 0:21.2 | that it's a long time ago, right? It's like the podcast version of telling your kids the ice cream |
| 0:26.1 | van plays music when it's out of ice cream. Listen to evil genius on BBC sounds. |
| 0:32.1 | This is a download from the BBC. For more information and our terms of use, go to BBC.co.uk slash radio three. |
| 0:40.8 | Tonight, we delve into the risks and rewards of modern warfare. |
| 0:45.3 | As Afghanistan holds elections this weekend and the British handover high command to the Americans in Helmand, |
| 0:51.2 | we begin the end of another military adventure that strongly divided opinion on both sides of the Atlantic. |
| 0:57.3 | We talked to two Afghans, one in America and one returning home. |
| 1:01.3 | And we discuss a film with a poignant battlefield. |
| 1:05.2 | And I'll assume they're all alive. |
| 1:07.2 | I need to know Quinn's bases. |
| 1:08.8 | You two. Go on a week on. |
| 1:10.6 | Check everywhere we've used before. |
| 1:12.7 | Oh! Hey! Where's your base? |
| 1:16.5 | Screw off! You can't tear any of the dead! |
| 1:20.0 | I declare war is a fable of children playing games in the woods. |
| 1:24.0 | Charlotte O'Sullivan is here to review it. |
| 1:26.9 | Today's geostrategic challenges seem to throw up |
| 1:29.5 | complexities and unintended consequences that don't fit readily into military doctrines or the |
| 1:35.3 | neat symmetry of the Cold War. A messier world tests the kind of conflicts we wage and throws |
| 1:41.7 | up questions, not just from pacifists about what good comes of war when the fighting stops. |
| 1:48.1 | To explore the potential and limits of modern warfare, I'm joined by two big thinkers on conflict today. |
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