How do nations keep going—through war, peace, and all the mess in between? They tell stories. About glory. About sacrifice. About who they are, and who they think they are. These stories build will, shape identity, and sometimes, keep people holding on long after logic would tell them to quit.

I’m sitting down with my friend Nikki Dean—a sharp mind and a PhD candidate who knows a thing or two about the power of narrative. We’re digging into how countries craft myths, stitch together identities, and use stories to turn chaos into meaning. Even when the facts fall short, the story keeps marching on.

Dig Deeper

The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative (Cambridge Introductions to Literature) https://a.co/d/cxaDjc7

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317138927_How_to_Win_Wars_The_Role_of_the_War_Narrative

https://verfassungsblog.de/russias-war-against-ukraine-and-the-battle-of-narratives/

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You can smell the history here before you see it—dust, diesel, sweat, jasmine. It hangs in the air like a ghost that never got the memo to move on. Welcome to the Indian subcontinent: where time doesn’t just pass—it accumulates. And nowhere is that more brutally obvious than in the story of Partition and the fall out that still rains over the people in both India and Pakistan.

In 1947, a line was drawn—quickly, carelessly, and with the kind of arrogance only empires can afford. The British walked out, and what they left behind was not two nations, but a wound. India and Pakistan were born, not with celebration, but with slaughter, exile, and trauma passed down like a family heirloom.

But this story isn’t just about that catastrophic moment. It’s about everything that’s followed. The wars. The proxy conflicts. Kashmir. Kargil. The nuclear standoff. Terror attacks in Mumbai, soldiers in Siachen, political theater in Delhi and Islamabad—and the quiet, daily lives caught in between.

It’s about how a line on a map became a wall in the mind. How identity got weaponized. And how peace is talked about like a dream, but rarely pursued like a plan.

This episode, we’re not picking sides. We’re picking through the rubble. Through memory and myth, war and nationalism, and the strange, painful familiarity of two nations that still can’t look each other in the eye without flinching.

Because history didn’t end in 1947. In South Asia, it’s still being written—with fire, ink, and the silence of those who never made it home

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How do Russians think about strategy and international relations and how does it shape the way Russia sees warfare, peace, and everything in between?

I hope you’re ready to join me and my new friend and expert, Dr. Ofer Fridman, as we dive into the core of Russian military thinking and how the lessons of perpetual conflict, dominance in the information space, and the use of all instruments of power apply to our world today.

Books by Dr. Ofer Fridman to better understand Russian thinking

Strategiya: The Foundations of the Russian Art of Strategy https://a.co/d/2JfIi3i

Russian "Hybrid Warfare": Resurgence and Politicization https://a.co/d/es7NU1w

Deciphering Russian Enigma: In 15 Questions and 30 Answers https://a.co/d/1LW3ZVi

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