Conflicts of Interest: A Frozen Conflict Begins to Thaw: More War to Come?

On COI #123, Maj. Danny Sjursen returns to the show to discuss Daniel Ellsburg, the coup in Mali, and the potential for another war between Armenia and Azerbaijan. This week marked the 50th anniversary since the NYT began publishing the Pentagon Papers, leaked by the heroic Ellsberg in 1971. In the past month, Ellsberg released another document outlining US plans to nuke China in the late 1950s. With the release, Ellsberg challenged the government to indict him under the Espionage Act, risking spending his remaining years behind bars for a chance to challenge the World War I-era law.

In Mali, a military leader has carried out a coup for the second time in a year, the indirect result of ongoing intervention by France and the US in Africa’s Sahel region. Danny explains how a plague of coups has ravaged Africa since AFRICOM was founded in 2008.

Tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan are heating up again. In late 2020, fighting broke out between the two former Soviet Republics. Danny recaps what happened during the last round of hostilities and how it set the stage for a renewed conflict in 2021. Danny argues the once-frozen war has been removed from the freezer and that violence will continue to erupt as the sides fight for territory.

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