The Burning Archive

How can smart defence strategies and multilateral diplomacy avoid a US-China war in Asia - for example over Taiwan? Have American and Australian advocates of war with China over Taiwan really thought about the realities of a war with China? How should middle powers - like Australia, Indonesia and the ASEAN nations - adapt their defence and foreign policies to the new realities of war, Asian strengths and US power today? My conversation with Sam Roggeveen about his book The Echidna Strategy: Australia's Search for Power and Peace asked these fundamental questions that concern everyone around the world. What would a war with China really be like, and how can defence - the echidna strategy - and some creative diplomacy avoid a US-China war in Asia. Our conversation covered Australian defence and foreign policy, AUKUS and nuclear submarines, the upcoming Australia-ASEAN meeting in Melbourne (March 2024), China, Indonesia, regional order in Asia and the West Pacific, lessons of the Ukraine war, & the USA. Is the USA becoming just a normal great power, and what does that mean for other countries all around the world? A big thank you to Sam Roggeveen, who is the Director, International Security at the Lowy Institute Links to Sam's book, The Echidna Strategy: Australia's Search for Power and Peace (2023) ▼ ▽ JOIN THE BURNING ARCHIVE - SEE THE WORLD MORE CLEARLY WITH QUALITY WORLD HISTORY Join my free weekly newsletter to receive insights from world history and reflections on the intersection of culture, history and geopolitics. ✉️ Signup is free: https://jeffrich.substack.com ✉️ Paid subscribers receive bonus content weekly: ▼ ▽ SEE THE WORLD MORE CLEARLY WITH MY COURSES World History Explorers and all my courses https://courses.jeffrichwriter.com/

This new series of podcasts will explore the unfolding crisis of security in Europe, precipitated by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and America/NATO's expansion eastward over 30 years. This first episode reports on the military situation on 3 March 2022, the economic war against Russia by waged by America and the European Union, and the exploding information and cultural war. This new twice-weekly podcast will explore the unfolding crisis of the emergence of a new multipolar world order.

Peter the Great and Catherine the Great dominated Russia's 18th century. The remarkable transformations of Russian government, society, empire and culture that they led are symbolised in the astonishing statue of the Bronze Horseman in St Petersburg. The statue was a gift from Catherine II to Peter I, and it represents the power, energy and military prowess with which Peter transformed the Russian state. But it also represents the genius with which Catherine the Great presided over the Russian Enlightenment. As part of the continuing series of telling Russian History backwards and debunking the 'Black Legend of Russian History, Jeff Rich tells the tale of Russia's 18th century when there was one great Emperor and four remarkable Empresses.

The music at the start and end of the show is from The Story of Tsarevich Fevey, was set to music by Vasily Pashkevich (court composer for Peter III, Catherine the Great's husband), courtesy of YouTube. Catherine the Great composed the libretti.

I read from Pushkin, "The Bronze Horseman" from The Penguin Book of Russian Poetry (2015), and Dominic Lieven, In the Shadow of the Gods: the Emperor in World History (2022).

You can explore all of Jeff Rich's work at https://linktr.ee/burningarchive.

Warwick Powell and I had a wide-ranging conversation about Australia-China relationships, and how history has shaped the tensions in the relationship today. But history can also show us how Australia, Asia and America can learn to live together at peace with a multipolar world. Please enjoy this wonderful, inspiring conversation with Australia-China expert, Warwick Powell. Warwick Powell is an adjunct professor at the Queensland University of Technology, author, chairman of Smart Trade Networks, former adviser to former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, and a frequent commentator on geopolitics and Australia-Asia relationships. You can follow Warwick Powell on X (Twitter) at: https://twitter.com/baoshaoshan Warwick recommended two YouTube sites towards the end of the interview that can help you see the reality of contemporary daily life in China more clearly, and away from the often polarising rhetoric of politics. These sites are Blondie in China ( @BlondieinChina ) - https://www.youtube.com/@BlondieinChina Katherine’s journey to the East ( @kats_journey_east ) - https://www.youtube.com/@kats_journey_east You can also watch my discussion with @TheDuran about AUKUS, China and Australia's role in a multipolar world here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VutieNNCkDc&t=1377s Jeff Rich (the Burning Archive) writes on world history and cultural affairs, and offers courses to help you see the world more clearly, and connect with the world more compassionately, with some quality world history. ▼ ▽ SEE THE WORLD MORE CLEARLY WITH MY COURSES World History Explorers and all my courses https://courses.jeffrichwriter.com/ World History Explorers Season I, Civilizations has started. Join now, and read with me a modern masterpiece of world history, Felipe Fernández-Armesto, Civilizations - https://amzn.to/3OaNr3T ▼ ▽ JOIN THE BURNING ARCHIVE - SEE THE WORLD MORE CLEARLY Read my weekly Substack, and receive insights from world history and my reading every Saturday. ✉️ Signup is free: https://jeffrich.substack.com ✉️ Paid subscribers receive bonus content weekly: https://jeffrich.substack.com ▼ ▽ MY BOOKS Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Bureaucrat: Writing on Governing https://amzn.to/3SaI4Ty From the Burning Archive: Essays and Fragments 2015-2022 https://amzn.to/4b7cyyw Gathering Flowers of the Mind: Collected Poems 1996-2020 https://amzn.to/3u2Yh56

Immerse yourself in Renaissance Florence and with the aid of Assassin's Creed take a virtual historical tour through the remarkable lives and turbulent times of the Medici family.

For full details of references from this episode see www.theburningarchive.com