The Smart Power Podcast

This episode was shot a little before the most recent attacks in the Strait of Hormuz and in this episode we talk to Khashy, an Iranian about the issues surrounding the Iranian sanctions and last year's protests in Iran. An insider's perspective right now is more required than ever considering that a regular person's perspective from Iran is never portrayed in the media. 

Kashmir is arguably one of the most militarised regions of the world and is geopolitically a strategic land for three large nuclear powers, Pakistan, China and India. In this episode we talk to a guest from Kashmir, Bulbul (name changed and voice altered for anonymity) to discuss the history of Kashmir and a couple of important issues in the region. Admittedly, we've not been able to cover many issues due to the complex nature of these issues and the paucity of time. Do contact us at thesmartpowerpodcast@gmail.com if you want a part 2 of this episode and we'll to get it done if we have enough responses. 

In this episode, we look at the Easter Sunday terror attacks in Sri Lanka in detail, the connection with ISIS, intelligence failure and petty politics in Sri Lanka that has led to the failure to prevent these attacks and we talk to a journalist from India, Ratnadeep Chakraborty, about media reactions to the attacks from all over the world. This is the final episode of the first season of The Smart Power Podcast and we will be back in two weeks with more interesting content! Stay tuned and stay curious!

In this episode of The Smart Power Podcast, we talk to Michael, a Kenyan politics student at the University of Leeds with an undegraduate degree in Law. We talk about the past ten years of Kenya, president Uhuru Kenyatta's reformist agenda, Chinese influence and presence in Kenya and the Federation of East Africa. 

In this episode, we talk to Ahmad, a construction project manager, who has had worked on a project with the UNDP in Lebanon about his experience and his expertise in development projects as a student of and researcher of infrastructure project management. We talk about the role of the people, the voting process, money, private companies and everybody in building infrastructure for the development of a country.

In this episode, the last episode of the Palestine series. We will be talking to Saladin, who has lived in a Palestinian refugee camp. We will be talking about matters of importance in Palestine, the joys and sorrows of the people living in Palestine, the idiosyncracies and the beauties of the Palestinian state which a large majority of the world now recognises as a state, even though practically Palestine due to Israeli aggression is not a sovereign state. Hope you enjoy this episode. You could leave us a message on the Anchor app and we'll try to include that message in our next episode.

In the second episode of the Palestine series, we talk to Diego who is from the West Bank area of Palestine. We delve deep into the atrocities commited by the Israeli security forces, child abuse, issues around water security and various other issues around Israeli occupation of Palestine. We are very grateful for your listenership, it is of utmost importance that more people know and understand what's happening in Palestine and we're grateful for Diego's participation in the Palestine series.  *Name and voice altered to protect identity.

This is the first of three episodes in a series on Palestine. In this episode, we get up close and personal with Ali, a Palestinian-Syrian about the problems he has faced as a result of the turmoil in Palestine and the issues he has with his identity due to his Palestinian origin. Despite the problems that he faces, he is proud to consider himself a Palestinian. We are grateful to Ali for sitting down and talking to us about Palestine from a personal perspective and describing to us the human problems stemming from conflict.  (Name and voice altered to protect identity) Do rate, review and subscribe to our podcast for updates and notifications when a new episode is released.

Hi there! In this episode of The Smart Power Podcast with Akash and Tal, the Rise of China. How China rose by distributing huge amounts of foreign aid in order to gain influence and project power. Is this power projection, soft power, hard power, or is it really smart power? Listen in on this conversation between Akash and Tal to find out. Here is the link to Akash's article in The Diplomat on the conflicting media narratives between India and Pakistan as discussed in the previous episode. https://thediplomat.com/2019/03/a-war-of-words-conflicting-media-narratives-between-india-and-pakistan/

This is the second of a two part India-Pakistan conflict episode. In this  episode, Tal and Akash talk about the escalation of the India-Pakistan  conflict post the Pulwama attack. The use of air power, media jingoism,  the Mossad way, Kashmir insurgency and conflict, the game of optics and  diplomacy in the international stage. It is a lot to talk about in a very short span of time but they tried, hope you enjoy!

This is the first of two parts in the Indo-Pak conflict episode. In this episode, Tal and Akash talk about the escalation of the India-Pakistan conflict post the Pulwama attack. The use of air power, media jingoism, the Mossad way, Kashmir insurgency and conflict, the game of optics and diplomacy in the international stage. Part 2 will be out very soon.   *Errata- In the episode, Akash says that the Pakistani F-16 jet was shot down in Indian administered Kashmir instead of Pakistan administered Kashmir.

Back to podcasting! Let's face it, the previous shortlived season of The Smart Power Podcast was shortlived and was not too great. This time around, I have a new swanky gold studio condenser microphone for better audio quality and will analyse and explain things I have actual expertise in. So, watch out for some great episodes coming up this season and follow the podcast any Anchor, Spotify, Apple, Google Podcasts or anywhere you get your podcasts from. 

The 1988 political crisis in Maldives tested the response of India to the situation in its own backyard and Operation Cactus that ended the coup was hailed a grand success. In this episode we delve into how the coup took place, how it ended, the aftermath and India's response in particular.

The very first episode of The Smart Power Podcast delves in what power is in International Relations. The various kinds of power, soft power, hard power and smart power. We also look into the nature of power. This is be an intro and a precursor to the upcoming episodes. Hope you have fun! You can reach me by message on Anchor, tweet @sriram_akash or email at thesmartpowerpodcast@gmail.com

Channel trailer to The Smart Power Podcast