Rear Vision — How History Shaped Today

How a Cold War listening post in outback Australia has become a  nerve centre of U.S. surveillance

Our understanding of the past has always been contentious and ripe for argumentation. 
How we think and write about historic events changes as new sources of information are found, and fresh details emerge about people and events. 
In this episode, as part of ABC Radio National’s Top 100 Australian Books, we hear from three leading Australian authors about the history of Australian history. 
Guests:
Dr Anna Clark – Professor of History, University of Technology Sydney
Dr Tim Rowse – Emeritus Professor, Western Sydney University
Dr Michelle Arrow – Professor of Modern History, Macquarie University, Immediate Past President of the Australian Historical Association

Today the Red Sea’s crucial choke-point at the Bab el-Mandeb is becoming as infamous as the Strait of Hormuz.

Dictators and autocrats deride human rights as a “western concept” – think Vladamir Putin and Xi Jinping, among others. They reject the narrative that a global concern for individual freedoms has steadily grown since the end of WWII. What if they’re correct? At least partially so. What if international support for the ideal of universal human rights was never really as strong as it seemed? Could a reassessment of the history of human rights help us explain current threats to personal freedoms across the globe?
Guests:
Dr Alison Brysk – Distinguished Professor of Global Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara
Dr Samuel Moyn – Professor of Law and History, Yale University
Dr Barbara Keys – Professor of US History, Durham University
Dr Jenna Reinbold – Associate Professor of Religion, Colgate University

This year has seen an uncharacteristic flurry of meetings and engagement between North Korea, China and Russia.
Is a North Asia bromance blossoming or are we seeing a calculated collaboration?