Andrew Sola provides a new introduction to this episode, originally published in 2021 to mark the end of the War in Afghanistan, by reflecting on the 20-year anniversary of the War in Iraq.

What lessons can we learn from America's blunders in Iraq and Afghanistan? Has Russia avoided the same mistakes in its war against Ukraine? And if Russian has learned nothing, are there reasons for Ukraine to be hopeful?

Please see the following sources for some fantastic scholarship on the theories discussed in the episode:

Graham T. Allison. Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis (1971)

James Dobbins, et al. America's Role in Nation-Building: From Germany to Iraq (2003). https://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1753.html (Free eBook available)