Podbit · Fin vs History
The GDR lasted longer than Nazi Germany, the Weimar Republic, and the German Empire — and yet it feels like a historical glitch. Fin and Horatio set up why East Germany is simultaneously the most improbable and fascinating state in modern European history.
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At 1:31 · chapter starts 0:00
Before a single shot of the Cold War had been fired, the fate of Germany was already being decided in a Crimean resort. Fin walks through the Yalta Conference of February 1945, where the Big Three — Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin — carved up post-war Germany into spheres of influence before the war was even won. Horatio notes the almost coalition-government energy of the summit ('the original rose garden'), with Stalin charming the room by importing an entire lemon tree for Roosevelt's martinis. The mood sours considerably by the time Potsdam arrives: the war is over, power vacuums have opened, and the split of Germany into four occupation zones — USSR taking the East, US the South, Britain the industrial Northwest, France a slice — is now being carved up with 'Splitwise'. Britain's fleeting control of Northwest Germany's industrial heartland gets a wistful mention, as does the continued presence of British troops in Germany 'just in case'.
As a distinct historical period, the GDR lasted longer than Nazi Germany, the Weimar Republic, and the German Empire combined.
At Yalta in February 1945, the Big Three carved up post-war Germany into zones of influence while the war was still ongoing. Stalin charmed everyone by bringing in an entire lemon tree for Roosevelt's martinis — the high watermark of American-Russian relations.
Factories that replaced coal engines with electric ones in the early 1900s got only 6% efficiency gains. Those that redesigned their entire factory around electricity got a 3x productivity improvement. Swapping AI tools into your existing structure will give you 6%. Rebuilding around AI will give you 10x.
Lebanese terrorists backed by Iran were holding American hostages throughout the Reagan presidency. Reagan had loudly campaigned against negotiating with terrorists — putting him in an impossible position that his team quietly decided to ignore.
During the Iran-Iraq War, the US openly supplied Iraq with weapons, training, and intelligence. At the same time, Oliver North was secretly funneling missiles to Iran. The US was playing both sides of a shooting war.
Oliver North traveled to Iran under the alias 'William P. Goode' with a fake passport. CIA Director William Casey allegedly gave him cyanide pills so he could kill himself rather than be tortured if captured. He returned safely and the deal moved forward.
The Pentagon sold missiles to the CIA for $3,700 each. The CIA sold them to Richard Secord at cost. Secord sold them to Iranian middleman Ghorbanifar for $10,000 each. Ghorbanifar charged Iran even more. The profit — including $3 million in interest in one Swiss account — was diverted directly to fund the Nicaraguan Contras.
America secretly transferred 2,000 missiles and missile parts to Iran in 8 shipments over more than a year. Only 3 of 7 hostages were released. Three more were taken. The net result was zero freed hostages and a full-blown constitutional scandal.
On October 5, 1986, a CIA Contra supply plane flew a weapons drop at 2,500 feet in broad daylight. A Sandinista soldier shot it down. The only survivor, Eugene Hasenfuss, had borrowed a parachute from his skydiving brother. He was captured, paraded in front of cameras, and told the Sandinistas everything he knew.
The CIA supply operation used a front company called Southern Air Transport, widely known to be a CIA cover. Crew members of the downed plane carried their Southern Air Transport employee IDs in their wallets. One also had a business card directly linking him to Oliver North's office in Washington.
When the scandal broke, Oliver North and his secretary Fawn Hall conducted what became known as a 'shredding party,' destroying a day's worth of documents. The full truth of Iran-Contra may never be known because of what was fed through that shredder.
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