1. My Friend Michael

The podcast "Wind of Change" explores the outlandish theory that the CIA secretly wrote the Scorpions' hit song "Wind of Change" as a propaganda tool to hasten the end of the Cold War. Patrick Radden Keefe, along with his friend Michael, investigates this claim, tracing its origin to a story shared by a former CIA officer named Oliver. The investigation delves into the CIA's history of cultural influence operations, such as the surreptitious promotion of Boris Pasternak's "Dr. Zhivago." Despite Oliver's reluctance to discuss the matter due to potential legal repercussions, his reaction fuels Keefe's determination to uncover the truth behind the song's creation and its potential connection to the intelligence agency.