The World Unpacked
The World Unpacked is a weekly podcast that explores pressing global issues through in-depth conversations with insiders, intellectuals, and iconoclasts. Host Jon Bateman engages with thinkers and power brokers to make sense of current events and future possibilities. The show features lively, free-wheeling discussions with some of the world's most interesting and informed people.
Episodes
A Luddite's Guide to the AI Economy
People are worried that AI will automate their jobs. Yet Brian Merchant has interviewed hundreds of workers disrupted by AI, and what he sees isn’t a technological revolution but a centuries-old power struggle: bosses wielding new tech as leverage to deskill and destabilize workers.
Merchant is a tech journalist and critic whose book, Blood in the Machine, gives a sympathetic history of the origin
Data Centers Are Fine, Actually
Data centers may be the most controversial objects in America. They’re blamed for draining water reservoirs, stressing electrical grids, and driving up utility bills. Communities throughout the country are pushing back and seeking moratoria.
But Andy Masley says this is all wrong—that data centers aren’t especially resource-hungry. Through his dogged research and insistence on putting numbers in
How Europe Fights Russia Without the U.S.
NATO’s future remains in doubt as Donald Trump again threatens to pull U.S. troops from Europe. But the practical stakes of these debates aren’t always clear. What military capabilities does Europe stand to lose? How long would it take to replace them? And how might Russia exploit any gap?
Sophia Besch, a German expert on European defense policy who has worked inside NATO, joins The World Unpacke
Iran Will Probably Still Get Nukes – Here’s How
The U.S. and Israel just fought a second war over Iran's nuclear program—and one of the world's leading nuclear experts says America lost. Iran's uranium stockpile sits fully intact in tunnels too deep to reach, and Tehran walked away with more leverage in nuclear talks.
James Acton, a physicist and longtime analyst of Iran’s program, joins host Jon Bateman on The World Unpacked to give a detailed
How a U.S.-China War Would Unfold
A U.S.-China war over Taiwan would be catastrophic for all sides and the world. Preventing such a war requires understanding how it might unfold—from start to finish—including worst-case scenarios.
How much warning would there be? Where might China strike first? Which countries join the fight? Can Taiwan defend its coasts? Would nuclear threats determine the outcome?
Charles Hooper is a retired
The Real Middle East Crisis Hasn't Started Yet
The wars unleashed by October 7th have left the Middle East deeply fractured—Iran battered and defiant, Gaza destroyed, Israel militarized, the Gulf insecure and divided. And an even bigger disruption lies just ahead: the oil revenues that built the modern Arab world will halve by 2050, forcing countries to redesign themselves.
Marwan Muasher—a former foreign minister of Jordan and now a VP at th
Is Silicon Valley Corrupting Stanford?
Theo Baker is no ordinary college senior. His student newspaper articles brought down Stanford’s president. Now he’s written a book about the making of the young tech elite.
How to Rule the World: An Education in Power at Stanford University reveals the “Stanford within Stanford”—the unofficial pipeline linking Silicon Valley investors to top students. It’s a pathway to power unlike any other, fue
Putin Is Losing His Grip on Russia
Russia’s surprising recent Internet shutdown did more than disrupt daily life: it also crippled the regime’s own communications and propaganda. It’s one of a series of strange events—from a diminished Victory Day parade to crackdowns on businesspeople and celebrities—that suggest growing disorder and confusion within the Russian state.
Alexandra Prokopenko, a former Moscow insider who quit over th
What to Know Before Trump Attacks Cuba
There’s been remarkably little public debate about a potential U.S. attack on Cuba. President Trump said last week that he “will be taking over” Cuba “almost immediately”—and similar threats led to military action in both Venezuela and Iran.
Javier Corrales, a political scientist at Amherst College and the son of Cuban exiles, joins The World Unpacked to game out this crisis. Javier and host Jon
How Humans Take Back the Internet From AI Bots
AI-powered bots and slop content are everywhere now, making it harder to tell who’s human. Will the Internet become so bot-ridden that it’s simply unusable? Or will people be forced to prove their identities online—giving up privacy and eroding democracy?
Nick Pickles battled bots at Twitter and is now chief policy officer at Tools for Humanity, the Sam Altman-founded startup that reads eyeballs w
Elon Musk Is Reinventing Capitalism
Elon Musk is one of the most influential figures of our era. He remade the space, car, social media, and AI industries. He shaped the Ukraine War. He helped put Donald Trump back in office and became Washington’s most powerful official. How can one CEO alter the fate of multiple nations—and what does that say about our world?
A provocative new book, Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed, argues t
Why Orbán Lost and What Happens Next
The world is still making sense of Viktor Orbán’s historic election loss in Hungary—a small country with outsized global significance. Why were Orbán’s generational efforts to stack the electoral deck not enough to prevent his landslide defeat? Is this a warning sign for right-wing populists in America, Europe, and elsewhere who’ve modeled their own movements on Orbán’s?
Tom Carothers, a top dem
Inside the Hidden World of Think Tanks
Think tanks—the non-profit research centers that try to influence policy—are strange and mysterious places. Depending on who you ask, think tanks are invaluable sources of expertise, intellectual hired guns serving powerful interests, or relics of a bygone era when facts mattered and political leaders actually read things.
Tino Cuellar is president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peac
What Trump Really Wants From China
President Trump was meant to fly to Beijing this week for major trade talks, but instead he’s staying home to manage the Iran War. It’s an apt metaphor for America’s decades-long failure to refocus on Asia and reckon with China’s rise. Does Trump have a plan for dealing with America’s top rival? If so, what is it?
Ali Wyne is a perceptive analyst of U.S.-China competition and author of America’s G
Inside the Pentagon’s AI War Machine
The U.S. is fighting its first full-scale AI war in Iran — but key details remain largely hidden from Americans and the world. Which military decisions are being automated? How well does AI really perform on the battlefield? Can guardrails prevent fatal errors? Katrina Manson’s timely and deeply reported new book, Project Maven: A Marine Colonel, His Team, and the Dawn of AI Warfare, lifts the lid
Did Trump Kill International Law – Or Was It Already Dead?
The Iran War marks the second time in two months that Donald Trump decapitated a country without real legal justification. But is this any different from the many times that past U.S. presidents—and other great powers—have violated international law?
Who’s Running Iran?
Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei was killed almost a week ago — so who’s running the country? Will Iranians seek change in the streets, despite the brutal crackdown they faced in January? Could Kurdish militias march on Tehran under U.S. and Israeli air cover? Should Westerners trust exiled oppositionists like former crown prince Reza Pahlavi?
Karim Sadjadpour is one of the few people who can an
Trump’s Two-Front Battle With Europe and Iran
Just weeks after ousting Venezuela’s leader, Donald Trump is now courting crises on two other continents. Trump’s quest to own Greenland continues to roil Europe, while the Middle East braces for war as a U.S. armada barrels toward Iran.
Epstein’s America: How Modern Corruption Works
In this episode of The World Unpacked, Sarah tells host Jon Bateman why systemic corruption looks nothing like how we picture it, how anti-corruption advocates are co-opted as enablers, and what to say if someone asks you for a bribe. There’s a gnawing feeling in America and the West that a self-serving elite has corrupted society’s rules in its favor. The Epstein files have finally pulled back th
How a Progressive POTUS Would Change the World
The same populist forces that brought Donald Trump to office could also enable a politician from the progressive left to succeed him. How would a president in the vein of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or Zohran Mamdani change U.S. foreign policy and the world?
How Economists Failed America
Americans have been deeply dissatisfied with the economy for many years, even as standard metrics continue to show strength and prosperity. This gap between popular and elite thinking has helped populism surge and sparked intense debates about whether old economic assumptions—and policies—need wholesale revision.Find the episode transcript and streaming audio, and get the show direct to your inbox
How Smart Bombs Enable Dumb Wars
The Paveway bomb, invented by Texas Instruments in the 1970s, was the first truly precise munition. It revolutionized America’s air campaign in Vietnam and allowed whole new kinds of “limited” U.S. wars in Libya, Iraq, Serbia, and beyond.But Paveway’s true legacy was psychological: it seduced generations of U.S. leaders into believing that tactical precision creates strategic victories with few c
The Global Race to Reinvent Meat
You’ve probably heard of “lab-grown meat,” the sci-fi-sounding idea of 100% real meat made without animals. Yet few people understand how close this vision is to becoming reality—and how much it could change the world. A healthier, more efficient meat source could soon rewire global supply chains and help catalyze a new bioeconomy.Find the episode transcript and streaming audio, and get the show
Every War Is Now a Drone War
Drones are no longer the future of war. They’re now a defining weapon in Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan, and beyond—altering the course of conflicts and reshuffling the balance of military power. The pace of change has caught many by surprise, with state and non-state groups racing to mass-produce, diversify, and protect their rapidly evolving drone arsenals.Find the episode transcript and streaming audio,
Testing the Case for Regime Change in Venezuela
The Trump administration apparently seeks regime change in Venezuela and may soon attack the country. But American leaders have so far refused to openly state their intentions, stifling public debate on the momentous choice ahead.In an urgent conversation you won’t hear elsewhere, the last U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela makes a forthright case for ousting President Nicolás Maduro—with American force
Decoding Trump’s Foreign Policy Blueprint
The new U.S. National Security Strategy is the clearest and boldest statement of President Donald Trump’s global vision. It reveals U.S. plans to dominate Latin America, transform politics in Europe, and seize commercial opportunities in Asia. Leaders around the world are closely studying this document.Find the episode transcript and streaming audio, and get the show direct to your inbox, here: ht
AI’s Biggest Skeptic Sees a Bubble
The AI boom is the biggest investment mania in decades, channeling trillions of dollars into data center infrastructure. If investors bet right, they may usher in technological breakthroughs that produce vast wealth. If they’re wrong, they could crash the U.S. stock market, trigger a recession, and spread financial contagion globally.Ed Zitron was among the first to call AI a bubble. His unspar
Why Information Refuses to Be Controlled
We’re living through an era of information disruption. Novel technologies like AI and social media are unleashing pent-up social and political energies—releasing floods of new information and triggering intense battles for narrative control.While most analysts focus on small pieces of this puzzle, Alicia Wanless is a pioneering “information ecologist” who seeks to map the entire system. Her new
Trump’s $200 Billion Tariff Showdown at the Supreme Court
On November 5, the Supreme Court heard the most globally consequential oral arguments in years as Trump’s trade war faces a final legal reckoning. The Court will either strike down most of Trump’s tariffs, undercutting him in trade talks, or else hand U.S. presidents previously unimagined new powers over the global economy.Peter Harrell is a top trade expert and lawyer fighting the tariffs on beha
"A House of Dynamite” Writer on How Nuclear War Works
A House of Dynamite, a new Netflix film, may be the most realistic depiction of a nuclear crisis ever made. Screenwriter Noah Oppenheim partnered with Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty, The Hurt Locker) to capture the intimate details of the U.S. national security state as a president (Idris Elba) and his advisors confront the riskiest 19 minutes in human history.Oppenheim,
Inside MS-13, the Gang That Swallowed a Country
MS-13 brought El Salvador to its knees and has spread to a dozen other nations, doing battle with presidents as much as rival gangs. Yet despite its infamy, MS-13 is poorly understood: It has little in common with the cartels, traffickers, or mafias that it’s often lumped in with.What is the violent logic behind MS-13, and why has it grown steadily more powerful during both crackdowns and truces?
Trump’s Foreign Aid Cuts Aren’t What You Think
The end of USAID was among the biggest early controversies of President Donald Trump’s second term. The world watched in horror as Elon Musk’s DOGE took a chainsaw to U.S. foreign assistance, placing millions of lives at risk with brutal across-the-board cuts.But few people realize how much has changed since then. Behind the scenes, aid money was largely restored—for now. And instead of making gra
Did the Bolsonaro Trial Really Save Brazil's Democracy?
Brazil’s Supreme Court has just convicted former president Jair Bolsonaro of attempting a coup to nullify his 2022 election loss. The country’s judicial system and Justice Alexandre de Moraes, a polarizing figure whom the co-conspirators had sought to assassinate, acted boldly, sentencing Bolsonaro to twenty-seven years in prison.Brazil is now the global leader in democratic accountability for “se
Will AI Kill us All? Nate Soares on his Controversial Bestseller
Nate Soares is one of the world’s leading AI “doomers” and co-author of If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: Why Superhuman AI Would Kill Us All—the New York Times Bestseller that everyone in tech is debating. In this debut episode of a revamped The World Unpacked, new host Jon Bateman talks to Nate about his provocative argument that superintelligent AI could destroy all humans in our lifetimes—an
Trump’s Greenland Fixation and the China-Russia Strategic Opportunity in the Arctic
In this episode of The World Unpacked, host Isaac Kardon is joined by Alexander (Sasha) Gabuev, Director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in Berlin and one of the world’s leading experts on Russia-China relations. Together, they unpack the growing geopolitical competition in the Arctic—a region increasingly shaped by strategic cooperation between Russia and China, and generally neglected or m
The New Geopolitics of Subsea Cables
Subsea cables carry 95% of the world’s data—but remain largely invisible in global policy debates. In this episode, Isaac Kardon is joined by Carnegie experts Jane Munga and Sophia Besch to unpack the geopolitics, economics, and security risks surrounding undersea data infrastructure. From Africa’s digital development to Europe’s hybrid warfare concerns, they explore who owns these cables, why the
Party-State Capitalism: China's Communist Party and Rule by Market
How should we understand China’s unique variety of party-state capitalism? In this episode of The World Unpacked, Isaac Kardon sits down with Dr. Meg Rithmire, a renowned scholar of political economy in China and the James E. Robison Professor at Harvard Business School, to discuss how capitalism functions in a party-state that tries to maintain “rule by market” without ceding too much control to
Why We All Need to Care About Nukes Again
The world is entering a new nuclear age—one defined by proliferating arsenals, eroding arms control, and rising geopolitical tensions. In this episode, Isaac Kardon sits down with international security expert and Stanton Senior Fellow Ankit Panda to discuss the return of nuclear weapons to the center of global strategy. As Russia issues nuclear threats, China and North Korea expand their capabili
How China Is Reshaping International Security Cooperation
As U.S.-China tensions deepen, Beijing is carving out a new role for itself—not just as an economic powerhouse, but as a global security player. What does China’s vision of “comprehensive national security” mean for countries caught in the middle of great-power competition? And how are smaller states navigating the shifting landscape of global security partnerships? In this episode, Isaac Kardon s
Outposts of Influence: Great Power Competition and Overseas Military Bases
In this episode of The World Unpacked, Isaac B. Kardon sits down with Ashley J. Tellis, Tata Chair for Strategic Affairs and Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and Andrew Yeo, Senior Fellow and the SK-Korea Foundation Chair at the Brookings Institution. They explore how the role of overseas bases has changed over time and how the U.S., China, and Russia—among other co
Can the U.S. Rebuild Its Maritime Power? Competing with China and Cooperating with Korea
In this episode of The World Unpacked, Isaac Kardon is joined by Darcie Draudt-Véjares to explore how the shipbuilding industry is reshaping global security and industrial policy. They discuss Washington's faltering commercial shipbuilding sector, China's rise through state-led integration, and South Korea and Japan’s dominance in high-tech ship production. Can the U.S. rebuild its maritime power—
Latin America and Trump 2.0: Deportations, Trade Wars, and China's Rising Influence
In President Donald Trump’s second term, Latin America has taken center stage in U.S. foreign policy—but not without controversy. From aggressive deportation flights to economic coercion and even veiled threats of military action, the Trump administration’s confrontational stance is straining relations across the region.In this episode, Oliver Stuenkel joins Sophia to unpack how these developments
Gaza's Ceasefire in Limbo: U.S. Policy, Regional Plans, and What's Next
After over a year of devastating conflict, Israel and Hamas reached a three-phase ceasefire agreement in January 2025, brokered by Qatar, Egypt, and the United States. The deal allowed for significant increases in humanitarian aid deliveries, prisoner and hostage exchanges, and discussions for a potential permanent ceasefire.This episode was recorded on March 11, ten days after the scheduled compl
Abandoning Ukraine? Trump's Policy and Europe's Challenge
Nearly a week after the tense Oval Office meeting between President Trump and President Zelensky, and just days after the Trump administration’s abrupt decision to pause military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine, serious questions loom over America’s commitment to Kyiv’s security. At the same time, the White House appears to be exploring a thaw with Moscow—including potential sanctions re
Power Ball on the Korean Peninsula
What's going on in the Korean Peninsula following the impeachment of South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol? How will evolving politics shape Seoul's future relations with North Korea? How will domestic political shifts in the U.S. shape foreign policy and great power relations among Washington, Beijing, Seoul, and Pyongyang?Asia Program Fellow Darcie Draudt-Véjares and Senior Fellow Chung Min Lee d
A New Housing Bubble? How Climate Change Could Destabilize the Global Economy
Rising sea levels and climate-driven flooding are reshaping the global economy, with major implications for the U.S. housing market and the global economy. As millions of homes face increased risk, mortgage defaults could surge, home values may plummet, and financial instability could spread worldwide. Governments will soon need large-scale strategies to relocate coastal populations and manage mou
How Will AI Export Policies Redefine U.S. Global Influence?
China’s new AI model, DeepSeek, has rattled markets and raised questions about the global AI race. Meanwhile, just before leaving office, the Biden administration introduced the Framework for Artificial Intelligence Diffusion—an ambitious new rule that could reshape how—and who—gets access to advanced AI technologies from the U.S. It is designed to regulate AI exports, strengthen partnerships with
Biden, Trump, and a Foreign Policy That’s Gone Off Course
The Biden administration contends it has left the United States in a better geopolitical position than when it entered office four years ago. In a year-end foreign policy review from Carnegie’s American Statecraft Program, Director Chris Chivvis and Senior Fellow Stephen Wertheim critique Biden's foreign policy legacy and discuss what Trump might do next.Why has it been so difficult for Biden to r
Navigating the 2025 World: Advanced AI, Economic Competition, and Power Shifts
As we enter this new year of 2025, Sophia Besch sits down with President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Tino Cuéllar. They take a step back at the year and look at the big themes and trends that are likely going to determine and underlie the discussions of the year ahead, from technology to political economy, democratic governance, and global power dynamics.Notes:Ramachandra Guh
Can the U.S. Win the Clean Energy Race Against China?
Over the past decade, China has emerged as a powerhouse here, producing the majority of key clean energy technologies. What does this mean for the United States, and for the race towards net zero emissions? In this episode, Sophia Besch and Fellow Milo McBride talk about the strategies the U.S. could deploy to better compete in the clean energy revolution. They unpack how innovative technologies
Was 2024 the Year Democracy Faltered—or Fought Back?
What can the elections of 2024 tell us about the state of democracy worldwide? This year has seen a flurry of elections across democracies, sparking debate among analysts about their implications for global democratic health. As the year draws to a close, Sophia sits down with Thomas Carothers, Director of the Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program at Carnegie and leading expert on democracy
Fixing Global Trade: Why Tariffs and Trade Wars Aren’t Enough
Our modern global trading system is broken. How can we fix it?We seem to have moved beyond the free trade consensus of the globalization era. Few politicians today still publicly support the assumption that trade, unrestricted by national borders, makes everyone more prosperous. Under President Trump, the United States has wielded tariffs and industrial policy to reshape the international trade or
Europe Inside Out: Is Europe Ready for Trump 2.0?
With Donald Trump returning to the White House, the future of the transatlantic alliance hangs in the balance.Europe Inside Out's new host Rym Momtaz is joined by Sophia Besch and Christopher Shell to unpack the reasons behind his victory and its implications for EU-U.S. relations.Original episode page on Europe Inside Out here.
Maritime Power Plays: The U.S. and China in the Indian Ocean
What if the future of global power dynamics and, the question of winners and losers in the US-China competition could hinge on one body of water – the Indian Ocean? As geopolitical tensions rise and great powers vie for influence in the Indo-Pacific, the Indian Ocean is emerging as an increasingly critical theater of international relations.What is clear is that U.S.-China tensions are heightening
Will America’s Next President Bring Real Change in Foreign Policy?
Why is meaningful change in U.S. foreign policy is so difficult to achieve? This question is especially relevant with the U.S. presidential election just weeks away now, and analysts and policy makers all over the world are discussing how a Trump or Harris presidency might shift American foreign policy in the years to come.But how likely is it that we will see meaningful change at all? Historicall
Can Tunisia’s Democracy Survive Saied’s Second Term?
Following Sunday's controversial presidential election, Kais Saied has secured his second term in office. While this result was widely anticipated, it raises deeper questions about the trajectory of Tunisia's democracy. Tunisia was once seen as the shining success of the Arab Spring – a beacon of democratic hope. But now, like several of its neighbors, it finds itself grappling with rising authori
The Geopolitics of Climate Engineering: A Climate Lifeline or Pandora’s Box?
In the fight against climate change, a controversial new idea is gaining traction: solar geoengineering. Solar geoengineering, or solar radiation modification, is an emerging technology that aims to reflect sunlight back into space to cool planet Earth. In a world that is struggling to bring about the behavioral and political changes needed to reduce climate change, an innovative tech approach mig
Inside the U.S.-China Rivalry: Great Power Competition in the Middle East and North Africa
The Middle East and North Africa region is witnessing a fierce competition among the world’s current “great powers”—the U.S., Russia, and China. These three countries are all seeking to extend their influence in this region. But the ways they're engaging—with varying degrees of success—are as complex as the region itself.This week on the show, Sophia digs into the data with Amr Hamzawy, a senior f
Macron’s Election Gamble: What’s Next for France and Europe?
Just a few weeks ago, French President Emmanuel Macron took a risky political gamble. After the European Parliament elections revealed gains for the far-right party National Rally, Macron called a snap nationwide election three years earlier than required. Macron hoped to use this election to push back on the right-wing gains and restore power to the center. But others worried that Macron had beco
Ukraine at the NATO Summit
NATO’s 75th anniversary summit is coming up in Washington DC next month. With the war in Ukraine ongoing, Kyiv has sought to join NATO for a while now. But the alliance has been reluctant to grant official membership, which led to a tense summit last year. So, this time around, the US government and its Allies have been working hard to identify summit deliverables beyond Ukraine’s NATO membership.
Winners and Losers: The 2024 European Parliamentary Elections
Just a few days ago, over 300 million voters across 27 countries were called to vote in the European Parliament elections. These elections take place every five years, and sometimes people have a tendency to dismiss them as symbolic elections that don’t matter much in practice. But the lead-up to the vote this year has been particularly intense: as the war in Ukraine rages on, countries all across
The Politics of Biden's Latest Tariffs
On May 14, 2024, the Biden administration announced $18 billion dollars worth of tariffs on a range of Chinese imports from “strategic sectors," which include electric vehicles (EVs), batteries, critical minerals, steel and aluminum, semiconductors, solar cells, and medical products. This is the latest episode in Washington’s controversial trade war with Beijing, launched by Donald Trump in 2018 a
China: Rising Tensions in the South China Sea
As China ramps up its military capabilities and tensions persist in the Taiwan Strait, there are growing concerns about the risk of conflict that could involve the United States. But it’s not just Taiwan that could spark conflict. China’s increasingly assertive presence is felt everywhere in the South China Sea from the Philippines to Malaysia. How will these conflicts develop? What do we know abo
Ukraine Aid: Will It Be Enough?
After months of gridlock, Congress passed and President Joe Biden signed the long-awaited foreign aid package into law, which includes $60.8 billion for Ukraine. With the war still ongoing, this comes at a critical point for the Ukrainians in fighting Russian forces. But after months of delay, how much has been lost in the waiting? What will be the effects on the battlefield? And how are Ukraine,
Iran Strikes Israel - Here's What Might Happen Next
In the late hours of Saturday, Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles in an unprecedented direct attack on Israel. There was limited damage as Israel and its allies intercepted most of them before reaching Israeli airspace. Now, the United States and allies have urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to show restraint in its response to avoid further escalation. But with the confli
Barbecue Earth, Episode 6: Food Security Reimagined
Winners and losers—every major transition has them. For the world to meet its climate goals, it needs to undergo a partial shift away from traditional meat and toward alternative proteins. But who would be the winners and losers of a global protein transition? In Episode 6, we investigate what this transition might look like and what it could mean for national security and geopolitics.
Barbecue Earth, Episode 5: Consider the Lobster
There’s a lot to learn from the lobster. Its transformation from disdained prison food to fine-dining delicacy reveals how culture shapes our palate and how people could start to get a taste for food that does less damage to the planet than a bacon cheeseburger. In Episode 5, we look to the future of alternative proteins—from bean burgers to lab-grown nuggets—and ask what it would look like to liv
Barbecue Earth, Episode 4: Uncle Sam and the Magic Beanstalk
The soybean is more than just a humble legume—it’s a major geopolitical player that feeds the international meat market, shapes trade wars, and transforms economies. In Episode 4, we tell the story of how the soybeans that feed pigs around the world have shaped the geopolitical behavior of what some call “the Meat Triangle”: the United States, Brazil, and China.
Barbecue Earth, Episode 3: How to Launder a Cow
What is cattle laundering—and how are big meat companies involved with it? Episode 3 explores the phenomenon of the smuggling and sale of illegal cattle throughout the Amazon and tells the story of how the meat industry uses its power to undermine climate goals.
Barbecue Earth, Episode 2: The Farmers Strike Back
Tractors blocking government buildings. Manure piled on highways. The birth of a populist political party. In the Netherlands, government regulations on agriculture’s nitrogen emissions have sparked backlash from Dutch farmers. In Episode 2 of Barbecue Earth, we tell the story of this quarrel. It holds lessons for all countries, in Europe and beyond, that are facing rising agricultural populism as
Barbecue Earth, Episode 1: Hog Country
In the United States, agriculture plays by a different set of rules than other sectors. With its lax child labor laws and lack of environmental restrictions, the American farming industry operates in a uniquely under-regulated environment. Why? Episode 1 of Barbecue Earth explores the history of agricultural exceptionalism and how it impacts North Carolina residents living close to factory farms.
Behind Closed Doors, Episode 3: Trouble in the Blue House
The third episode, "Trouble in the Blue House," dissects the corruption scandal often called "South Korea's Watergate." When former President Park Geun-hye was first elected in 2013, she held widespread conservative support and was internationally celebrated as the country's first female president. No one could have predicted that just 5 years later, she would end up embroiled in a corruption case
Behind Closed Doors, Episode 2: Seeing the Monster
The second episode, "Seeing the Monster," explores what some call the biggest corruption scandal in history—Brazil's Lava Jato scandal. The story begins at a small gas station in southern Brazil, where a single arrest for bribery in 2013 unleashed a domino effect that would topple hundreds of business executives, imprison a former head of state, and impeach the sitting president. The aftermath of
Behind Closed Doors, Episode 1: If Men Were Angels, We Wouldn't Need Government
What is corruption in democracies? How has it changed over time? And, in what forms does it emerge in our society today? Episode 1, 'If Men Were Angels, We Wouldn't Need Government,' answers these questions through the lens of case studies in the United States, including the political scandal of former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, U.S. Supreme Court decisions that have eroded controls on inf
The State of World Hunger
The global hunger crisis has reached unprecedented levels. Violent conflict, economic shocks from the war in Ukraine, and accelerating climate change have exacerbated food shortages in many parts of the world. According to the World Food Program, 828 million people—one in ten people on Earth—are unsure of where their next meal is coming from. More than 345 million face extreme food insecurity, a f
Evading Sanctions 101
Since President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the United States and its allies have imposed tough global sanctions against Russia. Numerous sectors, individuals, and entities have been targeted for helping Russia’s war efforts. But despite these aims, the Kremlin has been successful in finding ways to evade these sanctions. Joining the show to assess Russia’s sanction-evading st
Moldova’s Moment
Since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine last year, the Eastern European nation of Moldova has been one of the countries most vulnerable to the war spilling over its borders. With the threat of Russia looming, the European Political Community, or EPC, will be holding its summit in that country this week, hoping to demonstrate its solidarity with the threatened nation, which includes the breakaway region
Türkiye’s Election: The End of Erdoğan?
On May 14th, Türkiye will have its presidential and parliamentary elections. It will be a pivotal moment in Turkish politics with implications for the world concerning NATO, the war in Ukraine, Syrian refugees, and more. The highly contested race between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu will be one to watch. Could this be the end of Erdoğan's two-decade rule?Alper Coşkun, a se
Could Solar Climate Intervention Buy the World Some Time?
Last month, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its latest assessment report. The news is not good, which makes it somber reading on this year’s Earth Day. Scientists warn that critical components of the Earth system may be approaching tipping points, and that crossing these thresholds could generate sudden and irreversible changes that themselves increase warming. Given
Israel in Turmoil
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu currently leads the most right-wing government in the country’s history since returning to power after winning last year’s election. Following an attempt by Netanyahu to weaken the Supreme Court, outraged Israeli citizens began protesting out of concern for the country’s democratic future. So, where does Israel go from here? Aaron David Miller, a senior fe
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