The Doomsday Clock is always ticking down. Between climate change, technological advances, new diseases, and the ever present threat of nuclear war … it often feels like we’re close to the end of civilization. How close? According to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists … we’re 100 seconds to midnight. The closest we’ve ever been.

But what, exactly, is the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and this bizarre clock they oversee? Why, when we imagine the end of the world, do we see a clock ticking down to midnight. Where did this visual metaphor come from? Here to give us the history of the clock and explain how it has permeated our consciousness is Robert K. Elder.

Elder is the Chief Digital Editor of the Bulletin and a journalist who has authored many fine books. His latest is The Doomsday Clock at 75.

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Everyone has an opinion about Ukraine, but something I’ve noticed in Western media is that no one really seems to be asking Russians what they think of the situation. The reasons for that are extremely complicated. So let’s talk about them.

Here to talk about Russia’s view of the Ukraine conflict, Putin’s motivations, and to do a little … psychoanalysis … is Peter Pomerantsev. Pomerantsev is a returning guest, his latest in Time Magazine is What the West Will Never Understand About Putin's Ukraine Obsession. His latest book, which is also excellent, is This Is Not Propaganda.

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Genocide and disinformation. That’s the topic of today’s heady program. I hope none of you have had the pleasure of debating the Uighur genocide with friends or with, god forbid, with anonymous people on the internet. If you have, you may have noticed a certain … uniformity to the arguments despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary.

It turns out there may be a reason for that.

Here to help us untangle it all is Alexander Reid Ross. Ross is a senior fellow at the Centre for Analysis of the Radical Right and senior data analyst at the Network Contagion Research Institute. He’s also the co-author of the report we’re talking about here today The Big Business of Uyghur Genocide Denial.

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The Islamic State has fallen out of the headlines, but it’s still a major force around the world. Affiliates flourish across the Middle East and, especially, in Africa. The spread of the group there has some analysts calling it the Next Jihadist Battlefront.

Here to help us with all this is Ryan O'Farrell. O'Farrell is a Senior Analyst at the Bridgeway Foundation and a researcher focusing on Islamist movements in east and central Africa.

He’s also a contributing author of the book The Islamic State In Africa: The Emergence, Evolution, and Future of the Next Jihadist Battlefront.

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The former Soviet Union is looking a bit restive nowadays - putting it mildly. 

Russia has more than one hundred thousand troops on Ukraine’s borders - and has invaded Ukraine before - and has been fighting a war there ever since.

And in the last few days, many Americans have learned there is a country called Kazakhstan, even if they can’t find it on a map. And Russia is playing a role to prop up the authoritarian government there.

To help us understand what’s going on, we have the perfect guest. William Courtney is the former ambassador to Kazakhstan and is now a senior fellow at the Rand Corporation.

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The Taliban - we all know them, few of us love them, and it looks like they’re going to rule Afghanistan - again.

So, what was it like the first time the Islamic militants took over, in 1996?

Today, we have two journalists who were in Afghanistan in the 90s. Scott Neuman was working for United Press International and wrote from the scene.

Alan Chin is a photographer who went to Afghanistan to take pictures for The New York Times.

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Last week The Daily Beast broke some bizarre news. Several news outlets, including The Washington Examiner, RealClear Markets, and The National Interest, had been running op-eds of journalists that did not exist. AI generated photos attached to profiles and credentials that, once scrutinized, collapsed. It was a massive effort at digital propaganda and questions still remain about its provenance and purpose.

Here to explain just what is going on is Marc Owen Jones. Jones is an assistant professor in Middle East Studies and Digital Humanities at Hamad bin Khalifa University and an expert in social media disinformation who helped sound the alarm about this campaign.

• Recorded 7/13/20
• Fake journalists have joined the fray
• Tracking response of the dupe outlets
• The difference between misinformation and disinformation
• Media literacy in Estonia and Finland
• A website that generates people who don’t exist

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It’s the greatest story you probably don’t know anything about. Or, at least, you have no idea how bad it actually is. The U.S. 7th Fleet is the most powerful Navy in the history of the world. Its area of operations stretches throughout the Pacific. It comprised of up of upwards of 70 ships, 400 aircraft, and around 40,000 sailors and Marines. For about a far too many years it was the plaything of a Malaysian playboy who grifted a fortune off the American taxpayer.

We’re finally doing it. We’re finally doing a Fat Leonard episode.

Our guest today is journalist, best selling author, and host of the incredible Fat Leonard Podcast, Tom Wright. The nine part Fat Leonard Podcast is, for my money, the most comprehensive and well researched version of the story we’re going to lay out for you here. If you’re interested at all in what you’re about to hear, you must check it out.

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Is the Syrian civil war over? Did Bashar al Assad win it? And if he did, what does winning even mean for a country of rubble?

And most importantly, what’s next for the dictator and the people who live within the sort-of nation’s borders?

To help us understand what’s happening, we’ve got Washington Post correspondent Liz Sly. She’s covered the war since it began in 2011 and has made many trips to Syria. She’s also a fantastic writer and multiple award winner.

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When the United States Air Force tests a new aircraft it needs to make sure it won't crash should a stray bird slam into the plane's side. Thankfully, the military has an artillery piece with a 60-foot barrel that hurls chicken more than 400 miles an hour. The chicken gun allows the military to make sure no stray bird will foul up its expensive jets while they're mid-flight. If you think the chicken gun is weird, it’s only the tip of a strange and fascinating iceberg.

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