Information War

As Russia indiscriminately targets civilians in its invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin gives a speech echoing Stalin. Violence expert and Yale Psychiatrist Dr. Bandy X. Lee interprets what the speech indicates about Putin’s psychological state, the risk of nuclear war, and the dangers of American media hosts spreading Russian disinformation.

A Ukrainian politician tells us about life in Kyiv, Ukraine as Russia threatens to invade.

Energy expert Nataliya Katser-Buchkovska, a former member of Ukrainian Parliament, tells us how citizens have worked to expose Russian lies in its information war, and the weaponization of energy in the region.

Since Russia’s 2014 invasion and annexation of territory in Ukraine, fake news and a complex information war has been key to its political and military strategy. Today, as Russian troops mobilize on Ukraine’s borders, it’s churning out false narratives that Americans on political extremes are falling for.

A digital intelligence analyst discusses the current effort to turn Americans towards Authoritarianism.

Dr. Bandy X. Lee, a forensic psychiatrist, Yale Law School professor and editor of New York Times bestseller The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 37 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Asses a President examines the shared psychosis and deep psychiatric pathology that has infected and radicalized millions of Americans.

Liz speaks to Timothy Wilson, Director of the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at the University of St. Andrews about the “incel” movement, the link between sex and far-right extremism, and why the rage of men that are unlucky at love is a political story.

Liz Wahl speaks to Political Scientist Paul DJupe about the role of religion in the embrace of conspiracy, authoritarianism and partisan admiration for the Taliban.

What lies go too far under the law? Mass lies on the internet have put public health and democracy in peril. Jeff Kosseff, a law professor at the U.S. Naval Academy and author of the book, “The 26 Words that Created the Internet” discusses the legal limits of the right to lie.

A former Republican that now tracks extremism in his former party warns that instead of a January 6th style attempted coup, former Trump officials are working on the grassroots level by encouraging anti-vaxxers and other conspiracy theorists to target local officials such as school board members.

Tucker Carlson goes abroad to praise authoritarians and a QAnon father kills his two kids. A conversation with a former Republican that left the party he says is now a cult.

Liz Wahl speaks to Finnish journalist Jessikka Aro about her battle to hold online trolls and disinformation superspreaders accountable in the courtroom. After years of investigating foreign propaganda campaigns targeting the U.S., we examine the evolution of an information war that pushed Americans to alternate realities and political extremism.