Latitude Adjustment

This is the second of a two-part series about Basir Bita's escape from Afghanistan after the US withdrawal in August, 2021. In this second half of his story, Basir shares his experiences getting from Pakistan to Canada, the challenges of adjusting to a new culture, the double-standards in Western moralizing, and navigating the prejudices and stereotypes that refugees often face. Be sure to listen to part one, about the fall of Kabul and about his family's escape from Afghanistan after the US withdrawal in August of 2021.

Also be sure to listen to our interview with Afghan photographer and interpreter Abdul Saboor, who escaped overland to France. And our field reports and interviews with refugees in Greece.

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On August 30th 2021, the US and its coalition partners ended their nearly twenty-year occupation of Afghanistan. Two weeks before they left, the Taliban swept across the country taking major urban centers, including Kabul. As embassies were abandoned, and as Afghans government officials fled the country, those Afghan citizens who had worked with the occupying forces faced the very real prospect of execution by the Taliban as collaborators. Yet, just Afghan interpreters had been abandoned in years past, many were left behind when the last US flight left the country. Now they, and the millions of Afghans who never had any hope of being evacuated to begin with, were left to scramble for their survival. Basir Bita last appeared on Latitude Adjustment Podcast just two weeks before the Taliban takeover of Kabul, and a month before US and international forces left the country. Though he and his family had been issued a visa for his work with the Canadian government, they were left behind. This episode is the first of a two-part series in which Basir recounts what happened next.

This is the first of a two-part episode. Also, be sure to listen to our last episode with Basir, before the fall of Kabul.Our interview with Afghan photographer and interpreter Abdul Saboor, who escaped over land to France. And our field reports and interviews with refugees in Greece. Support Latitude Adjustment Podcast on Patreon!

On September 13th of last year 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was visiting Tehran with her family, having traveled from Irans' Kurdish region. While in Tehran she was stopped by Iran's morality police for improperly wearing her hijab, or head covering. Three days after her arrest she was dead. In the days, weeks, and months following her death Iran has seen nationwide protests, and while protests are not a particularly new thing in Iran, what's unprecedented about these protests are the calls not simply for reforms but for the toppling of Iran's theocratic regime, a regime that has been in power since the Iranian Revolution of 1979. Today's episode provides an update on the protests.

Last month also saw another seismic event in Iranian, and Middle East politics. After decades of saber rattling, proxy wars, and general hostility, China helped to negotiate the reestablishment of diplomatic ties between The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran. What this means for the two regional super powers, for those within their spheres of influence, and for geopolitics will be the focus of the second half of our show.

Dr. Assal Rad received her PhD in Middle Eastern History from the University of California, Irvine in 2018. Her PhD research focused on Modern Iran, with an emphasis on national identity formation, and identity in post-revolutionary Iran. She's also author of "The State of Resistance: Politics, Culture, and Identity in Modern Iran.

Dr. Pouya Alimagham is a historian of the modern Middle East at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His areas of expertise range from revolutionary movements, Political Islam and post-Islamism, terrorism, US foreign policy, and contemporary politics. He's also the author of "Contesting the Iranian Revolution: The Green Uprisings" (Cambridge University Press).

While there have been different strains of Christian Zionism dating back to the Sixteenth Century, the most politicized, powerful, and violent iteration of the movement has its roots in the contemporary Christian Evangelical Church.

Modern Christian Zionists hold that the ethnic cleansing of roughly 750,000 Palestinians from their homes in historic Palestine in 1948, by Jewish Zionists, was the fulfillment of a Biblical prophecy in which the so-called Holy Land must be resettled by the Jewish people in order to usher in the return of Jesus Christ as the messiah. Modern Christian Zionism is distinct from the modern form of political Zionism that arose amongst the European Jewish community in the late 19th Century.

Don Wagner is a Christian theologian, a former minister, and author. He received a Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary and a Doctor of Ministry degree from McCormick Theological Seminary. He is also author of, "Glory to God in the Lowest: Journeys to an Unholy Land".

This interview was recorded on January 24th, 2023

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The US military industrial complex describes the relationship between the US armed forces, weapons and military systems corporations and, though they are often omitted from the phrasing, the Legislative and Executive branches of the US government.

This episode is dedicated to examining the interests at play in maintaining the US military budget as an unquestionable and sacred burden on the US taxpayer and its impact on democracy, even when our national infrastructure is in tatters, education and medical costs are exploding, the gap between rich and poor is ever-widening, wages have stagnated, and a pandemic has ravaged our economy and our lives.

The Friends Committee on National Legislation is the Quaker's Peace Lobby. Allen Hester leads the FCNL's Nuclear Disarmament and Pentagon Spending portfolio. This means that he develops legislative strategies and lobbies Congress for reductions in Pentagon spending, strengthened arms control regimes, and the eventual elimination of nuclear weapons. Support Latitude Adjustment Podcast on Patreon!

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For this episode we cover a wide range of issues related to Palestinian human rights and political autonomy, including the recent Israeli elections, the current state of Palestinian resistance, parallels and distinctions between Apartheid in South Africa and Palestine, and the aims of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement in Palestine.

Dr. Haidar Eid is Associate Professor of Postcolonial and Postmodern Literature at Gaza's al-Aqsa University in Palestine, and completed his PhD in South Africa. In addition to being an author and a regular contributor to Al Jazeera, he is also on the advisory board of The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel. He's also an amateur singer; having released one album, Tyrants' Fear of Songs, while currently working on his second collection. Support Latitude Adjustment Podcast

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It's episode 100 of Latitude Adjustment Podcast, and what better way to celebrate the occasion than to bring back our guest from Episode 1? We catch up with Andrius Mažeika in Lithuania, and in the spirit of our very first episode we cover a wide range of topics, from the war in Ukraine to being a Leftist in a post-Soviet context, to lessons learned from photography, and addressing mental health while traveling. Thank you to everyone who has supported the show these past 4 years, and for those who've yet to do so, please follow the links below! Support Latitude Adjustment on Patreon

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On September 13th, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was visiting Tehran with her family, having traveled from Irans' Kurdish region. While in Tehran she was stopped by Iran's morality police for improperly wearing her hijab, or head covering. Three days after her arrest she was dead. In the days and weeks following her death Iran has seen nationwide protests, and while protests are not a particularly new thing in Iran, what's unprecedented about these protests are the calls not simply for reforms but for the toppling of Iran's theocratic regime, a regime that has been in power since the Iranian Revolution of 1979.

Assal Rad is a historian and research director at the National Iranian American Council. She's also author of "The State of Resistance: Politics, Culture, and Identity in Modern Iran".

Pouya Alimagham is a professor of History at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and author of, "Contesting the Iranian Revolution: The Green Uprisings." Support Latitude Adjustment on Patreon Support our Palestine Podcast Academy

Yaari Toolie-Walker is a member of the Alaska-Native Yupik community, an activist, an educator, and a healer. Yaari is also a returning guest, and we highly encourage you to listen to our first conversation with her about the Yupik community, in episode 16 of Latitude Adjustment. The topic of today's conversation is shamanism, or spiritually-guided healing practices. It might surprise you to learn who is able to be a shaman, its relationship to conventional/Western, healing practices, and how the practice is thriving. Support Latitude Adjustment Podcast Support the Palestine Podcast Academy

Russia's relationship with the African continent dates back to the Soviet era and Cold War proxy battles between Russia and the US. These days the Russian presence in Africa might be lighter, but it's also growing and the dynamics are changing. From the deployment of Russian mercenaries like the Wagner Group, to the politics of soft power and investment, we focus on Russia's past and present relationship with Africa, the likely impacts of the war in Ukraine on food security in Africa, as well as an examination of the ways in which African countries have been attempting to assert and maintain their sovereignty in the context of this most recent iteration of great power politics.

Our Guest is Gustavo de Carvalho, a senior researcher at the South African Institute of International Affairs, specializing in Russia-Africa relations. He joins us from Pretoria, South Africa. Support our Palestine Podcast Academy Support Latitude Adjustment Podcast