On the first episode of China Rising, we'll examine  the Chinese government's practice of detaining political prisoners, by hearing directly from Canadians who've become caught in the crossfire. Christian aid workers Julia and Kevin Garratt lived in China for 30 years before their arrest in 2014, when they were suddenly cast as pawns in a geopolitical chess match. The Garratts’ traumatic experience is eerily similar to the case of the 'Two Michaels,' Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, detained in China since December 2018. Using their stories and others as a guide, we'll investigate how Western countries, including Canada, should respond to China's so-called 'Hostage Diplomacy.'

Contact:

Twitter: @JeffSempleGN

Email: [email protected]

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The Chinese government is accused of aggressively targeting Western democracies…

with disinformation and ‘hostage diplomacy.’

From Global News, I’m Jeff Semple and on my new Podcast CHINA RISING, we’ll separate fact from fiction, and hear from accused spies, whistle-blowers, and others caught in the political crossfire; 

As the pandemic rages across the world…and incidents of anti-Asian racism are on rise. 

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In this special episode, Niki Reitmayer, host of "This Is Why", and producer of "When Life Gives You Parkinson's" speaks with Jeff Semple about the making of Russia Rising, and gets a few updates on the stories covered this season. 

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“Crime Beat” is a new investigative podcast series hosted by Crime Reporter Nancy Hixt. She's been covering cases for over the past 20 years and knows her hometown by the crime scenes she's been to. Journey deep inside some of Canada’s most high-profile criminal cases. Each bi-weekly episode will take you inside the story to give you details you didn't hear on the news.  

Here’s a sneak peek from episode 2 of the series…. and while you’re listening, search and subscribe to “Crime Beat” for free at Curiouscast.ca or wherever you’re enjoying this podcast

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An estimated 28 million Russian young people who were born after Putin first rose to power two decades ago. Russia’s 66-year-old strongman was first sworn-in back on May 7, 2000, and he has remained in the Kremlin’s seat of power, either as President or Prime Minister, ever since. This week we talk to those young people to find out what the future holds for Russia.

Contact:

Twitter: @JeffSempleGN

Email: [email protected]

Guests:

Anton Fedyashin - Associate Professor and Director, Carmel Institute, Department of History https://www.american.edu/cas/faculty/fedyashi.cfm

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On the sixth episode of Russia Rising, we’ll boldly go where no podcast has gone before.

The International Space Station has long been heralded as a beacon of geopolitical cooperation, where representatives from 18 countries have lived and worked together, trusting each other with their lives. And all of them, including Canada and the United States, rely on Russia to hitch a ride to the stars.

But that close, interconnected relationship is now being tested, as space becomes increasingly militarized and privatized.

But should we believe the hype? Are we really on the cusp on a new space race? To find out what the future of space travel really looks like, we’ll ask the spacemen and spacewomen who’ve been there and back. David Saint-Jacques, Anne McClain and their Russian commander, Oleg Kononenko, and Chris Hadfield, who has flown two space shuttle missions and served as the first Canadian commander of the International Space Station.

Contact:

Twitter: @JeffSempleGN

Email: [email protected]

Guests:

David Saint-Jacques - Canadian astronaut
@Astro_DavidS

Doug Wheelock - NASA astronaut
@Astro_Wheels

Chris Hadfield — Former Canadian astronaut
@Cmdr_Hadfield

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On the fifth episode of Russia Rising, we’ll explore the growing information war between Russia and the West. Whether it's a chemical weapons attack in Syria, the poisoning of a former Russian spy in England or the war in eastern Ukraine, the Kremlin often promotes a much different version of events from the one being presented by Western governments. And in an age of fake news, social media and countless alternative online news sources, it can be difficult to separate fact from fiction and know whom to trust.    In this context, we’ll speak with Russian analyst Julian Lindley-French, who warns the Kremlin has deployed an effective propaganda strategy known as ‘Maskirovka.’ It began as a Russian military doctrine 600 years ago, but has recently evolved into a political weapon.

We’ll explore a number of recent examples of ‘Maskirovka’ by speaking with Rasmus Nilsson, an expert in Russian Politics and Foreign Policy at University College London.    Edward Lucas, a Russia expert at the Center for European Policy Analysis, explains how each time the West accuses of Moscow of behaving badly, the Kremlin responds — not only with denials — but also by promoting numerous different theories and possible explanations. “The main thing is to distract,” he says. “Spread as many different conspiracy theories and alternative explanations as possible, so people think: we don’t really know what’s going on and who’s to know what the facts are.”   And spreading those alternative theories has never been easier, thanks to the internet and social media. We’ll speak via Skype with Lukas Andriukaitis, an analyst with the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, which tracks fake news online.

And we’ll also take a tour behind the scenes of one of the world’s most controversial TV news networks: RT, formerly known as Russia Today, is a Kremlin-funded TV channel that’s broadcast outside of Russia to more than 100 countries, including Canada. The United States has accused RT of being a propaganda weapon for the Kremlin and its American subsidiary was forced to register as a “foreign agent.” We’ll put those allegations to the network’s deputy editor in Moscow, Anna Belkina. 

Contact:

Twitter: @JeffSempleGN

E-mail: [email protected]

Guests:

Julian Lindley-French, Canadian Global Affairs Institute
@FrencLindley

Rasmus Nilsson, University College London
@RNilsson79

Edward Lucas, Center for European Policy Analysis
@EdwardLucas

Lukas Andriukaitis, Digital Forensic Research Lab
@LAndriukaitis

Anna Belkina, Deputy Editor of RT
@Anabelle10021

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On this episode of Russia Rising, we’ll visit Salisbury, England — the historic cathedral city that became the site of the first chemical nerve agent attack on European soil since the Second World War.

The poisoning of former Russian double-agent Sergey Skripal in March 2018 prompted one of the most explosive and controversial allegations facing the Kremlin today: Were Russian secret intelligence agents responsible for the botched assassination? And if so, how could trained Russian spies have been so careless by leaving a trail of evidence for British investigators to follow?

In the search for answers, we’ll return to the scene of the crime and speak with former KGB agent Alexander Vassiliev. Then we talk to Charles Shoebridge, a former British counter-intelligence officer and then we talk to Russian journalist Roman Dobrokhotov, who has spent the past few years investigating Russian GRU activities.

We’ll speak with Dobrokhotov and his counterparts at Bellingcat, a British-based investigative news website, about how they uncovered the true identities of the alleged assassins in Salisbury, one of whom apparently used his real first name and birth date on his fake ID documents and had a vehicle registered to GRU headquarters in Moscow.

The Kremlin denies any involvement in the Skripal poisoning and President Putin has said that the two Russian suspects are innocent and ordinary civilians. We’ll cut through the contradicting claims and examine the evidence, including what it reveals about Russia’s intelligence operations.

Contact:

Twitter: @JeffSempleGN

E-mail: [email protected]

Guests:

Alexander Vassiliev, former KGB Agent

Charles Shoebridge, former British counter-intelligence officer
@ShoebridgeC

Roman Dobrokhotov, Editor in Chief of ‘The Insider’
@Dobrokhotov

Eliot Higgins / Founder of Bellingcat
@EliotHiggins

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On this episode of Russia Rising, we’ll visit the front-lines of a growing cyber-war, where hackers from Russia, Iran, China and other countries are battling for control of everything from your online bank account to your city’s hydro grid.

To understand how these hackers operate, we’ll speak with a guy who used to be one: Alexandr Varskoy is a former Russian hacker. We’ll also explore the underworld of financial crime cyber, by speaking with Nicholas Palmer, the Director of International Business at GroupIB, a private cyber-security firm based in Russia. Finally, we’ll explore Cyber warfare with Satyamoorthy Kabilan a leading expert in cyber security who has advised the Canadian government.

Contact:

Twitter: @JeffSempleGN

E-mail: [email protected]

Guests:

Alexandr Varskoy, former hacker

Nicholas Palmer, the Director of International Business at GroupIB

Dr. Satyamoorthy Kabilan, Vice President, Policy at the Public Policy Forum 

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On this episode of Russia Rising, we’ll take a closer look at the man who has ruled over the world’s largest country for nearly two decades: Vladimir Putin was a poor kid from a tough neighbourhood who became a Russian KGB agent, a billionaire and the country’s longest-serving leader since Stalin. Along the way, he’s also been accused of committing a laundry list of atrocities. To truly understand what motivates Putin — why he does what he does — we need to know where he came from.

To that end, we’ll speak with Arkady Ostrovsky, the Russian editor for the Economist magazine and Steven Lee Myers, a Putin Biographer and veteran journalist with the New York Times.

We’ll explore Putin’s rapid rise to power in an interview with Jeremy Kinsman, Canada’s former ambassador to Russia.

We'll also attempt to answer the question "what is Putin's motivation?" by speaking with a former KGB agent named Alexander Vassiliev. Vassiliev who was recruited by the KGB in the 1980s and attended the same spy training school at around the same time as Putin.

If you enjoy Russia Rising, please take a minute to rate it on Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts, tell us what you think and share the show with your friends.

Contact:

Twitter: @JeffSempleGN

E-mail: [email protected]

Guests:

Arkady Ostrovsky, Russian editor for the Economist magazine, Author of ‘The Invention of Russia’

@ArkadyOstrovsky

Steven Lee Myers, New York Times Correspondent, Author of ‘The New Tsar: The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin’

@stevenleemyers

Jeremy Kinsman, Former Canadian Ambassador to the Russian Federation

Alexander Vassiliev, Former KGB Agent, Co-author of ‘Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America’ 

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