Japanese athletes are winning more medals and the country is getting more COVID-19 infected people. This is a current reality of the Tokyo Olympics. What is the media image of the Games in Japan? What do people think about the situation and will it affect the politics in the country as the parliamentary elections will take place in October? Political scientist Yuki Shiraito thinks that at this moment people do not have a clear opinion about the Games. Our conversation took place on Monday afternoon Japanese time so he was also able to update me in a real time about the successes of Japanese athletes but also about the increased number of the COVID-19 cases. Dr. Shiraito is Assistant Professor of Political Science, Faculty Associate of the Center for Political Studies, and Faculty Member of the Center for Japanese Studies at the University of Michigan. Listen to our conversation.

The Forbidden Stories consortium and Amnesty International had access to records of phone numbers selected by Israeli NSO Group clients in more than 50 countries since 2016. An unprecedented leak of more than 50,000 phone numbers shows how NSO's technology, commonly known as the Pegasus spyware, has been systematically abused for years. As The Forbidden Stories and Amnesty emphasize, potential targets include human rights defenders, academics, businesspeople, lawyers, doctors, union leaders, diplomats, politicians and several heads of states. Among them was also a Hungarian investigative journalist Szabolcs Panyi. His outlet Direkt36 belongs to The Pegasus Project media partners. How did he find out that he was under surveillance? Did he change his life? Why is he not surprised that Viktor Orbán's government was using the Pegasus spyware? And what does he think about the responsibility of the Israeli government? Listen to our conversation.

It's the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attack by Norwegian far-right extremist Anders Breivik. On July 22, 2011 he detonated a car bomb outside the prime minister's office in Oslo. The explosion killed eight people. Brevik than drove to Utøya island where he shoot 69 people who gathered at a Labour Party youth camp. His victims were mostly kids. Breivik ended up behind bars, perhaps indefinitely. But what does he mean for the violent far right scene? How has this scene evolved? And can we expect another attack, similar to Breviks's? I talked to Professor Matthew Feldman, Director of the Centre for Analysis of the Radical Right. Listen to our conversation.

The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) just came out with a report Cyber Capabilities and National Power: A Net Assessment. The countries covered in this report are the US, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, France, Israel, China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam. The IISS has divided the 15 states into three tiers of cyber power. But taking into account the methodology of the report, only in the US merits inclusion into the first tier. But how does America behave in cyberspace? Does it prefer cooperation with allies or perhaps not that much? And what about China and Russia? I had a chance to talk about the report and related topics with Greg Austin who leads the Cyber, Space and Future Conflict Programme at the IISS. Do you want to know what his biggest concern is regarding what the big powers are doing in cyberspace? Listen to our conversation.

Evil reigns in Poland and we want to fight it. That's reason enough, you don't need any other justification. Those are the words of Donald Tusk aimed at the ruling Law and Justice Party. Polish ex- Prime Minister and former President of the European Council will give up his role as president of the European People's Party to be able to fully engage in Polish affairs and to run the opposition Civic Platform party. But how much does Tusk still understand the Polish politics? What can he bring into a political arena except a heavy criticism of the Law and Justice? Just attacking Law and Justice might not be enough for Tusk to be successful. That's what Professor of Politics and Contemporary European Studies at the University of Sussex Aleks Szczerbiak thinks. He even said that the Law and Justice and its leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski are perhaps pleased with Tusk being back. Listen to our conversation.

The Chinese Communist Party was founded in July 1921. What is the brightest and what about the darkest hour of the CPP, and why? Is the party ashamed of something? And how long will Xi Jinping rule the Party and the country? About the CCP’s past, present and future, I talked to Rory Truex. He is an Assistant Professor in Princeton's Department of Politics and School of Public and International Affairs and the author of the book Making Autocracy Work: Representation and Responsiveness in Modern China. Why does he compare China's history to a pendulum? And what does he think about the Cold War with Beijing? Listen to our conversation.

Can Spain's divisions be settled? "It's best for Catalonia and for Spain and it's in accord with the Spanish Constitution. The government will work for understanding and not for confrontation." This is what Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez said when he announced a pardon for nine Catalan leaders serving prison sentences for their roles in Catalonia's 2017 independence referendum. But what does this move mean for Catalan and Spanish politics? I talked to Alejandro Quiroga, a research professor at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Listen to our conversation.

We, the Heads of State and Government of the 30 NATO Allies, have gathered in Brussels to reaffirm our unity, solidarity, and cohesion, and to open a new chapter in transatlantic relations, at a time when the security environment we face is increasingly complex. This is how the communiqué from the NATO summit that took place on June 14th starts. The document should direct the Alliance towards an updated Strategic Concept. NATO acknowledges that it faces  multifaceted threats, systemic competition from assertive and authoritarian powers,  as well as growing security challenges to its countries and its citizens from all strategic directions. Russia, China, cyber, hybrid, and other asymmetric threats, rapid advances in the space domain or the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction are mentioned in the communiqué. Climate change is called a threat multiplier that impacts Alliance security. Why is NATO talking about all those challenges? And what steps will the Alliance take to address them? I talked to Dr. Benedetta Berti, a foreign policy and security researcher, analyst, consultant, author and lecturer. She serves as Head of Policy Planning in the Office of the Secretary General at NATO. Our discussion took place at GLOBSEC 2021 conference in Bratislava. Listen to our conversation.

Speculations about his death were hugely exaggerated in the past, but it seems that the leader of Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram Abubakar Shekau is  really dead. What does it mean for the organization that it's known for its brutality? Will the possible collapse of Boko Haram strengthen a rival group The Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP)? And BTW, if Shekau is finally dead, what about the persistent rumors that the leader of Al-Qaeda Ayman al-Zawahiri has also died? I have tried to unwrap those issues when talking to Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a founder and chief executive officer of Valens Global and the author of Bin Laden's Legacy, the book I can only recommend. Listen to our conversation.

American President Joe Biden will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin. Their summit takes place in Geneva on June 16. But does this meeting make any sense? Will it make any difference? Should it make any difference? And what to expect from Biden and from Putin? My questions were answered by Tom Nichols, U.S. Naval War College professor, and an adjunct at the U.S. Air Force School of Strategic Force Studies and the Harvard Extension School. He is also a columnist for USA Today, a contributing writer at The Atlantic, and an author of the book The Death of Expertise and of the incoming book Our Own Worst Enemy. What would be his advice for Biden before the summit? Listen to our conversation.