Worldly

By Vox

Society & Culture History

What's Worldly about?

We live in a confusing time, bombarded every day with news from around the world that can be hard to follow, or fully understand. Let Worldly be your guide. Every Thursday, senior writer Zack Beauchamp, senior foreign editor Jennifer Williams, and staff defense writer Alex Ward give you the history and context you need to make sense of the moment and navigate the world around you. Produced by Vox and the Vox Media Podcast Network.

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The Amazon is on fire

08.22.2019

In Jenn’s and Alex’s absence, Zack is joined by Umair Irfan, a climate change reporter at Vox, to talk about the wildfires raging in Siberia, Greenland, and — most worryingly — the Amazon rainforest. They explain why preserving the health ...

Worldly episodes:

08.22.2019 The Amazon is on fire In Jenn’s and Alex’s absence, Zack is joined by Umair Irfan, a climate change reporter at Vox, to talk about the wildfires raging in Siberia, Greenland, and — most worryingly — the Amazon rainforest. They explain why preserving the health ...
08.15.2019 INF'd Zack, Jenn, and Alex discuss the recently deceased Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty — a Cold War-era agreement that was supposed to stop the US and Russia from putting destabilizing missiles too close to each other. They explain where the treaty ...
08.08.2019 India’s power grab in Kashmir Zack, Jenn, and Alex talk about India’s decision to revoke Article 370 of its constitution, the provision giving special status to the majority-Muslim state of Jammu and Kashmir, a decision that has sparked a political crisis with Pakistan. The Worldly ...
08.01.2019 Are the US and Turkey heading for a divorce? Zack, Jenn, and Alex break down the tension between the US and one of its major NATO allies, Turkey. The most recent fight is over Turkey’s purchase of a Russian missile system, but that’s emblematic of a much deeper rift ...
07.31.2019 Introducing Land of the Giants Land of the Giants is a new podcast from Recode and the Vox Media Podcast Network about the five major technology companies (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google – or “FAANG”) that have reshaped our world. Each season focuses on ...
07.25.2019 Boris and Brexit Zack and Jenn are joined by Jen Kirby, Vox’s chief Brexit correspondent, to discuss the UK’s new prime minister: Boris Johnson. They trace his rise to power, his political persona that is both funny and troubling, and his distinct lack ...
07.18.2019 Meet the Space Force Alex Ward joins The Weeds' Jane Coaston and Matt Yglesias to explain Trump's more-tedious-than-it-sounds plan for military domination of the final frontier.Recommended reading:“Trump really, really wants troops in space” by Alex Ward“Trump wants a ‘Space Force.’ We have many questions.” ...
07.11.2019 A very special relationship episode Zack, Jenn, and Alex discuss the saga of Kim Darroch, the recently-resigned UK Ambassador to the US. Some of Darroch’s private cables back home, where he referred to President Trump as “inept” (among other things), were leaked and published in ...
07.04.2019 Under pressure (Live!) The long-awaited Worldly live episode is here! In a taping at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Zack, Alex, and Jenn discuss the notion of “maximum pressure” — a phrase coined to describe Trump’s North Korea policy that has ...
06.27.2019 The Democratic (foreign policy) debate It’s a Democratic debate special! Zack, Jenn, and Alex break down the big foreign policy issue dividing the candidates: whether the liberal international order the United States set up after World War II is working, and what reforms are necessary ...
06.20.2019 How close are we to war with Iran? Zack and Alex break down the past few weeks of worrying news about Iran. They discuss (what seem to be) Iranian attacks on oil tankers, Iran announcing that it was thinking about breaking the terms of the nuclear deal, and ...
06.13.2019 The fight to save Hong Kong Zack, Jenn, and Alex discuss the huge protests in Hong Kong that erupted over a controversial amendment to the city’s extradition law — and why the fight is really about protecting the city’s freedoms from Beijing’s attempts to repress them. ...
06.12.2019 Jamestown: Utopian for Whom? Nice Try! is a new podcast from Curbed and the Vox Media Podcast Network that explores stories of people who have tried to design a better world, and what happens when those designs don't go according to plan. Season one, ...
06.06.2019 Bloodshed in Sudan Jenn and Alex explain how months-long protests to oust a brutal dictator in Sudan, once so hopeful, have fallen victim to a bloody repression campaign. After initial peaceful talks, a government-linked paramilitary group decided to attack demonstrators, killing as many ...
05.30.2019 European Dis-union Jenn, Alex, and special guest Jen Kirby (who goes by Kirby in our shows) explain the shocking results of the European parliamentary elections. The world's second-largest exercise in democracy produced big wins for Europe's left-wing Green Party, some gains for ...
05.23.2019 Collusion in Austria Zack, Jenn, and Alex break down how a six-hour video of a far-right party leader drinking in Ibiza brought down Austria’s government. The story involves a fake Russian oligarch’s niece, a far-right party founded by former Nazis, and a plot ...
05.16.2019 The art of trade war Zack, Jenn, and Alex examine Trump’s trade war with China, which appears to be back on after negotiations failed to produce a deal. They run through how we got here, what’s happened so far in terms of escalating tit-for-tat tariffs, ...
05.09.2019 Slouching towards an Iran war Zack, Jenn, and Alex talk about a scary rise in tensions between the US and Iran in the past week — a (possibly inflated) Iranian plot against American troops in the Middle East, and an Iranian announcement of plans to ...
05.02.2019 Venezuela’s phantom coup Zack, Jenn, and Alex discuss the strange non-coup in Venezuela this week. Juan Guaidó, the parliament leader the US considers the country’s legitimate president, claimed the military was about to overthrow actual President Nicolás Maduro in a Tuesday video — ...
04.25.2019 Trump is stoking a civil war in Libya Zack, Jenn, and Alex talk about the recent violence in Libya — where a militia led by strongman Khalifa Haftar is threatening to topple the internationally recognized government. They explain how we got to this point, and the depressing role ...
04.18.2019 Maybe collusion, probably obstruction [Special Crossover Edition] Ezra Klein joins Zack, Jenn, and Alex in a crossover episode with The Weeds on Robert Mueller’s just-released report. They explain the special counsel's main findings on collusion with Russian election interference and on obstruction of justice and why they ...
04.11.2019 The end of the two-state solution? Zack, Jenn, and Alex discuss the results of Tuesday’s election in Israel, which are set to give incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a fifth term in office. They explain why his end-of-campaign promise to annex Jewish settlements in the West ...
04.04.2019 Brunei just made gay sex punishable by death Zack, Jenn, and Alex discuss the wealthy authoritarian nation of Brunei’s horrific new criminal code, in which men who have sex with men can be executed by stoning. They delve into the possible reasons Brunei’s sultan is adopting this code, ...
03.28.2019 The latest Israel Gaza flare-up Zack, Jenn, and Alex break down the latest round of fighting between Israel and militants based in the Gaza Strip. They run through how it started, the reasons why it may or may not escalate, and what it tells us ...
03.21.2019 Understanding the New Zealand attack Zack, Jenn, and Alex delve into the dark far-right echo chamber that seemingly motivated the New Zealand mosque shooter. They talk about the French origins of apocalyptic theories about nonwhites and Muslims overrunning the West, how those ideas went global, ...
03.15.2019 Introducing Switched on Pop Vox takes culture seriously. Our coverage seeks to understand how our cultural touchstones work -- and what they reveal about who we are.That's why we’re excited to introduce you to Switched on Pop. It's a podcast that digs into the ...
03.14.2019 Algeria’s election, UK’s rejection Zack, Jenn, and Alex discuss the big-deal political developments in Algeria — where longtime ruler Abdelaziz Bouteflika has decided not to run for a fifth presidential term. The decision was a big victory for a protest movement in the authoritarian ...
03.07.2019 D'oh Canada Zack, Jenn, and Alex talk about the major political scandal rocking Canada in which top officials, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, may have pressured the attorney general to rule in favor of a powerful Canadian company facing criminal charges. For ...
02.28.2019 Four countries, two nuclear crises Zack, Jenn, and Alex break down the week’s big nuclear news — the US-North Korea summit in Vietnam and the recent round of hostilities between India and Pakistan. They go over the nitty-gritty of Trump’s somewhat surprising failure to strike ...
02.21.2019 Four songs that help explain the world This week’s show takes all four of our popular Elsewhere music segments and puts them together in one special episode! Zack, Jenn, and Alex take you through a range of different acts: pioneering K-pop artists, a dissident Turkish Marxist band, ...
02.14.2019 Brexit’s biggest hurdle: Ireland Zack and Jenn are joined by Jen Kirby, one of Vox’s foreign affairs reporters, to discuss what has emerged as the biggest hurdle to the Brexit process: the border between the Republic of Ireland and British-controlled Northern Ireland. They go ...
02.07.2019 How America’s longest war might finally end Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
01.31.2019 Trump’s intelligence failure Zack, Jenn, and Alex break down a new intelligence report that directly contradicts President Trump’s views on key policy issues from ISIS to climate change. The report caused Trump to blast his own spies on Twitter, writing that “Perhaps Intelligence ...
01.24.2019 Venezuela has two presidents Zack, Jenn, and Alex break down the political crisis in Venezuela — a country in economic free fall where two men are each claiming to be the sole legitimate president. They run through 20 years of Venezuelan history, explaining how ...
01.17.2019 Bollocks to Brexit This week, Zack, Jenn, and Alex break down the UK parliament’s very big, very bizarre week of voting. On Tuesday, Parliament rejected Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal by a huge margin; on Wednesday, they voted to keep May in ...
01.10.2019 One of the world’s worst dictators is facing an uprising This week, Zack, Jenn, and Alex discuss the burgeoning protest movement against Sudan’s longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir. Bashir, who was responsible for the Darfur genocide and once sheltered Osama bin Laden, did not face a major uprising during the 2011 ...
01.03.2019 Trump's surprise troop withdrawal Zack, Jenn, and Alex discuss what President Donald Trump’s surprise decision to withdraw US troops from Syria means for that country, ISIS, and Iran. After all, nobody — including leading US officials and America’s allies — really wants Trump to ...
12.27.2018 One refugee’s story in Hungary In this re-run Jenn, Zack, and Alex Ward discuss Europe’s political meltdown over migration, which Zack got a firsthand look at during a trip to Hungary last week funded by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. They start by airing ...
12.20.2018 Hindsight is 2018 Zack, Jenn, and Alex wrap up 2018 by looking back at three of the most dramatic foreign policy decisions President Trump made in 2018 — and whether, in retrospect, they turned out to be as dramatic as we’d initially thought. ...
12.13.2018 It was China, in the Marriott database, with the hack Zack and Jenn discuss the massive hack of Marriott, in which the information of as many as 500 million people was stolen. China appears to be the culprit — part of a broader cyber assault on US institutions that amounts ...
12.06.2018 2 French 2 Furious Zack, Jenn, and Alex discuss the protests currently raging in France. They began as a reaction to President Emmanuel Macron’s gas tax hike, but have evolved into a much wider rebuke of his allegedly elitist, out-of-touch presidency. For Elsewhere, they ...
11.29.2018 A trio of unlikely senators work to stop the Yemen war Zack, Jenn, and Alex discuss the Senate’s historic War Powers vote on Wednesday, the first step toward reining in US participation in Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen. The US has been supporting Saudi Arabia with weapons and intelligence for years, ...
11.22.2018 The case for (and against) open borders On Future Perfect, Vox’s Dylan Matthews tackles provocative ideas with the potential to radically improve the world – ideas like opening up our borders. One of the most reliable, best-documented ways to lift someone in a poor country out of ...
11.15.2018 China’s “concentration camps” for Muslims Zack and Alex are joined by James Palmer, an editor at Foreign Policy magazine, to discuss a terrible and under-discussed humanitarian crisis: China’s repression of its Uighur Muslim minority. In Xinjiang province, where most Uighurs live, China has set up ...
11.08.2018 Jeff Sessions is out. Is Robert Mueller next? Zack, Jenn, and Alex break down the implications of President Donald Trump firing Attorney General Jeff Sessions, both for the Russia investigation and for the rule of law. On Elsewhere, they discuss how the Democratic takeover of the House could ...
11.01.2018 Why fringe groups are winning around the world Jenn, Alex, and returning special guest Alina Polyakova discuss what a presidential election in Brazil and a stunning political announcement in Germany have in common: the collapse of centrist leadership worldwide. The center-left and center-right have broadly governed world affairs ...
10.25.2018 Duck and cover Zack, Jenn, and Alex address one of the world’s biggest threats: nuclear war. There’s a small but still very real chance that nuclear weapons will be used in our lifetimes; the gang discusses how that could happen — and what ...
10.18.2018 A murder and an outbreak On a special episode of Worldly with two main segments, Zack talks with Alex about the latest in the Jamal Khashoggi saga and then interviews Vox health writer Julia Belluz on the worrying Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of ...
10.11.2018 Where is Jamal Khashoggi? Zack, Jenn, and Alex discuss the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, a prominent Saudi dissident-in-exile and Washington Post columnist. Khashoggi went into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to get some paperwork, and then never came out; it’s looking like the increasingly ...
09.27.2018 The looming Brexit catastrophe Zack, Jenn, and Alex discuss the state of Brexit: The United Kingdom’s ongoing negotiation over the terms of its departure from the European Union. The process has involved months of turmoil between UK Prime Minister Theresa May and hardline members ...

Older episodes

Worldly

What's Worldly about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Worldly episodes:

The Amazon is on fire

INF'd

India’s power grab in Kashmir

Are the US and Turkey heading for a divorce?

Introducing Land of the Giants

Boris and Brexit

Meet the Space Force

A very special relationship episode

Under pressure (Live!)

The Democratic (foreign policy) debate

How close are we to war with Iran?

The fight to save Hong Kong

Jamestown: Utopian for Whom?

Bloodshed in Sudan

European Dis-union

Collusion in Austria

The art of trade war

Slouching towards an Iran war

Venezuela’s phantom coup

Trump is stoking a civil war in Libya

Maybe collusion, probably obstruction [Special Crossover Edition]

The end of the two-state solution?

Brunei just made gay sex punishable by death

The latest Israel Gaza flare-up

Understanding the New Zealand attack

Introducing Switched on Pop

Algeria’s election, UK’s rejection

D'oh Canada

Four countries, two nuclear crises

Four songs that help explain the world

Brexit’s biggest hurdle: Ireland

How America’s longest war might finally end

Trump’s intelligence failure

Venezuela has two presidents

Bollocks to Brexit

One of the world’s worst dictators is facing an uprising

Trump's surprise troop withdrawal

One refugee’s story in Hungary

Hindsight is 2018

It was China, in the Marriott database, with the hack

2 French 2 Furious

A trio of unlikely senators work to stop the Yemen war

The case for (and against) open borders

China’s “concentration camps” for Muslims

Jeff Sessions is out. Is Robert Mueller next?

Why fringe groups are winning around the world

Duck and cover

A murder and an outbreak

Where is Jamal Khashoggi?

The looming Brexit catastrophe

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