Worldly

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 repressive Saudi government either kidnapped or killed him, and is now having to face the consequences. On Elsewhere, they discuss a recent attempt to ban same-sex marriage in Romania that backfired spectacularly. Jenn teaches the team how to pronounce Arabic names, Alex makes the “wah-wah” noise, and Zack is shocked that the show ended on a positive note for once. Vox’s Alexia Underwood wrote a great explainer on the Khashoggi situation. Alexia also recommends this piece with more background on Khashoggi. You can read Khashoggi’s columns in the Washington Post. As Jenn mentioned, the New York Times dug into the identities of the 15 men.   US intelligence reportedly suggests Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered Khashoggi’s rendition to Saudi Arabia Jenn walked us through the larger pattern of disappearing activists. Here are two good pieces that dive into that in more detail, one from the Washington Post and one from the New York Times. We also dove into this in our most recent episode about Saudi Arabia. As Zack mentioned, women who fought for rights in Saudi Arabia were then detained. NPR interviewed Khashoggi about this at the time. The Daily Beast found out that Khashoggi planned to start a pro-democracy group for the Middle East. The blank space where Khashoggi’s column should be. The US may soon place sanctions and enact other punishments on Saudi Arabia. Top US officials — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, National Security Adviser John Bolton, and White House adviser Jared Kushner — have spoken with Mohammed bin Salman about the Khashoggi situation. Jenn cited another piece of pushback — from the tech sector. And from the New York Times. Alex mentioned that a lot of money was spent on the referendum. The number is somewhere between 40 and 50 million dollars. More on previous failed attempts at legalizing same-sex unions in Romania. 

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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 of her party, and the UK and EU are still far apart — and if there’s no resolution, things could get bad for the UK pretty soon. On Elsewhere, they discuss an ironic situation in China: The ruling Communist Party has cracked down on a Marxist student group at the country’s most prestigious university. Zack geeks out on political science research, Jenn discusses high school lock-ins, and Alex throws a water bottle across the room. References: If you want to know the intricacies of the Chequers plan, Jenn recommends this BBC article. Listen to former Brexit Secretary David Davis say that the Chequers plan “is almost worse than being in” the EU here. Alex wrote about Boris Johnson quitting as the UK’s foreign secretary over the Chequers plan. Zack said the best political science shows that people in the UK voted for Brexit mainly because of issues with immigration. Here’s one example of that political science. Migration is good for the UK’s economy, as CNN reports. The Guardian has a few projections of what would happen if there’s no deal on Brexit between the UK and EU. In the worst-case scenario, the Royal Air Force may have to fly food and medicine around the country, aircraft made with UK parts might be grounded, and more. There’s a chance the UK will hold a second referendum on Brexit, as Zack mentioned. Here’s Peking University’s English-language website, where you can check out its School of Marxism. Chinese President Xi Jinping lauded the school for its work on Marxist thought. 

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Zack, Jenn, and Alex discuss President Trump’s massive new escalation in his trade war with China — new tariffs that mean half of all imports from China are now being taxed. They break down how these tariffs will actually affect Americans, Trump’s overall strategy of hurting the Chinese economy, and why this isn’t likely to end well for anyone. On Elsewhere, they chat about the Polish president’s bold new gambit to build a US military base on his soil — and name it Fort Trump. Zack does a Jerry Seinfeld voice, Jenn learns an exciting fact about Jared Kushner’s Amazon search history, and Alex confesses his love for the fashion lobby. References! The statement from the president announcing tariffs. Throughout the episode, we quoted Alex’s reporting; Jenn also referenced Matt Yglesias’s explanation of the trade war. Jenn quoted a guest on Marketplace. To hear the full interview, check out “Tariffs, but make it fashion” from September 17, 2018. Here’s more on how Peter Navarro was hired. This Politico piece digs deeper into Trump’s historical positions on various Asian countries. More details and background on the Fort Trump situation. We discussed Trump’s Saudi Arabia visit and his visit to the Forbidden City. Here’s a former Pentagon official explaining why NATO allies won’t like Trump unilaterally deciding to put a base in Poland. 

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Zack, Jenn, and Alex break down the debate over the legacy of the 9/11 attacks: Did al-Qaeda get what it wanted? On Elsewhere, we look at Russia’s latest bizarre attempt to deflect blame for the UK spy poisoning by posting a questionable interview with the supposed suspects. Zack makes an epistemology joke, Alex negs Salisbury, and Jenn labels Russians a “tropical people.” References: The Foreign Policy article that kicked off this conversation.   During the conversation about torture in the US, Jenn mentioned a Dick Cheney quote and Alex referenced a quote from President Obama. Jenn recommends this article for deeper understanding about al-Qaeda’s goal of bleeding America economically and militarily to convince the country to get out of the Middle East. She also cited this statement of the organization’s goals from 1998. And here’s more on the “Why aren’t we attacking Sweden?” argument. Ayman al-Zawahiri’s Knights Under the Prophet’s Banner recounts his early days in Egypt, and Gilles Kepel’s book Muslim Extremism in Egypt: The Prophet and Pharaoh talks about the history of the jihadi movement in Egypt. And Jenn recommends this article about US counterterrorism assistance to Egypt in the 1990s. More on Jared Kushner’s friendship with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. Jenn read from two Al Qaeda 9/11 anniversary messages, one from 2017 and one from this week. Zack mentioned research into the Iraq war’s role in the 2008 recession, and the fact that people born after 9/11 are now able to enlist. The RT interview that we discussed in Elsewhere. And an explanation of Johny Johny, for listeners fortunate enough to have so far avoided this corner of the internet. 

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Zack, Jenn, and Alex dissect the looming crisis in Idlib, the last big rebel stronghold in Syria, which will soon be the target of a vicious Assad regime offensive. The roughly three million people in the region, many of whom were displaced from previous rounds of fighting, are in dire straits — and it’s not clear what the United States, or the rest of the world, plans to do about any of this. On Elsewhere, they examine former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's improbably woke Twitter account. Zack discusses the intricacies of Soviet propaganda, Jenn tells Trump to call Putin, and Alex invokes the time-honored “whoa if true” maxim. References! We draw on Alex’s reporting for a lot of the first segment. For more, read The looming fight for Idlib, Syria’s last main rebel stronghold, explained. Zack talked about the “siege, starve, surrender” approach. He also mentioned that starvation as a method of warfare is a war crime. A few times over the course of the episode, Alex mentioned the humanitarian crisis brewing in Idlib. He dives into that in his piece, but also recommends this story from the Atlantic. For more on the difficulties that humanitarian groups have faced trying to bring aid to the region, check out this story from Al Jazeera. Alex also referenced the 2017 chemical weapons attack on Khan Shaykhun. Zack drew some comparisons with Libya. To read about that situation in more depth, he recommends this piece. Jenn described President Trump’s interview with the Daily Caller, but you can also read a full transcript. https://dailycaller.com/2018/09/05/full-transcript-trump-daily-caller-interview/ She also mentioned the Putin-Trump press conference in Helsinki. Alex briefly summarized Turkey’s position, but if you want to read further, he recommends this article. For Elsewhere, the team discussed this piece by Vox’s Alexia Underwood about Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Twitter. The SNL digital short Iran So Far is well worth watching. 

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Zack and Alex are joined by a special guest — Weeds host Dara Lind — to discuss the way President Trump makes deals with foreign countries. They break down the big news of the week on nuclear negotiations with North Korea and NAFTA talks with Mexico and Canada, and point to a common thread: Trump announces an agreement that doesn’t actually solve the problem it’s supposed to, and might not even work, forcing his aides to scramble and clean up the mess. Zack channels Jenn while she’s on vacation, Dara explains NAFTA by referencing Avril Lavigne, and Alex explains that 2 and 3 are different numbers. References! We dig into Alex’s reporting this episode. Here’s his full piece on the promises made at the North Korea summit in Singapore. And here are the four points Alex also mentioned. The whole team discussed this piece out of Tokyo Business Today.   Dara’s been on Worldly since, but here’s the episode she mentioned where they talk about the rise of Trump’s war cabinet:   Dara gave us a quick primer on NAFTA, but if you’d like to go into more depth, Zack recommends this piece. Alex started to dig into some of the details about the new NAFTA negotiations. You can read more about those here. As Dara mentioned, the NAFTA “deadline” of Friday is set by an artificial concern: The three countries want to ink a deal with the current president of Mexico, Enrique Peña Nieto, before he leaves office December 1. More on the Canadian and US all-night negotiations that Dara mentioned. Alex and Dara brought up Trump’s beef with Canadian dairy. Zack described this Cabinet meeting, and we heard Jeff Sessions speak.   Dara reminded us that Trump is extremely over Sessions, because he doesn’t think Sessions’s praise is pleasing enough to the ear (apparently the AG “talks like he has marbles in his mouth”). We quoted the final Trump-Clinton debate twice. Here’s a full annotated transcript of that debate. 

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Zack, Jenn, and Alex talk about Trump’s late-night tweet about the alleged persecution of white South African farmers. They explain what’s actually happening in South Africa, how Trump’s take on the situation has its roots in an international white nationalist movement, and how Fox News is helping turn these extreme ideas into actual US foreign policy. On Elsewhere, they discuss the recent revelation that Iran has been engaging in a Russia-style disinformation campaign on social media — and why the US can’t seem to fight back against foreign meddling in its politics. Alex recalls his old AOL screen name, Zack reveals a little too much about what the word “cyber” means to him, and Jenn leavens a dark episode with talk of cute cats and dogs. References: Jenn’s piece on President Trump’s South Africa tweet, which we reference throughout the episode.    Jenn mentioned that experts contest this narrative. Here are several pieces from Quartz, the New Statesman, and the BBC that dig into that idea further. If you’d like to read more about apartheid in South Africa, this Smithsonian piece is a good place to start. We quoted this tweet from President Trump and this tweet from the South African government, and mentioned this Ann Coulter tweet. Jenn touched on the group that pushes this narrative about white South African farmers under attack, but you can read more about them in this HuffPost piece. More background on Charleston, South Carolina, shooter Dylann Roof. Zack gave a shout-out to Carlos Maza’s Strikethrough video about white supremacists and Tucker Carlson. Jenn mentioned this Guardian piece walking through the journey this narrative took from South Africa to the far right. For Elsewhere, we played a clip from this interview with John Bolton. Here’s a deeper dive into the fake Iranian and Russian accounts. Jenn gave a specific example of a fake Iranian account calling out a Republican candidate for Holocaust denial. For more on the Iranian accounts impersonating Bernie Bros, this Daily Beast piece is a good resource. Alex mentioned Stuxnet, and the hacking of both a dam and JP Morgan. Alex also said that various officials feel they have no real directive from the president on cyber initiatives. Here’s more on that.   If you want to know a little more about how vulnerable to cyber threats we really are, Alex recommends this piece. 

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Zack, Jenn, and special guest Matt Yglesias discuss the economic crisis crippling Turkey — and how its feud with the Trump administration over a detained American pastor is making things even worse. On Elsewhere, Jenn and Zack examine the very real and very disturbing pirates of the Caribbean. Zack demonstrates his thorough mastery of Turkish acronyms, Matt challenges Turkey’s right to the biggest airport, and Jenn reveals the lengths she’d go to protect her dog. References: For some background on Erdogan, watch this Vox video on Erdogan’s slide toward authoritarianism. Zack mentioned the history of military coups in Turkey, but we couldn’t go into it in detail. Here’s an in-depth piece with the long, bizarre backstory. A little more on Erdogan’s son-in-law as finance minister. As Zack mentioned, there have been lots of Turkish megaprojects, including an airport and a bridge. The Washington Post article Jenn quoted to describe the situation for people living in Turkey. Jenn talked about Erdogan’s possible deal with Putin. If you want more details, she recommends this Wall Street Journal article. All the ins and outs of the fight over Pastor Brunson that Jenn described. And more information on the tariff hikes and retaliatory measures touched on at the end of the first segment.   We’ve described the situation in Venezuela on Worldly before, but this is also a great Vox video on the collapse of Venezuela. Zack referenced this Washington Post article “They Be Pirates.” And Jenn cited this Bloomberg Businessweek piece about the collapse of Venezuela’s fish industry and how the Venezuelan Coast Guard and National Guard are also getting involved in piracy. 

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Zack, Jenn, and Alex explore the utterly bizarre diplomatic fight between Saudi Arabia and Canada — and why it has everything to do with the ruthless ambition of Saudi’s young new crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman. On Elsewhere, they discuss a big scoop Alex got on what the US is asking from North Korea in their nuclear arms negotiations — and what that tells us about how those negotiations are going (spoiler: not very well). Zack finally grants his Canadian fiancée’s wish to do a Canada episode, Jenn proposes a new location for a Trump hotel, and Alex reveals his unique nickname for the Saudi crown prince. References! Jenn’s piece on the Saudi Arabia-Canada fight (and a shorter, more up-to-date version here) The tweet from the Canadian foreign ministry that kicked things off Jenn specifically described one tweet with an image of a plane flying towards the Toronto skyline, and cited some Washington Post reporting. Here’s an article on the Saudi-owned media outlet al-Arabiya putting out a video calling Jordan Peterson a political prisoner. As we mentioned, there’s a Today, Explained episode that goes into much more depth on Jordan Peterson’s ideology! Zack also wrote a Peterson explainer. For more on the 2014 human rights violations that Alex mentioned, read this executive summary. Zack and Jenn talked about Mohammed bin Salman’s rise to power. Here’s that story in more depth. Sarah Wildman wrote a great piece for Vox last year about Saudi princes being held at a Ritz-Carlton. As Alex mentioned, Saudi Arabia is currently bombing civilians in Yemen and has a diplomatic blockade against Qatar. And just this Thursday, the Saudi-led coalition bombed a school bus full of children in Yemen, killing at least 43 people, at least 29 of whom were children under the age of 15. Jenn quoted this essay from the Globe and Mail at the end of the first segment. We spent most of Elsewhere discussing Alex’s recent North Korea piece. 

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On this week’s episode, Zack, Jenn, and Alex look at the economics behind Trump’s offer to sit down with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. The Iranian economy is in trouble after the US withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal, due to the impending threat of new sanctions; Trump hopes this will pressure the Iranians to come back to the negotiating table, but it might actually backfire. On Elsewhere, they talk about Google’s plan to move into China by building a censored search engine, and the ways tech giants are like mini states. Alex reveals his love of pistachios, Jenn expresses distaste for Bing, and Zack pinpoints the “Iranian carrot.” References! We played a clip from a recent Trump rally in Tampa, Florida. The full rally can be found here. Jenn read a quote from this Chicago Tribune article, which also goes deeper into the Iranian economy. Alex gave us a recap on America’s previous sanctions and the Iran nuclear deal. More details here. He also mentioned that the Iranian currency has dropped dramatically since 2012. In discussing the protests, the team referenced the Green Movement. Zack suggests this research on the effects of sanctions as further reading. The Intercept piece that broke the Google Project Dragonfly story. More on Google’s first go-round in China, and on Operation Aurora. Jenn ran through some censorship specifics. She gave the example of the Winnie the Pooh ban and, more recently, the crackdown on women calling out sexual assault. Alex mentioned that Google employees pushed back against Pentagon contracts. 

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