Worldly

Zack, Jenn, and Alex dig into the heat wave wreaking havoc across the Northern Hemisphere, spreading a wildfire in Greece so hot that cars are melting on city streets. They get special science guest Umair Irfan to explain the connection between this heat wave and climate change, and then talk about what we’ve seen this summer as a harbinger of the global disruptions to come as the earth continues to heat up. For Elsewhere, they talk about some rare good news that you may not have heard — the formal end to the 20-years-long conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Zack explains authoritarian stability via a Jurassic Park reference, Jenn gets super excited about collective action problems, and Alex somehow manages to turn the conversation back to North Korea. Umair’s Vox piece mentioned by Jenn about why heat waves are so dangerous. Report talking about sleep detecting air conditioners. Piece mentioned by Alex where a Japanese meteorologist talks about high temperatures becoming the norm. A good piece explaining why greenhouse gases are falling under Trump Recent DOD study on climate related risks to national security. Good article on how Ethiopia and Eritrea found peace after 2 decades of conflict. Worldly has been nominated for this year's People's Choice Podcast Awards! You can vote for our show for free by going to podcastawards.com, or by tapping the link in the show notes. Voting ends on Tuesday, July 31st, so don't wait! Go to podcastawards.com right now to cast your vote for Worldly. 

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Zack, Jenn, and Alex examine the evidence of Russian meddling in the 2016 election — and how much of it President Donald Trump had already been shown before his meeting in Helsinki with Russian President Vladimir Putin. They dig into the Justice Department’s indictment of 12 Russian military intelligence operatives, which came out just before Trump went to Helsinki, and another indictment announced the day of the Helsinki meeting targeting a Russian woman named Maria Butina who allegedly plotted to infiltrate the NRA. For Elsewhere, they look at the unrest in Nicaragua, which has killed some 300 people. Zack tells everyone how to pronounce “Guccifer,” Alex celebrates having gone to the same school as a Russian spy, and Jenn wishes she could dye her hair “red like Mother Russia.” We didn’t go deep into the actual press conference this episode, but if you want to read more about America’s geopolitical suicide, Zack wrote a great piece this week. Alex explained why we didn’t just give things up to Russia — we also didn’t get much in return. Zack mentioned this recent New York times story several times throughout the episode. Jenn talked about Vox writer Andrew Prokop’s breakdown of the Mueller indictment. This is the piece Jenn recommends for anyone who wants to read more about Maria Butina. This is the video of her short interview at FreedomFest Jenn touched on Alexander Torshin momentarily but suggests this for anyone who wants to do a deeper dive. More on Jenn’s point that Russia funded fake Black Lives Matter protests and other fake rallies Jenn gave a shout out to Vox writer Jen Kirby’s roundup of all the times opportunities Trump had to call out Russia for election meddling For Elsewhere, we talk about Nicaragua. For more on that story, Alex suggests this Washington Post piece. Here’s a short Washington Post video of protests in Nicaragua. As Zack promised, some research showing Nicaraguan commitment to democracy The response from Heather Nauert that Jenn paraphrased. Want more Nicaragua coverage? Check out Today, Explained’s episode on the issue. 

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Jenn, official new Worldly co-host Alex Ward, and special guest Dr. Alina Polyakova discuss President Trump’s big NATO summit this week and his upcoming meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump has openly criticized the NATO military alliance and said he wants a better relationship with Russia. But Alina, an expert who studies Europe and Russia, argues the NATO alliance is actually in a lot better shape now than it has been in years. Jenn gets really excited about exclamation marks, Alex makes his debut as an official member of the Worldly crew, and Alina compares Trump’s treatment of NATO allies to an abusive relationship. Links! Here's a primer on NATO, in case you wanted to go into more depth than our quick overview We talked a lot about Russia's relationship with Ukraine in this episode, and about the Baltics. Here's some reading on both of those situations. Here's what we expected from the NATO summit and a good run down of what's actually happened. Alina also has a really good WSJ write up of NATO and the Trump presidency. Looking ahead: Alex recommends this guide to Trump's meeting with Putin. Vote for us in the People's Choice Podcast Awards! 

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Jenn, Zack, and recurring guest 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 Zack’s interview with Ibrar Hussein Mirzai, a young migrant who made the harrowing journey to Hungary from Pakistan, and zoom out to explain how the anti-migration sentiment that made Ibrar’s journey miserable is fueling the biggest challenge to German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government yet. On Elsewhere, they talk about Mexico’s election of a new president — the leftist anti-corruption crusader Andrés Manuel López Obrador (or AMLO, for short). Zack recounts a visit to the heavily policed Hungarian border fence, Jenn pronounces AMLO’s full name correctly, and Alex does his best Thomas Friedman impression. Links: The man we heard from in this episode, Ibrar, was also featured on NPR. You can hear more from him and see a picture of him in that story. An in-depth look at Merkel’s migrant deal from the New York Times. For more context on the Hungary-Germany relationship, Zack recommends this piece. A piece written for Vox about AMLO’s election and what it might mean. You can also hear more about AMLO on Today, Explained. They devoted a whole episode to him and to the Mexican election this week. 

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Jenn sits down with returning guest Alex Ward and special guest Loren DeJonge Schulman, a defense expert at the Center for a New American Security, to talk about why the hell the Pentagon keeps getting caught off guard by big decisions coming from the White House. From Trump canceling military exercises with South Korea to creating a new “space force” to asking the military to prepare to house thousands of immigrant children on US military bases, Secretary of Defense James Mattis seems to be completely out of the loop these days. The gang talks about what that means for Mattis, Trump, and US foreign policy going forward. Jenn imagines Mattis’s inner thoughts, Alex decides that space war is boring, and Loren makes an awesome reference to the Netflix show The Crown. 

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On a special goodbye Worldly — it’s Yochi’s final episode, sadly — he, Jenn, and Zack talk about President Donald Trump’s looming trade war with China, which could soon make it more expensive to buy everything from an iPhone to an air conditioner. The US has imposed tens of billions of dollars worth of tariffs on Chinese imports, Beijing is hitting back, and it’s all heading in a pretty dangerous direction. On Elsewhere, the team says goodbye to Yochi, who’s returning to full-time writing, and celebrates what he’s done for the show. Someone was definitely cutting onions in the studio during the taping of this episode. Throughout the episode, we talk about what a trade war might mean. Zeeshan Aleem wrote a great explainer on this. Jenn walked us through the tariffs back and forth right at the top of the show. You can read more specifics about those tariffs here and here. The Verge also had a great piece about what this might mean for tech manufacturing. More context on the delegation that went to Beijing to talk about tariffs without much success. Here’s a piece that dives into Trump’s rhetoric about Asia and trade going back decades, and one that looks very specifically at what he said about Japan. When Zack said that some people call this IP theft the greatest theft in history, the exact quote was “the greatest transfer of wealth in history.” Yochi also talked about foreign agents and spying more generally.   Jenn mentioned that companies complain about Chinese trade practices. There’s a great Planet Money episode this week that touches on why those companies don’t necessarily say things explicitly. Here’s the piece that Zeeshan wrote a few months ago about disagreements between Trump advisers. Here’s the Washington Post piece about the navy hack and the submarine warfare intelligence that was gathered as a result. Yochi cited a few Republican lawmakers grilling Wilbur Ross on tariffs. Here’s a write up of that grilling, and here’s the full session on C-SPAN.   Yochi shouted out Zack’s writing on manufacturers who have been affected by China. Zack walked us through some of economist David Autor’s research on the effect US-China trade ties have had on American jobs.   We pulled a clip from Trump’s appearance on the Bernie and Sid show and from this interview with Larry Kudlow. And here’s the wild trailer for Death by China. For more trade war content, check out this great Today, Explained episode about the Chinese tariffs and this one, about the tariff fight we’re having with Mexico, Canada, and the EU. This episode of The Indicator and this episode The Daily are also great!   

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On an all-summit episode of Worldly, Zack and Jenn are joined by actual North Korea expert Jeffrey Lewis (host of the Arms Control Wonk podcast) for an in-depth analysis of how the Trump-Kim meeting actually went. They talk about how the US didn’t get very much, while North Korea got exactly what it wanted and more. They also give a somewhat counterintuitive take on how the summit, which led President Donald Trump to cancel US-South Korea military exercises, could actually be good for South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Zack talks about his taste in Batman movies, Jenn gives terrible microwave advice, and Jeff compares North Korean propaganda to Fox News. Our guest, Jeffrey Lewis, is the host of the Arms Control Wonk podcast and the director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies Here’s a good breakdown of the contents of the agreement and some of the winners and losers from this summit. Jenn published a transcript of the summit press conference. We discussed the press conference throughout the podcast. Jeff Lewis mentions that this is not the first time North Korea has made denuclearization agreements. He shouts out a few of those past agreements over the course of the podcast, but here’s a timeline of past agreements, all in one place.   We played a clip from Sean Hannity’s interview with President Trump on Fox News after the Summit in which the president praises Kim Jong Un. When Jeff Lewis was explaining the challenges that a dictator can face at home, he mentioned former Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, who was executed. Jeff also shouts out Michael Wolff’s book, Fire and Fury, when talking about Trump’s trip to Saudi Arabia. We dive deep into South Korean politics in this episode. Here’s a primer on some of that. As Zack and Jeff discussed, North Korean news published a photo of John Bolton and Kim Jong Un shaking hands. Jenn shouted out Yochi’s recent piece about all the ways China is the real winner in this summit. 

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Zack, Jenn, and returning guest Alex Ward talk about the possibilities — and perils — of President Trump’s upcoming nuclear summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore on June 12. On Elsewhere, they discuss the wild story of how Iceland’s soccer team went from being one of the world’s worst to qualifying for the 2018 World Cup. Zack shares memories of his 5-year-old self playing soccer, Jenn does her best Viking war chant, and Alex makes a bold World Cup prediction. Alex will have a piece out early next week at Vox with lots more details about the summit setup. Keep your eyes peeled. In the meantime, here’s his recent piece about the latest rescheduling of the summit. Zack mentioned that the Washington Post’s John Hudson was kicked out of the Capella hotel. Jenn talked about the complicated dance the US and North Korea have been doing around paying for hotel accommodations. Here’s more on that. Alex mentioned that Kim might be worried about a coup back at home during the summit. Jenn talked about Trump’s language after his meeting with Kim Yong Chol, and how he shifted to managing expectations about the summit. You can listen to the announcement he made here. As Alex mentioned, Yochi wrote a great piece about what war with North Korea might look like … just in case you wanted to read up on the worst-case scenario.   Alex also mentioned that National Security Adviser John Bolton has yet to convene a principals committee meeting of the National Security Council. If you want a textual deep dive into the Iceland World Cup underdog story, Alex recommends this Sports Illustrated piece. Alex was not making up Iceland’s meteoric rise in the football rankings. For the full visual effect of the Icelandic announcer freaking out and the Icelandic chant, please enjoy these videos. 

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Yochi, Jenn, and Zack dive into the nuclear standoff between India and Pakistan, one of the most dangerous but least known military conflicts in the world. On Elsewhere, they look at the mysterious case of a Russian journalist who was reportedly murdered at the hands of the Kremlin only to suddenly turn up alive and well. Yochi name drops Led Zeppelin, Jenn name drops some international relations theory, and Zack spoils the TV version of Sherlock. 

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On a special all-North Korea episode of Worldly, Yochi, Jenn, and Zack talk about President Trump’s surprise cancellation of his planned summit with Kim Jong Un — a decision Trump announced literally as the Worldly crew was sitting down to record the podcast. Trump scrapped the meeting in a strangely personal letter to Kim that alternated between reading like the world’s worst breakup note and threatening to use America’s “massive and powerful” nuclear arsenal against the North. We would put jokes down here but it all happened too fast and we’re still processing. References: Trump’s letter to Kim Jong Un canceling the North Korea summit Here’s a piece with more helpful background on the lead-up to this summit collapse, and a longer C-SPAN clip where Trump answered some questions about his thoughts on the summit. We pulled clips of both National Security Adviser John Bolton and Vice President Mike Pence speaking about the Libya model. Jenn mentioned Pete Hegseth on Fox News suggesting that Kim Jong Un “probably doesn't love being the guy that has to murder his people all day long. Probably wants normalization."   Zack mentioned that many international relations scholars see status as a motivator for countries’ actions.   Zack and Yochi went back and forth on previous talks with North Korea. Jenn mentioned Pompeo’s meeting with Kim. Here’s a piece about Kim asking for US investment in North Korea’s economy, and what Pompeo communicated about those meetings. Talking about concessions North Korea has made, Jenn brought up the recent explosion at a North Korean nuclear test site. 

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