Worldly

On the first Worldly of 2018, Yochi, Jenn, and Zack talk about what the massive protests in Iran say about the future of the country — and about its tense relationship with the US. The protests have demonstrated a remarkable degree of public anger at both the country’s moderate president and its conservative theocratic government, and could give President Trump a new justification for canceling the landmark Iran nuclear deal later this month. On Elsewhere, they look at a new law in Iceland that makes it illegal for companies to pay their male employees more than they pay their female ones. Yochi rallies after a day home with sick toddlers, Zack shows off his deep knowledge of Icelandic feminism, and Jenn asks for a raise. 

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Yochi, Jenn, and Zack bid a fond farewell to 2017 by looking at what Donald Trump's first year in office says about his approach to the presidency and how he's likely to handle Iran, North Korea, and China in the future. The biggest takeaway is that Trump's words often have little to do with his actions, and that his threats rarely lead to concrete action. The gulf between Trump's rhetoric and his actual policies has confused the leaders of both US allies and US adversaries, raising the risk of a dangerous miscalculation with a country like North Korea. Jenn ends the year with by deftly using the word "braggadocious," Zack literally phones it in from Canada, and Yochi gives a shoutout to the aid workers risking their lives to make the world a better place. 

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In a special Olympics-themed episode of Worldly, Yochi, Jenn, and Zack look at how global politics will shape next year’s Winter Olympics in South Korea in a way that hasn’t been seen since the height of the Cold War. The International Olympic Committee has already banned Russia because of a massive doping scandal, and the nuclear standoff with North Korea could make some countries jittery about sending athletes to the games. Add it all together, and you have the potential for an Olympics like no other. Jenn confesses to a passionate love of figure skating, Zack argues for taking the world’s guns and giving them to Olympic biathletes, and Yochi makes the case for why skeleton is the only sport you should watch. 

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Yochi, Jenn, and Zack look at President Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a move that breaks with decades of US foreign policy -- and that tells us a lot about how Trump makes decisions and how often his actions don't match his tough-guy rhetoric. When it came to the Jerusalem decision, Trump used the least-inflammatory language possible, paid lip service to restarting peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, and made clear that the US embassy wouldn't be moving to the disputed city anytime soon. On Elsewhere, they look at the International Olympics Committee's decision to ban Russia from next year's Winter Games because of a massive doping scandal that involved Russian spies, high-ranking members of the Russian government, and dozens of Russian athletes. Jenn confesses to collecting USSR propaganda posters, Zack reaches deep into his thesaurus, and Yochi explains why vermouth is the drink of choice for female athletes looking to dope themselves to Olympic glory. 

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Yochi, Jenn, and special guest Alex Ward talk about President Trump’s apparent decision to fire Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who will go down as arguably the worst secretary of state in American history. Tillerson will leave the department after cutting large numbers of senior diplomats, ignoring many of those who remained, and being part of an administration that has alienated close allies while cozying up to dictators. The question is whether Tillerson’s likely replacement, CIA Director Mike Pompeo, will be any better — particularly since he is a partisan Republican who defends Trump at every turn, routinely lies about US intelligence, and wants to tear up the Iran nuclear deal. They also talk about North Korea’s test of a new ballistic missile capable of reaching the entire mainland US and the grim reality that the US military would almost certainly be unable to shoot down all the missiles North Korea might launch if war broke out. Yochi compares a powerful Republican senator to a robotic giraffe, Jenn expresses her undying love for and knowledge of what she calls “sportsball,” and Alex busts out the term “killer vehicle” — which, it turns out, does not refer to a really sweet sports car. 

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Yochi, Zack, and special guest Loren DeJonge Schulman discuss President Trump's trip to Asia, where his warm feelings for foreign autocrats and refusal to discuss human rights abuses raise real questions about whether the leader of the world's biggest democracy actually cares much about democracy. Those concerns are magnified by Trump's ongoing calls for a criminal prosecution of Hillary Clinton, a move usually relegated to banana republics, not the US. On Elsewhere, they turn to one of the strangest US military scandals in memory: growing evidence that members of the elite Seal Team 6 killed an American Special Forces soldier who'd found evidence they were embezzling money. Yochi confesses to being a closet video game addict, Zack shares some strong feelings about Henry Kissinger, and Loren battles a Sudafed-fueled high. 

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Yochi, Jenn and Zack talk about the shocking purge in Saudi Arabia, where the country's young and ambitious crown prince has abruptly begun arresting his relatives and seizing billions of dollars of their money. The move is a clear sign that 32-year-old Mohammed bin Salman, the heir apparent to the Saudi throne, is consolidating power and eliminating possible rivals. Salman has made some relatively progressive moves, like allowing Saudi women to drive. The problem is that the prince has also escalated Saudi Arabia's bloody war in Yemen and launched a diplomatic crisis with one of its neighbors that shows no signs of stopping. On Elsewhere, they look at how far Chinese leaders have gone to flatter Trump while he visits Beijing, including cannons, dancing Chinese schoolchildren, and a private tour of the Forbidden City. Zack has a hot take about the rulers of Saudi Arabia (hint: he's not a fan), Jenn has business advice for a Saudi hotel, and Yochi nerds out on Game of Thrones. Zack’s article on MBS’ false progressivism Zeeshan’s piece on flattery from world leaders 

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Jenn is back, and she joins Yochi and Zack to talk about what the terror attack in New York says about the true ISIS threat to the US. With ISIS on the run in Iraq and Syria, the sad reality is that the group will double down on its efforts to find would-be terrorists who live abroad and are willing to kill in its name. And that means more attacks on American and European cities are inevitable as militants like Sayfullo Saipov study ISIS propaganda and adopt the group's dark worldview. On Elsewhere, they return to Iraqi Kurdistan to look at the political fallout from a catastrophic independence referendum that has now caused the resignation of the most powerful man in northern Iraq. Zack makes a surprising soccer reference, Jenn defends Uzbekistan, and a listener says Yochi sounds like the villain on "Criminal Minds." 

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Yochi, Zack, and special guest Loren DeJonge Schulman of the great podcast Bombshell talk about the deaths of four US soldiers in Niger in October, a tragedy at the center of a nasty political fight between President Trump and a grieving military widow. They discuss what those troops were doing there, why no one in the military seems to understand how the mission went so wrong, and how America’s military presence in Africa is quietly growing in both size and risk without public debate or much Congressional oversight -- a dynamic that means these won't be the last US troops to die fighting a shadow war in an African nation. On Elsewhere, we try something new — a dispatch from a wind farm in Puerto Rico that Yochi visited earlier this month while looking into the island's decimated power grid. 

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Yochi, Jenn, and Zack look at why Washington’s two biggest allies in the fight against ISIS are squaring off over the future of Kirkuk, an oil-rich city in northern Iraq. Kurdish fighters took control of Kirkuk three years ago and have held it ever since — until this week, when the Iraqi central government sent troops to take the city back. Now the question is what comes next for both Kirkuk and Iraq as a whole. On Elsewhere, they look at Sebastian Kurz, the 31-year-old Austrian politician who is to become his country’s next chancellor — and the youngest leader in the world. The most interesting thing about Kurz isn’t his age; it’s that he will likely lead a coalition that also includes a far-right party known for its harshly anti-immigration and anti-Muslim policies. That leads to a debate over Zack’s theory that successful political movements require young, attractive leaders — and whether Kurz looks more like one of the Trump children or a character on Mr. Robot. 

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