Exit Strategy

I speak to writer and journalist, Chris Olaoluwa Ògúnmọ́dẹdé, about Russia's influence in West Africa, Western reporting on elements like Chinese investment, Wagner Group, and the Russian State, and how all of these have been changing over the last few years within the context of the  Ukraine War.  Chris Olaoluwa Ògúnmọ́dẹdé is an associate editor for World Politics Review. He specializes in diplomacy, development and international security, with a specialist focus on West African history, political institutions and foreign relations. His areas of interest include governance, elections, military dictatorships, comparative authoritarianism, trade and regional integration, migration, diasporism and social movements in Africa, with a focus on the West Africa region. His coverage of African politics, international relations and security has appeared in War on The Rocks, Mail & Guardian, The Republic, Africa is a Country and other publications. Follow him on Twitter at @Illustrious_Cee.

Daniel Studies studied anthropology and archaeology at the University of California, Berkeley, and at the University of Aix-Marseille in France, obtaining his Ph.D. in 1981, and has lectured at UC Berkeley, University of Nairobi, University of Paris X and Oxford University, focusing on past and present human ecology and evolution. Since 1983 Stiles worked in land and natural resource management at UNEP, UNDP, UNICEF and the UN Research Institute for Social Development up to 1997, shifting into contemporary wildlife trade research in 1999, beginning with ivory and branching out to rhino horn, pangolin scales, big cat products and live great apes. These investigations led Stiles to the Internet and social media platforms, where hehas uncovered hundreds of accounts dealing in all manner of illegal wildlife. We talk about his past work, what it's like setting up sting operations throughout Africa and Southeast Asia to combat illegal wildlife trafficking and sales, and where the big advocacy groups fall short on primates. He also provides a fascinating presentation that can be seen during our discussion on video at: Patreon at www.patreon.com/ExitStrategyShow. Resource links provided from Stiles:  The GI-TOC report: https://globalinitiative.net/analysis/great-ape-trafficking/.   Methodology video that was played: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ybphe2nteeli654/methodology.MOV?dl=0   Stiles' former PEGAS project: https://freetheapes.org   This is the UN report that activated Stiles: http://www.grida.no/publications/191.    Additional: https://gitoc.heysummit.com/talks/great-ape-trafficking/

Eduardo Soteras Jalil (Twitter: @edusoteras) (IG: @edusonico) (web: https://www.eduardosoteras.com) is a self-taught Argentinian photographer who has covered a variety of news and conflicts from behind the lens.  In 2009 he worked in Mexico documenting the migration route of Central Americans to the United States that became his book El Camino. In 2014 he fell in love with Gaza and its people, then the bombings started but he decided to stay, creating two projects What Remains and Gaza Mode d'Emploi, which was published by Le Courrier International and Granta magazine. His work is represented by Neutral Grey Agency (France). he most recently returned from covering conflicts in the Congo and then Tigray, where his latest photo from that conflict won the first prize at this year's UNICEF Photo of the Year award with his image of two children in a partially destroyed primary school library in Ethiopia's war-torn Tigray region, taking solace in books.  He is currently based in Nairobi, working as a freelance photographer and an AFP contributor. *** Please consider supporting this project at www.patreon.com/exitstrategyshow or through a one-time donation through Venmo @ExitStrategyShow. Exit Strategy is brought to you by Jody Ray, writer and journalist interesting in discovering more of the world through political conflict, culture, and cuisine. 

Kendra Jones examines the future. Through Laka Consulting, Jones speaks, writes, and educates on leadership and futures studies topics such as emerging, intertwined trends, technology, power, and how things change. She has worked internationally with Fortune 100 companies, government agencies, and non-profit organizations across industries. We spoke about her time tracking and writing around emerging technology on the US-Mexico border, border security, and how this relates to futurism and future studies.  Read her article at Palladium here. Follow her on Twitter here. Or connect with Kendra at Laka Consulting. 

I speak to Brian Fairbanks, author of WIZARDS: David Duke, America's Wildest Election, and the Rise of the Far Right.  On October 19, 1991, former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke stunned the world by defeating Louisiana's centrist governor in the primary and vaulting himself into a runoff against corrupt, but popular, former governor Edwin Edwards. Official Democratic and Republican campaigns had mistakenly seen Duke as a Republican longshot. When his campaign later lost the general election in a landslide, many assumed that Duke and his white supremacy movement were in permanent retreat. They were very, very wrong. Brian Fairbanks examines Duke's rise and and how it foreshadowed the political ascendency of Donald Trump. With gripping detail, he shows how the Far Right took control of the local and federal government with Duke's message. It's a full history that shows where the Republican Party has been, and offers a warning about where it's going. To do this, Fairbanks follows Beth Rickey, a little-known social justice activist and elected Republican official, who sacrificed her career to warn the country about Duke and his followers.

The pandemic changed the way we work forever. As many companies were already in the progress of making their digital transformation, so to was its labor force becoming new remote workers, telecommuting employees, and digital nomads. The new situation in which people began working from anywhere took form, now forcing us to ask questions about what it really means to be a citizen of a country. I spoke with Lauren Razavi, the Director of Special Projects at SafetyWing, where she leads the Plumia mission to build a country on the internet. Would you leave your old citizenship behind to become a citizen of an intangible, borderless internet country? Is this some libertarian wet dream? What is the foreign policy of an internet country? Domestic policy? Why this? Why now? Razavi answers all of this in the last Exit Strategy podcast of the year. Enjoy!

I spoke to Emile Ghesson, a British conflict documentary journalist and reporter who bridges the gap between conflict reporting and entertainment filmmaking. Ghesson was recruited to the elite Royal Marine Commandos as a young man and has since toured action in Afghanistan and Iraq theaters. He now shoots documentaries in conflict zones, most recently Syria and Armenia. We talked about his previous work, what it's like making film in conflict zones, and what he is about to begin filming next.  ★★★ THIS EPISODE WAS BROUGHT TO YOU BY MY PRODUCER PATREONS: ◉ MICHAEL WRIGHT - Producer ◉ ALAN SIMPSON - Producer ◉ SHAYLYN BROUSSARD - Producer ◉ NICOLE FAURE - Producer ★★★ Exit Strategy Podcast is a #podcast about #geopolitics, #conflict, and the illicit political economy, and discusses some of the lesser known topics in international affairs with real experts like journalists, academics, conflict reporters, Human Rights activists, political dissidents, authors, and more. Please consider supporting this 100% ad-free podcast where most podcasts are found. By supporting long-form conversation about geopolitics, you are advancing fascinating and thought-provoking conversations toward an effort to better create a more informed and worldly citizenry. LISTEN // WATCH // SUPPORT: ► Venmo: @ExitStrategyShow ► Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ExitStrategyShow ► Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/yc5kvdcj ► iTunes: https://tinyurl.com/4tcmcssb ► Google Podcasts: https://tinyurl.com/3ccbb9s4 ► Linktree: https://linktr.ee/exitstrategyofficial

The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) is a disaggregated data collection, analysis, and crisis mapping project that collects information on the dates, actors, locations, fatalities, and types of all reported political violence and protest events around the world. I spoke with the creator, Clionadh Raleigh, a Professor of Political Violence and Geography at the University of Sussex. Since 2014, ACLED has operated as a non-profit, non-governmental organization incorporated in the USA. In 2022, ACLED expanded coverage to the entire world, collecting data in real time and publishing weekly updates. So far, ACLED has recorded a total of more than one million individual events globally. IMPORTANT NOTE: VISIT https://youtu.be/sGQdXoodoRE to find the FULL video FREE on YouTube that showcases ACLED in action. Please also visit and subscribe to that channel - EXIT STATEGY TV, a channel dedicated to my personal coverage of culture, conflict, and cuisine at: http://www.youtube.com/@exitstrategytv 

James Barnett is a research fellow at Hudson Institute, based in Lagos, Nigeria, where he studies conflict, terrorism, and geopolitics in Africa. He has worked extensively in conflict environments across Nigeria, studied and traveled widely in East Africa and the Middle East, and reported from Ukraine during the 2022 Russian invasion. His writing has appeared in publications such as Foreign Policy, New Lines Magazine, War on the Rocks, African Arguments, and the Los Angeles Review of Books as well as research journals such as West Point's CTC Sentinel. NOTES: James Barnett's article on meeting the bandits: https://newlinesmag.com/reportage/the-bandit-warlords-of-nigeria/   James Barnett's study with Murtala Rufai and Abdulaziz Abdulaziz debunking the myth that bandits and jihadists are working closely together: https://ctc.usma.edu/northwestern-nigeria-a-jihadization-of-banditry-or-a-banditization-of-jihad/   The Trust TV documentary on banditry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3ywVlS8zGM

Stephen Mutinda Mutuku is a teacher, youth leader, and activist who lives and works in Northern Kenya. This area is vast and rural, with poor roads and infrastructure, leaving a very small footprint for the Kenyan state and local police to address crime and other forms of violence that regularly occurs in these northern communities. Though these crimes are not large enough to be understood as an intra-state "conflict" by most conflict analysts, it is certainly coordinated and widespread, representing to some degree a challenge to state authority that is headquartered in Nairobi, over 500 miles away.  Cattle rustling has been cited as the main cause of insecurity in places like Marsabit, where I spoke to Mr. Mutuku by phone. This practice undermines the security protocols that are aimed at ending killings and banditry in Kenya's largest county by land mass. Civilians have died in the north as a result of this violence, and, according to the Marsabit County Commissioner, is its primary security concern. From the state's perspective, cattle rustling isn't isn't only a crime but a deeply entrenched retrogressive tradition among the pastoralist communities. In a single operation last year, police uncovered and seized over 300 guns and 3,000 rounds of ammunition from tibes engaging in the practice. I visited South Ethiopia and North Kenya last year and saw first hand the cattle in question. Tribes like The Samburu, Rendille, Turkana, Daasanach and other warriors usually raid neighbouring communities and return with hundreds of cattle. While others may think this is a barbaric practice, these tribes consider it an act of bravery that earns them accolades from young women and elders. Cattle rustling was also a way of replenishing the communities' stocks after their herds perished during droughts, getting livestock stolen by bandits from other communities or getting animals to pay as dowry. It has now resulted in a continuous upheaval of violence that gets very little attention because it doesn't readily meet the conventional stereotypes we hold around African conflicts. I spoke with Mr. Mutuku about this, how he is helping to reshape his community through re-education and positive interference among the youth to disengage from these practices, and how this conflict is shaping the security norms in the north of the country. 

Kathryn Stoner (@kath_stoner) is the Mosbacher Director of the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law (CDDRL), and a Senior Fellow at CDDRL and the Center on International Security and Cooperation at FSI. From 2017 to 2021, she served as FSI's Deputy Director. She is Professor of Political Science (by courtesy) at Stanford and she teaches in the Department of Political Science, and in the Program on International Relations, as well as in the Ford Dorsey Master's in International Policy Program. She is also a Senior Fellow (by courtesy) at the Hoover Institution. We talk all things Russia-Ukraine War, how the West (particularly the United States) underestimated its power in the world, the current disinformation campaign, and how China, India, and other States fit into all of this.

Benjamin Cunningham is a correspondent for The Economist. He covered Central and Eastern Europe for six years, and now writes about the wider Mediterranean region from Barcelona. In addition he contributes to The Guardian, The Los Angeles Review of Books, Aspen Review, Le Monde Diplomatique and is an opinion columnist for Sme, Slovakia's main daily newspaper.  His first book is called The Liar: How a Double Agent in the CIA Became the Cold War's Last Honest Man. In the mid-1970s, the CIA and KGB watched Karel Koecher closely—they were both convinced he was working for the enemy. And they were both right. Traveling with his wife, Hana, Koecher posed as a Czechoslovak asylum seeker and arrived in the US as a Communist sleeper agent. After parlaying a doctorate from Columbia into a job at the CIA, Koecher proceeded to operate as a double agent at the height of the Cold War.   Shunning a low profile, the Koechers embraced Manhattan's high life—with cocaine, swinging, and parties emblematic of the times and their penchant for risk. Hana, who was no more than a shy teenager when she arrived, grew into a sophisticated international diamond dealer who relayed messages to Karel's handlers. Riding a wave of euphoria, the Koechers felt unstoppable. But it was too good to last.   Using newly declassified documents, interrogation tapes, and extraordinary firsthand accounts from the Koechers themselves, Cunningham reconstructs their double lives and the fading Cold War, where a strange moral fog made it hard to know what truth was being fought for, and to what end.

I speak to Crisis Group analyst, William Davison, about what is going on in the North of Ethiopia, and what needs to happen to end the war in Tigray. We also talk about the Tigray War disinformation campaign, and how he was a target of it.

Chris Blattman is an economist and political scientist who studies global conflict, crime, and poverty. His life's work centers around the following questions: Why are some people and societies violent, oppressive, and poor? And what can we do about it? He works in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and the United States. His new book, Why We Fight, explains the five reasons why conflict (rarely) blooms into war, and how to interrupt that deadly process.

I spoke to Dr. Dr Joseph Fitsanakis of Coastal Carolina University about the study of Intelligence and Intelligence Gathering, how the practice differs across states, and whether or not the practice is at odds with free and open societies. 

Sarah Leah Whitson is the Executive Director of DAWN. She was previously the executive director of Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa Division from 2004 – 2020, overseeing the work of the division in 19 countries, with staff located in 10 countries. Whitson is a vehement critic of Arab state authoritarianism and has led dozens of advocacy and investigative missions throughout the region, focusing on issues of armed conflict, accountability, legal reform, migrant workers, and human rights. 

I spoke to Human Rights Lawyer and Director of the Center for Civil Liberties based in Kyiv, Ukraine about her life, her work, what she thinks Ukraine needs now, and her hopes for the future.  Please support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ExitStrategyShow

I had the pleasure of speaking with Collin Mayfield (@collin_mayfield), freelance photojournalist who has been covering the war between the war on Ukraine. I spoke to him by phone while he was live on the ground in Lviv, waiting on a train to take him to the Odessa front line. 

Peter S. Goodman is a global economics correspondent for The New York Times, based in New York. He was previously European economics correspondent, based in London. He began at the Times in 2007 as national economics correspondent, playing a leading role in award-winning coverage of the global financial crisis and the Great Recession. We talked about his latest #book, #Davos Man: How the Billionaires Devoured the World. #DavosMan #Davos #Author #GlobalEconomy #Economy #PeterGoodman #worldview #worldviews #Corporations #CorporateGreed

Ben Burgis is a #Jacobin columnist, an adjunct #philosophy #professor at Morehouse College, and the host of the YouTube show and podcast Give Them An Argument. He's the author of several books, most recently Christopher #Hitchens: What He Got Right, How He Went Wrong, and Why He Still Matters. We talked about Christopher Hitchens life, works, and how his internationalist politics and worldview traversed his life, from youthful #Trotskyist to playing with #neoconservatives. Follow Ben's work here: https://jacobinmag.com/author/ben-burgis and his YT channel/podcast, Give Them An Argument: https://www.youtube.com/c/BenBurgisGTAA  

Chris Pallaris is the founder and Director of i-intelligence. He heads the company's advisory practice, serving as a strategist and policy advisor to governments, international organisations and the private sector. In addition to his consulting work, Chris holds teaching positions with universities in Europe and the United States. OSINT Tools and Resources Handbook (2020 Edition) https://i-intelligence.eu/uploads/public-documents/OSINT_Handbook_2020.pdf    i-intelligence Virtual Courses https://i-intelligence.eu/training/virtual-courses    Discount Code  Ten Percent Discount Code for Online Course Registration: EXITOSINT (All Caps) 

Kjetil Tronvoll is a peace and conflict studies researcher, specializing in Eritrea, Ethiopia and Zanzibar. As of 2021, he is a professor of peace and conflict studies at #Bjørknes University College and heads a consultancy firm Oslo Analytica. Professor #Tronvoll provides an update on the changing tides of the #Tigray #War since our last conversation (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=av3DkbjntTQ). #TigrayWar #HornofAfrica #Podcast #ExitStrategy #Ethiopia #Geopolitics #Interview #EDF #TPLF #TDF #Conflict #ConflictJournalism

David Hornus is an #economic security and #risk# management #expert, and for over 15 years, has been committed to protecting the interests of his clients and helping them to carry out successful development projects. His work has taken him to major crisis zones around the world: South-East Asia, the Caucasus, the Balkans, Africa, the Maghreb and the Middle East.  We talk #PMCs (#Private #Military #companies), #PSCs (Private #Security Companies), their differences, and his role in regulation and the Code of Conduct for the industry known as The International Code of Conduct for Private Security Service Providers (#ICOCA).

Neil Hauer is a journalist and analyst whose work focuses on the Syrian conflict (particularly Russia's role), politics and conflict in the South Caucasus, and violence and politics in the North Caucasus (particularly Chechnya and Ingushetia), where he conducts regular fieldwork. Neil previously served as senior intelligence analyst at The SecDev Group in Ottawa, Canada. He has consulted for the European Union and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on radicalization and security.

I speak to Jake Hanrahan, journalist and documentary filmmaker, and creator of niche conflict reporting media base, POPULAR FRONT. We talk conflict reporting, how he grew into this form of journalism, his previous time with VICE, his thoughts on humanity, and more.

Anjan Sundaram is an author and journalist, born in India, educated in the US, and covered a host of political and cross-border violence in Africa, most notably in the Congo. His TED talk in 2017, titled Why I risked my life to expose a government massacre, is about his reporting on remote conflicts. Find out more about him here: https://www.anjansundaram.com/ 

I speak with Julia Muraszkiewicz (@jmuraszkiewicz), a Human Rights lawyer based in Amsterdam and Practice Manager at Trilateral Research.  Her domain expertise include: human trafficking, criminal law, human security, gender, ethics and human rights. In these fields she enjoys defining, conceptualising and empirically studying problems to find innovative remedies, including their relationship with innovations such as AI. Julia is also a passionate teacher, delivering trainings and workshops and ensuring course attendees acquire a comprehensive, applied understanding of the subject. She has delivered trainings to: police, border force, airport staff, civil servants, civil society, faith groups, and students.

Toby Muse is a British-American writer, television reporter, documentary filmmaker and foreign correspondent. He has reported from the front lines of the conflicts in Colombia, Iraq and Syria. He has embedded with soldiers, rebels, and drug cartels, producing exclusive reports from cocaine laboratories and guerrilla jungle camps. He lived in Bogota, Colombia for more than fifteen years, reporting across South America and the endless drug war. His first book is Klio: Inside the Deadliest Cocaine Cartels―from the Jungles to the Streets. We talk about his time travelling through Colombia, his interactions with everyone from the farmers to members of the cartel, members of FARC, and more. His website is: https://www.tobymuse.com.

I speak with Chase Baker, content curator of The Filthy American (2.0) on Instagram and other social media platforms. Baker is a new and aspiring conflict journalist and media curator who is creating original content, collecting rare footage, and posting memes about geopolitics and conflict around the world on platforms like Instagram. We talk about this strange medium, his relationship with Instagram who has already banned him once, and the ever increasing blurring of lines between content creation, journalism, and war porn aficionado. See his stuff at: https://www.instagram.com/thefilthyamerican2.0/ 

I speak to Oliver Dodd (University of Nottingham) who recently penned an article in Jacobin titled 'Colombia's Mercenary Industry is Behind the Haitian Coup' (https://jacobinmag.com/2021/07/colombia-mercenary-industry-haitian-coup-assassination-president-jovenel-moise-right-wing-paramilitaries-retired-armed-forces/). We talk about Colombia's militarism, its mercenary industry, the Haiti connection, and some niche topics around Central and Latin American geopolitics. 

I speak with Dr. Robin Renwick, Research Analyst with Trilateral Research. Continuing from the conversation I had about the intersection of Bitcoin and Human Rights, Renwick provides his critical perspective of this subject area, and speaks about his time at Human Rights Foundation's Oslo Freedom Forum. Show Notes: Reuckhart - Cryptocurrencies and fundamental rights   Nic Carter - Blockchain is a Semantic Wasteland   Alan Stevo - InfoSec vs Hacker The War for the Soul of the Technology   Midipoet - OFF Reddit Post   Trilateral's Humans of Security Podcast

I speak with Dr. Alessandro Arduino, the Co-Director of the Security & Crisis Management programme at the Shanghai Academy of Social Science (SASS-UNITO). Dr. Alessandro Arduino is the principal research fellow at the Middle East Institute (MEI), National University of Singapore. He is the co-director of the Security & Crisis Management International Centre at the Shanghai Academy of Social Science (SASS) and an associate at Lau China Institute, King's College London. His two decades of experience in China encompasses security analysis and crisis management. His main research interests include China, Central Asia and Middle East and North Africa relations, sovereign wealth funds, private military/security companies, and China's security and foreign policy. Alessandro is the author of several books and he has published papers and commentaries in various journals in Italian, English and Chinese. His most recent book is China's Private Army: Protecting the New Silk Road (Palgrave, 2018).

I speak with Alexander Lekhtman, a journalist and writer who covers the policy, science, and culture of drugs for Filter Magazine (@Filtermag_org). We discuss drug policy, the international drug trade, illicit trade routes, and have an informal conversation about the basics around heroin and meth production and trade around the world.  Read one of his articles, 'Support. Don't Punish—A Call to Reject the World's Brutal Drug War' here: https://filtermag.org/support-dont-punish-drug-war/

In this episode I speak with Jacob Shapiro (@JacobShap), a former analyst with Stratfor and Geopolitical Futures who has now founded Perch Perspectives (@PerchSpectives), a (geo)political risk and consultancy firm. Shapiro lists his top four geopolitical issues and concerns in a post-COVID world, and we speak about risk analysis and the risk analysis industry. 

I speak to Allison Fedirka, Director of Analysis at Geopolitical Futures, a political forecasting firm founded by George Friedman. We discuss the latest demonstrations in Cuba and what they mean, Cuba's unique geopolitical situation in the world, and why understanding Cuba's geopolitics depends heavily on understanding the political turmoil of the countries that surround this capitavting North Caribbean island.

I speak to Kjetil Tronvoll (@KjetilTronvoll), a peace and conflict studies researcher specializing in Eritrea, Ethiopia and Zanzibar. As of 2021, he is a professor of peace and conflict studies at Bjørknes University College and heads a consultancy firm Oslo Analytica. We continue the discussion about the War in Tigray, how such a small force has been able to battle several governments attacking from all sides, the war being waged online, and what to make of this overall humanitarian crisis.  This episode was recorded on 07/20/21 as PART 2 of a two-part series that goes in depth over the Tigray War, the actors involved in that conflict, the resulting human rights abuses, and what's to come for Ethiopia.

I speak to William Davison (@wdavison10), senior analyst with the @CrisisGroup. Davison provides a background and summary of Ethiopia's recent history, and events that led up to the ongoing war in its Tigray region.  This episode was recorded on 07/13/21 as PART 1 of a two-part series that goes in depth over the Tigray War, the actors involved in that conflict, the resulting human rights abuses, and what's to come for Ethiopia.

Brian Concannon (@HaitiJustice) is the Executive Director of @ProjectBlueprnt and advisor to @IJDH. Concannon is a human rights lawyer and foreign policy advocate, working for a human rights-based US foreign policy by bringing the perspectives of people abroad impacted by US policies into policy discussions and advocacy.  We speak about Haiti and Haitian history days after its President was assassinated by foreign mercenaries. 

Ali Latifi (@alibomaye) is an Emmy-nominated producer and writer working for major US and International broadcasters and print outlets, including PBS, CNN, The New York Times, Foreign Policy Magazine and the LA Times. Born in Kabul, raised in California, Latifi returned to Afghanistan in 2013 as a reporter for Al Jazeera English and The LA Times. We speak about what life is like in the country in the months leading up to a major American withdrawal, what can be expected to come in terms of Afghanistan's security, and some critical aspects around the reporting of these events. 

Joseph Uscinski is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Miami who studies public opinion and mass media, with a focus on conspiracy theories and related misinformation. He is coauthor of American Conspiracy Theories (Oxford, 2014) and editor of Conspiracy Theories and the People Who Believe Them (Oxford, 2018). His website is https://www.joeuscinski.com/ and can be reached on Twitter @Joeuscinski.

Alex Gladstein is the Chief Strategy Officer of Human Rights Foundation (#HRF) who believes #Bitcoin "will tear authoritarian countries apart." We speak to him about the intersection of Bitcoin and geopolitics, Human Rights, and what this means for dissidents around the world.  Listen to Gladstein's interview with #Twitter and Square CEO, Jack #Dorsey, about Bitcoin adoption, and a particularly interesting interruption by far-right activist, Laura Loomer, who demands to know how Dorsey can endorse an anti-censorship currency like Bitcoin while taking the throne as "King of Censorship" at Twitter. https://hrf.org/alex-gladstein-interviews-square-and-twitter-ceo-jack-dorsey   #Gladstein makes an interesting case for Bitcoin. In his latest article he writes: "Money and currency are buried beneath the surface in the global human rights movement. They hardly ever come up at human rights conferences, and are rarely discussed among activists. But ask a democracy advocate from an authoritarian regime about money, and they will tell amazing and tragic stories. Demonetization in Eritrea and North Korea, hyperinflation in Zimbabwe and Venezuela, state surveillance in China and Hong Kong, frozen payments in Belarus and Nigeria, and economic firewalls in Iran and Palestine. And now: monetary colonialism in Togo and Senegal. Without financial freedom, movements and NGOs cannot sustain themselves. If their bank accounts are shuttered, notes demonetized or funds debased, their power is limited and tyranny marches on." His other articles can be found here:   CHECK YOUR FINANCIAL PRIVILEGE While those comfortable in the dollar bubble deride Bitcoin, the stories of three emerging market users demonstrate why it is so important. https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/check-your-financial-privilege FIGHTING MONETARY COLONIALISM WITH OPEN-SOURCE CODE France still uses monetary colonialism to exploit 15 African nations. Could Bitcoin be a way out? https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/bitcoin-a-currency-of-decolonization  

We speak to Aye Min Thant (@the_ayeminthant), Features Editor of Frontier Myanmar (@FrontierMM) and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and Burmese-American who has been covering ongoing developments in Myanmar. We speak about what happened in Myanmar prior to its latest coup, how the country's security forces have targeted journalists, activists, other others in civil society, and what is happening on the ground there today. 

We speak to Amy Mackinnon (@ak_mack), National Security & Intelligence Reporter at Foreign Policy. We speak about Wagner Group, a Russian Private Military Company (PMC) and paramilitary organization widely believed to be an armed unit of the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) and/or the GRU in disguise, used by the Russian government in conflicts where deniability is needed. It is believed to be owned by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a businessman with close links to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

We speak to Dawit Kebede (@dawitawramba), managing editor of Awramba Times and recipient of the Center to Protect Journalists 2010 International Press Freedom Award. Kebede shares a story about his life as a reporter in Ethiopia, and provides an update on the Tigray War, a conflict he believes began under the guise of the COVID-19 pandemic response.  

We speak to Zack Kopplin, investigative journalist with the Government Accountability Project about a corrupt deal involving a US military contractor and the Afghan government. Read Kopplin's report at: https://www.occrp.org/en/investigations/how-afghanistans-president-helped-his-brother-secure-lucrative-mining-deals-with-a-us-contractor