Podcast appearances and mentions of Masha Gessen

【主播的话】整整两年之前，2023年的十月份，以色列跟巴勒斯坦之间爆发了新一轮的严重冲突，并恶化为一场旷日持久的战争、以及一场接一场的人道惨剧。那天之后，世界似乎开始了一种持续至今的撕裂。在加沙，成千上万的人每天都在受难，饥饿、暴力、失踪、流离失所、残疾、死亡。与此同时，这场战争的回声，也在战场之外的地方不断回荡——在中东邻国、在美国、在欧洲，在大学校园里，在政治辩论中，在社交媒体上。过去两年里，围绕加沙的争论几乎无处不在：抗议、辞职、取消、抓捕、撤资。它不仅是外交政策的争议，更成了一场关于身份、道德与立场的内战。对许多年轻人来说，这不仅是关于中东的问题，而是关于“我们是谁”，以及“我们还能相信什么样的正义”。今天的节目分为两个部分。第一部分，主要谈中东。我们邀请了中东观察家刘怡，来梳理加沙战争两周年的重要节点，从巴以出发，探讨它对中东局势的影响。第二部分，重点在美国。我们邀请了常驻纽约的美国观察家思骋，来解读加沙战争对美国内政外交的影响。【本期主播】王磬：微博@王磬【本期嘉宾】刘怡：前《三联生活周刊》资深主笔，全球冲突报道者思骋：美国政治观察家，常驻纽约【本期剧透】03:32 加沙战局转向虚无，冲突轨迹受特朗普决策主导，军事行动与政治目标逐渐脱节09:18 加沙正在面临怎样的人道灾难？以色列系统性制造饥荒的现状11:22 战前加沙的畸形供给体系：以色列默许哈马斯控制国际援助流通，形成“物资可进、人员禁入”的共谋式封锁17:45 开战后，加沙生存体系崩溃，黑市物价暴涨50倍19:20 外援切断，美国仅派驻4个物资救援点，平民陷入平静的绝望24:39 犹太人定居点不断增加，西岸巴控区萎缩，武装定居者与隔离墙形成“蚕食式占领”新常态29:24 以色列社会的极端化转向，右翼基本盘稳固化，政治光谱整体右移34:01 巴勒斯坦群体的立场分化：海外巴勒斯坦裔激进口号与本土民众务实诉求42:35 阿拉伯世界的“道义卸责”：亚伯拉罕协议如何改变海湾国家对巴以问题的传统立场？48:10 哈马斯与伊朗构建的宗教抵抗同盟，如何替代传统阿拉伯民族主义？52:29 西方话语道德滑坡，两年间巴勒斯坦苦难从“被忽视”到“被犯罪化”57:40 2025年夏季为舆论分水岭，特朗普政府强硬压制舆论引发民意反弹01:02:05 “以色列替西方干脏活”：战后自由主义需要暴力维系01:06:56 在西方世界，为什么对反以色列政府的言论打压，比在以色列境内还要严厉？01:12:27 美国犹太社群的代际裂变，支持以色列如何从族群共识沦为矛盾源01:18:48 反犹主义如何被定义？又如何成为政治打压的工具？01:25:24 美国民主党出现政治代沟，年轻人在巴以议题和经济前景上面临双重挫败感【相关阅读】 Alex de Waal英国人类学家、公共政策学者与人权活动家，目前于美国马萨诸塞州塔夫茨大学法与外交学院（The Fletcher School）任研究教授。他自 1980 年代起在苏丹及非洲之角（Horn of Africa）地区开展“饥荒”研究，探讨饥荒的政治、社会与人权维度。研究立场强调：现代饥荒并非单纯由自然灾害或粮食短缺引起，而往往是政策失败、冲突、封锁与权力结构所致。其在饥荒领域的重要作品包括：《Mass Starvation: The History and Future of Famine》（2018）系统地回顾现代饥荒的历史：饥荒为何在 20 世纪下半叶大幅减少；为何在近年来又出现复苏；并指出饥荒多数为“人为”而非“自然”现象。《Famine Crimes: Politics and the Disaster Relief Industry in Africa》（1997）在本书中，de Waal 批判了传统救灾机构对饥荒背后政治与权力结构的掩盖，强调饥荒中的致命性常源于战争、封锁、治理失败，而非单纯粮食供应不足。 Masha Gessen 出生于俄罗斯莫斯科、后来获得美国公民身份的记者、作家和公共知识分子。写作涉猎广泛，涵盖俄罗斯现代史、威权主义、性别与 LGBTQ 议题、美国与俄罗斯关系、乌克兰冲突等。自 2017 年起担任《The New Yorker》的正式撰稿人。其代表作包括《The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia》（2017年获美国国家图书奖）等。她以批判权威主义、剖析自由与专制之间的张力著称。 《Trouble in the Tribe: The American Jewish Conflict over Israel》作者：Dov Waxman出版信息：Princeton University Press，2016 年Dov Waxman 为 UCLA 以色列研究教授，研究方向包括以色列政治、美国—以色列关系与美国犹太社群。Waxman 通过大量访谈与民调数据，分析近年来美国犹太社群围绕以色列问题的深刻分歧：一方面年长与更传统的群体维持强烈支持，另一方面年轻与自由派群体越来越公开批评以色列政策。书中探讨了文化、人口学、组织与政治因素如何导致“以色列不再成为团结来源、而日益成为分裂来源”的局面，对美国犹太政治与以美关系的未来提出判断。 《最后的乌托邦：历史中的人权》The Last Utopia: Human Rights in History作者：Samuel Moyn出版信息：商务印书馆，2016 年Samuel Moyn 是美国耶鲁大学（Yale University）法律与历史双聘教授，专攻现代欧洲思想史、国际法与人权史。本书提出一个颇具挑战性的观点：当今“人权”作为普遍正义话语并非源远流长，而是在1960 年代末至 1970 年代初，在全球政治与意识形态乌托邦（社会主义、民族解放运动）瓦解之后，才真正成为国际社会关注的核心。作者通过回顾冷战背景下欧洲、拉丁美洲、美国等地的个案，指出人权运动如何在旧有政治理想失败的废墟上兴起，并探讨其作为“最后的乌托邦”之意味 —— 即人权为何成为替代以往政治理想的新信仰。【特别鸣谢】蓝书屋基金会（Blaues Haus Stiftung）【本期音乐】Bleu-KomikuScreen Saver-Kevin MacLeod【节目制作】方改则【Logo设计】刘刘（ins: imjanuary)【互动方式】小红书@不合时宜微博@不合时宜TheWeirdo商务合作可发邮件至 hibuheshiyi@126.com 或微博私信会员计划咨询可添加微信：hibuheshiyi3 或发送邮件至 hibuhehsiyi@gmail.com

Synopsis:  Is Authoritarianism Here?: Gessen and Stanley discuss the shift in America's self-understanding, from democratic ideals to a self-identity based on loving the US for its past greatness, and warn that this is not a democratic project, but rather a fascist one, similar to what Putin is doing in Russia.Stay informed and engaged! Please hit the podcast subscribe button if you've yet to subscribe.Description: What will it take to reject fascism, before it's too late? Masha Gessen and Jason Stanley are two leading experts on autocracy, and they're sounding the alarm. They and their families have escaped totalitarian regimes and oppressive governments; today Gessen and Stanley are pulling back the curtain on the attacks against DEI, trans bodies, civil rights, higher education and more. Is authoritarianism here? Masha Gessen is an acclaimed Russian-American journalist, a Polk Award winning opinion writer for the New York Times and the author of "Surviving Autocracy" and “The Future is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia.” Forced to leave Russia twice, in 2024, a Moscow court convicted them, in absentia to eight years in prison for their reporting on the war in Ukraine. Jason Stanley is a best-selling author and professor whose books include “Erasing History” and "How Fascism Works". He recently left his teaching position at Yale University to relocate to Canada with his family; noting that he is a child of Jewish refugees who fled Nazi Germany. In this historic conversation — the first interview between Gessen and Stanley — the two explore how to be bold in our movements and envision a multi-ethnic democracy. Plus, a commentary from Laura.“Trump has proposed a revived empire, a return to an imaginary past. The Democrats have proposed the way things are now, which are deeply unsatisfying and horribly anxiety provoking for a very large number of people. So we need a vision of a future that is more appealing than the imaginary past.” - Masha Gessen“What I see now is this regime shifting the self understanding of America, from having these democratic ideals . . . God knows they've been imperfect, to a self identity as loving the United States because we've had these great men in our past, and we've conquered the West, and we can punch you in the nose. And that's not a democratic project. That's like what Putin is doing in Russia.” - Jason Stanley• Masha Gessen: Opinion Columnist, The New York Times; Author, Surviving Autocracy; Distinguished Professor, Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, CUNY• Jason Stanley: Author, Erasing History & How Fascism Works; Professor, Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto Music Credit: “America” by Sylvan Paul, courtesy of Wolf+Lamb Records.  "Steppin" by Podington Bear. And original sound production and design by Jeannie Hopper. RESOURCES:Watch the special report released on YouTube; PBS World Channel August 17th, and on over 300 public stations across the country (check your listings, or search here via zipcode). Listen: Episode airing on community radio (check here to see if your station airs the show) & available as a podcast.  The full uncut conversation is available as a podcast in this podcast feed. RESOURCES:Watch the broadcast episode cut for time at our YouTube channel and airing on PBS stations across the country Full Episode Notes are located HERE. Related Laura Flanders Show Episodes:•. Special Report- Decades After Bloody Sunday, Is Trump Taking Civil Rights Back to Before Selma in ‘65?:  Watch,  Audio Podcast:  Episode, and Uncut Conversation with Kimberlé Crenshaw, AAPF and Clifford Albright, Black Voters Matter•. Journalists Maria Hinojosa & Chenjerai Kumanyika: Forced Removals, Foreign Detention, the War on Education & Free Speech: Watch,  Audio Podcast: Episode, and Uncut Conversation•  The People v. DOGE: Jamie Raskin's Strategy to Combat the Musk & Trump Power Grab:  Watch,  Audio Podcast:  Episode, and Uncut Conversation Related Articles and Resources:• This Is What a Digital Coup Looks Like, by Carole Callwalladr, Ted Talk, April 9, 2025 WATCH• The Fascism Expert at Yale Who's Fleeing America, by Keziah Weir, March 31, 2025, Vanity Fair• The Shape of Power in American Art, a new exhibition explores how the history of race in the United States is entwined with the history of American sculpture, November 8, 2024, Exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum• Celebrate Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at the Riverside Church in the City of New York, Various , Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom•  American journalist Masha Gessen convicted in absentia by Russia for criticizing its military, by Anna Chernova, Lauren Kent and Rob Picket, July 16, 2024, CNN•. Tyrants Use Racism and Patriarchy to Split Civil Society Apart and Dismantle Democracy, Excerpt of speech by Jason Stanley, Jacob Urowsky professor of philosophy at Yale University, recorded & produced by Melinda Tuhus, April 16, 2025, Between the Lines•  The Hidden Motive Behind Trump's Attacks on Trans People, by M. Gessen, March 17, 2025, The New York Times•  The 10 tactics of fascism by Jason Stanley, 2022, Big Think - Watch•  Welcome to Trump's Mafia State: “Nice university you got there. Shame if something happened to it.” By M. Gessen, Produce by Vishakha Darbha, April 21, 2025, The New York Times Laura Flanders and Friends Crew: Laura Flanders, along with Sabrina Artel, Jeremiah Cothren, Veronica Delgado, Janet Hernandez, Jeannie Hopper, Gina Kim, Sarah Miller, Nat Needham, David Neuman, and Rory O'Conner. FOLLOW Laura Flanders and FriendsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauraflandersandfriends/Blueky: https://bsky.app/profile/lfandfriends.bsky.socialFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/LauraFlandersAndFriends/Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lauraflandersandfriendsYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFLRxVeYcB1H7DbuYZQG-lgLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lauraflandersandfriendsPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/lauraflandersandfriendsACCESSIBILITY - The broadcast edition of this episode is available with closed captioned by clicking here for our YouTube Channel

Sound the Alarm on Rising Fascism: Masha Gessen and Jason Stanley, leading experts on authoritarianism, warn of attacks on DEI, trans bodies, civil rights, and higher education, and discuss the need for a bold vision of a multi-ethnic democracy. ARE YOU AUDACIOUS? SUPPORT OUR RESISTANCE REPORTING FUND! Help us continue fighting against the rise of authoritarianism in these times. Please support our Resistance Reporting Fund. Our goal is to raise $100K. We're at $35K! Become a sustaining member starting at $5 a month! Or make a one time donation at LauraFlanders.org/Donate Description: What will it take to reject fascism, before it's too late? Masha Gessen and Jason Stanley are two leading experts on autocracy, and they're sounding the alarm. They and their families have escaped totalitarian regimes and oppressive governments; today Gessen and Stanley are pulling back the curtain on the attacks against DEI, trans bodies, civil rights, higher education and more. Is authoritarianism here? Masha Gessen is an acclaimed Russian-American journalist, a Polk Award winning opinion writer for the New York Times and the author of "Surviving Autocracy" and “The Future is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia.” Forced to leave Russia twice, in 2024, a Moscow court convicted them, in absentia to eight years in prison for their reporting on the war in Ukraine. Jason Stanley is a best-selling author and professor whose books include “Erasing History” and "How Fascism Works". He recently left his teaching position at Yale University to relocate to Canada with his family; noting that he is a child of Jewish refugees who fled Nazi Germany. In this historic conversation — the first interview between Gessen and Stanley — the two explore how to be bold in our movements and envision a multi-ethnic democracy. Plus, a commentary from Laura.“What I see now is this regime shifting the self understanding of America, from having these democratic ideals . . . God knows they've been imperfect, to a self identity as loving the United States because we've had these great men in our past, and we've conquered the West, and we can punch you in the nose. And that's not a democratic project. That's like what Putin is doing in Russia.” - Jason StanleyGuests:• Masha Gessen: Opinion Columnist, The New York Times; Author, Surviving Autocracy; Distinguished Professor, Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, CUNY• Jason Stanley: Author, Erasing History & How Fascism Works; Professor, Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto Watch the special report released on YouTube; PBS World Channel August 15th, and on over 300 public stations across the country (check your listings, or search here via zipcode). Listen: Episode airing on community radio (check here to see if your station airs the show) & available as a podcast.Full Conversation Release: While our weekly shows are edited to time for broadcast on Public TV and community radio, we offer to our members and podcast subscribers the full uncut conversation. These audio exclusives are made possible thanks to our member supporters. RESOURCES:Watch the broadcast episode cut for time at our YouTube channel and airing on PBS stations across the country Full Episode Notes are located HERE.Related Laura Flanders Show Episodes:•. Special Report- Decades After Bloody Sunday, Is Trump Taking Civil Rights Back to Before Selma in ‘65?:  Watch,  Audio Podcast:  Episode, and Uncut Conversation with Kimberlé Crenshaw, AAPF and Clifford Albright, Black Voters Matter•. Journalists Maria Hinojosa & Chenjerai Kumanyika: Forced Removals, Foreign Detention, the War on Education & Free Speech: Watch,  Audio Podcast: Episode, and Uncut Conversation•  The People v. DOGE: Jamie Raskin's Strategy to Combat the Musk & Trump Power Grab:  Watch,  Audio Podcast:  Episode, and Uncut Conversation Related Articles and Resources:• This Is What a Digital Coup Looks Like, by Carole Callwalladr, Ted Talk, April 9, 2025 WATCH• The Fascism Expert at Yale Who's Fleeing America, by Keziah Weir, March 31, 2025, Vanity Fair• The Shape of Power in American Art, a new exhibition explores how the history of race in the United States is entwined with the history of American sculpture, November 8, 2024, Exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum• Celebrate Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at the Riverside Church in the City of New York, Various , Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom•  American journalist Masha Gessen convicted in absentia by Russia for criticizing its military, by Anna Chernova, Lauren Kent and Rob Picket, July 16, 2024, CNN•. Tyrants Use Racism and Patriarchy to Split Civil Society Apart and Dismantle Democracy, Excerpt of speech by Jason Stanley, Jacob Urowsky professor of philosophy at Yale University, recorded & produced by Melinda Tuhus, April 16, 2025, Between the Lines•  The Hidden Motive Behind Trump's Attacks on Trans People, by M. Gessen, March 17, 2025, The New York Times•  The 10 tactics of fascism by Jason Stanley, 2022, Big Think - Watch•  Welcome to Trump's Mafia State: “Nice university you got there. Shame if something happened to it.” By M. Gessen, Produce by Vishakha Darbha, April 21, 2025, The New York Times Laura Flanders and Friends Crew: Laura Flanders, along with Sabrina Artel, Jeremiah Cothren, Veronica Delgado, Janet Hernandez, Jeannie Hopper, Gina Kim, Sarah Miller, Nat Needham, David Neuman, and Rory O'Conner. FOLLOW Laura Flanders and FriendsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauraflandersandfriends/Blueky: https://bsky.app/profile/lfandfriends.bsky.socialFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/LauraFlandersAndFriends/Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lauraflandersandfriendsYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFLRxVeYcB1H7DbuYZQG-lgLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lauraflandersandfriendsPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/lauraflandersandfriendsACCESSIBILITY - The broadcast edition of this episode is available with closed captioned by clicking here for our YouTube Channel

“When bullying isn't just about dominance, it's about what Masha Gessen calls the “bully lie or the power lie” which “demands that you choose between your experience and the bully's demands.”“Welcome to the Bad Boss Brief, a strategic guide on how NOT to be an a*****e at work. This podcast tells you about bad bosses, how they can be less so, and how to tell if you ARE one?What can an executive and an executive coach tell you about bad bosses, how they can be less so, and how to tell if you ARE one? Everything. With over a combined half century of time in the trenches at Intel, Apple, Adobe, Publicis, Nikon ad badbosseum, we're imminently well suited to do so.We're also both artists and work in advertising and marketing and focus on creative leaders and leading people who make cool s**t.”Bad Boss Brief is a viewer-supported broadcast. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Bad Boss Brief is a listener-supported broadcast. To receive new episodes and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit badbossbrief.substack.com/subscribe

We are at an inflection point. A chill is sweeping the country. We ignore it at our peril. The warning signs are everywhere. Alaska GOP Senator Lisa Murkowski says, “We are all afraid.” Massachusetts Democratic Governor Maura Healey says, “The fear is real.” New York Times columnist Masha Gessen writes, “America's Police State Has Arrived.” A Columbia University dean told students, “Nobody can protect you. These are dangerous times.” Conservative PBS commentator David Brooks calls for “a civic uprising to fight back and adds: “We have nothing to lose but our chains.” Dissent is being criminalized. People are being deported without any kind of due process. Court rulings are being ignored. Democracy, civil liberties and free speech are all under attack. What can be done to reverse cowboy authoritarianism in America? Recorded at the University of British Columbia.

Synopsis:  Is Authoritarianism Here?: Gessen and Stanley discuss the shift in America's self-understanding, from democratic ideals to a self-identity based on loving the US for its past greatness, and warn that this is not a democratic project, but rather a fascist one, similar to what Putin is doing in Russia. ARE YOU AUDACIOUS? SUPPORT OUR RESISTANCE REPORTING FUND! Help us continue fighting against the rise of authoritarianism in these times. Please support our Resistance Reporting Fund. Our goal is to raise $100K. We're at $35K! Become a sustaining member starting at $5 a month! Or make a one time donation at LauraFlanders.org/Donate Description: What will it take to reject fascism, before it's too late? Masha Gessen and Jason Stanley are two leading experts on autocracy, and they're sounding the alarm. They and their families have escaped totalitarian regimes and oppressive governments; today Gessen and Stanley are pulling back the curtain on the attacks against DEI, trans bodies, civil rights, higher education and more. Is authoritarianism here? Masha Gessen is an acclaimed Russian-American journalist, a Polk Award winning opinion writer for the New York Times and the author of "Surviving Autocracy" and “The Future is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia.” Forced to leave Russia twice, in 2024, a Moscow court convicted them, in absentia to eight years in prison for their reporting on the war in Ukraine. Jason Stanley is a best-selling author and professor whose books include “Erasing History” and "How Fascism Works". He recently left his teaching position at Yale University to relocate to Canada with his family; noting that he is a child of Jewish refugees who fled Nazi Germany. In this historic conversation — the first interview between Gessen and Stanley — the two explore how to be bold in our movements and envision a multi-ethnic democracy. Plus, a commentary from Laura.“Trump has proposed a revived empire, a return to an imaginary past. The Democrats have proposed the way things are now, which are deeply unsatisfying and horribly anxiety provoking for a very large number of people. So we need a vision of a future that is more appealing than the imaginary past.” - Masha Gessen“What I see now is this regime shifting the self understanding of America, from having these democratic ideals . . . God knows they've been imperfect, to a self identity as loving the United States because we've had these great men in our past, and we've conquered the West, and we can punch you in the nose. And that's not a democratic project. That's like what Putin is doing in Russia.” - Jason Stanley• Masha Gessen: Opinion Columnist, The New York Times; Author, Surviving Autocracy; Distinguished Professor, Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, CUNY• Jason Stanley: Author, Erasing History & How Fascism Works; Professor, Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto Music Credit: “America” by Sylvan Paul, courtesy of Wolf+Lamb Records.  "Steppin" by Podington Bear. And original sound production and design by Jeannie Hopper. RESOURCES:Watch the special report released on YouTube May 2nd 5pm ET; PBS World Channel May 4th, and on over 300 public stations across the country (check your listings, or search here via zipcode). Listen: Episode airing on community radio (check here to see if your station airs the show) & available as a podcast May 7th.  The full uncut conversation releases May 2nd in this podcast feed.Full Episode Notes are located HERE. RESOURCES:Watch the broadcast episode cut for time at our YouTube channel and airing on PBS stations across the country Full Episode Notes are located HERE. Related Laura Flanders Show Episodes:•. Special Report- Decades After Bloody Sunday, Is Trump Taking Civil Rights Back to Before Selma in ‘65?:  Watch,  Audio Podcast:  Episode, and Uncut Conversation with Kimberlé Crenshaw, AAPF and Clifford Albright, Black Voters Matter•. Journalists Maria Hinojosa & Chenjerai Kumanyika: Forced Removals, Foreign Detention, the War on Education & Free Speech: Watch,  Audio Podcast: Episode, and Uncut Conversation•  The People v. DOGE: Jamie Raskin's Strategy to Combat the Musk & Trump Power Grab:  Watch,  Audio Podcast:  Episode, and Uncut Conversation Related Articles and Resources:• This Is What a Digital Coup Looks Like, by Carole Callwalladr, Ted Talk, April 9, 2025 WATCH• The Fascism Expert at Yale Who's Fleeing America, by Keziah Weir, March 31, 2025, Vanity Fair• The Shape of Power in American Art, a new exhibition explores how the history of race in the United States is entwined with the history of American sculpture, November 8, 2024, Exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum• Celebrate Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at the Riverside Church in the City of New York, Various , Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom•  American journalist Masha Gessen convicted in absentia by Russia for criticizing its military, by Anna Chernova, Lauren Kent and Rob Picket, July 16, 2024, CNN•. Tyrants Use Racism and Patriarchy to Split Civil Society Apart and Dismantle Democracy, Excerpt of speech by Jason Stanley, Jacob Urowsky professor of philosophy at Yale University, recorded & produced by Melinda Tuhus, April 16, 2025, Between the Lines•  The Hidden Motive Behind Trump's Attacks on Trans People, by M. Gessen, March 17, 2025, The New York Times•  The 10 tactics of fascism by Jason Stanley, 2022, Big Think - Watch•  Welcome to Trump's Mafia State: “Nice university you got there. Shame if something happened to it.” By M. Gessen, Produce by Vishakha Darbha, April 21, 2025, The New York Times Laura Flanders and Friends Crew: Laura Flanders, along with Sabrina Artel, Jeremiah Cothren, Veronica Delgado, Janet Hernandez, Jeannie Hopper, Gina Kim, Sarah Miller, Nat Needham, David Neuman, and Rory O'Conner. FOLLOW Laura Flanders and FriendsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauraflandersandfriends/Blueky: https://bsky.app/profile/lfandfriends.bsky.socialFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/LauraFlandersAndFriends/Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lauraflandersandfriendsYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFLRxVeYcB1H7DbuYZQG-lgLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lauraflandersandfriendsPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/lauraflandersandfriendsACCESSIBILITY - The broadcast edition of this episode is available with closed captioned by clicking here for our YouTube Channel

Sound the Alarm on Rising Fascism: Masha Gessen and Jason Stanley, leading experts on authoritarianism, warn of attacks on DEI, trans bodies, civil rights, and higher education, and discuss the need for a bold vision of a multi-ethnic democracy. ARE YOU AUDACIOUS? SUPPORT OUR RESISTANCE REPORTING FUND! Help us continue fighting against the rise of authoritarianism in these times. Please support our Resistance Reporting Fund. Our goal is to raise $100K. We're at $35K! Become a sustaining member starting at $5 a month! Or make a one time donation at LauraFlanders.org/Donate Description: What will it take to reject fascism, before it's too late? Masha Gessen and Jason Stanley are two leading experts on autocracy, and they're sounding the alarm. They and their families have escaped totalitarian regimes and oppressive governments; today Gessen and Stanley are pulling back the curtain on the attacks against DEI, trans bodies, civil rights, higher education and more. Is authoritarianism here? Masha Gessen is an acclaimed Russian-American journalist, a Polk Award winning opinion writer for the New York Times and the author of "Surviving Autocracy" and “The Future is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia.” Forced to leave Russia twice, in 2024, a Moscow court convicted them, in absentia to eight years in prison for their reporting on the war in Ukraine. Jason Stanley is a best-selling author and professor whose books include “Erasing History” and "How Fascism Works". He recently left his teaching position at Yale University to relocate to Canada with his family; noting that he is a child of Jewish refugees who fled Nazi Germany. In this historic conversation — the first interview between Gessen and Stanley — the two explore how to be bold in our movements and envision a multi-ethnic democracy. Plus, a commentary from Laura.“What I see now is this regime shifting the self understanding of America, from having these democratic ideals . . . God knows they've been imperfect, to a self identity as loving the United States because we've had these great men in our past, and we've conquered the West, and we can punch you in the nose. And that's not a democratic project. That's like what Putin is doing in Russia.” - Jason StanleyGuests:• Masha Gessen: Opinion Columnist, The New York Times; Author, Surviving Autocracy; Distinguished Professor, Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, CUNY• Jason Stanley: Author, Erasing History & How Fascism Works; Professor, Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto Watch the special report released on YouTube May 2nd 5pm ET; PBS World Channel May 4th, and on over 300 public stations across the country (check your listings, or search here via zipcode). Listen: Episode airing on community radio (check here to see if your station airs the show) & available as a podcast May 7th.Full Conversation Release: While our weekly shows are edited to time for broadcast on Public TV and community radio, we offer to our members and podcast subscribers the full uncut conversation. These audio exclusives are made possible thanks to our member supporters. RESOURCES:Watch the broadcast episode cut for time at our YouTube channel and airing on PBS stations across the country Full Episode Notes are located HERE.Related Laura Flanders Show Episodes:•. Special Report- Decades After Bloody Sunday, Is Trump Taking Civil Rights Back to Before Selma in ‘65?:  Watch,  Audio Podcast:  Episode, and Uncut Conversation with Kimberlé Crenshaw, AAPF and Clifford Albright, Black Voters Matter•. Journalists Maria Hinojosa & Chenjerai Kumanyika: Forced Removals, Foreign Detention, the War on Education & Free Speech: Watch,  Audio Podcast: Episode, and Uncut Conversation•  The People v. DOGE: Jamie Raskin's Strategy to Combat the Musk & Trump Power Grab:  Watch,  Audio Podcast:  Episode, and Uncut Conversation Related Articles and Resources:• The Fascism Expert at Yale Who's Fleeing America, by Keziah Weir, March 31, 2025, Vanity Fair•  American journalist Masha Gessen convicted in absentia by Russia for criticizing its military, by Anna Chernova, Lauren Kent and Rob Picket, July 16, 2024, CNN•. Tyrants Use Racism and Patriarchy to Split Civil Society Apart and Dismantle Democracy, Excerpt of speech by Jason Stanley, Jacob Urowsky professor of philosophy at Yale University, recorded & produced by Melinda Tuhus, April 16, 2025, Between the Lines•  The Hidden Motive Behind Trump's Attacks on Trans People, by M. Gessen, March 17, 2025, The New York Times•  The 10 tactics of fascism by Jason Stanley, 2022, Big Think - Watch•  Welcome to Trump's Mafia State: “Nice university you got there. Shame if something happened to it.” By M. Gessen, Produce by Vishakha Darbha, April 21, 2025, The New York Times Laura Flanders and Friends Crew: Laura Flanders, along with Sabrina Artel, Jeremiah Cothren, Veronica Delgado, Janet Hernandez, Jeannie Hopper, Gina Kim, Sarah Miller, Nat Needham, David Neuman, and Rory O'Conner. FOLLOW Laura Flanders and FriendsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauraflandersandfriends/Blueky: https://bsky.app/profile/lfandfriends.bsky.socialFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/LauraFlandersAndFriends/Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lauraflandersandfriendsYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFLRxVeYcB1H7DbuYZQG-lgLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lauraflandersandfriendsPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/lauraflandersandfriendsACCESSIBILITY - The broadcast edition of this episode is available with closed captioned by clicking here for our YouTube Channel

Dans le New York Times, plusieurs chroniqueurs s'interrogent sur la position des démocrates face à Donald Trump, une position « faible » selon le quotidien. ⇒ Le New York Times. Les chroniqueurs mettent en lumière les faiblesses du leadership démocrate face à la menace représentée par Donald Trump. La sociologue Zeynep Tufekci critique le manque de cohérence entre le discours alarmiste des démocrates et leurs actions, notamment leur gestion maladroite de la candidature de Joe Biden en 2024. Selon elle, l'incapacité des responsables démocrates à reconnaître la gravité de la situation et à structurer une opposition efficace a empêché une véritable résistance face à Donald Trump. Ce vide de leadership compromet aujourd'hui la capacité du parti à s'organiser et d'élaborer une stratégie contre le président.S'occuper des préoccupations concrètes des Américains ? Le chroniqueur Nicholas Kristof de son côté souligne un autre problème : les démocrates insistent sur la défense de la démocratie, mais ce n'est pas un argument qui touche suffisamment les électeurs indécis. Pour convaincre, il faut s'adresser aux préoccupations concrètes des citoyens, comme le coût de la vie ou l'accès aux services publics. Le journaliste illustre son propos avec un exemple dans l'État d'Oregon, où une famille est devenue critique envers de Donald Trump après avoir rencontré des difficultés avec la Sécurité sociale. Selon lui, c'est ce type de problèmes du quotidien qui mobilise réellement les électeurs.La journaliste Masha Gessen nuance cette analyse et explique que l'intérêt personnel ne se limite pas aux aspects économiques. Elle évoque le concept de « deep story », une vision identitaire qui structure le vote des électeurs. Il ne suffit pas d'alerter sur une dérive autoritaire ; il faut proposer un récit fédérateur qui lie les préoccupations économiques aux atteintes aux droits fondamentaux. Elle prend l'exemple du président Zelensky en Ukraine, et estime qu'un bon dirigeant devrait présenter une vision collective et mobiliser les électeurs autour d'une cause qui dépasse leurs intérêts immédiats, explique-t-elle au New York Times.La situation sécuritaire continue de se dégrader en Haïti C'est le thème de l'éditorial de Frantz Duval dans le Nouvelliste. La situation à Port-au-Prince continue de se détériorer alors que les habitants de plusieurs quartiers fuient face à l'avancée des gangs, écrit-il. Deprez, Pacot, Debussy et d'autres zones sont en proie à un exode massif, tandis que des quartiers comme Turgeau et Pétion-Ville s'inquiètent de la propagation de la violence. Pillages et incendies rythment désormais le quotidien, et chaque jour sans affrontement est perçu comme le prélude à une nouvelle vague de chaos. L'État, en recul, semble incapable de rétablir l'ordre, renforçant un sentiment de délaissement total, selon le Nouvelliste. Le journal rappelle que le président du Conseil Présidentiel de Transition (CPT) s'est rendu hier en Jamaïque pour une rencontre avec le secrétaire d'État américain Marco Rubio, mais aucune annonce concrète n'en est ressortie.La mort d'un policier kenyan de la MMAS Pour la deuxième fois en quelques semaines, un policier kenyan de la Mission multinationale d'appui à la sécurité en Haïti (MMAS) a trouvé la mort. Il est tombé dans une embuscade tendue par les gangs dans le département de l'Artibonite. Les groupes criminels ont aussi mis en scène leur opération macabre. Un récit de Vincent SouriauMarco Rubio lance un avertissement au Venezuela au sujet du Guyana   L'avertissement le plus sévère à ce jour contre le Venezuela sur ce sujet, estime le journal guyanais Stabroek News. « Si Caracas attaquait le Guyana ou les infrastructures d'ExxonMobil dans l'océan Atlantique, les conséquences seraient désastreuses », a déclaré Marco Rubio, à une question du journal. Des propos qui ont provoqué une réaction immédiate du président vénézuélien. C'est à lire sur le site de Telesur. Nicolás Maduro a rejeté les déclarations du secrétaire d'État américain, les qualifiant de tentative d'intimidation impériale, tout en accusant Marco Rubio de collusion avec l'opposition vénézuélienne. Un sujet qui se partage la Une avec le rapatriement des Vénézuéliens par les autorités américaines. Ce vendredi matin, un avion transportant 178 migrants expulsés des États-Unis, a atterri à Caracas. Ils étaient accueillis par le ministre de l'Intérieur, Diosdado Cabello qui a dénoncé la stigmatisation et de mauvais traitements dont ces migrants auraient été victimes aux États-Unis, peut-on lire dans le journal El Nacional.Journal de la 1re On revient sur le dernier jour de la visite de la ministre déléguée au Tourisme Nathalie Delattre en Martinique.

Ukraine is left looking on as America brings Russia back into the fold and Trump tests constitutional limits at home. New York Times columnist Masha Gessen joins Christiane to discuss the threats of rising authoritarianism in the US and abroad.  Also on today's show: Top EU diplomat Kaja Kallas; Jordan Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi; Democratic congresswoman Jahana Hayes  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Democracy has often been presented as an ideal, where citizens can participate and benefit from a fair society. But as we face growing inequality, political turmoil, and loss of faith in modern life, the price of preserving democracy might be proving too steep.    Masha Gessen is an opinion columnist for The New York Times and a Distinguished Professor at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York. They have written extensively on The Russian-Ukrainian war, Israel/Palestine, Vladimir Putin, and Donald Trump.  Paul Ham is an author and former Sunday Times correspondent, with a Master's degree from the London School of Economics. Paul lives in Paris and devotes his time to writing history and (when possible) to teaching Narrative History at Sciences Po, France's preeminent tertiary school for the humanities. David Runciman is Professor of Politics at the University of Cambridge and was Head of the Department of Politics and International Studies from 2014-2018. Chaired by journalist, Geraldine Doogue.

Air Date: 1/11/2025 Today, we look back to the warnings we gave ourselves at the beginning of the first Trump administration. In 2017 there was concern about corruption and his business dealings, ethics around his nominees, and the inability of the media to cover him properly. Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991 or email Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com Full Show Notes BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Members Get Bonus Shows + No Ads!) Use our links to shop Bookshop.org and Libro.fm for a non-evil book and audiobook purchasing experience! Join our Discord community! KEY POINTS KP 1: What should Trump do to resolve his conflicts of interest? - @DecodeDC - Air Date 1-11-17 KP 2: SHOCKING: The GOP Doesn't Care That the Office of Govt. Ethics Can't Fully Vet Trump Nominees - Majority Report (@MajorityFM) - Air Date: 01-10-17 KP 3: Zephyr Teachout on Trump and the emoluments clause - Amicus from @Slate - Air Date 12-24-16 KP 4: Trump's team exhibits classic abuser behavior - Bradcast from @TheBradBlog - Air Date 1-23-17 KP 5: We Need To Talk About That Donald Trump Press Conference - Jay Smooth (@jsmooth995) - Air Date 1-12-17 KP 6: A Taxonomy of Trump Tweets - On the Media - Air Date 1-13-17 KP 7: Masha Gessen on the rules for surviving autocracy - Trumpcast from @Slate - Air Date 11-14-16 MUSIC (Blue Dot Sessions)   Produced by Jay! Tomlinson Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com Listen Anywhere! BestOfTheLeft.com/Listen Listen Anywhere! Follow BotL: Bluesky | Mastadon | Threads | X Like at Facebook.com/BestOfTheLeft Contact me directly at Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com

The turbulent events of 2024 in Israel had a significant impact around the world. The ongoing war in Gaza and other fronts had a particularly deep and emotional effect on the lives of Diaspora Jews, who coped with angry protests against Israel on campuses and in city centers, and with soaring rates of antisemitic violence. The new and disturbing environment ignited “a feeling of vulnerability and exile that came back to us,” said Paris Rabbi Delphine Horvilleur, one of the important voices from the Diaspora who joined the Haaretz Podcast over the course of the year. Excerpts from the conversation between podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer and Horvilleur, along with insights from interviews with other leading thinkers from the Jewish world like writers Franklin Foer, Ayelet Waldman, and Masha Gessen and award-winning playwright and screenwriter Tony Kushner are featured on this special year-end edition of the podcast.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The story of how America became the kind of place where a pair of billionaires can be put in charge of slashing government spending, the truth about Donald Trump's tariff agenda, and how Senate Republicans are faring against his pressure campaign to give up their constitutional duty of advice and consent

In an age of creeping authoritarianism, anyone who questions the logic of competing narratives when it comes to historical conflicts risks being silenced. Russian American journalist Masha Gessen says however, in order to learn from history we have to question our world and recognise the signs of when we're sliding into darkness.  Gessen examines how the intersection of history, memory, propaganda and censorship enforces the narratives of today – and what happens when narrative becomes dogma. Masha Gessen is an opinion columnist for The New York Times and a Distinguished Professor at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York. They have written extensively on The Russian-Ukrainian war, Israel/Palestine, Vladimir Putin, and Donald Trump. They have won numerous awards, including the George Polk Award, the Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thinking, and the National Book Award.  Chaired by journalist Hamish Macdonald.

This week on the show we're honored to have Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nathan Thrall on the show. His 2023 book, A Day in the Life of Abed Salama cuts to the heart of daily life in and around Jerusalem.In 2012, 5-year old Milad Salama was excited for a school field trip to a theme park. When his school bus hit a semi trailer, it upended the lives of everyone on the bus. What followed was a nightmare of bureaucracy that encapsulates what life is like for people living on the wrong side of the walls Israeli Arabs are forced to live behind. Masha Gessen and Nathan Thrall on The Whole Story of Israel and PalestineA Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem TragedySupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's been one week since Ukraine launched its surprise incursion into Russia. Today, President Vladimir Putin again framed this as a battle of survival against the West, saying Kyiv's move is a negotiating tactic. John Sullivan was appointed US ambassador to Russia by President Trump and was still there when Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He previously served as deputy secretary of state. He recounts it all in his new book, "Midnight in Moscow," and he joins the program from Washington DC.  Also on today's show: Dr. Javid Abdelmoneim, Medical team leader, MSF; Masha Gessen, opinion columnist, The New York Times  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Venezuela's authoritarian regime has spurred millions of people to leave the country. But they still want the chance to vote out the current president, Nicolás Maduro, in this month's election but are being shut out. Also, a Russian court has convicted the well-known Kremlin critic Masha Gessen for spreading false information. The conviction and sentencing was in absentia, but the decision means the award-winning writer faces eight years in prison if they return to Russia. And, we look at the epic rivalry between two of Europe's best runners, Josh Kerr of the UK and Jakob Ingebritsen of Norway, at the Paris Olympics.

Journalist and public intellectual Masha Gessen is dismayed that the Biden White House has been condemning, not supporting, the numerous tent protests against Israel's war in Gaza on American campuses and worried that this decision will hand the 2024 presidential election to Donald Trump. Speaking with host Allison Kaplan Sommer on the Haaretz Podcast, Gessen said that the fact that "Biden and his administration are willing to sacrifice the election, effectively, to its ongoing engagement with Israel is shocking, heartbreaking and very dangerous for this country." Gessen is a staff writer for The New Yorker and a senior lecturer in journalism at the City University of New York. In a wide-ranging conversation, Gessen recounted experiences on their recent reporting trip to Israel – including a visit to relatives living in a West Bank settlement – discussed the recent controversy over their comparison between the Gaza and Nazi-era Jewish ghettos and their views on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who they described as "very much in the mold of all contemporary autocrats." While they expressed "empathy" for the "fear, pain and terror" elicited by their Holocaust analogy, they said "I'm very critical of the way that [the Holocaust] is being used politically," especially by "creating a sort of blindness to everything but that experience of fear and victimhood."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chevruta is a column named for the traditional method of Jewish study, in which a pair of students analyzes a religious text together. In each installment, Jewish Currents will match leftist thinkers and organizers with a rabbi or Torah scholar. The activists will bring an urgent question that arises in their own work; the Torah scholar will lead them in exploring their question through Jewish text. By routing contemporary political questions through traditional religious sources, we aim to address the most urgent ethical and spiritual problems confronting the left. Each column will include a column, podcast, and study guide.On February 25th, Aaron Bushnell, an active-duty member of the US Air Force, self-immolated outside the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC. “I will no longer be complicit in genocide,” Bushnell said in a livestreamed video, broadcasting what he declared an “an extreme act of protest”—though, he added, “compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers, it's not extreme at all.” Bushnell, who was dressed in his army uniform, then doused himself in gasoline and set himself on fire, shouting “Free Palestine” until he collapsed. He died later that day. While some were quick to dismiss Bushnell's action as a manifestation of mental illness, many on the left expressed admiration for his sacrifice—which, as intended, drew global attention to US complicity in Israel's brutal, ongoing assault on Gaza.In this chevruta, Rabbi Lexi Botzum and Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel engage with Jewish texts that examine the concepts of martyrdom, sacrifice, and public spectacle, considering how our tradition might help us to engage with Aaron Bushnell's act, and the question of how much we must sacrifice for justice.You can find the column based on this conversation and a study guide here. Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).” Articles Mentioned:All Jewish sources are cited in the study guide, linked above“Aaron Bushnell's Act of Political Despair,” Masha Gessen, The New Yorker“The Work of the Witness,” Sarah Aziza, Jewish Currents“The Nature of Mass Demonstrations,” John Berger, International Socialism“Burnt Offerings,” Erik Baker, n+1

Masha Gessen in a New Yorker essay draws a parallel between the Warsaw Ghetto in Nazi-occupied Poland and the Gaza Strip, where Israel's long siege is now escalating to genocide. Some Israeli military tactics in Gaza mirror those of the Nazis in Warsaw. Yet, while some voices on the ostensible "left" go so far as to glorify Hamas, Israel's online partisans are drawing a parallel that reverses the roles, depicting Hamas as the new Nazis. In fact, in a case of paradoxical fascistic pseudo-anti-fascism, the genocidal rhetoric of figures such as hardline Israeli cabinet member Bezalel Smotrich dehumanizes the victims by portraying all Gazans as Nazis. In Episode 223 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg turns to the words of Leon Trotsky and Albert Camus to make sense of the seeming contradiction. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. https://www.patreon.com/countervortex Production by Chris Rywalt We ask listeners to donate just $1 per weekly podcast via Patreon -- or $2 for our new special offer! We now have 61 subscribers. If you appreciate our work, please become Number 62!

It's been six months since the October 7 attack. Since then, over 33,000 Palestinians have been killed as a result of Israel's bombing campaign and ground invasion of Gaza, nearly 14,000 of whom are children. The renowned Gazan poet Mosab Abu Toha joins Edgar today for a discussion about what it means to grow up in what Masha Gessen likens to a Nazi concentration camp. We would like to dedicate this episode to all the murdered poets of Gaza. As always, follow us on social media:InstagramFacebookTwitterIf you want to support independent journalism on the Middle East and Palestine, please consider joining our Patreon community.

Woodstock Bookfest will be live and in person this weekend in Woodstock, New York. The festival features an amazing line-up including: Masha Gessen, Mark Whitaker, Sophie Strand, Sari Botton, Gail Straub, Elissa Altman, Nick Flynn - just to name a few.Of course, they'll have a Story Slam and ending with their signature panel, Memoir-A-Go-Go! Yes, there will be Little Bites and Big Libations. Festival Founder, Martha Frankel, is here with details.

Nicolle Wallace is joined by Mara Gay, John Heilemann, Rev. Al Sharpton, Lisa Rubin, Ian Bassin, Kim Lane Scheppele, Rick Stengel, Masha Gessen, Harry Litman, and Mary McCord. 

After a decade of provoking Russian President Vladimir Putin through organized protest, anti-corruption investigations, and taunting social-media posts, the opposition leader Alexei Navalny has died in a Russian prison, from what the Kremlin claims was a pulmonary embolism. The New Yorker staff writer Masha Gessen, who knew Navalny, calls his death “a shock, but not a surprise,” and says that, had Navalny been killed a decade ago, the incident might have led to even more widespread outrage. But Russian citizens and the world have since grown accustomed to Putin's iron grip on power. With Putin gaining momentum in his war on Ukraine and Western sanctions seeming to be unable to stop him, Navalny's death does not appear to signal Putin's weakness; rather, it suggests that the Russian President feels as emboldened as ever. Despite this, Gessen sees a future for Russia's political opposition movement. “They're not going to organize to bring down the regime,” Gessen tells Tyler Foggatt. “That's not the project. The project is to have a politics in place for when the regime collapses under its own weight. And I think it's not impossible that they could do it.”

Virginia Dearani, Adi Burton, and Clarence Joldersma speak to Cara and Derek about the mutual implications and shared concerns, both real and possible, of these two massively complex regions of human experience. LINKS! A transcript of the episode is here. The form to recommend future guests/topics! The Masha Gessen piece we briefly discussed is here. Adi's dissertation is available here For more on Virginia, see here. For Clarence's work, click here, here, and here.

Saturday marks the second anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. And while foreign support may be dwindling, Ukrainian determination to win the war is not. But what's at stake when war no longer feels like an emergency… but a way of life?   Ray Suarez sits down with Masha Gessen, staff writer for The New Yorker, to unpack the toll of Russia's aggression on Ukraine's freedoms… and democracy.   Guest:   Masha Gessen, Russian-American award-winning author and staff writer for The New Yorker    Host(s):     Ray Suarez   If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Alexei Navalny, the leader of Russia's opposition movement, died last week in a remote Arctic prison. According to his family and supporters, he was murdered by Vladimir Putin's regime. In this Squiz Shortcut, we talk about who Navalny was and his role in Russian politics, plus the reaction to his death. Squiz recommends: Reading: anything by Masha Gessen, another Russian dissident who wrote about Navalny's death in The New Yorker. Watching: the Oscar-winning documentary Navalny, about the 2020 poisoning attempt and Navalny's efforts to track down his would-be assassins. You can currently watch it for free on SBS On Demand.

Russian-American journalist Masha Gessen discusses Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny's legacy. And, Courthouse News' Erik Uebelacker recaps the civil corruption trial against the NRA and former CEO Wayne LaPierre. Then, two high school principals talk about their different approaches to cellphone policies in their schools.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Russian opposition leader, anti-corruption activist and political prisoner Alexei Navalny has died. Masha Gessen, The New Yorker staff writer and the author of Surviving Autocracy (Riverhead Books, 2020), digests this news and offers analysis as Putin's war in Ukraine approaches its second anniversary.

Russian opposition leader, anti-corruption activist and political prisoner Alexei Navalny has died. On Today's Show:Masha Gessen, The New Yorker staff writer and the author of Surviving Autocracy (Riverhead Books, 2020), digests this news and offers analysis as Putin's war in Ukraine approaches its second anniversary.

Russian opposition leader, anti-corruption activist and political prisoner Alexei Navalny has died. On Today's Show:Masha Gessen, The New Yorker staff writer and the author of Surviving Autocracy (Riverhead Books, 2020), digests this news and offers analysis as Putin's war in Ukraine approaches its second anniversary.

The conflict in the Middle East has already killed tens of thousands of Palestinians. On this week's On the Media, hear how Israeli media outlets are broadcasting a sanitized version of what's happening in Gaza to the Israeli people. Plus, how one billionaire is going after the media for an article about plagiarism. 1. Oren Persico [@OrenPersico], staff writer at The Seventh Eye, an independent investigative magazine focused on freedom of speech in Israel, on how Israeli mainstream media outlets are sanitizing the destruction in Gaza. Listen. 2. Will Sommer [@willsommer], media reporter at The Washington Post, on how fights over plagiarism have become a political tool. Listen. 3. Masha Gessen [@mashagessen], staff writer at The New Yorker, on how the politics of memory around the Holocaust damages our ability to understand the conflict in Gaza and Israel. Listen. 

The conflict in the Middle East has already killed tens of thousands of Palestinians. On this week's On the Media, hear how Israeli media outlets are broadcasting a sanitized version of what's happening in Gaza to the Israeli people. Plus, how one billionaire is going after the media for an article about plagiarism. 1. Oren Persico [@OrenPersico], staff writer at The Seventh Eye, an independent investigative magazine focused on freedom of speech in Israel, on how Israeli mainstream media outlets are sanitizing the destruction in Gaza. Listen. 2. Will Sommer [@willsommer], media reporter at The Washington Post, on how fights over plagiarism have become a political tool. Listen. 3. Masha Gessen [@mashagessen], staff writer at The New Yorker, on how the politics of memory around the Holocaust damages our ability to understand the conflict in Gaza and Israel. Listen. 

Masha Gessen, The New Yorker staff writer and the author of many books including Surviving Autocracy (Riverhead Books, 2020) reports after a trip to Germany on how the memory of the Holocaust complicates calls for a cease fire, support for Palestinians, and Zionism and antisemitism. 

New Yorker staff writer Masha Gessen recently received a German literary prize, but the ceremony was delayed after the Russian-American writer compared Gaza to a Nazi-era ghetto. On Today's Show:Gessen discusses how the memory of the Holocaust complicates calls for a cease-fire, support for Palestinians, Zionism and antisemitism.

New Yorker staff writer Masha Gessen recently received a German literary prize, but the ceremony was delayed after the Russian-American writer compared Gaza to a Nazi-era ghetto. On Today's Show:Gessen discusses how the memory of the Holocaust complicates calls for a cease-fire, support for Palestinians, Zionism and antisemitism.

Alarming new details on Trump's authoritarian plans. Plus, my conversation with Masha Gessen, a Jewish descendant of Holocaust survivors, whose award ceremony was nearly derailed after they condemned the atrocities in Gaza.

Headlines for December 15, 2023; “Politics of Memory”: Masha Gessen’s Hannah Arendt Prize Postponed for Comparing Gaza to Warsaw Ghetto; Israel Raids Freedom Theatre in Jenin Refugee Camp; Director Speaks Out After Being Jailed & Beaten

Headlines for December 15, 2023; “Politics of Memory”: Masha Gessen’s Hannah Arendt Prize Postponed for Comparing Gaza to Warsaw Ghetto; Israel Raids Freedom Theatre in Jenin Refugee Camp; Director Speaks Out After Being Jailed & Beaten

Last week, the U.S. Congress passed a nonbinding resolution that deemed any expression of anti-Zionism to be a form of antisemitism. This move closely follows the model set by the German government, which has created strict measures to combat antisemitism and a bureaucracy to enforce those measures. Sometimes, Jewish people are found to be in violation. In both Germany and the United States, many politicians championing similar protections are members of the right wing, some of whom are also known white supremacists. Masha Gessen, a New Yorker staff writer, recently wrote an essay about the politics of memory in Europe and the widespread insistence that the Holocaust is a singular event unlike any other. Gessen joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss how the stories we tell about history can prevent us from understanding the conditions that give rise to atrocities. “The thing is, if something is unimaginable, then anything that happens in the present, which is by definition imaginable, is not like it,” Gessen says. “And I think that's the crazy mental trick that we've played on ourselves.”  Masha Gessen was due to receive the Hannah Arendt Prize on December 15th, but, after the publication of this essay, the Heinrich Böll Foundation chose not to participate in the granting of the award.

Joy leads this episode of The ReidOut with new reporting that former Vice President Mike Pence seriously considered not attending the January 6th electoral vote certification. According to new details from sources familiar, it was Pence's son, a marine, who influenced his father's decision to preside despite mounting pressure from former President Trump. Also in this episode, as Russia extends the detention of American journalist Evan Gershkovich, Joy sits down with Masha Gessen of the New Yorker, another journalist the Russian government is seeking to prosecute. Finally, the Texas Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday on whether the state's abortion bans hurt women with complicated pregnancies. One of the plaintiffs in an ongoing lawsuit filed by a group of Texas women who say they were denied abortions despite grave risks to their own lives or their fetuses, joins Joy to discuss. All this and more in this edition of The ReidOut on MSNBC.

It's a time of contrast and contradiction for gender queerness in America: At the same time that about 5 percent of Americans under 30 identify as transgender or nonbinary, over 20 states have passed some sort of restriction on gender-affirming care for children. In 2023 alone, over 550 anti-trans bills have been introduced across the country.The political push and pull can overshadow a broad spectrum of rich questions and possibilities that queer culture opens up — about how we think about identity and social categories, how we structure our communities and support networks, our anxieties about having children who are different from ourselves, how gender norms shape all bodies and how difficult it can be to make big life decisions.Masha Gessen is a staff writer at The New Yorker who has thought deeply about many of these questions. “Gender is something that happens between me and other people,” they say. In this conversation, the guest host Lydia Polgreen asks Gessen, who identifies as trans and nonbinary, what the social and political shift around gender has looked like to them in the past few decades.They discuss why gender has captured the conservative imagination, how L.G.B.T.Q. activists have fallen into the “regret trap,” what it means to understand gender expression as a choice rather than something biologically determined, why Gessen prefers a liberatory framework focused on protecting freedoms-to rather than freedoms-from when thinking about L.G.B.T.Q. issues, how gender-affirming care is not just for trans people, how the making of the 1999 movie “The Matrix” reflects the rapid social change around trans visibility in the United States, the anti-L.G.B.T.Q. sentiments that made Gessen decide to leave their home in Russia,how gender conformity is social contagion and more.This episode was hosted by Lydia Polgreen, a New York Times Opinion columnist and a co-host on the weekly Opinion podcast “Matter of Opinion.” She previously served as the managing director of Gimlet, a podcast studio at Spotify, and as the editor in chief of HuffPost.Mentioned:The Argonauts by Maggie NelsonBook Recommendations:The Myth of the Wrong Body by Miquel MisseConundrum by Jan MorrisWho's Afraid of Gender by Judith ButlerThoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Kristin Lin. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris, with Mary Marge Locker and Kate Sinclair. Mixing by Efim Shapiro. Our senior editor is Annie-Rose Strasser. The show's production team also includes Emefa Agawu, Jeff Geld and Rollin Hu. Original music by Isaac Jones. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The executive producer of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser. Special thanks to Isaac Jones.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit andrewsullivan.substack.comLeor is a writer and researcher. He's currently a fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a frequent contributor to City Journal, particularly on issues of gender identity and public policy.For two clips of our convo — on the sudden skyrocketing of girls seeking transition, and how the medicalizing of trans kids destroys their ability to have orgasms in the future — pop over to our YouTube page. Other topics: Leor's childhood bouncing between the US and a kibbutz in Israel; getting drafted into the IDF and serving in a combat unit; traveling the globe afterwards; getting a BA in Haifa and a PhD at Boston College; doing a Harvard postdoc on the Obama administration's redefinition of male and female under Title IX; the Dutch protocol; the shift from “transexual” to “transgender”; Stoller and Money; the Reimer twins; how there's no single definition of “transgender” in Gender Studies; autogynephilia; how “early-onset gender dysphoria” is mostly effeminate boys who turn out to be gay; Jazz Jennings; Marci Bowers; how puberty blockers were originally a “pause button” — not a transition method; the suicide scare-tactic; the Tavistock Center and Time to Think; the US shift from “watchful waiting” to “gender-affirming care”; the shifting rhetoric of “conversion therapy” and “born that way”; trans athletes; the euphoric effect of a T surge; Masha Gessen; Rachel Levine; how “nonbinary” is one of the fastest growing identities; and tales of detransition.Browse the Dishcast archive for another convo you might enjoy (the first 102 episodes are free in their entirety — subscribe to get everything else). Coming up: Ian Buruma on his new book The Collaborators: Three Stories of Deception and Survival in World War II, the young reactionary Spencer Klavan, and Martha Nussbaum on her book Justice For Animals. Later on: Matthew Crawford, David Brooks and Pamela Paul. Please send any guest recs, pod dissent and other comments to dish@andrewsullivan.com.

Nadia's family is split between Russia and Ukraine, which is pretty common. And when Russia invaded Ukraine, it didn't just start fighting on the battlefield. It sparked family conflict, too. An intimate story of the war from writer Masha Gessen.  Prologue: An extended family, and eight fights. (1 minutes)Fight #1: Luka's parents – Nadia and Karen – try to figure out where to take him once war breaks out. (6 minutes)Fight #2: Nadia and Karen have been arguing over Russian-ness since they needed to pick a school for Luka. (10 minutes)Fights #3 and #4: Nadia remembers the times that Luka's father would suggest going to Crimea for vacation, as if it wasn't Ukrainian land occupied by Russia. And she remembers a present that Karen once gave Luka––the sort which had to be smuggled into the country. (6 minutes)Fight #5: Nadia tells the story of her father, Alex, who lives near Bucha, and how differently he and she view the Russian atrocities there. (10 minutes)Fight #6: Nadia tells the story of her mother, who lives in Russia, and how she won't do the one thing Nadia keeps asking her to do. (2 minutes)Fight #7: Karen sends Nadia a photo which drives them to a final showdown. (12 minutes)Fight #8: Nadia's step-father works for the Russian government. How to manage that? (4 minutes)Epilogue: Nadia and Karen's son, Luka, who most of these fights are about, gets the last word. (3 minutes)Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.org

Yevgeny Prigozhin's march on Moscow last weekend, which killed more than a dozen Russian soldiers, fizzled as quickly as it began, but its repercussions are just beginning. The Wagner Group commander issued a video from Belarus claiming that he did not attempt a coup against Putin but a protest against the Defense Ministry. Mutiny may be the more accurate description, but Prigozhin “was strictly staying within this mythology that Putin makes all the decisions in Russia, and if he makes bad decisions, it's because somebody has given him bad information,” the staff writer Masha Gessen says. “He was marching to Moscow to give Putin better information.” David Remnick talks with Gessen and the contributor Joshua Yaffa, who has written on the Wagner Group, about what lies ahead in Russia. Both feel that by revealing the reality of the war to his own following—a Putin-loyal, nationalist audience—Prigozhin has seriously damaged the regime's credibility. If an uprising removes Putin from power, “there will be chaos,” Gessen notes. “Nobody knows what happens next. There's no succession plan.” And whatever the West may wish, Ukraine may be better off with the current regime. “Whoever comes to power after Putin, it's not going to be anybody who articulates liberal values. It's going to be some sort of Putin-ism without Putin.”

Yevgeny Prigozhin's march on Moscow last weekend, which killed more than a dozen Russian soldiers, fizzled as quickly as it began, but its repercussions are just beginning. The Wagner Group commander issued a video from Belarus claiming that he did not attempt a coup against Putin but a protest against the Defense Ministry.  David Remnick talks with Masha Gessen and the contributor Joshua Yaffa, who has written on the Wagner Group, about what lies ahead in Russia. Both feel that by revealing the reality of the war to his own following—a Putin-loyal, nationalist audience—Prigozhin has seriously damaged the regime's credibility. If an uprising removes Putin from power, “there will be chaos,” Gessen notes. “Nobody knows what happens next. There's no succession plan.”  Plus, Jill Lepore on amending the Constitution: suggesting a constitutional amendment these days is so far-fetched, it's almost a punch line, but the Framers intended the document to be regularly amended, the historian Jill Lepore tells David Remnick. She argues that the failure to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment sank the country into a political quagmire from which it has not arisen, and her latest historial project brings awareness to the problem of amendability.

CNN correspondent Matthew Chance joins the show live from Moscow this week to share an update from Russia in the wake of the armed insurrection. Then, Fareed hosts an all-star panel with The Atlantic's Anne Applebaum and Masha Gessen of the New Yorker for analysis of the situation unfolding in Russia. They talk about what led to the fracture between Putin and Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, as well as what impact the rebellion may have on the war in Ukraine. Plus, Fareed sits down with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris to discuss how to get the world's wealthy countries to pay to fix global problems – like climate change and extreme poverty. They also speak about Macron's vision for an autonomous Europe – not tied to the U.S. or China.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

Guests: Renato Mariotti, Kristy Greenberg, Raf Sanchez, Masha Gessen, Irin CarmonTonight: There's new trouble for Team Trump as the special counsel grants immunity to fake electors, Then, what is happening in Russia tonight as the leader of thousands of Russian mercenaries effectively declares war against Russia's military. Plus: The Republican Party continues to be on the wrong side of voters as nearly two thirds of the country rejects the Dobbs decision on abortion.

Evgeny Shtorn and Alexander Kondakov were living together in St. Petersburg when Vladimir Putin began his crackdown on the L.G.B.T.Q. movement in Russia, passing laws that prevented gay “propaganda.” Kondakov is a scholar of the movement, and Shtorn has studied the sociology of hate crimes against gay men. The couple also worked for an N.G.O. that received foreign funding, which made them appear particularly suspicious to Russian authorities. After Shtorn's citizenship was rescinded, he became vulnerable to pressure from the F.S.B., the Russian security agency, which tried to make him an informant. Finally Shtorn decided to flee, seeking refuge as a stateless person in Ireland, where Masha Gessen spoke with him. Gessen says that Putin's recent targeting of L.G.B.T. people is perfectly in line with his methods. “[We] make the perfect scapegoat, because we stand in for everything,” she says. “We stand in for the West. We stand in all the things that have changed in the last quarter century that make you uncomfortable. And, of course, no Russian thinks they've ever met a gay person in person—so that makes it really easy to create that image of ‘the villainous queer people.' ” This segment originally aired June 10, 2019. Since that time, Shtorn received refugee status, and was reunited with Kondakov in Ireland. They married in 2023.   

Many culture-war politicians are attacking the rights of trans people, and making a regressive view of gender as biology the key to their platforms. In this episode, David Remnick talks to two people who've found themselves at the center of the battle over transgender rights. In Nebraska, a state senator has committed to filibustering every piece of legislation to ward off a vote on a Republican-sponsored bill that would ban gender-affirming care for trans people under age nineteen. Then Masha Gessen—who fled Russia years ago as an L.G.B.T. person targeted by government repression—explains why anti-trans messaging has been effective for the right, and why discussions of trans issues can be fraught even for those who support them.