On Shifting Ground

Conspiracy communities that once promoted QAnon and anti-vaccine theories have now sunk their teeth into an even tastier morsel: our food supply chain. Laicie Heeley, Executive Producer and Host of “Things That Go Boom,” joins Ray Suarez to break down how cracks in our food system have paved the way for international conspiracy theories about the ongoing food crisis. 

 

Guest:

 

Laicie Heeley, Executive Producer and Host of “Things That Go Boom

 

Host:  

 

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.

Direct download: 6-26_On_Shifting_Ground_pt._2_for_pod.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

Concerns about a 'global elite' exerting control over demographic shifts and our food choices have hit the mainstream, and they are feeding anxieties. Ray Suarez speaks with French legal scholar Rim-Sarah Alouane about the "great replacement theory", and what it takes to be considered “French first.”

 

Guest:

 

Ridha Khadher, baker and owner of Au Paradis du gourmand

 

Rim-Sarah Alouane, French legal scholar

 

Host:

 

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.

Direct download: 6-26_On_Shifting_Ground_pt._1_for_pod.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

The 1998-1999 war in Kosovo may have ended the fighting between Serbs and Albanian Kosovars, but it didn’t end the conflict. Anatol Lieven, journalist and Eurasian Program Director at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, joins Ray Suarez to explain why ethnic tensions are once again flaring up in the Balkans.

 

Guest:

 

Anatol Lieven, journalist and Eurasian Program Director at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft

 

Host:

 

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.

 

Direct download: 6-19_On_Shifting_Ground_pt._2_for_pod.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey’s all-powerful leader of 20 years, was recently re-elected, raising serious questions about the state of Turkey’s democracy. Is Erdoğan trying to rebuild the Ottoman Empire? And is his republic Russia’s Trojan Horse in NATO? Ray Suarez speaks with Merve Tahiroğlu, Turkey Program Director at the Project on Middle East Democracy about Erdoğan’s imperial ambitions.

 

Guest:

 

Merve Tahiroğlu, Turkey Program Director at the Project on Middle East Democracy

 

Host:

 

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.

Direct download: 6-19_On_Shifting_Ground_pt._1_for_pod.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

For decades, Georgia has tried to extricate itself from Russia's shadow. But with the recent influx of Ukrainian refugees and anti-war Russians and the rise of Georgia’s Dream Party, the former Soviet state is once again walking a political tightrope between Russia and a tenuous future with NATO. In this episode, reporter Levi Bridges takes us on the ground to hear about the dangers of standing up to Russia.

 

Reporter:

 

Levi Bridges, journalist 

 

Featured guests:

 

Daniil Chubar, co-founder of Emigration for Action 

 

Monika Jaranowska, Director of Kids Club "Happy Me" Tbilisi

 

Giga Bokeria, leader of the European Georgia party

 

Sonja Schiffers, Director of the Heinrich Böll Foundation’s Tbilisi Office

 

Giorgi Khelashvili, Georgian Dream MP and Deputy Chair of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Parliament of Georgia

 

Host:  

 

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.

Direct download: 6-12_On_Shifting_Ground_pt._2_for_pod.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

“How is it that foreign corrupt interests could manipulate our government?” asked retired Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, in her testimony during the first impeachment trial against former President Donald Trump in 2019. 

 

In her absorbing memoir, “Lessons from the Edge,” Yovanovich reflected on the disinformation campaign that eventually led to the end of her post as Ambassador to Ukraine. Ray Suarez spoke with Yovanovitch about a lifetime of public service, and why she remains optimistic about Ukraine’s fight for freedom.

 

Guest:

 

Marie Yovanovitch, Former US Ambassador to Ukraine and author of the memoir “Lessons From The Edge

 

Host:  

 

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.

Direct download: 6-12_On_Shifting_Ground_pt._1_for_pod.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

The innovative concept of a “15-Minute City” holds the potential to address many urbanization challenges. But it hasn’t been without its critics. Ray Suarez and ‘CityNerd’ creator Ray Delahanty, delve into the eccentric conspiracy theories surrounding it, and its feasibility for the future of urban planning in American cities.

 

Guest:

 

Ray Delahanty, Host and creator of CityNerd 

 

Host: 

 

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.

Direct download: 6-5_On_Shifting_Ground_pt._2_for_pod.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

Derailed trains, collapsed bridges and an unreliable power grid point to America’s growing infrastructure problem. And though President Biden campaigned on “building back better,” these issues have taken a back seat to political gridlock—at home and abroad. 

 

US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg joins Ray Suarez to break down how the Biden administration plans to get America’s infrastructure back on track — one EV at a time. They spoke following the APEC Transportation Ministerial Meeting in Detroit, Michigan.

 

Guest:

 

Pete Buttigieg, US Secretary of Transportation

 

Host:  

 

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.

Direct download: 6-5_On_Shifting_Ground_pt._1_for_pod.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

The hard truth is that whenever tensions escalate between the US and Asian nations overseas, Asian Americans bear the brunt of that anger at home. In this episode, we revisit the story of Wen Ho Lee, a Taiwanese-American scientist who was falsely accused of spying for the Chinese government, with Helen Zia and George Koo.

 

Guests:

 

Helen Zia, journalist, activist and author of Last Boat out of Shanghai and My Country vs. Me

 

George Koo, retired business consultant and writer

 

Host:  

 

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.

Direct download: 5-29_On_Shifting_Ground_pt._2_for_pod.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

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