The Pivot by Globely News: Recent Episodes
Globely News
The Pivot is a global affairs podcast that discusses the leaders, states, networks, ideologies, and technologies that are reshaping power dynamics in our world.
Independent journalist Zaid Jilani joins host Arif Rafiq to discuss the political evolution of JD Vance and his transition from being a Never Trumper to Donald Trump’s running mate.
They assess Vance's heterodox political beliefs, how they clash with his personal life, and whether he represents the future of MAGA and the broader conservative movement.
(Image Credit: Gage Skidmore)
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Why the Left Gets JD Vance Wrong | Zaid Jilani, Compact Magazine
https://www.compactmag.com/article/why-the-left-gets-j-d-vance-wrong/
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The Economist correspondent Tom Gardner discusses with host Arif Rafiq the enigma that is Ethiopia's prime minister Abiy Ahmed, who would preside over a civil war roughly a year after being awarded a Nobel Peace Prize.
Gardner is the author of "The Abiy Ahmed Project," newly published by Hurst: https://amzn.to/4cCBRsv (US); https://amzn.to/3xNK1iG (UK).
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Juan David Rojas (@rojasrjuand) of Compact magazine and host Arif Rafiq discuss the historic victory of Claudia Sheinbaum in this month’s Mexican general elections. They take a deep dive into the record of her mentor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, known as AMLO, and explore his heterodox, anti-neoliberal politics. They also assess what the future holds for Morena and Mexico under the leadership of Claudia Sheinbaum.
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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is returning to power for a third consecutive term, but with a slimmed-down mandate delivered by an electorate weighed down by economic precarity. India's surprising election results will have a profound effect on how Prime Minister Narendra Modi rules and who succeeds him.
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https://globelynews.com/south-asia/india-elections-2024-modi-bjp/
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It’s a new era in South Africa. In last week's general elections, the African National Congress (ANC), which led the country’s freedom struggle, failed to win a National Assembly majority for the first time since the fall of apartheid in 1994. The party will now have to form a coalition government. Its choices may have profound effects not just on the ANC and South Africa, but beyond the country's borders as well.
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Venezuela is in the midst of a military buildup along its border with its smaller neighbor Guyana, a tiny South American country home to the world’s fastest-growing economy — driven by oil.
Mexicans head to the polls on Sunday to choose their next president.
If the pre-election surveys are correct, their next president will be Claudia Sheinbaum — who would make history as Mexico’s first woman and first Jewish president.
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Cobus van Staden of the China in Africa podcast and host Arif Rafiq discuss two competing corridors that are at the heart of the great power race for green metals in the Central African Copper Belt: the Western-backed Lobito Corridor from Angola to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia and the China-constructed and potentially soon-to-be revamped Tanzania-Zambia Railway (TAZARA).
They unpack the race for cobalt and copper interests and development strategies of regional states, including Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, and Zambia.
Guest Ali Hashem (@alihashem_tv) of Al Jazeera English and host Arif Rafiq (@arifcrafiq) discuss the prospects for a full-blown conflict between Hezbollah and Israel. The episode looks at the history of conflict between the two belligerents, including the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, assesses how both parties have adapted and evolved since then in anticipation of another war, and explains what’s driving the escalating strikes on both sides of the Blue Line since the October 7 attacks. Hashem and Rafiq also address the Iran factor and its influence over Axis of Resistance partner Hezbollah.
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Khalil Sayegh of the Agora Initiative joins host Arif Rafiq to discuss conditions on the ground in Gaza, what kind of political future awaits the Palestinian people, and his views on the response of Christian Zionists in the U.S. to the mass killings of Palestinians.
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India’s general elections begin this month and are likely to bring Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party back to power for a third consecutive term.
King’s College London Prof. Christophe Jaffrelot and host Arif Rafiq discuss the fundamental features of Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist project developed in the “laboratory” of the Gujarat state and applied nationally over his first two terms as prime minister.
They explore how Modi commandeered India’s Hindu nationalist movement and refashioned it into a Modi-centric populism, backed by a vigilante-driven social surveillance regime and marked by crony capitalism. They assess what an India after Modi might look like and whether democracy and secularism can bounce back once his reign has come to an end.
LEARN MORE:
Narendra Modi: India's Most Powerful Post-Independence Leader
Hindutva: A Deep Dive Into India’s Hindu Nationalist Ideology
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University of Maryland Professor Michael Woldemariam joins host Arif Rafiq to discuss the recent maritime access agreement between Ethiopia and the breakaway region of Somaliland. They address landlocked Ethiopia’s problem of geography, its regional aspirations, the challenges of federalism and fragmentation in Somalia and Ethiopia, and the contestation between great and regional powers, including the U.S. and China, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Turkey.
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https://globelynews.com/africa/ethiopia-somaliland-horn-africa-game-of-ports/
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East Africa Map:
Uyghur activist Nury Turkel (@nuryturkel) speaks with host Arif Rafiq on China’s persecution of the Uyghur Muslims; the systems of coercion, surveillance, and collective punishment directed at the Uyghurs; and how you, the listener, may be unknowingly consuming products made in part through forced Uyghur labor.
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https://globelynews.com/asia/china-uyghur-muslim/
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Jacqui Baker (@indobaker) of Murdoch University joins host Arif Rafiq to discuss Prabowo Subianto’s victory in Indonesia’s presidential elections, the legacy and political future of the popular outgoing president Joko Widodo, and the durability of the economic and political status quo in this rising Southeast Asian power.
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After Joko Widodo: What a Prabowo Presidency Means for Indonesia
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Jay Mandle, a professor emeritus of economics at Colgate University, joins host Arif Rafiq to discuss whether Guyana, now the world's newest petrostate and fastest-growing economy, can leverage its newfound oil wealth to change its destiny and avoid the "resource curse."
By 2035, Guyana could become the world's fourth-largest producer of oil. But it faces a host of challenges in exploiting these resources for the benefit of its population. In this episode, Mandle and Rafiq these obstacles, including climate change, longstanding ethnic and racial divisions, and threats from neighboring Venezuela.
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Guyana: Can the World’s Newest Petrostate Change Its Destiny?
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Meredith Weiss, a professor of political science at the University at Albany, joins host Arif Rafiq to discuss the many political transformations of Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim over his political career. A prominent Islamist student activist, Anwar was cultivated by longtime Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad as his heir apparent, only to be victimized and imprisoned by him later. As a dissident, Anwar became an outspoken Muslim democrat both at home and on the global stage. Today, his politics, in the view of some, can be described as post-Islamist. Anwar Ibrahim's fascinating political journey is not his story alone: it is that of Malaysia too.
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The Many Political Lives of Anwar Ibrahim
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(Image Credit: Firdaus Latif)
Afshon Ostovar, an associate professor at the Naval Postgraduate School, joins host Arif Rafiq to discuss how Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) transformed from being a ragtag militia to a preeminent outside force in Iraq, Syria, and elsewhere in the Middle East. They explore the IRGC’s network of partners, including the so-called Axis of Resistance, and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses in how IRGC leverages these groups as part of its strategy of asymmetric warfare against its adversaries and rivals, including the U.S. and Israel.
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Iran’s IRGC and the Battle for the Middle East
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Ali Wyne, a senior advisor at the International Crisis Group, joins host Arif Rafiq to discuss the implications of Taiwan's recent elections, how China is responding to the results, the risks of a U.S.-China war over Taiwan, and the broader challenge of managing a rising China. LEARN MORE:
The China Challenge: How to Manage Strategic Rivalry With Beijing
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Journalist Emily Tamkin, author of "Bad Jews," joins host Arif Rafiq to discuss the evolving and often contentious debate over what it means to be an American Jew and how today's conversations about Jews, whiteness, and wealth fit into the broader historical, American Jewish experience. They also discuss the parallels between neoconservatism in the 60s and 70s and today's counter-progressivism — or anti-wokeism — among Jewish public intellectuals. The conversation concludes with Tamkin's thoughts on the crisis of American Zionism.
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American Jews: Beyond the Tropes
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Bangladesh has seen rapid economic growth and development gains amid poor governance, rampant corruption, and growing repression. On Sunday, Bangladeshi voters went to the polls to take part in elections that were neither free nor fair.
Ali Riaz, a distinguished professor of political science at Illinois State University, joins host Arif Rafiq to discuss how deep and durable Bangladesh's socio-economic gains are and whether they can be sustained under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's authoritarian regime.
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Bangladesh Elections: Trouble Lurks Beneath Sheikh Hasina’s ‘Victory’
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Hesham Sallam of Stanford University joins host Arif Rafiq to discuss Pres. Abdel Fattah El-Sisi's 10 years as ruler of Egypt and how this one man has dominated Egypt, its institutions, and its 110 million people for a decade. They dive deep into El-Sisi's motives, how his brand of authoritarianism differs from those of his predecessors, and what the future holds for this new pharaoh and the 110 million people over whom he rules.
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How El-Sisi Rules Egypt
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Francisco Rodríguez of the University of Denver joins host Arif Rafiq to discuss Venezuela's long political and economic crises, the drivers of its instability, the role played by the U.S., its links to the migrant crisis, and the potential for a way out.
In this episode, we take a deep look at the broader political and economic crisis that Venezuela has been experiencing for more than two decades and is driving the ongoing migrant crisis. We’ll unpack the roots of populist authoritarianism in Venezuela and the impact of the U.S. sanctions regime on the country's politics and society.
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Murtaza Hussain of The Intercept joins host Arif Rafiq to discuss India’s global assassination campaign, its modes, methods, and motivations, and what it means for the future of India’s partnership with the United States and the West.
Previously limited to its neighborhood, India's assassination campaign is now extending to the West. On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Justice revealed it has charged an Indian man of attempting to kill a Sikh American supporter of the Khalistan separatist movement. The development comes just months after the killing in Canada of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, another Khalistani activist. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attributed the murder to "agents of India."
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University of Michigan-Dearborn Professor Sally Howell joins host Arif Rafiq to discuss the history of the Arab Americans of Detroit and Dearborn and their rise as a force that is not only reshaping the political landscape in Michigan but could also play a decisive role in choosing the next president of the United States.
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Rice University scholar Kristian Ulrichsen joins host Arif Rafiq to discuss how the October 7 attacks by Hamas have impacted Saudi Arabia's moves toward normalizing ties with Israel, its relations with Iran, and plans by its de-facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to transform the country's economy and society through Vision 2030.
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King's College London Professor Jeroen Gunning joins host Arif Rafiq to discuss Hamas's ideology, internal struggles between pragmatists and hardliners, competition with other Palestinian groups, and use of violence against Israel.
The episode concludes with a discussion on how to hold both state and non-state actors accountable for violence against civilians.
Gunning lived in Gaza in the late 1990s and interviewed most of Hamas's leading political leaders as well as many rank-and-file members of the group. His first book, "Hamas in Politics: Democracy, Religion, Violence," is informed by this field research.
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International Crisis Group analyst Mairav Zonszein joins host Arif Rafiq to discuss the mood on the ground in Israel after the October 7 attacks by Hamas, how it may shape Netanyahu’s decision-making, and what the ongoing crisis means for his legacy.
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The Middle East Institute's Khaled Elgindy and host Arif Rafiq discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, U.S. policy toward Palestine, and the future of the Palestinian national movement.
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As India's election results are set to be announced, host Arif Rafiq speaks with Rana Ayyub, an investigative journalist, and Audrey Truschke, a professor of South Asian history, on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of a "New India" and the danger it poses to Muslims and other minorities, free speech, and academic inquiry in India.
This episode takes a deep dive into the question of who runs India today.
Ayyub provides insights into the ideas, people, and networks that propelled Modi to power—including his right-hand man Amit Shah and the shadowy extremist group, the RSS. Truschke addresses the RSS's war against history—both in producing an imaginary view of the past featuring "Muslim" villains and "Hindu" victims as well in suppressing scholarship on India's history.
Ayyub and Truschke also assess how five years of BJP rule has impacted India and what another five years of it mean for India. And both guests detail the personal threats they've faced as a result of speaking out against India's growing intolerance.
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Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has pledged to build a "New Pakistan." In a time of austerity, he must somehow fuel economic growth and human development, with meager resources. Is he up to the task?
Host Arif Rafiq speaks with Mosharraf Zaidi, a columnist with Pakistan's daily The News, and Salman Masood, the Pakistan correspondent for The New York Times.
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In the wake of the New Zealand massacres, host Arif Rafiq speaks with The Intercept's Murtaza Hussain and Type Media Center's Eli Clifton on rising white nationalism and cooperation between transnational Islamophobic networks, including Hindu extremists and hardline supporters of Israel.
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