The MAGA base has entered a new social contract, not with the Constitution but with Trump himself as sovereign, trading liberty and truth for the security of belonging to his camp. The horror is precisely that the destruction of American democracy is being carried out not only by a “madman” but by ordinary functionaries who know better and choose not to act.
Child sex trafficking is not just another societal problem waiting for legislative tinkering or bureaucratic reform. It is a moral outrage—a fundamental rupture in the ethical fabric of our world. The measure of our humanity will be taken not by how we treat the powerful, the wealthy, or the competent, but by how fiercely we protect those who cannot protect themselves.
Today’s podcast guest is Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Fellow for the Middle East at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. Previously, he worked as senior Gulf analyst at the Gulf Center for Strategic Studies and as codirector of the Kuwait Program on Development, Governance and Globalization in the Gulf States at the London School of Economics.
In this episode, we discuss the still-ongoing war on Iran, the impact the war has had on the Gulf States, Trump’s ability or failure to negotiate an end to the conflict, and whether or not we may see further escalation of the conflict.
Listen now; link in bio.
In my latest podcast episode, I speak with Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili, Founding Director of the Center for Governance and Markets and Professor at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Public and International Affairs, about the impacts on women that this current Taliban regime has had in Afghanistan. Listen to this and more in my latest episode; link in bio.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s political career will be remembered not for an era of national stewardship, but as a prolonged exercise in political survival at the expense of Israel’s security, democratic health, and moral standing
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China is taking religious surveillance deeper into everyday life. Human Rights Watch reports that more than a dozen Chinese cities introduced measures in 2026 that encourage—or financially reward—citizens for reporting religious activities authorities deem “illegal.” These can include worship in private homes, religious livestreams, distributing materials, or unauthorized religious education. In Chengdu, informants can receive rewards of up to $120. This goes beyond regulating religion. By turning neighbors, businesses, and communities into potential informants, the state creates an atmosphere of suspicion and fear around private belief itself. Religious freedom cannot meaningfully exist when worship is permitted only within boundaries dictated by the government—and when exercising it can lead to detention.
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Tunisia was once celebrated as one of the most promising democratic outcomes of the Arab Spring. Today, the growing persecution of journalists represents a disturbing reversal. A new Committee to Protect Journalists report documents journalists who have been sentenced to prison yet remain outside detention under constant threat of arrest, while others have been forced into exile. CPJ describes a system in which prosecutions and judicial harassment create fear even before a journalist enters a prison cell. This is how press freedom can be dismantled without closing every newspaper or imprisoning every reporter. When journalists must calculate whether an investigation, criticism, or social-media post could cost them their freedom, censorship becomes internalized. Tunisia must end the judicial persecution of journalists and restore the space for independent reporting. A government that fears scrutiny ultimately destroys its own authority.
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South Sudan is sliding deeper into violence, and once again civilians are bearing the consequences. Independent UN human rights investigators warn that escalating fighting, political tensions, and attacks on communities are putting lives at growing risk while threatening the country’s already fragile transition. More than a decade after independence, the people of South Sudan have endured war, displacement, hunger, and repeated political failures. They cannot be asked to sacrifice another generation to the ambitions of leaders who have failed to resolve their differences peacefully. The international community must intensify pressure on South Sudan’s leaders to protect civilians, uphold human rights, and pursue a credible political transition. Peace agreements mean little when ordinary people continue to live in fear and die.
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Sounds like Africa’s problem. Laundered US dollars are heading there anymore.
