The next episode of my podcast is this upcoming Tuesday, October 13, at 10:00am EDT with Serap Fišo, an independent researcher, freelance project expert, social activist, and storyteller. She received her Ph.D. in Political Science and Sociology from the International University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in 2023. Her doctoral research examined forced migration, internally displaced persons (IDPs), and identity construction in post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Listeners can register for the live podcast recording on Zoom at the link in my bio.
Archived episodes will be released the following day, on Wednesdays at noon. Subscribe on your favorite podcast app, including Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and Spotify, to be sure to always get the latest episodes.
Today’s podcast guest is Michael Wuthrich, Associate Professor of Political Science and the Associate Director for Global & International Studies at the University of Kansas. He is co-author of the book, Beyond Piety and Politics: Religion, Social Relations, and Public Preferences in the Middle East and North Africa.
In this episode, we discuss the intersection of religion and politics, particularly in the non-Arab Muslim countries of Turkey and Iran, what has been behind the growth of Islam globally, changes in secularism in Turkey under Erdogan, and the impact of the Islamic Republic on religiosity for everyday people in Iran.
Listen now; link in bio.
Full bio
Mike Wuthrich is an Associate Professor of Political Science and the Associate Director for Global & International Studies at the University of Kansas. He received his PhD in Political Science from Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey in 2011. His interests are Middle East politics, particularly Turkish, Kurdish, and Iranian politics, parties and party systems, electoral behavior, religion and politics, women and politics in Turkey, and nationalism. His publications have appeared in Journal of Democracy, Political Research Quarterly, Parliamentary Affairs, the International Journal of Middle East Studies, the Middle East Journal, and Turkish Studies among others. He is co-author of the book, Beyond Piety and Politics: Religion, Social Relations, and Public Preferences in the Middle East and North Africa, with Indiana University Press in 2022. His book, National Elections in Turkey: People, Politics, and the Party System was published in 2015 with Syracuse University Press.
The forces that define America—its creativity, capacity for reinvention, scientific genius, and moral imagination—are stronger than any one man’s madness. They cannot be extinguished; they can only be surrendered.
The next episode of my podcast "On the Issues" is this upcoming Tuesday, October 6, at 10:00am EDT with Michael Wuthrich, Associate Professor of Political Science and the Associate Director for Global & International Studies at the University of Kansas. He received his PhD in Political Science from Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey in 2011. His research focuses on Middle East politics, particularly Turkish, Kurdish, and Iranian politics, electoral behavior, religion and politics, and nationalism. He is co-author of the 2022 book, Beyond Piety and Politics: Religion, Social Relations, and Public Preferences in the Middle East and North Africa.
Listeners can register for the live podcast recording on Zoom at the link in my bio
Archived episodes will be released the following day, on Wednesdays at noon. Subscribe on your favorite podcast app, including Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and Spotify, to be sure to always get the latest episodes.
THE OBSENITY OF THE SETTLERS AND THE ISRAELI ARMY
The claim that the IDF is the world’s most moral army has become indefensible simply because Gaza has supplied a record of destruction, deprivation, displacement, and death that every layer of the IDF command structure was aware of, which no slogan can erase. An army’s morality is not measured by its ethical code, its public relations campaigns, or the trauma it invokes; it is measured by what it does to defenseless people when it possesses overwhelming power. The slaughter and the destruction in Gaza by the so-called most moral military is not merely a distortion of language; it is an obscenity: an attempt to turn the suffering of the victims into evidence of the perpetrator’s virtue.
44 CommentsComment on Facebook
God bless Israel
Schweinhunde!
AI learning long live Israel
💯💯💯🎯🎯🎯
Perhaps they needed to spend less time building tunnels and stockpiling munitions and more time building infrastructure.
The lesson here is, don't start a war over land that was never yours.
AI.
You lose three wars (1948, 1967 and 1973) with six nations assisting. You reject every single resolution of every peace process. Your founding documents in 1964 rejects the notion of the existence of an Israeli state. It is still your stance. 100% genocidal in intent. You launch Intifadas because you are a sore loser. You fight for global recognition, not for peace. You dig tunnels under schools, kindergartens and hospitals from where you launch your attacks. You kill, murder, maim and rape on 7 October 2023. You gaslight by calling it the IDF’s “Hannibal Directive” You fail to surrender and lay down arms now whilst losing the war in Gaza. You are the citizens of Gaza and the West Bank.
Just remember who started this bullshit now Israel needs to finish the job and cleanse the Earth of the filthy disease cockroaches that inhabit Gaza
Stand with the crew of the USS Liberty,and the innocent millions,killed since 1948....
Gaza isn’t defenseless as evidenced by the Oct 7th attack and the volume of rockets that have been fired into Israel. Hamas built tunnels and stockpiled munitions within civilian infrastructure in a densely populated area, making them military targets and putting Palestinians at risk. The destruction in Gaza is the result of decisions made and actions taken by Hamas and the Palestinians. The civilian casualties, while tragic, are a relative low considering the tonnage of bombs dropped and relative to combatants killed. Starting a conflict with a nation you cannot defeat and losing badly, doesn’t make you a victim, stupid perhaps, but certainly not a victim.
How should they treat people who chant “Death to Israel” and “Globalize the Intifada”? Call me when the settlers show up at a concert with machine guns and start mowing down concert goers. When you elect a government with the destruction of Israel in their mission statement , don’t be surprised when they want the same for you.
GO ISRAEL::::: I WILL SUPPORT YOU FOREVER ::::::
The Muslim invaders in Judea have been slaughtering Jews for so long that the Israeli people have finally had enough. You Muslims with your “river to the sea” crap, trying to keep the Jewish people out of Judea, has finally resulted in the Jews bearing your asses down. So now you cry. “Those mean ole Jews won’t let us kill them and enslave them so they’re mean!”
AI generated images! There is NO verifiable evidence that the Israeli perpetrated thesexsctions . This threadisjust more Pallywood and Islamic taqiyya!
WHY ARE AMERICA’S ENEMIES CELEBRATING?
America’s adversaries are celebrating what they see as the slow erosion of American power, credibility, global influence, and democratic resilience under Trump. No president has so recklessly weakened the foundations of U.S. leadership—through damaging trade policies, abandonment of allies, erratic diplomacy, and contempt for the institutions that safeguard democracy. America’s alliance has long been among its greatest strategic advantages, strengthening deterrence, security, and international influence. Yet Trump’s policies risk squandering this historic asset while emboldening rivals who benefit from a divided, isolated, and diminished United States. Those who care about America must speak out and vote to restore congressional accountability. The country cannot permit its democratic foundations to be dismantled brick by brick.
8 CommentsComment on Facebook
I think we just won again today tho
No citations, no sources, no truth.
Because Rump is pro communist
Perhaps he is just doing what needs to be done to divorce America from what we have become. A consumer nation reliant too much on the "world". That is where we fell. Farming our production out to other nations. Buying our resources from other countries when we have our own. Selling out to putred organizations such as the UN , WHO , NATO, etc. We rebuilt countries that we destroyed in war. Maybe he is cutting the apron strings to the rest of the world that never should have been. We are enough on our own. Perhaps it looks like erosion but is just the process of removing the slag that needs to be removed for the hardened steel to shine. We need to cut all ties of reliance to any other country. Let us quit protecting what have become worthless allies on the global stage. We owe nothing to the world. Erosion washes the rubble off of the bedrock and that is where the strongest foundations are built. So lets have the erosion, the removal of the slag, the rebuilding of the greatest country to grace the face of the earth. It has needed to be purged in fire and it has needed to purge dependance. Perhaps what you see as everything falling is just a new Declaration of Indepence being authored and it is long overdue.
He froze China and Russia out of Greenland and imposed tariffs on China and made them lose control of the management of the Panama Canal. He also made China oil resources from Venezuela and Iran and sent munitions to Ukraine to fight Russia. So what the fuck are you talking about?
They’re toasting to their useful idiots. The Democrats party.
Your a 🤡
The next episode of my podcast is this upcoming Tuesday, October 13, at 10:00am EDT with Serap Fišo, an independent researcher, freelance project expert, social activist, and storyteller. She received her Ph.D. in Political Science and Sociology from the International University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in 2023. Her doctoral research examined forced migration, internally displaced persons (IDPs), and identity construction in post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Listeners can register for the live podcast recording on Zoom at the following link: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/4417864749342/WN_oPcylZ4-SmiGWu98p7M11g
Archived episodes will be released the following day, on Wednesdays at noon. Subscribe on your favorite podcast app, including Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and Spotify, to be sure to always get the latest episodes.
0 CommentsComment on Facebook
VOTE TO STOP TRUMP FROM DESTROYING THE
PILLARS OF OUR DEMOCRACY
Every eligible American should recognize what is at stake if Trump’s power remains unchecked for another two years. Continued unified control of Congress will further weaken the institutional restraints essential to democracy: congressional oversight, judicial independence, a free press, environmental protections, civil liberties, and responsible foreign policy. The danger is not partisan disagreement; it is the systematic erosion of the safeguards that protect every American from the abuse of power. The House and Senate have the authority to investigate the executive branch, control appropriations, and hold the president accountable. Voters must put country before party. Defending democratic institutions now is critical to prevent irreversible damage to America that horrifically affects every single American.
98 CommentsComment on Facebook
We're a constitutional republic so....
What are those pillars exactly?
I'm dyin'...🫵😂 Another disingenuous post adding to the flood of desperate disingenuous posts just in time for the mid terms.
I have not been affected at all.
Vote RED!
Already happening
He isn't so there's that
You know of course, the word democracy never appears anywhere in the founding documents.
Trump is the only thing holding up the pillars of democracy. Kamala got less than 2% in the Democrat primary. Not even Democrats voted for her. She was inserted cause Joe had dementia and an UNELECTED SECRET QUORUM was running the country. Then 76% of the population voted for Trump and Trump won ALL swing states. THAT'S DEMOCRACY!
That’s ridiculous! , the best president in decades is finally fixing America. If you don’t see it you’re one of the problems. Pray for our great president Trump 🙏❤️🇺🇸
Vote Red
President Trump is one of the pillars
Democracy only came into the picture when Democrats forced their way in. Our Founding fathers made us a Republic.
43 of 67 emoji responses are laughing 😂. That's 64% 😂.
Yay ICE!!! God bless President Donald Trump!
Trump is doing his best to save it. You need to pay better attention to reality.
He is bringing it back to what it is supposed to be.
