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.
Today’s podcast guest is Tony Klug, a Middle East analyst who has been a senior advisor on the Middle East to the Oxford Research Group and a consultant to the Palestine Strategy Group and the Israeli Strategic Forum.
In this episode, we discuss the plausibility of a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the feasibility of such a resolution, the past negotiations between Israel, the Palestinians, and involved Arab states, and what can be done based on the current facts on the ground.
Listen now; link in bio.
Dr. Tony Klug has been a senior advisor on the Middle East to the Oxford Research Group and a consultant to the Palestine Strategy Group and the Israeli Strategic Forum. He has written extensively about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since the early 1970s and was one of the first advocates of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel in the wake of the 1967 war. His PhD thesis (1979) was on the Israeli occupation of the West Bank. For many years, he worked at Amnesty International, where he headed the international development program.
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.
0 CommentsComment on Facebook
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.
1 CommentComment on Facebook
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.
21 CommentsComment on Facebook
You know of course, the word democracy never appears anywhere in the founding documents.
Vote RED!
Specifically HOW… you throw that out and I have seen zero evidence. What rights have you as an American citizen lost??
VOTE RED IF YOU’RE BRAINDEAD. THE REPUBLICANS ARE ZEROS. LOCK UP TRUMP. ABOLISH THIS CORRUPT ADMINISTRATION. LEAK THE TRUMPEPSTEIN FILES. ABOLISH THE TRUMP CRIME FAMILY AND THIS ENTIRE CORRUPT ADMINISTRATION. VOTE BLUE 💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙
You picked a good picture of Trump to post. His political opponents arrested him on phony charges in a attempt to keep him off the ballot
Too late, you already screwed the pooch.
We're not a Democracy, morons.
And give it to some "Democratic Socialist" who is dedicated to destruction of the American system, as they proudly claim?
Evil dictator. Hitlers disciple. The devils kin.
Nice try... the people are not buying your BS
LOL, which pillars are you Democrats referring to, Nancy, Bernie, AOC, Mamdani?
Why. Yall have done destroy it before he got in. Dipshit. Stole from taxpayers and used auto pen for their on dam gain. Yall the dam criminals. Trump is jst showing the true American what yall really are. Thts real dam truth.
All he has done is start evil Wars! Corruption and theft! Attack and threaten Democrat citizens! Raise costs for all of us! Hide Epstein files! Hire Criminals to suck up to him! Name things and destroy Our White House! PEDO is worthless
Vote red cause democrats are ones destroying this country
Delusional … confused …
please provide proof that Trump is destroying the pillars of our democracy, no proof will document your delusions.
Look who posted this Anti American bullshit.. foreign pos, lol !!!!
