The Elucidators: Decoding Global News

The Elucidators return after a week off to discuss the results of the presidential election in the United States, which, while decisive, are still playing out for some very irritating, unfortunate, and potentially dangerous reasons. 

While all of that nonsense fulminates, the entire world also received some excellent news on the COVID-19 vaccine front: Pfizer announced that its vaccine candidate (developed in collaboration with German firm BioNTech) is 90% effective, a truly spectacular result after less than a year of development.

NOTE TO OUR AUDIENCE: We're going on hiatus for the holidays and may or may not return in the New Year, depending on how we're feeling. If this turns out to be our last episode, we want to thank each and every one of you for listening over the past 15 months. We hope that the show's been both informative and entertaining, although we'll settle for either one of those :)  

Episode Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

This week on The Elucidators: Decoding Global News, we’re digging into one of our very favorite topics: the future of nuclear weapons! As of this past weekend, 50 countries have ratified the Treaty to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons, a UN-backed effort to relegate nukes to the dustbin of history. But stuffing the nuclear genie back into its bottle won’t be easy, especially with a potential arms race brewing between the US, Russia and China, and new entrants to the nuclear club like North Korea upping their warhead counts. Will we ever get to full disarmament? Should we even want to? Let’s discuss! 

Episdoe Photo by Maria Oswalt on Unsplash

Further Reading:

1. Russia ready to freeze nuclear warheads in exchange for New START extension
2. Japan rejects nuclear ban treaty; survivors to keep pushing
3. Treaty to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons Passes Important Threshold

Follow and like us on the social medias, or drop us a question via email!

• theelucidators@gmail.com
• https://www.facebook.com/theelucidators/
• https://twitter.com/The_Elucidators

This week on The Elucidators: Decoding Global News, we journey to Thailand, which most Westerners associate with pristine beaches and a welcoming, peaceful culture. Little do most outsiders know that the “Land of Smiles,” despite its many charms, has long been one of the least politically stable countries in the world. This year, tens of thousands of protestors have been in the streets of Bangkok and other major Thai cities, calling for changes to a supposedly constitutional monarchy that has been cooperating with the military to consolidate absolute power. Now Thailand stands on a knife’s edge between reform and escalation, and we’re here to give you the 411.

Episode Photo by Mathew Schwartz on Unsplash

Further Reading:

1. Explaining Thailand’s volatile politics
2. Thailand Threatens to Censor Media Outlets as Protests Swell
3. Thailand’s king seeks to bring back absolute monarchy

Follow and like us on the social medias, or drop us a question via email!

• theelucidators@gmail.com
• https://www.facebook.com/theelucidators/
• https://twitter.com/The_Elucidators

This week on The Elucidators: Decoding Global News, we take a brief detour to one of the nastier places in modern politics: the Far Right. Right-wing extremists ranging from anti-government militias to neo-Nazi parties have been increasingly vocal in the United States and Europe in recent years, and this year’s chaos seems to have kicked extremist activity up another notch. Who are these people? Where are they active? What do they believe? And most importantly, how dangerous are they? Stay tuned for some answers!

Episode photo: Anthony Crider / Wikimedia Commons

Further Reading:

1. Inside the plot to kidnap Gov. Whitmer — CNN
2. How to Beat the Nazis in 2020
3. Germany Disbands Special Forces Group Tainted by Far-Right Extremists

Follow and like us on the social medias, or drop us a question via email!

• theelucidators@gmail.com
• https://www.facebook.com/theelucidators/
• https://twitter.com/The_Elucidators

This week on The Elucidators: Decoding Global News, we’re checking in on Brexit! The seemingly endless wrangling between the United Kingdom and the European Union to decide their post-divorce economic relationship is nearing a hard stop at the end of this year. The next few weeks may be the last, best chance for the two sides to avoid an economically catastrophic no-deal outcome. Will UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s deliberately irrational negotiating style pay off, or is he trying to play chicken with a cliff? We’ve got answers!

Episode photo credit: Max van den Oetelaar on Unsplash

Further Reading:

1. Macron on the Spot With Brexit Talks Snagged on French Red Line
2. Internal market bill: what it says and the UK hopes to achieve
3. Brexit Negotiators Brace for Summit Showdown as Talks Drag

Follow and like us on the social medias, or drop us a question via email!

• theelucidators@gmail.com
• https://www.facebook.com/theelucidators/
• https://twitter.com/The_Elucidators

This week on The Elucidators: Decoding Global News, we step into the Caucasus, a mountainous Eurasian region where an ongoing rivalry between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the contested region of Nagorno-Karabakh has erupted into open fighting. Could neighboring Great Powers Turkey and Russia be drawn into a larger war that neither really wants to fight? Boy... We sure hope not!

Episode art credit: Achemish / Wikimedia Commons

Further Reading:

1. Nagorno-Karabakh clashes continue, prompting emergency UN talks
2. Unfrozen Conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh
3. Armenia and Azerbaijan fight over Nagorno-Karabakh again

Follow and like us on the social medias, or drop us a question via email!

• theelucidators@gmail.com
• https://www.facebook.com/theelucidators/
• https://twitter.com/The_Elucidators

This week on the Elucidators: Decoding Global News, we journey to one of the most dangerous places on Earth, the Taiwan Strait, a narrow body of water that separates the island nation of Taiwan from the People’s Republic of China. This past weekend, China sent dozens of warplanes across the Strait’s median line, sending an unmistakably threatening message to the vibrant democracy it has always regarded as a renegade province. Does this mean war? Stay tuned and find out! 

Further Reading:

1. China Raises Conflict Risk With Breach of Taiwan Buffer Zone
2. To China’s alarm, America modestly upgrades ties with Taiwan
3. Even in death, Lee Teng-hui is helping shape Taiwan’s identity

Photo by Rovin Ferrer on Unsplash

Follow and like us on the social medias, or drop us a question via email!

• theelucidators@gmail.com
• https://www.facebook.com/theelucidators/
• https://twitter.com/The_Elucidators

This week on The Elucidators: Decoding Global News, friend of the show Prof. Ryan Weldzius of Villanova University swings by to give us the 411 on the global economy in 2020 and beyond. The COVID pandemic has disrupted every major economy in the world, from the United States to the European Union to China, and kicked off what appears to be a new era of fragmentation in international economic relationships. What does all this mean for us in the short, medium, and long terms? We’ve got answers!

Photo by Pat Whelen on Unsplash

Follow and like us on the social medias, or drop us a question via email!

• theelucidators@gmail.com
• https://www.facebook.com/theelucidators/
• https://twitter.com/The_Elucidators

This week on The Elucidators: Decoding Global News, we’re checking into the situation in Rwanda, where Paul Rusesabagina, the hotel manager whose heroism during the 1994 Genocide inspired the Oscar-nominated movie Hotel Rwanda, has been arrested and accused of terrorism. What does this surprising move on the part of authoritarian President Paul Kagame mean for this small country that is sometimes called “the Switzerland of Africa,” belying its tragic history? Stick with us and we will Elucidate! 

Episode Photo by Adam Jones on Wikimedia Commons

Further Reading:

1. Rwanda arrests the man who shielded people from genocide
2. ‘Hotel Rwanda’ Hero, Paul Rusesabagina, Is Held on Terrorism Charge
3. Rebooting Rwanda

Also, follow and like us on the social medias, or drop us a question via email!

• theelucidators@gmail.com
• https://www.facebook.com/theelucidators/
• https://twitter.com/The_Elucidators

This week on The Elucidators: Decoding Global News, we go to Japan, where Shinzo Abe, the longest-serving Prime Minister in modern Japanese history, is stepping down after eight years in office. After Japan suffered through decades of economic stagnation and decline, Abe attempted to make major reforms in both the domestic and foreign policy arenas to get the country moving again. Has he succeeded in bringing America’s most important military ally, which is also still the world’s third-largest economy, into the 21st century? Let us elucidate!

Episode Photo by Jezael Melgoza on Unsplash

Further Reading:

1. Japan’s New Leader Will Likely Keep Big Stimulus Rolling
2. Abe Defied Expectations to Build a Better Japan
3. How Japan Could Go Nuclear

Also, follow and like us on the social medias, or drop us a question via email!

• theelucidators@gmail.com
• https://www.facebook.com/theelucidators/
• https://twitter.com/The_Elucidators

This week on The Elucidators: Decoding Global News, we dive into the deep blue waters of the Eastern Mediterranean, where Turkey’s strongman President Erdogan is in a dispute with historic enemy (and fellow NATO member) Greece, along many other neighboring countries, over access to newly discovered oil and gas resources on the sea floor. Is Erdogan still making Turkey great again, or has he bitten off more beef than he can chew this time? 

We’ll also get into Putin’s poisoned political nemesis Alexei Navalny, who is lying in a medically induced coma in a Berlin hospital. 

As always, thanks for listening, and if you want to help us grow, please tell your friends about us. Onward and upward! 

Episode Photo by Fatih Yürür on Unsplash

Further Reading:

1. A row between Turkey and Greece over gas is raising tension in the eastern Mediterranean
2. Navalny Was Poisoned, But His Life Isn't in Danger, German Hospital Says
3. Tesla Begins Construction Of World’s Largest Battery Storage Facility

Also, follow and like us on the social medias, or drop us a question via email!

• theelucidators@gmail.com
• https://www.facebook.com/theelucidators/
• https://twitter.com/The_Elucidators

This week on The Elucidators: Decoding Global News, we’re going to discuss a big, symbolic diplomatic move that occurred in the Middle East last week: the normalization of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, two countries that have been in a formal state of hostilities for decades. 

In one of the few successes the Trump Administration can claim for its foreign policy, it looks like the Arabs and Israelis may be putting aside their longstanding enmity to confront the nascent Iranian threat. 

We’re also going to delve into the situation in Belarus, which might just be on the brink of a democratic “color revolution” after a fixed election, and we’ll also talk about how an Arctic heat wave is causing scientists to bump up their timelines for climate change — and not in a good way. 

Episode Photo by Sander Crombach on Unsplash

Further Reading:

1. Bahrain, Sudan May Follow UAE In Making Peace With Israel, Minister Says
2. “We Were Locked Up in One Country and Released Into Another”: Horror and Hope as Protests in Belarus Continue — The New Yorker
3. The First Arctic Summer Without Ice Is Coming in Just 15 Years

Also, follow and like us on the social medias, or drop us a question via email!

• theelucidators@gmail.com
• https://www.facebook.com/theelucidators/
• https://twitter.com/The_Elucidators

This week on the Elucidators, we’re recording on Tuesday August 11th, a week after a massive blast hit Lebanon’s capital city of Beirut, one of the most culturally important metros in the Arab world, and a place that was once known as “The Paris of the Middle East.” 

Sadly, a lethal blend of incompetence, corruption, oligarchic politics and explosive industrial chemicals has left Beirut and Lebanon on the brink of collapse. 

Also this week, we’ll elucidate the next stage of the International Thermal Experimental Reactor, a fusion power project that has the potential to be a big piece of the climate change solution, and check in on which foreign powers are meddling in the 2020 US presidential election, and what they seem to be after. 

As always, thanks for listening, and if you have any questions or comments, hit us up on our Facebook page or email us at theelucdiators@gmail.com.

Further Reading:

1. Lebanon’s Government Quits as Outrage Swells Over Port Blast
2. 30 Years Later, This Big Boy Fusion Reactor Is Almost Ready to Turn On
3. Pelosi says election threats from China and Russia are "not equivalent"

Also, follow and like us on the social medias, or drop us a question via email!

• theelucidators@gmail.com
• https://www.facebook.com/theelucidators/
• https://twitter.com/The_Elucidators
• https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCwm7lk1nGQGBsIjjpVMeIA

This week on The Elucidators, we’re hitting three topics of note across the world of international relations. First off, the Russians claim to have won the race to a coronavirus vaccine... but they may have cut a few important corners on the way to first place. Second, in a predictable but still shockingly fast development, Hong Kong has used its new National Security Law to issue arrest warrants for 6 pro-democracy activists based in Western countries, including a lobbyist who has been a United States citizen for nearly 25 years. And finally, we’ll discuss President Trump’s threat to ban the explosively popular social media app TikTok from the United States for its connections to the Chinese Communist Party, if it doesn’t sell to Microsoft or another major US corporation in the next 45 days.

Further Reading:

1. Russia preparing mass vaccination against coronavirus for October
2. China uses Hong Kong security law against US and UK-based activists
3. Trump’s TikTok Assault Opens New Front in Tech War With China

Also, follow and like us on the social medias, or drop us a question via email!

• theelucidators@gmail.com
• https://www.facebook.com/theelucidators/
• https://twitter.com/The_Elucidators
• https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCwm7lk1nGQGBsIjjpVMeIA

Episode Photo by visuals on Unsplash

Modern hydroelectric dams are among the most economically consequential structures countries build. When they work well, they can protect downstream areas from devastating floods, while also providing steady water flow for agriculture and vast amounts of electricity for economic development. 

On the other hand, their construction is often politically controversial, both within states and between them — and should one of these massive structures ever collapse, it can lead to truly catastrophic outcomes. 

This week, we’re taking a look at two important dams that have come under different kinds of pressure: the Three Gorges Dam in China, which has entered the structural danger zone after two months of torrential rain, and the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in Ethiopia, which sits astride the Blue Nile river and has caused major tensions between East African powers Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt. 

As always, thank you so much for listening —if you get a chance and you feel so inclined, please leave us a five star review or share us on social media. 

Further Reading:

1. 'Man cannot win against nature': Amid catastrophic floods, China's dams come into question — Los Angeles Times
2. Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan must learn how to share the Nile river
3. Why Egypt And Ethiopia Can’t Reach a Dam Deal
4. Three Gorges Dam deformed but safe, say operators

Also, follow and like us on the social medias, or drop us a question via email!

• theelucidators@gmail.com
• https://www.facebook.com/theelucidators/
• https://twitter.com/The_Elucidators
• https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCwm7lk1nGQGBsIjjpVMeIA

Most Americans’ direct experience with the European Union is probably limited to the colorful Euro bills--featuring pictures of Roman arches and statues and such--that we use to buy stuff when touring Athens, or Paris, or Berlin, saving us from having to change money into a new national currency every time we switch cities. 

But the European Union is so much more than the Euro: it’s a supranational institution of 27 different countries, and within that huge group it has a major say in everything from agricultural subsidies to data privacy to national debt. 

And if the EU were a country, it would have the world’s largest economy and third-largest population, even now that the United Kingdom has brexited.

 This week on the Elucidators, we’re going to discuss a historic step taken by the EU’s member states to try to rescue some of its financially weaker members from pandemic-related economic catastrophe. Will it bring the EU closer towards a United States of Europe, or are we maybe watching the beginning of the end for the EU? We have thoughts. 

Further Reading:

1. The EU's 500 billion euro coronavirus bailout plan could be a big step towards a federal Europe
2. The European Union 'bailout' might end up being an eject button
3. The covid-19 pandemic puts pressure on the EU
4. The EU’s €750bn covid-19 plan is historic—but not quite Hamiltonian

Also, follow and like us on the social medias, or drop us a question via email!

• theelucidators@gmail.com
• https://www.facebook.com/theelucidators/
• https://twitter.com/The_Elucidators
• https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCwm7lk1nGQGBsIjjpVMeIA

Episode Cover Photo by Tabrez Syed on Unsplash

Iran's not in great shape. 

A deeply unpopular government run by aging Islamic theocrats... a bad economy crippled by American sanctions... and a runaway COVID-19 pandemic have already combined to  push this big, important Middle Eastern power towards the edge. 

And now, on top of everything else, some of Iran's most sensitive  military sites -- including the research center where the regime builds advanced centrifuges for potential use in a nuclear weapons program  -- are blowing up and burning down.

Some of these incidents probably aren't accidents. Who's behind them (cough cough ISRAEL cough), and what does it mean? Steve and Pete investigate and elucidate!

Further Reading:

1. Israel, U.S developing shared strategy to harm Iran’s nuclear facilities, officials tell NYT
2. Long-Planned and Bigger Than Thought: Strike on Iran’s Nuclear Program
3. Iran Admits Serious Damage to Natanz Nuclear Site, Setting Back Program
4. Iran’s Nuclear Program

Also, follow and like us on the social medias, or drop us a question via email!

• theelucidators@gmail.com
• https://www.facebook.com/theelucidators/
• https://twitter.com/The_Elucidators
• https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCwm7lk1nGQGBsIjjpVMeIA

We've been keeping an eye on the situation in Hong Kong since last year, when hundreds of thousands of mostly youthful Hong Kongers hit the streets to demonstrate for increased autonomy and democracy. About a week ago, China's response arrived in the form of a very powerful new National Security Law, the import of which can be boiled down to one word: NOPE. In terms of basic freedoms like speaking one's mind, access to a jury trial, and warrants being required for searches, Hong Kongers literally went to sleep in the West on June 30 and woke up in Xi Jinping's China on July 1. What does this mean for Hong Kong's unique position between East and West? How about China's relationship with Western democracies, which has been under increasing strain in recent years? Steve and Pete elucidate (hey, that almost rhymes)!

Futher Reading:

1. Hong Kong, Changed Overnight, Navigates Its New Reality
2. What Hong Kong Losing Its ‘Special Status’ Would Mean
3. China’s draconian security law for Hong Kong buries one country, two systems
4. Hong Kong activists are holding up blank signs because China now has the power to define pro-democracy slogans as terrorism

Also, follow and like us on the social medias, or drop us a question via email!

• theelucidators@gmail.com
• https://www.facebook.com/theelucidators/
• https://twitter.com/The_Elucidators
• https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCwm7lk1nGQGBsIjjpVMeIA

This week, Steve and Soumi conduct a quick look back at 11 months of The Elucidators. 

We started all the way back in August 2019, when giants walked the Earth, with our hot take on a mysterious nuclear explosion in northern Russia. 

Then over the course of 44 near-weekly episodes, we jumped through every continent but Antarctica -- which is kind of lame so no big loss there -- tackling protests, pandemics, policy (of the foreign variety) and presidential elections, among many other topics.

And now we're here, once again in semi-quarantine, taking stock and thinking about how we're going to move forward with the show. Hint: when one titan of podcasting falls (hopefully temporarily), a new hero rises...

Black Lives Matter.

Due to social media technology, the filmed police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis traveled around the world in minutes. Now, what started out as a homegrown American movement a few years ago has gone global, with very large (and peaceful) anti-racism protests rippling from South Africa to South America. 

Is this merely a striking moment that is destined to fade away over time? Or are we seeing the birth of a new international norm towards anti-racism and fair treatment of minorities?

This week, Steve and Soumi talk about this and much, much more!

**If you like the show, please remember to subscribe on your podcast app and tell your friends!** 

More reading here: 

1.     https://abcnews.go.com/International/black-lives-matter-protests-global-ireland-south-africa/2.     https://www.npr.org/2020/06/11/875207264/across-america-and-abroad-symbols-of-white-supremacy-come-down3.     https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/world-history/winston-churchill-genocide-dictator-shashi-tharoor-melbourne-writers-festival-a7936141.html4.     https://www.e-ir.info/2018/11/15/norm-evolution-theory-and-world-politics/5.     https://www.economist.com/i6.     https://www.economist.com/international/2020/06/11/the-killing-of-george-floyd-has-sparked-global-soul-searching

Also, visit and like us on all the social medias! 

1.   https://www.facebook.com/theelucidators/ 2.   https://twitter.com/The_Elucidators 3.   https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCwm7lk1nGQGBsIjjpVMeIA