The Islamic Republic of Iran, located in western Asia, has historically been the seat of several massively influential empires. Today, it's home to over 81 million people and some of the world's most lucrative petroleum supplies. Currently tensions between Iran and the West are ratcheting up at an unprecedented rate, and both sides portray the other as unrepentant antagonists hellbent on destruction. So how did we get here? Join the guys as they delve into the strange history of Iran, imperialism, the West and war.
Russia's Wagner mercenary group is "taking advantage" of instability in Niger, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has told the BBC. What does this mean and what is next for Niger?
Surviving the bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi's capital 25 years ago, a woman reveals her children face still stigma due to her injuries. More than 200 people died and thousands of others were injured in the 1998 al-Qaeda attacks.
Authorities in the South African province of Limpopo have introduced the ‘midnight alcohol law’, which bans the sale of liquor past midnight. The provincial government says the alcohol curfew will help tackle social issues like gender based violence. We’ll hear from the National Liquor Traders Council and from organisations raising awareness on the harm caused by alcohol.
Today's podcast discusses the politics surrounding a strange special election today (Tuesday the 8th) in Ohio, which is a proxy for how voters feel about abortion rights. Then we discuss Mike Pence's emergence as an open critic of his former boss, and what happens when anti-establishment right-wing males get caught out for their racist and misogynist pasts. Give a listen.
Dangerous storms leave hundreds of thousands without power on the east coast. Abortion at the center of Ohio vote. L-A workers on strike. CBS News Correspondent Steve Kathan has today's World News Roundup.
Illinois drivers’ car insurance rates are going up – and women, renters, and drivers with any credit score below an “excellent” rating may be among the folks getting hit the hardest. Reset digs into what’s going on and what drivers can do about it with Chicago Sun-Times consumer investigations reporter Stephanie Zimmermann.
The Economic Community of West African States may yet try to restore President Mohamed Bazoum militarily. Either way, Niger’s status as a bulwark against jihadism is threatened. America’s Republican hopefuls are courting Moms for Liberty, a pressure group with some outlandish ideas; we meet a few of them (10:51). And the design principles of a good flag (19:33).
For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, try a free 30-day digital subscription by going to www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer
The legendary Pac-12 college athletic conference is on the verge of collapse, so we have a crazy solution to propose – Partner with Apple to turn the “Pac-12” into the “Mac-12.” Zoom just announced the most ironic news of the year — Zoom is bringing employees back to the office because Hybrid Work ate Remote Work. And Warren Buffett is 92 years old, but just delivered the best financial quarter of his life — And we also discovered his favorite child: Geico. $AAPL $ZM $BRK.A Want merch, a shoutout, or got TheBestFactYet? Go to: www.tboypod.com Follow The Best One Yet on Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok: @tboypod And now watch us on Youtube Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Sometimes over 3000 years ago, somewhere in Southwestern China, a leaf from the Camellia sinensis plant accidentally found its way into a pot of boiling water.
Noticing that the leaf had turned the water a different color, some person unknown to history drank the concoction and found that it was good.
That was the start of something which is today a globe-spanning multi-billion dollar industry that millions of people indulge in every day.
Learn more about tea, its origins, and how it spread around the world on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
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Since the late 1990s, activists have campaigned to remove "conflict diamonds" from jewelry shops and department stores. But if the problem of conflict diamonds--gems extracted from war zones--has only recently generated attention, it is not a new one. Nor are conflict diamonds an exception in an otherwise honest industry. The modern diamond business, Steven Press shows, owes its origins to imperial wars and has never escaped its legacy of exploitation.
In Blood and Diamonds: Germany's Imperial Ambitions in Africa (Harvard UP, 2021), Press traces the interaction of the mass-market diamond and German colonial domination in Africa. Starting in the 1880s, Germans hunted for diamonds in Southwest Africa. In the decades that followed, Germans waged brutal wars to control the territory, culminating in the genocide of the Herero and Nama peoples and the unearthing of vast mineral riches. Press follows the trail of the diamonds from the sands of the Namib Desert to government ministries and corporate boardrooms in Berlin and London and on to the retail counters of New York and Chicago. As Africans working in terrifying conditions extracted unprecedented supplies of diamonds, European cartels maintained the illusion that the stones were scarce, propelling the nascent US market for diamond engagement rings. Convinced by advertisers that diamonds were both valuable and romantically significant, American purchasers unwittingly funded German imperial ambitions into the era of the world wars.
Amid today's global frenzy of mass consumption, Press's history offers an unsettling reminder that cheap luxury often depends on an alliance between corporate power and state violence.
Jill Massino is a scholar of modern Eastern Europe with a focus on Romania, gender, and everyday life.
