The brutal regime of Bashar al Assad fell over the weekend with dizzying speed. Syrians within the country and around the world burst into celebration.
Now, the rebel group Hay'at Tahrir al Sham, or HTS has to govern. They are designated a terrorist organization by the US.
And some worry that HTS could slide into its own kind of autocratic regime.
That fear is not unfounded. Across the Middle East and North Africa, many revolutions have overthrown autocrats, only for those countries to descend back into chaos or a more oppressive rule.
The Syrian revolution began amid a wave of uprisings in the region that led to new, undemocratic regimes. Can Syria avoid a similar fate today?
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Consider This from NPR - Can Syria avoid another slide into autocracy?
The brutal regime of Bashar al Assad fell over the weekend with dizzying speed. Syrians within the country and around the world burst into celebration.
Now, the rebel group Hay'at Tahrir al Sham, or HTS has to govern. They are designated a terrorist organization by the US.
And some worry that HTS could slide into its own kind of autocratic regime.
That fear is not unfounded. Across the Middle East and North Africa, many revolutions have overthrown autocrats, only for those countries to descend back into chaos or a more oppressive rule.
The Syrian revolution began amid a wave of uprisings in the region that led to new, undemocratic regimes. Can Syria avoid a similar fate today?
For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Email us at considerthis@npr.org.
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Now, the rebel group Hay'at Tahrir al Sham, or HTS has to govern. They are designated a terrorist organization by the US.
And some worry that HTS could slide into its own kind of autocratic regime.
That fear is not unfounded. Across the Middle East and North Africa, many revolutions have overthrown autocrats, only for those countries to descend back into chaos or a more oppressive rule.
The Syrian revolution began amid a wave of uprisings in the region that led to new, undemocratic regimes. Can Syria avoid a similar fate today?
For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Email us at considerthis@npr.org.
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy
Cato Daily Podcast - How Will the New Regulatory Landscape Change Congress?
Federal courts won't be deferring to federal agencies as often going forward. How does that change Congress's need for expertise when legislating? Joe Luppino-Esposito of the Pacific Legal Foundation has a few ideas.
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The Stack Overflow Podcast - AI agents that help doctors get paid
Thoughtful AI provides AI agents that help revenue cycle management (RCM) teams get providers their money from insurance companies.
Does AI have a better bedside manner than doctors? One study suggest they do.
Connect with Dan on X and LinkedIn.
Congrats to Populist badge winner Marcio Mazzucato for doing the accepted answer one better on How do I emulate a 403 error page?.
Want a preview? Here are some great quotes from this episode:
“ The human transformation of getting off of this computer platform and back out into the world and back out into trying to advance, some of the existential, whether it's risks or opportunities or threats, but get away from this huge workforce sitting in front of computers. We also have this fundamental belief that humans actually aren't great at operating computers, but other computers are really good at it.”
“ We find the average RCM team has attrition rates of 10 to 40%, which is three to 10X other industries. So they already have a leaky bucket. They are actually understaffed. They are having trouble keeping up. So for us, it's more about adding abundance of capacity at a much more lower cost that a higher quality that will allow them to be more financially sound organizations. I know there's a lot of conversation about replacing the actual human. Yeah, of course. There are folks out there who organizations will look and say, Hey, if you're just sitting there moving data around and you're not very good at it and you hate that job and like it's hard to staff and train, it's going to make a lot of sense to replace with an AI solution.”
“ We think our mission is to fix the healthcare system, not to duct tape the current environment. And we have multiple acts in our mission to achieve that. And I completely align. It is the broken down institutions. That is actually what's driving a lot of the problem. We do have to get closer to the metal or we do have to get closer to the systematic changes. And, that's likely going to require some big movement as it relates to how the money moves.”
CrowdScience - Why does pain sometimes feel good?
It seems bizarre to seek out experiences that are uncomfortable or downright painful. Yet examples abound: it’s common to eat painfully hot chillies, drink bitter coffee, or ‘feel the burn' when exercising - and enjoy it. CrowdScience listener Sandy is baffled by this seemingly counterintuitive phenomenon, and has asked us to investigate. Presenter Anand Jagatia turns guinea pig as he tests a variety of unpleasant sensations, and unpicks the reasons we’re sometimes attracted to them. He meets chilli-eating champion Shahina Waseem, who puts Anand’s own attraction to spicy food to the test. Food scientist John Hayes explains how our taste receptors work and why our genes affect the appeal of bitter food. Neuroscientist Soo Ahn Lee describes her research looking at what happens in participants’ brains when they eat chocolate and capsaicin, the chemical that makes chillies hot. As for the ‘pleasurable pain’ we sometimes experience when exercising, sports doctor Robin Chatterjee reveals the secrets of the ‘runner’s high’, while neuroscientist Siri Leknes explains why the feeling that something’s good for us can make discomfort pleasurable. Presenter: Anand Jagatia Producer: Jo Glanville Editor: Cathy Edwards Production co-ordinator: Ishmael Soriano Sound engineer: Sue Maillot
(Image: Young man have bath in ice covered lake in nature and looking up, Czech Republic Credit: CharlieChesvick via Getty Images)
Stuff They Don't Want You To Know - The Third Man Factor, Chapter Two: The Science and The Spirit
Could mysterious, possibly supernatural strangers really appear at just the right time to save someone's life? It's a question that's haunted humanity since the days of ancient empires. To many, these could be guardian angels or spirits of loved ones. However, modern scientists are increasingly researching the enigmatic "Third Man Factor" and, as Ben, Matt and Noel discover in the second part of this special two-part series -- the experts may have found some clues to the puzzle; small bits of information that, when combined, might not just explain the Third Man phenomena -- but also habve stunning implications for the interaction of science and spirituality overall.
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array(3) { [0]=> string(150) "https://www.omnycontent.com/d/programs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/2e824128-fbd5-4c9e-9a57-ae2f0056b0c4/image.jpg?t=1749831085&size=Large" [1]=> string(10) "image/jpeg" [2]=> int(0) }Big Technology Podcast - What is OpenAI’s Sora For?, Big Tech’s Trump Strategy, GM Kills Cruise
Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover 1) What's the use case for OpenAI's Sora video generator? 2) Maybe Sora helps OpenAI understand physics and sets up world models + robotics 3) Siri is still bad 4) Check in on OpenAI's shipmas 5) OpenAI o1 tries to escape being shut down 6) Time Magazine's Person of the Year AI 7) Gemini 2.0 8) Google Deep Research 9) Tech's approach to Trump's second term 10) Is 'Big Tech' a monolith? 11) GM kills its autonomous driving program Cruise 12) Is GM a bunch of dummies?
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The Journal. - The Suspected Russian Plot to Set Airplanes on Fire
Since the war in Ukraine began, strange attacks have been happening across Europe, including a plot to set DHL packages on fire. WSJ’s Bojan Pancevski on Russia’s escalating shadow war in Europe.
Further Reading:
-Chinese Ship’s Crew Suspected of Deliberately Dragging Anchor for 100 Miles to Cut Baltic Cables
-Russia Suspected of Plotting to Send Incendiary Devices on U.S.-Bound Planes
-The Misfits Russia Is Recruiting to Spy on the West
Further Listening:
-Elon Musk’s Secret Conversations with Vladimir Putin
-How Ukraine Built a Weapon to Control the Black Sea
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First Things Podcast - Christianity and Italian Politics
In the latest installment of the ongoing interview series with contributing editor Mark Bauerlein, Rosario Forlenza and Bjørn Thomassen join in to discuss their new book, “Italy's Christian Democracy: The Catholic Encounter with Political Modernity.”
Donate now at www.firstthings.com/campaign
Intro music by Jack Bauerlein.
The Gist - Funny You Should Mention – Episode 6 Roy Wood Jr.
Comedian Roy Wood Jr., host of CNN’s Have I Got News for You and former Daily Show correspondent, joins this episode of Funny You Should Mention. We delve into topics like a near-DUI incident in South Dakota, why the police should occasionally let a criminal go free, and the responsibility comedians have to challenge harmful political ideas—and the politicians who promote them. We also explore the surprising lessons humanity can learn from floating balls of ants and what it reveals when the premise of a joke is proven wrong.
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