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Félix Maradiaga spent more than 600 days in a jail in Nicaragua. Held in solitary confinement for most of that time, he faced beatings and constant interrogation. Why? Because he stood up against the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega. Since 2007, Ortega has dismantled checks on his power. In 2018, his police cracked down on mass protests, killing some 300 demonstrators and bystanders. Today, Maradiaga lives in exile and campaigns against the use of arbitrary detention in his native country and around the world.

Democracy in Danger

Undue Process

India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, is an unabashed autocrat. He has jailed political opponents, gone after Muslims with violence and hateful rhetoric, and dismantled checks on his power. So what explains Modi’s continued popularity? As some 600 million Indians head to the polls, we explore this question with political analyst Radha Kumar. She discusses what it would take for democratic renewal to take root in the world’s most populous nation, and what the past might portend for her country’s future.

Modi’s Momentum

What challenges does democracy face in light of the Russian war on Ukraine? How can Ukraine defeat Russia while remaining a democracy?

The guest of the Explaining Ukraine podcast is Lucan Way, Professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto, Co-Director of the Petro Yatsyk Ukrainian Studies Programme at the Centre for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies (CERES), researcher of the evolution of political regimes in post-Soviet countries.

Host: Daria Synhaievska, an analyst and journalist at UkraineWorld 

UkraineWorld is brought to you by Internews Ukraine, one of the largest Ukrainian media NGOs.

Listen on various platforms: li.sten.to/explaining-ukraine.

Support us at patreon.com/ukraineworld. We provide exclusive content for our patrons.

You can also support our volunteer trips to the frontlines at PayPal: ukraine.resisting@gmail.com.

This war is a battle of democracy against autocracy - with Lucan Way

A music video about gaslighting: it's a political commentary. Gaslighting is a colloquialism loosely defined as manipulating someone into questioning their own perception of reality.

Gaslight

Political scientists agree that we are now living in a "multipolar" world, with power contested by multiple states and blocs. But how we arrived at this formation, and whether the newly powerful actors on the global stage are inherently problematic, remain areas of disagreement.  Someone with has a distinct perspective on this new world order is Anne Applebaum, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of Autocracy, Inc: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World.  Anne sat down with Aaron to discuss Putin’s rise to power, the problem of misinformation, and how Israel fits into the network of autocratic states who share little but a desire to consolidate each other’s power.  Help us build people-powered media: https://novara.media/support

Downstream: We Have Enabled Putin w/ Anne Appelbaum

Anne Applebaum is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist, historian, and political analyst. A few weeks ago, she was awarded the Peace Prize of German Publishers at the Frankfurt Book Forum. 

Her new book, "Autocracy, Inc.", explores the fragility of today’s democracies, and an ever-stronger network of autocracies that threaten them. 

In this podcast, she discusses some of the book’s key ideas and Ukraine’s role in this global setting. 

Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko, Ukrainian philosopher, chief editor of UkraineWorld and president of PEN Ukraine

UkraineWorld (ukraineworld.org) is brought to you by Internews Ukraine, one of Ukraine’s largest media NGOs.

Listen on various platforms: https://li.sten.to/explaining-ukraine 

Support us at patreon.com/ukraineworld. We provide exclusive content for our patrons.

You can also support our volunteer trips to the front lines at PayPal: ukraine.resisting@gmail.com.

---

Link to Anne Applebaum's book: 
https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/455382/autocracy-inc-by-applebaum-anne/9780241627891

Link to Anne Applebaum's Frankfurt speech: 
https://ukraineworld.org/en/articles/opinions/speech-frankfurt-book-fair

Anne Applebaum on autocracies, pacifism, and Ukraine

The digitization and literal disembodiment of every sphere of human reality advances with terrifying rapidity—from the Social Security system to the New York subway system. Rather than dropping swipe-cards and bringing back tokens, returning to what was a manifestly superior and more rational system, New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority moves to a still more dystopian "contactless" credit system. Similarly, rather than phasing out automobiles, our corporate overlords are now imposing driverless cars, a further step toward making the human race redundant altogether and portending the ultimate abolition of humanity. In Episode 270 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg continues his Spring ritual of reading the George Orwell essay "Some Thoughts on the Common Toad"—which brilliantly critiqued technological hypertophy, and articulated an imperative for humanistic revolution and scaleback of the mega-machine way back in April 1946.

Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon.

https://www.patreon.com/countervortex

Production by Chris Rywalt

We ask listeners to donate just $1 per weekly podcast via Patreon -- or $2 for our new special offer! We now have 68 subscribers. If you appreciate our work, please become Number 69!

Yet further thoughts on the common toad

Verses

Cast us asunder, the rat's at the helm,
The King he deposes is weak and he smells,
He cuts like the wind on a wintery night,
Indiscriminate to want, 'with pleasure!' he cries.

The rat runs amok, while the King lies asleep,
Savaging the order that millions do keep,
He grins like the rat who plundered the cheese,
Bringing the King and the court to their knees.

The jester advances, his eyes painted black,
He jibes and he jokes, he prods and reacts,
Stoking the King into furious rage,
Mocking the plight of the eminent sage.

Subjects divided, to conquer and rule,
Times are uncertain, the King is a fool,
For taxes and death are all that we're assured,
Oligarchs excepted with wealth from abroad

He who colludes with the filthy and rich,
Fawns for an empire his enemy projects,
Casting his allies out to the cold,
Bending his will to an East Slavic goal.

Chorus
A kingdom in shadow, a crown lost to flame,
The rat carves his chaos, the court bears the shame,
In whispers of treason, the echoes are felt,
Freedom is threatened, injustice is dealt.

The Rat's at the Helm

We had a conversation with Anne Applebaum a few months ago on this podcast about her book "Autocracy, Inc".—be sure to check it out: https://ukraineworld.org/en/podcasts//ep-332

The current episode features a public conversation on similar themes: the crisis of democracy, the rise of new autocracies, Trump’s pro-Russian stance, and Russia’s war against Ukraine.
It was recorded as a keynote discussion at the Lviv Media Forum—one of Ukraine’s major media events—in May 2025 (https://lvivmediaforum.com/en)

We’re now publishing it as part of our Thinking in Dark Times series at UkraineWorld.

Anne Applebaum is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and political analyst.

Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko, a Ukrainian philosopher, the chief editor of UkraineWorld and the president of PEN Ukraine.

You can support our work at: https://www.patreon.com/c/ukraineworld.

Your support is vital, as we rely heavily on crowdfunding.

You can also support our volunteer trips to frontline areas in Ukraine, where we provide aid to both soldiers and civilians. Donations are welcome via PayPal at: ukraine.resisting@gmail.com.


Anne Applebaum on Trump, Ukraine, and Russia

Neil Henderson ~ Vocals/Guitar/Bass/Songwriter.
www.equusproduction.com

WTJU is the University of Virginia's community radio station, bringing people together through excellent music and conversation. Our podcast network, Virginia Audio Collective, nurtures a creative community through audio storytelling.

Donations here benefit WTJU and its Virginia Audio Collective.

A podcast by UkraineWorld.org, a multimedia project about Ukraine run by Internews Ukraine. Explaining Ukraine, its politics, society and its culture. Support us: patreon.com/ukraineworld

Support my work on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/countervortex

New tracks tagged #Autocracy