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 o

Will We Ever Get Rid Of Nuclear Weapons?

Oct 30th, 2020 1h 7m

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 effor

Thailand's Royal Mess

Oct 23rd, 2020 46m 24s

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 charm

Warnings from the Far Right

Oct 16th, 2020 1h 19m

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 vo

Fishing For A Brexit Deal

Oct 8th, 2020 43m 20s

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

Rumble In The Caucasus

Oct 1st, 2020 42m 57s

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. C

Taiwan In China's Crosshairs

Sep 24th, 2020 1h 12m

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 wee

Decoding the COVID Economy With Prof. Ryan Weldzius

Sep 17th, 2020 1h 7m

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 th

Hero of Hotel Rwanda Arrested

Sep 10th, 2020 1h 11m

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 arreste

Sayonara Shinzo-San: Japan's Longest-Serving PM Steps Down

Sep 3rd, 2020 1h 14m

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

Everyone (Doesn't) Love Erdogan!

Aug 27th, 2020 59m 13s

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

The Abraham Accord Between Israel and UAE

Aug 20th, 2020 38m 43s

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 tha

The Beirut Blast

Aug 13th, 2020 58m 21s

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 Pari

The Russian COVID-19 Vaccine(?), Hong Kong's Crackdown Goes International, Trump's TikTok Ban

Aug 6th, 2020 37m 7s

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 wa

China And Ethiopia Do The Dam Thing

Jul 30th, 2020 58m 51s

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

Will The European Union Throw Away Its Shot?

Jul 23rd, 2020 53m 57s

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

Not-So-Little Fires Everywhere in Iran

Jul 17th, 2020 51m 7s

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 t

China Squashes Hong Kong With National Security Law

Jul 9th, 2020 48m 31s

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

A Slightly Premature Yearly Retrospective

Jul 2nd, 2020 14m 14s

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 th

Black Lives Matter Everywhere

Jun 18th, 2020 51m 26s

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 l

Is NATO Still Great-O?

Jun 12th, 2020 1h 7m

@RealDonaldTrump threatened to pull out 1/3 of the American troops stationed in Germany…without telling Congress…or Ze Germans. Nice guy!What does this mean for the future of NATO—the world’s oldest multinational military alliance—and the Unite

Is China Making a Play for Hegemony, or is it Just the World's Biggest, Grouchiest Neighbor?

Jun 5th, 2020 1h 2m

You’re China. (Hi, China!)In the last 8 months, you were the source of this century’s worst pandemic, bungled the early management of the outbreak at home, and mislead the international community about it for months.But now that things are unde

Donnie & The Deepfakes: Disinformation, COVID-19 and the 2020 Election

May 29th, 2020 55m 46s

Lies.Malarkey.Propaganda.Fake news.Misinformation.Disinformation.Weaponized Nonsense.The internet has all of these… as well as… real public information and actual news!This week, Steve and Soumi talk about the deluge of disinformation and how w

Trump vs Xi Jinping vs Tedros: WHO Needs This During COVID-19?!

May 22nd, 2020 44m 2s

Q: How did a mild-mannered Ethiopian microbiologist end up one of the most talked about people in the ongoing pandemic?A: International politics.This week, Steve and Soumi discuss how Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the World Health Organizatio

Beware the Libyan Wolf Spider!

May 15th, 2020 57m 40s

For a country that's mostly empty desert, Libya sure has a lot of problems. Let's run the down the list:A ten-year civil war......that is also turning into a proxy conflict between Turkey on one side and Russia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and UAE on t