Nothing is Foreign

Fears of warfare have become reality this week in Ukraine. A Russian attack is underway – with explosions and shelling filling the skies above Kyiv and troops seizing Ukrainian territory. We speak with Maksym Kyiak, a pro-democracy activist living in Kyiv, who talks about the mad dash to grab money and supplies as Russian troops move into the capital city, and Sara Cincurova, a journalist covering human rights in Kharkiv, who describes the massive lines of desperate people at the train station trying to flee. We ask what sparked these Russian attacks and why now? And what does the future hold for Ukraine?

Since the fall of Kabul six months ago, conditions in Afghanistan have been devastating: 98 percent of the country is short on food, bank accounts are frozen, thousands have left, and the economy is on the verge of total collapse. The United Nations has gone so far as to call it the worst humanitarian crisis in recent history. Now the U.S. — on top of continuing sanctions against Afghanistan and freezing the assets of its central bank — is planning on taking away billions of dollars belonging to the Afghan people. This week, we'll take you to the streets of Kabul and show you the real cost of these actions on Afghans who are just trying to survive. Featuring Obaidullah Baheer, lecturer at American University in Kabul and humanitarian, and Shelley Thakral, Afghanistan communications specialist with the United Nations World Food Programme.

Can a nation — and economy — of 6.5 million people run on bitcoin? That's the real-time experiment playing out in El Salvador, where the country's tech bro president has made the cryptocurrency legal tender. We'll take you inside El Salvador and hear from locals to see how the promise of a cryptocurrency paradise by a self-professed 'world's coolest dictator' is running up against the reality of regular people just trying to survive. Featuring investigative reporter Nelson Rauda with El Faro. Note: this episode contains explicit language.

The host shares their personal background and motivation for creating the podcast, expressing frustration with how world news is covered. They aim to provide a personal and grounded perspective on world news by talking to people in the countries where the news is happening.