Disinformation Wars

In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman speaks to two prominent Israeli experts, former Jerusalem Post editor Yaakov Katz and Lt. Col. (Res.) Sarit Zehavi of the Alma Research and Education Center, regarding the new war now facing Israel in the wake of Hamas' October 7th campaign of terror - and the stories that aren't being told about the conflict. BIOS: Yaakov Katz is a senior fellow at the Jewish People Policy Institute, a former editor of the Jerusalem Post where he remains a columnist, and the author of three books on Israeli military affairs. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @yaakovkatz. Sarit Zehavi is a Lieutenant Colonel in the Israeli Defense Forces reserves, and the founder and president of the Alma Research and Education Center, the only national security think tank situated in Israel’s north. Follow her work on X (formerly Twitter) at @Israel_Alma_org. RESOURCES FOR THIS EPISODE: The Alma Center's analysis of a "northern front" scenario against Israel: https://israel-alma.org/2023/10/10/what-could-happen-if-hezbollah-joins-the-war/ The Alma Center's analysis of what comes next in the current conflict: https://israel-alma.org/2023/10/15/how-hamas-implement-in-this-attack-the-new-iranian-battle-theory/

In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman talks to journalist Bethany Allen about the role that disinformation, propaganda and influence play in China's foreign policy - and their impact on the unfolding strategic competition between Beijing and Washington Bethany Allen is the China reporter at AXIOS. She was previously the lead reporter on the China Cables project of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, as a national security correspondent at The Daily Beast, and as a reporter and editor at Foreign Policy magazine. She is the author of Beijing Rules: How China Weaponized its Economy to Confront the World (Harper, 2023).

In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman talks to Tuvia Gering, a scholar at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies, about the ways in which Beijing is shaping global discourse - and what the PRC is saying to the world. Tuvia Gering is a researcher at the Diane & Guilford Glazer Foundation Israel-China Policy Center at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), Tel Aviv, Israel, and a non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council's Global China Hub. He is also the author of Discourse Power on Substack, and you can find him @geringtuvia on Twitter. MATERIALS REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODE: Kenton Thibaut's reports on Discourse Power for the Atlantic Council:  1) China’s discourse power operations in the Global South 2) Chinese discourse power: Ambitions and reality in the digital domain 3) Chinese discourse power: Capabilities and impact Pew’s most recent poll on global attitudes toward China.

In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman speaks with Jimmy Quinn of National Review about the current state of the political debate over one of the world’s most popular social media apps - and what it tells us about the larger Great Power Competition that's now unfolding between the United States and China. 

In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman speaks with Jacki Alexander, Chief Executive Officer of HonestReporting, about how her organization is harnessing social media and badly-needed context in order to combat bias in reporting about Israel and its place in the Middle East.  Materials referenced in this episode: — Report by Israel’s Channel 14 on the Palestinian Authority’s “prisoners project” (in Hebrew): https://www.now14.co.il/למחבלים-בלבד-שכונת-היוקרה-שמוקמת-ברשפ/ — HonestReporting’s expose on the “project”: https://honestreporting.com/obstacle-to-peace-palestinian-authority-approves-terrorists-only-settlement/

In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman speaks with Joshua Kurlantzick of the Council on Foreign Relations regarding his new book on Chinese media strategy, and the methods and means by which the PRC is shaping global perceptions.  Materials referenced in this episode: Kurlantzick’s book, Beijing’s Global Media Offensive: China’s Uneven Campaign to Influence Asia and the World (Oxford University Press, 2022), available here. The Associated Press’ investigative report into Chinese influence in Utah (accessible here).

In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman speaks with Michael Sobolik of the American Foreign Policy Council about China's efforts to shape global perceptions surrounding COVID19 at the start of the global pandemic - and how that war of narratives has now returned with a vengeance. 

In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman speaks with Ivana Stradner of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies about how Russia weaponizes information to achieve its geopolitical objectives -- and how the United States and its allies can begin to push back. 

In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman speaks with Amb. David Saranga, the head of digital diplomacy at Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, about how Jerusalem is using new media and innovative techniques to share Israel’s story with global audiences.

In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman talks to Joseph Humire, Executive Director of the Center for Secure Free Society, about how Russian narratives and tropes are resonating in the Americas - and what that means for local politics, as well as for American security. Materials referenced in this episode: — Ilan Berman and Joseph M. Humire, eds., Iran’s Strategic Penetration of Latin America (Lexington Books, 2016), https://www.amazon.com/Irans-Strategic-Penetration-Latin-America/dp/1498505988/ref=sr_1_1?crid=ON196ZVZL7HQ&keywords=iran%27s+strategic+penetration&qid=1671712687&sprefix=iran%27s+strategic+penetration%2Caps%2C63&sr=8-1. — LatinoBarometer’s 2021 Human Development Report: https://www.latinobarometro.org/lat.jsp?Idioma=0&Idioma=0