Carnegie Council Podcasts

Responding to excerpts from U.S. Naval War College's Professor Tom Nichols and best-selling author and economist Dambisa Moyo--and the hostile anti-expert tone of the Trump era--Carnegie Council President Joel Rosenthal discusses how he approaches his area of expertise, international relations. How did we end up here? And is there reason for optimism when looking at younger generations?

"There is a significant counterintelligence threat on the West Coast of the U.S., and it differs in meaningful ways from what is commonly perceived of as counterintelligence work and targets on the East Coast," says Senior Fellow Zach Dorfman. He discusses shocking examples of Chinese espionage in particular, such as technology theft and spying on local politicians. The Chinese also exert pressure on diaspora communities to become more pro-PRC.

Who are behind the fake news and political disinformation campaigns that plague the Philippines? "They're not exactly who you think," says Jonathan Corpus Ong, co-author of a recent study on this. The most important players are not the notorious bloggers and social media influencers as you might expect. "The people who are the chief architects of network disinformation are people in the ad and public relations (PR) industry."

Senior Fellow Nikolas Gvosdev looks at the reasons for the growing favorability ratings towards Putin's Russia among a certain segment of the American population. Is this a function of Trump's personal affection for the Russian president? Or, as has been seen in France and other European nations, are there deeper cultural and political connections?

"Disinformation, fake news, online propaganda is a problem that has gotten attention all over the world, and we're seeing very divergent responses," says Schiffrin, author of "Bridging the Gap: Rebuilding Citizen Trust in Media." "I think the U.S. is going to do what it always does, which is look for free-market solutions and try lots of small-scale initiatives, and Europe is going to do what it tends to do, which is have more regulation."

Historian Andie Tucher takes us through 400 years of fake news in America, starting with a fake story published in 1690. But today, she says, given the the speed, anonymity, and reach of the Internet it's a lot easier to get away with faking news in dangerous ways--and harder to push back, especially given the president's attitude that the press is the enemy of the people.

Responding to an excerpt from a talk by Brookings Institution's William Galston, Senior Fellow Kavitha Rajagopalan and host Alex Woodson discuss immigration from a few different angles, including in the contexts of economics and English language competence. Plus, they look at the under-reported issues facing undocumented Asian immigrants in the United States.

The Chinese Communist Party's main goals for influence operations in the U.S are "to make sure that the U.S. does not stand in China's way in terms of its global, foreign policy, and economic goals, and second, to silence or marginalize critics," says Allen-Ebrahimian, a security reporter for "The Daily Beast." Who are the principal targets? Elites, Chinese-American communities, Chinese students in U.S. universities, and American academics.

"I see Russia as conducting more smash-and-grab type influence operations. China is in it for the longer term," says author and former U.S. government intelligence analyst Darren Tromblay. China is pursuing multiple campaigns, including efforts to infiltrate politics or pressure politicians on specific issues, leveraging business deals to support Beijing's objectives, and carrying out numerous academic and cultural initiatives.

Carnegie Council Senior Fellow Alexander Görlach and host Alex Woodson speak about identity politics in the United States and Europe from their different perspectives. They also discuss how religion and the recent Mexican election fits in to these narratives.