The Lede

The End of Populism in the World’s Largest Democracy? — With Shruti Kapila and Surbhi Gupta

On this week’s podcast, Cambridge University academic Shruti Kapila, author of “Violent Fraternity: Indian Political Thought in the Global Age,” sits down with New Lines’ Surbhi Gupta to discuss the shock Indian election result and what it means for the future of the world’s largest democracy.
Further listening:The War on India’s Free Press — With Manisha Pande, Samar Halarnkar and Surbhi GuptaIndia’s Political Hinduism — With Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay and Surbhi Gupta
Further reading:Why the Indian Election Results Present Modi With a Defeat Within a WinThe Recent Elections Demonstrate India’s Growing Democratic Deficit
Produced by Finbar Anderson

Gaza and a Changing Middle East — With Ruth Michaelson, Chloe Cornish, Tara Kangarlou and Faisal Al Yafai

While the conflict in Gaza plays out on a tiny strip of land a fraction of the size of Los Angeles, its impact on the wider Middle East region has been huge.
New Lines’ Faisal Al Yafai speaks to the Guardian’s Ruth Michaelson, Chloe Cornish of the Financial Times and independent journalist Tara Kangarlou to assess how the war has changed the political and economic landscape in Turkey, Egypt, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
Further listening:Living in a State of Hopelessness: On the Ground in Israel — With Lisa GoldmanOn the Ground in Gaza — With Arwa DamonIn the Firing Line — With Joumana Haddad
Further reading:The Cost of Leaving GazaHow the War in Gaza Is Shaping the 2024 Elections — And the Future of the Democratic Party
Produced by Finbar Anderson

Everest’s 100-Year Mystery — With Wade Davis and Finbar Anderson

On June 8, 1924, two climbers set off for what they hoped would be the first-ever summit of Mount Everest. As the mist closed in around them high up the mountain, they would never be seen alive again. A century later, the mystery of whether they reached the top continues to inspire fascination and debate, but is perhaps not the most interesting thing about the doomed expedition, anthropologist and former National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Wade Davis tells New Lines’ Finbar Anderson on this week’s episode.

Filling the Vacuum: Russia’s Forays Into Africa — With Amie Ferris-Rotman and Kwangu Liwewe

In the two decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russian influence in Africa was at a low ebb. But that’s all changed, New Lines Global News Editor Amie Ferris-Rotman tells Kwangu Liwewe on this week’s Global Insights on The Lede. Ferris-Rotman and Liwewe discuss Russia’s past in Africa and its more recent neocolonialist enterprises on the continent, as well as the private military companies acting as Russia’s enforcers and how Russian influence compares to the “long, slow game” played by China.
Produced by Finbar Anderson

Populism and Power in Mexico’s Historic Election — With Alma Guillermoprieto

Veteran Mexican correspondent Alma Guillermoprieto joins New Lines’ Danny Postel on The Lede for a discussion about how the upcoming election in Mexico is actually not about the two leading candidates, her sadness about the current situation in Nicaragua, and her secret — the celebrated journalist is not interested in politics.
Produced by Finbar Anderson

Rethinking Radicalization — With Elizabeth Pearson and Lydia Wilson

On this week’s episode of The Lede, New Lines' Lydia Wilson sits down with extremism researcher Elizabeth Pearson, whose book “Extreme Britain: Gender, Masculinity and Radicalisation,” was published in December 2023.
Pearson explains how her research challenged established thinking around extremism, and how she came to the understanding that misogyny and masculinity play a much bigger role in the radicalization process than has been previously thought.
Produced by Finbar Anderson

Bosnia’s Dark Past and Murky Present, and a Vision for the Future — With Jasmin Mujanović and Faisal Al Yafai

On this week’s episode of The Lede, New Lines’ Faisal Al Yafai sits down with Jasmin Mujanović for a discussion on nationhood in Bosnia and Herzegovina after the genocide of the 1990s, its current political challenges and Mujanović’s argument for a liberal democratic future in Bosnia. Mujanović dissects his new book, “The Bosniaks, Nationhood After Genocide,” which explores the evolution of Bosniak identity after the Bosnian War, and why the country’s postwar settlement needs to change. 
Produced by Finbar Anderson

The Untold Story of the Vagabond Princess Gulbadan — With Ruby Lal and Rasha Elass

Ruby Lal’s new biography of the Mughal Princess Gulbadan brings to life the princess’s remarkable seven-year pilgrimage, from her home in the harem of her nephew Emperor Akbar in India to the holy city of Mecca. Surviving shipwrecks and expulsion orders from the Ottoman Sultan, Gulbadan eventually returned to India where she would go on to write groundbreaking works. 
Lal joins New Lines’ Rasha Elass on The Lede to discuss her book “Vagabond Princess: The Great Adventures of Gulbadan,” which is based on Gulbadan’s own long-forgotten writings.
Produced by Finbar Anderson

Living in a State of Hopelessness: On the Ground in Israel – With Lisa Goldman and Kwangu Liwewe

New Lines Contributing Editor Lisa Goldman has spent much of her life living and working in Israel, but her most recent reporting trip revealed a side of the country she had not seen before. “It’s unprecedented,” she tells New Lines Africa Editor Kwangu Liwewe on Global Insights. 
“Israelis feel for the very first time that their army couldn’t protect them, it didn’t protect them. They had been living with a very strong sense of confidence that whatever happened, they were physically secure because they had such a well-trained army and a highly efficient intelligence system. And all of that broke down on Oct. 7.”
Goldman shares the insights she gained from the ground, including how local media helps to drive support for Israel’s war in Gaza, personal tensions with her old friends brought about by the conflict and what it was like when Iran bombarded Tel Aviv with over 300 drones and missiles while she was there.
Produced by Finbar Anderson and Erin Brown

On the Ground in Gaza — With Arwa Damon and Faisal Al Yafai

“Going into Gaza, that pit of fear was more like a web that sat on my chest and never settled.”
Arwa Damon has been in plenty of war zones, but going into Gaza was unlike anything she’s yet experienced.
The veteran CNN correspondent joins New Lines’ Faisal Al Yafai on The Lede for a conversation about her recent humanitarian mission into the Palestinian territory. They discuss the moving and heartbreaking human interactions Damon had with Palestinians in Gaza, the Israeli strike on the World Central Kitchen convoy that killed seven aid workers just days before Damon’s trip, and the lasting impact of journalists not being allowed into Gaza to cover the conflict.
Damon also picks up on the topic she discussed in her last appearance on The Lede. Back in November, she spoke with Al Yafai about how trauma impacts decision-making in situations like the Israel-Hamas conflict. That episode, titled “The Emotional Fog Of War,” has since been nominated for multiple awards.
Further listening: The Emotional Fog Of War — With Arwa Damon
Further reading: Gaza in a Million Pieces
Produced by Finbar Anderson