What is Project 2025? Jun 01, 2024

Have you heard of Project 2025? If not, you better learn fast. It's the GOP's 900-plus page conservative manifesto aimed at dismantling the federal government and the Democratic Party has no answer for it. Here to talk about 2025 is Anne Nelson, who read the entire document and is traveling the country to educate communities about the dangers that lie ahead if Trump wins in November.

Host: Terrell Jermaine Starr

Guests: Anne Nelson

Producer: Mike Hull

Support us financially!

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About the guest

Anne Nelson is a prize-winning journalist and author who has published extensive work on human rights and resistance to dictatorship. Her most recent book is Shadow Network: Media, Money, and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right. She is a graduate of Yale University and a research scholar at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs.

This Gaza war didn’t come out of nowhere (VOX)

We cannot stand by and watch Israel commit atrocities (The Washington Post)

Muslim members of Congress face spikes in death threats (NBC)

Verified Accounts on Musk’s X Spread 74 Percent of Israel-Hamas War Misinformation (Rolling Stone)

Who was behind the Gaza hospital blast – visual investigation (Channel 4)

Liberating Iran featuring Priscillia Kounkou Hoveyda Sep 09, 2023

The fifth and final episode of “Liberating Iran” features Priscillia Kounkou Hoveyda. She talks about being Black in Iran and the racism she and other Black Iranians face under Tehran’s brutal theocracy. This episode is one of the few pieces of reporting that deals with the lives of Black Iranians in any meaningful way.

There is pretty much no reporting on Black Iranians, but this episode does address some aspects of how they are experiencing the uprisings in Iran.

You can learn more about Priscillia’s work at the Collective for Black Iranians, which may very well be the only place where you can learn about Black Iranians.

Please support Black Diplomats! Give us 5 star ratings on Spotify, iTunes or wherever you listen to us. Also support our work financially on CashApp at $BlackDiplomats, Venmo @BlackDiplomats and on PayPal at paypal.me/BlackDiplomats.

Liberating Iran featuring Yegi & Jason Rezaian Sep 02, 2023

The fourth episode of “Liberating Iran” features Yegi Rezaian, who tells us about her life as a reporter in Iran and her efforts to free her husband Jason, with whom she was falsely imprisoned after he was accused of being a U.S. spy in July 0f 2024.

Please go and buy his book, “Prisoner: My 544 Days in an Iranian Prison―Solitary Confinement, a Sham Trial, High-Stakes Diplomacy, and the Extraordinary Efforts It Took to Get Me Out”

This is the fourth of five episodes that will publish each Saturday, with the final show airing September 9. Next week’s episode, the fifth and last of the series, will feature Priscillia Kounkou-Hoveyda., who’ll talk about being Black in Iran and how news around the protests have left Black Iranians voiceless.

Please support Black Diplomats! Give us 5 star ratings on Spotify, iTunes or wherever you listen to us. Also support our work financially on CashApp at $BlackDiplomats, Venmo @BlackDiplomats and on PayPal at paypal.me/BlackDiplomats.

Articles of note

#FreeJason: The inside story of The Post’s role in global efforts to free Jason Rezaian from Iran

Axis of Immigration TedTalk by Yegi Rezaian

Liberating Iran featuring Nahid Siamdoust Aug 19, 2023

The third episode of “Liberating Iran” features Nahid Siamdoust, who takes us through the history of Iranian feminism and the decades of female musical expression that defines today’s protests in Iran.

Please go and buy her book, “Soundtrack of the Revolution: The Politics of Music in Iran.”

This is the third of five episodes that will publish each Saturday, with the final show airing September 2. Next week’s episode, the fourth of the series, will feature Yegi and Jason Rezaian , who’ll talk about the role of media in Iran. Jason’s story is well know, so Yegi will be the primary subject of the episode and discuss her behind-the-scenes role and helping to secure Jason’s freedom from Iranian imprisonment and how this impacted her life personally.

Please support Black Diplomats! Give us 5 star ratings on Spotify, iTunes or wherever you listen to us. Also support our work financially on CashApp at $BlackDiplomats, Venmo @BlackDiplomats and on PayPal at paypal.me/BlackDiplomats.

Some links to stories used in episode

She’s a Professional Iranian Singer But is Banned from Singing on Stage in Her Country (Center for Human Rights in Iran)

What the Success of Women-Led Protests Tell Us About Iran’s Future (TIME)

The History of Women's Rights in Iran (Brut America)

Liberating Iran featuring Pouya Alimagham Aug 12, 2023

The second episode of “Liberating Iran” deals with the 1953 CIA coup that overthrew Iran's leadership and how that event provides better context for Washington’s relationship with Tehran—not the 1979 U.S. Embassy takeover.

Historian Pouya Alimagham helps us understand how devastating the West’s role in undermining has been to fostering better relations with Tehran’s leadership and why Americans have been fed a false narrative on Iranian people and its history.

Please go and buy Pouya’s book, “Contesting the Iranian Revolution: The Green Uprisings.”

This is the second of five episodes that will publish each Saturday, with the final show airing September 2. Next week’s episode will feature Nahid Siamdoust, who’ll talk about the role of women in Iranian history and the role music has played in the current protests.

Please support Black Diplomats! Give us 5 star ratings on Spotify, iTunes or wherever you listen to us. Also support our work financially on CashApp at $BlackDiplomats, Venmo @BlackDiplomats and on PayPal at paypal.me/BlackDiplomats.

Notable links to stories used in episode:

CIA involvement in 1953 Iranian coup (CNN)

U.S. Secretly Gave Aid to Iraq Early in Its War Against Iran (NYT)

Iran is surrounded by US military bases and facilities. Here's a snapshot (ABC)

Liberating Iran featuring Assal Rad Aug 05, 2023

The first episode of “Liberating Iran” drops today.

Assal Rad breaks down the Iran Deal and the political history between the U.S. and Iran that explains why relations between the two nations are so frayed.

Please go and buy Assal’s book “State of Resistance: Politics, Culture & Identity in Modern Iran."

This is the first of five episodes that will publish each Saturday, starting August 5 and ending September 2. Next week’s episode will feature historian Pouya Alimagham who’ll break down the West’s efforts to undermine Iran’s democracy and why so many Americans have bought into false narratives about Tehran’s leadership.

Please support Black Diplomats! Give us 5 star ratings on Spotify, iTunes or wherever you listen to us. Also support our work financially on CashApp at $BlackDiplomats, Venmo @BlackDiplomats and on PayPal at paypal.me/BlackDiplomats.

Notable links to stories used in episode

Fact-Checking Donald Trump’s Reasons For Leaving Iran Deal. (Washington Post)

Chris Cuomo Interview with Benjamin Netanyahu (CNN)

Is Maximum Pressure Working Against Iran? (NBC)

Black Diplomats presents: Liberating Iran Jul 17, 2023

Coming July 29:

A five-part series about Iran through the eyes of Iranians - protest, history, music, Black Iranian struggle, what the U.S. always gets wrong, and how we can get it right this time.

Join host Terrell J. Starr as he unlearns years of media hype to find out the real history of Iran.

WTF IS GOING ON IN RUSSIA? Jun 26, 2023

Good evening from Kyiv!

Today’s show is all about the ongoing and ever-changing newscycle revolving around the aftermath of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s failed mutiny of the Russia’s Ministry of Defense. I break down the aftermath of how Russian President Vladimir Putin is responding to everything and the need to not try and predict what’s coming next.

The following segment deals with Ukraine’s top intel chief’s claim that Russia mined the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and there is a real chance they might blow it up.

Today’s show will feature Dina Urich, Head of department of temporarily occupied and unoccupied territories and a Board Member at Helping to Leave, an organization that has helped more than 20,000 people flee Russian captivity.

Thank you all for tuning into this week’s episode of Black Diplomats. Please give us 5 star ratings on Spotify, iTunes or wherever you listen to us. Also support our work financially on CashApp at $BlackDiplomats, Venmo @BlackDiplomats and on PayPal at paypal.me/BlackDiplomats.

Kakhova dam explosion and Fatima Muhammed at CUNY Jun 11, 2023

This week on Black Diplomats, I start off with news about the Kakhova dam explosion in the Kherson region that has claimed at least 5 lives and is causing a massive ecocide in the area.

For on the ground coverage, please read these articles that break down what is going on:

The New York Times: U.S. Official Says Spy Satellites Detected Explosion Just Before Dam Collapse

The Moscow Times: Norwegian Seismologists Detect Explosion Signals From Ukraine Dam

The Kyiv Independent: Zelensky: 'Russia needs to bear full responsibility for ecocide'

Please support Black Diplomats! Give us 5 star ratings on Spotify, iTunes or wherever you listen to us. Also support our work financially on CashApp at $BlackDiplomats, Venmo @BlackDiplomats and on PayPal at paypal.me/BlackDiplomats.

My featured guest this week is Nerdeen Kiswani, a Palestinian organizer from New York City and close friend of Fatima Muhammed, the CUNY law graduate student who delivered the student address at this year's graduation. As you all know by now, Fatima’s speech was unfairly criticized for its strong stance against white supremacy and Israel’s apartheid against Palestinians. Of course, it’s all bullshit and untrue.

You can listen to it here. The time stamp is 1:16:54-1:28:30.

Nerdeen, who delivered CUNY Law School graduation address, also drew criticism and accusations of antisemitism for her remarks, which challenged the very white supremacy and Israeli apartheid Fatima did recently.

We spoke about that, why everyone should stand up for Palestine and more. Enjoy.

Here is Nerdeen’s full biography: Nerdeen Kiswani is a Palestinian organizer from New York City. She is the founder and chair of Within Our Lifetime - United for Palestine, a community organization revitalizing the revolutionary spirit of the Palestinians in exile in pursuit of liberation. Nerdeen has spoken for the Palestinian cause at events and conferences worldwide and has organized rallies with tens of thousands of attendees in support of Palestine.

Nerdeen recently graduated from the CUNY school of Law and has organized successful campaigns on and off campus to pass a resolution by the student government and faculty of CUNY Law to cut all ties and divest from all israeli institutions that service the occupation. The resolution also defends the right for Palestinians to resist colonization and calls to protect Palestinian speech. In 2021 Nerdeen led a campaign that successfully defeated a proposal to adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism which it equates with anti zionism.

While her organizing led to Zionist organizations orchestrating character assassination campaigns against Nerdeen demanding she is expelled, in the summer of 2021 CUNY Law issued a statement defending Palestinian activism and denouncing anti-palestinian hate.Not only was this the first statement of its kind from a U.S. law school, contrary to the zionist demands to discipline Nerdeen, she was chosen to be the commencement speaker at her graduation, marking another victory for those fighting for Palestine and our refusal to be silenced.

Terrell Goes Back to Ukraine May 28, 2023

On this episode of Black Diplomats we're doing something different.

Terrell is on his way back to Ukraine so he sat down with BD producer Michael Hull to talk about his plans for the summer, some special projects we have coming up, and what the media needs to do to help the world survive the 2024 election cycle.

Plus - what does Terrell do for his mental health? Can't have a Black Diplomats interview with asking the guest what they're doing to stay healthy!

Please give us 5 star ratings on Spotify, iTunes or wherever you listen to us.

And remember to support Black Diplomats by giving to Terrell on PayPal at://paypal.me/blackdiplomats, CashApp: $BlackDiplomats and venmo at account.venmo.com/u/blackdiplomats.

Thank you for listening!

The State of Disinformation with Shireen Mitchell May 20, 2023

What are we to believe nowadays?

It’s a question most of us have asked since social media platforms began competing with traditional media outlets in the 2010s. Everyone has the power to push out information and that is actually a good thing. We saw the power of citizen journalism during the Ferguson Uprisings and how they helped to push out culturally competent narratives when local and national media failed to do so.

But what happens when people abuse, say, Twitter to spend lies that most folks don’t have the education or bandwidth to cross check? Or worse, you can have a billionaire like Elon Musk take over that platform and he can all but sanction disinformation simply because he owns it and the U.S. government has few legal tools to stop him—at least for now.

This episode of Black Diplomats will feature one of the United States’ top disinformation experts, Shireen Mitchell, President of Stop Online Violence Against Women. Shireen has been a leading voice on online disinformation against women for over a decade. She has published numerous studies on the impact unchecked harassment has had on women, particularly women of color. She was one of the first scholars to warn about misogyny online against Black women and the impact it has had on women of color at large.

During our discussion, we talked about how she was one of the first online disinformation experts to draw parallels between unchecked misogyny against Black and Russian disinformation campaigns that dogged the 2026 Presidential Election. Then we unpacked how European regulators monitor social media platforms in ways that the U.S. refuses to do and why that is. Then we deep dive into mainstream media’s failure to learn from past mistakes of platforming liars all in the name of ratings. And, yes, we are talking about that debacle of a CNN Trump town hall! And boy did he turn it into a superspreader disinformation event. What harm will that event and those that follow have on U.S. media literacy and the rest of the world. That and much more on this week’s episode of Black Diplomats.

Please remember to support Black Diplomats by giving to us on PayPal at://paypal.me/blackdiplomats, CashApp: $BlackDiplomats and venmo at account.venmo.com/u/blackdiplomats. The links are also available in the show notes as well. Also rate us on itunes, Spotify and on every platform on which you listen to Black Diplomats podcast.

War in Ukraine, Sudan, and remembering Shireen Abu Akleh May 11, 2023

Terrell J. Starr opens up this week’s episode of Black Diplomas with his thoughts on Great Britain’s likely shipment of long range missiles to Ukraine, weapons Kyiv have long requested. He also talks about the disinformation fog that will precede the upcoming Ukrainian offensive.

From there he talks with Sudanese human rights scholar Mutasim Ali about the violence in Sudan. Terrell concludes the show with Palestinian human rights lawyer Diana Buttu and independent journalist Sharif Abdel Kouddous about the one-year anniversary of Shireen Abu Akleh’s killing and why Israel is an apartheid state.

Music: “Dreams” by Ink Prod.

Fighting Fascism in Israel, Europe, Russia, and the U.S. May 03, 2023

Producer’s Note: We need your financial support!

Please give us 5 star ratings on Spotify, iTunes or wherever you listen to us. Also support our work financially on CashApp at $BlackDiplomats,Venmo @BlackDiplomats and on PayPal at paypal.me/BlackDiplomats.

This week on Black Diplomats, where everyone can be a diplomat, I breakdown Russian President Vladimir Putin’s no-so-certain in-person attendance at this year’s BRICS Summit in South Africa’s, GOP House Leader Kevin McCarthy’s brave reassurance of the Republican support for Ukraine and the bullshit “journalism” claiming Vice President Kamala Harris is a liability for Joe Biden in 2024.

And we have very special guest Rula Jebreal, who will talk about all things Palestine and Israel.

Read this New Voice of Ukraine report about South Africa’s anxiousness about Putin attending BRICS in person.

Also read this Washington Post analysis about House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s strong support for Ukraine.

Watch Roy Wood Jr’s White House Correspondents Dinner stand up in full. It was great. His words about VP Harris start at 17:00.

Show Outline:

01:36: Putin’s South Africa BRICS Problem And Ukraine’s Africa Diplomacy Challenges

14:24: House Speaker McCarthy Speaks Up For Ukraine

19:24: What Is VP Harris Up To?

29:09: Feature Interview with Rula Jabreal

Intro, intermission and outro music by Detroit independent artist Ink Prod.

About Rula Jebreal

Rula Jebreal is a Visiting Professor at The University of Miami, where she teaches Communications. Jebreal served on the G7 Gender Equality Advisory Council, a body relaunched by French President Emmanuel Macron. She is an award-winning Journalist, author and foreign policy expert who has received accolades for her groundbreaking work in Italy, the United States and across the Middle East.

In May 2017, Jebreal was enlisted to introduce former President Barak Obama at his first European public appearance since leaving office, at which he gave the keynote speech on food security and climate change, at the Global Innovation Summit. Jebreal is an on-air foreign policy expert she appears frequently on CNN, MSNBC Bloomberg, HBO and NBC, she has written many op-eds for the New York Times and The Washington Post and Foreign Policy, NewsWeek and Time.

Jebreal Wrote extensively about authoritarian regimes and predicted Trump’s victory in an article for the Washington post in 2015 called Trump is America’s Berlusconi.

Fighting Russian Colonialism and Western White Supremacy Apr 26, 2023

Today’s show is a great one!

I had the pleasure of discussing what it means for Black Lives Matter organizers and Ukrainian activists to fight systems of oppression together. LaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter, and Maryna Prykhodko, a board member at Razom, one of the biggest Ukrainian-American organizations in the United States, helped me have that discussion. We also talked about Russia’s chairmanship of the U.N. security council and if they should be tossed from the body altogether. We also talk about the “Tennessee Three" and how it reveals the cracks in U.S. democracy.

Read about Russia’s chairmanship of the U.N. Security Council at The New York Times and the backlash from other member states.

And here is a good explainer about what went down in Tennessee with the three lawmakers—two of whom were expelled but later voted to their positions—that got national attention.

Black Diplomats is back, baby! Apr 19, 2023

Black Diplomats is back, baby!

We have a new show format that’ll make the episode easier to follow, so let us know what you think about it. Today, my special guests, Nola Haynes and Earl Carr, will discuss the worsening Chinese-U.S. relationship, with a focus on the Chinese nationals arrested in Manhattan for running police outposts without proper jurisdiction and the GOP’s attack on TikTok. Then we discuss Andrew Tate and how the manosphere is taking misogyny global. From there, we ask how the hell did a 21-year-old gamer with a Discord account get access to war secrets about the invasion of Ukraine?

We also have a new segment called, Trap House Foreign Policy, where me and my guests discuss what inspired us to get into foreign policy. The segment is inspired by my late uncles Randy and Cricket, who sold drugs for a living and how I grew to view them as the first diplomats I met.

And if you’re like me, you’re likely getting tired of people talking about what VP Kamala Harris ain’t doing. One report after another seems to complain that no one knows what she does. Well, I have a new weekly segment that will highlight what she is up to, as well as what me and my guests think of the media coverage of her performance.

Recommended reading

Read The New York Times article about the two Chinese nationals who were arrested for conspiring to act as agents for the Chinese government and for illegally running a Chinese police outpost to intimidate Chinese dissidents living in the U.S.

Check out this very detailed Washington Post report about the Discord leaker who leaked top secret files connected to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Watch this VICE NEWS feature on Andrew Tate and the global impact of his misogyny.

And for those who want to know what VP Kamala Harris is up to this week, she will be in Miami Friday, April 21 to discuss climate change. She was also in Reno, Nevada Tuesday, April 18 talking about reproductive health. She was also in Los Angeles discussing “clean energy economies.”

Also, please read Errin Haines reflections of Kamala’s trip to Africa.

Ukraine Take Kherson Nov 13, 2022

This week Russia was pushed out of the regional capital of Kherson, bringing Ukraine another dramatic step closer to ending the war on their terms. Much of the oblast is still under Russian control, but capturing the city and surrounding territories is a major victory for Ukraine. This is only the latest in a string of victories and there is no indication Russia will be able to go back on the offensive.

To help us understand what’s happening on the ground we have Maria Zolkina, Head of Regional Security and Conflict Studies at Democratic Initiatives Foundation in Kyiv. She talks about the liberation of Kherson, some of the potential dangers remaining in the area, the potential for a push into Crimea and how the West can continue to help Ukraine in the fight.

Thank you for listening!

Ukraine Offensive and NATO Membership with Solomiia Bobrovska Oct 10, 2022

The effective borders of Ukraine are in constant motion, with Russian forces in retreat. The massive Kerch Bridge connecting Russian and Crimea was severely damaged by a truck bomb this week, and there have been several missile strikes in civilian neighborhoods in Ukraine.

While war is raging on the ground, Ukrainian officials are trying to get more support from Europe and the US. They have officially applied for NATO membership, and while no one is expecting it to happen anytime soon, the declaration of intent has been heard on both sides of the front line.

On this week’s episode of Black Diplomats host Terrell Starr talks to Solomiia Bobrovska. She is a member of the Parliament of Ukraine, Secretary of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and Deputy Head of the Ukrainian Delegation to NATO. She is a powerful spokesperson for Ukrainian civilians who are now the targets of bombing campaigns.

Bobrovska is also a savvy political actor who understands the implications of the application better than most. It’s important to understand the logic of the decision, and consider the unpredictable outcomes with a cool head, but that’s hard to do with Russia bombing apartment buildings.

Follow Solomiia Bobrovska on Twitter for more:

https://twitter.com/bobrovska

Thank you for listening!

Russians Flee to Georgia on "Vacation" Oct 02, 2022

Russia is losing their war in Ukraine. They’ve been pushed back on the ground, and Ukraine is re-arming with Western help. Even Russia’s global allies are voicing concern. With losses piling up, the Kremlin decided to start calling on their national reserve - trained soldiers who are not on active duty. But the conscription effort has been poorly managed and many Russians are worried it’s cover for a general draft.

All of this has led to an exodus of fighting-age men from Russia, and long lines at the border. Several European countries have closed their doors to Russians fleeing military service but Georgia remains open. With a long history of colonization by their Eastern neighbor, many people in Georgia are on edge.

On this weeks episode of Black Diplomats host Terrell Starr talks to Khatia Dekanoidze, the head of opposition parties in Georgia, and Nodar Rukhadze, activist and co-founder of the Shame Movement, a civil society organization. They are leading the call for heavier surveillance of Russian visitors and a new visa policy to enforce restrictions on travel.

Thanks for listening!

War With Friends part 2 Sep 25, 2022

In this episode of Black Diplomats host Terrell Starr talks to Andriy Kononenko, a close personal friend and fighter in Ukraine’s Territorial Defense Force. Andriy is a language professional and co-founder of NovaMova, a language school with outposts in Kyiv and all over Eastern Europe. He is an example of how the Russian invasion has forced average Ukrainians to call on their resources and reserves in ways they never expected.

Terrell and Andriy discuss the hectic first days of the invasion, and how the war has developed for Andriy. With his parents trapped behind enemy lines and his wife and kids in the United States, Andriy’s life is nothing like it was. But as long as Ukrainian sovereignty is under threat he is determined to keep up the fight.

Thank you for listening.

War with Friends Sep 17, 2022

On today’s episode of Black Diplomats host Terrell Starr talks to three people who are dealing with the war in Ukraine on very personal terms. Most of the news about the war is concentrated on borders, troop losses, and the nuclear threat. Our guests in this episode are focused on protecting loved ones and rebuilding their communities.

After spending many years in Ukraine, Starr has deep relationships in the country. These stories are not academic. These are the personal stories of war that remind us of the real stakes.

This episode is the first in a new series, and a new style for us that presents long-form journalism in a crafted audio environment. Welcome back to Black Diplomats, thank you for listening!

War in Ukraine with Inna Sovsun Apr 03, 2022

Inna Sovsun is a member of Parliament in Ukraine and a university professor.

Sovsun is in an opposition party so she’s usually working against the established leadership in her country. But one thing she’s very clear on: politics can wait until they’ve kicked Putin’s troops off their land.

From a NATO no-fly zone, to the history of anarchism and mutual aid in Ukraine, and what she thinks when she hears about Russian culture, this conversation covers the hottest buttons in the war. Terrell has been on the ground in Ukraine from the beginning of the invasion so he’s tuned in to the important conversations among average people and leaders like Sovsun.

The war is not going to plan for the Russian army. No one knows what will happen next, but we’ll be there to cover it.

For more information go to our website at blackdiplomats.net.

Thank you for listening.

War in Ukraine with Mayor Oleg Volsky Mar 21, 2022

Black Diplomats host Terrell Starr is in Ukraine covering the Russian invasion.

This week he spoke with Oleg Volsky, the mayor of Zhovkva, a town about 40 minutes north of Lviv. Volsky was in the town square talking to constituents when he sat with Terrell for a short interview.

As mayor of the town Volsky has several concerns, including helping the vulnerable members of his community, and preparing to defend it with those who are able. They've also got refugees from other parts of Ukraine to care for. Zhovkva is in western Ukraine so the fighting hasn't come to their town yet, but Volsky believes it's possible.

"I have two guns and I am preparing for this war," Volsky says. "Today we are very proud for our country."

For more information follow Terrell on Twitter @Russian_Starr or check out our website at blackdiplomats.net.

Thank you for listening!

The Human Toll of War in Ukraine Mar 16, 2022

War has come to Ukraine.

Black Diplomats has been on the ground in Ukraine from the beginning of the show two years ago. We've talked to journalists, diplomats, policy experts, military strategists, and others about exactly this scenario. We heard for months that the Ukrainian military was prepared for a Russian invasion and that the citizens of Ukraine would stand and fight. All of it turned out to be true.

Today we’re taking a break from the politics to focus on the real cost of war. Irina Klimova was being treated for Hodgkin’s lymphoma when the war started and it became clear her doctors needed her bed to treat incoming soldiers. Now she has moved to Lithuania with her mother and her 5 year-old son Ivan, leaving her husband behind to comply with the draft laws.

While the media replays speeches from sanctimonious world leaders, the people of Ukraine are suffering everyday. Terrell has been reporting from the war zone, but his personal efforts have focused on helping friends, including Irina.

If you’re new to Black Diplomats this is a great way to get to know us. Terrell is a recognized expert on nuclear and foreign policy in the post-Soviet countries, and we spend most of our time talking about the global chess match.

But today is about the people caught in the middle.

For more information go to our website blackdiplomats.net or dig into past episodes. Thank you for listening.

English Language Media in Ukraine Feb 20, 2022

With so much hysteria and propaganda going around the world about Ukraine it’s important to find journalists on the ground that we can trust. Whether it’s Kremlin backed mouthpieces like Russia Today or anything coming out of the US State Department it’s clear the concerns of the innocent majority are not being addressed. It is especially hard to find independent Ukrainian voices working in English, and their ability to translate between three languages is invaluable to interested folks in the West.

Today on Black Diplomats host Terrell Starr welcomes Ukrainian journalists Toma Istomina and Romeo Kokriatski. Istomina is the deputy chief editor of the Kyiv Independent, a new journalism venture that was formed by the team from the Kyiv Post after they were summarily fired for resisting oversight by an oligarch. Kokriatski is the managing editor of the New Voice of Ukraine and host of the podcast Ukraine Without Hype.

Please support their work by checking out the links mentioned in the episode at our website blackdiplomats.net.

Thank you for listening!

Russian Colonialism Feb 13, 2022

Black Diplomats host Terrell Starr is in Ukraine, despite President Biden’s warning that Americans should leave. He’s reporting on the ground, but also spending time with loved ones and friends. Like everyone else in the country he’s keeping an eye on the Russian troops at the border but trying not to let the situation get to him.

With so much focus on what Russia is doing in Eastern Ukraine, it’s easy to forget why they’re doing it. Today on Black Diplomats we have two keen observers of the Russian model of colonialism - journalist Maksym Eristavi and historian Alexander Etkind.

They cover the history of Ukrainian/Russian relations going back to Catherine the Great, compare the American “frontier” with Russias takeover of Siberia, and talk about Putin’s sense of a Slavic peoples that is distinct from other Europeans.

Thank you for listening!

Ambassador Michael McFaul on Ukraine/Russia Relations Feb 04, 2022

Michael McFaul is a seasoned Diplomat who was Ambassador to Russia under President Obama. This is a man who has been in the room for negotiations with Putin and he has a lot to say about the current situation in Ukraine.

Black Diplomats host Terrell Starr has been following McFaul’s career and reading his work for years. As the conversation develops it becomes clear that the respect and admiration goes both ways. McFaul opens the conversation about Russian-style colonialism and how that mindset overlaps with Western imperialism by referencing Starr’s frequent comments on the subject.

As the situation in Ukraine continues to grow there is a sense that these two really understand the stakes.

To learn more about Ambassador McFaul you should give him a follow on Twitter.

Thank you for listening!

German-Russian Relations and the impact on Ukraine Jan 28, 2022

As Russian troops continue the build up on Ukraine’s border some people are suggesting Germany toughen their rhetoric and policies. But even Ukrainian President Zelensky has asked the Biden administration to tone it down, so what’s the move?

The history of these nations is as hard as it gets, with a brutal invasion of the Soviet Union by Germany during WWII leaving millions of dead soldiers and civilians between them, followed by a long occupation of East Germany by the Kremlin. These experiences still weigh heavy on the world and on the relationship between the two countries.

To get a better sense of the domestic conversation in Germany, Black Diplomats host Terrell Starr welcomes Sarah Pagung from the German Council on Foreign Relations and Janis Kluge from the German Institute for International and Security Affairs in Berlin, Germany.

If peace is going to be maintained it may be up to the new German administration to turn down the heat because the gun runners in Washington are doing what they do best: stoking the market.

Thanks for listening!

Ukrainian Security Jan 23, 2022

As Ukraine celebrates its long holiday season, all eyes are on the East. Putin has built up a massive force on the border between Russia and Ukraine but so far no one knows what he plans to do with it.

The US media are talking about a possible invasion of Ukraine by Russia, apparently forgetting there was already an invasion during the takeover of Crimea in 2014. What they’re not doing is interviewing Ukrainians, of course.

On today’s episode of Black Diplomats host Terrell Starr talks to Polina Sinovets, an international relations specialist at Odessa I.I. Mechnikov National University, and Mykola Bielieskov, a Research Fellow at the National Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of Ukraine.

They cover the lack of international support for armed resistance, relations with NATO, and Ukraine’s military readiness for an attack by the Kremlin. It’s a heavy episode about subjects with serious consequences so we’re glad to have locals walk us through the details.

Thank you for listening!

Crisis in Kazakhstan Jan 15, 2022

There have been nationwide protests in Kazakhstan recently and the Western media did what they always do: show a few pictures of destruction and ignore the cause of the people in the streets. With Russian troops coming in to ‘maintain order’ and a ban on the widely used mobile internet it’s very hard to tell what is going to happen next.

This week on Black Diplomats Terrell talks to two experts who are from the Kazakh region and know firsthand the frustrations that are driving the largely peaceful protests. Dr Diana T. Kudaibergenova is a lecturer and author who specializes in Central Asia, and Dr. Asel Doolotkeldieva teaches graduate courses in Political Science at the OSCE Academy in Bishkek.

They’re both keen observers of the post-Soviet struggles in the region and perfect guests for Black Diplomats.

Thank you for listening!

American Insurrection Jan 06, 2022

It has been one year since the attempted coup on January 6, 2021, when supporters of former president Trump broke into Congress and tried to take control of the seat of government. The folks responsible for the chaos have worked hard to change the narrative any way they can - blaming Black Lives Matter, or in some cases claiming it was nothing more than a bunch of tourists out for a holiday.

To commemorate this awful anniversary Terrell is talking to photojournalist Ira Lupu, who was in the crowd at the capital that day. Lupu is from Ukraine so she has seen authoritarian nationalists and what they do to government. She has no illusions about what would have come next.

Lupu remembers watching the day get violent and her feelings as everything spun out of control. In the face of the misinformation going around in rightwing circles, we believe it’s important to provide this firsthand testimony from someone with a powerful global perspective.

Thank you for listening!

2021 Wrap Up with Pam Keith Jan 01, 2022

2021 was a beast.

There was an insurrection, a global pandemic, vaccine inequality, rich people went to space (sort of). Bad people lived while good people died. It was a lot.

Pam Keith joins Terrell in this episode of Black Diplomats for a debrief. Of course they talk about their mental health and how they’re surviving it all. Other big topics include Putin increasing tensions in Ukraine, all the myriad ways Democrats have failed us again, and what kind of madness we can look forward to in ‘22.

Happy New Year everyone. Probably best to keep your seatbelt on for now.

Fall of the USSR Dec 25, 2021

The USSR dissolved 30 years ago this week, so Terrell sat down with two people in a former Soviet colony who are living through the aftermath.

Olga Tokariuk and Illia Ponomarenko are journalists in Ukraine where Russian troops are currently occupying Crimea. With the threat of a larger invasion always literally on the eastern horizon, people in Ukraine have learned to prepare for the worst while continuing to build the country they want to live in.

Subjects include the current build up of troops by Putin's regime, little-known reasons for the fall of the Soviet Union, and what they're looking forward to in 2022.

Merry Christmas from Black Diplomats!

Black & Queer in Central Asia (aka Twerking in Kyrgyzstan) Part 2 Dec 18, 2021

Black Diplomats is back with Alexa Kellogg-Kurmanova, a PhD student in anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley.

Terrell met Alexa at the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies conference in New Orleans and they hit it off immediately. Kellogg-Kurmanova is a queer Black woman from Chicago, and her husband is a trans man from Kyrgyzstan. She speaks Russian and has spent a lot of time in East European communities, both in Central Asia and the US.

They go deep on how Kellogg-Kurmanova was introduced to the Russian language and babushka culture, and what it means to be your authentic self when you're thousands of miles from home.

This is part two of a two-part conversation, check out last week’s post for part 1.

Black & Queer in Central Asia (aka Twerking in Kyrgyzstan) Dec 11, 2021

Welcome back!

Black Diplomats is back from our hiatus with an update from Terrell about plans for the show and an all new interview.

Our guest today is Alexa Kellogg-Kurmanova, a PhD student in anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley.

Terrell met Alexa at the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies conference in New Orleans and they hit it off immediately. Kellogg-Kurmanova is a queer Black woman from Chicago, and her husband is a trans man from Kyrgyzstan. She speaks Russian and has spent a lot of time in East European communities, both in Central Asia and the US.

They go deep on how Kellogg-Kurmanova was introduced to the Russian language and babushka culture, and what it means to be your authentic self when you're thousands of miles from home.

This is part one of a two-part conversation.

How American Exceptionalism Robs Haiti Aug 14, 2021

Haiti has been hit with another earthquake just weeks after the assassination of their President. As the world struggles to find ways to help one thing has become clear: the condescending Euro-centric model of aid has very little to offer.

On this week’s episode of Black Diplomats host Terrell Starr welcomes Emma Ashford to talk about how the world community has failed Haiti, and what we’re supposed to do now. This conversation isn’t just about the dollars and cents, they get into deep philosophical questions like reparations and what it means to feel safe.

Thank you for listening!

Producer's Note May 20, 2021

Hello everyone, Mike here, the producer of Black Diplomats. We have a couple of short announcements this week, so I thought I’d jump on your feed for the update.

Terrell is dealing with a family emergency right now, so our regular episodes are postponed for a couple weeks. Please keep him in your thoughts.

In more lighthearted news, we recently received a grant from the Ploughshares Fund to do a series on the Iran nuclear deal and the nuclear program in North Korea. Ploughshares has supported a lot of great people and a lot of great causes over the years, and we are genuinely proud to be welcomed into their community. We’re working on those episodes now, look forward to hearing them later this year.

Thank you for listening!

Recognizing the Armenian Diaspora May 08, 2021

After 100 years of lobbying the US government has finally recognized the Armenian genocide, carried out by the Turkish government in the transition out of the Ottoman empire.

On this episode of Black Diplomats host Terrell Starr talks to Sophia Armen, a scholar and activist who lost eight members of her family in the genocide. She is the third generation of activists in her family who have fought to keep the memory of those bloody days alive.

Armen talks about some of the details of the systematic removal of Armenians from Turkey, and reminds us that Hitler looked to the program as a model for his final solution.

Terrell talks about his experience learning about how race functions in the Caucasus. They recognize the global nature of empire that underpins it all, and how different groups of oppressed people can work together to achieve reparations and healing.

Thank you for listening!

Jewel of the Caucasus May 02, 2021

The Republic of Georgia has a storied history in the heart of the Caucasus mountains.

Host Terrell Starr first went there after the fall of the Soviet Union when they were still struggling to figure out a new way of life. In today’s episode of Black Diplomats he talks about that critical time, for him and for the nation of Georgia. He talks about living in the region as a Black man, and how he found ways to connect with his neighbors.

Then Terrell talks to Eka Gigauri, a native Georgian who serves on the board of Transparency International and has been watching the political crisis in Tblisi with a close eye.

Terrell wrote an article for Foreign Policy magazine on the situation last week and was eager to get up to speed with someone on the ground.

These two old friends reminisce on the past, give us a tour of what Georgians have built in their country, and talk about what they’re looking forward to.

Music by Tall Black Guy and Quintet Urmuli.

Thank you for listening!

Ukraine, Navalny, and other people Putin is trying to kill Apr 24, 2021

This week on Black Diplomats we’ve got a new format and new guests, but have faith - we’re still taking aim at white supremacist imperialism, and there’s nothing new about that.

We’re all about giving platform to people who don’t get invited into mainstream media, and we’ve done a great job of it. We also want to broaden the foreign policy conversation by bringing in new audiences. One of the barriers for a lot of folks is basic context and geography, so we’re going to start filling in some blanks.

Host Terrell Starr will be opening the show with news highlights and a little context for the interview, including his personal stories, racial analysis, policy expertise, and historical information. These bite-sized segments help make sense out of the news and cut through the propaganda.

Our guests segments will be a little shorter, but we still won’t be talking to any Ukrainian ‘elites’!

Journalist and filmmaker Olga Tokariuk brings us the perspective from Kyiv, where there isn’t any evidence of panic, or any surprise at Putin’s bluster. Eilish Hart is a journalist and researcher who writes about the former Soviet Union. She’s been keeping a keen eye on Alexei Navalny, and joins us to explain his recent hunger strike that ended on April 23.

We hope you enjoy the new format!

Thank you for listening!

Vets Want U.S. Out of Afghanistan Apr 18, 2021

President Biden announced that he wants all US troops out of Afghanistan by 9/11/21, two decades after the attack that ostensibly launched our global war on terror. As usual, we’re hearing plenty of opinions from people who’ve never been there and don’t know what they’re talking about.

This week on Black Diplomats host Terrell Starr is talking to three vets who have multiple tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. Isiah James was a “door kicker” as he calls it, a frontline grunt who saw the horrors of war firsthand. Richard Brookshire was an Army medic who dealt with the aftermath of battle, and Brittany Ramos DeBarros interacted with Afghan citizens as part of the ‘hearts and minds’ campaign.

Three different experiences, three different perspectives, but they all agree - we should have been out of Afghanistan years ago.

Our guests talk about their time in country, and point out that leaving Afghanistan doesn’t mean US imperialism has slowed down one bit - anyone ever heard of Africom?

Thank you for listening!

Pam Keith on Matt Gaetz and Dems in Florida Apr 10, 2021

There’s a lot happening in Florida right now!

From whatever the hell is going on with Matt Gaetz, to the governor acting like the pandemic is over, and the state legislature trying to restrict voting. Of course there are progressives all over the state fighting back, but where are the Democrats?

This week Black Diplomats welcomes Pam Keith to try to make sense of it all. Keith ran for congress in Florida and has a plan for how to turn the state blue. Her razor sharp observations of the important battleground state are the best way to know what’s coming up.

One thing on everyone’s mind - what’s going on with Florida Man fratboy Matt Gaetz?! Keith points out that he’s always had his dad get him out of trouble in the past, but he might be in too deep this time.

Finally, Keith describes her plan for getting Florida out of the mess that’s been caused by the Republican political machine. Her new group, Fight 4 Florida, is learning lessons from movements all over the country and bringing real progressive change to Florida politics.

Thanks for listening!

Black Diplomats on The Power Vertical Apr 04, 2021

On this week’s episode of Black Diplomats we’re sharing an interview Terrell did on The Power Vertical, a podcast about Russian politics hosted by Brian Whitmore.

They talk about Terrell’s op-ed in The Washington Post on Alexi Navalny, how race works in the former Soviet states, and what the US has to do to weaken Russian government interference in our society. How can we deal with urgent issues like race, without letting the Kremlin dictate the terms?

Whitmore also asks about Terrell’s upcoming memoir, A Black Man on the Steppe. This episode is a chance to hear Terrell chop it up with a fellow Atlantic Council colleague. This is what it sounds like at the smartest table in the bar.

The Power Vertical is an excellent podcast and blog for keeping up with Russian politics from an insiders perspective. Like Terrell, Whitmore has spend a lot of time in the former Soviet states and has a lot of friends in the region. These guys know their stuff.

Thank you for listening!

Georgian political crisis with George Khelashvili Mar 29, 2021

The political crisis in the Republic of Georgia continues.

Parliament still isn’t functioning, and the accusations of creeping authoritarianism against the ruling party are getting louder.

On this episode of Black Diplomats host Terrell Starr talks to George Khelashvili, an MP in the ruling Georgian Dream party. Khelashvili compares the situation in Georgia to the polarization in the United States, and he’s willing to get into details. From political prisoners to unfair elections, Khelashvili says it’s mostly a lot of hot rhetoric, and encourages the opposition party to take their seats so government can get back to work.

Thank you for listening!

Georgian political crisis with Sergi Kapanadze Mar 20, 2021

The country of Georgia is one of the former Soviet states still fighting for autonomy from the Kremlin. With the ongoing Russian military occupation of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, it’s not just an academic discussion.

Today on Black Diplomats we have Dr. Sergi Kapanadze, a professor and politician in the Georgian opposition party. Kapanadze explains why his party has decided not to take their seats in Parliament, their allegations of voter fraud in the last election, and how the United States can help untie this knot.

With hopes of joining the EU and drawing their economy closer to Europe, many in Georgia are fearful they could slide the other direction, ending up looking more like Belarus than Austria. Kapanadze doesn’t believe most members of the ruling Georgian Dream party want a more authoritarian government. He’s not so sure about Georgia prime minister Irakli Garibashvili.

Host Terrell Starr spent two years in Georgia during his time in the Peace Corps, so the fate of the country has a personal stake for him. You can hear his love for the Georgian people all through this conversation.

Thank you for listening!

Matt Duss has advice for Bernie Sanders Mar 13, 2021

Matt Duss is one of the good ones.

A foreign policy advisor for Sen. Bernie Sanders, Duss is one of the folks in Washington trying to lead our government away from neoliberalism. After a career in progressive think tanks and left-leaning media, Duss started working for Bernie Sanders shortly after Trump was elected. They’ve got a lot done by D.C. standards, including the first invoking of the War Powers Resolution, to end U.S. assistance in the war in Yemen.

Host Terrell Starr has plenty of questions, starting with a mental health check. Duss is a congressional staffer, after all. They talk about the attempted insurrection in January, how a congressperson like Sanders can impact foreign policy, and what Duss would like to see from the Biden administration.

Duss is well known in DC as a thorn in the side of traditional corporate Democrats who are willing to support dictators if the trade deal is right. He’s taken plenty of barbs from both sides of the aisle for standing up for the human rights of Palestinians, among other things. Given Biden’s history as among the most old school of the centrist Dems, Terrell asks Duss if he thinks Sanders more progressive foreign policy has a chance of influencing the administration. He seems optimistic!

Thank you for listening.

Navalny, Race & Russia Mar 06, 2021

On this episode of Black Diplomats, host Terrell Starr convenes a panel of experts to talk about the recent decision by Amnesty International to revoke the “prisoner of conscious” status from Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Starr wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post about the decision this week, criticizing the simplified discourse in the West.

In order to bring some nuance to the conversation Starr hosts Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon, Dr. Rano Turaeva-Hoehne, and Irina Kuznetsova, three women who follow Russian politics with a keen eye to the racial dynamics of the region. They break down Navalny’s racist statements, how his attitudes fit into the context of Russian imperialism, and what they think opposition parties need to do to move forward.

And don’t miss the hilarious sidebar on babushka culture. There has to be a bench.

Thank you for listening!

Rep. Karen Bass Wants Diversity in the State Department Feb 27, 2021

This is the episode of Black Diplomats where Rep. Karen Bass starts the soft diplomacy on Terrell, trying to talk him into joining the State Department!

Bass represents California’s 37th district in Los Angeles, and is a fierce advocate for all the good things. As Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa she has regular contact with folks from the Continent and a lot of good ideas for how we can improve our behavior on their behalf. She’s involved in the Represent America Abroad Act to diversify our diplomatic corps, and the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act to bring incremental change to American policing. Terrell asks her if the bill goes far enough, and she provides the kind of candid answer you don’t usually get from politicians.

As they get deeper into her roots, we find out that being a foreign policy wonk is nothing new to Karen Bass. She cut her teeth protesting against the Vietnam War and was dedicated to the anti-apartheid movement in the ‘80s. Her critical analysis of white supremacy in the global context is honed to a razor’s edge, and on display in this episode.

Near the end of their conversation Bass breaks down America’s history of supporting bad actors in Africa, and then flips it - suggesting Terrell should help diversify the State Department by signing up for service!

He is a Black Diplomat, right?

Thanks for listening!

Black & Asian Solidarity with Alicia Garza and Shaw San Liu Feb 24, 2021

Today on Black Diplomats we’re honored to host Alicia Garza, one of the three co-founders of the Black Lives Matter Global Network, and Shaw San Liu, Executive Director at the Chinese Progressive Association. They’ve known each other for many years, after meeting as on-the-ground organizers from their respective communities who were looking to find solutions to common problems.

Host Terrell Starr asks them about the recent spate of racist violence against Asian people, the way divisions are sown in communities of color for economic reasons, how COVID has impacted their work, and what it will take to reimagine safety in our society to include everyone.

This is a very powerful episode of Black Diplomats about building bridges across racial boundaries to create a better world for us all.

Thank you for listening!

Building Peace with Iran Feb 20, 2021

On this week’s episode of Black Diplomats, host Terrell Starr does what very few American journalists do - talk to Iranians about Iran.

Iran is surrounded by nuclear armed adversaries and American military bases. It is reasonable for them to feel threatened, but that’s a perspective we rarely hear in the U.S. media, because we keep being force fed the same crewcut white boys going on about the mullahs.

Today we have two Iranians and a nuclear policy analyst on to provide some context to the conversation.

Negar Mortazavi is an Iranian-American journalist, columnist for The Independent, and host of the Iran Podcast. Ellie Geranmayeh is a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations who advises governments and companies on developments with the Iran nuclear deal. They both have deep personal and family ties to Iran that inform their understanding of these nuanced issues.

Michelle Dover is the host of the Ploughshares Fund podcast and a nuclear non-proliferation expert who has followed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action from its first draft.

They get into the details of the JCPOA, the current status of the deal after Trump pulled the US out, Biden’t plans, and what peace in the Middle East could look like. This is a great episode that fills a lot of gaps left by the standard American reporting.

Thank you for listening!

Turning Florida Blue with Pam Keith Feb 17, 2021

Pam Keith has a unique perspective from growing up in Turkey, Morocco, Syria, Brazil, and several U.S. cities, as the daughter of Ambassador Kenton Keith. She was an Officer in the Navy and a lawyer with some of the largest firms in the nation, before running for Congress from the 18th district in Florida.

Host Terrell Starr has lots of questions! Their conversation went for more than two hours, so we’ve broken it up into two parts.

Part one went out earlier this week. In part two they talk about living abroad, how foreign service changed their perspective on America, and Keith’s plans for becoming the Stacey Abrams of Florida.

This episode of Black Diplomats is a deep dive on the state of America, with two seasoned analysts who have no fear.

Thank you for listening!

Impeaching White Supremacy with Pam Keith Feb 13, 2021

Pam Keith has a unique perspective from growing up in Turkey, Morocco, Syria, Brazil, and several U.S. cities, as the daughter of Ambassador Kenton Keith. She was an Officer in the Navy and a lawyer with some of the largest firms in the nation, before running for Congress from the 18th district in Florida.

Host Terrell Starr has lots of questions! Their conversation went for more than two hours, so we’ve broken it up into two parts.

In part one, they start by talking about the white supremacist insurrection on January 6th, and why Keith thinks there were so many members of the armed forces in the crowd. Starr also asks about the impeachment process, and the chance of a conviction. Keith believes the process of impeachment has outlived its usefulness, and has some thoughts on what could replace it.

This episode of Black Diplomats is a deep dive on the state of America, with two seasoned analysts who have no fear.

Thank you for listening!

Rethinking America with Malcolm Nance Feb 07, 2021

Malcolm Nance is a security specialist, intelligence analyst, author, military vet, and much more. He’s also a Black man in America, and a Black Diplomat overseas. On today’s episode host Terrell Starr asks Nance-stradamus to break down the missteps of the Trump administration, and what Biden will have to do to repair the damage. As two people who have a deep understanding of the history of global affairs, they put modern conflicts with places like Russia and Iran into historical context. Some of our allies don’t get off too easy either - here's looking at you Saudi Arabia.

Thank you for listening!

Black Diplomats on Pod Save the World Feb 03, 2021

Terrell appeared on the excellent show Pod Save the World, a podcast by Tommy Vietor and Ben Rhodes, two long serving members of the Obama administration. Rhodes introduces Terrell by pointing out that he isn’t just talking about changing policy, he’s helping change the whole mindset of American power. These guys get it.

Rhodes talks about being in rooms where Obama was the only one who isn’t white, and asks Terrell about the importance of diversity in those rooms. Terrell points out that it isn’t just about skin color, it’s also about listening to folks who want to dismantle the whole neo-liberal structure and rethink how we move in the world. The conversation goes from there, into elections, Russia, white supremacy, and how the Black Lives Matter movement has emboldened new voices that deserve to be heard.

This is a powerful episode and a great example of why Terrell’s perspective is having a real impact on the conversation.

Thank you for listening!

Black Diplomats on Press The Button Jan 25, 2021

This week on Black Diplomats we’re playing a recent episode of the Press the Button podcast from the Ploughshares Fund that features Terrell Starr talking about American nuclear policy, what “healing” means for our politics, and how white supremacy colors our views of our adversaries. It’s a great episode of the PTB podcast, and a fun opportunity to hear Terrell sit on the other side of the table as a guest.

An engaging podcast on nuclear policy and national security, Press the Button is co-hosted by defense experts Tom Collina and Michelle Dover of Ploughshares Fund, a global security foundation. This weekly podcast features top officials and experts discussing the latest developments on Iran, North Korea, nuclear weapons, military budgets and foreign policy. Press the Button offers diverse views on one of the most important issues of our time: preventing nuclear war. A new episode of Press the Button is available every Tuesday.

The White Supremacist Insurrection Jan 16, 2021

On today’s episode of Black Diplomats, host Terrell Starr is joined by two military vets, Arti Walker-Peddakotla and Shaniyat Chowdhury, to talk about the violent white supremacist insurrection on January 6th, where supporters of disgraced ex-president Donald Trump brutalized Federal employees and vandalized the Capitol. At this point we’ve seen there were a lot of ex-military in the crowd, so Terrell wants to know - did Arti or Shan serve with anyone who supports this movement, and what can the rest of us do to protect ourselves from them?

Intro:

00:00 Terell, Arti and Shan talk about the white supremacist insurrection on January 6th, and what they make of the presence of so many military vets in the crowd.
20:00 Serving an administration that doesn’t serve you.
32:00 The problem with politicians (hint: they’re distracted and lazy).
37:00 Running for and serving elected office. Both guests have been through political campaigns, what did that experience teach them about moving policy?

How has 2020 prepared you for 2021?

47:00 Defunding neo-liberalism!

Closeout:

64:00 What’s everyone looking forward to in 2021?

Thank you for listening!

Georgia Election Run-off with LaTosha Brown Jan 09, 2021

The high-stakes Senate runoff in Georgia went to the Democrats - both Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff won their special election races, defeating Republican incumbents to flip the Senate.

One of the people we have to thank for this outcome is Ms. LaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter. Brown is a world traveller who brings a global perspective to American politics. Host Terrell Starr talks to Brown about what worked for Democrats in Georgia, the foundations of America, and what we have to do to make things right.

Brown also talks about their effort to return 198,000 voters to eligibility after the Secretary of State purged them without cause, and why Democrats and Republicans aren’t talking about the same thing when they say an election was stolen.

Thank you for listening!

Black Diplomats News Show with Asha Castleberry-Hernandez and Lovely Umayam Jan 03, 2021

Happy new year, and welcome back to Black Diplomats! On this episode host Terrell Starr welcomes National Security expert Asha Castleberry-Hernandez, and nuclear policy analyst Lovely Umayam to talk about what safety means in 2021. For all the bluster of the last four years, not even the US nuclear umbrella can protect us from COVID-19.

Intro:

00:00: Terell, Asha and Lovely talk about what foreign policy hopes they have for 2020.

In the news:

15:02: Mike Pompeo's Swagger tweet about US foreign policy
23:14: The deployment of B-52 bombers to the Middle East and to intimidate Iran
42: 20: Let's debate an article that more American allies need nukes

How has 2020 prepared you for 2021?

55:48: Asha talks about her run for congress
62:55: Lovely talks about the Bombshelltoe project and combining the arts with understanding nuclear policy

What can America learn from the world?

80:00: Examples of what’s working in other countries (can you say bullet train?!)

Closeout:

93:00: What everyone’s looking forward to in 2021

Go to blackdiplomats . net for more information.

Thank you for listening!

Reimagining Safety Dec 09, 2020

Today’s guests on Black Diplomats are Pam Campos-Palma and Melissa Bryant, two women who have complicated relationships with America. Both women are military vets, one the daughter of immigrants, one a fourth-generation service member. Both were taught that the military is a pathway to prosperity. Both experienced the racism and misogyny that are defining parts of living in America, and both persevered. They know what it’s like to love this country, even when it doesn’t love you back.

Host Terrell J. Starr asks Campos-Palma and Bryant what patriotism means to them, and talks about the way that word has been bound up with whiteness in the US. Is it possible for Americans be truly patriotic without also being white?

From our bloated nuclear program to our militarized police departments, the philosophy of safety in the US is not capable of providing protection from the threats of the modern world. Rethinking safety means more than updating weapons systems and technology. Conversations like this one are defining the future, helping America work better for us all.

Former Black American CIA Operative Analyses America's Fractured Democracy Nov 21, 2020

Jerwayne Cook was an Operations Manager who worked at the CIA for over a decade during the height of the War on Terror. He has seen nations fall into civil war, experienced radical terror first hand, and dismantled networks aiming to destabilize governments. And that’s why he’s worried about America.

Host Terrell Starr talks to Cook about what kind of assessments the Agency would be making if another country had a dictator who wouldn’t recognize the results of a free and fair election. Cook also talks about some of the well known successes and failures of American intelligence, including the decision to go into Iraq and Afghanistan after 9/11, but not Saudi Arabia.

After nearly 13 years in the CIA during the height of the War on Terror, Jerwayne Cook has a remarkable resumé that is very light on detail. Since leaving the Agency in 2016 he has been in demand as an intelligence specialist and operations consultant for clients he lists as “confidential”.

Describing his time in the CIA as “a season in life”, Cook has an expansive mind and keen insight that he’s using to help demystify American foreign policy for the rest of us.

What do Democrats owe Black voters? Nov 14, 2020

The 2020 election is mostly wrapped up and one of the big takeaways is the profound effect of BIPOC organizers nationwide, from the Stacey Abrams juggernaut in Georgia, to the turnout among Native Americans in Arizona, even as Covid-19 ravages their communities.

Today on Black Diplomats, host Terrell Starr talks to activist Dr. Melina Abdullah and journalist Anoa Changa about what Democrats owe BIPOC voters, how Joe Biden became the nominee in the first place, and what it’s going to take to repair the damage done by the Trump administration.

Dr. Melina Abdullah is a recognized expert on race, gender, class, and social movements. She was among the original group of organizers that convened to form Black Lives Matter and continues to serve as a Los Angeles chapter leader.

She is also Professor and former Chair of Pan-African Studies at California State University, Los Angeles. Dr. Abdullah earned her Ph.D. from the University of Southern California in Political Science and her B.A. from Howard University in African American Studies.

An organizer by nature and a lawyer by trade, Anoa Changa has a deep history of working within the realms of advocacy and justice. Her passion lies in building collaborative political spaces that fundamentally change the way communities and grassroots organizations engage with the social and political systems around us. Expanding on her experience as an attorney, Anoa has been a grassroots digital organizer and strategic advisor to several organizations.

Election Analysis with In The Thick Nov 06, 2020

On this episode of Black Diplomats, host Terrell J. Starr is joined by the two people who got him into podcasting: Maria Hinojosa and Julio Ricardo Varela, hosts of the In The Thick podcast.

The 2020 election for President of the United States was this week, and it looks like Joe Biden is going to win the Electoral College count, as well as the popular vote. What happens in the courts is yet to be seen.

All year long people have been predicting a Blue Wave that would result in control of both houses of Congress, and the Executive, but at this point Democrats are barely holding onto a narrow majority in the House and may not win the Senate. What happened to the Wave?

And how did President Trump increase his percentage of the vote among white people?!

As a reporter who was the first Latina in many newsrooms, Maria Hinojosa dreamt of a space where she could create independent, multimedia journalism that explores and gives a critical voice to the diverse American experience. To that end, in 2010, she created Futuro Media, an independent, nonprofit organization based in Harlem, NYC with the mission to create multimedia content for and about the new American mainstream in the service of empowering people to navigate the complexities of an increasingly diverse and connected world.

Julio (Julito) Ricardo Varela is the Founder and Publisher of Latino Rebels. He created this community in 2011, propelling it to a must-visit source in the digital space. In 2018, Latino Rebels was acquired by Maria Hinojosa’s Futuro Media, an award-winning independent nonprofit media company based in Harlem.

As Digital Media Director for Futuro Media, Julio works with the Latino USA team to promote the show’s episodes and expand its digital reach. He is a frequent contributor to the show and the editor of the show’s official site, LatinoUSA.org. He also co-hosts In The Thick with Maria Hinojosa. Recently, he was named by Futuro to focus on the company’s new business opportunities.

Check out www.blackdiplomats.net for more information.

Thank you for listening!

The Anatomy of a Kleptocracy, According to Gaslit Nation Oct 30, 2020

kleptocracy nounklep·toc·ra·cy | \ klep-ˈtä-krə-sē \ plural kleptocracies

: government by those who seek chiefly status and personal gain at the expense of the governed

also : a particular government of this kind

On this episode of Black Diplomats host Terrell J. Starr is joined by Sarah Kendzior and Andrea Chalupa, founders of the podcast juggernaut Gaslit Nation. Terrell asks them to define what a kleptocratic government looks like for folks who might not be familiar with the word, and then they cover some of the many examples from the Trump Administration. They talk about the Russian oligarchs and advisors who’ve steered Trump from the start, and what a second term could look like. With friends like Paul Manafort, who has time for enemies?

Gaslit Nation is hosted by writers Sarah Kendzior and Andrea Chalupa, experts on authoritarian states who warned America about election hacking before the 2016 election. They take a deep dive on the news, skipping outrage to deliver analysis, history, context, and sharp insight on global affairs. Subscribe today to catch up on previous episodes and get new ones! (also available on Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, TuneIn, and PocketCasts).

The War for Nagorno-Karabakh Oct 26, 2020

Today’s episode of Black Diplomats is a primer on the war in Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed region in the mountains between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Host Terrell J. Starr talks to Lika Zakaryan, a journalist who has spent her life in Nagorno-Karabakh, known as Artsakh to the locals. Over 90% of the population of Artsakh is ethnically Armenian, but due to political wrangling in the Soviet era it is considered a territory of Azerbaijan.

Zakaryan could hear bombs going off in the background during our interview, and was interrupted near the end with news of a ceasefire planned for the next morning. With family and friends on the front lines, Zakaryan has chosen to tell human stories rather than political ones. Her powerful testimonials remind us all of the cost of violence, and the indifference of the people in power.

Lika Zakaryan is a journalist with CIVILNET who is reporting directly from Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh where she was born and raised, and currently lives. Go to her Twitter feed to access her reporting from the ground.

Thank you for listening!

Trump's White Supremacist Foreign Policy Oct 24, 2020

On Black Diplomats this week, host Terrell J. Starr is joined by two experts in world affairs to talk about President Trump’s foreign policies, and how he has tried to use the State Department to further his own interests. What does having a White Supremacist in Chief mean for American relations with the countries in Africa? They also discuss the advantages of diversity in the diplomatic corps from an insiders perspective, and what it’s going to take to repair the damage done by Tump’s shallow posturing.

Desiree Cormier Smith is the Senior Policy Advisor for Africa, Europe, and Eurasia for the Open Society Foundations. Previously, she was a Senior Director of the Africa practice at Albright Stonebridge Group, a strategic advisory firm. Prior to that, she was a Foreign Service Officer with assignments in Ethiopia, Mexico, South Africa, and Washington, DC.

Mr. Travis L. Adkins is a Lecturer of African and Security Studies at the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. As an international development leader, he has two decades of experience working in governance, civil society and refugee and migration affairs in over 50 nations throughout Africa and the Middle East. This includes serving as Staff Director of the House Subcommittee on Africa, working with leading international NGOs and think tanks, as well as within several branches of the United Nations system.

Check out blackdiplomats.net for more information.

Thank you for listening!

No More Nukes! Oct 10, 2020

Black Diplomats is back to talk about nuclear non-proliferation with two experts from Eastern Europe - Polina Sinovits from Ukraine, and Ekaterina Mikhaylenko from Russia. Both women study, write, and teach about the way nuclear weapons affect international relations, and the massive, stupid threat they pose to the world.

Host Terrell J. Starr has interviewed many experts in the field and contributes his own analysis of the ways the so-called Nuclear Club contributes to maintaining white supremacy on a global scale. They discuss the absurd numbers of nuclear weapons around the world and the cost to maintain them, disarm the myth of deterrence, and talk about what steps must be taken to walk humanity back from the brink.

Ekaterina Mikhaylenko is Associate Professor at the Department of Theory and History of International Relations of Ural Federal University.

She has more than 18-years experience teaching the history of international relations, political and security issues at the Department of International Relations, Ural Federal University. Currently Ekaterina is teaching courses, related to contemporary issues of international relations and international security problems. Ekaterina has more than 20 publications, in Russian and English, on European regionalism and projects realized in the post-Soviet space.

Polina Sinovets is the head of the Odessa Center for Nonproliferation at the Odessa I. I. Mechnikov National University, Ukraine. She is also Associate Professor in the International Relations Department at ONU.

Previously Dr. Sinovets served as senior research associate at Ukraine's National Institute for Strategic Studies, as well as a fellow at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies and NATO Defense College. She is an expert in nuclear weapons policy and published articles in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Russia in Global Politics, NATO Defense College Research Papers etc.

Dr. Sinovets is currently a Fulbright Scholar at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Middlebury Institute International Studies, based at Washington DC.

Thank you for listening!

Revolution in Belarus - Special Series Oct 07, 2020

This is the third episode in our special coverage of the revolution in Belarus.

After their last election was rigged to keep a dictator in power, hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets to demand he step down. Top activists have been prosecuted, causing well known politicians and journalists to flee the country in fear for their safety.

Host Terrell J. Starr talked to Katsiaryna Shmatsina, a Belarusian political analyst focused on Belarusian foreign policy, regional security, and the impact of great power relations on smaller actors.

Shmatsina is one of the people who left Belarus after seeing the authoritarian government crack down. She continues her work through contact with an underground network still fighting the good fight in country.

Katsiaryna’s portfolio includes non-residential fellowship at the German Marshall Fund (2020) and Think Visegrad Fellowship (2019). Previously, she worked for the American Bar Association where she managed the democratic-governance and rule-of-law projects. She holds a Master’s in international relations from Syracuse University, New York and a law degree from Belarusian State University.

Thank you for listening!

A Look at America from Ukraine Oct 03, 2020

Volodymyr Dubovyk has a resumé that is long enough to make you dizzy.

He is a faculty member in the International Relations department at Odessa I. I. Mechnikov National University and an expert on the foreign policy of the US and Ukraine. As Ukraine’s leading “Americanist”, he often travels in the States to speak on Eastern Europe, and travels Eastern Europe to speak on the States. This cross-cultural communication is exactly the kind of thing we like to facilitate on Black Diplomats.

On this episode host Terrell J. Starr talks to Dubovyk about the perspective of Ukrainian people on the U.S., anti-Black stereotypes that are alive and well in Europe, and how the summer uprisings in American cities are being talked about around the world. Starr interviewed Dubovyk in person in Odessa, Ukraine.

For more information about Black Diplomats check out blackdiplomats.net or @russian_starr on Twitter.

Thank you for listening!

Mike Espy for U.S. Senate Sep 26, 2020

Mike Espy was born and raised in Mississippi, and was Assistant Secretary of State, then Assistant Attorney General, before becoming a Congressman in 1986. He was the first Black congressman from Mississippi since Reconstruction, and then became Secretary of Agriculture under Bill Clinton, the first Black person to hold that position in our nation’s history.

Now Espy is running to replace Cindy Hyde-Smith, who was appointed by a Republican governor after Thad Cochran retired from the seat. Hyde-Smith has a long history of engaging with racist Southern tropes, defending racist symbols, and supporting self-segregated schooling.

Host Terrell J. Starr talks to Espy about running for Senate in the age of COVID-19, his work with different non-profit organizations, and American relations with the countries of Africa. Espy is an expert on trade, so he shares his thoughts on the tariff war the U.S. has been waging on China, investing in developing nations, and how a few rotten soybeans can be a symbol of a global market shift.

Thank you for listening!

Transgender Black Women Talk Global Liberation Sep 19, 2020

On this episode of Black Diplomats we’re talking to three Transgender Black Women in three different countries about what liberation looks like for them. There is more transgender representation in media and politics than ever before, but transgender people still have to deal with hate and misgendering. Host Terrell J. Starr brings together a brilliant panel of activists from the US, Nigeria, and South Africa to fill us in on where the movement stands today, what it means for their fight to be connected on a global scale, and the true sound of freedom for Transgender Black Women everywhere.

Our guests include Diamond Stylz in Houston, Texas, Executive Director of Black Trans Women Inc., a national non-profit that is led by Black trans women focused on social advocacy, positive visibility and building strong leadership among Black trans advocates, activists, and our allies.

We also have Audrey Mbugua, a Kenyan activist who heads Transgender Education and Advocacy (TEA), an organization that defends the rights of transgender individuals in Kenya. In 2014, Mbugua won a landmark case, wherein the Kenya National Examinations Council was ordered to legally change Mbugua’s name and remove the existing gender designation on her academic certificates.

Rounding out our brilliant panel is Ricki Kgositau, an openly identified transwoman from Botswana who lives in Cape Town, South Africa. She is Executive Director to an International NGO known as Accountability International, which has a global team in Belgium, Kenya, Sweden (where it was founded and registered) and South Africa (where she is based in the Cape Town office).

Revolution in Belarus 2 - Special Series Sep 15, 2020

When asked about the security services in Belarus, journalist Hanna Liubakova has a simple message:

“There are no rules.”

Black Diplomats host Terrell J. Starr interviews Liubakova about the ongoing protests in her country, and the brutal methods being used to shut them down. As a frontline journalist Liubakova and her colleagues have documented the beatings, arrests, and other crowd control methods employed by a corrupt dictator to maintain his hold on power.

This is a special episode of Black Diplomats, released in addition to our regularly scheduled weekly shows. The ongoing revolution in Belarus is a major development in the Russian sphere of influence and we will continue to bring you interviews with people on the ground as it evolves.

Follow Hanna on Twitter to keep up with the daily events.

Hanna Liubakova is a freelance journalist and researcher from Belarus. She is currently a journalist with Outriders, an international multimedia platform that produces in-depth multimedia and interactive reporting and focuses on solutions journalism. She also works as a journalism trainer and mentor. She started her career at the only independent Belarusian TV channel where she worked as a correspondent and TV presenter. Hanna has reported from various countries and regions, including Belgium, UK, Poland, France, and Chechnya. She was a recipient of the Václav Havel Journalism Fellowship at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Czechia, as well as a World Press Institute Fellowship in the United States. Hanna received a degree in Art History from The Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland in 2010 and a Master of Art with distinction in International Journalism from Brunel University in London in 2017. She was awarded the Peter Caws Prize for best postgraduate dissertation.

Thank you for listening!

Revolution in Belarus Sep 12, 2020

This week on Black Diplomats, host Terrell J. Starr welcomes Maryia Sadouskaya-Komlach, a media development specialist who has lived and worked all over Europe, but is from Belarus.

There have been nationwide protests in her home country for more than a month at the time of this recording, with the goal of ousting dictator Alexander Lukashenko and establishing a democracy.

“The constitution of Belarus still says there has to be free and fair elections!,” says Sadouskaya-Komlach in the interview. “The constitution of Belarus says that Belarus is a unitary, sovereign, democratic state. So the people came there to defend their constitution. To defend their basic right.”

Maryia’s research interests are democracy transition, human rights, media development in "closed" environments, including exiled media, disinformation, and the development of new communication and media strategies and responses. Being a Belarus native, she has covered the EU-Belarus relations and Belarusian foreign policy since 2001.

In 2015, Maryia advised the European Endowment for Democracy on its Feasibility Study on Russian-language Media Initiatives. In 2019, she co-wrote a comprehensive analysis of Syrian exiled media for the International Media Support (Denmark). Maryia currently leads the Eurasia team at the Dutch non-for-profit media support organization Free Press Unlimited and contributes as a freelancer to several European media outlets. She looks for synergies between like-minded professionals and organizations all over the globe and specializes in creating and managing networks.

Thank you for listening!

Taking a Break from American Racism in Ukraine Sep 06, 2020

In this very special episode of Black Diplomats, host Terrell J. Starr takes a break from the news cycle to talk about going abroad as a Black person from America. He’s been in the Carpathian mountains in Ukraine for a few weeks, away from the hustle and noise of New York, enjoying the countryside.

With the separation comes a kind of clarity. Terrell talks about the pressures of being Black, and the benefits of relieving those pressures when the opportunity arises. And he asks a simple question: what could life be like in a world without racism, where people could simply exist as people?

“I support the protests,” he says, “but what would it be like if I didn’t have to protest? What if I could just be?”

Thank you for listening!

Black Veterans Project Aug 29, 2020

On this episode Black Diplomats welcomes Asha Castleberry and Richard S. Brookshire III, two members of the Black Veterans Project. They provide an insiders perspective of life on deployment, how the military industrial complex doubles as America’s biggest federal jobs program, and how they feel President Trump is doing with our armed forces.

Terrell’s mother and father both served in the Army, so the issue of how Black people fit into the service is very personal to him. He also has a chance to talk to them about reducing our nuclear footprint, and what it would look like to shift 10% or even 20% of our military budget to other programs.

This is a wide ranging conversation about how Black people interact with American foreign policy, often as the frontline enforcers.

For more information go to our website at www.blackdiplomats.net.

Thank you for listening!

Terrell Speaks on Biden/Harris Aug 22, 2020

In this week’s episode, I break down what I think the Biden/Harris ticket could mean for the future of American foreign policy.

I cited a lot of numbers and other things dealing with climate change, defense spending and other topics to support my arguments, so I am linking out to a lot of those sources here. Remember, these links are just starting points for you to do your research. I am just citing these to point to the data I used for today’s episode.

For defense spending, I cited 2019 numbers from the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. I also mentioned a 2016 Washington Post article about the $125 billion in administrative waste. Here is another good source to track defense spending waste. This year, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Congresswoman Barbara Lee lead efforts in their respective chambers of Congress to amend the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which proposed the budget for the Department of Defense for the upcoming year, by cutting 10 percent from the $740 billion budget. That amounts to around 74 billion. The money would be allocated for social programs, a similar call that activists are making about reallocating money from local police budgets.

The amendment failed, per The Nation. Sen. Kamala Harris voted against the amendment, but a statement released by her office on July 22 shows she is willing to agree to a cut eventually.

If you want to read more about the Paris Agreement, go here. Some information on greenhouse gases is here.

The full version of the Iran Deal is here and a shorter explainer is here.

As for the Democratic National Convention platform I read from, you can find that here.

Thank you for listening!

Painter Aïcha Sacha looks inside herself Aug 15, 2020

Painter Aïcha Sacha grew up in a little village in Germany. Her father was from Germany and her mother from Benin in Africa, and she says there were no other Black people in town. This experience of feeling as if she were on display followed her in Germany, and made its way into her paintings.

Last year Sacha moved to Marseille in France as part of her effort to focus full time on her art. Her work centers Black women in a vibrant world filled with mystery and beauty, and sometimes pain. The paintings often resemble portraits but the people in them don’t always inhabit a place and time, more an experience or feeling.

The longer she lives in France, fewer of her subjects live in cages.

Host Terrell J Starr talks to Sacha about being a Black woman in Europe, why most of her clients are American, and how the coastal tourist hotspot she lives in is dealing with ‘dat Rona.

She has an amazing Instagram of course.

To purchase her work or learn more about it go to her website.

Thank you for listening!

The Fight for LGBTQ+ Rights in Eastern Europe Aug 08, 2020

Black Diplomats takes a deep dive into the global struggle for human rights with an episode about LGBTQ+ pride in Russia and Eastern Europe. As activists build their movement, they watch government propaganda, religious authorities, and far-right extremists join together to protest every step toward equality, often with violent results. Pride parades are celebrations in many places around the world, but in Georgia and other former Soviet states Pride is still dangerous and rainbow flags are an act of rebellion.

Our guests today are three of the loudest rebels. Mariam Kvaratskhelia is an organizer with Tblisi Pride, Svetlana Zakharova is a Russian activist fighting on multiple fronts, and journalist Maksym Eristavi is carrying the narrative of their movement all over the world. Host Terrell J. Starr marched in the Kyiv Pride parade in 2019, where he planned to meet up with Eristavi in person, but the crowd was too big for them to find each other.

They agreed this was a good problem to have.

This brilliant panel talks about the battle for civil rights, how the Black Lives Matter and Pride movements intersect, and what self-care means when you’re a protestor…in a pandemic.

Svetlana Zakharova is a feminist, LGBTQI activist and human rights defender based in Russia.

She holds two MA degrees, in International Relations and Gender Studies. Svetlana has five years of work experience with Russian LGBT Network, the largest LGBT organisation in Russia as a Communications Manager. Since November 2017, she is a Board member of the Russian LGBT Network.

Mariam Kvaratskhelia has dedicated herself to LGBTQI advocacy and rights campaigns. As an organizer with Tblisi Pride she is on the frontlines, and often meets with other activists around Europe to network their movement for change.

Maksym Eristavi is a journalist and human rights advocate in Eastern Europe. Featured on NowThis, Gaycation by VICE, Voice of America, BILD, and many others, Maksym explores the intersection of identity politics, disinformation, and Russian colonialism. He has traveled widely and spoken about his work in the UK and Sweden, and at a hearing of the United States Senate.

Find out more about Black Diplomats at our website or support Black-lead journalism at our Patreon.

To learn more about Terrell, please visit terrellstarr.com.

To read some of Terrell’s work on foreign policy, download the Black Diplomats Digital Primer.

Black Diplomats’ logo was designed by Antoinette Childs.

Black Diplomats’ theme song is by Tall Black Guy.

Thank you for listening!

Colonialism Goes Nuclear Aug 01, 2020

Beatrice Fihn is not playing. She has a Law degree from the University of London and a Bachelors in International Relations from Stockholm University. She also has a Nobel Peace Prize, accepted in her role as Executive Director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

According to her website Fihn has spent more than a decade working in disarmament diplomacy and civil society mobilization, but what that means in plain language is communication. She reminds us of the terrible toll nuclear weapons would cost if they were launched against civilians again, and how colonizer nations use the threat of all-out destruction to maintain the white supremacist balance of power.

Black Diplomats host Terrell J Starr has studied and reported on nuclear weapons throughout his career, so he is well positioned for a deep and timely conversation with an expert in the field. But Starr makes sure to keep the technical details light and stress the importance of this issue to each and every one of us, in ways we can all understand.

Do yourself a favor and follow Beatrice:

Twitter: @beafihn

Instagram: @beafihn

Check out the organization she leads here.

Find out more about Black Diplomats at our website or support Black-lead journalism at our Patreon.

To learn more about Terrell, please visit terrellstarr.com.

To read some of Terrell’s work on foreign policy, download the Black Diplomats Digital Primer.

Black Diplomats’ logo was designed by Antoinette Childs.

Black Diplomats’ theme song is by Tall Black Guy.

Thank you for listening!

On being a powerful Black woman...in Canada Jul 25, 2020

Celina Caesar-Chavannes is a powerful businesswoman who lives in Whitby, Canada. In 2014 she decided to run for office and won, becoming the only Black woman in the Parliament of Canada.

Caesar-Chavannes was appointed the Parliamentary Secretary to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a highly sought-after role, but she became frustrated by the lack of aggressive action to repair Canada’s deepest wounds. By 2019, she decided she would have more flexibility and, ultimately, more influence working outside of Parliament. She declined the opportunity to run again and resigned from the Liberal party, becoming one of their sharpest critics.

Black Diplomats host Terrell J Starr has a wide-ranging conversation with Caesar-Chevannes about her history in business and government, why Canada might not be the utopia people in the States think it is, what racism looks like in a country known for being friendly, and how they’re dealing with the scourge of COVID.

Check out her website here or follower her on Twitter to keep up to date.

To read more about Caesar-Chevannes’ time in Parliament, check out the articles here, here, and here.

For more information on Black Diplomats, check out our website here.

Thanks for listening!

Catch Me If You Can Jul 18, 2020

Jessica Nabongo is the first Black woman to document traveling to every country in the world. She is a writer and photographer, and now she's added lifestyle guru to her resumé with the founding of her travel company Jet Black.

Nabongo was born and raised in Detroit to parents who immigrated from Uganda. Her family thought nothing of hopping on a plane to any destination, and after getting a graduate degree from the London School of Economics, Nabongo decided to visit every country she hadn't seen—and to do it by the age of 35. She made it happen with very few sponsors, building her own brand along the way.

In this episode of Black Diplomats, host Terrell J Starr talks to Nabongo about being a frequent world traveler himself, her favorite thing to eat in Georgia (the country, not the State), and how COVID-19 is messing with her summer.

Check out Jessica Nabongo's gorgeous website here.

Her travel company Jet Black can be found here.

And her completely amazing Instagram is here.

For more information on Black Diplomats, check out our website here.

Thanks for listening!

Disinformation and Counter-Intelligence in Ukraine Jul 11, 2020

Disinformation from Russia was a big subject during the 2016 election for President of the United States, and 2020 is turning out to be no different. The US isn’t the only one dealing with this issue, in fact it’s a lively topic in former Soviet states all over Eastern Europe. Ukraine has gone so far as to ban a Russian-backed media organization, who responded by labeling it an attack on free speech.

But our guests say something has to be done to combat the power of state propaganda coming from one of the worlds savviest players.

Black Diplomats is hosted by Terrell J. Starr. Find out more about Terrell and listen to other episodes at our website.

Our guests this week are:

Shireen Mitchell

Shireen is an Internet pioneer and serial founder who was born and raised in the projects of New York City, playing video games before they could be played on televisions and designing BBS boards and gopher sites prior to the Web going world wide.

She is the founder of Stop Online Violence Against Women and an expert in digital voter suppression.

digitalsista.me

Maria Romanenko

Maria Romanenko is a Ukrainian-born British-educated writer, journalist, and certified life coach. She covers a wide range of topics from politics to culture, as well as produces a weekly TV show.

www.mariaromanenko.com

Nina Jankowicz

Nina Jankowicz studies the intersection of democracy and technology in Central and Eastern Europe. Her book, HOW TO LOSE THE INFORMATION WAR, was published by Bloomsbury's IBTauris in Summer 2020. Her writing has been published by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Foreign Policy, BuzzFeed News, The Wilson Quarterly, and others.

Nina Jankowicz at the Wilson Center

Romani take lessons from Black Lives Matter Jul 04, 2020

Romani people in Eastern Europe are joining protests in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States. That seems strange to some people, but not to Terrell, or any of the guests on this episode.

Host Terrell J Starr talks about his experiences being a Black man from Detroit visiting Ukraine, Georgia, and other Eastern European countries. He tells stories of meeting folk who are white but speak the language of oppressed people everywhere.

Joining him are three women with deep knowledge of the region, and what kind of similarities can be found in the experiences of groups that seem so disparate on the surface.

Joining Terrell is Chelsi West Ohueri, a cultural anthropologist from Jackson, MS. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies with appointments in the Department of Anthropology and the Department of African and African Diaspora Studies.

Also on the call is Sunnie Rucker-Chang, Assistant Professor of Slavic and Director of European Studies at the University of Cincinnati. Dr. Rucker-Chang examines literary and filmic works as they relate to the construction of minority-majority relations and formations of difference.

And from the heart of Roma country is Nada Greku, a graduate student at Central European University who is a leading activist for Romani rights in Central Europe and the Balkans.

Slavery in 2020 Jun 27, 2020

Host Terrell J Starr talks to Banchi Yimer about the kafala system in this episode of Black Diplomats. Yimer traveled from her native Ethiopia to Yemen in search of work, and took a job as a domestic servant in Lebanon. She was promised a fair wage and the right to make decisions about her life, but she soon found herself trapped inside the house with no money or even her passport.

When she was able to escape she realized she was in the middle of a growing crisis of women in similar situations. Thousands of domestic servants were dumped on the street with nothing when the Lebanese economy crashed in 2019. Many of them are still there, waiting for the world to hear their stories.

Find more information about Banchi on her Twitter feed, or learn about Egna Legna Besides, the organization she founded to help protect women like her.

Donate to their GoFundMe to help migrant domestic workers in the Middle East.

To read more about the kafala system and it's impact you can go here, here, or here. This article about the death rate involving alleged suicide is heart breaking.

Travel in the age of 'dat Rona Jun 20, 2020

In the very first episode of Black Diplomats, host Terrell J Starr talks to Roshida Dowe and Amer-Marie Woods, two Black women who left established professional careers to explore the world. They discuss what motivated each woman to make a change in her life, and what it's like to be an international Black Diplomat.

Find Amer-Marie on Instagram.

Find Roshida on Instagram and YouTube. The financial readiness quiz she mentions can be found here, and her Sabbatical Planning Guide can be found on her website.

Thanks for listening!

Hello World Jun 18, 2020

In this brief intro episode, host Terrell J Starr reads a few paragraphs from an article he wrote for The Washington Post about his first trip to Eastern Europe, and gives an overview of what you can expect from Black Diplomats.