The Final Service

Latest Episodes:

Falling (Communist) Blocs and the Rise of Tetris Jul 13, 2023

Show notes

Screenwriter Noah Pink tells Ray Suarez how he discovered the true story behind “Tetris,” from the Cold War race to secure the rights to the classic video game to its escape from the former Soviet Union.

Guest:

Noah Pink, “Tetris” screenwriter

Host:

Ray Suarez

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

A Twitter Coup? Pics or Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Mutiny Didn’t Happen Jul 10, 2023

Show notes

Putin may have won the “battle” against Wagner’s Yevgeny Prigozhin, but he’s losing the meme war. Ray speaks with Jen Kirby, Vox’s foreign and national security reporter, about fact verification and conflict reporting amidst state propaganda and viral Twitter memes.

Guest:

Jen Kirby, senior foreign and national security reporter at Vox

Host:

Ray Suarez

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Yemen’s Long Road to Peace: What a Saudi-Iran Deal Means Jul 06, 2023

Show notes

Peace is a process, not an outcome. And in the case of Yemen, Saudi Arabia’s meddling in the country’s civil war has prevented peace for almost a decade. Ray Suarez speaks with Arwa Mokdad, Peace Advocate with the Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation, about what a deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran could mean for the future of Yemen.

Guest:

Arwa Mokdad, Peace Advocate with the Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation

Host:

Ray Suarez

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Money Talks, Kingdom Walks: Global Finance and Saudi Politics Jul 03, 2023

Show notes

Can a single gathering of world leaders really pull billions of people out of poverty? Eric Pelofsky, Deputy Chief of Staff and Vice President of the Rockefeller Foundation, joined Ray Suarez days before the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact in Paris to share how international financial institutions can make up for past mistakes.

Guest:

Eric Pelofsky, Deputy Chief of Staff and Vice President of the Rockefeller Foundation

Host:

Ray Suarez

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

PlateGate: The Conspiracies About What We Eat Jun 29, 2023

Show notes

Conspiracy communities that once promoted QAnon and anti-vaccine theories have now sunk their teeth into an even tastier morsel: our food supply chain. Laicie Heeley, Executive Producer and Host of “Things That Go Boom,” joins Ray Suarez to break down how cracks in our food system have paved the way for international conspiracy theories about the ongoing food crisis.

Guest:

Laicie Heeley, Executive Producer and Host of “Things That Go Boom”

Host:

Ray Suarez

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

French Identity and the Battle for the Baguette Jun 26, 2023

Show notes

Concerns about a 'global elite' exerting control over demographic shifts and our food choices have hit the mainstream, and they are feeding anxieties. Ray Suarez speaks with French legal scholar Rim-Sarah Alouane about the "great replacement theory", and what it takes to be considered “French first.”

Guest:

Ridha Khadher, baker and owner of Au Paradis du gourmand

Rim-Sarah Alouane, French legal scholar

Host:

Ray Suarez

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Is Kosovo on the Verge of Renewed Conflict? Jun 22, 2023

Show notes

The 1998-1999 war in Kosovo may have ended the fighting between Serbs and Albanian Kosovars, but it didn’t end the conflict. Anatol Lieven, journalist and Eurasian Program Director at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, joins Ray Suarez to explain why ethnic tensions are once again flaring up in the Balkans.

Guest:

Anatol Lieven, journalist and Eurasian Program Director at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft

Host:

Ray Suarez

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

How Erdoğan Plans to “Make Turkey Great Again” Jun 19, 2023

Show notes

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey’s all-powerful leader of 20 years, was recently re-elected, raising serious questions about the state of Turkey’s democracy. Is Erdoğan trying to rebuild the Ottoman Empire? And is his republic Russia’s Trojan Horse in NATO? Ray Suarez speaks with Merve Tahiroğlu, Turkey Program Director at the Project on Middle East Democracy about Erdoğan’s imperial ambitions.

Guest:

Merve Tahiroğlu, Turkey Program Director at the Project on Middle East Democracy

Host:

Ray Suarez

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Georgia’s Dilemma: Wait on the West, or Succumb to Putin? Jun 15, 2023

Show notes

For decades, Georgia has tried to extricate itself from Russia's shadow. But with the recent influx of Ukrainian refugees and anti-war Russians and the rise of Georgia’s Dream Party, the former Soviet state is once again walking a political tightrope between Russia and a tenuous future with NATO. In this episode, reporter Levi Bridges takes us on the ground to hear about the dangers of standing up to Russia.

Reporter:

Levi Bridges, journalist

Featured guests:

Daniil Chubar, co-founder of Emigration for Action

Monika Jaranowska, Director of Kids Club "Happy Me" Tbilisi

Giga Bokeria, leader of the European Georgia party

Sonja Schiffers, Director of the Heinrich Böll Foundation’s Tbilisi Office

Giorgi Khelashvili, Georgian Dream MP and Deputy Chair of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Parliament of Georgia

Host:

Ray Suarez

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Marie Yovanovitch: The Ambassador Who Testified Against Trump Jun 12, 2023

Show notes

“How is it that foreign corrupt interests could manipulate our government?” asked retired Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, in her testimony during the first impeachment trial against former President Donald Trump in 2019.

In her absorbing memoir, “Lessons from the Edge,” Yovanovich reflected on the disinformation campaign that eventually led to the end of her post as Ambassador to Ukraine. Ray Suarez spoke with Yovanovitch about a lifetime of public service, and why she remains optimistic about Ukraine’s fight for freedom.

Guest:

Marie Yovanovitch, Former US Ambassador to Ukraine and author of the memoir “Lessons From The Edge”

Host:

Ray Suarez

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

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