Information Warfare
97 episodes
#6209: Watching Elections: Who Collects the Numbers, and Why
From CIA tasking orders on France's 2012 race to hedge funds buying private Brexit polls — who watches elections, and what they do with the numbers.
#6143: Propaganda Bait: Testing 7 Models in 5 Languages
Five prompts, seven models, five languages — a first look at a benchmark that doesn't exist yet, testing what LLMs do with government talking points.
#6140: Did Flight FZ1073 Really Happen? Inside a False-Flag Claim
A hijacking attempt on Flydubai FZ1073 was declared staged within 67 minutes. What the evidence actually supports — and what it doesn't.
#6137: Two Ways a Chinese Open Model Gets Censored
Same weights, different landlord: how to tell a serving-time filter from censorship baked into the model itself.
#6101: When Chatbots Run for Office
From a Wyoming mayoral bot to Albania's AI minister, six real attempts to put machines on the ballot — and what they reveal about empty platforms.
#6068: Chinese AI Models: Refusing vs. Reframing
New studies show Chinese AI models have shifted from refusing sensitive questions to answering them — in the Party's voice.
#5752: Two Frances, One Protest: Reading the Same Streets Differently
A high school walkout over unfilled teaching posts became a national movement — and two completely incompatible stories about what it means.
#5659: The Ethics of Anonymous Testimony in Documentary
A new IDF response to a Venice-winning film raises a sharp question: what do documentarians owe when sources stay truly anonymous?
#5549: When Pro-Israel Advocacy Alienates the Persuadable
A pro-Israel insider's critique: cherry-picked examples, refusing to concede any fault, and fighting fire with fire may be losing the people you mo...
#5548: Hasbara: Explanation or Policy Problem?
Israel's Foreign Minister says embassy moves matter as much as the battlefield. A listener in Jerusalem says the problem isn't PR — it's policy.
#5527: Seven Ways to Measure a Country's Isolation
Netanyahu's quick UN trip sparks a bigger question: how do you actually measure a country's isolation? We build seven heuristics.
#5294: Inside North Korea's Scripted Tourist State
Every smile is choreographed. What it's actually like inside North Korea's managed tour bubble — and why one mocking vlog closed the border.
#5292: Ukraine's Cyber War: Hacking, Deception, and the IT Army
How Ukraine built a formidable cyber capability from almost nothing — and turned phone calls and phishing into artillery coordinates.
#5179: Covert Ops That Weaponize Division—What's Real
From KGB active measures to Taiwan's elections: which covert influence operations are documented, and which dramatic claims don't hold up.
#5117: How AI Training Data Gets Filtered (and Exploited)
Six stages of content filtering stand between raw web crawls and your AI model — here's where poisoning attacks slip through.
#5038: Ukraine's War: How Narratives Shifted but the Invasion Didn't
How Putin's justifications evolved from "denazification" to a civilizational war—and why Ukraine's legal counterattack matters.
#5036: What Happens to a War When the World Stops Watching?
Why do wars fade from our minds? We explore the structural forces behind attention decay and how Russia exploits it.
#4937: Proportionality Under International Law: What It Actually Means
The legal definition of proportionality is nothing like what you hear in news coverage. Here's what the law actually says.
#4515: Where Extremist Forums Actually Went After Reddit Bans
Reddit bans didn't push extremists to the dark web. They went to Telegram. Here's why.
#4367: How to Fake Not Speaking English
Active perception management for elevator strangers, using misdirection across three channels.
#4223: Burn the House Down: Iran's Both-Sides Strategy
Iran isn't picking winners in Israel—it's amplifying both extremes to tear the center apart.
#4215: How Foreign Powers Quietly Shape Elections
From Roman bribery to Iranian botnets, the hidden history of election meddling and why it's getting harder to detect.
#4098: Taqiyya, Hudna, and Jihad: A Strategic Grammar
How Iran and militant groups use four Islamic concepts as a coherent strategic doctrine.
#4065: What a Blurred Laptop Reveals About IDF Secrets
Why the IDF now blurs laptop chassis and cables — not just screens — in field photos.