Rhyming Chaos

The end of a Mongolian-language newspaper

From wolf hearts to Xi Jinping thought: Journalist Soyonbo Borjgin talks about growing up in Hohhot and his “re-education” after protests against the…

Dec 3 • 

Jeremy Goldkorn

5

1

4

1:07:03

November 2025

The CIA plot to kill the Congolese prime minister

As the U.S. continues blowing up boats in the Caribbean, author Stuart Reid tells the history of an earlier low point of careless American meddling.

Nov 18 • 

Jeremy Goldkorn

4

1

1

52:18

Trump is the symptom, not the disease

Unremembered resistance, and what we can actually learn from history to make sense of the world and its leaders in 2025, with historian and author…

Nov 15 • 

Jeremy Goldkorn

 and 

Maria Repnikova

10

3

58:05

How does a city feel when it's invaded by an occupying army?

Clarissa Ward has reported for CNN on many of the major wars of the last decade. She talks about entering Kabul as it fell to the Taliban, Syria…

Nov 7 • 

Jeremy Goldkorn

5

1

51:31

October 2025

Protest and repression in Belarus

COVID taught Belarusians to self-organize. Then they started demonstrating. Author Natalya Chernyshova discusses the protests, crackdown, and dodgy…

Oct 28 • 

Jeremy Goldkorn

 and 

Maria Repnikova

1:05:29

When will people rise up and overthrow the dictator? Not now.

Shades of authoritarianism in Central Asia, with scholar Edward Schatz.

Oct 23 • 

Jeremy Goldkorn

53:40

Charm and authoritarianism in the 21st century

How do politicians deploy charm? Author and scholar Julia Sonnevend discusses the way leaders in Hungary and around the world seduce and deceive their…

Oct 15 • 

Jeremy Goldkorn

51:39

A constant bombardment of noise and information: China, 1974 to America, 2025

Geremie Barmé lived in China during the dying days of the Cultural Revolution, when every day brought a new political upheaval. It's a familiar feeling…

Oct 4 • 

Jeremy Goldkorn

11

5

55:15

September 2025

Mobutu: The dictator who wanted to make Zaire great again

Scholar Pedro Monaville discusses the rise of Mobutu Sese Seko, and life and politics under his rule in Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Sep 30 • 

Jeremy Goldkorn

 and 

Maria Repnikova

52:31

The illusion of benevolent dictatorship

Power and its constraints in the U.S. and China—a chat with TikTok politics influencer Huey Li.

Sep 24 • 

Jeremy Goldkorn

10

1

7

33:15

The abuse of history in China, Russia, North Korea, and Trump's America

Author and journalist Katie Stallard talks about her book on how authoritarian regimes use historical narrative to cement their power.

Sep 16 • 

Jeremy Goldkorn

 and 

Maria Repnikova

3

3

1:00:04

An African vision for freedom

Author Howard French is one of the best narrators of recent African history in book form. We discuss his latest book, on Kwame Nkrumah—an African…

Sep 5 • 

Jeremy Goldkorn

4

1

1

51:35