In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman speaks with Andres Ilves of the Middle East Broadcasting Networks regarding how the Islamic Republic is manipulating the flow of information during its present conflict with America - and what we can glean about conditions within Iran, despite these efforts. MATERIALS REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODE: -- MBN's weekly "Iran Briefing" newsletter ( https://alhurra.com/en/category/iran-briefing ) BIO: Andres Ilves is currently Special Advisor and Ir...
Apr 23, 2026•29 min
In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman speaks with Leah Soibel of Fuente Latina about the state of the Latin American media market - and how external actors like Iran, China and Russia are trying to manipulate opinions and attitudes in the Western Hemisphere. BIO: Leah Soibel is the Founder and CEO of Fuente Latina, the only nonprofit media organization that empowers Hispanic journalists and influencers globally to report on the Middle East accurately and in real time. Leah has...
Feb 12, 2026•28 min
In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman speaks with Dr. James Robbins, Senior Fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council and Dean of Academics at the Institute of World Politics, about their experiences dealing with international broadcasting during the Trump 47 Transition - and where America's public diplomacy enterprise is today. BIO: Dr. James S. Robbins is a national security columnist for USA Today and Senior Fellow in National Security Affairs at the American Foreign Po...
Jan 16, 2026•28 min
In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman speaks with Arthur Barys of TVP World about how Poland's premier English-language broadcaster is trying to change the conversation - and provide crucial context - about Russia's information offensive on Europe's eastern flank. BIO: Arthur Barys is a Warsaw-based translator and head language editor at TVP World, the English-language news channel of Poland’s public broadcaster. TVP World covers the region from a Central European perspective,...
Dec 04, 2025•26 min
In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman speaks with journalist and author Yaakov Katz about the institutional dysfunctions plaguing Israel's conduct of public diplomacy - and the impact these deficiencies have had on the country's current conflict with Hamas. MATERIALS REFERENCED: -- Yaakov Katz and Amir Bohbot, While Israel Slept: How Hamas Surprised the Most Powerful Military in the Middle East (St. Martin's Press, 2025) BIO: Yaakov Katz is an Israeli-American author and journ...
Sep 09, 2025•28 min
In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman speaks with Ellen McCarthy, CEO of the Trust in Media Cooperative, about how AI and foreign actors are altering the media landscape, the dangers associated with declining trust in information, and what the U.S. government and private sector institutions can do about it. MATERIALS REFERENCED: -- Gallup, "Americans' Trust in Media Remains at Trend Low," October 14, 2024, https://news.gallup.com/poll/651977/americans-trust-media-remains-trend...
Aug 20, 2025•31 min
In this episode, host Ilan Berman speaks with Sam Douglas-Bate of British futures consultancy ForgeFront about how advances in technology are assisting the proliferation of “fake news” and disinformation - and what Western governments can do about it. MATERIALS REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODE: — Sam Douglas-Bate, "The Double-Edged Sword: New Technologies to Win the War on Fake News," New Lines Institute, May 2, 2025, https://newlinesinstitute.org/strategic-technology/the-double-edged-sword-new-techno...
Jul 21, 2025•31 min
In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman speaks with Janis Sarts, Director of NATO's Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence, about the current informational environment in Europe, and the threats now being posed to the West by Russia, China and others. BIO: Jānis Sārts is the Director of the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence, a multinational, cross-sector organisation providing comprehensive analysis, advice, and practical support in strategic communicatio...
Apr 10, 2025•30 min
In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman speaks with Laura Cunningham, President of the Open Technology Fund, about how authoritarian regimes are improving their censorship game - and how technology is helping free media fight back against this growing digital authoritarianism. MATERIALS REFERENCE IN THIS EPISODE: — “Does Bypassing Internet Censorship in China Change Individual Beliefs, Attitudes and Behaviors?” Stanford University China Brief , May 1, 2023 ( https://sccei.fsi.st...
Feb 14, 2025•33 min
In this episode, host Ilan Berman speaks with Andrew Fox of the Henry Jackson Society about how terror group Hamas has weaponized data and statistics to gain the upper hand in the informational front of Israel's new war. BIO: Andrew Fox is a research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, specializing in defense, the Middle East, and disinformation. He served in the British Army from 2005 to 2021, completing three tours in Afghanistan, including one attached to the U.S. Army Special Forces. He is ...
Jan 08, 2025•21 min
In this episode, host Ilan Berman speaks with retired Israeli Major General Amos Yadlin, the former head of IDF Military Intelligence, about his country's recent battlefield victories against Iran and its proxies, and what they mean in strategic terms. BIO: Major General (ret.) Amos Yadlin is the president and founder of MIND Israel, an action-oriented strategic consulting team advising Israeli leadership and entities involved in Israel’s security. He is the former Executive Director of the Inst...
Dec 03, 2024•32 min
In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman speaks with Ammar Maleki, the founder and director of the Group for Analyzing and Measuring Attitudes in Iran, or GAMAAN, regarding what innovative polls tell us about how Iranians think about their own government, and the rest of the world. BIO: Ammar Maleki is the founder and director of the Group for Analyzing and Measuring Attitudes in Iran, GAMAAN ( www.gamaan.org ). He is also an Assistant Professor at Tilburg University in The Nethe...
Oct 21, 2024•24 min
In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman speaks with Col. Peter Garretson, AFPC Senior Fellow in Defense Studies and former chief futurist for the U.S. Air Force, regarding China’s recent strides forward in space internet, and what it might mean for the unfolding “great power competition” between Washington and Beijing. BIO: Peter Garretson is a Senior Fellow in Defense Studies at the American Foreign Policy Council and a strategy consultant who focuses on space and defense. He i...
Sep 02, 2024•31 min
In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman speaks with Dr. Khalil Shikaki, director of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, regarding the state of Palestinian sentiment, ideology and media, post-October 7th. BIO: Khalil Shikaki is a Professor of Political Science and director of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR), which is based in Ramallah. Since 2005, he has been a senior fellow at the Crown Center for Middle East Studie...
Aug 05, 2024•31 min
In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman explores the post-October 7th explosion of antisemitism, and how the world's oldest hatred is being turbo-charged by 21st century information technology, with Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt.
Jul 17, 2024•34 min
In this episode, host Ilan Berman speaks with Tikhon Dzyadko of Russian opposition outlet TV Rain about his work, the current state of Russian independent media, and an alternative vision for the future of Russia. BIO: Tikhon Dzyadko is a journalist and the Editor-in-Chief of Russian opposition television outlet TV Rain (Dozhd), which is now headquartered in The Netherlands. He is the former deputy Editor-in-Chief and host of the RTVI channel and a former correspondent and presenter of the radio...
Jun 21, 2024•31 min
In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman checks in with Sarit Zehavi of the Alma Research and Education Center to learn what's really happening along Israel's border with Lebanon, as well as the true scope of the threat now confronting the country from the Hezbollah terrorist group and its patron, Iran. BIO: Lieutenant Colonel (Res.) Sarit Zehavi is the founder and president of Alma – a nonprofit and an independent research and education center specialized in Israel’s security ch...
Jun 10, 2024•23 min
In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman talks to former Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy about his experience on Israel’s informational front lines, and the areas where Israel needs to improve in order to get its message out in today’s increasingly contested and hostile global media environment. BIO: Eylon Levy is the host of the State of a Nation Podcast and a former Israeli Government Spokesman, representing Israel on international television and radio in the October 7 ...
May 17, 2024•32 min
In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman speaks with AFPC Senior Fellow in Indo-Pacific Studies Michael Sobolik about the new push in the U.S. Congress to limit the reach of TikTok, China’s wildly-popular social media app. Bio: Michael Sobolik is Senior Fellow in Indo-Pacific Studies at the American Foreign Policy Council in Washington, DC, where his work covers American and Chinese grand strategy, regional economic and security trends, America’s alliance architecture in Asia, an...
Mar 15, 2024•29 min
In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman speaks with Shashank Joshi, Defence Editor of The Economist , regarding the challenges of accurately covering global conflicts in an era of rampant disinformation and digital manipulation. Bio: Shashank Joshi is The Economist ‘s defence editor. Prior to joining The Economist in 2018, he served as Senior Research Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) and Research Associate at Oxford University’s Changing Character of War Prog...
Mar 11, 2024•23 min
In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman speaks with Tal-Or Cohen Montemayor of digital watchdog Cyberwell about the post-October 7th proliferation of online antisemitism and misinformation, and how her company is working to keep social media platforms accountable. Bio: Tal-Or Cohen Montemayor is Founder and Director of CyberWell, an international technology-based non-profit that is working to combat the spread of antisemitism on social media. An Israeli lawyer, Tal-Or has provid...
Jan 26, 2024•22 min
In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman speaks with former Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty president Thomas Kent regarding the strategic logic underlying Russia's weaponization of disinformation - and the things Western governments can do to neutralize Russia's informational advantage. Bio: Thomas Kent teaches and consults on Russian affairs, journalism, and the problems of propaganda and disinformation. President of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty until 2018, he now teaches at ...
Dec 28, 2023•27 min
In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman speaks to Colin Clarke of the Soufan Center about the surprising new virality of Osama bin Laden's "Letter to America," and about the role of social media platforms in helping to amplify extremism more broadly. Bio: Colin P. Clarke is a Senior Research Fellow at The Soufan Center. He is the Director of Research at The Soufan Group, where his research focuses on domestic and transnational terrorism, international security, and geopolitics. ...
Nov 28, 2023•18 min
In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman speaks to Golnaz Esfandiari of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty regarding the growing disaffection visible on the Iranian "street," official regime censorship and repression, and what the future holds for the Islamic Republic. Bio: Golnaz Esfandiari is the managing editor of RFE/RL's Radio Farda. She also serves as an Iran analyst for Freedom House, authoring the Iran chapter of their annual Freedom in the World annual reports. Her work has...
Nov 17, 2023•18 min
In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman speaks to two prominent Israeli experts, former Jerusalem Post editor Yaakov Katz and Lt. Col. (Res.) Sarit Zehavi of the Alma Research and Education Center, regarding the new war now facing Israel in the wake of Hamas' October 7th campaign of terror - and the stories that aren't being told about the conflict. BIOS: Yaakov Katz is a senior fellow at the Jewish People Policy Institute, a former editor of the Jerusalem Post where he remains ...
Oct 17, 2023•31 min
In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman talks to journalist Bethany Allen about the role that disinformation, propaganda and influence play in China's foreign policy - and their impact on the unfolding strategic competition between Beijing and Washington Bethany Allen is the China reporter at AXIOS. She was previously the lead reporter on the China Cables project of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, as a national security correspondent at The Daily Beast...
Sep 19, 2023•36 min
In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman talks to Tuvia Gering, a scholar at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies, about the ways in which Beijing is shaping global discourse - and what the PRC is saying to the world. Tuvia Gering is a researcher at the Diane & Guilford Glazer Foundation Israel-China Policy Center at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), Tel Aviv, Israel, and a non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council's Global China Hub. He is als...
Aug 10, 2023•36 min
In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman speaks with Jimmy Quinn of National Review about the current state of the political debate over one of the world’s most popular social media apps - and what it tells us about the larger Great Power Competition that's now unfolding between the United States and China.
Jun 05, 2023•25 min
In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman speaks with Jacki Alexander, Chief Executive Officer of HonestReporting, about how her organization is harnessing social media and badly-needed context in order to combat bias in reporting about Israel and its place in the Middle East. Materials referenced in this episode: — Report by Israel’s Channel 14 on the Palestinian Authority’s “prisoners project” (in Hebrew): https://www.now14.co.il/למחבלים-בלבד-שכונת-היוקרה-שמוקמת-ברשפ/ — HonestRe...
May 10, 2023•22 min
In this episode of DISINFORMATION WARS, host Ilan Berman speaks with Joshua Kurlantzick of the Council on Foreign Relations regarding his new book on Chinese media strategy, and the methods and means by which the PRC is shaping global perceptions. Materials referenced in this episode: Kurlantzick’s book, Beijing’s Global Media Offensive: China’s Uneven Campaign to Influence Asia and the World (Oxford University Press, 2022), available here . The Associated Press’ investigative report into Chines...
Apr 17, 2023•30 min
