On September 26, 2022, at approximately 2:03 a.m. local time in the Baltic Sea off the southeast coast of the Danish island of Bornholm, the Nord Stream 2 underwater pipeline was rocked by a blast. That explosion, followed by a series of other targeted detonations on the older Nord Stream 1 pipelines some 17 hours later, were swiftly assessed to be the result of deliberate sabotage. The explosions off the Swedish and Danish coasts set off an international mystery with unimaginably high stakes. T...
May 17, 2023•1 hr 11 min
Nearly 50 years ago, the Church Committee began holding hearings to investigate the CIA and U.S. intelligence agencies’ lawless and secret efforts to spy on and plan assassination plots. This week on Intercepted, Jeremy Scahill is joined by James Risen and Thomas Risen to discuss how the CIA — without oversight from Congress and at times behind the backs of U.S. presidents — orchestrated coups against popular democratic governments from Guatemala to Iran and spied on anti-war activists and Black...
May 10, 2023•1 hr 24 min
Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a long call with Chinese President Xi Jinping, in which Xi appealed for negotiations to begin between Ukraine and Russia. This week on Intercepted, hosts Jeremy Scahill and Murtaza Hussain are joined by Alfred W. McCoy, the Harrington professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the author of “To Govern the Globe: World Orders and Catastrophic Change.” As McCoy explains, China’s role in brokering a peace deal could be ins...
May 03, 2023•56 min
U.S. war planners have indicated that Ukraine plans to launch a spring offensive in an effort to retake territory lost in Russia’s invasion. Military analysts have also suggested that Kyiv, backed by the U.S.-led NATO alliance and its weapons shipments, is likely to attempt to purge Russia from Crimea. Russian President Vladimir Putin has indicated that he has no plans to cease his military operations, and the stage is being set for further bloodshed with no end in sight. This week on Intercepte...
Apr 26, 2023•1 hr 2 min
Last week, federal officials arrested Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old airman in the Massachusetts Air National Guard, accusing him of having leaked hundreds of pages of classified Pentagon documents on a Discord server. The documents offer rare insights into the war in Ukraine and the extent of military casualties and reveal the presence of U.S. and other NATO nations' special forces clandestinely operating in the war zone. They also document how the conflict is spilling over into the Middle East a...
Apr 19, 2023•1 hr 1 min
Vice President Kamala Harris wrapped a historic tour of Africa last week, where she positioned the U.S. as a reliable and trustworthy security and economic partner. This week on Intercepted, host Murtaza Hussain is joined by investigative reporter, Nick Turse, to discuss his latest reporting on U.S. counterterrorism efforts in Africa. Since the war on terror was launched, the U.S. government’s ventures in Africa have been more focused on military aid than economic support. Harris’s trip comes af...
Apr 12, 2023•46 min
Despite China warning “serious confrontation in the U.S.-China relationship,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy confirmed plans to meet with Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen when she visits California on Wednesday. This week on Intercepted, Elbridge Colby, former defense strategist during the Trump administration, joins Jeremy Scahill and Murtaza Hussain to discuss and debate the emerging bipartisan consensus that China threatens U.S. economic and military dominance. They discuss the impact of the U.S...
Apr 05, 2023•1 hr 20 min
This week marked the 20th anniversary of the launch of the War in Iraq. But the U.S. government’s involvement in the country tracks back decades prior. Jeremy Scahill retraces the U.S. government's long history of meddling, destabilizing, and bombing Iraq — and how major players have faced no accountability for their crimes. If you’d like to support our work, go to theintercept.com/join — your donation, no matter what the amount, makes a real difference. And if you haven’t already, please subscr...
Mar 24, 2023•31 min
Amidst massive protests around the United States and the world, on March 19, 2003, the U.S. began its invasion of Iraq. This week on Intercepted, Jeremy Scahill, Murtaza Hussain, and Iraqi journalist Ghaith Abdul-Ahad discuss the long-lasting impact of the war on Iraq and its people. Throughout the 20 years since the invasion, Iraq was torn to shreds by a gratuitous American occupation and a U.S.-fueled sectarian civil war. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians died as U.S. policy gave rise t...
Mar 22, 2023•1 hr 12 min
Which wetlands are protected under the Clean Water Act? That’s the question before the Supreme Court in Sackett v. EPA. Back in 2004, Michael and Chantell Sackett purchased a residential lot near the idyllic and popular Priest Lake in Idaho. In preparation of construction, the Sacketts started filling the lot with gravel and sand. But after an anonymous complaint about the dredging and filling, the Environmental Protection Agency ordered the Sacketts to stop construction until the proper permits...
Feb 22, 2023•57 min
Rodney Reed has been on death row since 1998 for the killing of a 19-year-old woman named Stacey Stites. Although Texas prosecutors said the case was open and shut, Reed has consistently maintained his innocence. Over the years, dozens of witnesses have come forward with evidence that undermines the state’s case, casting serious doubt on whether Reed is actually guilty. But Texas has refused to conduct DNA testing that could put lingering questions to rest. This week on Dissent, host Jordan Smit...
Feb 15, 2023•39 min
Back in 2017, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, a case involving a cake shop owner who refused to create a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. In a 7-2 decision, the court found that the state had violated the cake maker’s religious objections. Now the court is considering another case out of Colorado that could expand the right to discriminate under the guise of free speech. In the fourth episode of Dissent, Jordan Smith and law ...
Feb 08, 2023•46 min
The Supreme Court is hearing a case that could dismantle the Indian Child Welfare Act, also known as ICWA. The law was passed in 1978 to combat a history of forced family separation in the United States and prevent the removal of Native children from their communities. But now, in Haaland v. Brackeen, ICWA could be completely overturned. In the third episode of Dissent, host Jordan Smith is joined by Rebecca Nagle, a journalist, citizen of the Cherokee Nation, and host of the podcast “This Land....
Feb 01, 2023•48 min
The North Carolina Supreme Court rejected a partisan gerrymandered congressional map drawn to heavily favor Republicans last year. The map violated the state’s constitution. The North Carolina legislature is now arguing before the U.S. Supreme Court whether the state legislature has the authority to override the court and ignore its own constitution. The case, Moore v. Harper, raises the prospect of the independent state legislature theory — a fringe theory that, if the Supreme Court rules in fa...
Jan 25, 2023•54 min
Last year, the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and demolish nearly half a century of abortion rights put to rest any remaining questions as to how far the 6-3 supermajority was willing to go to realize its extreme right-wing vision. With the court’s 2022-2023 term in full force, what rights are at stake this year? On the first episode of Dissent, an Intercepted miniseries, host and senior Intercept reporter Jordan Smith is joined by Jordan Rubin, a legal analyst with MSNBC and f...
Jan 18, 2023•47 min
Last week, the Justice Department sued the state of Arizona and its governor, Doug Ducey, for installing a shipping container wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. This week on Intercepted: Ryan Devereaux, an investigative reporter with The Intercept, breaks down Ducey’s makeshift, multimillion-dollar container wall. Devereaux tells the story of everyday people and community members who live along the border, and how they stood up to the governor and won. join.theintercept.com/donate/now Update: De...
Dec 21, 2022•36 min
For a month and a half, Iran has been rocked by protests. The sustained demonstration, which were kicked off after a young woman was killed by the notorious morality police, are the most serious challenge to the ruling regime in at least a dozen years — maybe since its inception. This week on Intercepted: Murtaza Hussain, a reporter at The Intercept, is joined by Neda Toloui-Semnani, a journalist and the author of “They Said They Wanted a Revolution: A Memoir of My Parents.” Toloui-Semnani discu...
Nov 30, 2022•1 hr 3 min
In 2019, Ajay Kumar, an asylum-seeker from India, began a hunger strike while in ICE detention to demand his release. In response, the U.S. government force-fed Kumar. The Intercept accessed footage of the force-feeding, a practice widely condemned by international organizations. This week on Intercepted, Travis Mannon, a video producer with The Intercept, breaks down what took place during the force-feeding and why this video is so significant: This is the first public video of a federally sanc...
Nov 16, 2022•33 min
This week, the Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates again, despite coming under scrutiny in recent months for its aggressive hikes to battle inflation. This week on Intercepted: Jon Schwarz, senior writer with The Intercept, talks all things Fed, the most powerful economic institution in the U.S. Schwarz is first joined by Intercept reporters Ken Klippenstein and Daniel Boguslaw, who discuss how banks are lobbying the Fed, raising questions about the institution’s independence. Sc...
Nov 02, 2022•1 hr
Earlier this week, Russia launched a new drone bombing spree in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. This followed last week's attack, when Russian missiles struck the capital and other parts of the country. This week on Intercepted: reporter Alice Speri breaks down the different international investigations into Russia’s crimes in Ukraine and explains why none include the crime of aggression. She speaks with human rights investigators and international humanitarian law experts, who break down what th...
Oct 19, 2022•35 min
On October 6, 2022, University of British Columbia faculty members Mohammed Rafi Arefin and Naomi Klein from the new Centre for Climate Justice co-moderated a livestream discussion about the upcoming COP27 summit that will be held in Egypt, while the country’s most prominent pro-democracy activist, Alaa Abd El Fattah, remains in prison. As the world gets hotter, basic freedoms are under ever greater assault around the globe. These trends are about to collide in dramatic fashion at the upcoming U...
Oct 10, 2022•1 hr 19 min
The Chinese government forcibly collects biometric markers like fingerprints, facial images, and DNA of Xinjiang residents, where 12 million Uyghurs live. In recent years, the country has expanded and improved its surveillance capabilities. This week on Intercepted: investigative reporter Mara Hvistendahl speaks with Josh Chin and Liza Lin, reporters for the Wall Street Journal, about their new book, “Surveillance State: Inside China’s Quest to Launch a New Era of Social Control.” In their book,...
Oct 05, 2022•46 min
Marked as enemies of the new Taliban regime by his work with Westerners and his family’s Hazara ethnicity, Hamid, his wife, their 8-year-old daughter, and their new baby move furtively from place to place, living under assumed names. Their year in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan echoes Hamid’s own war-torn childhood as he tries to guarantee his daughter’s future. Suddenly, an escape route opens: Will they finally make it out? Created by Afghans forced into exile when the Taliban took over last ye...
Sep 21, 2022•28 min
Maryam Barak, an Afghan journalist, made it to Italy with her family last summer. In Rome, she met Qader Kazimizada, another newly arrived Afghan who is helping refugees find community in an alien place. Created by Afghans forced into exile when the Taliban took over last year, “No Way Home” tells of the perilous exodus born of two decades of broken promises in the U.S. war on terror. Through the stories of four Afghans who tried to leave when the U.S. military pulled out of Afghanistan last sum...
Sep 18, 2022•26 min
As the Taliban claimed territory last summer, Mir Abdullah Miri and his cousin Aziz both planned to flee their homes in Herat, a city in western Afghanistan. Mir, an educational researcher, made it to the Afghan capital and tried to get on a flight, while Aziz, a cellphone programmer, decided to cross into Iran on foot with his wife and two young children, hoping to reach relatives in Germany. After Aziz and his family set off through Afghanistan’s southern desert, Mir was left to untangle the m...
Sep 14, 2022•43 min
When the Afghan government collapsed last summer, Summia Tora, Afghanistan’s first Rhodes scholar, used her connections to get her father out. But when she tried to evacuate a longtime NGO worker named Hamid, his pregnant wife, and their young daughter, a suicide bomber intervened. Created by Afghans forced into exile when the Taliban took over last year, “No Way Home” tells of the perilous exodus born of two decades of broken promises in the U.S. war on terror. Through the stories of four Afgha...
Sep 11, 2022•43 min
The U.S. government’s long-lasting occupation of Iraq led to “many killings, disintegrating the country, and opening old, previous wounds,” according to former Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. This week on Intercepted, reporter Murtaza Hussain is joined by Abadi, who led Iraq from 2014 to 2018. During that time he waged war against the Islamic State and eventually retook control of the country from the group. Abadi discusses his role as prime minister, his fight against ISIS, the U.S. gover...
Aug 24, 2022•30 min
On Sunday, after months of negotiation, the Senate passed a budget reconciliation bill called the Inflation Reduction Act. This week on Intercepted, we go behind the bill to look at the dynamics driving inflation, scrutinize the solutions being pushed by fiscal hawks, and demystify the economic jargon being used to sideline worker interests in pursuit of profit. Intercept Deputy Editor Nausicaa Renner is joined by investigative journalist Ken Klippenstein and senior writer Jon Schwarz to discuss...
Aug 10, 2022•44 min
Since the 9/11 attacks, the FBI has dedicated huge resources to recruiting informants, particularly targeting Muslim Americans or immigrants from Muslim-majority countries. Saying no can carry serious consequences. This week on Intercepted: Intercept reporter Murtaza Hussain tells the story of one man who rejected the FBI’s request. Aswad Khan was visiting his family in Connecticut when the FBI tried to recruit him to spy on mosques, but he wouldn’t spy on people in prayer. That’s when Khan’s li...
Jul 27, 2022•28 min
Four women who were detained in a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement jail are alleging that a nurse at the facility sexually assaulted them. This week on Intercepted, the four women, who were detained at the Stewart Detention Center in Georgia, share their stories with lead producer José Olivares and Intercept contributor John Washington. Olivares and Washington examined internal Homeland Security records, public reports, sheriff’s department documents, emergency call records, and intervie...
Jul 14, 2022•38 min
