EPISODE 52: Breaking down digital barriers

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.stanford.edu/china-briefs/does-bypassing-internet-censorship-china-change-individual-beliefs-attitudes-and)BIO:Laura Cunningham is the President of the Open Technology Fund, a position she has held since April of 2020. In that role, she is responsible for OTF’s strategic development, long-term planning, and day-to-day operations to enable OTF to fulfill its mission to support internet freedom worldwide. Prior to joining OTF, Laura was the Senior Advisor for Internet Freedom in the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, where she led the Department’s Internet freedom programs focused on technology development, digital security, Internet policy advocacy, and research.

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 the author of the new HJS report, "Questionable Counting: Analysing the Death Toll from the Hamas-Run Ministry of Health in Gaza." MATERIALS REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODE: -- "Questionable Counting: Analysing the Death Toll from the Hamas-Run Ministry of Health in Gaza" (Henry Jackson Society, 2024), https://henryjacksonsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/HJS-Questionable-Counting-–-Hamas-Report-web-v2.pdf

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 Institute for National Security Studies (INSS). Prior to that, Gen. Yadlin served for more than 40 years in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), including 10 as a member of its General Staff. In his last military position, General Yadlin was the Head of Israel's Defense Intelligence.

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 Netherlands. He is a board member of the NGO Iran Human Rights, based in Oslo, Norway.

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 is the coauthor of Scramble for the Skies: The Great Power Competition to Control the Resources of Outer Space and the host of AFPC's Space Strategy Podcast. Prior to joining AFPC, Col. Garretson spent over a decade as a transformational strategist for the Department of the Air Force, where he served as a strategy and policy advisor for the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, as Division Chief of Irregular Warfare Strategy Plans and Policy, and as the Chief of the Future Technology Branch of Air Force Strategic Planning. As an instructor of Joint Warfare at Air University, he laid critical foundations for the future of American and allied spacepower, initiating the Schriever Scholars (America's premier program to develop space strategists), the Space Horizons Task Force (America's think tank for space), and developing the rationale for a U.S. Space Force.  He taught courses in war theory, joint planning, and national security implications of artificial intelligence. MATERIALS REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODE: — Richard M. Harrison and Peter Garretson, The Next Space Race: A Blueprint for American Primacy (Praeger Security International, 2023), https://www.amazon.com/Next-Space-Race-Blueprint-International/dp/1440880808/ref=sr_1_1?crid=UFE24YXJ64RY&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.U5jc8fFfd3tUDF3jfbDynL9Nuq9BLl_DkRXTRmNuvtM76WLNhBJZaoe0LEhH22OR8D_kBygP0ixcMFkPOGTkc1oBimuINW2JB20AeEYleaWJNzMgO-S-zrz2EEtnDy1NnoxVCNxzUTBDnCNN0Peg2OjrzjVZtN3LlliApM3LuFnUTGrhiRdcBHpx1sf6ahlcExyjdN2OH56fXcxfoyN4tLDnSrzVpGoyQvZ1JgxF0Dw.XqO3ZsBLh237M-t_eWtecmX8EF7h1Jfrq6IyoMNBlrg&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+next+space+race&qid=1725217225&sprefix=the+next+space+race%2Caps%2C89&sr=8-1.  — Peter Garretson and Richard M. Harrison, “Reacting to Major Space Events at or Below Geostationary Orbit - After Action Report 1,” AFPC Special Report, July 5, 2024, https://www.afpc.org/publications/special-reports/reacting-to-major-space-events-at-or-below-geostationary-obit-after-action-report-1. 

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 Studies at Brandeis University. He finished his Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University in 1985, and taught at several Palestinian and American universities. MATERIALS REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODE: PCPSR's latest poll (July 2024) -- https://www.pcpsr.org/en/node/985

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.

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 station Ekho Moskvy.

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 challenges on its northern border. Sarit has briefed hundreds of groups and forums, ranging from US Senators, Congressmen/women and politicians to senior journalists and visiting VIP groups in Israel and overseas. Sarit scripts numerous position papers and updates focusing on Lebanon, Syria and Israel’s national security challenges. She served for 15 years in the Israeli Defense Forces, specializing in Military Intelligence. Sarit holds an M.A. in Middle East Studies from Ben-Gurion University. Her unique achievements led her to be selected by the Jerusalem Post as one of the Top 50 Most Influential Global Jewish personalities of 2021.

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 War with Hamas. He previously served as International Media Advisor to President Isaac Herzog after a career as a television news anchor. (Subscribe to State of a Nation here)