How Congress Should Uproot Corruption

Shownotes Americans have reached a breaking point with corruption, as they see the president, other politicians, and cronies enrich themselves while the average American struggles. CIP fellow and corruption expert Casey Michel knows the shenanigans backward and forward. He’s also done detailed thinking for how Democrats in the House and Senate can most effectively use hearings to turn the tide. On this episode of the Order from Ashes podcast, Casey discusses the popular anti-corruption mandate and the risks of taking on such an intractable problem.  In the next two years, Casey argues, Congress can use its subpoena power to reveal the most damning culprits and heists, and set the stage for an overhaul to expel money from politics after 2028.  Guest Casey Michel is a fellow at the Center for International Policy where he runs the anti-corruption initiative, The Unrigging Project: Ending the Age of Impunity.  Host Thanassis Cambanis is vice president for research at the Center for International Policy. Related reading Casey Michel, “Here’s How Congress Should Fight Corruption,” Center for International Policy, November 4, 2026 “Foreign Policy at the Fore in A Change Election,” Center for International Policy, October 30, 2026. Date: Wednesday, November 11, 2026 Episode: Order from Ashes 125

Shownotes How do American voters think about foreign policy and its connection to their primacy concerns about cost of living and precarity? Sara Haghdoosti has a unique vantage point to chart the shifting views of movement progressives, regular voters, and foreign policy professionals. A long time activist in organizations that organize membership around progressive issues, Haghdoosti has been watching pivotal US midterm campaigns, the intense pressure of special interest groups, and the growing disenchantment of the public with the consensus of experts who seem to always propose the same kind of war with the same poor results. On this episode of the Order from Ashes podcast, Sara reports from the frontlines of the most expensive election in US history, where flawed status quo thinking on foreign policy is finally being called into question. Guests Sara Haghdoosti is chief of program at MoveOn. Hosts Thanassis Cambanis is vice president for research at the Center for International Policy. Rohan Advani is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Center for International Policy and a Junior Research Fellow at the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University. Related reading “Foreign Policy at the Fore in A Change Election,” Center for International Policy, October 30, 2026. Date: Monday, November 1, 2026 Episode: Order from Ashes 124

Shownotes Five months ago, India’s Chief Justice reportedly compared unemployed young people to ‘cockroaches’ and ‘parasites.’ Within days, a satirical online ‘Cockroach Janta Party’ had millions of followers.Since then, a meme has become one of the biggest challenges to Narendra Modi’s third term.  What began over paper leaks in a national medical entrance exam grew into protests on the streets of Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore. They were met with tear gas, batons, and arrests. But in July, the education minister officially resigned and has since left office—a major victory for the protest movement. But the movement hasn’t gone away, and the recent resurgence in protests throughout the country has focused on threats to the integrity of India’s electoral rolls.  Today we ask who these protesters are, what role social media played in bringing them out, while placing the movement in India’s history of youth and anti-corruption politics. We also ask what it says about gender, jobs, and education in contemporary India. Finally, we discuss the government’s response, what it means for Modi at the ballot box, and what it signals for democracy across the region. On this episode of the Order from Ashes podcast, we have the pleasure to discuss and dissect these issues with two guests with a wealth of academic and journalistic expertise on the topic. Akanksha Awal, a Lecturer in Social Anthropology at SOAS, whose work explores gender, urbanisation and intimacy in India and has a new book—Love as Enjoyment: Education and Freedom in an Indian City—forthcoming this month with Cambridge University Press. And from New Delhi, we’re joined Yashraj Sharma, a journalist at Al Jazeera, covering human rights, the conflict in Kashmir, the rise of Hindu nationalism in India, among other issues. He previously worked at VICE and The Kashmir Walla, where he lived and worked in Indian-administered Kashmir for approximately five years. On this episode of the Order from Ashes podcast, we hear about the protests from Dr. Akanksha Awal, a Lecturer in Social Anthropology at SOAS and Yashraj Sharma, a journalist at Al Jazeera based in New Delhi. Guests Akanksha Awal is a Lecturer in Social Anthropology at SOAS and a former Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellow at the University of Oxford. Her research examines gender and urbanization in India. Yashraj Sharma is a journalist at Al Jazeera, based in New Delhi, covering human rights, the conflict in Kashmir, and the rise of Hindu nationalism in India, among other issues.  Host Rohan Advani is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Center for International Policy and a Junior Research Fellow at the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University. Related reading Akanksha Awal. 2026. Love as Enjoyment: Education and Freedom in an Indian City, Cambridge University Press. Yashraj Sharma, “‘How can you stop these kids?’ Indian capital on lockdown before protests,” Al Jazeera, October 10, 2026. Date: Wednesday, October 28, 2026 Episode: Order from Ashes 123

Shownotes The laws of war prohibit targeting civilian infrastructure but today’s energy wars suggest that such strikes have become the norm. Russia and Ukraine are engaged in an escalatory spiral focused on refineries and the power grid. The US and Iran have attacked energy infrastructure in on both sides of the Gulf while blocking tanker shipments. The definitive wars of this era only make sense with an understanding of energy markets. Combatants appear to factor into their battle tactics President Trump’s sensitivity to rising gas and diesel prices ahead of US midterm elections — an apparent driver of his failed effort to impose an energy truce on Russia and Ukraine, and waive sanctions on Russia. How have energy markets adapted and eroded as a result of wars in the Middle East and Europe? How should we understand the new political economy of energy? On this episode of the Order from Ashes podcast, we hear about the changes and dangers to international energy markets from International Crisis Group’s Chris Newton and Michael Wahid Hanna, along with CIP Senior Non Resident Fellow Zachary Davis Cuyler.  Guests Chris Newton is Senior Analyst, Early Warning (EEARTH), at International Crisis Group Michael Wahid Hanna is U.S. program director at International Crisis Group CIP Senior Non Resident Fellow Zachary Davis Cuyler is a senior non-resident fellow at the Center for International Policy and a historian at the University of Illinois Chicago.  Hosts Rohan Advani is a non-resident fellow at the Center for International Policy and a junior research fellow at the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University. Thanassis Cambanis is vice president for research at the Center for International Policy. Related reading Chris Newton and Michael Wahid Hanna, “Five Energy Market Factors That Could Tip the Scales in the Middle East War,” International Crisis Group, October 1, 2026 Zachary Davis Cuyler, “New Pipelines Won’t Solve the Hormuz Crisis,” Century International, April 29, 2026 Date: Wednesday, October 21, 2026 Episode: Order from Ashes 122

Shownotes Brazil’s President Lula da Silva has forged a global reputation as a leader of the left. He’s also fighting for his political life after a surprising first-round loss to his rightwing challenger. Voters choose on October 24 in the second round between Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro, which Bolsonaro is favored to win. For long after, Brazil will navigate the twin governance failures of left and right.  On this episode of the Order from Ashes podcast, Nara Roberta Silva and CIP Senior Non Resident Fellow Michael Ahn Paarlberg analyze the dynamics that drove the first-round election results—and the wider implications as we track a worldwide overt contest between democracy and authoritarianism, rights and facism, socialist and market approaches. Guests Nara Roberta Silva is core faculty and Praxis Program head at the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research.  Michael Paarlberg is a fellow at the Center for International Policy and a political scientist at Virginia Commonwealth University. Hosts Rohan Advani is a non-resident fellow at the Center for International Policy and a junior research fellow at the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University. Thanassis Cambanis is vice president for research at the Center for International Policy. Related reading Nara Roberta Silva, “Lula 3.0 and the Austerity Trap: The Left in power, the Right in control,” Public Seminar, July 17, 2025 Michael Paarlberg with Kelsey Atherton, “Q&A: Brazil’s Elections and the Return of Bolsonarismo,” Center for International Policy, October 8, 2026 Date: Wednesday, October 14, 2026 Episode: Order from Ashes 121

Shownotes The United States withdrew from Iraq on September 30 at the request of the sovereign Iraqi government. It was the second time that the US has ended a war in Iraq since the 2003 invasion. The pullout — necessary and overdue — won’t bring much relief for Iraq, which is buckling under pressure from America’s latest war, against Iran, and the pressure cooker of militias that operate beyond state control. On this episode of the Order from Ashes podcast two authorities on Iraq and Afghanistan assess how America has gone about ending its forever wars. Fotini Christia is a political scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has done fieldwork in both countries. Sajad Jiyad is a fellow at the Center for International policy based in Baghdad. In ending some of its wars while starting others, has the US created conditions for future conflict and power vacuums, adding to the harms caused during its wars and occupations? Is there a better way to leave, or should we expect the end of US wars to be as messy as their onset? In what condition are the states that emerged from US occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan? Guests Fotini Christia is a political scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Sajad Jiyad is a senior non-resident fellow at the Center for International policy based in Baghdad. Hosts Rohan Advani is a non-resident fellow at the Center for International Policy and a junior research fellow at the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University. Thanassis Cambanis is vice president for research at the Center for International Policy. Date: Wednesday, October 7, 2026 Episode: Order from Ashes 120

Shownotes A dangerous, and entirely voluntary knowledge gap undermines U.S. policy. The government repeats some mistakes over and over – either oblivious to the results, or hard at work ignoring the damning evidence. Fiascos like the ongoing American war on Iran build on previous atrocities, including the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. Critical research and new knowledge are a necessary first step to end impunity and adopt an American foreign policy centered on justice, rights, and peace. How can researchers tip the balance? On this episode of Order from Ashes, we talk with the leaders of the Center for International Policy, Executive Vice President Matt Duss and President Nancy Okail, about the urgent need for research that radically reframes policymaking. Related reading “CIP Research Brings Fresh Ideas to Fight Bad Policy,” Center for International Policy, September 1, 2026 Participants Matt Duss is executive vice president at the Center for International Policy. Nancy Okail is a president of the Center for International Policy.. Thanassis Cambanis is vice president for research at the Center for International Policy. Date: September 30, 2026 Episode: Order from Ashes 119

Shownotes Serious research asks open-ended questions, and often produces insight but no clear answers. Every now and then, however, good-faith research hits the jackpot. That’s what happened when Century International fellow Peter Salisbury assembled a team that asked a deceptively simple question: how do Yemen’s Houthi rebels smuggle parts and build drones? The answer is a blockbuster research project that changes our understanding of the current war with Iran, and resoundingly demonstrates to policymakers that no amount of war can put the genie of modern arms supply chains back in the bottle. While the United States and its partners rely on brittle legacy strategies—billion-dollar weapons deals and unachievable plans to bomb enemies into total submission—those same adversaries are deftly adapting their ways of war to the modern global economy.  On this episode of Order from Ashes, Peter shares how his team tackled a question about Iran’s drone network and followed their research to its logical, and global, implications. No amount of war can solve political problems or eliminate states and state-supported movements, but Peter’s research suggests some steps that modern states must take if they want to operate in the modern globalized war economy.  “Beyond the Axis” will change your reading of today’s war and peace negotiations in the Middle East—and for much longer than that, will shape your perspective on the unstoppable, creative process by which militants and militant states are able to compete with vastly better-resourced powers. Related Reading Report, “Beyond the Axis,” by Peter Salisbury Launch event, “Worldwide Webs of Weapons: Beyond the Axis.” Report, “From Smugglers to Supply Chains: How Yemen’s Houthi Movement Became a Global Threat,” by Peter Salisbury, Henry Thompson, and Veena Ali-Khan.  Participants Peter Salisbury is a fellow at Century International. Thanassis Cambanis is director of Century International.  Date: Tuesday, July 7, 2026 Episode: Order from Ashes 118

Shownotes President Donald Trump launched his full-scale war on Iran in February without an announcement, a clear cause of war, or any declared goals. In similar fashion, the on-and-off hostilities came to some sort of close, for now, with a “memorandum of understanding” announced on June 15.  Six fellows at Century International join Order from Ashes for a first look at the deal. It’s not a peace treaty or even a formal ceasefire. Like much of what passes for diplomacy in recent years, it’s ad hoc, not binding, and includes no enforcement mechanism. If it’s not a real peace deal, what is it? Will Israel keep fighting expansionist wars anyway, or withdraw from Lebanon? How will the wealthy monarchies in the Gulf position themselves now that the war has punctured their branding as a safe haven removed from geopolitics?  Century International’s fellows help make sense of the agreement and what might change short of an outright, lasting end to the war. Participants Peter Salisbury is a fellow at Century International. Dahlia Scheindlin is a fellow at Century International. Nicholas Danforth is a fellow at Century International. Frederick Deknatel is a fellow at Century International. Rohan Advani is a fellow at Century International. Sam Heller is a fellow at Century International. Thanassis Cambanis is director of Century International.  Date: Wednesday, June 17, 2026 Episode: Order from Ashes 117

Shownotes Israel’s wars since October 7 have produced a great deal of death, displacement and destruction, but very little security. Nathan Brown, a political scientist and longtime scholar of hte Middle East, has cut through the confusion of recent history with a penetrating and provocative set of eight theses. Drawing on Israeli statements and discourse, he outlined in a recent essay the elements of Israel’s new doctrine. Prior to October 7, Brown argues, Israel used warfare as a means to a political outcome. Today, Israelis plan for war itself to be the end state. On this episode of Order from Ashes, he elaborates on his piercing description of Israel’s new doctrine, and why it’s not likely to produce security or stability for anyone. Readings Nathan Brown, “Rubble is Israel’s Doctrine, Not a Case of Improvisation,” Carnegie Endowment, May 21, 2026. Laura Silver and Laura Clancy, “Most people across 36 countries have negative views of Israel and little confidence in Netanyahu,” Pew Research, June 4, 2026  Participants Nathan J. Brown is professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University and a non-resident senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Thanassis Cambanis is director of Century International.  Date: Wednesday, June 10, 2026 Episode: Order from Ashes 116