American Thought Leaders

The Epoch Times
The Epoch Times
  • 4.9 (1.2K)
  • Politics
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At a time when our nation is portrayed as increasingly polarized, media often ignore viewpoints and stories that are worthy of attention. American Thought Leaders, hosted by The Epoch Times Senior Editor Jan Jekielek, features in-depth discussions with some of America’s most influential thought leaders on pertinent issues facing our nation today.

  1. 1d ago

    She Escaped North Korea 3 Times. Half of Her Family Didn’t Survive | Grace Jo

    Grace Jo was born in North Korea and nearly starved to death as a child during the country’s devastating famine in the 1990s. Her father crossed into China in search of food for his family, only to be tortured and die after returning to North Korea. Her grandmother and two younger brothers died of starvation. And her oldest sister disappeared while searching for food. The family suspects she became a victim of human trafficking in China. Jo still remembers that her grandmother’s dying wish was to eat a baked potato. It was a wish the family could not fulfill. At six years old, Jo first crossed the Tumen River into China with her mother and sister. In China, they lived in hiding—ever fearful of being sent back to North Korea. Jo was repatriated twice before finally escaping North Korea for the last time. Her story is a haunting account of survival, loss, and hope that shows the brutal reality of life under North Korea’s regime and the determination, resilience, and sheer luck it takes to escape it. In 2008, with the help of a missionary, Jo, her mother, and her older sister made it to the United States. She became a U.S. citizen in 2013. Today, she is the founder of the Broken Chains Foundation, formerly the Grace Jo Foundation. And through the Dissident Project, she speaks regularly at schools and other venues, sharing her story to educate young people about the realities of totalitarian and communist regimes. Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

    She Escaped North Korea 3 Times. Half of Her Family Didn’t Survive | Grace Jo

  2. 3d ago

    How Tech Overlords Profit Off AI Predictions | Carissa Véliz

    Is the end of privacy inevitable? Is programmable money inevitable? Is it inevitable that artificial intelligence will eliminate most of the world’s white-collar jobs? Oxford professor Carissa Véliz argues that such claims are a red flag. She’s the author of the new book “Prophecy: Prediction, Power, and the Fight for the Future.” Someone who says a future is inevitable is trying to get you to do something and benefit from your belief, she argues. She is convinced that such self‑fulfilling prophecies only work if we believe them and she urges people to defy these narratives by asking: Who is predicting this future? Who benefits? What data supports it—and what missing data might contradict it? Véliz is a philosopher and author who specializes in privacy and the ethics of artificial intelligence. She is an associate professor of philosophy at the Institute for Ethics in AI and a Fellow at Hertford College at the University of Oxford. Prediction, Véliz explains, is a business model: diagnose a problem, promise that more data will solve it, then sell tools to analyze the huge datasets institutions don’t know how to use. Throughout history, rulers have attached themselves to prophets. Today, that role is played by immensely rich and powerful tech executives who advise governments and control key infrastructure and access to citizens via social media. In our interview, we discuss how surveillance and behavioral prediction undermine and erode an open society where people should have the freedom to speak, protest, and be anonymous. Other questions we discuss: Do “digital natives” like Gen Z and Gen Alpha—who have never experienced a true non-digital world—even understand the role of privacy? And what are the best antidotes to the harms of digital life? Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

    How Tech Overlords Profit Off AI Predictions | Carissa Véliz

  3. 6d ago

    EXCLUSIVE: Kash Patel: The FBI’s War on Scam Centers Around the World

    In this exclusive interview with FBI Director Kash Patel, we dive into the FBI’s campaign to take down scam centers around the world, from Burma to the United Arab Emirates. Last year, the FBI launched Operation Blackout, a 16-month campaign that dismantled four of the world’s largest scam centers. Working with international partners—notably including China’s Ministry of Public Security—the FBI seized over $15 billion, arrested more than 300 individuals, and freed thousands of trafficked victims who had been forced to work at these scam compounds. The amount of money Americans have reported losing to fraud has increased over threefold from 2020 to 2025, according to data from the Federal Trade Commission. And nearly half of that in 2025 went to romance cryptocurrency scams—known as pig-butchering scams. Scammers use texts to build trust before luring victims into fake investments that drain their life savings. Then they move and launder the money through crypto wallets. So what can people do to avoid being scammed? Will the FBI be returning all the seized money? And why has the FBI chosen to work with China on tackling these scam compounds? How can the Chinese regime be trusted to work in good faith? In this wide-ranging interview, we also discuss the FBI’s fight to catch spies, investigate transnational repression, cut bureaucratic red tape, and prevent the next terrorist attack. Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

    EXCLUSIVE: Kash Patel: The FBI’s War on Scam Centers Around the World

  4. Aug 7

    How One Peace Agreement Gave America a New Route Through Iran and Russia’s Backyard | Ambassador Narek Mkrtchyan

    Almost a year after the Washington Declaration, Armenia is trying to turn a hard-won peace with Azerbaijan into something lasting. In this conversation, Armenia’s ambassador to the United States, Narek Mkrtchyan, explains what the agreement means on the ground and why the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity could reshape the region and the country’s future. “We sit in a very tough neighborhood. We sit in a very interesting geography. We are at the crossroads of Europe, Middle East, Central Asia, South Caucasus,” Mkrtchyan says. Mkrtchyan describes how Armenia is trying to turn geography into strategy through the development of diplomacy, new trade routes, and international partnerships. He views this as more than a peace process—it’s a chance to redefine Armenia’s place in the region. “In the center is the concept of crossroads of peace,” Mkrtchyan says. Recently, Armenia also got approval for the biggest artificial intelligence factory in the region—a $4 billion project that officials say could help make the country a hub for computing power and advanced technology. Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

    How One Peace Agreement Gave America a New Route Through Iran and Russia’s Backyard | Ambassador Narek Mkrtchyan

  5. Aug 5

    The Multi-Billion Dollar Industry Using Trafficked Slaves to Scam Americans | Timothy Blackwood

    Americans are ripped off in the billions annually through romance “pig-butchering” scams—the most dominant type. But who’s really behind them? The shocking reality is the vast majority of these scammers are trafficked victims, enslaved across more than 60 countries and forced to scam or face torture. “You’re working 17-hour days. You’re catatonic. You’re not getting sleep. You start to doze. They‘ll electrocute you, and if you refuse to scam, they’ll torture you,” said Timothy Blackwood, an award-winning Canadian-American film director. His film “Scam Slave: From Hell to Home” follows a Ugandan man promised a high-paying job in Thailand, only to be kidnapped by a Myanmar-based crime syndicate. “There’s all different types of scams going on there. There’s villas, there’s strip clubs, there’s clinics to support the staff that are managing and running these compounds,” Blackwood says. These scam centers in Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar generate billions that fund even more advanced operations. “It’s not simply in the horrific statistics of how many billions of dollars are being scammed from Americans annually, but the human cost to people’s lives.” In this episode, I dive into how these operations stay hidden and what can actually be done to stop them. Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

    The Multi-Billion Dollar Industry Using Trafficked Slaves to Scam Americans | Timothy Blackwood

  6. Aug 1

    The Hidden Realities of Buying Eggs, Sperm, or a Womb | Katy Faust

    💰Protect your wealth with precious metals! Call American Hartford Gold today & get up to $20,000 in free silver on your 1st order! Call 855-862-3377 or text AMERICAN to 65532 or click here: https://ept.ms/ATL-AHG Since the sexual revolution and the introduction of no-fault divorce in 1969, the institution of marriage in America has undergone a profound transformation. Katy Faust, founder of children’s rights organization Them Before Us and co-author of a book by the same name, argues that marriage has changed from a permanent, child-centered union to a vehicle for adult fulfillment. And now new reproductive technologies—from IVF to surrogacy—are making parenthood possible in ways never seen before. For many, this is progress. But at what cost? Faust argues that for decades, we have prioritized adult desire over a child’s fundamental right to be known, loved, and raised by their biological mother and father. In this episode, she walks me through many complex questions: What makes something a natural right? What is the true impact of divorce on children? Why isn’t surrogacy just a neutral transaction? And for countries facing shrinking birth rates, why is IVF perhaps not the right solution? Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

    The Hidden Realities of Buying Eggs, Sperm, or a Womb | Katy Faust

  7. Jul 31

    How the CCP Is Turning America Against Itself | Tianliang Zhang

    The values Americans hold dear—such as freedom of speech, religious liberty, and democratic elections—are weaponized by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), says Tianliang Zhang, an author, historian, and popular commentator on China affairs. In this episode, he argues that the CCP devised a master plan called “America against America” to exploit those very freedoms and openness in order to undermine U.S. interests. The concept was developed by Wang Huning in 1989, chairman of China’s top political advisory body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). “But how to implement that, that’s the unrestricted war,” Zhang says. Unrestricted warfare is a CCP doctrine of leveraging everything as a tool of war, whether it be fentanyl, the media, or election integrity. How is this war waged in practice? The transnational repression targeting Falun Gong practitioners is one such example. The Falun Gong meditation practice was popular in China during the 1990s. An estimated 70 million to 100 million people took it up, crediting it for health benefits and mental well-being. In 1999, the CCP unleashed a nationwide persecution, subjecting the practitioners to various abuses, including slave labor and forced organ harvesting. “CCP sees it as [the] number one threat in its history … so they use American media, they use the freedom of speech here, they use the justice system here to persecute Falun Gong [practitioners],” Zhang said. The CCP’s goal, Zhang says, is to “eliminate all the independent thoughts” that do not conform to communist ideology. Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

    How the CCP Is Turning America Against Itself | Tianliang Zhang

  8. Jul 29

    How Cuba Penetrated America’s Security Elite | John Suarez

    🔥IMMERSED: Round closes July 30. Invest before the round closes. Learn more about Immersed here: https://ept.ms/44RDBfk “The Cuban regime has been very successful at portraying itself as harmless,” but in reality, Cuba’s intelligence service is “more formidable than the KGB,” says John Suarez, the executive director of the Center for a Free Cuba. A new 100 page State Department report details the full scope of Cuba’s operations, penetrating all levels of the U.S. government, including the CIA and State Department. How did a country like Cuba become what the State Department describes as the “capital of 21st century communism?” Suarez says the regime’s long-term infiltration operations recruit agents early, especially via university exchanges. For instance, Ana Belén Montes spied for Cuba for 17 years as a senior Defense Intelligence Agency analyst, leaking critical information that compromised U.S. intelligence operations. In another case, a high-ranking U.S. diplomat, Victor Manuel Rocha, shaped American foreign policy for 40 years to benefit Havana until his arrest in 2023. The Chinese Communist Party is among Cuba’s top backers, installing infrastructure in Cuba to spy on U.S. communications. In this episode, we trace how this small island built a global intelligence network and how sympathizers in free societies help whitewash the regime. Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

    How Cuba Penetrated America’s Security Elite | John Suarez
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At a time when our nation is portrayed as increasingly polarized, media often ignore viewpoints and stories that are worthy of attention. American Thought Leaders, hosted by The Epoch Times Senior Editor Jan Jekielek, features in-depth discussions with some of America’s most influential thought leaders on pertinent issues facing our nation today.

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