American Prestige Daniel Bessner & Derek Davison

Danny and Derek welcome to the podcast Khalid Medani—associate professor of political science, director of the Institute of Islamic Studies, and chair of the African Studies Program at McGill University—for a deep dive into the conflict that has engulfed Sudan since last Spring. They delve into its roots going back to the 1989 coup, break down the makeup of the primary combatants (the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces), how these groups are able to continue recruiting and maintain support networks, the conflict’s catastrophic humanitarian crisis and regional effects, foreign mercenaries and whether it has become a proxy war, efforts of local civil leaders to quell the fighting, and what things might look like moving forward.
As Khalid noted, two places to which he recommends you donate are the Sudanese Doctors Union or the Sudan Solidarity Collective.
Some of Khalid’s recent work:
* “The Struggle for Sudan” from Middle East Report’s Spring 2024 issue is a primer on Sudan.
* Middle East Research and Information Project’s Spring 2024 issue has multiple contributors, including Khalid, writing about the conflict.
* His book Black Markets and Militants: Informal Networks in the Middle East and Africa, which is free via Open Access.
* “Opinion: The brutal conflict in Sudan is not a civil war. It’s a war on civilians” from The Globe and Mail.


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In light of the untimely death of engineer/producer/musician Steve Albini, we wanted to share an interview Danny did with him for an upcoming (non-American Prestige) podcast on grunge music. This was recorded in August 2020.

Derek welcomes back to the pod , associate professor in the School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Cincinnati and non-resident fellow at the Quincy Institute, to discuss the situations in Niger and Chad now that the two nations have respectively kicked out most US troops. They discuss the State Department’s underwhelming treatment of some African heads of state, how this dynamic differs when working with a military junta, what specifically precipitated the US withdrawals from Niger and Chad, AFRICOM’s security-focused framing, how Russia’s role in the region factors into things, and more.
Be sure to check out Alex’s new Substack Sawahil, the successor to his excellent Sahel Blog.


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Danny and Derek are back with Bryan Pitts, assistant director of the Latin American Institute at UCLA, talking about the history of Brazil. We’re now into the 19th century and Brazilian independence. The group discusses what led to this moment, the changing racial dynamics, liberalism in Brazil vs its European form, the emergence of coffee as its predom…

In a follow-up to our special on students' pro-Palestine organizing, Danny speaks with Josh Rushing, founding member of Al Jazeera English and senior correspondent for its program Fault Lines, about the crackdown on Palestine advocacy on campuses since October 7 and what it means for academic freedom. They discuss his Fault Lines documentary on the subject, post-2016 university organizing, dubious charges of “anti-Semitism”, why Israel is so focused on college demonstrations, the myriad ways that “the Palestine exception” is initiated, and more.


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Antony Blinken might claim to play the blues, but Danny and Derek have to deliver…the news. This week: in Palestine/Israel, the latest round of Gaza ceasefire talks (0:42), Netanyahu panics over a potential International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant (6:54), and Blinken backs off of a threat to use the Leahy Law against IDF troops despite evidence of human rights abuses (10:39); Colombia announces that it will cut diplomatic ties with Israel (15:26); Saudi Arabia pushes for a security deal with the US (18:58); in Sudan, an imminent RSF attack on El Fasher in North Darfur (24:01); the US agrees to withdraw forces from Chad (25:26); Dutch PM Mark Rutte may be in line to become secretary general of NATO (28:33); new US sanctions will target Chinese firms supplying Russia (30:46); Ukrainian forces are falling back in Donetsk (33:10); in Haiti, a surprise PM appointment sparks dispute (35:04); and a New Cold War update featuring the potential addition of South Korea and New Zealand to AUKUS (37:09) and the Solomon Islands parliament’s election of a new PM friendly to China (39:50).
Note: There will be no news next Friday, May 10, but there will be an interview episode!


This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.americanprestigepod.com/subscribe