Week in Review: Abbas’s True Colors, China’s Propaganda, Iran’s Espionage, Hawaiians’ Confessionals, and Much More

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas speaks at the Palestinian Central Council on January 14.
Issam Rimawi/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Week in Review: Abbas’s True Colors, China’s Propaganda, Iran’s Espionage, Hawaiians’ Confessionals, and Much More

Show Notes

  • Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas is viewed as a moderate, a legitimate leader of a future Palestinian state. But in a speech this past week he once again revealed his true colors by denying Israel’s history in the Middle East.
  • Cambodia’s leader was a strong opponent of the regime of Pol Pot and has been a strong critic of China for its part in supporting him—but recently he has done a dramatic about-face, a sign of China’s growing power.
  • German police raided several locations that were conducting surveillance on targets in their country—apparently on orders from Iran’s secret service.
  • A false alert warning of an incoming missile attack has many people in Hawaii rethinking their lives. There’s a lesson here about human nature and our tendency to put off hard questions until times of crisis.
  • We’ll also talk about Italy approving a military mission into North Africa, an assassination in Kosovo that could reignite violence in the Balkans, more evidence of authoritarianism in the Philippines, and more.

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