Hafta 338: Pegasus snooping, Afghanistan war, and Tokyo Olympics

Time Codes:

0:57 - Headlines

5:45 - Pegasus snooping

49:30 - Afghanistan crisis

1:24:15 - Tokyo Olympics

1:34:24 - Subscriber emails

1:54:13 - Recommendations

This week, Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal and Manisha Pande are joined by Siddharth Varadarajan, founding editor of the Wire, and Happymon Jacob, author, commentator and JNU professor.

Siddharth talks about his organisation's reporting on the revelations that dozens of Indian activists, politicians and journalists – including the Wire editor himself – were targets or potential targets of surveillance using the Israeli spyware Pegasus. In this context, Manisha explains the dangers that such surveillance poses to journalists and press freedom in the country.

Happymon analyses the Taliban’s rapid advance in Afghanistan following the withdrawal of American troops after 20 years of war. If the situation doesn’t change soon, he predicts, “it’s only a matter of time before the Taliban take power in Kabul.

Amid public health concerns given the coronavirus pandemic and several athletes backing out, Abhinanadan opines that the Tokyo Olympics “is not going to achieve what the Olympics is supposed to”.

Listen.

Raman

Allen vs Farrow

Manisha

Somebody has to do the dirty work

The Pegasus Project Podcast series

No one is saying the Pegasus list is fake. Why are BJP leaders and their media allies insisting it is?

Abhinandan

The Pegasus Project articles on the Wire

Video Gaming The System

Explained: Pegasus Project

Happymon Jacob

Family Man

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