This is a special episode from Project Brazen. How did Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich end up wrongfully imprisoned in Russia, and what happens now? On March 29, Russian authorities arrested Evan and accused him of spying on Russia on behalf of the US government. Evan was imprisoned in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison, where he remains today. In this special podcast episode from Project Brazen, you’ll hear from those close to Evan — his friends, newsroom colleagues, even his former...

This week on People Like Us, we’re sharing a preview of Dynamite Doug, the latest investigative podcast from Project Brazen. Hosted by Ellen Wong (of Netflix’s GLOW and Scott Pilgrim), the 6-part series delves into the alleged crimes of Douglas Latchford, an art dealer who collaborated with a genocidal regime to loot Cambodia’s entire cultural heritage. Latchford’s stolen goods remain in the New York Metropolitan Museum to this day. This is the story the art world doesn’t want told. To keep...

This is a preview of Project Brazen's latest investigative podcast, The Sound: Mystery of Havana Syndrome. To listen to the rest of this episode, search for THE SOUND: Mystery of Havana Syndrome, wherever you get your podcasts. In December 2016, a US official in Havana reported a debilitating and confounding  illness. The symptoms included headaches; nausea; hearing loss; problems with memory and vision. Soon, a second official came down with the same symptoms. Then a third. Then a fourth....

In this episode, Kim is joined by executive producer Bradley Hope to talk about Project Brazen, their projects, and how the People Like Us podcast came about and why it matters. Throughout this first season, we also asked you to send us your questions about the show, the topics you heard and general questions about the Middle East and American foreign policy. Social media manger Nour Abdel Latif makes an appearance to bring us listeners’ questions. (This episode was produced with help from...

A conversation with violinist Haig Papazian and designer Jamal Saleh. In this bonus episode, host Kim Ghattas takes you behind the scenes of the creative process of the music and the logo of the show, the identity and diversity within both. From the onset, Project Brazen and Kim wanted to showcase local talent from the Middle East. Haig Papazian created the original music of this podcast. He’s the violinist of the iconic indie rock band from Lebanon, Mashrou Leila, whose concerts electrified...

Every season, People Like Us sits down with one public figure from the region or beyond, to  unpack their take on the Middle East, geopolitics, culture, global trends and their own journey. In this episode, I speak to Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman, long time American diplomat, now a fellow at the Brookings Institution to find more about how U.S. foreign policy is made, what are its limitations and its possibilities as well as the highs and lows of his career. From meeting Iranian Supreme Leader...

Can we understand a culture and a region when we don’t read its authors? And what nuances do we miss when we read them in translation? How are authors and poets from the Middle East reaching new audiences? I speak to poet Zeina Hashem Beck, from Lebanon, living in California, about being an Arab Anglophone poet, how the duality of language shapes her work and the audience she is hoping to reach. Then off to Las Vegas to meet Egyptian novelist in exile, Ahmad Naji who spent time in an Egyptian...

How do the new restrictions on abortion in the U.S. impact the battle for reproductive rights in the rest of the world? What does My Body My Choice mean in the Middle East? Across the region, abortion is mostly illegal but also easily available, for those who can afford it and because it is usually permissible to save a mother’s life. I speak first to Nana Abulseoud from RESURJ, in Cairo, about her reaction to the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the global battle to preserve progress made on...

From Syria to Ukraine, the devastation of war is overwhelming after 11 years of war in one and barely one in the other. In Syria it started with a civilian uprising against dictator Bashar al Assad. Then in 2015, Vladimir Putin stepped in to shore him up. In both Syria and Ukraine, Russia carried out the indiscriminate bombing of civilian targets and a scorched earth policy. But only now, in Ukraine, is there talk of Putin’s war crimes. In this episode I talk to Wafa Ali Mustafa, in exile in...

In this episode I explore the world of film in the Arab world and talk to directors and producers who are pushing the boundaries. I speak to Jordan’s Tima Shomali, director of an Arabic language original Netflix series Al Rawabi School for Girls, a huge hit about teenage girls and bullying, which is now going into its second season, and Lebanon’s Wissam Smayra, director of the first Arab Netflix original film, Perfect Strangers a remake of an Italian film about a dinner party that goes awry....

In the first episode of People like Us, I bring you to the heart of the show’s purpose and genesis of its concept, connecting the dots between far away places that have been on my mind. Even before Putin invaded Ukraine, the global world order was imploding with stunning rapidity as Xi Jinping’s China strangled Hong Kong, Lebanon’s economy crashed and Afghanistan fell to Taliban rule. What does it mean for people there, and people like us everywhere? I speak to Muqadessa Yourish, a former...

A new podcast show hosted from Beirut by NYT best selling author, Kim Ghattas, connecting the dots between today’s Middle East and the world, how it works and why it matters to you, wherever you are. From Dubai to Kyiv, from Amman to Las Vegas, every episode brings you conversations with great people doing great things in the region and beyond, breaking barriers, connecting people around pressing themes and defining issues of the moment for people everywhere, from impunity in war to...

Coming Soon - People Like Us!