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What happens when a veteran from the Associated Press and a behavior analyst sit down—not to agree, but to think out loud? In this wide-ranging conversation, Dan Perry, former AP chief for Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the Caribbean, joins Thomas S. Karat for an unscripted, sometimes uncomfortable, but deliberately honest exchange about where the world finds itself now—not where it was supposed to be. This is not a checklist interview. It’s a collision of perspectives. Starting from the shockwaves of Trump’s return to power and the strangely insulated atmosphere at Davos, the discussion moves through deeper structural questions: who actually holds power today, which institutions still constrain it, and which ones are quietly eroding. Tariffs, courts, executive authority, and the role of so-called “middle powers” are not treated as abstract policy issues, but as signals—symptoms of a global order that no longer behaves as advertised. The conversation then turns, inevitably, to Israel–Palestine. Not in slogans, not in absolutes, but in hard contradictions. Gaza, Hamas, Israeli politics, resistance, legitimacy, and the narrowing space for political imagination are examined without pretending there are clean answers. Karat presses on how narratives are formed; Perry pushes back from long experience inside global media institutions. At times they agree. Often they don’t. That tension is the point. Running beneath everything is a shared concern—even when conclusions diverge—about democracy under pressure and journalism’s role in that struggle. What happens when media no longer mediates reality but filters it? When courts become political terrain? When public discourse collapses into moral binaries? This interview is for viewers who are less interested in being told what to think, and more interested in understanding how serious people think under conditions of uncertainty, power, and conflict. If you’re looking for comfort, this isn’t it.If you’re looking for clarity through friction—you’re in the right place. 🔔 Subscribe for long-form interviews and behavioral analysis of global politics 🧠 Thomas S. Karat Substack: https:// karat.substack.com 🧠 Dan Perry Substack: https://predictivehistory.substack.com 💬 Join the discussion in the comments (disagreement welcome, slogans not required) Send us a text Don't forget to follow or subscribe to our Podcasts on your favorite platform so you never miss an update. If you loved it, leave us a review and let us know what you think! You can follow us on YouTube, Twitter (X), TikTok, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and many more.