Power Corrupts
47 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 2 years ago - ★★★★★ - 1.2K ratingsDoes power corrupt? Absolutely. This is the podcast about the hidden—and often nefarious—forces that shape our world. Election rigging. Smuggling. Narcopolitics. Ransom. Conspiracy Theories. North Korean bank heists. Cults. Drug Lords. Voodoo. Money laundering. Assassinations. Unhinged conspiracy theories. Unbelievable stories. Stitched together with the help of world-leading experts. Created and narrated by Dr. Brian Klaas, a political scientist and columnist for The Washington Post.
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Episodes
The Dark Side of AI
November 23, 2021 06:00 - 54 minutes - 75.2 MBArtificial intelligence is the frontier of human innovation. But it has a dark side, too. In this episode, we explore how AI intersects with everything from criminology to creative writing -- and in the process, we see how biased algorithms have the power to do enormous harm in modern society. You can support our work here: Patreon.com/powercorrupts And you can buy Brian’s book, Corruptible: Who Gets Power and How It Changes Us, here (or wherever you buy books): https://www....
Space Wars
November 16, 2021 06:00 - 43 minutes - 59.3 MBIs the next war going to happen in space? What are space weapons like, anyway? And why should we be worried about the space ventures of billionaires? In this episode, we look at the militarization of space, including everything from giant space mirrors to a new Chinese space weapon that flies right over the South Pole. You can support our work here: Patreon.com/powercorrupts And you can buy Brian’s new book, Corruptible: Who Gets Power and How It Changes Us, here (or wherever you...
Loot
November 09, 2021 06:00 - 51 minutes - 70.6 MBIs it a crime to steal back something that was once yours? That's the question we'll tackle this week, as we look at a string of sophisticated art heists aimed at reclaiming some stolen heritage objects. And we'll explore how Facebook is facilitating the illicit trafficking of stolen cultural objects, all out in the open. You can support our work here: Patreon.com/powercorrupts And you can buy Brian’s new book, Corruptible: Who Gets Power and How It Changes Us, here (or ...
Corruptible: Audiobook Excerpt
November 02, 2021 05:00 - 23 minutes - 31.8 MBThis week's episode is an excerpt from the opening chapter of Corruptible: Who Gets Power and How It Changes Us. (If you pre-order the book or audiobook, you're eligible for a bonus episode of Power Corrupts that won't be released publicly). You can support our work here: Patreon.com/powercorrupts And you can pre-order Brian’s new book, Corruptible: Who Gets Power and How It Changes Us, here (or wherever you buy books): https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Corruptib...
Does Power Corrupt?
November 01, 2021 05:00 - 45 minutes - 63 MBThe title of this podcast is Power Corrupts. But is that true? In this week's episode, host Brian Klaas has the microphone turned around on himself, as he's interviewed by Emma Nelson about his new book, Corruptible: Who Gets Power and How It Changes Us. You can support our work here: Patreon.com/powercorrupts And you can pre-order Brian’s new book, Corruptible: Who Gets Power and How It Changes Us, here (or wherever you buy books): https://www.simonandschuster.com/books...
War Criminal or Victim?
October 26, 2021 05:00 - 53 minutes - 49 MBThe International Criminal Court prosecutes perpetrators of horrific crimes. But what if the perpetrator is also a victim? That's the question we explore this week, with the disturbing tale of a child soldier who was kidnapped into a militia, but then rose the ranks to become a senior commander. After climbing the hierarchy, he began kidnapping more children and killing civilians. So, is he a victim, or is he a perpetrator? And is it possible to be both? You can support our...
Walk the Plank
October 19, 2021 05:00 - 35 minutes - 32.2 MBHow do you capture a pirate after they’ve hijacked a ship? In today’s episode, we look at two ingenious sting operations that managed to lure some pirates across borders to their arrest. And in the process, we’ll see how clever law enforcement agencies get around the problem of tracking down criminals across international borders. You can support our work here: Patreon.com/powercorrupts And you can pre-order Brian’s new book, Corruptible: Who Gets Power and How It Changes Us, her...
The Invisible Hook
October 12, 2021 05:00 - 46 minutes - 63.5 MBPirates can teach us quite a lot about democracy and economics. What can Blackbeard teach us about signaling theory? Why were pirates racially progressive for their era? And is it possible that pirate ships were laboratories for experiments with constitutional democracy? In this episode, we speak to Professor Peter Leeson of George Mason University, and Dr. Rebecca Simon, an expert on pirate history. You can get Professor Peter's book, The Invisible Hook at https://www.amazon.com/In...
Golden Handcuffs
October 05, 2021 05:00 - 55 minutes - 76 MBCan doing the wrong thing ever be the right policy? That’s a question we’ll tackle this week as we look at the possibility of letting some very bad people get away with their crimes…in order to prevent them from causing further damage. From drug kingpins to dictators, is it ever a good idea to just let them get away with it? This week’s episode features journalist Jaime Yaya Berry; human rights advocate Tutu Alicante; former Ambassador Charles Stith; and journalist Ioan Grillo. ...
Hitman for Hire
September 28, 2021 05:00 - 47 minutes - 65.2 MBWhat if you hacked a hitman-for-hire website and found out the identities of people who were slated to die before the murder? How much does it cost to hire a hitman on the Dark Web? And what if all of these supposed hitmen were just part of a giant, lucrative hoax? In this episode, we explore the stranger-than-fiction tale of hitmen services being sold on the darkest corners of the internet. Guests include Gian Volpicelli of Wired UK; Eileen Ormsby, a journalist and author; and R...
Fake IDs
September 21, 2021 05:00 - 54 minutes - 74.3 MBCould you fake your death and get away with it? In this episode, we look at fake identities, from people who've tried to fake their own deaths to an audacious wine fraudster who made millions as he sold new wine in old bottles. We speak to a private investigator who proves that people are, in fact alive, and a wine merchant who decided to act like an FBI agent in his quest to stake out a man who was making fake bottles of his wine. And in the process, we see glimpses of how identities ...
Do Not Disturb
September 14, 2021 05:00 - 53 minutes - 48.7 MBIs going into exile safe any longer? A few years ago, a former Rwandan intelligence chief hiding out in exile was found strangled to death in a Johannesburg hotel room. Hanging on the door outside was a “Do Not Disturb” sign. It had been placed there to buy the assassins a bit of extra time as they fled the country. This episode looks at the alarming rise in transnational repression and cross-border killings, where dictators and despots hunt down their enemies no matter where the...
Click Here To Kill Everybody
September 07, 2021 05:00 - 48 minutes - 66.8 MBIn early 2021, hackers infiltrated the software that controlled the city’s water supply in Oldsmar, Florida. Through dumb luck, they caught the intrusion shortly after the hacker tried to poison the city’s water. This hack was part of a growing array of attacks against the Internet of Things, objects that used to operate offline but are now connected to the internet—and therefore vulnerable to hacking. From Wi-Fi enabled tea kettles to cars that can be taken over remotely to knocking p...
The Shell Game
August 31, 2021 05:00 - 46 minutes - 63.3 MBWhen it comes to understanding the underworld of corruption and criminality, you can’t just look at the rich crooks. You also have to look at the lawyers who help them dot the i’s and cross the t’s as they try to stash their illicit cash somewhere offshore. And to accomplish that goal, you have to understand the world of shell companies, corporate entities that often exist only on paper to shield vast sums of wealth from the taxman or the prying eyes of journalists. It’s a dangerous wo...
The Billion Dollar Shack
August 31, 2021 05:00 - 42 minutes - 38.8 MBWe all know that offshore areas of financial secrecy exist. In this episode, we’re going to take a look at the origin story of one of them. It’s a story that will make you question the caricature you probably have in your head about why shadowy offshore economies develop. And it’s a story that involves, quite improbably, seabirds that made people rich, a failed musical about Leonardo Da Vinci….and a shack worth a billion dollars. You may not have heard of it, but you can rest assured t...
Power Corrupts Season 3: Returning 31st August 2021
August 05, 2021 13:47 - 2 minutes - 3.25 MBThey say power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. But when it comes to the underworld of corruption, murder, and greed, from drug cartels to hackers to political psychopaths, what you see is often just the tip of the iceberg. To understand how the world really works, you have to look at what's hidden below the surface. From Brian Klaas, professor of global politics and Washington Post columnist, the award-winning Power Corrupts podcast returns on August 31, 2021. Subscribe no...
Biological Weapons
April 09, 2020 05:00 - 50 minutes - 46 MBPandemics are horrifying. But what if one could be unleashed deliberately? How did ancient armies from the Greeks to the Mongol hordes use germ warfare? Why did America conduct tests on unsuspecting people in New York and San Francisco? Can biological weapons be developed to only infect a single person? And why is the US government researching how to use insects as taxis for viruses? Support the show on Patreon at Patreon.com/powercorrupts
Revolutions
April 02, 2020 05:00 - 54 minutes - 50 MBWhen revolutions happen, everything changes. In this episode, we'll look at why one revolution was launched when a rebel leader in southeast Asia started climbing trees; how Teddy Roosevelt's son led a CIA-backed coup in 1953 that contributed to the Iranian revolution; and why one East German guard had a bad day -- and forever changed history as a result. Support the show on Patreon at Patreon.com/powercorrupts ---- Power Corrupts is written and narrated by Brian Klaas. The executi...
Pandemics
March 26, 2020 05:00 - 52 minutes - 47.9 MBPandemics are as old as human civilisation, from the Plague of Athens to mysterious diseases that ravaged armies throughout history. But there's a lot you probably don't know about them. Why did "dancing plagues" erupt repeatedly in Medieval Europe as a result of "hot blood"? Why is calling it the "Spanish Flu" an egregious historical injustice? How do mathematical modellers incorporate Italian vs. American culture into their forecasting and predictions? And what did Isaac Newton manage to d...
Catastrophic Miscalculation
March 19, 2020 05:00 - 59 minutes - 40.9 MBHave you ever made a catastrophic mistake? What if your mistakes could cause an empire to fall, a war to start, or thirty million people to starve to death? History and politics are defined by catastrophic miscalculations -- those "oops" moments in which leaders cause immense damage because they just didn't think things through. Whether it's Mao's campaign to murder sparrows leading to a deadly famine; Burma's dictator crashing an economy by following astrology and his lucky number rather th...
Corruption in Plain Sight
March 12, 2020 05:00 - 51 minutes - 47.5 MBCorruption is usually hidden. But sometimes, it’s out in the open — either by design, or by incompetence. In this episode, we explore some unexpected hotspots of corruption and kleptocracy. How does a fugitive Malaysian playboy who allegedly stole billions still legally own a mansion in London? Why did a small town Massachusetts mayor try to accept big wads of dirty cash in a shed behind his house? And how did a money laundering expert get caught...laundering money? Support the show on Patr...
The Godfather of Fake News
March 05, 2020 06:00 - 53 minutes - 48.9 MBChristopher Blair has been called the Godfather of Fake News. He's an American troll. And whether you realized it or not, you've probably unknowingly read a fake news article that he's written, cooked up on his computer in rural Maine. So we traveled to Maine to meet him, to understand how one man makes a living by deceiving gullible people on Facebook — and the effect that his trolling has on democracy. Support the show on Patreon at Patreon.com/powercorrupts ---- Power Corrupts i...
The Unthinkable Olive Branch
February 27, 2020 06:00 - 58 minutes - 40 MBWhen a brutal dictatorship collapses, there's a big problem: everyone who knows how to run the government is someone who worked for the brutal dictator. It's a battle of pragmatism vs. justice. Should Nazi civil servants be allowed to keep their jobs? Do we need Saddam Hussein's handpicked henchmen, experts, and cronies to keep the electricity on? We'll speak to Ambassador Paul Bremer, who effectively ran Iraq from Saddam's palace from 2003-2004. And we'll talk to a torture victim who extend...
How to be a Dictator
February 20, 2020 06:00 - 57 minutes - 52.9 MBIf you're trying to consolidate power as a dictator, what's the best way to go about it? Is it better to be feared or loved? How do you eliminate your enemies? We'll speak to Garry Kasparov, former world chess champion who now plots his moves against Vladimir Putin. And we'll travel to Thailand to speak to a journalist who got kidnapped by a military junta in a surreal attempt to give him Stockholm Syndrome for his dictatorial captors. ---- Power Corrupts is written and narrated ...
Guns for Hire
February 13, 2020 06:00 - 52 minutes - 36.3 MBMercenaries are sometimes described as "the world's second oldest profession." But how do they operate today? Can mercenary armies topple dictatorships? Why did one mercenary plot get duped by a Congolese con artist who invented a fake rebel group? Should we pay ex-special forces soldiers to do our dirty work? We'll answer those questions as we speak to Simon Mann, a founding member of Executive Outcomes and a mercenary mastermind of the botched Wonga Coup plot. Support the show on Pat...
The Dark Art of Propaganda
February 06, 2020 06:00 - 59 minutes - 54.4 MBPropaganda has been around for thousands of years. But what separates the pros from the amateur propagandists? Why are North Korean radios made without dials? Who is Sister Potato and why is the Chinese government using her to convince people to eat potatoes? Why did American soldiers fight—and die—to steal phone books and undelivered mail for a propaganda radio station? And how does Iran shut down the internet? Welcome to Season 2 of Power Corrupts. Support the show on Patreon at Patreon....
Power Corrupts Season 2: Coming February 6th 2020
January 23, 2020 06:00 - 1 minute - 1.9 MBCome explore the dark side of power as we travel across the globe meeting the often unsavory characters who inhabit the hidden world of mercenaries, propaganda, biological weapons, information warfare and trolls, dirty money, psychopaths, corruption, dictators, and revolutions. Hosted by Dr. Brian Klaas, political scientist at University College London and weekly columnist for The Washington Post. -- Power Corrupts is written and narrated by Brian Klaas. The executive producer an...
Children of Monsters
August 22, 2019 05:00 - 59 minutes - 54.1 MBTo end our first season we look at Nepotism. What’s it like to be the son or daughter of a dictator? Why did one dictator’s son go from a high-flying life playing football in Italy to being shorn like a sheep in the hands of rebels? Why did the cannibal emperor of Bangui murder a woman who claimed to be his long-lost daughter? And in the cutthroat world of politics, is nepotism necessary to survive? We’ll answer those questions across the globe from Equatorial Guinea to Uzbekistan and from L...
The Anatomy of Evil
August 15, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour - 61.2 MBWhat makes ordinary people commit extraordinarily violent acts? Is it their brain chemistry? Social pressure? Or a charismatic leader telling them it's their patriotic duty? In this episode, we explore the morality of a scientist who gave life to billions--but also facilitated the murder of millions; a psychiatrist who studied the brains of Nazi war criminals; a Rwandan who lost most of her family in the 1994 genocide; and hear from two experts on how authoritarian leaders can convince seemi...
The Greatest Heists You’ve Never Heard Of
August 08, 2019 05:00 - 57 minutes - 52.9 MBWhen you think of heists, you probably think of masked men, bank robbers, and priceless art. But governments carry out heists, too. In this episode, we explore a billion dollar bank heist carried out by North Korean hackers; a heist carried out by a dictator who pledged to rule for a billion years (and was obsessed with mayonnaise); and a jewel heist that destroyed diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Thailand for a generation. Support the show on Patreon at Patreon.com/power...
From Dictator to Demigod
August 01, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour - 57 MBWhy do dictators and despots create outlandish myths about themselves? Why spread lies claiming that you've written 18,000 books or that you personally invented hamburgers? Why waste millions on a golden statue of yourself that rotates to face the sun? It turns out there's a method to their madness. In this episode, we examine some of the weirdest and most brutal dictators on the planet to understand the three step playbook for how despots across the globe try to transform themselves from fl...
Letters of Last Resort
July 25, 2019 05:00 - 58 minutes - 53.2 MBThe UK has a new prime minister. On his first day, Boris Johnson will handwrite four identical letters to the captains of Britain's nuclear submarines. They are one of the most closely guarded secrets of the British government. And those Letters of Last Resort will only be opened if London is wiped out by a nuclear blast. The letters must answer a straightforward but morally complex question: should the UK fire back with nuclear weapons? To deter nuclear attacks, the answer must be yes. But ...
Nukes
July 18, 2019 05:00 - 53 minutes - 49 MBHow did 2 guys you've never heard of save the world from nuclear apocalypse? Can nuclear weapons be hacked? What's the most consequential honeymoon in human history? Why was a British nuclear weapon designed to contain live chickens in the bomb casing? And why are nuclear bombs useful for detecting art forgeries? Support the show on Patreon at Patreon.com/powercorrupts ---- Power Corrupts is written and narrated by Brian Klaas. The executive producer and sound editor is George ...
Dirty Cash In / Clean Cash Out
July 11, 2019 05:00 - 50 minutes - 34.9 MBYou’ve probably heard of money laundering, but how does it actually work? How did billions of dollars of dirty gold from South America become clean cash in Florida and Ohio? How do crooks launder money using video games? Why are journalists getting killed for exposing money laundering? And what in the world is “cuckoo smurfing”? Support the show on Patreon at Patreon.com/powercorrupts ---- Power Corrupts is written and narrated by Brian Klaas. The executive producer and sound edito...
Blood Diamond / Blood Chocolate
July 04, 2019 05:00 - 59 minutes - 54.1 MBWhy are countries that are rich in natural resources so often poor and war-torn? You’ve probably heard of blood diamonds, but what about blood vanilla, blood microchips, or blood chocolate? How are rebels and terrorists funding themselves with watermelons and wheat? We crisscross the globe from Papua New Guinea to Madagascar to find out. Support the show on Patreon at Patreon.com/powercorrupts ---- Power Corrupts is written and narrated by Brian Klaas. The executive producer an...
An Eye for an Eye?
June 27, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour - 57.3 MBNick Yarris spent 22 years on death row. At one point, he even escaped. But then, right before he was slated to be executed, DNA evidence proved he was innocent. Is the death penalty justified? Can a just society execute people? Are you more likely to be executed if you kill a white person? And why do most death sentences come from a tiny number of American counties? Support the show on Patreon at Patreon.com/powercorrupts ---- Power Corrupts is written and narrated by Brian Kl...
Witnessing 283 Executions
June 20, 2019 05:00 - 52 minutes - 47.8 MBWhat's something that you do every 2 weeks? For Michelle Lyons, over a span of 12 years, she watched someone get executed every two weeks in Texas. What are inmates like on their last day alive? Did she have misgivings watching people take their last breath? And what do people who are strapped to the gurney actually say for their final statements? Support the show on Patreon at Patreon.com/powercorrupts ---- Power Corrupts is written and narrated by Brian Klaas. The executive pr...
Assassinations
June 13, 2019 05:00 - 58 minutes - 53.5 MBWhy did the CIA try to kill an African political leader with poisoned toothpaste? How did a sturdy couch save a leader from being killed during an elaborate plot involving a self-sinking boat and a collapsing ceiling? Was a recent attempt to blow up Venezuela's dictator with a small consumer drone a genuine attack, or just a pretext to crack down on his political opponents? Is democracy more likely to emerge when dictators are assassinated, or does it just make the situation worse? And which...
International Arms Trade
June 06, 2019 05:00 - 59 minutes - 54.3 MBWhy did the war in Afghanistan hinge on the ability of a teenager to help buy 100 million bullets for the US military? Where do you even go to buy 100 million bullets? What are international arms dealers actually like? Is the US facilitating war crimes in Yemen while simultaneously transferring weapons to terrorists? And why is so much of the world's corruption wrapped up in gunrunning? Support the show on Patreon at Patreon.com/powercorrupts ---- Power Corrupts is written and...
Smuggling
May 30, 2019 05:00 - 59 minutes - 54.9 MBWhat's the best way to smuggle a crocodile onto an airplane? What is the journey actually like for migrants getting smuggled from Afghanistan to Australia? Why is the European Union paying migrant smugglers in Niger to open bakeries? Will Trump's proposed border wall actually do anything to stop smuggling? And how should you go about smuggling your pet turtle onto an airplane? Support the show on Patreon at Patreon.com/powercorrupts ---- Power Corrupts is written and narrated b...
Ransom
May 23, 2019 05:00 - 53 minutes - 48.6 MBWhat's it like to be held by Somali pirates for 977 days? Or to meet your Dad for the first time after he's been held in a basement in Beirut for nearly 7 years? Are you more likely to be killed as a hostage if you're American than if you're French? And how does economic game theory help us answer the question: what is the price of your freedom? Support the show on Patreon at Patreon.com/powercorrupts ---- Power Corrupts is written and narrated by Brian Klaas. The executive pro...
Disinformation and Deep Fakes
May 16, 2019 05:00 - 54 minutes - 37.6 MBDisinformation is a powerful weapon. It forces your enemy to inflict damage upon themselves based upon lies that you've deliberately spread. How did a homeless man's corpse help win World War II? How does reality television function in Russia, given that the media is so tightly controlled? And what happens when fake video gets so good that we can't tell the difference between fiction and reality? Support the show on Patreon at Patreon.com/powercorrupts ---- Power Corrupts is wr...
Voodoo, Vampires, and General Butt Naked
May 09, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour - 55.5 MBWhy did a West African rebel leader send his troops into battle completely naked, protected only by talismans? How did threats of voodoo and invisible zombies stave off a US invasion of Haiti? And why was a journalist nearly killed when local villagers mistakenly thought he was a vampire? In this episode, we explore the wild and weird world of the politics of magic and witchcraft. Support the show on Patreon at Patreon.com/powercorrupts ---- Power Corrupts is written and narrated b...
Narcopolitics
May 01, 2019 20:18 - 59 minutes - 54.7 MBHow have drugs been used in warfare? Why does the cocaine in London nightclubs pass through a dictatorship in West Africa? Why did British soldiers get high on hallucinogens and try to talk to birds? How does heroin bought in the West create a market for child brides? And, should we legalize some drugs? Support the show on Patreon at Patreon.com/powercorrupts ------ Power Corrupts is written and narrated by Brian Klaas. The executive producer is George McDonagh. Theme mu...
Conspiracy Theories
May 01, 2019 20:06 - 55 minutes - 51.1 MBWhy do some people believe unhinged conspiracy theories? How are they affecting our politics? How did insane theories—like QAnon—convert millions of people? Did John Kerry split a hurricane in half with a laser beam from Antarctica? What's really lurking beneath the Denver airport? And what can we do about these unhinged beliefs, given that America now has a Conspiracy-Theorist-in-Chief? Support the show on Patreon at Patreon.com/powercorrupts ------ Power Corrupts is written and...
How to Rig an Election
May 01, 2019 20:05 - 50 minutes - 46.5 MBHow do you rig an election—and get away with it? Why did a cult try to poison an entire county to win a local election? And what about using disappearing ink, or threatening arson, or name doubles? This episode shows how the amateurs rig elections — with hilarious mix-ups and puréed beavers — and how the pros get away with it. Support the show on Patreon at Patreon.com/powercorrupts ------ Power Corrupts is written and narrated by Brian Klaas. The executive producer is Geor...
Introducing Power Corrupts
March 24, 2019 22:46 - 2 minutes - 3.32 MBDoes power corrupt? Absolutely. This is the podcast about the hidden—and often nefarious—forces that shape our world. Election rigging. Smuggling. Narcopolitics. Ransom. Conspiracy Theories. North Korean bank heists. Cults. Drug Lords. Voodoo. Money laundering. Assassinations. Unhinged conspiracy theories. Unbelievable stories. Hear the trailer now and subscribe. Season 2 coming February 6th 2020. ---- Power Corrupts is written and narrated by Brian Klaas. The executi...