Vox

Our allies can no longer trust us. So now what? - March 13, 2026 - Vox
Venezuela. Greenland. Iran.
Things have been moving so quickly that we weren't even at war with Iran when we recorded this episode of The Gray Area with Sean Illing. It’s only March, but it’s been a long year.
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The war in Iran is only the latest sign that something deep is shifting in our global politics. Alliances fraying. Norms weakening. Democracies wobbling. So what exactly is happening? Is the liberal international order slowly eroding? Is it just going through a particularly turbulent chapter? Or are we watching it all collapse?
Sean talks with Zack Beauchamp, author of Vox’s On the Right newsletter, about the global democratic backslide and whether the American-led liberal order is slipping, imploding, or just going through a rough patch. Their conversation, which was recorded before the conflict in Iran, digs into the Greenland saga, alliance politics, and why democratic decay can be both obvious and hard to see at the same time.
Host: Sean Illing (@SeanIlling)
Guest: Zack Beauchamp (@zackbeauchamp)
1:10 Covering democracy and the rise of the right
5:45 The US-led world order
11:10 Democratic peace theory
15:55 Trump vs. the world order
21:36 If the world order shifts, what happens to America?
25:00 Is this an era of liberal decadence?
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The banana is under threat - March 12, 2026 - Vox
Bananas are one of the world’s most popular fruits. They’re a staple crop in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. In the US, the average person eats more than 25 pounds of bananas per year.
The banana found in nearly every lunch bag, smoothie, and cereal is likely a Cavendish banana (a single variety that accounts for 99 percent of global exports), despite there being over 1,000 different species of bananas. This kind of uniformity is what allows the beloved banana to be cheap, durable, and ubiquitous.
It also makes them extremely vulnerable.
A variant of Panama disease, a soil fungus that once wiped out the world’s most commercial banana, the Gros Michel, in the 1950s, is back. And this time, there’s no obvious replacement for it waiting around the corner. So what will it take to save one of the world’s most beloved fruits?
This video explores how monocropping became both a blessing and a curse in the search for the most commercially viable banana, how this assumed ubiquity could lead to the end of the banana as we know it, and what scientists are doing to prevent the extinction of the Cavendish.
Read more about the future of bananas:
Yes, we have no bananas? (Again!) | US International Trade Commission: https://www.usitc.gov/publications/332/executive_briefings/ebot_decarlo_legrand_bananas.pdf
The Most Interesting Fruit in the World | Freakonomics: https://freakonomics.com/podcast/the-most-interesting-fruit-in-the-world-ep-375/
A Banana-Destroying Fungus Has Arrived in the Americas | Smithsonian: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/banana-destroying-fungus-has-arrived-americas-180972892/
How superbananas can heal the world | TEDx Talks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jOvgP76jy0
Interpreting the 1954 U.S. Intervention in Guatemala: Realist, Revisionist, and Postrevisionist Perspectives | History Cooperative: https://historycooperative.org/journal/interpreting-the-1954-u-s-intervention-in-guatemala-realist-revisionist-and-postrevisionist-perspectives/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World by Dan Koeppel
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How do you bring the FIFA World Cup™ to the world? [Partner content from Verizon] - March 11, 2026 - Vox
The FIFA World Cup 2026™ will be the largest sporting event of all time. With millions attending in person and another billions more tuning in across the globe, designing a network to support all those fans is no easy feat. So, how do you prepare for the most technologically advanced FIFA World Cup™ to date? Partner content from Verizon, official Sponsor of the FIFA World Cup™
Learn more at http://www.verizon.com/FIFAWorldCup
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You've Been Lied to About Addiction | The Gray Area - March 9, 2026 - Vox
Addiction is one of those words that seems obvious until you try to explain it. We tend to fall back on two simple stories. Either addiction is a moral failure or it’s a brain disease that robs people of agency entirely. But neither of those stories feels complete.
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Today’s guest is philosopher Hanna Pickard, author of What Would You Do Alone in a Cage With Nothing But Cocaine? Pickard argues that it’s a harmful mistake to treat addiction as either sin or sickness. Instead, it’s a form of behavior that’s shaped by trauma, isolation, identity, social conditions, and often deep psychological pain.
Sean and Hanna talk about her theory of addiction and why our society has built the cage that so many people are trying to escape.
Host: Sean Illing (@SeanIlling)
Guest: Hanna Pickard, author of What Would You Do Alone in a Cage With Nothing But Cocaine?
We would love to hear from you. To tell us what you thought of this episode, email us at [email protected] or leave us a voicemail at 1-800-214-5749. Your comments and questions help us make a better show.
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YouTube Chapter Titles
5:08 Writing about addiction
8:44 Defining addiction
15:23 Wanting something vs. being addicted
20:15 Agency and responsibility
31:15 Untangling blame and responsibility
38:33 Support structures and accountability
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A pro-Israel case against Israel | Today, Explained - March 7, 2026 - Vox
Ambassador Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s former chief of staff, says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who’s at the center of the Iran conflict, has isolated Israel like never before.
During his time as President Barack Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel dealt directly with Netanyahu, even once getting into an argument with him in the Oval Office. Emanuel’s also one of very few people to have operated at every level of power in American politics, and he has a specific lens when it comes to the growing conflict in Iran.
Emanuel was one of the people who helped negotiate peace agreements alongside President Clinton in the 1990s. He was also in the Obama White House as they took the first steps toward the Iran nuclear deal.
In this interview with Emanuel, Vox’s Astead Herndon asks about the US-Israel relationship as the two countries collaborate on a widening war against Iran and its proxies in the Middle East. This war, according to Emanuel, is as much the responsibility of the Trump administration as it is Israel’s.
00:00 Intro
01:16 The Trump admin’s justifications for the Iran war
05:24 Was the Iran nuclear deal a good idea?
06:45 Did Israel force the Trump administration’s hand?
09:36 Israel’s flagging global status
11:11 Is Palestine a genocide?
16:16 US aid to Israel
18:01 K-12 education and social media ban
22:46 Possibility of presidential run
Today, Explained publishes video episodes every Saturday tackling key issues in politics and culture. Subscribe to Vox’s YouTube channel to get them. New episodes of Today, Explained drop every day of the week on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite listening app.
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Why are we at war with Iran? | The Gray Area - March 6, 2026 - Vox
What the hell just happened in Iran?
The US launched an attack last weekend, and within hours, the explanations were already shifting. Is this regime change? Will it be a few days? A few months? Several years? By the time you’re listening to this, the situation may have moved again. So this is a quick, emergency TGAF about where things currently stand.
Sean calls up Wall Street Journal national security reporter Alex Ward to walk through what we actually know, what we don’t, and what could come next. They talk about the risk of regional escalation, the “break it and walk away” strategy, and why the range of possible outcomes right now is…uncomfortably wide.
Host: Sean Illing (@SeanIlling)
Guest: Alexander Ward (@alexbward)
0:54 Why did America strike Iran?
4:53 Was there evidence of an imminent threat?
12:40 It’s “wartime jazz”
19:05 What would regional war mean?
32:42 What is Alex Ward keeping an eye on?
We would love to hear from you. To tell us what you thought of this episode, email us at [email protected] or leave us a voicemail at 1-800-214-5749. Your comments and questions help us make a better show.
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