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Uncovering the Secrets of Iran and Brazil: The Intercept’s 2019 World Coverage

A look back at The Intercept’s must-read world stories from 2019.

A look back at The Intercept’s must-read world stories from 2019.

The Iran Cables

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Illustration: The Intercept
In an unprecedented leak from one of the world’s most secretive regimes, an anonymous source provided 700 pages of Iranian intelligence reports to The Intercept.
By James Risen, Tim Arango, Farnaz Fassihi, Murtaza Hussain, Ronen Bergman,
Jeremy Scahill

Secret Brazil Archive

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Illustration: Soohee Cho/The Intercept
A massive trove of previously undisclosed materials provides unprecedented insight into the operations of the anti-corruption task force that transformed Brazilian politics and gained worldwide attention.
By Glenn Greenwald, Victor Pougy, Andrew Fishman, Rafael Moro Martins,
Leandro Demori, Alexandre de Santi, Amanda Audi, Rafael Neves

A Prize for Lies

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Photo: Francois Mori/AP
When the Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to Peter Handke in 2019, The Intercept played a key role in exposing his denial of the genocide in Bosnia.
By Peter Maass

 

A CIA-Backed Militia Targeted Clinics in Afghanistan, Killing Medical Workers and Civilians

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Photo: Provided to The Intercept
The secretive, pro-government forces are known for rolling into villages at night and leaving a trail of death and destruction.
By Andrew Quilty

Did an American Billionaire Philanthropist Play a Role in the Imprisonment of Iranian Environmentalists?

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Photo illustration: Elise Swain/The Intercept; Photos: Getty Images
Thomas Kaplan funds both a big-cat charity and an anti-Iran advocacy group. These worlds collided when eight Iranian environmentalists were arrested.
By Murtaza Hussain

On the Front Lines of Bolsonaro’s War on the Amazon, Brazil’s Forest Communities Fight Against Climate Catastrophe

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Photo: Gabriel Uchida
Without action, the loss of another fifth of Brazil’s rainforest will trigger a cascading system collapse called “dieback” and release a carbon bomb.
By Alexander Zaitchik

How Turkey Defied the U.S. and Became a Killer Drone Power

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Photo illustration: Soohee Cho/The Intercept
Turkey couldn’t get what it wanted from the U.S., so it built its own fleet of lethal drones. It uses them in Iraq, Syria — and domestically.
By Umar Farooq

How Jho Low, Wanted for History’s Biggest Heist, Parked His Money at an Obscure, Kuwaiti-Owned Bank

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Illustration: John Lee for The Intercept
Before he was a fugitive, Jho Low’s close relationship to a Kuwaiti royal helped grease his way into a bank on a tiny island in the Indian Ocean.
By Atossa Araxia Abrahamian

French Muslims Grapple With a Republic That Codified Their Marginalization

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Photo: Pete Kiehart for The Intercept
“These kids you see around, Africans and Arabs, whether people like it or not, they’re French.”
By Murtaza Hussain

 

 

IT’S EVEN WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT.

What we’re seeing right now from Donald Trump is a full-on authoritarian takeover of the U.S. government. 

This is not hyperbole.

Court orders are being ignored. MAGA loyalists have been put in charge of the military and federal law enforcement agencies. The Department of Government Efficiency has stripped Congress of its power of the purse. News outlets that challenge Trump have been banished or put under investigation.

Yet far too many are still covering Trump’s assault on democracy like politics as usual, with flattering headlines describing Trump as “unconventional,” “testing the boundaries,” and “aggressively flexing power.” 

The Intercept has long covered authoritarian governments, billionaire oligarchs, and backsliding democracies around the world. We understand the challenge we face in Trump and the vital importance of press freedom in defending democracy.

We’re independent of corporate interests. Will you help us?

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IT’S BEEN A DEVASTATING year for journalism — the worst in modern U.S. history.

We have a president with utter contempt for truth aggressively using the government’s full powers to dismantle the free press. Corporate news outlets have cowered, becoming accessories in Trump’s project to create a post-truth America. Right-wing billionaires have pounced, buying up media organizations and rebuilding the information environment to their liking.

In this most perilous moment for democracy, The Intercept is fighting back. But to do so effectively, we need to grow.

That’s where you come in. Will you help us expand our reporting capacity in time to hit the ground running in 2026?

We’re independent of corporate interests. Will you help us?

Donate

I’M BEN MUESSIG, The Intercept’s editor-in-chief. It’s been a devastating year for journalism — the worst in modern U.S. history.

We have a president with utter contempt for truth aggressively using the government’s full powers to dismantle the free press. Corporate news outlets have cowered, becoming accessories in Trump’s project to create a post-truth America. Right-wing billionaires have pounced, buying up media organizations and rebuilding the information environment to their liking.

In this most perilous moment for democracy, The Intercept is fighting back. But to do so effectively, we need to grow.

That’s where you come in. Will you help us expand our reporting capacity in time to hit the ground running in 2026?

We’re independent of corporate interests. Will you help us?

Donate

Contact the author:

media@theintercept.com

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