Your podcast discovery platform
Curious minds select the most fascinating podcasts from around the world. Discover hand-piqd audio recommendations on your favorite topics.
piqer for: piqd Boom and bust Climate and Environment Global finds Globalization and politics Health and Sanity Technology and society Doing Good Deep Dives
Malia Politzer is the executive editor of piqd.com, and an award-winning long-form journalist based out of Spain. She specializes in reporting on migration, international development, human rights issues and investigative reporting.
Originally from California, she's lived in China, Spain, Mexico and India, and reported from various countries in Africa, Europe and the Middle East. Her primary beats relate to immigration, economics and international development. She has published articles in Huffington Post Highline, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, Vogue India, Mint, Far Eastern Economic Review, Foreign Policy, Reason Magazine, and the Phoenix New Times. She is also a regular contributor to Devex.
Her Huffington Post Highline series, "The 21st Century Gold Rush" won awards from the National Association of Magazine Editors, Overseas Press Club, and American Society of Newspaper Editors. She's also won multiple awards for feature writing in India and the United States.
Her reporting has been supported by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, The Institute For Current World Affairs, and the Global Migration Grant.
Degrees include a BA from Hampshire College and MS from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where was a Stabile Fellow at the Center for Investigative Journalism.
The Iraqi Spy Who Infiltrated ISIS, Foiling More Than 100 Planned Bomb Attacks
This fascinating New York Times article details the life of an Iraqi spy—widely considered the country's greatest. It's a great piece that reads like a thriller.
Capt. Harith al-Sudani, a 36-year old former computer programmer and university drop-out, successfully posed as a militant jihadist in ISIS for more than a year, foiling almost 100 planned bomb attacks.
The article delves into his recruitment into The Falcons, an elite Iraqi intelligence unit, and explains how al-Sudani infiltrated ISIS, where he was given the job of driving bombs to the sites where they were supposed to be detonated.
The Falcons had to engage in high-level subterfuge to keep al-Sudani's cover, and took steps such as staging elaborate car-chases, and announcing fake bomb detonations with high civilian casualties—while in reality the bomb was actually intercepted and deactivated. If al-Sudani was traveling with a bomber, his Falcon comrades would work with al-Sudani—communicating via phone or hand-signal—to lure the bomber out of the car, so he could be arrested or killed.
Last year, al-Sudani's cover was blown. Iraqi authorities believe that he was kidnapped and executed by ISIS, though his body was never recovered. Since then, he has achieved a level of fame that spies ordinarily never do, and is remembered as a hero.
