The Global Jigsaw
Looking at the world through the lens of its media. Think of us as your media detectives, helping you get past the propaganda and misinformation. The Global Jigsaw comes from BBC Monitoring, which tracks, deciphers and analyses news media in 100 languages. We reach across multiple time zones, from China and India, to Iran, Africa and Latin America. We watch Russian state TV around the clock, giving unrivalled insight into the evolution of Kremlin propaganda. But propaganda is just part of the information space we inhabit. In its more extreme form, we focus on disinformation that aims to defame enemies, sway elections, and undermine democracy. We have been monitoring jihadist media for nearly two decades, following the chatter from al-Qaeda and Islamic State group, gaining extraordinary knowledge about their aims, their ideological differences and allegiances. We watch the behaviour of Russia’s Putin, Iran’s Khamenei, Turkey’s Erdogan, China’s Xi Jinping, Hungary’s Orban and anyone else who might be challenging the established order, seeking to expand their global footprint or export their brand of ideology. At BBC Monitoring, we don’t just speak the language, we understand the narrative. So we can help you untangle the context and single out rhetoric from reality, deception from truth.
Episodes
Moscow is working around international sanctions by promoting self-sustainability, elevating Russian brands and deepening trade with friendly countries. After Western companies retreated as the full-scale invasion of Ukraine started, Russian consumer habits and the economy began to shift. We explore how sanctions reshaped everyday life and ask: can Russia sustain a forever war?
Krassi Ivanova Twigg speaks to the BBC's military and ...
Why the traditional kokoshnik headdress is en vogue in Russia, and how it has become a poster image for the Kremlin’s vision of national identity. When President Putin talks not of tanks but of tiaras, it’s a signal that symbolism matters. We unpick the dress code of the Russian “patriot” to explore a deeper idea at the heart of everything from fashion and music to entertainment and literature. We go on a mission to decode the “cul...
Blood spilled in Sudan's el-Fasher massacre is visible from space. What led to the latest dark turn of events that took place after the Rapid Support Forces seized the city in Northern Darfur from the Sudanese Armed Forces?
In this episode, first recorded in 2024, we dig into the prehistory of Sudan’s civil war. We focus on the power struggle between two men: Hemedti, in charge of the RAF, and Burkhan, the general leading the SAF. ...
How Jihadists wrestle with the question: to use or not to use AI. The allure of this powerful tool and the damage they fear it could inflict on their image and reputation. Supporters of the Islamic State group tend to be early adopters of new tech, and some have already experimented with generative Artificial Intelligence. But that has exposed deep divisions in jihadist circles. We explore this debate to understand what “responsibl...
The narratives and the doctrines built on ever-growing suspicions and fears that are once again stirring the Middle East. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine hasn’t just threatened to redraw the map of Europe - it has transformed the global security landscape. The ripple effects have been felt way beyond the continent, reigniting fears not felt since the Cold War - of a new nuclear arms race. In this episode we go back to the beginnings o...
How the Chinese Communist Party gets lost in translation and whether it’s accidental or intentional. “The Belt and Road Initiative”, “community with a shared future for humankind”, “socialism with Chinese characteristics in a new era” - the slogans and proclamations coming out of Beijing can sound abstract and bewildering. We examine the complex character of the language and how it’s put to use by the CCP to understand why its mess...
The al-Qaeda offshoot JNIM is one of the deadliest Jihadist groups in the world. It exploits a security vacuum in Africa’s Sahel region to impose its Salafist version of Islam. In part one of this miniseries we explored the structure and ideology of JNIM. In this episode we’ll try to understand its impact on local life and on the region’s complex geopolitics which increasingly looks like a proxy war - on both the information and ph...
The JNIM branch of al-Qaeda is one of the world's deadliest jihadist groups. It has firmly planted its flag in the Sahel. Sub-Saharan Africa has emerged as a key battlefront for jihadists: around 50 percent of deaths from terrorism in 2024 were registered in the Sahel region alone, according to the Global Terrorism Index. JNIM is an eclectic yet united coalition, rooted in the tribal desert regions of Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso....
Why are Poland's young voters turning to the right? With his veto powers, Poland’s president-elect Karol Nawrocki could halt the pro-EU government of Donald Tusk. Poland is a NATO member and backs Ukraine in the war with Russia. Scaling up security is an issue almost all Poles agree on, yet there are some signs of shifting attitudes - on foreign policy and immigration. We examine the gender gap among voters and the recent election ...
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Quds force and the Basij militias are back in the news due to the conflict between Israel and Iran. What are they, how do they operate and how have they become so influential? In this episode, we look at the origins, the branding and the ideological blueprint of the Tehran-led influence network that has been shaping events in the Middle East for decades.
The Israeli government’s push to transform the media landscape has been described by critics as a “hostile takeover” that poses a threat to press freedom. In this episode we take a look at what people in Israel see about the war in Gaza on their TV screens. We examine the methods and the motives behind the prime minister’s media squeeze, and ask what this means for the country priding itself on being ‘the only democracy’ in the Mid...
We assess the damage to independent journalism globally by cuts to USAGM and USAID, described as “the chainsaw approach” of the Trump administration. The defunding of Voice of America, RFE/RL (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) and its multiple language services has been decried as “a gift to dictators”. Although these cuts are being disputed in court, they could have long-lasting implications for audiences around the world. Can the ...
Will the call for the PKK to disarm end in a new era of peace for the Kurds, or is this just another turn in a tortured history? In February, Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party, known as the PKK, released a jaw-dropping written message to his followers from his jail cell, calling for the group to lay down arms and disband. In this series we explore the Kurdish issue - the persecution, the resistan...
Will the call for the PKK to disarm end in a new era of peace for the Kurds, or is this just another turn in a tortured history? In February, Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party, known as the PKK, released a jaw-dropping written message to his followers from his jail cell, calling for the group to lay down arms and disband. In this series we explore the Kurdish issue - the persecution, the resistan...
Will the call for the PKK to disarm end in a new era of peace for the Kurds, or is this just another turn in a tortured history? In February, Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party, known as the PKK, released a jaw-dropping written message to his followers from his jail cell, calling for the group to lay down arms and disband. In this series we explore the Kurdish issue - the persecution, the resistan...
Russia’s land grab playbook aimed at erasing local identity and Russifying “liberated” territories. Three years into the full scale invasion of Ukraine, we ask what life is like in areas under Russian control. Part 1 looks at “ripe for Russification” Crimea, which was annexed 11 years ago. Part 2 focuses on Moscow’s subsequent efforts to assert itself in the separatist East. And in Part 3 we explore the Kremlin’s challenges in subj...
Russia’s land grab playbook aimed at erasing local identity and russifying “liberated” territories. Three years into the full scale invasion of Ukraine, we ask what life is like in areas under Russian control. Part two focuses on Moscow’s efforts to assert itself in the separatist east.
Producer: Kriszta Satori Presenter: Krassi Twigg
Russia’s land grab playbook aimed at erasing local identity and Russifying “liberated” territories. Three years into the full scale invasion of Ukraine, we ask what life is like in areas under Russian control. Part one looks at “ripe for Russification” Crimea, which was annexed 11 years ago. Part two focuses on Moscow’s subsequent efforts to assert itself in the separatist East. And in part three we explore the Kremlin’s challenges...
Kyiv’s answer to the Kremlin’s warspeak. In part one of this miniseries, we focused on Russia’s case, trying to see through Moscow’s war propaganda: its purpose and building blocks. In this episode, we turn to the Ukrainian side of this linguistic tug or war. Here we find that language itself is at the heart of this conflict, fuelling Ukraine’s “linguistic decolonisation”.
Producer: Kriszta Satori Presenter: Krassi Twigg
Decoding the Kremlin’s warspeak to understand the power of propaganda as a weapon of war. “Let’s cut dill”, “a pop of cotton”, “meat assault”: expressions the average foreigner might struggle to understand. We analyse Moscow’s military jargon; in part two of this mini-series, we’ll explore Kyiv’s answer to it.
Producer: Kriszta Satori, Vitaly Shevchenko Presenter: Krassi Twigg
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