In conversation with Mark Mansour.

Lawyer. Activist. Escapee.

Mark Mansour spent twenty-five years advising Fortune 500 companies on regulatory strategy — sitting in rooms where recalls were debated, regulations written and corporate interests weighed against the public. Then he walked away.

In our conversation, Mark talks about growing up Lebanese-American in Pittsburgh, living in Beirut before the war, and a legal career that took him from the FDA to the EPA to the corridors of corporate America. He’s candid about what he saw, what it cost him, and what finally made him leave.

There's also a story about a CEO, a malfunctioning device, an autopsy room and a letter that should have been written in 2020.

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"If Orbán wins, it will be a global proof of concept for elected autocracy after 16 years of state capture."

Péter Dósa was born in Budapest in 1998, nine years after the fall of communism. His family left when he was eight — Ireland first, then Barcelona, where he completed a master’s in democracies and multiculturalism. He founded The Hungary Report to do what mainstream outlets don’t: explain Orbán’s system in depth, for an international audience now spanning more than 110 countries.

On April 12, Hungarians will go to the polls in what Politico Europe has called the EU’s most important election of 2026. But our conversation is not really about that — it’s about a set of tools for dismantling democracy that have been field-tested in a Central European country for sixteen years, and are now being deployed at scale elsewhere. As the Heritage Foundation’s Kevin Roberts put it: Hungary is not just a model for modern statecraft. It is the model.

Péter explains how the system was built, why it’s under threat, and what Americans should understand before it’s too late. And, having cast his ballot by post last week from Barcelona, why — for the first time in his adult life — he thinks his vote might actually matter.

Photo: Bjoern Wylezich

Credits:

Host: Meredith Ogilvie-Thompson

Sound Editing: Dax Krishna and the team at SpeechDocs

Music: Ilya Kuznetsov

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For more than 30 years, Sam Kiley has covered conflict — from Somalia, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo to Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — and has made more than 30 documentaries for news organisations across the UK and US. A two-time Emmy and two-time DuPont Award winner (for his coverage of the Khashoggi disappearance and the war in Ukraine), Sam has reported for CNN, Sky News and The Times. He is currently World Affairs Editor of The Independent.

I spoke with Sam on March 29th, two days after the Houthis entered the war and the day after President Zelenskyy signed 10-year defence agreements with Saudi Arabia and Qatar. We cover the origins of the US-Israeli strikes on Iran, the Mosaic defence strategy the Trump administration failed to account for, what Houthi involvement could mean for global trade, Gaza's quiet endgame, and — unexpectedly — how war in the Middle East may be doing more for Ukraine's long-term survival than three years of Western military aid. Sam also talks about how the ingredients for a coup are on full display — though where he sees those most clearly assembled right now may surprise you.

Photo: Bjoern Wylezich

Credits:

Host: Meredith Ogilvie-Thompson

Sound Editing: Dax Krishna and the team at SpeechDocs

Music: Ilya Kuznetsov

If you like what you heard, please share this episode with others — it makes a real difference to how the show gets discovered.

And if you’ve found value in this conversation, or in my writing, a paid subscription is the best way to support my work Subscribe here