In 1953, the CIA overthrew Iran's elected government because outsiders decided they knew best. In 1961, Western intelligence helped assassinate Patrice Lumumba in the Congo — same logic, different method. The Cold War ended. The instinct didn't.

Today, $200 billion a year flows into global poverty programs. Less than ten cents of every dollar reaches the grassroots organizations that actually know what their communities need. The rest feeds donors, NGOs, and contractors — a system built to reassure institutions in Washington and Geneva, not farmers and teachers on the ground.

When DOGE shut down USAID, most Americans shrugged. But the people who dismantled it never asked what was worth saving. That's not reform. That's the same hubris wearing a different suit.

This is Episode 1 of The Outsider's Hubris — a 3 part podcast with our guest Ali Mokdad we will discuss why the international development system keeps failing, and what it would take to actually fix it.

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