What Think Tanks Actually Do

It has been an absolutely Awful Week for everyone who has been paying attention to the latest release of the Epstein files, both on this continent and around the world. We’re taking a look at what the documents reveal about Europe’s rich and powerful and whether any overdue reckonings might come out of the horrific revelations. On the brighter side: we also discuss a sitting president who does NOT want to be handed the Nobel Peace Prize. A win for us all!

Our guest this week is journalist Salsabil Fayed, co-author of the recent Follow the Money investigation “U.S. donors bankroll Europe’s policy ideas through think tanks”. (Gulp.) What does it mean that some of the biggest American tech companies are financing some of the work of some of the most influential think tanks on this side of the Atlantic? Salsabil spells it all out.

This week’s Inspiration Station recommendations are Fairphone and not looking at your phone in the morning. So…go out and touch grass. (But catch up on your podcasts first.)

Resources for this episode:

• “Moldovan president rejects Nobel Peace Prize nomination, says Ukrainian POWs deserve it instead” – Yahoo! News, 6 February 2026
• “Holding the Line Between Democracy and Putin | President of Moldova, Maia Sandu” – The Rest is Politics, 11 January 2026
• “Los ‘miles de fallos’ que exponen a las víctimas de los papeles de Epstein” – El Pais, 4 February 2026
• “A survivor on the Epstein files – podcast” – The Guardian, 5 February 2026 
• Soundos el Ahmadi sets the record straight about misogynist violence on Flemish TV – De Afspraak, 7 February 2026
• “U.S. donors bankroll Europe’s policy ideas through think tanks” – Follow the Money, 23 October 2025
• “Podcast | The hidden U.S. influence on Europe’s policymaking” – Follow the Money, 10 December 2025
• “US pressure revives call for powerful EU tech regulator” – Politico Europe, 18 January 2026 
• Screen time increases risk of dementia – Brankele Frank on Brainwash, January 2026 (In Dutch)
• “Digital dementia in the internet generation: excessive screen time during brain development will increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias in adulthood” – Journal of Integrative Neuroscience, 28 January 2022 

Are you a visual learner rather than an auditory one? We got you. Here’s our new newsletter. (Almost) all of what you like from the weekly podcast, but…quieter. It’s nice. Try it.

This podcast was brought to you in cooperation with Euranet Plus, the leading radio network for EU news. But it’s contributions from listeners that truly make it all possible—we could not continue to make the show without you! If you like what we do, you can chip in to help us cover our production costs at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/europeanspodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (in many different currencies), or you can gift a donation to a superfan. We'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast. We think two feels like a reasonable number.

Produced by Morgan Childs and Wojciech Oleksiak

Editorial support from Katy Lee
Mixing and mastering by Wojciech Oleksiak

Music by Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

YouTube | Bluesky | Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | Mastodon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | Substack | hello@europeanspodcast.com