This is the continuation of our recap of Season Four of VICE on HBO. There is no word at this time whether or not there will be a Season Five or not, but with a daily helping of VICE NEWS soon to appear on the channel the series format may not be needed. We will see. Now to the back nine installments that once again take us around the world to discover the political and cultural issues that rock the planet on its axis.
- Installment # 10 –
“Trump in Dubai” Correspondent: Ben Anderson
The United Arab Emirates, and Dubai in particular, are often described as paradise in the Middle East. But the 5 million migrant workers who live there have a different experience. They live in appalling conditions and regularly end up with nothing and now many of them are employed on a project bearing the name of Trump.
“China in Africa” Correspondent: Isobel Yeung
China is financing more infrastructure projects and selling more goods to Africa than any other trade partner in the world. VICE heads to Africa to meet the characters behind the business deals and explore what this increasingly prominent China-Africa relationship could mean for the future of global politics.
- Installment # 11 –
“The Deal” Correspondent: Shane Smith
Since the hostage crisis in 1979, Iran and the United States have been bitter enemies. But in 2015, the US and major world powers reached an unprecedented agreement with Iran. VICE travels to Tehran to gauge attitudes about America and see the reactor that started Iran’s nuclear program.
“City of Lost Children” Correspondent: Thomas Morton
Global wealth disparity has reached record levels in recent years. Now it’s created pockets of unimaginable affluence and huge populations who are falling farther and farther behind. VICE reports from Kolkata, India where entire tribes of homeless children run rampant to illustrate the disapity.
- Installment # 12 –
“The End of Polio” Correspondent: Ben Anderson
Pakistan is the last battleground in the fight to eradicate polio, but in Pakistan’s poorest areas there is widespread distrust of vaccinators and the Pakistani Taliban have openly condoned 
violence against them. VICE travels to Karachi to meet with the health workers.
“Collateral Damage” Correspondent: Kaj Larsen
Land mines are deadly weapons of war that remain a threat for years after the fighting is over. VICE travels to Myanmar and Laos to see the devastating effects of unexploded ordnance and to meet the trained disposal teams working to clean up these weapons before they claim more lives.
- Installment # 13 –
“State of Surveillance” Correspondent: Shane Smith
When NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden leaked details of massive government surveillance programs he ignited a raging debate. That debate came to a head when Apple fought an FBI court order to access the iPhone of alleged San Bernardino Terrorist Syed Farook. To find out the government’s real capabilities, and whether any of us can truly protect our sensitive information, VICE heads to Moscow to meet the man who started the conversation, Edward Snowden.
- Installment # 14 –
“Heroin Crisis” Correspondent: Thomas Morton
America is facing the worst drug epidemic this country has ever seen: more people are dying from overdoses than from car accidents-and at the center of it is an explosion in the use of heroin. For VICE, Thomas Morton traces the causes and impacts of the crisis, from the poppy farms of Mexico to the hills of West Virginia to face the new reality of American drug use.
“New Age of Nukes” Correspondent: Kaj Larsen
Twenty-five years after the end of the Cold War, America’s vast nuclear arsenal is beginning to show its age, and the government has embarked on the largest nuclear modernization effort in our history. For VICE, Kaj Larsen goes aboard a ballistic missile submarine and visits the facilities on the front line of our nuclear weapons program to sort it all out.
- Installment # 15 –
“Flint Water Crisis” Correspondent: Ahmed Shihab-Eldin
The water crisis in Flint, Michigan horrified the nation: unhealthy water source and city and state officials that knew about it and failed to take action or warn the public. VICE reports from Flint.
“Libya on the Brink” Correspondent: Simon Ostrovsky
When the Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi was killed it seemed like good news for democracy in the Muslim world. But then came the bloody attack in Benghazi. Today, a split between government factions has ceded large portions of the country to ISIS fighters and other extremists. VICE reports from the front lines.
- Installment # 16 –
“Die Trying” Correspondent: Angelina Fanous
The 2014 Ice Bucket Challenge raised millions of dollars for ALS, a fatal neurodegenerative disease. Battling ALS herself, VICE editor Angelina Fanous meets with patients and top researchers across the U.S. to find out what’s being done to tackle this devastating disease and the regulatory hurdles that exist.
- Installment # 17 –
“Student Debt” Correspondent: Gianna Toboni
Americans owe $1.3 trillion in student loans. VICE reports from America’s college campuses to explore how a spigot of easy money from the federal government is jacking up the cost of higher education and even threatening our international competitiveness
“Fecal Medicine” Correspondent: Thomas Morton
For years, medical science was powerless against one of the most of severe intestinal infections. But a new treatment shows tremendous promise. Fecal transplants use the stool from a healthy person to repopulate life-sustaining bacteria in the colon of the patient. This technique is so effective that researchers are testing its potential. VICE reports from the labs and lavatories where this medical revolution is taking place.
- Installment # 18 –
“The New $pace Race” Correspondent: Thomas Morton
Decades after the Apollo missions, a new era of manned spaceflight is dawning — and this time, the destination is Mars. NASA and a growing community of private companies have set their sights on the Red Planet, and they’re developing the technologies that will actually get us there. VICE reports on the preparations for humanity’s next great adventure.
“Closing Gitmo” Correspondent: Gianna Toboni
The American prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is one of the most controversial issues of the post-9/11 era. President Obama promised to close the facility, but has yet to do so. VICE meets with ex-detainees who survived Gitmo, and the general who built it in the first place, to find out what really happens behind the camp’s walls.
Last post I mentioned that some of these reports hit close to home. Heroin addiction, student debt and Flint, MI are good examples from this back set. But what about the other stories, the international ones that hold no consequences to you where you live? Why should you watch them or care about them? Well, the truth of the matter is you won’t care about the rights of Afghan women or the plight of the children of India unless you are a certain type of person. If you are a true human rights advocate then you might care or if you view yourself truly as a citizen of the world and not just from your neck of the woods than you might have an interest. I guess I am one of the latter. There is nothing I can do for the wars between others or the plight of others, not even if I join the Peace Corps, but I can be informed and knowledgeable and VICE helps this writer achieve that. Peace.
