Global Dispatches -- Conversations On Foreign Policy And World Affairs

My guest today Supriya Vani interviewed every living female Nobel Peace Prize winner for her 2018 book Battling Injustice: 16 Nobel Peace Prize Laureates.  In this conversation we discuss some common traits that she found across these women and she tells some stories from her interviews and reporting across the globe.   Supriya Vani is a journalist and activist in India, and I caught up with her from New Delhi    Quick note before we begin: thank you to all of you who are supporting the show through patreon. When you make a contribution to the show, I'll add you to the subscriber roles to my daily news clips service, DAWNS Digest. You will also unlock a host of bonus episodes and other rewards.    Support the Show! 

Today's episode is a cross over promotion with the new podcast: How to Fix Democracy. How to Fix Democracy is an interview series in which prominent thinkers, writers, politicians, technologists, and business leaders discuss some fundamental questions about the fate and trajectory of democracy today.  This episode features an interview with Michael Ignatieff by the host of the show, Andrew Keen. Michael Ignatieff is a former Canadian politician and author of several books about world affairs. He is now serving as the president and rector of the Central European University. This is a Hungary-based graduate school founded by George Soros that the illiberal government of Hungary, lead by Victor Orban, has sought to shut down.     In this episode, Ignatieff discusses the challenge to democracy posed by illiberal "democrats" like Viktor Orban. After listening to this episode, be sure to subscribe to the entire series, which features some really interesting guests and discussion.    The series is presented by the B

According to the World Health Organization 800,000 people die due to suicide every year. My guest today, Bob Filbin is helping to pioneer a way to sharply reduce that number.  Bob Filbin is the Chief Data Scientist of Crisis Text line. This is a text based mental health crisis intervention platform, operational in the US, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Individuals in crisis are able to text trained mental health workers anonymously, who can then help them through their emergency.    Hundreds of millions of texts have been exchanged since the launch of crisis text line, which is providing researchers with key insights into how to prevent self harm.   This is a really interesting conversation about a crucial health issue that is, indeed, a global heath issue. It is also scalable--and Bob Filbin does discuss crisis text line's global plans.   This episode is part of a content partnership with the Skoll Foundation to showcase the work of the 2019 recipients of the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship. The S

Battles are raging in Tripoli between forces aligned with the UN-backed government and a renegade general named Khalifa Haftar. Haftar and his militias had controlled eastern parts of the country, including the city of Benghazi, but in recent weeks he has marched his troops westward, toward the capitol Tripoli, in an effort to oust the Libya's internationally recognized government.     Several hundred people have been killed in this fighting. Thousands have been displaced, and the situation is now very much on the precipice of descending into a full blown civil war.    On the line with me to discuss what is happening in Libya and why we need to be paying attention to this escalating crisis is Mary Fitzgerald, a former journalist and researcher who has been studying on Libya since 2011. In this conversation she breaks down the complex dynamics of this conflict in ways that I found very understandable. This episode is an excellent explainer on this currently unfolding crisis in Libya.    We kick off discussing

In mid march, Cyclone Idai struck southern Africa, ravaging parts of Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe. Of these countries, Mozambique was hardest hit. The storm struck the port city Beira and surrounding areas, creating a massive inland flood plane. At the time, the World Meteorological Organization called it one of the worst weather related disasters to ever strike the southern hemisphere.   One month on, I wanted to get a sense of the how the recovery efforts were progressing, so I called up Dorothy Sang of Oxfam, who is on the line with me today from the city of Beira in Mozambique. Dorothy Sang is Oxfam's humanitarian advocacy manager and in this conversation she describes the scale of the damage wrought by Cyclone Idai and how international relief agencies like Oxfam are responding to this crisis. One thing that struck me about this conversation is how over one month since this crisis, relief agencies are still finding communities that have been totally cut off from access.    Before we start: I do want t

Some truly remarkable events are unfolding in Sudan, where protesters have secured the ouster of longtime ruler Omar al Bashir. After nearly thirty years as an authoritarian president and dictator, he was deposed in coup on April 11. But the protesters have not dispersed and are rallying against the cadre of military officials who have assumed control.   On the line with me to discuss these events is Payton Knopf. He is a former US diplomat and UN official who has worked on Sudan issues for many years. He is currently an advisor to the US Institute for Peace    We kick off discussing the events that lead to the ouster of al Bashir. But we don't dwell too much on that because I actually did a whole other episode about the protest movement and about al Bashir; I published that episode in January, just a few weeks after these protests began.   Rather, we spend the bulk of the conversation discussing this unfolding and fluid situation. Payton Knopf explains who these military rulers of Sudan are--and why it is si

Among the many barriers to quality healthcare in the developing world is the high cost of medicine. This is due, in part, to frequent disruptions in the supply chain. Customers who visit a pharmacy to purchase medicine can't be guaranteed that the medicine will be something they can afford-- or even if the medicine will be there at all. My podcast guest today, Gregory Rockson, is a social entrepreneur who is pioneering a way to make medicine in several African countries more affordable and access to that medicine more reliable. He is the c0-founder of  a social enterprise called mPharma, which uses data analytics and supply chain management to help small and independent pharmacies control their costs.  This is crucial because unlike here in the United States where big pharmacy chains are ubiquitous, in the places mPharma operates small and independent pharmacies are serve the vast majority of people. mPharma essentially manages the drug supply of participating pharmacies, and assumes the financial risk if dru

South Africa is experiencing what demographers call a "youth bulge." This occurs when young people make up a very large percentage of the entire population. There are youth bulges similar in many countries in the developing world, including in Africa and Asia. One key challenge facing societies experiencing a youth bulge large is what happens when these young people become of working age, and there are too few jobs.  In South Africa and in many countries with similar demographics, unemployment rates among young people is orders of magnitudes greater than the over all unemployment rate. As my guest today Nicola Galombik explains, when large numbers of young people are unemployed, the knock-on effects for society in general can be extremely negative. So, Nicola Galombik has embarked on a strategy to reduce youth unemployment in her native South Africa. She is the co-founder of the Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator, a social enterprise that is not only helping to find young people jobs at scale, but is cha

The world has never been safer, wealthier or healthier. So why is it that our foreign policy is dominated by fear and inflated perceptions of threats that can harm us?  My guest today, Michael Cohen, and co-author Micah Zenko seek to answer that question in their new book Clear and Present Safety: The World Has Never Been Better and Why That Matters to Americans.  The book makes the convincing argument that fear mongering has distorted US foreign policy and distracted us from recognizing impressive gains in human development.    This is a very refreshing conversation. One trend that Cohen and Zenko identify an define is something they call the Threat-Industrial-Complex and we spend a good deal of time discussing how that serves to shape US foreign policy priorities.    If you have 20 minutes and want a good corrective on US foreign policy, have a listen.   Support the show and become a premium subscriber! 

Not long ago, the social entrepreneur Bright Simons had a lofty goal of restoring social bonds between farmers and consumers. He tried to create a platform to pair organic farmers in Ghana with consumers of organic products. That project failed --  but in failure he made an important discovery that is now revolutionizing the fight against fake and counterfeit goods in the developing world, including potentially deadly counterfeit medicines Bright Simons is the co-founder and lead of mPedigree, a social enterprise that combats the problem of counterfeit and fake goods -- everything from medicines, to seeds, to auto-parts and more. As Bright Simons explains, mPedigree takes a systems-wide approach to fighting counterfeits. It's core innovation is a unique product identification marker, called the GoldKeys Platform. Think of it as a scratch off label that reveals a code which people can use a phone to instantly validate the authenticity of a product.   Through this validation system, mPedigree has not only helpe

The White House confirmed that Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi is to meet President Trump at the White House on April 9. The invitation to the White House was offered amid a deepening crackdown on human rights and a further erosion of the rule of law in Egypt, nearly six years after al-Sisi ousted President Mohammad Morsi. The White House visit comes as Egypt is facing yet another inflection point that could further ensconce al Sisi in power. At issue are a series of constitutional amendments that would effectively make al Sisi president for life and create what analyst Amy Hawthorne calls a "personalist dictatorship." Amy Hawthorne is the deputy director for research at the Project on Middle East Democracy and co-author of a recent Foreign Policy piece on the current tumult in Egyptian politics.. After years of crackdowns on political opposition, she explains why Egyptian politics is poised to enter a potentially more dangerous phase. We kick off with an extended conversation about the circumstances t

  Global trade is changing how women work. Supermarkets and major brands source much of their materials and manufacturing in the developing world as part of a "Global Value Chain." This is a way of obtaining raw materials and bringing goods to market that has become more and more common among major global brands in recent years. One consequence of this trend in global trade and global sourcing has been to upend traditional dynamics around gender and work. Stephanie Barrientos is a professor of global development at the Global Development Institute at the University of Manchester who studies the intersection between gender dynamics and global trade. Her latest research examines how norms around work and jobs in the developing world are being changed by global sourcing from major brands. As Professor Barrientos explains, companies' Global Value Chains are having profound implications for women and gender dynamics around work and employment in the developing world. This conversation is a great introduction to k

  The second worst Ebola outbreak in history is currently unfolding in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Since August last year there have been nearly 1,000 confirmed cases and over 600 deaths. The DRC is a very large country and these cases are so far confined to the eastern part of the country. This is also the region of the Democratic Republic of Congo that has long been mired in conflict and insecurity. In recent weeks, Ebola treatment centers have been attacked forcing medical staff to suspend operations. Meanwhile, new ebola cases are confirmed on a nearly daily basis. On the line to discuss is Karin Huster, the field coordinator for Medicins Sans Frontiers/Doctors Without Border in the DRC.  She spoke to me from the city of Goma, the largest city in the eastern part of the DRC.  We kick off discussing recent attacks on two Ebola treatment centers run by Doctors Without Borders, and then have a longer conversation about the trajectory of this outbreak and what can be done to halt its spread. One thing

Getting bitten by a poisonous snake is not just an individual injury -- rather it is now recognized as a global health hazard. In fact, the World Health Organization estimates that between 80,000 and 136,000 people die from snakebite in each year. To put that in perspective, that is more than the number of people who died from meningitis and within the range of the number of people who died from Measles.  Getting bitten by a poisonous snake, or as it's known snakebite envenoming, is now included in the WHO's list of Neglected Tropical Disease   On the line with me is one of the world's leading experts on Snakebite, Dr. Gabriel Alcoba. He is a pediatrician who has treated snakebite as a doctor with MSF, or Doctors Without Borders. He is also a public health expert who works with the Geneva University hospitals.     This episode provides a very good introduction to snakebite as a global health hazard. Dr. Alcoba explains the link between poverty and injury and death from snakebite and why the pharmaceutical ind

Today's episode is the second installment of my new series "UN Correspondent Chat." As the name suggests, this series includes wide ranging conversations with in-house reporters at the United Nations who discuss what is driving the agenda at Turtle Bay.  On the line today is Carole Landry, who is a veteran UN Correspondent with Agence France Presse, AFP.    We float between topics that have been buzzing around UN in recent weeks including: how Brexit will impact diplomacy at the UN; some of the latest geopolitical intrigue at the Security Council; the ongoing Commission on the Status of Women conference; how the Secretary General has lived up to his pledge to have greater gender parity among senior staff at the UN; and more!   This new series is a great way to feel the pulse of the UN and learn what is driving the diplomatic agenda at United Nations Headquarters in New York 

I caught up with CNN's Chief International Correspondent Clarissa Ward not long after she returned from reporting inside Taliban controlled territory in Afghanistan. She is one of the only western journalists to access Taliban territory to see what life is like under their control. She interviewed both civilians and Taliban officials and is on the Global Dispatches podcast to discuss her reporting. We kick off discussing the story behind her story: that is, how an unprecedented reporting project like this can be carried out in a volatile security environment?  We also discuss how she and her team navigated gender dynamics inherent in a female journalist interviewing Taliban officials. We then talk through some of her key findings about how the Taliban have evolved over the last 17 years. Her report comes at a vital time as the US and Taliban officials are negotiating face to face, and as Clarissa Ward explains, the fact of those ongoing negotiations helps provide some context for her reporting.

In late January, the Trump administration began a pilot program on the border between Tijuana and San Diego in which migrants who claim asylum are sent back to wait in Mexico as their asylum claims are processed. This is known formally as the Migrant Protection Protocols and informally as the "Remain in Mexico" policy.   The result has been to turn back individuals, mostly migrants from central America, before they can even present claims of asylum; and even if they are able to make a formal claim, they must wait in Mexico as their case proceeds through the US court system.    Needless to say, this is almost certainly in contravention of US law regarding asylum and a test case involving the American Civil Liberties Union is due to be heard in a few weeks.     In the meantime, this policy is causing profound harm for asylum seekers. My guest today, Kerri Kennedy recently returned from a fact finding trip to Tijuana in which she interviewed people turned away at the border due to this policy.     Kerri Kennedy

For the past several weeks Algeria has been rocked by mass protests that harken to the Arab Spring. The protests were triggered by the decision of longtime ruler Abdelaziz Bouteflika  to run for another term in office in elections scheduled for April.  Bouteflika came to power in 1999 as the architect of a peace accord that ended Algeria's brutal civil war that killed as many as 200,000. But Bouteflika is now 82 years old and has not been seen in public since suffering a stroke over five years ago.    His decision to stand again for elections (or, probably more accurately, the decision of those around him to have him stand for elections) is being widely rejected by these protesters. Also fueling the protests is Algeria's languishing economy and a looming fiscal crisis, propelled by falling prices of oil and natural gas.   On the line with me to discuss this unfolding situation in Algeria is Dr. Dalia Ghanem, visiting scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, which is where I caught with her.    We

"Sometimes you gotta walkaway,"   That is how Donald Trump described the failure of he and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to come to an agreement during their summit in Hanoi, Vietnam.   So now that this meeting has ended in failure what comes next for nuclear diplomacy with North Korea?   On the line with me to discuss the events in Hanoi and talk through possible scenarios for future engagement with North Korea is Kelsey Davenport, the director of non-proliferation policy at the Arms Control Association.      We kick off discussing why this summit ended without any agreement. We also go over the events leading up to this Hanoi meeting, including the first summit between these two men in Singapore eight months ago. We then have a longer conversation about what the next iteration of diplomacy between the United States and North Korea may look like.    This conversation does a good job both explaining what happened in Hanoi and setting the context for understanding what may come next between the US and North

Tensions are rapidly escalating between India and Pakistan, following a suicide bombing in India controlled Kashmir that killed scores of Indian security forces. In retaliation, India bombed what it called a terrorist camp inside Pakistani territory.  The situation is still unfolding--as I'm recording this there is word that an Indian Air Force pilot has been captured after his plane was shot down over Pakistan.  On the line to discuss this ongoing crisis, and explain why Kashmir has become such a flash point between India and Pakistan is Michael Kugelman, senior associate for South Asia at the Woodrow Wilson Center.  We kick off discussing the events leading up to this escalation of hostilities before having a longer conversation about the history of Kashmir and India-Pakistani relations. One thing I particularly found helpful in this conversation was Michael's description of the domestic political logic in India and Pakistan that propels conflict over Kashmir.  Needless to say, India and Pakistan have gone