Global Dispatches -- Conversations On Foreign Policy And World Affairs

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Sinopsis

A podcast about foreign policy and world affairs.Every Monday we feature long form conversations with foreign policy journalists academics, luminaries and thought leaders who discuss the ideas, influences, and events that shaped their worldview from an early age. Every Thursday we post shorter interviews with journalists or think tank types about something topical and in the news.

Episodios

  • Why the Latest Ebola Outbreak in the DRC is So Dangerous

    18/10/2018 Duración: 21min

    An ongoing Ebola Outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has sickened over 250 people, and resulted in over 130 deaths as of October 18. Now, the DRC is experienced in handling Ebola outbreaks. A separate outbreak in the country's Equateur province was rather quickly and effectively contained. 33 people died, but it could have been much worse. That outbreak was declared over this summer.    What makes this current outbreak so potentially dangerous is the fact that it is occurring in a conflict zone. Ebola has been confirmed in two provinces, North Kivu and Ituri, that have long been a hotbed for various armed groups.  As my guest today, Heather Kerr of Save the Children explains, this insecurity is seriously undermining efforts to bring this outbreak under control.    Heather Kerr is the country director for Save the Children. I caught up with her from Kinshasa, the capitol of the DRC where she was just emerging from a meeting on the ebola outbreak.  Heather Kerr describes what Save the Children is doing

  • The State Sanctioned Murder of Saudi Journalist Jamal Khashoggi Will Shake International Relations

    12/10/2018 Duración: 29min

     On October 2, Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, seeking to retrieve some marriage documents relating to his upcoming wedding.  He never came out. Turkish authorities believe he was tortured and murdered by Saudi intelligence officers sent to kill him.    This incident has profoundly shaken Saudi Arabia's relationship with the United States. Khashoggi was well known and well-liked by journalists and others in policy circles in Washington DC. He was a columnist for the Washington Post and had a residence in Northern Virginia. Yet, despite his connections, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammad Bin Salman apparently ordered a hit job.    On the line with me to discuss the international implications of this incident is Simon Henderson He is the Baker Fellow and Director of the Bernstein Program on Gulf and Energy Policy at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He was a friend of Khashoggi's and he explains who Khashoggi was, and how his murder may impact Sa

  • The Grand Strategic Failure of Trump's Foreign Policy

    11/10/2018 Duración: 33min

    My guest today Ivo Daalder served as the United States ambassador to NATO under President Obama from 2009 to 2013. He is now the president of the Chicago council on foreign relations and he is the co-author, with James Lindsey, of the new book, The Empty Throne: America's Abdication of Global Leadership.  The book offers a comprehensive accounting of the first two years of President Trump's foreign policy and in so doing, it offers an unsparing criticism of what the authors argue is a grand strategic failure of the Trump administration.    Now, for those of you who have been around the foreign policy world for a while, you may recall that Ivo Daalder and James Lindsey last teamed up for the 2005 book America Unbound: The Bush Revolution in Foreign Policy. This book won all sorts of awards and rightly so--it was the first book to really offer a full picture of the immense scope of the foreign policy failures of the first term of the George W Bush administration. So, we kick off this conversation comparing that

  • Are Development NGOs Fit for Purpose?

    05/10/2018 Duración: 29min

    My guest today, Nicola Banks, is a lecturer in global urbanism and urban development at the University of Manchester. She has conducted some pioneering research on the role of the NGO sector in global development. Some of her findings, including that development NGOs be more politically engaged, are being adopted and tested by some major aid agencies. Dr. Banks is also undertaking an ambitious project, along with Professor Dan Brockington of the University of Sheffield, of mapping the UK's NGO sector and we discuss some of her findings from that study.     This episode is part of a new content partnership between the podcast and the Global Development Institute at the University of Manchester. For the next several months we will be featuring from, time to time, experts from the Global Development Institute who will discuss their research and also the pressing news of the day as it relates to global inequalities and development. If you’d like to learn more about the Global Development Institute you can go to 

  • A Conversation with Kosovo's Foreign Minister

    03/10/2018 Duración: 24min

    I met the Foreign Minister of Kosovo Behgjet Pacolli in a hotel lobby not far from the United Nations where the foreign minister had spent several days during the UN General Assembly last week.    I was interested in learning from the foreign minister both some of the substantive issues on his plate--that is, what are Kosovo's foreign policy priorities today, and also just what life is like during UN week for the foreign minister of a small state like Kosovo. So, the conversation you about to hear veers between those two threads.    Kosovo is in a unique diplomatic situation. About 116 countries recognize Kosovo as an independent state. This includes major powers like the United States and most of Europe. Russia and many other countries however, do not consider it an independent country, but rather a breakaway region of Serbia. The quest for formal and full admittance to the United Nations hits a roadblock at the Security Council, where Russia holds a veto.    As you'll see from our conversation Foreign Minis

  • How Facebook is Abetting Rodrigo Duterte's Drug War in the Philippines

    01/10/2018 Duración: 25min

    If you want a glimpse of a dystopian future in which authoritarian leaders harness the power of social media to carry out human rights abuses and suppress their political opponents, you need to look no further than the Philippines today.   There are few countries in the world as hyper connected on Facebook as the Philippines. And here, President Rodrigo Duterte and his allies are using Facebook to advance their so-called war on drugs which has resulted in the deaths of thousands of people, mostly through extra-judicial killings. All the while, so called Facebook "influencers" are spreading false information -- even a faked pornographic image to undermine leaders in the Philippines who are critical of Duterte. It is a nightmare situation and one in which Facebook is an accomplice.    On the line with me to discuss the deleterious effect of Facebook on democracy in the Philippines is Davey Alba. She is a reporter with Buzzfeed who wrote a deeply reported longform article examining the mechanics of how Duterte a

  • How Better Data Can Fight Global Hunger

    25/09/2018 Duración: 28min

    Every year during UN Week there are a number of substantive and important issues discussed, new initiatives launched and new partnerships formed, typically around some big important global issues. It is a week in the diplomatic calendar in which a lot of problem solving gets done. The problem is, this aspect of UN Week rarely gets covered by the mainstream media, which so often chases the big headlines in general--and Donald Trump in particular. But there is so much happening beyond Trump, so today I wanted shine a spotlight one particular initiative launched this week to help the international community and countries of the developing world collect better data around agricultural productivity.  The initiative is called 50x2030, the 50 refers to 50 countries from the developing world which will participate in this data collection initiative and 2030 refers to the end date in which the Sustainable Development Goals are due. Key partners on the initiative include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, United

  • UN Week is Here! These Are the Stories That Will Drive the Agenda

    19/09/2018 Duración: 31min

      All eyes turn to the New York and the United Nations as world leaders gather for the opening of the United Nations General Assembly, better known UNGA. This is always the busiest week of the diplomatic calendar and on the line the help make sense of it all is Richard Gowan. He is a Senior Fellow at the UN University Centre for Policy Research, and a fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. This year, like last year, much of the oxygen in Turtle Bay and beyond will be sucked up by the Donald Trump, who is scheduled to be in New York for three consecutive days. We discuss some of the key moments to watch, including a scheduled Security Council meeting over which Donald Trump will preside. We also discuss some of the other events and issues that probably wont make headlines, but are nonetheless important outcomes of this year's UN summit. This includes a key high level meeting on UN Peacekeeping, which we discuss at length. If you have 20 minutes and want to learn the key stories to follow this UN

  • When UN Peacekeeping Works: The Story of the United Nations Mission in Liberia

    14/09/2018 Duración: 29min

    In this special episode of Global Dispatches Podcast we are bringing you the story of how UN Peacekeepers partnered with the people and government of Liberia to help transform the country from one of the bleakest places on the planet, to one of the more hopeful today. When peacekeepers were first deployed to Liberia in 2003, the west African country had just experienced a devastating civil war. Fifteen years later, the last Blue Helmets left the country.   Through interviews and archival audio, you will hear from Liberians, UN officials and experts who explain how the UN Mission in Liberia, known as UNMIL, was able to work itself out of a job. This episode is produced in partnership with the United Nations Foundation as part of the special series that examines success stories of multilateral engagement. When the world works together, powerful and lasting change can take place.    UNMIL is a success of UN Peacekeeping. This episode tells its story. 

  • Unmasking the Elite Charade of "Changing the World"

    12/09/2018 Duración: 33min

    My guest today, Anand Giridharadas, is the author of the new book Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World. The book is a piercing examination of how the global elite have co-opted our mechanisms of social change. This trend manifests itself in many ways, including the belief that market forces are more important than government in affecting change. The book is an extremely challenging, and at times discomfiting, critique of a trend that I've witnessed and certainly been on the periphery of.  Conferences like the World Economic Forum, Aspen Ideas Fest, or the Clinton Global Initiative, the book argues, exemplifies an approach to social change that ends up entrenching a highly inequitable status quo.    The book has a chapter dedicated to UN Week when heads of state come to New York for the opening of the UN General Assembly, and also attend all manner of side events. And we kick off discussing the significance of many of these events to his overall  thesis.   I must say, this book has definit

  • The World is Experiencing a Dam Building Boom

    07/09/2018 Duración: 28min

    The world is experiencing a dam building boom. According to research by my guest today David Hulme there are plans underway around for the construction of over 3,700 new dams around the world. And this explosion in dam building comes after a period in which there was a lull in the construction of new dam projects.   So what accounts for this new interest in dams? Where are these new dams being built?  Do dams contribute to sustainable development or do they detract from it?    We discuss these questions and more in the episode you are about to hear. David Hulme is an academic who leads the FutureDAMS consortium at the University of Manchester's Global Development Institute. And in this capacity he helps policy makers make better informed decisions about dam projects, and we discuss at length what academic research can teach us about what makes dam projects succeed or fail in their stated goals.     "This episode is part of a new content partnership between the podcast and the Global Development Institute at t

  • How the Return of Refugees to Syria Will Define the Next Phase of the Conflict

    05/09/2018 Duración: 27min

    1.5 million Syrian refugees are in Lebanon today. But as the fighting quells in areas of Syria, some of these refugees are considering returning home.    Who gets to return, the places to which they will return, and the circumstances under which refugees move back to Syria are intensely political decisions. As journalist Charlotte Alfred explains, the return of refugees, albeit in small numbers, has begun. And it is becoming a tactic of the civil war.   Charlotte Alfred is the managing director of the news website Refugees Deeply. Her recent longform article "Dangerous Exit: Who Decides How Syrians in Lebanon Go Home" explains the geopolitical calculations and the tactical military considerations behind these refugee returns;  and on an individual level she explores the deeply personal dillemas facing individual refugees as they make this decision.    It should be noted: the UN Refugee Agency is not aiding in the return of refugees to Syria. They have concluded that the situation in Syria is not safe enough t

  • There's New Evidence of China's Brutal Repression of its Uighur Population

    29/08/2018 Duración: 22min

    In mid-August a UN human rights body called the Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination said that up to 1 million ethnic Uighurs in China were imprisoned in massive internment camps.    Subsequent reporting in places like the Wall Street Journal offered a degree of confirmation that Uighurs were being rounded up, seemingly at random, and sent to "re-education" centers where they are forced to chant communist party slogans, study the speeches of Xi Jinping and also subjected to torture.     Uighurs are a religious and linguistic minority in China. The majority practice a form of sunni Islam and most live in Xinjiang province in the far northwest of China. They have been the subject of discrimination for decades, but abuses against this community seem to be accelerating.   On the line with me to discuss this situation is Sophie Richardson, the China Director for Human Rights Watch. She explains the methods by which the Chinese government is repressing this community, including mass internment at

  • Remembering Princeton Lyman

    24/08/2018 Duración: 54min

    Ambassador Princeton Lyman passed away on August 24th at the age of 83.  In January 2017, he came on the podcast to discuss his remarkable life and career, which included serving as the US ambassador to South Africa during the end of apartheid and transition to democracy. We listen back to that interview. 

  • A Final Showdown Looms in Syria. The UN Warns it Could be a "Bloodbath"

    22/08/2018 Duración: 28min

    The Syrian war may be entering its final phase. Rebel fighters, from various factions, are now concentrated in Idlib, in northern Syria.  Idlib is the place to which civilians and members of armed groups were permitted to escape as part of evacuation deals from places like Aleppo and Eastern Ghouta as they fell to government forces. Millions of displaced Syrians and some armed groups are now concentrated there.    But now there is every indication that Syrian forces, backed by Russia, are preparing for battle.    My guest today is trying to warn the world how disasterous such a battle would be for civilians caught in the crossfire. Jan Egeland is a senior advisor to the UN Special Envoy for Syria and heads the UN's humanitarian task force for Syria. As such, it is his job to negotiate access to besieged populations for relief workers and facilitate humanitarian relief in war zones. A battle over Idlib would be a bloodbath, he says, that could jeopardize the lives of 3 million people.     In our conversation,

  • This is How Nuclear War Breaks Out With North Korea

    19/08/2018 Duración: 50min

    On March 21, 2020 North Korea shoots down a South Korean civilian airliner, mistaking it for a US bomber. This sets off a series of events that leads to the launching 13 nuclear armed ballistic missiles towards the United States. Several of these missiles miss their target. But not all. One bomb levels Manhattan, another hits Northern Virginia and a third lands near Mar a Lago, in Florida. 1.4 million Americans are killed. The 2020 Commission Report on the North Korean Nuclear Attacks Against the United States by Jeffrey Lewis explains how this tragedy transpired.    The book, of course, is fiction -- Jeffrey Lewis calls it a "speculative novel."   But it is all too believable.  nd that's because Jeffrey Lewis is a nuclear security expert who has spent decades studying the North Korean nuclear program. He is the director of the Center for Non Proliferation Studies at the Monterrey Institute and is a pioneer in open source intelligence gathering and geospatial analysis. He and his team famously identified the

  • Dr. Vanessa Kerry Strengthens Health Systems Against Ebola and Other Threats

    15/08/2018 Duración: 29min

    Dr. Vanessa Kerry is the Co-founder and CEO of Seed Global Health. This is an international NGO that works in five sub-Saharan countries to bolster the education of medical professionals.    We kick off discussing the newest ebola outbreak in the DRC. This is a very alarming outbreak for the fact that it is occurring a region of the DRC that is very much a hot conflict zone.  We then have a broader conversation about the challenge of strengthening health systems in poorer countries and we of course discuss the specific work of Seed Global Health to that end.    Dr. Kerry came to national attention in 2004, when she introduced her father, John Kerry at the Democratic National Convention, and she describes how her interest in global health issues was sparked by a trip to Vietnam many years ago, with her father.     If you are a global health and development nerd -- and I know many of you are --  I think you will very much appreciate this episode.    

  • Fifteen Years Ago this Week, the UN Headquarters in Iraq Was Bombed

    13/08/2018 Duración: 21min

    On August 19th 2003 the United Nations headquarters in Iraq at the Canal Hotel in Baghdad, was hit with a truck bomb. At least 22 people lost their lives in this attack, including the UN's top official in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello.  In subsequent years, August 19th has been commemorated at the United Nations as World Humanitarian Day, in which the sacrifices of humanitarian workers are honored.    This year marks the 15th anniversary of the attacks on the UN headquarters in Iraq, which ushered an era in which the United Nations, and humanitarian workers more broadly, are more and more often the targets of terrorist violence.   On the line with me to discuss the 2003 bombing and its legacy today is Ambassador Elizabeth Cousens. She knew many of the victims of this attack, having worked with the UN in the middle east. She is a former top ranking official at the US mission to the United Nations and is now the deputy CEO of the United Nations Foundation.   We kick off discussing her experiences the day of the

  • Journalist Robin Wright from 2014

    09/08/2018 Duración: 44min

    In 2014, I spoke with New Yorker writer Robin Wright about her life and career as a foreign affairs journalist.  

  • The 1998 US Embassy Bombings, Twenty Years On

    30/07/2018 Duración: 33min

    On August 7th, 1998 my guest today John Lange was the acting United States Ambassador to Tanzania when a truck bomb exploded outside the embassy in Dar es Salaam. He did not know it at the time, but this bombing was part of a coordinated attack on US embassies in the region. Minutes early in Nairobi, Kenya the US embassy was bombed as well.  Al Qaeda was responsible for the attacks that killed over 200 people. To commemorate the 20th anniversary of these attacks, I invited Ambassador Lange on the show to share his experiences from that day and also reflect on how those attacks changed US diplomacy.    Today, Ambassador Lange is a senior fellow for global health diplomacy at the United Nations Foundation. and he is a contributor, along with 40 other survivors of these attacks to a special commemorative issue of The Foreign Service Journal.    The US embassy bombings were a pivotal moment for US diplomacy and world history. It was very much a pre-cursor to the September 11th attacks that drew the United States

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