Global Dispatches -- World News That Matters

James P Grant is not a household name. But he most certainly should be. Grant lead UNICEF from 1979 until his death in 1995, and as Nick Kristof once wrote he "probably saved more lives than were destroyed by Hitler, Stalin and Mao combined." He was a force in the UN bureaucracy and on the international stage. And now, for the first time, there is a full accounting of his life and work in the new biography titled "A Mighty Purpose: How UNICEF's James P Grant Sold the World on Saving Its Children." On the line with me to discuss Grant is his biographer, Adam Fifield. Fifield describes how Grant spearheaded what is now known as the "child survival revolution" in the 1980s that lead to, among other things, the quadrupling of worldwide childhood immunization rates." And Fiefield vividly describes how Grant accomplished this achievement and many others on behalf of children of the world, often times through sheer force of nature.

The Paris Climate talks kick off in just a few short weeks. On November 30, president Obama and many other heads of state are going to start weeks of negotiations that if all goes according to plan, will usher in a new kind of international climate change regime. These talks a huge deal for diplomacy and for the planet. On the line with me to discuss the contours of the talks, expected outcomes, diplomatic intriguies and possible speed bumps along the way is Elliot Diringer, executive vice president of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions For those of you who are less steeped in the complexities of climate diplomacy, this episode is a useful primer to the Paris talks. But as our conversation progresses we go deeper and deeper into the weeds, so there's good fodder for you climate wonks as well.

"Red Teaming" is a concept that can trace its origins to the year 1234 when Pope Gregory the IX created the position of Devils Advocate to vet Papal cannonizations. In more modern times, the process has been increasingly used by militaries, the foreign policy bureaucracy and even the private sector to question assumptions and challenge groupthink. My guest today, Micah Zenko, is a Council on Foreign Relations fellow who has written what is arguably the first and definitely the most comprehensive examination of Red Teaming; its history and modern applications. It's called "Red Team: How to Succeed by Thinking like the Enemy" and I think it;s a supremely interesting investigation into a little studied aspect of national security and foreign policy making.

Less than a month ago, Russia began a military operation in Syria that is ongoing to this day. Russia's direct military involvement in Syria adds a complicated layer to an already complex conflict. On the line to discuss Russia military and political strategy for Syria, and the implications of this military action for the longer term prospects of a internationally negotiated resolution to this conflict is Michael Kofman, who is an analyst at the CNA Corporation and Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center. Kofman offers some clearheaded analysis of the political implications of Russia's military intervention and does an excellent job of unpacking some of the complexity of the current state of the Syrian conflict. This episode is sponsored by World Politics Review, which provides uncompromising analysis of critical global trends to give policy makers, business people, and academics the context they need to have the confidence they want. The good people at World Politics Review are offering Global Dispatches Podcast listeners a two week free trial and then a 50% discount on an annual subscription. To redeem this offer go to about.worldpoliticsreview.com/dispatches And I'll post a link on Global Dispatches Podcast.com

The Liberal party in Canada, lead by Justin Trudeau, son of Pierre, shocked the world with a big, big win in hotly contested national elections. The Liberal ascent ends a near decade in power for the conservative Stephen Harper and has the potential to fundamentally re-balance Canada's relationship with the world, so says my guest Janice Stein who is the founding director of the Munk School of International Affairs at the University of Toronto. We spoke the morning after the elections and have a great and truly interesting conversation about the discrete changes we can expect in Canadian foreign policy -- and how those changes may affect international relations and global affairs more broadly. We discuss what's called "Middle Power Diplomacy" in academic circles, Canada's role in Climate politics, and why Washington, DC may be none too pleased with some of the changes to come. This is a timely and interesting conversation. Enjoy!

Felice Gaer has served on the UN Committee Against torture since 1999, making her the longest serving American elected to a UN Human Rights body. Though there is little power vested in the independent experts who staff treaty organizations, Gaer has been able to move the needle on human rights cases worldwide through creatively deploying the little power she has. This was an lesson she first learned while investigating the disappearance of the soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov in the early 1980s. Felice has had a very long career in human rights, and we trace the origins of her commitment to human rights from an early age, and more recently to her work on the Committee Against Torture. We kick off our conversation with about a 15 minute conversation about the UN's evolving posture on women's rights and LGBT rights. Gaer tells an interesting story about how an early bureaucratic decision about the structure of the UN's Economic and Social council enabled the integration of women's rights into the broader UN human rights agenda.

So we had a scare. But all ends well. This episode is in two parts. First, you'll hear directly from my amazing wife about giving birth in our family car. It's a crazy story. Then, I speak with Dr. Luc de Bernis Senior Maternal Health Advisor at the UN Population Fund who puts our experience in a larger global health context. We discuss various interventions to reduce maternal and newborn mortality around the world, including the deployment of what the World Health Organization calls "Skilled Birth Attendants." I've reported on health systems and maternal and new born health for years and visited clinics and hospitals in Bangladesh and several countries in sub-saharan Africa, but it wasn't until my wife gave birth in our old car that I truly appreciated the role of a skilled birth attendant in ensuring the safety and health of mother and child.

Christine Fair is a respected scholar of South Asian politics and security. But her career path has been tough, with unnecessary obstacles in her way. In this episode, she speaks candidly about overcoming sexual harassment in graduate school and facing threats of sexual violence by the very subjects she studies as an academic.

The Nobel Peace Prize is announced on October 9. In March this year, Victor Ochen was nominated for the 2015 prize by the same organization the nominated previous laureates, Martin Luther King, Jr, Desmond Tutu, Jimmy Carter and Dag Hammarskjold Victor Ochen may not be a household name. But that may soon change. He is the founder of the peace and reconciliation NGO African Youth Initiative Network, which is active in Northern Uganda. He was the first Ugandan and youngest African ever nominated for the prize. Victor has a powerful personal story. He grew up in IDP camps fleeing LRA violence and even lost his brother to the LRA. But throughout it all he maintained a commitment to peace and justice. In this episode, Victor discusses his nomination, tells stories from a childhood in conflict, and explains why he started an NGO. This is an edited repost of Episode 53

Andrew Young is a civil rights icon who was with his friend Martin Luther King Jr when Dr. King was assassinated in 1968. In this interview, Young traces his a lifelong commitment to non-violence from his childhood in New Orleans, to his civil rights work in the 1950s and 1960s, to becoming Jimmy Carter's ambassador to the United Nations and long-serving Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia. This is a re-post of Episode 32, published last year.

UN Week kicks off on a high note on Friday, with the opening of a special summit on the Sustainable Development Goals. Pope Francis will be one of the first to address the summit on Friday morning. President Obama is helping to close the session on Sunday. In between are over 150 speakers, mostly heads of state. The SDG summit is a very big deal for the United Nations, and quite possibly for all of humanity. It is the culmination of over two years of negotiations over what should replace the Millennium Development Goals, which expire at the end of this year. The SDGs — or, the “Global Goals,” as the advocacy community has taken to calling them — are an aspirational set of 17 goals and 169 targets that every country on the planet is pledging to work toward from now until 2030. The top goal is nothing less than the total eradication of extreme poverty (as defined by people living on $1.25 per day), and each of the goals have embedded in them principles of environmental sustainability. It’s a massively ambitious agenda and if it’s achieved, life for most of the 8 billion on earth in 2030 will be vastly improved. On the line with me to discuss these goals, their likelihood of success and, importantly, how we can measure progress is John McArthur. He is a fellow at Brookings at with the United Nations Foundation and has been studying the SDGs since their inception. This is a great conversation, and nicely sets up not just the coming few days at the UN, but also the coming few years of a new international development agenda in pursuit of these global goals.

The UN Summit kicks off next week in New York! This is always the most exciting time of year for us UN nerds. And between the Pope and Putin, this UNGA promises to be a very interesting one. Here with me to break down what to expect at the UN in the coming weeks and how make sense of it all is Richard Gowan. We discuss the big stories, the overlooked stories, and political intrigue that will accompany the 70th UN General Assembly. Gowan is a fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and also with the Center on International Cooperation, where he was previously research director. He is a columnist for World Politics Review, which is sponsoring this episode. World Politics Review provides uncompromising analysis of critical global trends to give policy makers, business people, and academics the context they need to have the confidence they want. The good people at World Politics Review are offering Global Dispatches Podcast listeners a two week free trial and then a 50% discount on an annual subscription. To redeem this offer go to about.worldpoliticsreview.com/dispatches

Elmira Bayrasli is the author of the new book "From the Other Side of the World: Extraordinary Entrepreneurs, Unlikely Places." She is also the co founder of Foreign Policy Interrupted, which seeks to amplify the voice of female foreign policy experts-- and she's a former assistant to Madeleine Albright. We kick off discussing the new book, which transitions nicely to a conversation about her experience growing up the child of Turkish immigrants and how she got her start working in foreign policy. If you are a regular listener to the podcast--thank you! Our community of listeners has been growing pretty dramatically in recent weeks, I think largely due to word of mouth--so thank you again for spreading the world. And As always, feel free to reach out to me via twitter @MarkLGoldberg or you can send me an email via GlobalDispatchesPodcast.com. And if you are new to the podcast, welcome! We post one of these longer interviews with foreign policy thought leaders every monday. Go to the website to check out our robust archives.

Why do countries build fences and walls at their border and under what conditions are those walls and fences likely to work as intended? These questions are obviously topical right now, with the US-Mexico border a hot button issue in the US presidential election; and the Syrian refugee crisis dominating discussion the Europe But fences and their effectiveness have largely remained off the radar of any rigorous academic study. Until now. In the most recent edition of the journal International Security, political scientists Ron Hassner and Jason Wittenberg of UC Berkeley compiled what is the first-ever dataset of what they called "fortified boundaries" constructed between countries since 1945. Ron Hassner is on the line with me to discusses their study and the implications of some of their key findings, including the fact that we are in the midst of a fortified boundary building boom and why the religion of a country seems to make a difference in whether or not the country decides to build a border fence.

When Jina Moore was in Middle School she became intensely curious about the Holocaust, reading about everything she could on the subject. That curiosity improbably led a girl from a small town in West Virginia to become pen pals with the woman who hid Anne Frank. These days, Jina is based in Nairobi, Kenya and is the the international women's rights correspondent for Buzzfeed, where she's covered key stories, including the ebola outbreak. On a personal note, she is someone whose reporting I've come to rely on to have a deeper and more textured understanding of important global issues. I love this episode and I think you will too. Her own story is just so fascinating and I encourage you to follow her work on Buzzfeed. As always, you can go to globaldispatchespodcast.com to peruse our archives where we have lots of great conversations like the one you are about to hear. You can also send me an email or hit me up on twitter @MarkLGoldberg; love hearing from you guys--keep the emails coming.

The Syrian refugee crisis has finally made it to Europe's doorstep. Over the past several weeks, masses of refugees have made their way to southeastern Europe, mostly en route to Germany and other countries in northern Europe. After four years of conflict, the Syrian refugee crisis is suddenly a crisis for Europe. Here with me to discuss the implications of this refugee flow is Ellen Laipson of the Stimson Center. We have a fascinating discussion about how the conflict in Syria and Iraq is manifesting itself on the streets of Europe and how the scale of the outmigration from the middle east to Europe resembles the wave of Irish escaping the potato famine to the USA in the 1850s This episode is being brought to you by World Politics Review, which provides uncompromising analysis of critical global trends to give policy makers, business people, and academics the context they need to have the confidence they want. The good people at World Politics Review are offering Global Dispatches Podcast listeners a two week free trial and then a 50% discount on an annual subscription. To redeem this offer go to about.worldpoliticsreview.com/dispatches ; or click the link on GlobalDispacthesPodcast.com

My guest today, Juliana Barbassa is a journalist and the author of the new book Dancing with the Devil in the City of God: Rio di Janeiro on the Brink. We have a great conversation about the current political upheaval in Brazil; how preparations for the 2016 summer Olympics are changing the character of Rio; and why corruption in Brazil's political system is seemingly so endemic. Juliana had a nomadic upbringing. She is Brazilian, but spent much of her childhood overseas in the middle east and Texas, where she developed a bug for journalism. We discuss her life and career, including her time covering key immigration debates in the USA in the 1990s and 2000s; and her writing of this interesting new book about Rio. If you want to learn more about the most important city in one of the most interesting countries on earth, have a listen.

Earlier this week the UN Security Council did something it's never done before: it held a meeting specifically focusing on violence directed against LGBT people. The council called two witnesses, both of whom are gay men caught up in the conflict in the Middle East. The first witness was an Iraqi who spoke to the Council by phone. He spoke anonymously and from an undiclosed location because he was marked for death by ISIS. The second witness was Subhi Nahas, a gay Syrian refugee now living in the USA. A day after addressing the Security Council, Subhi spoke with me. The episode you are about to hear is in two parts. First, you'll hear Subhi's story and how he fled Syria once Al Qaeda's affiliate, Jabat al-Nusra, took over his town. Next, you will hear from Neil Grungras, the founder of the Organization for Refuge, Asylum and Migration, which happens to employ Subhi. Neil helps put the situation of LGBT refugees and asylum seekers in a broader global context. This is a powerful episode, and a profound reminder that marginalized communities deserve our support.

"Worm Wars" is shorthand for an ongoing scientific debate about the efficacy of de-worming programs; that is, programs supported by governments and non profits to stop the transmission of parasitic worms. This debate has become exceedingly heated in recent weeks after new research called into question old research about a key claim that de-worming programs increased school attendence. This largely academic debate offers key insights into the role of research in influencing international development and global health agendas. The debate gets very complicated, very quickly. Here to help me make sense of it all and explain its larger relevance to international development is my old pal Tom Murphy. Tom is a correspondant for the website Humanosphere and also the co-founder along with...me of DAWNS Digest.

There is a new ebola vaccine. And it works spectacularly well. A recent paper in the Lancet demonstrated of the 7,600 people in Guinea who received the vaccine, not one person contracted the virus. This 100% effectiveness rate is unheard of. Dr. Jeremy Farrar is on the line to discuss the implications of this vaccine for the fight against ebola. He is a professor of tropical medicine and director of the Welcome Trust, a philanthropy that supports medical research. We discuss how the vaccine trial was conducted, how the results can be analyzed and what an effective vaccine might mean for the global fight against ebola. Dr. Farrar has also very prominently called for the creation of a global vaccine fund to spur the development and deployment of vaccines to counter fast emerging epidemics. And we have a lively conversation about this proposal.

The FARC Insurgency in Colombia has been raging for fifty years. And now, after a long peace process, it may soon be coming to a formal end. But even though a peace deal may be signed, whether or not that results in a meaningful improvement for the lives of people in rural Colombia is a key determinant of whether or not peace can be sustained. That is the argument of my guest James Bargent, a freelance journalist in Colombia who has a piece in World Politics Review discussing the prospect of a peace dividend in poor, rural outposts of Colombia over which FARC has historically exerted a great deal of influence. We have a very interesting conversation about the history of this insurgency, the peace process, the challenge of coca eradication and the complex relationship between impoverished farmers, FARC guerrillas and the government. This episode is being brought to you by World Politics Review, which provides uncompromising analysis of critical global trends to give policy makers, business people, and academics the context they need to have the confidence they want. The good people at World Politics Review are offering Global Dispatches Podcast listeners a two week free trial and then a 50% discount on an annual subscription. To redeem this offer go to about.worldpoliticsreview.com/dispatches

South Sudan is in a tailspin. On July 9, the country commemorated its 4th anniversary of independence but it was hardly a celebration. Since December 2013 the country has been in a freefall stemming from when a political dispute between President Salva kiir and his rival Riek Machar turned into open conflict and civil war. Millions have been forced from their homes, a famine might loom over the country, and there is no end in sight. Here to help explain how things went so badly, so quickly for this young country is Rebecca Hamilton. She's the author of the book Fighting for Darfur and professor at Columbia University's Law School. Rebecca does a great job explaining the wider regional context of this conflict; and also showing how a government that was once championed by the USA fell out of favor with the Obama administration.

Jessica Jackley co-founded Kiva and revolutionized micro-lending. Her new memoir Clay, Water, Brick tells the story of the founding of Kiva and her own personal journey from a religious family in Pittsburgh to becoming a successful social entrepreneur. This is a great conversation about personal development, entrepreneurship, starting Kiva--and then figuring out how to handle its explosive growth. Also: a podcast milestone! Jessica, and her husband Reza Aslan, have become the first wife and husband team to appear independently on this show. My conversation with Reza is episode 64.

This is a special bonus episode of Global Dispatches. Mark speaks with Prof Laura Seay about the implications of President Obama's decision to visit Ethiopia, and what it says about US policy toward Africa.

President Obama is visiting Kenya this week. This is his first trip to his father's country of birth since becoming president, and people in Kenya are certainly treating it like a homecoming. Here with me to discuss the symbolic and political relevance of this historic trip is Wycliffe Muga, the Weekend Editor of the Star Newspaper in Kenya. Wycliffe and I have a rather lively conversation about what this trip means to ordinary Kenyans, what impact it might have on the Presidency of Uhuru Kenyatta (who recently had war crimes charges against him dropped by the International Criminal Court) and why Obama may disappoint some distant relatives from his father's family village. This is both a great curtain raiser to his trip. Muga it does a very good job of putting Obama's visit to Kenya in its proper context.

The nuclear deal with Iran is essentially grand bargain: Iran agreed to curtail its nuclear program in exchange for a gradual easing of international and national sanctions. But as President Obama is fond of saying, the agreement is not based on trust. It's based on verification. And the entity responsbile for verifying Iran's compliance with the nuclear accord is the International Atomic Energency Agency. Here with me to discuss how the IAEA will go about this mission is Tom Colina, policy director of the Ploughshares fund. We discuss the diplomatic pressures under which the IAEA will operate and the technical tools at inspectors' disposal. We also discuss the personality of its executive director Yukia Amano, a Japanese diplomat who is suddenly one of the most important and consequential players in Middle East diplomacy (For those of you really interested in the history of the IAEA and also want more mechanics on how inspections work, I recommend you check out my April interview with Thomas Shea, a former IAEA nuclear weapons inspector. We recorded that interview just as the Framework Agreement, which lead to this final agreement, was being negotiated.)

Taking a break this week. Instead, I wanted to give you all an update on where things are going with the podcast. Let me know what you think.

A hugely consequential UN conference kicks off in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia next week. It has has not gotten a tremendous amount of media attention, but it is pretty big deal for most of the world. At the heart of this conference is one very big question: can the idealism embedded in principles of sustainable development actually be paid for? Who will pony up the funds? And how? The conference is officially called the "Third International Conference on Financing for Development" The decisions and announcements made at this conference will have a profound effect on whether or not the world can fulfill the promises of the Sustainable Development Goals, including eradicating extreme poverty by 2030. Here to put the conference in context, and explain what official and unofficial outcomes might look like is Minh-Thu Pham of the United Nations Foundation. We discuss the big points of convergence and contention between countries as they were negotiating the outcome document of this conference, and we have a deeper discussion of how this conference signals a profound shift away from thinking about international development as driven primarily by foreign aid. This conference has the potential to revolutionize how the international community, local stakeholders and the private sector implement the Sustainable Development Goals. It is the first of three big conferences in 2030 that will shape the international development and climate change agenda for a generation.

Anand Gopal's first book, "No Good Men Among the Living: America, The Taliban and The War through Afghan Eyes," was a finalist for the 2015 Pulitzer Prize. And deservedly so. This book is easily one of the best and most important foreign policy books of the last decade and certainly the most enlightening book written about the Afghan War. As its title suggests, Gopal offers a rarely seen perspective on the US-led intervention in Afghanistan by profiling individuals--both civilian and Taliban -- and by telling the story of shifting alliances in a region in southern Afghanistan. Gopal discusses how he went about reporting these amazing stories; what compelled him to travel to Afghanistan on a whim in 2008; and how his complexion both helps and complicates his reporting in Afghanistan and in the Middle East. I think you can tell I was so thrilled to speak with Anand. If you have not already done so, definitely read his book. You'll look at the Afghan war--and perhaps even interventionism--in a totally different way.

A panel of independent experts recently published an exhaustive and hotly awaited report on the future of UN Peacekeeping The panel was lead by Jose Ramos Horta, the Nobel Laureate and former president of East Timor--a country where peacekeeping played a key role in its turbulent early ears. The report was a pretty big deal in UN circles. Its release provides a good inflection point to discuss UN peacekeeping, the big challenges it faces, and how current trends in global security are going to force the UN to adapt. My guest today, Richard Gowan, is a columnist at World Politics review and an editor of the Global Peace Operations review. He is one of my favorite UN pundits and I am thrilled to have him back on the podcast to discuss this new report and all things UN Peacekeeping. UN and peacekeeping nerds will love this one. This episode is sponsored by World Politics Review, which provides uncompromising analysis of critical global trends to give policy makers, business people, and academics the context they need to have the confidence they want. The good people at World Politics Review are offering Global Dispatches Podcast listeners a two week free trial and then a 50% discount on an annual subscription. To redeem this offer go to about.worldpoliticsreview.com/dispatches.

Stephen Morrison is the Senior Vice President and Director of the Global Health Policy Center at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. He's had a long and fascinating career working on development, human rights and health issues around the world. His PhD work focused on the political economy of countries that bordered apartheid South Africa and spend much of the 1980s and 1990s working on African issues in Congress and for the clinton administration. We discuss the origins of the Eritrean-Ethiopian conflict, and his experiences working in the Horn of Africa during a pretty turbulent time. Later, he started USAID's Office of Transition Initiatives and served in Bosnia during the height of the civil war, where he had a few very close calls... Enjoy!

The UN Charter turns 70 years old on June 26. This is the founding treaty that created the United Nations and in this episode you will learn the fascinating and legitimately entertaining history of that document and of the 1945 San Francisco Conference that produced it. Ban Ki Moon and a number of international dignitaries are visiting San Francisco this week to commemorate the occasion, so I caught up with the writer Stephen Schlesinger, author of Act of Creation: The Founding of the United Nations who tells some great stories about the ideas, inspirations and personalities that created the document we now know as the United Nations Charter. This conversation is in part a historiography of the UN Charter and a history of the San Francisco Conference. You’ll learn the odd reason why San Francisco was picked to host the conference; hear the curious etymology of the term “The United Nations”; and learn some of the big drama that unfolded as delegates tried to put the final touches on the charter. At one point, you’ll even picture Winston Churchill in the buff (it’s an important part of the story. Trust me!) UN nerds, history aficionados and international affairs enthusiasts will love this episode.

Paula Dobriansky served as Undersecretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs for pretty much the entire George W Bush administration. Prior to that she served in the Bush 41, Reagan and Carter administrations in various foriegn policy capacities. And prior to that she was a Sovietologist studying at Harvard. She's now back at Harvard, and reflects on her time in government. We kick off with a discussion about the situation in Ukraine and then have a longer discussion about some fun highlights of her long career.

Earlier this month, the African Union held a summit in South Africa. Among the attendees was Omar al Bashir, the president of Sudan. This was somewhat surprising because Bashir is wanted on charges of war crimes and genocide by the International Criminal Court. And South Africa, as a member of the ICC, is treaty bound to arrest fugitives like Bashir. But South African authorities did not arrest him. So a local human rights group pressed their case in a South African court, which issued an injunction ordering Bashir to stay put pending the resolution of the case. That's when things got weird. With the complicity of the South African government Bashir was allowed to escape the country. He's now back in Sudan. And on the line with me to discuss what exactly happened and what the consequences might be for the ICC and its relationship with African governments is Mark Kersten. He's the creator of the excellent Justice in Conflict blog and a researcher focusing on the ICC.

It was a year ago this week that the Iraqi city of Mosul--the second largest city in country--fell to ISIS. The loss of Mosul sparked a re-examination of US policy toward Iraq and ISIS. And just this week, the White House announced that it was sending over 400 military advisers to an Iraqi base that is on the front lines of the fight. On the line with me to discuss the evolution of US strategy to counter ISIS in Iraq is Dr. Steven Metz. He does a very good job articulating that the White House is betting on a strategy of containment--and that this is probably their best option even though they wont publicly admit as such. Metz describes what this strategy looks like; and identifies the big drawbacksof this strategy Metz is a columnist for World Politics Review, which is sponsoring this episode. The good people at World Politics Review are offering Global Dispatches Podcast listeners a two week free trial and then a 50% discount on an annual subscription. To redeem this offer go to about.worldpoliticsreview.com/dispatches.

The Chagos Archipelago is a group of islands situated in the middle of the Indian Ocean. You may have heard of the largest of these Islands, Diego Garcia, because it is home to a strategically important US military base. However, the story of how this base came to being is rather sordid. And the plight of the thousands of inhabitents who were expelled from their homeland to make room for this base is utterly tragic. Today's episode is a little different than what you may be used to from a typical monday episode of Global Dispatches Podcast. I have two guests today--each bringing a different perspective to one vastly overlooked affront to human rights that has been ongoing for the last 50 years. I first speak with David Vine an associate professor at American University and author of a book about the Chagossian exile called Island of Shame. We discuss the history of Diego Garcia, why the US military considers the base is so strategically important, and what's become of the Chagossian population since their expulsion. Next I speak with Olivier Bancoult, who at the age of 4 was banished from his homeland. Like many Chagossians, he now lives in Mauritius. He tells me his life story and we have an absolutely fascinating and somewhat tragic conversation about how a people who have been banished from their homeland adapt and find ways to preserve their cultural heritage.

What's the relationship between air conditioning, air temperature and income levels? In other words, at what income level and in what climate zones do people opt to purchase A/C? The answer to these questions could have a profound implication on the quality of life of people in the developing world and also seriously strain fragile energy grids and contribute significantly to global carbon emissions. But the question was not seriously studied...until now. On the line is Lucas Davis who is co-author with his University of California colleague Paul Gertler of a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that examines the relationship between climate, income and air conditioning in Mexico. What they find is both fascinating on its own and also deeply consequential to discussions about international development and climate change in other warm and rapidly developing countries (think India, which is currently in the midst of a heatwave). This is a very interesting study of a niche topic with exceedingly profound implications--all of which are discussed in this episode!

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon is a journalist and fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations who in April published the book Ashley's War, which tells the story of a group of female soldiers who accompanied special forces during missions in Afghanistan. In this conversation, Mark and Gayle discuss how these units were created and take a deep dive into the history of the role of women in the US military. Gayle has had a very interesting career as a journalist and as an MBA who studied entrepreneurship in the developing world. We discuss some of her big scoops and how she became so attracted to Afghanistan. Enjoy! This was an interesting conversation. As always, feel free to send me an email via GlobalDispatchesPodcast.com or hit me up on twitter with your suggestions of people to interview or topics to cover.

Here's a statistic that may surprise you: most foreign aid does not go to the poorest countries on earth. In fact, only about 30% of official development assistance from donor governments goes to the 47 least developed countries in the world. Why is that the case? What would be a more appropriate ratio of foreign aid to the poorest countries on earth? And what could these countries be doing to raise their own domestic sources of revenue so they are not as dependent on foreign aid? On the line with me to discuss these questions and more is Sara Harcourt of the One Campaign, which recently released a comprehensive report that crunches some of the data on foreign assistance and makes the case that more aid should be directed to the poorest countries, and that developing countries as a whole need to commit a greater proportion of their own GDP to health and education. If you are into data and global development--and who isnt?--you'll love this episode.

A dangerous game of human pingpong is underway in the Adaman Sea between Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. Thousands of Rohingya, a Muslim minority primarily from Myanmar, are adrift at sea. Not only is no country taking them in, but Navies have pushed back boats that have made it into harbor. It is a wretched situation of almost unconscionable cruelty. And at the center of it all are human trafficking gangs who operate modern day slave camps from the jungles of Thailand. On the line today to discuss the Rohingya refugee-at-sea crisis is Sornata Reynolds of Refugees International. She discusses why discrimination and persecution of this group in Myanmar is the root cause of the crisis, and why the policies of neighboring countries like Bangladesh are making it work. She describes how criminal gangs sell these vulnerable people into slavery and what the international community--including you and I --can do to stop this situation from getting worse.

Jean-Marie Guéhenno is the president of the International Crisis Group and long serving head of UN Peacekeeping. He comes from an interesting background--his father was a well known French intellectual whose experience in World War I made him a pacifist. In this episode, Guéhenno discusses his experiences as the top French foreign policy planning official during the fall of the Berlin Wall; what it was like have Kofi Annan interview you for a job; and the future challenges facing international peacekeeping. Guéhenno is out with a new book that details these experiences and more. The Fog of Peace: A Memoir of International Peacekeeping in the 21st century was published this month by Brookings Press. Guéhenno is a true scholar practitioner. This is a great episode.

Burundi is in the midst of a deepening political crisis that has many observers extremely worried about the prospects of mass violence. Dozens of people have been killed and tens of thousands of people have fled in recent weeks. At time of publication, there's been a reported coup attempt. Journalist Jonathan Rosen is on the line from Kigali, Rwanda where he is reporting on the evolving situation. He explains the roots of the conflict, its proximate causes, and makes a compelling case that the main sources of tension are political and not ethnic. Still, given its bloody history the prospects of ethnic violence are not at all remote. If you have 20 minutes and want a deep and textured understanding of the crisis, why it matters for international relations, and what can be done to mitigate it, have a listen to this interview. This episode is brought to you by World Politics Review. The online magazine is offering Global Dispatches Podcast listeners a two week free trial and 50% off the price of an annual subscription. Go to http://about.worldpoliticsreview.com/dispatches/ to redeem this offer.

Reza Aslan is arguably the most influential scholar of religion in America today. He's best known for mixing it up with the likes of Bill Maher and explaining the basics of the academic study of religion to ignorant Fox News hosts. His books "Zealot" about Jesus and "No God But God" about Islam were both best sellers. In this episode Reza recounts his family's escape from Iran during the Revolution and tells the story of his conversion to evangelical Christianity in high school. Reza and host Mark Leon Goldberg talk the academic study of religion, religious experiences and rituals. Reza describes how 9-11 inadvertently thrust him into the limelight; and how "new atheists" get religion wrong. This is a great episode with lots of wonky academic study of religion talk.

The advent of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, sometimes called a Chinese-led rival to the World Bank, is one of the most genuinely interesting developments in global affairs. Thought not yet operational, it is being formed despite the strong opposition of the USA. The creation of the AIIB, with many US allies joining as founding partners, reflects the rise of China, waning American global influence, the declining relevance of international institutions created after World War Two, and the ways in which political polarization in the USA is influencing global affairs. Or does it? Scott Morris of the Center for Global Development is on the line to discuss the the new bank and why it matters to international development and international relations. This is a super interesting conversation about a key development in global affairs.

Albina du Boisrouvray is a French countess who sold her family heirlooms to start an anti poverty NGO. She was born into one of the wealthiest families in the world and was a successful film producer when her son, a rescue pilot, died in an helicopter accident in Mali. She then sold most of her possessions and devoted her fortune to fighting AIDS and extreme poverty. Her NGO, FXB International, uses an unconventional and holistic approach to fighting poverty village by village. In this episiode, Albina discusses her truly unique life story and describes why the methodology that FXB has used to uplift communities has been so successful. Albina's story is wild, heartfelt and inspiring.

Two years ago, I asked a top UN expert in disaster to describe the one scenario that keeps him up at night. Without hesitation he said that an intense earthquake in Kathamndu would be a monumental catastrophe that could kill as many as 250,000 to 400,000 people. He was not alone in this estimation. I'd heard humanitarian relief workers say the same thing. On Saturday, April 25 a massive earthquake struck Nepal. And while the damage and destruction is immense and tragic, it was not the cataclysm he predicted. Why was that? How was this nightmare scenario avoided? This week, I caught back up with that same expert, Jo Scheuer of the United Nations Development Program, as he was on his way to Nepal to survey the damage. In the conversation below, he explains how a combination of good luck and preparation helped to limit the scale of the destruction. He further describes the lessons Nepal's experience can teach the international community about how to invest in sustainable development that takes into account a region's risk for natural disaster. This is obviously a timely conversation for the fact that we focus on the events in Nepal. But the long term lessons of what happened are also exceedingly important to the international development community and beyond. Have a listen.

Fareed Zakaria shares stories about his upbringing in India and the influence of his die-hard pro-American mother and Indian nationalist father. He discusses his intellectual journey from a middle class childhood in India to getting getting a PHD at Harvard and becoming the editor of Foreign Affairs magazine at the age of 28. This is a great exploration of the intellectual development of one of the most prominent and oft-cited global affairs analysts of his generation. Fareed Zakaria is out with a new book, "In Defense of a Liberal Education" in which he writes a full throated paean to the values and virtues of the liberal arts. Mark and Fareed kick off with a discussion about his new book before discussing Fareed's own education, his family history and the big turning points of his life and career. Enjoy!

An earthquake in Katmandu may become one of the terrible natural disasters of our era. In 2013, I spoke with Jo Scheuer of the United Nations Development Program. He is an expert in disaster risk reduction so I asked him what disaster scenario keeps him up at night? Without hesitating he said that an earthquake in Katmandu Valley could bring death and destruction even worse than the Haiti earthquake. He was sure an earthquake would strike — and that the international community was racing the clock to prepare for it. He explained why that region is so vulnerable and what the UN, the local government and international NGOs were doing to mitigate the risk.

Humanity is winning the fight against Malaria, but we still have a long way to go. Since the advent of the Global Fund, the Millennium Development Goals and the President's Malaria Initiative, death and illness rates have dropped precipitously around the globe. Now, talk of total worldwide eradication is not as preposterous as it may seem. This is the message that Martin Edlund of Malaria No More has for the policy community ahead of World Malaria Day on April 25. Despite the progress, though, he argues that there are still big challenges ahead -- particularly the spread of drug resistant Malaria in the Mekong Delta. This is a great episode for anyone who wants to learn why a disease that haunted humanity for millennia is now on the ropes.

Juliette Kayyem is a practitioner and scholar of security studies. She's a former Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security, civil right attorney, Harvard Professor and self described "security mom." She even recently ran for governor of Massachusetts. In this episode, Kayyem discusses growing up the daughter of Lebanese immigrants in California and how she transitioned from civil rights law to terrorism and national security issues. Juliette Kayyem is also now a podcaster! This is a great conversation with someone who has had a varied and distinguished career in public service.