Global Dispatches -- World News That Matters

Thousands of delegates gathered in Nairobi, Kenya, last week for the UN Civil Society Conference. The gathering was dedicated to the upcoming Summit of the Future, a major UN conference in September intended to reform and revitalize the UN and the multilateral system. The Nairobi civil society conference was an important opportunity for advocates, the NGO community, and other interested parties to help shape the outcome of the Summit of the Future. On the line to discuss with me what happened at the Nairobi conference and to explain more broadly the role of civil society as we approach the Summit of the Future is Lili Nkunzimana, United Nations representative at the Baha'i International Community's New York Office. We also discuss the current state of play of the intergovernmental negotiations over the Pact for the Future, which is the outcome document for September's summit. Today's episode is produced in partnership with the Baha'i International Community, an NGO that represents the worldwide Baha'i community at the UN and other international forums, where it says that recognizing humanity's interconnectedness is key to a shared global future. This episode is part of a series on the Summit of the Future. The previous episode in this series was published in January and can be found on http://www.GlobalDispatches.org. NB. "The inputs for the New Agenda for Peace were in December 2022, not December 2023 as stated int he episode."

Each year, the United Nations Development Program produces the Human Development Report. This is a compilation of country-level data around education, health, and economic security that aspires to give a more holistic understanding of a country's development beyond economic indicators alone. UNDP has been putting this Human Development Report together for decades, and while some countries would sometimes register advances or declines in the so-called Human Development Index, the global trend was always one of unrelenting progress. Until COVID. The COVID years resulted in global declines along the human development indicators for reasons explained by my guest today, Pedro Conceicao, Director of the Human Development Report Office at the United Nations Development Program. As Pedro Conceicao explains, the most recent report shows that, globally, the Human Development Index is registering progress, but that progress is not as sharp as it was prior to COVID. We discuss this trend and much more about the Human Development Report.

This is a special preview of the Inside Geneva podcast, available wherever you get your podcasts. Recently UNWRA, the UN's refugee agency for Palestinians, has been facing scrutiny of what exactly their role is in the current Israel-Hamas conflict. Many people around the world hadn't heard of UNRWA before this conflict - so what is it exactly, why was it founded, and does it need to continue? Journalist Imogen Foulkes takes a deep dive, talking to UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini, Israeli diplomat Nina Ben-Ami, Jan Egeland of the Norwegian Refugee Council, and Louis Charbonneau of Human Rights Watch. Inside Geneva is produced by Swissinfo, a multilingual public service media based in Switzerland.

El Fasher is the largest city in Sudan's Darfur region. It is also one of the few major cities in Darfur that has not fallen to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) during the civil war that broke out last year. However, an attack on El Fasher seems imminent. The RSF has surrounded the city and is laying siege to it. The United States, the United Nations, and key players around the world are urging against this impending attack, but it's unclear whether the RSF will be deterred. There are deep concerns for the fate of at least 800,000 people trapped in El Fasher, given that the RSF is a genocidal militia. The RSF is the re-branded Janjaweed Militia, which carried out the Darfur genocide 20 years ago. Since the full-scale civil war in Sudan began in April 2023, the RSF has reprised many of its genocidal tactics, targeting non-Arab ethnicities in Darfur for annihilation. My guest today is Mutasim Ali, Legal Advisor at the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights. The Wallenberg Centre recently published a report compiling evidence that genocide is ongoing in Darfur, with the RSF perpetrating it against non-Arab groups. We discuss at length how they came to this conclusion. Mutasim Ali is also from El Fasher, so we talk about the looming RSF assault on the city and what, if anything, can be done to prevent this attack. Sudan represents the largest humanitarian crisis in the world. This episode is part of our ongoing series on the atrocities in Darfur and the civil war in Sudan, which is receiving scant media attention despite the sheer scale of this ongoing calamity. Please support our work by becomming a paying supporter of the show: https://www.globaldispatches.org/

H5N1, otherwise known as Avian or Bird Flu, has been around for a long time. Mostly, the virus has been passed among wild birds, but there have also been sporadic outbreaks in poultry flocks. Now, the virus has spread to dairy cattle and, in at least two cases, from cattle to people. This has experts in pandemic prevention on high alert. Dairy workers come in close contact with cattle, raising concerns that the virus could mutate in such a way that it can be transmitted not only from animals to people but also from human to human. Joining me to discuss the risk that H5N1 could become a virus capable of human-to-human transmission, and what can be done to prevent that, is Robyn Alders. She is an honorary professor with the Development Policy Center at the Australian National University and a member of the Lancet Commission on the Prevention of Viral Spillover. We begin by discussing the history of H5N1 before delving into the current outbreak among dairy herds. Alders also explains why addressing the root cause of these outbreaks requires a fundamental shift in how we approach food systems.

The Parliament of the United Kingdom has passed a controversial new law that would allow the government to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda. Under the so-called "Safety of Rwanda" bill, the Rishi Sunak government has pledged to send migrants from the UK to Rwanda, where their asylum claims would be processed. However, is Rwanda actually safe? My guest today, Sally Hayden, is a journalist who has reported extensively on migration and refugee issues. Last month, she was barred from entering Rwanda due to her prior reporting on the plight of refugees who had been sent to Rwanda as part of a separate, but similar, European Union program. Sally Hayden is the author of "My Fourth Time, We Drowned: Seeking Refuge on the World's Deadliest Migration Route," which won the prestigious Orwell Prize. In our conversation, Sally Hayden discusses her previous reporting on refugees in Rwanda and explores how this new UK bill fits into Europe's increasingly harsh policies towards refugees and asylum seekers.

American aid is on its way to Ukraine. This week, Congress passed a $95 billion foreign aid bill that includes about $60 billion for Ukraine. This aid had been stalled for months, mostly due to Republican intransigence in the House of Representatives. But now, the funding is being released, and according to my guest today, it will have a significant impact on the battlefield in Ukraine. Evelyn Farkas is the Executive Director of the McCain Institute and served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Ukraine, Russia, and Eurasia during the Obama administration. We discuss the influence this new aid package will have on the trajectory of the conflict and why its timing is critical. Farkas recently returned from Ukraine, where officials told her they were bracing for a new summer offensive by Russia.

Diplomats are gathering in Ottawa this week for the latest round of negotiations on a treaty to end plastic pollution. Back in 2022, 175 countries agreed to develop a legally binding agreement on plastic pollution by 2024. This meeting in Ottawa is the penultimate round of negotiations and a critical moment in the long effort to curb the environmental damage caused by the rampant production and use of plastic today. On the line with me to discuss what these negotiators hope to achieve and some of the key obstacles in the way of a robust treaty on plastic pollution is Erin Simon, Vice President and Head of Plastic Waste and Business at the World Wildlife Fund. We kick off discussing the problem of plastic pollution before having a broader conversation about these treaty negotiations. This includes a conversation about some key diplomatic stumbling blocks preventing the adoption of a treaty on plastic pollution.

On April 1st, Israel launched airstrikes on an Iranian diplomatic compound in Damascus, killing seven Iranian officials, including a very senior general. Iran responded with a massive drone attack on Israel, marking the first time that Iran directly attacked Israeli soil. All this is happening, of course, in the context of the conflict in Gaza. My interview guest Dalia Dassa Kaye is a Senior Fellow at the UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations and a Fulbright Schuman Visiting Scholar at Lund University. She has done extensive research and writing on the mechanics of armed conflict escalation in the Middle East, which we discuss in the context of this current crisis. We kick off discussing the recent series of events since April before having a broad conversation about the dynamics of escalation between Israel and Iran. This includes the potential that the United States becomes more deeply dragged into this conflict in the Middle East.

On the one year anniversary of the outbreak of civil war, Sudan is the largest humanitarian crisis in the world today. On April 15, 2023, fighting spread from Khartoum to other parts of the country, including Darfur, where the conflict took on ugly ethnic dimensions, potentially leading to genocide. Over 8 million people have been displaced, and the UN is warning of famine in parts of the country. My interview guest today, Kholood Khair, is the founder and director of Confluency Advisory, a think-and-do tank formerly based in Khartoum. She explains how the conflict has evolved over the last year and why the humanitarian crisis is as dire as ever. In our conversation, we spend a lot of time discussing potential ways out of this crisis, which thus far have been elusive. Kholood Khair explains: How the conflict in Sudan began. How the conflict has changed over the last year. Why the conflict is becoming more complex and harder to solve the longer it lasts What the international community, including the United States, can do to better support a peace process. Please support our ongoing efforts to cover undercovered global stories by becoming a paid supporter of Global Dispatches on Substack or Apple Podcasts https://www.globaldispatches.org/

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency, better known as UNRWA, was established in 1949 to support Palestinians displaced during the first Arab-Israeli war. Today, it provides services and humanitarian relief to nearly 6 million Palestinians in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and of course Gaza. There has always been some tension between Israel and UNRWA, but since the October 7th attacks and the Israel war in Gaza, Israeli leaders have sought to dismantle UNRWA all together and the United States seems to be a willing partner in this effort. Following accusations that 12 out of UNRWA's 13,000 staff in Gaza took part in the October 7 attacks, the United States suspended funding for UNRWA and many other key donors followed suit. This funding suspension took place even as UNRWA's humanitarian relief networks in Gaza are widely regarded as irreplaceable. To the extent that aid is reaching besieged populations in Gaza, it is UNRWA facilitating the deliveries. My interview guest today, Jonathan Lincoln is a former United Nations official who served as a Senior Coordination Officer at the Jerusalem office of the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, where he worked on aid in the West Bank and Gaza. He is now the interim Director of the Center for Jewish Civilization at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. He recently wrote a piece in Foreign Affairs about the necessity of UNRWA and the need for reforming the agency which inspired this interview.

On March 31st, Turkey held local elections across 81 provinces. These elections took place less than a year after national elections cemented President Erdogan and his AK Party's hold on power, which he had been consolidating for nearly 20 years through democratic backsliding. But these elections were different -- very different. Erdogan's AKP suffered huge defeats across the country, perhaps none more impactful and symbolic than the AKP's crushing loss in the Istanbul Mayoral race. As my guest today, Lisel Hintz, explains, these may have been local elections, but the results show a growing nationwide opposition to Erdogan and his authoritarian leadership style. Lisel Hintz is an Assistant Professor of International Relations at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. We kick off by discussing the implications of the election results before delving into a lengthy conversation about Istanbul's mayor, who is emerging as a prominent national leader challenging Erdogan.

The Gaitenistas, otherwise known as the Gulf Clan, are Colombia's largest and richest criminal armed group. They formed nearly 20 years ago but have gained considerable strength since Colombia's landmark 2016 peace agreement with the Leftist FARC guerrilla group. Today, The Gulf Clan controls much of Colombia's Atlantic coast and is a key player in drug trafficking and migrant smuggling. All the while, they use coercive tactics to control the population. My guest today, Elizabeth Dickinson, is Senior Analyst for Colombia at the International Crisis Group and author of a recent report on this group. In our conversation, she explains how this group emerged to become such a potent force in Colombia today and why it is thus far upending President Gustavo Petro's efforts to secure a so-called Total Peace for all of Colombia. The Crisis Group report.

Xi Jinping has dramatically reshaped China since coming to power in 2012. He is now effectively a leader for life, and throughout his time in power, he has molded Chinese politics and society to his own ideological predilections. Understanding this ideology, known as "Xi Thought," is crucial for comprehending how China perceives its role in the world today. Steve Tsang, the director of the China Institute at SOAS University of London and co-author with Olivia Cheung of the new book "The Political Thought of Xi Jinping," provides a thorough analysis of the development and application of Xi's political ideology and its impact on China domestically and in its international relations. We begin by discussing why understanding Xi Thought matters for comprehending China today. We then explore some of the key tenets of this ideology before engaging in a detailed conversation about an ancient Chinese imperialist ideology that Xi is reviving for the modern world.

Podcast guest Rosemary Salomone is the Kenneth Wang Professor of Law at St John's University School of Law and author of the book "The Rise of English: Global Politics and the Power of Language." The book takes readers around the world to show the political, social and cultural implications of English having been firmly established as the Lingua Franca. We kick off discussing how English became the dominant global language. We then discuss how reactions against the dominance of English are shaping domestic and international politics in interesting and sometimes unusual ways.

In Mid-March the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill that would effectively ban Tik Tok in the United States. Tik Tok's parent company, Byte Dance, is Chinese. This bill would force Byte Dance to sell Tik Tok to an American buyer or else the app would no longer be available in the United States. President Biden has said he'd sign this bill into law, but at the moment the legislation is stalled in the Senate. My guest today Kaiser Kuo argues that these anti-Tik Tok measures are emblematic of a "moral panic" around China that is increasingly taking hold among American policy makers. He is the host of the Sinica Podcast and after discussing our views on whether or not the US should ban Tik Tok, we discuss the broader geopolitical context in which a move like this is being contemplated.

The Commission on the Status of Women concludes this week at the United Nations. CSW, as it is known, is one of the major annual events at UN headquarters, second only to the opening of the UN General Assembly in September. But unlike UNGA, it rarely gets much media attention, at least not the kind of attention commensurate for a diplomatic gathering of its size. Joining me to explain the key debates and discussion from the 68th Commission on the Status of Women is Michelle Milford Morse, Vice President for Girls and Women Strategy at the United Nations Foundation. We kick off with a long conversation about the unique diplomatic dynamic surrounding international debates and discussions on gender equality--including why after years of progress, advocates for gender equality are now playing defense. We then discuss some of items that were on the agenda at CSW this year.

The security and humanitarian situation in Haiti has gone from bad to worse over the last several days. The country, ensnared in an enduring crisis following the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, now faces a critical juncture as violence led by gang coalitions escalates and state authority wanes. Amid this chaos, Prime Minister Ariel Henry signaled his intent to step down, agreeing to a transitional governing council. Meanwhile, a Kenya-lead prospective police mission under UN authorization remains in limbo, highlighting the urgency for immediate intervention to prevent further collapse. Renata Segura, Deputy Director for Latin American and the Caribbean for the International Crisis Group, sheds light on Haiti's descent into chaos. This includes a recent surge in gang conflict which saw a temporary alliance aiming to confront the state's governance structures. This gang alliance has led to an unprecedented level of turmoil, targeting police stations, airports, and causing mass jailbreaks. Segura explains where this crisis may be headed next, and what the international community can do to prevent the crisis from getting even worse. Key Takeaways: Haiti has entered a heightened state of crisis following a gang coalition that directly challenges state authority. Prime Minister Ariel Henry has agreed to transfer power to a transitional council composed of various Haitian political and civil society groups. The United Nations Security Council's multinational support mission, led by Kenya, is critical but currently faces significant challenges in deployment. Renata Segura emphasizes the importance of swiftly addressing the violence in Haiti before the state potentially fails completely. There is discussion around the prospect of integrating gangs into the political framework as a means to de-escalate conflict.

Artificial Intelligence is changing warfare. Fully autonomous weapons that can make their own decisions about what to target or whom to kill are already in limited use today. But the pace of development of AI suggests that these so-called "Killer Robots" may become more and more common in future armed conflicts. Meanwhile, the speed at which new AI technology is coming online far exceeds the ability of the international community to come up with guardrails that might place controls on fully autonomous weapon systems. Guest Paul Scharre is the Executive Vice President and Director of Studies at the Center for a New American Security. He is the award-winning author of Four Battlegrounds: Power in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. We kick off by discussing what we mean by autonomous weapons before having a longer conversation about what the future holds for AI in warfare, nuclear security, and how to secure sensible regulations on autonomous weapons and military uses of AI. Paul Scharre in Foreign Affairs

Western countries have seized hundreds of billions of dollars of Russian assets following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago. Since then, the question of what to do with those assets has loomed large over debates about Ukraine. Vladimir Milov is a Former Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation and now a Russian opposition politician. Milov makes a compelling case for the expropriation of these assets as a means to aid Ukraine's reconstruction efforts and explains the web of state-affiliated money hidden overseas. Vladimir Milov delves into the staggering amount of Russian capital funneled out of the country, shedding light on the possibility that a significant portion is controlled by entities with direct ties to the Russian state. He emphasizes the necessity of differentiating between clearly identified state-owned assets and the more obscured parastatal resources that play a role in the international economy. Milov also discusses the potential for substantial funds to be uncovered, which could dramatically aid in the reconstruction of Ukraine's war-damaged infrastructure and society. Vladimir Milov's article for GlobeSec

Stuart Reid is the executive editor of Foreign Affairs and author of the new book "The Lumumba Plot: The Secret History of the CIA and a Cold War Assassination." The book tells the story of Congo's liberation from Belgium in the 1950s and 60s and the rise to prominence of Patrice Lumumba, Congo's charismatic independence leader. Believing Lumumba to be under the sway of the Soviet Union, the CIA hatched a plot to assassinate him at a time when Congo was falling into a chaotic civil war. Into this civil war, UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld dispatched a unique peacekeeping mission to restore order and died in a plane crash under mysterious circumstances. Stuart Reid weaves each of these stories into a single compelling narrative that reads at times like a spy thriller.

Alexander Ward ia national security reporter for POLITICO and author of the book "The Internationalists: The Fight to Restore American Foreign Policy After Trump." We discuss the implications of Mitch McConnell stepping down as the leader of the Senate Republicans and delve into the key themes and insights from Ward's important new book. We explore the concept of the "foreign policy for the middle class" and how it shaped the Biden administration's approach to foreign policy. Ward also examines the decision-making process behind the Afghanistan withdrawal and the administration's response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Our conversation sheds light on the acrimonious relationship between Biden and Zelensky, the President of Ukraine, and the challenges of navigating international crises. The episode concludes with a discussion on the ongoing Gaza crisis and the potential impact of Trumpism on future foreign policy decisions.

There is a global development pileup on the horizon. In 2024 and 2025, about a dozen funding pools that support global development and global health are due for replenishment. These replenishments are essentially fundraisers for entities like the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations (GAVI), and the World Bank's International Development Association (IDA), among many, many others. A new report from the Center for Global Development warns that these fundraisers may all be competing with each other for similar pools of money—and doing so at a time of contracting foreign aid budgets and pivotal elections in key donor countries. One of the authors of that report, Clemence Landers, joins me for a conversation about the causes and consequences of a potential replenishment traffic jam. We kick off discussing what we mean by a "replenishment" in Global Development speak. Clemence Landers also makes the point that of these fundraisers, the World Bank's International Development Association (IDA) is arguably the most consequential. IDA is the branch of the World Bank that provides grants and very concessional loans to support the development priorities of the lowest-income countries. The World Bank president is seeking a major replenishment this December.

On January 28th, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger jointly announced they were leaving the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS. This is a regional economic and political union of most countries in West africa. Citizens enjoy free movement across borders of ECOWAS member states and many of its members share the same currency. ECOWAS also seeks to uphold democratic norms, and each of these three countries are led by military juntas. Now, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger are setting up rival entity, called the Alliance of Sahel States. Joining me to discuss the significance of this joint decision to exit ECOWAS is Ornella Moderan, a researcher and practitioner who's been working in the Sahel and West Africa for nearly 15 years. She is currently a Research Fellow with the Netherlands-based Clingendael Institute. We kick off discussing the role of ECOWAS in West Africa, particularly the important,albeit imperfect, ways it seeks to uphold democracy in the region. She then explains why these countries left ECOWAS and what this decision means for the region, for Africa and for the world at large.

Last week, the United States Senate passed a foreign aid bill that included about $60 billion for Ukraine's defense. The vote was overwhelmingly bi-partisan, but the ultimate fate of continued American aid for Ukraine now depends on action in the House of Representatives, where the outcome is unknown. Mounting uncertainty around America's commitment to Ukraine's defense comes at the two year anniversary of Russia's invasion. The apparent wavering today is a far cry from the overwhelmingly broad support for Ukraine in the early days of the war. So how did we get to this point? And how might the passage or not of a spending bill to support Ukraine impact the trajectory of the war and the transatlantic alliance that has emerged in Ukraine's defense? Joining me to discuss these questions and more is Peter Van Praagh, President of HFX, a Washington, DC based organization that convenes the Halifax International Security Forum. We kick off discussing the action in the United States Congress before having a broader conversation about the necessity of international support for Ukraine and the implications should that support waver. Disorder Podcast https://tr.ee/ksicr-3Wty

Indonesia is the third largest democracy in the world, and on February 14th national elections were held including to replace the extremely popular outgoing president Joko Widodo. The current defense minister Prabowo Subianto won those elections and will be Indonesia's next president. He's a controversial figure who has been credibly accused of human rights abuses during Indonesia's long Suharto dicatorship. He was also a former rival of Joko Widodo, but received the popular president's backing while tapping the president's son as to run as his presidential nominee. Indonesia is a massive democracy in an increasingly stragegic region. So what does Prabowo Subianto's election mean for Indonesia's foreign policy, its relationship to the United States and China, and for broader global trends like climate change? To answer these questions and more I speak with Prashanth Prashanth Parameswaran, a fellow at the Wilson Center and Founder of the Asean Wonk Newsletter. We kick off discussing Prabowo's background before having a longer conversation about how this change in government may impact Indonesian foreign policy.

2024 is an important year for African democracy. At least 19 national elections scheduled to take place this year. Not all of these elections will be free or fair-- let alone competetive. Some of these elections will serve to ensconce leaders for life like Rwanda's Paul Kagame. Others may serve to consolidate power following a coup. But genuine multi-party democracies like Ghana and South Africa are also headed to the polls in important elections. Joining me to discuss key trends in African democracy and some of the highlights on the African electoral calendar in 2024 is Oge Onubogu, director of the Africa Program at the Woodrow Wilson Center. We kick off discussing Senegal, a once reliably stable democracy that has experienced significant backsliding and recently cancelled upcoming elections. Disorder Podcast

To understand any country's foreign policy you need to understand domestic political dynamics. So what is driving Iranian decision making right now? Negar Mortazavi is a journalist, host of the Iran Podcast and senior fellow at the Center for International Policy. I reached out to her for this interview because it seems that lost in much commentary about the widening crisis in the middle east is a nuanced understanding of what is influencing Iranian policy and decision making. Our conversation focuses on Iranian domestic politics and how that is shaping the regime's response to the Gaza crisis and US strikes against Iran backed groups in the region. Disorder Podcast: https://tr.ee/ksicr-3Wty

On January 25th, a milestone was reached in humanity's long fight against Malaria. For the first time ever, a Malaria vaccine was included in a country's routine childhood vaccinations program. Cameroon rolled out a new Malaria vaccine for children and other countries will soon follow. This comes after years of successful trials in Kenya, Ghana and Malawi which demonstrated the vaccine to be safe and effective in preventing Malaria deaths among children. Joining me to put this milestone in context is Margaret McDonnell, Executive Director of United to Beat Malaria, a global grassroots campaign of the United Nations Foundation. We kick off discussing the burden of Malaria around the world and have a broader conversation about how this new vaccine fits into global efforts to rid humanity of Malaria.

On January 15, Kim Jong Un formally declared South Korea to be an enemy state. This is significant for the fact that since the end of the Korean War, the line from Pyongyang was more or less that South Korea was like a wayward relative and would ultimately be reunified with the North. But now, according to Kim and changes he's enacting to the North Korean constitution, the state of South Korea is Enemy Number 1. This policy shift comes amidst several geopolitical trends that combined suggests to some longtime North Korea watchers that Kim is readying for war. On the line with me to explain the significance of this official change in North Korea's policy towards South Korea, why this change is happening now, and what can be done to deter of constrain Kim Jong Un, is Sue Mi Terry. She is a former CIA analyst, long time North Korea expert and producer of the new documentary about North Korea called Beyond Utopia, which was just nominated for a BAFTA for best documentary. Read Sue Mi Terry in Foreign Affairs

The United Nations is hosting the Summit of the Future in September during the annual opening the UN General Assembly. If all goes according to plan, world leaders will endorse a so-called "Pact for the Future" that will serve as a vehicle for enacting meaningful reforms to the United Nations. In late January, negotiations began in earnest over what will be included in that pact. My guest today Dan Perell has been following this process closely. He serves as a representative for the Baha'i International Community's United Nations Office. We kick off discussing why the Secretary General is so invested in the Summit of the Future and its potential to encourage key reforms to the United Nations. We also discuss what role civil society organizations like the Bahai International Community can play in helping ensure a successful Summit of the Future. This episode is produced in partnership with the Baha'i International Community, an NGO that represents the worldwide Baha'i community at the UN and other international forums, where it says that recognizing humanity's interconnectedness is key to a shared global future.

The UN has not declared a famine in gaza--not yet at least. But the World Food Program has said there are "pockets of famine" in Gaza. In December, the UN released its most comprehensive assessment of food security in Gaza and estimated that over half a million people are facing catastrophic levels of food insecurity inside Gaza. For comparison's sake, in the entire rest of the world there are an estimated 129,000 people facing similarly catastrophic levels of food insecurity. My guest today, Tjada D'Oyen McKenna is the CEO of Mercy Corps, a large international humanitarian NGO that has long had a presence in Gaza. We discuss the food security landscape and prospect of famine, and then have an in depth discussion about the complex process of getting even limited humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Climate change is impacting the migratory patterns of fish around the world. And in some cases, the changing location of fish stocks is heightening the risk of armed conflict. My guest today, Johan Bergenas, is Senior Vice President for Oceans at the World Wildlife Fund. Late last year, the World Wildlife Fund launched a platform called Oceans Futures to collect data on climate change and fisheries models and provide early warning of potential hostposts where fisheries might cause conflict. There has been a surge in conflict over fish over the last forty years, and this model seeks to help policy makers understand where such conflict might erupt, and how to prevent the outbreak of conflict over fisheries. In our conversation, Johan Bergenas explains where we can expect conflict over fish in the near and long term.

On Tuesday January 16th, Iran launched airstrikes in Pakistan targeting a terrorist group it claimed carried out attacks in Iran. Two days later, Pakistan responded with its own strikes in Iranian territory, targeting a separatist group that has carried out attacks against Pakistan. These attacks were notable for both their scale--these were major missile and drone strikes -- and for the fact that Iran and Pakistan otherwise have normal, stable and even cordial diplomatic relations. These are not hostile neighbors, yet in the course of one week they conducted military strikes on each others' territory. These hostilities come amid escalating instability throughout the broader middle east. My guest today Michael Kugelman is Director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center. We kick off discussing Pakistani-Iranian relations and why this episode is such a departure from normal. Michael Kugelman explains how this flare up is influenced by the fraught situation in the Middle East, and offers some insights into how this crisis may evolve in the coming days and weeks.

Taiwan held elections for President and the Legislature on January 13. These elections were highly anticipated for the fact that the leading candidates have differing views on how to manage Taiwan's relationship with China. The current vice President, Lai Ching-te of the Democratic Progressive Party won the elections and is considered to be more pro-west, pro-independence, and skeptical of China. My guest today, Kharis Templeman, spent the last several weeks in Taiwan leading up to the vote. He explains the results, including the fact that while the DPP candidate Lai Ching-te won the presidency, the DPP does not have a majority in the legislature. We discuss the significance of this split government and what Lai ching-te's presidency means for cross strait relations with China. Kharis Templeman is Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution and the manager of the Project on Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region. He is also a Lecturer at the Center for East Asian Studies at Stanford University.

Since mid-November, the de-facto authorities in most of Yemen, the Houthis, have launched dozens of attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea. The Houthis say they are doing this in response to Israel's war in Gaza and these attacks have severely disrupted a key global shipping lane. The United States and the United Kingdom have launched missile strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen in retaliation, and to deter future attacks on shipping in the Red Sea. My guest today, Gregory D. Johnsen, is a non-resident fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. He is currently the associate director of the Institute for Future Conflict at the U.S. Air Force Academy. He is a longtime Yemen watcher who served on the UN Security Council's Panel of Experts on Yemen. We kick off with a brief background on the Houthis and their role in Yemen's civil wars. We spend most of this conversation discussing the motivation behind the Houthi attacks and why airstrikes are not likely to deter future Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.

As I'm recording this, Antony Blinken is on a whirlwind trip to at least eight countries in the Middle East and Mediterranean region. This flurry of diplomatic activity comes in the wake of worrying signs that the conflict in Israel and Gaza may spread throughout the region. The Houthis have mounted a series of attacks on commercial shipping off the coast of Yemen in the red sea. Meanwhile, Israel has targeted a senior Hamas and a senior Hezobollah leader with missile strikes in Lebanon. The risk of widespread regional escalation is suddenly very acute, according to my guest today Natan Sachs, the director of the Center for Middle East Policy and a senior fellow in the Foreign Policy Program at Brookings. We kick off discussing Antony Blinken's trip and what he hopes to accomplish. And this includes planning for a post-Hamas political order in Gaza. And here, Natan Sachs explains, there is significant differences between the preferences of the Biden administration and Netanyahu -- and deep divisions within Israeli politics.

Yaroslav Trofimov is the chief foreign affairs correspondent for the Wall Street Journal and author of the new book "Our Enemies Will Vanish: The Russian Invasion and Ukraine's War of Independence." Yaroslav Trofimov is a veteran journalist who has covered conflicts around the world. He also happens to have been born and raised in Ukraine. In the book, he offers a first-hand account of the war, and really explains the conflict from a Ukrainian perspective. We spoke amid news of a major prisoner swap between Ukraine and Russia, so I kick off asking him about the significance of prisoner exchanges and what it means, if anything, for the trajectory of the conflict. We also discuss the recent major missile barrage on Kyiv, which was the largest single attack since the start of the war, and Ukraine's response. Much of our conversation focuses on some of the trends to follow in 2024, particularly as there is serious doubt about whether or not the United States Congress can pass a funding bill to support Ukraine's defense.

As we enter 2024, the conflict in Sudan is shaping up to be one of the worst crises in the world. Nearly 7 million people have been displaced, hunger is widespread and a hallmark of this civil war has been ethnic cleansing that may have crossed the threshold to genocide. Despite being a calamitous catastrophe, Sudan has not received much media attention, nor sustained high level engagement by policy makers, particularly in the West. To begin 2024, I am bringing you my conversation with Kholood Khair, the founder and managing director of Confluence Advisory, a think and do tank formerly based in Khartoum. We kick off discussing her analysis of why conflict broke out in April between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. We then discuss how this conflict evolved to the point where the Rapid Support Forces appear to very much have the upper hand and why international diplomacy has thus far failed to end this civil war.

Ten years ago the podcast industry was in its infancy and the format of Global Dispatches was a bit different than it is today. I would sit down with people who had interesting lives or careers in international affairs and interview them about their life and career, with digressions about the historic foreign policy moments in which their or career intersected. I did around 200 of these longform biographical interviews over the first several years of the podcast. These interviews are mostly behind a paywall at this point, and unlocked for paying subscribers via Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For today, I wanted to bring everyone my 2016 conversation with Clarissa Ward, CNN's Chief International Correspondent. At the time, Clarissa Ward had recently snuck into rebel held territory in Syria. We kick off with a conversation about the mechanics of sneaking into a conflict zone and the risks that war reporting entails. We then have a long conversation about how and why she became a journalist, including her time in Beirut and Baghdad. Get more episodes like this by becoming a premium subscriber. For Apple Podcasts, upgrade directly in the app. To access these bonus episodes on Spotify, go here. https://www.patreon.com/GlobalDispatches

A few months ago, I attended one of the more interesting dinners of my life. Partly, it was the conversation: the venue was the Council on Foreign Relations. But mostly, it was the menu. The dishes served were of ingredients that are going extinct. Sam Kass curated the menu for this "Dinner of Extinction." He was the White House chef for the Obamas and now works at the intersection of climate sustainability and food systems — and take it from me, also cooks a great meal. I caught up with Sam Kass again for a wide ranging conversation about foods that are going extinct. He discusses in detail the ways in which climate change is imperiling everything from Snow Crabs to the peaches he served atop the burrata, to coffee and wine.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is holding national elections on December 20th. The DRC is a massive country, with some 100 million people. It is also one of the most resource-rich countries on the planet, particularly the kinds of metals required in consumer electronics and in the batteries used in electric vehicles. Needless to say, the politics of the DRC are an issue of global importance. Incumbent Felix Tshisekedi is seeking re-election, five years after the DRC's first peaceful transfer of power since the 1960s. However, there are serious doubts that this election will be free or fair; meanwhile in the Eastern part of the country an ongoing conflict may prevent millions of people from casting their votes. I'm joined today by Zaynab Hoosen, a political economist at Oxford Economics Africa in Capetown. We discuss the major candidates and several of the key issues that are dominating the debate as Congolese head to the polls.

The international climate change conference, COP28, concluded in Dubai on December 13th, one day later than its scheduled end-date. Negotiators went into overtime to hammer out an agreement that for the first time addressed the politically fraught question of phasing out fossil fuels. Joining me to discuss that key outcome and other significant results of COP28 is Pete Ogden, Vice President for Climate and Environment at the United Nations Foundation. We kick off discussing why this particular meeting in Dubai was an important moment for the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to at least 1.5 degrees celsius. We then discuss the contentious politics and diplomacy around an agreement to phase out fossil fuels and other key outcomes of this UN Climate Conference.

In February 2021, the Myanmar military toppled the civilian government of Burma, lead by Aung San Suu Kyi. Mass protests followed this coup and were brutally suppressed by the military junta. Soon, an insurgency sprang up. For much of this conflict, the Burmese military has had the upper hand. But things changed dramatically in recent weeks. Now, the Burmese military looks as weak as it ever has in its nearly 40 years of on and off again control of Myanmar. The Junta's defeat suddenly looks like a real possibility. Joining me to provide important context for understanding the civil war in Myanmar is Gregory Poling, director of the Southeast Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. We kick off discussing the outbreak of conflict in Myanmar following the 2021 coup. Gregory Poling does a good job of breaking down the complexities of a civil war that involves a wide number of ethnic armed groups, many of which have now joined in an alliance to defeat Burmese military. We also discuss the role of China and the United States, and whether or not we can expect a collapse of the Myanmar Junta in the near future.

This episode of Global Dispatches was recorded as a live taping of the podcast, produced in partnership with CGIAR, a global research partnership for a food-secure future dedicated to transforming food, land, and water systems in a climate crisis. Global Dispatches and CGIAR are partnering on a series of episodes about the nexus between climate and security. In our conversation today expert panelists discuss the path to resilient societies in a polycrisis era and soft launch CGIAR's new Climate Security Sensitivity Tool to assess the peace potential of climate adaptation The episode kicks off with some opening remarks from, Peter Laderach, Co-lead CGIAR Climate Security, Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT I then moderate a panel discussion featuring : Carolina Sarzana – Climate Security Specialist with CGIAR, the Alliance of Bioveristy and CIAT Linda Ogallo – Climate Change Adaptation Expert at the Climate Prediction and Applications Centre, Intergovernmental Authority on Development Suzanna Huber -- Climate and Energy Advisor World Food Programme, Regional Bureau Eastern Africa Erick Mariga -- Regional Fragility and Resilience Coordinator, at the Africa Development Bank Group Mana Farooghi -- Climate and Environment Adviser at the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Raj Shah served as administrator of USAID during the Obama administration and is now the President of the Rockefeller Foundation, a major philanthropy that is a key player in the global development space. His new book "Big Bets: How Large-Scale Change Really Happens" draws from lessons in his career to argue that big bold visions for systemic change -- what he calls "big bets" -- are crucial drivers of progress, particularly in global health and development. In our conversation, Raj Shah explains this premise. We then have a long discussion about the current state of global development and the kinds of big bets he believes are required to accellerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals and beyond. Support our work through an upgraded subscription. https://www.globaldispatches.org/

I caught up with Estonia's top military commander General Martin Herem at the Halifax International Security Forum in November. Estonia is a NATO member that borders Russia and I was interested in drawing out General Herem's perspective on the conflict in Ukraine. We kick off with General Herem's military and strategic analysis of the current state of play of the war in Ukraine. We then have an extended conversation about the implications of a long and drawn out war for frontline countries like Estonia -- and for Europe more broadly. He explains what he believes Ukraine needs to break the current military impasse, and why a long war in Ukraine undermines Estonian security. https://www.globaldispatches.org/

There is a mounting humanitarian emergency on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Since October, hundreds of thousands of Afghans living in Pakistan have fled back to Afghanistan. They are being forcibly repatriated by the Pakistani government which began a crackdown on so-called illegal immigrants, compelling the expulsion of over three hundred thousand Afghans in just the last few weeks. On the line to explain the unfolding humanitarian crisis is Samira Sayed-Rahman, director of policy advocacy and communications for The International Rescue Committee in Afghanistan. We kick off discussing the reasons for Pakistan's sudden crackdown and then discuss the crisis this is generating inside Afghanistan. We also discuss the complications of international humanitarian relief work in Afghanistan under Taliban rule.

This episode of Global Dispatches was recorded as a live taping of the podcast, produced in partnership with CGIAR, a global research partnership for a food-secure future dedicated to transforming food, land, and water systems in a climate crisis. Global Dispatches and CGIAR are partnering on a series of episodes about the nexus between climate and security. In our conversation today expert panelists discuss the multiple benefits of climate adaptation for disaster related displacement. The episode kicks off with some opening remarks from, Peter Laderach, Co-lead CGIAR Climate Security, Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT I then moderate a panel discussion featuring : Michelle Yonetani, Senior Policy Officer, Office of the Special Advisor to the High Commissioner on Climate Action, UNHCR Sandra Ruckstuhl, Senior Researcher, International Water Management Institute and Co-lead, CGIAR Fragility, Conflict and Migration Initiative Tasneem Siddiqui, Professor, University of Dhaka Raphaela Shveiger, Yale World Fellow, Yale University

I caught up with Congressman Jason Crow at the Halifax International Security Forum, a major global security conference held each year in Nova Scotia that brings together military leaders, politicians, media and civil society groups from democratic countries. Congressman Crow is a Democrat from Colorado, first elected in 2019 and someone widely viewed as a rising star in national security and foreign policy circles. We discuss the Israel-Palestine crisis, kicking off with a question about the propriety of calling for a ceasefire. We then discuss the impact this crisis is having in the broader Middle East, on domestic politics in the United States -- and why Israel should not repeat the mistakes of the US War on Terror.