The World Unpacked

Managing the coronavirus has been a challenge for both democracies and authoritarian regimes. In particular, the pandemic has further exposed the inequities and lack of trust present in many democratic countries, including the United States, where protests against police brutality and systemic racism come amid the wreckage of COVID-19. This week, Laura sits down with Rachel Kleinfeld to talk about...

Jen talks to longtime diplomatic correspondent Paul Richter about his book, The Ambassadors: America's Diplomats on the Front Lines.    Paul talks about four diplomats - Ryan Crocker in Afghanistan, Anne Patterson in Pakistan and Egypt, Robert Ford in Iraq and Syria, and Chris Stevens in Libya - who “do the hardest things in the hardest places.” Paul talks about the role of America’s diplomats in...

During the past several years, large-scale protests by citizens against their governments have erupted all over the world. Jen talks to Kai Thaler about what drives protest movements, the methods they employ, and how governments respond.  As protests continue to evolve, what should we watch for?

In her recent book, Black Wave: Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Forty-Year Rivalry That Unraveled Culture, Religion, and Collective Memory in the Middle East , Emmy-winning journalist and New York Times bestseller Kim Ghattas examines the unraveling of the modern Middle East and why it started with the pivotal year of 1979. Kim joins Jen to discuss how the relationship between Saudi Arabia and Iran ha...

Guest host Jarrett Blanc talks to  Carnegie President Bill Burns . They discuss how the coronavirus pandemic will impact foreign affairs and how to deploy disciplined American diplomacy to mitigate its impacts. They also discuss the new afterword in the paperback edition of Bill's memoir,  The Back Channel: A Memoir of American Diplomacy and the Case for Its Renewal .

In October 2018, German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced she would not run again. Since then, her party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), has struggled to find a successor to lead the party and the country. Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, Merkel's preferred successor, won a party leadership election in 2018, but has since failed to establish her authority. In February 2020, Kramp-Karrenbauer  a...

This week, we're saying goodbye to Jen and our executive producer, Lauren, as they both move on to exciting new opportunities. But don't worry—the show will go on! We'll be releasing an episode every two weeks for the next couple of months, and then will be back with an exciting new season after that. Stay tuned for more! If there's a topic in foreign policy you'd like us to unpack, tweet @Carnegi...

Our executive producer Lauren Dueck turns the tables on Jen , and puts her in the hot seat to talk about the state of the 2020 democratic primary race, the major foreign policy topics that might factor into the presidential election, and the relative strengths and weaknesses of President Trump. 

In a shocking move during his annual state address, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced sweeping reforms to the Russian constitution, giving power to the parliament and taking it away from the presidency. Afterwards, his entire cabinet resigned, including long time ally Dmitri Medvedev. Commentators have speculated about Putin's objectives, but no one yet knows what comes next. Jen talks to...

The Coronavirus outbreak has sparked fear around the world, leading to quarantines, transportation shut downs, and disrupting trade, travel, and more. Reports are now emerging that the Chinese government initially tried to cover up the outbreak, threatening doctors and forcing whistleblowers to recant their statements. How has the initial response changed? And what does Coronavirus mean for China...

Waad al-Kateab was a college student in Aleppo when she picked up a video camera to document the Syrian revolution. She kept filming when she met and married her husband and had her first child. She kept filming when the Assad regime laid siege to her city, and when the Russian Air Force started bombing hospitals. Waad's husband, Hamza al-Kateab , became the last doctor running the last hospital i...

President Trump's recently announced peace deal might be dead on arrival, but it may still create facts on the ground that make the two-state solution impossible. Jen talks to Marwan Muasher about what Jared Kushner's "deal of the century" means for Israel, Palestine, and the United States. 

Reports of China's repression of its Uighur minority have been trickling out for years, but recently leaked documents tell the story of sweeping and systematic campaigns of detention, cultural genocide, brainwashing, and forced labor. Jen talks to James Palmer about what he's learned about the situation on the ground, what the example of Xinjiang has meant for the Hong Kong protestors, and what co...

The U.S. killing of Qassem Soleimani has upended Iraq's already fragile political system. How do Iraqis see the escalating tension between the U.S. and Iran? Jen talks to Iraqi journalist Ghaith Abdul-Ahad about how Iraqis see the conflict, and what it means for Iraqi society. Note: Ghaith called us from Istanbul, and was joined by his cat, who you'll hear on this recording.

Last week Donald Trump ordered a drone attack that killed top Iranian general Qassim Suleimani. On Tuesday, Iran retaliated by firing a dozen ballistic missiles at Iraqi bases hosting U.S. military forces. On Wednesday, President Trump declared an end to the escalatory spiral with Iran. But is it really over? Jen talks to Karim Sadjadpour about what Iran might do next. 

Jen talks with Jarrett Blanc about the blockbuster report by the Washington Post, revealing hundreds of scathing interviews with U.S. officials involved in the war in Afghanistan. The World Unpacked will be back in January. 

NATO played a pivotal role in the arms control treaties that kept a lid on the tensions of the Cold War. But arms control treaties are expiring, and recently, French President Emmanuel Macron described NATO as "brain dead". Jen talks to former NATO deputy secretary general Rose Gottemoeller about Turkey, Ukraine, New START, and NATO's future.

When Iranians took to the streets to protest an abrupt hike in gas prices, the government turned off the internet. When it came back on, the world saw the devastating aftermath of the deadliest crackdown in Iran since the 1979 revolution.  Why was the crackdown so severe? And what role dis U.S. sanctions really play in bringing the protests about? Jen talks to Karim Sadjadpour about what the unres...

The World Unpacked is on hiatus this week. For our U.S. listeners, Happy Thanksgiving! If there's a topic in foreign policy you'd like us to unpack, tweet @CarnegieEndow with #WorldUnpacked.

Growing protests are raging across South America. From Ecuador to Bolivia to Venezuela to Chile, the region is experiencing the largest outbreak of unrest in decades. What is prompting these protests? Why are they happening now? And what does it say about leadership in the region? To help us better understand, Moisés Naím joined Jen in the World Unpacked studio. Go deeper: In a recent article for...

The Chinese government’s long held strategy to control dissent within their borders has had enormous impact on members of the media—particularly foreign media. Jen sat down Charles Hutzler , the former Beijing bureau chief at the Wall Street Journal , who has spent more than 20 years reporting in Beijing. He describes how even during massive social changes in China, the government’s view of media’...

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi shaped and led ISIS, defining its brutal ideology and establishing himself as a "caliph of all Muslims". What does his death mean for ISIS? Jen talks to Carnegie expert H.A. Hellyer about how Baghdadi shaped the ideologies of extremism, and what can be done to reverse the tides of radicalization.   Go further: https://carnegieendowment.org/2019/10/28/conditions-that-created-is...

Protestors around Lebanon have already won many victories, including the resignation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri. But can a deeply sectarian government really start afresh? Jen talks to Marwan Muasher about what the protestors are looking for and whether or not they're going to succeed. 

Carolyn Forché was an acclaimed twenty-seven year old poet in 1977 when a stranger persuaded her to travel to El Salvador, a country on the brink of war. What she saw there, recounted in her recent memoir, What You Have Heard Is True , changed her life and caused her to question everything she thought she knew about American foreign policy. Jen talks to Carolyn about what she saw, what she learned...

Interpol conjures up images of shady agents in sharp suits, jetting around the world to capture international criminals. But recently the international police agency has come under fire, as autocratic regimes around the world have used its Red Notice system to harass and arrest political exiles. Has Interpol become just an international extension of the regimes of Vladimir Putin and Xi Jin Ping ?...