Deep Dish on Global Affairs

Stock markets have plunged, economic output is falling, businesses are closed with some facing bankruptcy, and unemployment is soaring as a result of COVID-19. In a new episode of Deep Dish , former Bank of London governor Lord Mervyn King draws from lessons he learned during the 2008 financial crisis to discuss how to manage the current economic uncertainty.  

Through a series of special edition Deep Dish episodes, we're taking you inside the global COVID-19 pandemic response by talking to journalists on the ground.  We begin in South Korea, which ranked among the top ten countries for total cases at the time of recording . The  Wall Street Journal 's Dasl Yoon, reporting from Seoul, joins us to explain what other countries can learn from South Korea's...

Countries across the globe are rushing to contain COVID-19 and "flatten the curve "  – with mixed results. After months of shutdowns China is slowly  reopening ; India has  initiated  a national lockdown; leaders in Brazil and Mexico have dismissed the danger; and Italy and Spain report high death totals and  l ack  medical supplies.  POLITICO's  Ryan Heath joins  Deep Dish  to explain the lessons...

While the political importance of the American Midwest in 2020 is clear, the region of 70 million people is all too often written off as an economic has-been and a cultural backwater. Shayndi Raice of the Wall Street Journal and John Austin of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs join Deep Dish to tell a different story, one of bright spots as well as blights in this region encompassing all or pa...

Yemen's years-long war pits Iran-backed Houthis against a coalition of Saudi-led forces seeking to restore Yemen's internationally recognized government. The war has created not only a dire humanitarian crisis but also an opening for terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda. International Crisis Group's Daniel Schneiderman, who was NSC director for Yemen under presidents Obama and Trump, joins Deep Dish...

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Levant Affairs and Special Envoy for Syria Joel Rayburn joins Deep Dish to explain the Trump administration's plan in war-torn Syria, discussing everything from ISIS and the Assad regime to Russian and Iranian influence.

"The United States needs allies more than it ever has," says Mira Rapp-Hooper, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and author of the forthcoming book Shields of the Republic . On the latest Deep Dish , Rapp-Hooper joins Council President Ivo Daalder for a discussion about the state of US alliances at a moment when new concerns are flaring up from the Philippines and East Asia to Euro...

This week, soldiers with automatic weapons occupied El Salvador's legislature, demanding more funds to fight rampant criminal gangs. For years, violence and crime have led to poor living conditions in the country and mass emigration. Rosa Anaya, a Gus Hart Visiting Fellow at the Council, joins Deep Dish to discuss her groundbreaking work rehabilitating inmates and gang members in El Salvador with...

First developed by the United Nations, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are an ambitious effort for countries to address the world's biggest problems. Yet much of the remarkable work happening now is at the sub-national level, by cities, local governments, and the private sector. Anthony F. Pipa of the Brookings Institution and Catherine P. Sheehy, global lead for sustainability partnershi...

America spends more on its military than the next 10 countries combined, and the Department of Defense oversees some 1.3 million military personnel. But is it all necessary? Joining Deep Dish to discuss his provocative new book Close the Pentagon , Charles Kenny argues that not only can the United States cut its defense budget, but it can also better secure the nation by eventually shuttering the...

Demonstrators have taken to the streets from Hong Kong to Lebanon, with many calling for democratic reforms. Yet policymakers in the United States are split on whether or not to support pro-democracy movements abroad. Rochelle Terman and Paul Poast of the University of Chicago join  Deep Dish to debate the two competing options, which they call "America first" and "Spider-Man."

Chancellor Sebastian Kurz of Austria, the young head of a conservative party deeply opposed to immigration, has just formed a coalition government with Austria's Green party. Having adopted a platform that is anti-immigration, pro-business, and pro-environment, the odd pairing of these parties holds important and timely lessons for the larger realignment of left-right politics taking place across...

Earlier this week, in retaliation for the killing of Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani, Iran fired a dozen missiles on two bases in Iraq housing US troops. After, President Trump said Iran "appears to be standing down." But Kelly Magsamen, NSC director for Iran under US presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama and now at the Center for American Progress, explains on Deep Dish  that the repercuss...

Following the killing of Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani last week, Iraq's parliament voted to ask the prime minister to oust US forces from the country. It comes after violent protests in Iraq against both the Iraqi government and the US embassy in Baghdad. Emma Sky, a former political adviser to the commanding general of US forces in Iraq and now at Yale University, joins Deep Dish  to explain...

As we've seen in places like Syria and Iraq, today's armed conflict is civilian-focused, driven by non-state actors, and increasingly urban. Do traditional international norms like the Geneva Conventions still matter? Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, joins Deep Dish to examine why changes in the nature of war have complicated the way international law govern...

Ever since the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine in 2014 and its meddling in US elections in 2016, relations between Moscow and Washington have gone from bad to worse. But should the United States actively work to improve relations? Or is dealing with Putin a lost cause? Molly Montgomery, a former US foreign service officer and special advisor to Vice President Mike Pence, and William Ruger, vice pres...

There's no sign of a big deal soon in the US-China trade war, the US Congress has not yet passed the USMCA, and the World Trade Organization's appeals panel is in peril. But the US jobs market is booming, with 266,000 jobs added in November. The University of Chicago's Austan Goolsbee, former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Obama, and The Economist 's Soumaya Keynes jo...

A centerpiece of US strategy during the Trump administration has been the idea of the "Indo-Pacific," a massive single region stretching across both the Pacific and Indian Oceans. One of the goals in this strategy is to link up India with US allies in East Asia as a counterbalance to a rising China. But how does New Delhi see the situation? Sushant Singh, deputy editor of the Indian Express newspa...

While Ukraine dominates US news this week due to the impeachment proceedings, Ukrainian President Zelensky and Russian President Putin are preparing for an upcoming meeting to find a peaceful resolution to the five-year conflict in eastern Ukraine. Melinda Haring of the Atlantic Council and Joanna Rohozinska of the National Endowment for Democracy join Deep Dish to discuss the latest in Europe.

This week, a case was filed in the International Court of Justice accusing Myanmar of having committed genocide against its Rohingya Muslim minority. It is a far cry from where the country also known as Burma seemed to be a few years ago, when the long-ruling military junta opened the door for democratic elections. Historian Thant Myint-U, author of the new book The Hidden History of Burma , joins...

Facebook, Google, Amazon, and Apple are massive companies, commanding so much of the market that they are now being called monopolies. Rana Foroohar, global business columnist for the Financial Times and author of the new book Don't Be Evil: How Big Tech Betrayed Its Founding Principles—and All of Us , joins Deep Dish to discuss how these data-fueled tech behemoths are disrupting the US economy an...

The breakdown of fledgling democracies in Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan, the return of authoritarian leaders, and the resurgence of protesters in the streets all suggest that democracy promotion is a failed project. But the United States still has an essential role to play in promoting democratic institutions abroad, argue Ambassador Derek Mitchell and Daniel Twining. The presidents of the National...

The US Congress has not approved a use of force since 2002, when it voted to invade Iraq. "Too many members of Congress are all too happy to abdicate their constitutional responsibility and allow the president to go it alone," explains Oona Hathaway, professor of International Law at Yale Law School. Hathaway joins Deep Dish to lay out a step-by-step plan for Congress to revive its war powers.

The 2019 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed for his role in ending a 20-year military stalemate between Ethiopia and Eritrea. In fact, the historic rapprochement is just one element of the young leader's ambitious, fast-moving reforms. Boston University's Michael Woldemariam and the Council's Ertharin Cousin join Deep Dish to discuss the strides so far and the steps ah...

More than 1,200 days have passed since Britain's referendum to leave the European Union, but little has been decided in that time about how Brexit will actually take place. As the Oct. 31 deadline nears and Boris Johnson's government tries to negotiate a deal at the wire, the editor-in-chief of  The Economist  joins  Deep Dish  to explain how the United Kingdom fell into this predicament and what...