Global Dispatches -- World News That Matters

On July 6 and 7, the United Nations convened its first major meeting on AI governance. The Global Dialogue on AI Governance, held in Geneva, was different from other global gatherings on artificial intelligence because it included significant participation from constituencies that are often left out of discussions about AI, including representatives from the Global South, civil society, academia,...

There is a ceasefire on paper in Gaza. But in reality, Gazans are being killed on a near-daily basis by Israeli forces. Since the October 2025 ceasefire agreement, more than 1,000 Gazans have been killed in Israeli strikes. Five Israeli soldiers have been killed as Israel seeks to expand its footprint inside Gaza. Meanwhile, humanitarian aid and goods are entering Gaza only in a trickle — far from...

Sudan's civil war may be entering another catastrophic phase. As I write this, a genocidal militia is massing outside a major city in Sudan, El Obeid. NGOs, the United Nations — and even Donald Trump's State Department — are warning of the potential of a major mass atrocity event should El Obeid fall. Yet, the attack appears imminent. In this episode of Global Dispatches, I speak with Mutasim Ali,...

Support the show! Here's a 40% discount off a premium subscription!  https://www.globaldispatches.org/40PercentOff   Or at full price here: https://www.globaldispatches.org/ Russia's war in Ukraine has become a grinding war of attrition. Every month, tens of thousands of Russian soldiers are killed or wounded on the front lines. But Vladimir Putin has so far resisted a full-scale mass mobilization...

Colombia's President-elect Abelardo de la Espriella is an unusual politician. For one, he has never held elected office and does not represent a traditional political party. Rather, he built a career as a criminal defense attorney, including in Miami, where he represented high-powered clients facing corruption allegations. He also became a familiar presence in Trump circles, with appearances at Tr...

Get a full subscription at a 40% off: https://www.globaldispatches.org/40PercentOff   Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett could become the first United Nations Secretary-General of Indigenous descent. Guyana's ambassador to the United Nations was nominated as a Secretary-General candidate this week, bringing the grand total of candidates to six as we enter the final stretch of the campaign before the first...

Since the start of the U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict on February 28, I've found myself drawn to a handful of thoughtful analysts who have helped me make sense of the unfolding conflict and its vast global implications. One of those people is Gregory Brew, an analyst at Eurasia Group and a historian who studies the intersection of Iran, oil, and U.S. foreign policy. As rumors of a potential ceasefire b...

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is raging with no end in sight. So far, there are 676 confirmed cases, including 136 confirmed deaths. The true numbers are likely higher. One reason this outbreak is so bad is that it was detected late. According to my guest today, Jeremy Konyndyk, one reason disease surveillance broke down was that the United States abruptly cut funding for...

In this special crossover episode between Global Dispatches and the Sinica Podcast , Kaiser Kuo and I use Xi Jinping's two-day visit to North Korea as an entrypoint to discuss how Chinese foreign policy has shifted in recent years — on the Korean Peninsula, in the Middle East, and at the United Nations. Kaiser Kuo is the founder and longtime host of Sinica, which has partnered with Global Dispatch...

I want to recommend a new podcast I think our audience will like: it's called  World's Toughest Job,  from Foreign Policy magazine and the United Nations Foundation. And today, I'm sharing with you the debut episode.  Between now and the end of this year, 193 member states will elect a new secretary-general of the United Nations. This person will oversee a staff of tens of thousands around the wor...

Unlock the full episode with a d iscount subscription to Global Dispatches --> https://www.globaldispatches.org/40PercentOff There was a remarkable scene at the United Nations yesterday as the President of the General Assembly and former German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock read out the results of a hotly contested race for a Security Council seat. For months, Portugal, Austria, and Germany h...

There are two competing trends in the global fight against HIV/AIDS. On the one hand, there has been tremendous progress toward reducing the number of infections and deaths from HIV/AIDS over the last twenty years. Scientific advances in treatment and prevention, new policy tools, and political and funding commitments have driven down HIV/AIDS to the point where it is possible to foresee an AIDS-f...

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is the "glue" that holds the entire global nuclear security architecture together — but is it fraying? I spent much of last month at the United Nations covering the review conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. This is a conference of all members of the NPT that happens every five years. Countries come together to assess progress toward the treaty'...

Today's episode is produced in partnership with the Global Challenges Foundation. The foundation is dedicated to raising awareness of global catastrophic risks and strengthening global governance to address them. The Global Challenges Foundation's 2026 Global Catastrophic Risks report outlines five of the biggest risks facing humanity today -- and how to stop them. You can find the report at globa...

An Ebola outbreak is spiraling in the Democratic Republic of the Congo — and one of the clearest lessons from past outbreaks is that Ebola requires multilateralism: countries working together through existing institutions like the United Nations and the World Health Organization to contain the disease, support frontline health workers, share information, and prevent cross-border spread. But the Tr...

In late April, an unlikely alliance of Islamist militants and separatists from the Tuareg ethnic group launched a series of surprise attacks against government forces in Mali. They attacked the capital, Bamako; killed Mali's defense minister; and even evicted Russian forces from a key city they were defending on behalf of the government of Mali. Mali has been beset by instability since a 2012 coup...

Today's episode is produced in partnership with the Global Challenges Foundation. The foundation is dedicated to raising awareness of global catastrophic risks and strengthening global governance to address them. The Global Challenges Foundation's 2026 Global Catastrophic Risks report outlines five of the biggest risks facing humanity today, including an asteroid colliding with earth, the topic of...

The civil war in Sudan is now entering its fourth year. Full-scale conflict broke out in April 2023 following a failed democratic transition, when two powerful rival militaries, the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces, fought each other for control of the country. Caught in the middle were the Sudanese people, 14 million of whom have been displaced, making this the largest humanitar...

The Security Council is weighing yet another U.S.-backed resolution on the Strait of Hormuz that is probably doomed from the start. In this first segment of To Save Us From Hell, Anjali and Mark explain the flawed logic behind this latest effort to return the Strait to its status quo ante bellum. Then, Mark discusses what he learned covering the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference,...

I wanted to share with you a new podcast that I've had a hand in supporting. Houston at Large is a show produced by Rice University Master of Global Affairs students Luisa Tolda and Dante Garcia. The podcast aims to analyze Houston's role in international matters such as immigration, energy, and trade. The first episode of this series, presented today, features Dr. Tony Payan, Director of the Clau...

Days of Love and Rage: A Story of Ordinary People Forging a Revolution by Anand Gopal takes readers to the Syrian city of Manbij before, during, and after the civil war. Against all odds, the people of Manbij evicted the Assad regime from the city and built a democracy from scratch, even as civil war raged throughout the country. This experiment in self-rule was complex and inspiring, but ultimate...

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is the most important and impactful global agreement on nuclear weapons. 191 counties have joined the NPT since it entered into force in 1970, with just a few notable exceptions, including India, Pakistan, Israel and South Sudan. The NPT has three essential pillars: countries that do not have nuclear weapons cannot acquire them; countries that do have nuclear w...

On Tuesday and Wednesday this week, the four candidates for UN Secretary-General made their case at the UN General Assembly. Across twelve hours spanning two days, they took questions from UN member states and civil society groups eager to learn more about their priorities, proclivities, and leadership styles should they become the next UN Secretary-General on January 1, 2027. It was a marathon —...

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz is causing a surge in food prices around the world — particularly in places already in the midst of a humanitarian crisis. And it's about to get worse. This is the planting season for much of Africa and Asia, and fertilizer shortages mean that farmers are cutting back. Come this fall, crop yields will be reduced. One of the epicenters of this trend is Sudan, whi...

Today's episode was recorded live at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, for the annual Lewis & Clark International Affairs Symposium. The theme of this year's symposium was  Crumbling Pillars: The Age of Authoritarianism. For this live episode, I speak with Lewis & Clark professor Kyle Lascurettes about how democratic backsliding and authoritarian resilience are impacting the United Nation...