Global Dispatches -- World News That Matters

After nearly eight years, the conflict in Yemen is getting worse. Scott Paul, the senior manager for humanitarian policy at Oxfam America, explains the significance of a recent attack in Abu Dhabi and the latest bombardment of Yemen's capital before having a broader discussion about the trajectory and impact of this years long crisis.  

The likelihood that Russia will invade Ukraine seems to be growing by the day. If Russia indeed attacks Ukraine, how should the United States and Europe respond?    Joining me to take on that question and more are four excellent speakers: Andrew Weiss of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Nina Jankowicz the Woodrow Wilson Center Jim Goldgeier of Stanford's Center for International Secu...

Hong Kong used to have one of the most vibrant media ecosystems in all of Asia. But not today.  There is an ongoing crackdown on independent media in Hong Kong. Outlets large and small are being shut down, ostensible for violating newly enacted laws intended to suppress the pro-democracy movement.  On the line with me from Hong Kong to discuss the plight of independent media there is Austin Ramzy...

Bosnia is facing its deepest political crisis since the civil war in the 1990s.   In 1995, the United States helped broker an agreement between the waring parties known as the Dayton Accords. This agreement created a new political order in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It has been an uneasy agreement, certainly tenuous at times, but it has held.      Now, the agreement is unraveling -- and very quickly....

David Miliband is the president and CEO of the International Rescue Committee, one of the larger global humanitarian organizations with relief operations around the world. At the end of 2021 David Miliband, the former Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom, delivered a lecture at the Council on Foreign Relations identifying and defining what he called a "Systems Failure" in global crisis response...

For the last week, massive protests have swept across the large Central Asian country of Kazakhstan.  The spark was a decision by the government to increase fuel prices in the country, which is a major fuel producer.  But as my guests today explain, though the fuel price hike was the proximate cause of the protests, they are rooted in deep and widespread disaffection with Kazakhstan's ruling class...

Just before the start of the new year, Somalia's President Mohammad Abdulahi Farmaajo sought to arrest and remove from power Somalia's Prime Minister Mohammad Hussein Roble. This move added a layer of instability on top of an already fragile political and security situation. Somalia is both in midst of elections and fending off an insurgency by al Shabaab, which controls much of the countryside. O...

As 2021 comes to a close, I thought it may be worthwhile to gather some veteran United Nations watchers to reflect on the key events that shaped the work of the United Nations this year.  I'm joined in this conversation by Margaret Besheer, the UN Correspondent for Voice of America, Anjali Diyal, Assistant Professor of International Politics in the Political Science Department at Fordham Universit...

Turkey is in the midst of a currency crisis. The Lira hit a new record low in December, trading about 15.5 lira to the US dollar. This compares to a year ago when the rate was about 7.5 lira to the dollar. In other words, the value of the currency had declined by about 50% in one year.   Meanwhile, inflation is soaring -- at a current rate of more than 20%.   On the line to explain the domestic an...

Today's episode was recorded live in front of a virtual audience in partnership with CGIAR, the world's largest agricultural innovation network. It is part of a series of episodes examining the relationship between climate and security. Today's episode takes a deep dive into how the transition to low carbon energy economies impacts security. The episode kicks off with introductory remarks by Jesús...

Libya is poised to hold its first presidential elections in the post-Gaddafi era. This was supposed to be the culmination of a year long peace process. However, there is mounting doubt that these elections will be held on time, amid a brewing political crisis that could lead to a return to armed conflict.   Podcast guest Mary Fitzgerald is a longtime Libya analyst and non-resident scholar at the M...

Afghanistan is in a humanitarian and human rights tailspin. Since the fall of the Afghan government to the Taliban in August, the Afghan economy has been in a tailspin. A major liquidity crisis is causing widespread suffering among the Afghan people including severe foos insecurity. Meanwhile, a new report from Human Rights Watch details a spate of summary executions and violence meted out by the...

On December 6, Aung San Suu Kyi was handed down a prison sentence by a court loyal to Myanmar's military junta. Until February of this year, Suu Kyi was the de-facto civilian leader of Myanmar. Her party, the National League for Democracy, had just won re-election in a landslide victory -- the results of which were rejected by the military, which mounted a coup.  The military junta were not swayed...

Robert Jervis passed away on December 9th at the age of 81. He was one of the major figures of International Relations scholarship  -- in the entire history of International Relations as a field of study.   In October 2015, Robert Jervis sat down with me for a long interview about his life and career in which he discussed how his upbringing shaped his worldview from a young age. It was a long and...

Today's episode was recorded live in front of a virtual audience in partnership with CGIAR, the world's largest agricultural innovation network. It is part of a series of episodes examining the relationship between climate and security. Today's episode takes a deep dive into how gender impacts and is impacted by climate-security. The episode kicks off with introductory remarks by Nicoline de Haan,...

For only the second time in its,  the governing body of the World Health Organization met in a special session. WHO, the World Health Assembly, gathered for a special session. The question at hand: Should member states of the WHO seek to create a new treaty, convention, accord or some sort of international instrument on pandemic preparedness and response?  The meetings occurred just as the new Omi...

Russian military forces are massing on the border of Ukraine. This has prompted widespread concern that Russia may once again seek to invade Ukraine. On the line with me to discuss this unfolding crisis is John Herbst, Senior Director of the Eurasia Center at the Atlantic Council and Former US Ambassador to Ukraine. We kick off with a conversation about what this military buildup may signal - or n...

The most innovative cryptocurrency projects today are being built in the developing world (Sub-Saharan Africa in particular) to address real-world obstacles to economic development and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.  Cryptocurrency and the blockchain technologies they power carry big implications for global development, but are generally off the radar of the global development and fo...

U.S. Senator Chris Coons is one of Congress's leading voices shaping U.S. policy on Africa. For many years he was the top Democrat in the Senate Sub-committee on Africa and earlier this year, President Biden tapped Senator Coons to be his special envoy to Ethiopia. (There is now a full time envoy for the Horn of Africa, Jeffrey Feltman) I caught up with Senator Coons in person at the Halifax Inter...

When Joe Biden came to office the Iran Nuclear Dead was on life support. Known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, the Obama-era deal lifted US and UN  sanctions on Iran in return for Iran placing verifiable limits on its nuclear program. The deal was rejected by the Trump administration which re-imposed sanctions; and Iran has responded in kind by re-starting certain asp...

The Halifax International Security Forum is a major annual meeting dedicated to fostering closer ties among the world's democracies. The Forum is organized by HFX, an independent public policy organization based in Washington DC dedicated to strengthening strategic cooperation among democratic nations. And on the line today, is Peter van Praig Founding President of Halifax International Security F...

The major United Nations climate conference, known as COP26, went into overtime in Glasgow, Scotland. But on Saturday, November 13th agreement was reached on the text of an outcome document.   Pete Ogden, Vice President for Energy, Climate and the Environment at the United Nations Foundation explains the key outcomes from COP26, what was accomplished -- and what was left on the table -- at this ma...

Today's episode was recorded live in front of a virtual audience and produced in partnership with CGIAR, the world's largest agricultural innovation network. It is part of a series of episodes that examine the relationship between climate and security. I moderate a panel discussion in which experts discuss how climate science can encourage and support peace in the Middle east and north Africa. The...

The UN Peacekeeping Mission in Cyprus  is one of the world's oldest peacekeeping missions. Yet to this day, it is still serving a valuable role in preventing conflict between Greece and Turkey -- two NATO allies.  On the line to explain why this peacekeeping force is still needed after all these years is Peter Yeo, President of the Better World Campaign and Senior Vice President of the United Nati...

In Madagascar thousands of people in the southern part of the country are experiencing famine-like conditions. Over a million more are considered to be on the brink of famine. The crisis in Southern Madagascar is a direct consequence of climate change. This region has experienced successive droughts -- the rainy season is shorter, the lean season is longer and farmers are unable to plant their cro...