Global Dispatches -- World News That Matters

Reza Aslan is arguably the most influential scholar of religion in America today. He's best known for mixing it up with the likes of Bill Maher and explaining the basics of the academic study of religion to ignorant Fox News hosts. His books "Zealot" about Jesus and "No God But God" about Islam were both best sellers. In this episode Reza recounts his family's escape from Iran during the Revolutio...

The advent of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, sometimes called a Chinese-led rival to the World Bank, is one of the most genuinely interesting developments in global affairs. Thought not yet operational, it is being formed despite the strong opposition of the USA. The creation of the AIIB, with many US allies joining as founding partners, reflects the rise of China, waning American globa...

Albina du Boisrouvray is a French countess who sold her family heirlooms to start an anti poverty NGO. She was born into one of the wealthiest families in the world and was a successful film producer when her son, a rescue pilot, died in an helicopter accident in Mali. She then sold most of her possessions and devoted her fortune to fighting AIDS and extreme poverty. Her NGO, FXB International, us...

Two years ago, I asked a top UN expert in disaster to describe the one scenario that keeps him up at night. Without hesitation he said that an intense earthquake in Kathamndu would be a monumental catastrophe that could kill as many as 250,000 to 400,000 people. He was not alone in this estimation. I'd heard humanitarian relief workers say the same thing. On Saturday, April 25 a massive earthquake...

Fareed Zakaria shares stories about his upbringing in India and the influence of his die-hard pro-American mother and Indian nationalist father. He discusses his intellectual journey from a middle class childhood in India to getting getting a PHD at Harvard and becoming the editor of Foreign Affairs magazine at the age of 28. This is a great exploration of the intellectual development of one of th...

An earthquake in Katmandu may become one of the terrible natural disasters of our era.  In 2013, I spoke with Jo Scheuer of the United Nations Development Program. He is an expert in disaster risk reduction so I asked him what disaster scenario keeps him up at night? Without hesitating he said that an earthquake in Katmandu Valley could bring death and destruction even worse than the Haiti earthqu...

Humanity is winning the fight against Malaria, but we still have a long way to go. Since the advent of the Global Fund, the Millennium Development Goals and the President's Malaria Initiative, death and illness rates have dropped precipitously around the globe. Now, talk of total worldwide eradication is not as preposterous as it may seem. This is the message that Martin Edlund of Malaria No More...

Juliette Kayyem is a practitioner and scholar of security studies. She's a former Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security, civil right attorney, Harvard Professor and self described "security mom." She even recently ran for governor of Massachusetts. In this episode, Kayyem discusses growing up the daughter of Lebanese immigrants in California and how she transitioned from civil rights law to ter...

When the Yarmouk refugee camp outside Damascus was overrun by ISIS, a bad situation got much worse. Ban Ki moon called it "the deepest circle of hell" and UN humanitarian agencies are struggling to help people escape from the encampment. On the line to discuss these efforts is Richard Wright of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which is a humanitarian agency for Palestinian refugees in t...

Yemen is the latest country in the region to collapse. Shi'ite rebels have taken control of much of the country and Saudi Arabia has launched a military campaign to re-install the ousted government. It's a complex mess, with regional rivalries and local grievances overlaid with sectarian strife. ISIS and al Qaeda are getting in the game, too. If present trends continue the situation could reach Sy...

Caryl Stern is the president and CEO of the United States Fund for UNICEF. This is the big fundraising arm (think "trick or treat for UNICEF") of one of the most important humanitarian organizations in the world. Caryl Stern's mother escaped the Holocaust at a young age and that experience loomed large over her childhood and eventual career trajectory. In this episode, Mark and Caryl discuss UNICE...

International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors are going to play a critical role in any final deal with Iran. But who are these inspectors? What do they do? What can't they do? Mark speaks with former IAEA inspector Thomas Shea who offers a grounds-eye view of what a robust inspection regime looks like. Dr. Shea also puts the potential inspections of Iran's program in the broader context of the IAE...

Victor Ochen grew up in displaced persons camps in Northern Uganda, fleeing from the Lord's Resistance Army. He emerged from that difficult situation to become a civic leader and peacemaker. And this year, he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on behalf of war crimes victims in Uganda. Victor and Mark are old friends, and Victor opens up about growing up in a war zone, losing a b...

Nigerians go to the polls on March 28 in consequential elections that could decide the future of Africa's largest democracy. Incumbent Goodluck Jonathan is facing a tight race with Muhammdu Buhari. Security, Boko Haram and a slugging economy are all dominating the campaigns. Meanwhile, Boko Haram and fear of election related violence abounds. Mark speaks with journalist Dayo Olopade about the sign...

Jessica Stern was a mid level National Security Council staffer when Hollywood literally came calling. Nicole Kidman portrayed a fictionalized version of her work as a nuclear security analyst in the Clinton White House in the film "The Peacemaker" (also starring George Clooney). Stern's academic and professional life have taken some interesting turns. In the 2000s she published groundbreaking res...

Benjamin Netanyahu secured a substantial victory in the Israel's elections this week. The consequences of this right wing victory will be profound both for Israeli politics and the prospects for a negotiated two state solution (which just became much dimmer). On the line to discuss what happened in Israel and how it will affect Israel's future and the peace process is Joel Brunold of the Alliance...

Todd Moss is a true international development wonk. He's also the author of a critically acclaimed novel--a thriller called  The Golden Hour  that examines the dysfunction of the American foreign policy bureaucracy through riveting storytelling. In this episode, Moss discusses how fiction can be a useful tool for examining real-world truths about how US foreign policy is made. Moss also discusses...

Guinea Worm eradication is near. Guinea Worm is a waterborne disease that affects only the poorest of the poor people on the planet. But after millennia of inflicting pain and suffering in Asia and Africa, the disease is tantalizingly close to being wiped off the face of the earth. 30 years ago there were millions of cases worldwide. In 2014, there were just 126. This decline is thanks in large pa...

The ebola crisis demonstrated that countries with very weak health care systems are extremely vulnerable to a preventable disease outbreak. Now that the crisis is on the wane, organizations are taking stock of how to build better health systems--the nuts and bolts of how people access the care they need. To that end, Save the Children released a new report this week that ranks 72 poor countries ba...

Sarah Margon is the Washington director of Human Rights Watch. She's spent her career fighting for human rights in Africa and beyond, but took a somewhat circuitous  path to get there. In this episode, Margon recounts a recent trip to Iraq to investigate abuses by militias aligned with the Iraqi Army; discusses her relationship with her former boss, Senator Russ Feingold; and describes how she lan...

How good are the data that drives international development policies? It turns out, not that great. This week's episode comes in two parts. In part 1, Mark speaks with Morten Jerven, author of "Poor Numbers:   How We Are Misled by African Development Statistics and What to Do about  it?" who offers an excellent overview of the situation. Next, Mark speaks with one person who is actively trying to...

Sri Lankans stunned the world--and probably themselves--when they voted to oust a quasi-autocrat from power. In January, a politician named Maithripali Sirisena engineered a surprise electoral upset against Mahinda Rajapaksa, an authoritarian and probable war criminal whose family long held a tight grip on power. In this episode,  human rights lawyer and political scientist Kate Cronin-Furman expl...

Leila Zerrougui is the United Nations Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict. It's her job to help free child soldiers and ensure that children are spared from the worst effects of war and conflict. In this episode, Zerrougui describes how she recently helped secure the release of child soldiers in South Sudan and reflects on her work to protect children around the world. Zerrougui...

There is a tragedy unfolding in the Mediterranean sea. Migrants trying to reach an Italian island off the coast of Libya are dying by the boatload, and Europe is turning a blind eye. Just this week, the UN Refugee Agency estimated that over 300 people have died already this year taking this perilous journey. Meanwhile, an Italian search and rescue operation that saved thousands of people last year...

The measles outbreak in the United States is an aberration.  Since 2000, measles cases have declined substantially around the world thanks to a worldwide effort known as the Measles and Rubella Initiative. Its goal is to eliminate measles all together by 2020. But is that realistic? And what would that entail? Mark speaks with epidemiologist Dr. Rebecca Martin of the U.S. Centers for Disease Contr...