Global I.Q. Podcast

What does the future of war look like? Retired Major General in U.S. Air Force, Dr. Robert Latiff, delves into topics like how how robots will effect future battles and the possibility of bio-enhancement in future soldiers in this new Global I.Q. Minute with Jim Falk.

Jeremi Suri returns to Global I.Q. Minute to discuss his new book, The Impossible Presidency: The Rise and Fall of America's Highest Office. Suri argues that "the vastness of the [Presidency] makes it almost impossible to fulfill the expectations placed upon it."

Jim's guest this week is Leslie Schweitzer, president and chair of Friends of the American University of Afghanistan. She delves into education issues facing the country and how the college has sought to overcome them. If you wish to support the Friends of the American University in Afghanistan, visit http://friendsofauaf.org/donate/

Jim's guest this week is Columbia University professor Dr. Christopher Sabatini, who is also the editor of LatinGoesGlobal.com. He drills down into the tumultuous political environment in Venezuela and what it means for the continent.

This week's guest is a Harvard Kennedy School of Government international affairs professor and former Deputy National Security Advisor who is an expert on geopolitic and energy. Learn about the effect of America's energy abundance "windfall" on our nation's power around the world.

Joshua Partlow, Mexico Bureau Chief for the Washington Post, returns to discuss his observations on the current strain in the United States relationship with Mexico.

In this Global I.Q. Minute with Jim Falk, the journalist/author Joshua Partlow delves into the political intrigue surrounding Karzai's administration in Afghanistan.

Council guest, David Priess, former daily intelligence briefer for the CIA and author of “The President’s Book of Secrets,” provides insight into the state of Intelligence in the current administration. Priess gives new insight into the President’s daily briefing, and how President Trump’s daily briefings differ from his predecessors. Global I.Q. Minute with Jim Falk is sponsored by Greenberg Trau...

In this fascinating Greenberg Traurig Global I.Q. Minute with Jim Falk, Manal al-Sharif, the charismatic human rights leader and author of Daring To Drive, discusses not only “driving while female” but also the Islamic “male guardian” system that controls female lives in Saudi Arabia. She says the oppression mirrors the cultural attitudes that launched the American Civil Rights Movement. And, she...

Dr. Steven A. Cook, author of False Dawn, explains the complicated and evolving multinational relationships in the Middle East in this Global I.Q. Minute with the Council's Jim Falk. For example, how significant is Qatar's difficulty with Saudi Arabia? Cook says, Qatar's "prime directive in foreign policy has been to remain independent of Saudi Arabia." Can democracy "take root" in the Arab and Mu...

From the Cold War to Twitter? Journalist/author Garrett M. Graff laughs when he describes his latest book as "light reading." In this Global I.Q. Interview with Jim Falk, Graff explains the U.S. Government's Secret Plan To Save Itself While the Rest of Us Die. He also addresses his current newsmaker connection: Robert Mueller, head of the team investigating "Russian meddling." There is even a tren...

"Lack of democracy, lack of liberties and corruption" launched the "Arab Spring" in Tunisia where it is known as the "Dignity Revolution." The nation's Ambassador to the United States, His Excellency Fayçal Gouia, discusses these points and the "young people's" lack of hope, affiliation with ISIS and "evil behavior" in his Global I.Q. with Jim Falk.

For years as the South Asia correspondent for The Economist, Adam Roberts lived in India and got to know the nation while "tasting the spice and feeling the dust and the heat." Now reporting from Europe, Roberts tells us in this Global I.Q. With Jim Falk that India is facing many issues along with economic success. Population and pollution rise to the forefront, but with urbanization there are gen...

In this Global I.Q. Minute with Jim Falk, the journalist/author Graeme Wood sees the "big contradictory religion" of Islam as having the potential to be "a faith of either war or peace." He says there was a time when "it might have been possible" to keep ISIS from having "the space that they had to develop." He also addresses the question, "Is ISIS on the run?" And what is the U.S. role?

What about Venezuela? The Council's International Perspectives Series speaker Dr. Harold Trinkunas focused on the economically unsteady nation in his Global I.Q. Minute With Jim Falk. And, he explained the reasons "Washington doesn't pay that much attention to Latin America."

Helene Cooper of The New York Times begins her Global I.Q. Minute with Jim Falk in an unusual way, a quick "personal history" note about North Carolina vs. Duke. Then, the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter moves into family history and Liberia's historical women's movement, an inspirational story of political change coming not just to the nation but also to the African continent. It is a story of ne...

Mexico's Ambassador to the United States Gerónimo Gutiérrez, in his Global I.Q. Minute with Jim Falk, touches on what he sees as a hopeful future for an improved NAFTA. Regarding campaign issues, i.e., the "wall," the Ambassador says that does not form "part of the bilateral agenda."

In this Global I.Q. Minute with Jim Falk, Executive Editor of The Economist Daniel Franklin explores technology's disruption of the workplace and offers a caveat to one profession that "will never be out of work" but will face changes.

"Texas has hugely benefited from being open to the world," David Miliband, the president and CEO of the International Rescue Committee, declares in his Global I.Q. Minute with Jim Falk, He also outlines challenges refugees face – from an uncertain landing (they went to nearly 3 dozen nations last year) to lives put on hold by President Trump's executive orders. Amidst all that, there's a growing c...

Our Council guest, the writer and Middle East analyst Geneive Abdo examines the "complicated" cultural/religious change and the Shi'a/Sunni divide. What created momentum for violence in the Islamic world. Is this battle political or existential? How does Iran fit into this conflict? Is there a U.S. role? This Global I.Q. Minute with Jim Falk gets the answers.

In this Global IQ Minute with veteran military advisor Stephen Biddle, the topic is the future of American support in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. effect on region's conflicts and the contested Afghan/Pakistan border which Biddle describes as "famously porous" and an area where the sides have a "tendency to negotiate by 155 millimeter artillery."

This Global I.Q. Minute with Jim Falk focuses on a novelist, his inspiration and his goals. Istanbul-based writer Elliot Ackerman, a U.S. Marine with combat experience in Iraq and Afghanistan, has lived a life that has led him to what he calls an "improbable friendship, " an opportunity for understanding that helps him "trace the emotional topography" of "complex geopolitical events." Global I.Q....

In this Global IQ Minute, Council President Jim Falk explores the "global disarray" outlined by Council on Foreign Relations President Richard Haass who, in this wide-ranging interview, cites such things as "loss of the discipline of the Cold War," global conflicts, U.S. "acts of commission and omission" and "both real viruses and computer viruses."

This portion of Dr. Robert Gates’ Global IQ session with Jim Falk includes his declaration that dropping out of the Trans Pacific Partnership has “yielded home-field advantage” to the Chinese, that “this guy” who leads North Korea is a “gigantic challenge” and that U.S. budgeting faces “complete chaos.”

Dr. Robert Gates joined the World Affairs Council to celebrate education and sat for a Global IQ Minute Interview with Council President Jim Falk. Our two-part Global IQ opens with a brief praise of education by Dr. Gates, whose career includes service as Secretary of Defense and CIA Director. He then delves into such topics as Rex Tillerson’s challenges as Secretary of State, the American relatio...