The Global Dialogue - A PGAN Podcast

Fourteen months after India placed the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance, has water weaponisation actually held up? Prof. Filippo Menga, one of the world's leading scholars of hydro-politics, joins The Global Dialogue to unpack what changed India's water calculus, why the Harmon Doctrine still haunts upstream-downstream disputes and whether the threat of future water control now does more geopolitic...

Prof. Steve Keen is one of the few economists who saw 2008 coming. In this episode of The Global Dialogue, he argues the next crisis will be deeper than the last, with a global famine genuinely on the cards as debt, climate damage and fragile food systems converge. We press him on what this means for a developing economy with agency rather than one waiting to be rescued. Steve lays out why real es...

Hala Rharrit is the first and only US State Department diplomat to publicly resign over Gaza, stepping down in April 2024 after 18 years in the Foreign Service. A career political and human rights officer with postings in Yemen, Qatar, Hong Kong, and South Africa, she served as the State Department's Arabic-language spokesperson before leaving in protest over US policy on Israel's war in Gaza. In...

Did the United States and Israel miscalculate when they took the war to Iran? And as the region searches for an exit, is Pakistan the actor best placed to broker a conclusive end to the conflict? In this episode of The Global Dialogue, Dr. Trita Parsi , Executive Vice President of the Quincy Institute and one of the foremost voices on Iran and US foreign policy, joins us to unpack what the war rev...

One of China's most influential globalization thinkers on what Pakistan keeps getting wrong about Beijing — and what it could get right. Dr. Wang Huiyao , founder of the Center for China and Globalization (CCG), joins PGAN Global Dialogue for a candid conversation on China–Pakistan relations beyond the slogans: how Beijing actually views Pakistan, where the next phase of CPEC has to go, and the de...

In this episode of the PGAN Podcast, we are joined by Dr Michael O'Hanlon — Senior Fellow and Director of Research in Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution, holder of the Phil Knight Chair in Defense and Strategy, and one of America's most respected voices on US defence policy, military strategy, and international security. The conversation centres on his latest book, To Dare Mighty Things:...

Is Pakistan quietly becoming a global peacemaker? And can a country rewrite its image through stories, not statements? In this episode of Global Dialogue, we sit down with Dr. Etienne Auge — propaganda scholar, soft power expert, and author of foundational work on how nations shape narratives — for a wide-ranging conversation on the new architecture of global influence. We unpack why Hollywood sti...

The Strait of Hormuz has been effectively closed since 28 February 2026, following Operation Epic Fury and Iran's retaliatory blockade. Most coverage focuses on global oil prices and the US naval response — this conversation asks what almost no one is asking: what is the closure doing to Iran itself? In this episode of the Pakistan Global Alumni Network (PGAN) Podcast, we sit down with Zaur Hasano...

In this episode of the Pakistan Global Alumni Network (PGAN) Podcast, we sit down with Alessandro Politi , Director of the NATO Defense College Foundation, to discuss the future of global security, NATO’s internal challenges, strategic autonomy in Europe and the emerging world disorder reshaping international politics. With over 30 years of experience in geopolitics, intelligence and crisis manage...

In this episode of the Pakistan Global Alumni Network (PGAN) Podcast, we sit down with Peter Crisp to explore the future of legal education and how artificial intelligence is transforming the legal profession. We discuss how AI is changing the work of lawyers, which legal jobs are most at risk, the skills future lawyers will need, and whether traditional legal training is keeping pace with rapid t...

In this episode of the Pakistan Global Alumni Network (PGAN) Podcast, we sit down with Professor Owen Darbishire , Academic Director of the Oxford Programme on Negotiation at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, to unpack the historic US-Iran talks held in Islamabad and what they reveal about modern diplomacy, leverage, trust, and conflict resolution. As one of Oxford’s leading experts in n...

In this episode of the Pakistan Global Alumni Network (PGAN) Podcast, we sit down with Dr. Joseph Fitsanakis , an intelligence studies expert, to unpack the historic US-Iran negotiations held in Islamabad — the first high-level meeting between American and Iranian officials in over 45 years. This is a must-watch for anyone following geopolitics, US foreign policy, the Iran conflict, and Pakistan's...

"Pakistan has played its diplomatic cards extremely well." Dr. Paul McGarr — intelligence Lecturer at King's College London and one of the world's foremost experts on statecraft and covert diplomacy — joins the Pakistan Global Alumni Network for a deep dive into the hidden forces reshaping global power. To stay in touch, follow Pakistan Global Alumni Network :  https://pakglobalalumni.org/   YouTu...

Pakistan brokered US-Iran talks that the world thought impossible. We brought in Oxford's top negotiation expert to break down what really happened — BATNA, red lines, Trump's patience, and what comes next. KEY TOPICS: US Iran nuclear deal 2025 | Pakistan mediator role | Oxford negotiation strategy | BATNA explained | Trump Iran policy | Islamabad talks breakdown Guest: Dr Paul Fisher Programme Di...

Podcast with Dr. Osama Siddique — Oxford and Harvard–educated legal scholar, policy expert, academic, and author — on law, literature, and the deeper intellectual challenges facing Pakistan. In this wide-ranging conversation, Dr. Siddique brings together his experience in law, public policy, and fiction writing to explore how ideas, narratives, and critical thinking shape individuals and societies...