Global Dispatches -- Conversations On Foreign Policy And World Affairs

North Korea is under the world's most stringent set of international sanctions. This includes, since 2006, a ban on exporting of luxury goods to North Korea. This has not stopped Kim Jong Un from amassing a fleet of high end cars. He is regularly seen in Mercedes and Rolls Royces both in North Korea and on his trips abroad. And now a fascinating report in the New York Times offers some key insights into how Kim Jong Un smuggles his luxury cars into North Korea. Reporters from the New York Times teamed up with researchers at the non profit Center for Advanced Defense Studies to track two Mercedes Maybachs from their manufacture in Germany to the streets of Pyongyang. The route was a circuitous one, involving multiple shipping vessels docking in at least five countries over the course of several months. But using open source data and satellite imagery, the reporters and researchers were able to paint a pretty clear picture of how those cars ended up in North Korea. And in so doing, they reveal how the North Kor

In 2015, the world adopted the Sustainable Development Goals. These are 17 goals around improving health, welfare and the environment that members of the United Nations agreed to achieve by 2030. The "SDGs," as they are known, built upon a previous set of global goals, called the Millennium Development Goals, which expired in 2015. The idea behind the SDGs was to create an ambitious but achievable set of quantifiable targets around which governments, civil society organizations and the UN can organize their development and environmental policies. These targets include things like eliminating extreme poverty, as defined by people who live on less than $1.25/day; reducing maternal mortality to less than 70 per 100,000 live births; ending the aids epidemic; significantly reduce ocean acidification; among many others. In all there are 162 targets built around those 17 goals. This week at the United Nations there is an major meeting called the High Level Political Forum on the SDGs in which top government official

Ash Carter served as President Obama's Secretary of Defense from 2015 to 2017. What made Ash Carter so unique among his predecessors was that by the time he became the Secretary of Defense, he'd already spent nearly 30 years working at the Pentagon. This included stints as both the deputy Secretary of Defense and as the number three in the department, a position often referred to as the acquisitions Tsar. Ash Carter is out with a new book "Inside the Five-Sided Box: Lessons from a Lifetime of Leadership in the Pentagon." This is not your conventional Washington, DC memoir. Rather, what I found so valuable about the book is that offers a grounds-eye view of how the world's largest national security bureaucracy operates. Decisions made at the Pentagon -- from the kinds of weapons bought, to the bases that are opened, to personnel decisions --  really do have world-shaping implication. This book takes you inside that decision making process. In our conversation, we kick off discussing the sheer vastness of the p

When Reccep Tayyep Erdogan party, the AKP, won a landslide victory in Turkey's 2002 general elections he became a very different kind of Turkish leader from his predecessors. The AKP is a religious party in what was an avowedly secular political tradition.  For a time, Erdogan presided over a booming economy and was hailed for being a modernizing muslim leader in a troubled region. His relations with Europe and the United States were strong, and he sought to play a stabilizing role in the middle east.  But all the while, Erdogan was consolidating his power. It started slowly at first and in recent years the degradation of Turkey;s independent institutions has accelerated. This includes clampdown on media and the corruption of the courts and a massive political purge following what Erdogan alleged was an attempted coup in 2016.  Erdogan was become the quintessential example of a new kind of leader around the world--the illiberal authoritarian democrat. That is, someone who is democratically elected, but then s

Events are unfolding rapidly between the United States and Iran. At time of recording, it was reported that Trump ordered and then called off a military strike against Iran in retaliation for the downing of a US surveillance drone over the gulf of Oman. Meanwhile, Iran is threatening to take actions that would put it in direct violation of the nuclear deal, otherwise known as the JCPOA and Europe is trying is darndest to hold the deal together.  There are a lot of moving pieces right now, so I wanted to bring you an episode that gives you some context and background for understanding and interpreting events as they unfold in the coming weeks and months. To that end, I could think of no better interlocutor than Laicie Heeley. She is the host of a fantastic podcast called Things That Go Boom. She just wrapped up her second season, which was all about the Iran Nuclear Deal. The podcast tells the story behind the Iran nuclear deal in a really interesting and entertaining way, and I'd urge people to check it out.

Congressman Mike Gallagher is a Republican representing the eighth district of Wisconsin, which includes the city of Green Bay. Congressman Gallagher has an interesting profile, which includes a PHD in International Relations. He's very thoughtful and I think this conversation offers listeners some key insights into how an emerging leader in Republican foreign policy circles considers the US role in the world, the value of multilateralism and international institutions, and more.  We kick off discussing Iran, before having a broader conversation about US foreign policy writ large. If you are a regular listener to the show my own foreign policy and political views are fairly apparent. You also know that I don't do adversarial interviews--I don't debate people. Rather, I find more value in drawing out the perspective of the person I'm interviewing. And I think that is why you will find this conversation with Congressman Gallagher useful in terms of understanding how a key Republican foreign policy maker sees th

Donald Trump's pick to serve as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations is unlike any other previous nominee for the US-UN role. Kelly Knight Craft currently serves as the US Ambassador to Canada, a position she was conferred for the fact that her family are billionaire Republican donors. Her family owns a major coal company with deep roots in Kentucky.  It is not at all unusual at all for Democratic or Republican administrations to reward major donors with plum ambassador roles. For better or worse that is part of US diplomatic tradition. But this is the first time that the UN ambassadorship is going to a major donor. This sets up some interesting political dynamics that were on display during Ambassador Kelly Craft's confirmation hearing at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week.  On the line with me to discuss how Kelly Craft may fit in the role of UN Ambassador is Richard Gowan. He is the UN director for the International Crisis Group and recently wrote a piece in Politico examining s

According to the latest estimates from the World Health Organization, an outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo has killed over 1400 people. This makes it the second worst ebola outbreak in history, following the 2014 outbreak in West Africa that killed over 11,000 people. The current outbreak in the DRC is so far confined to the eastern part of the country, which has long been beset by insecurity and violence. There were, however, two cases reported over the border of Uganda from a family that contracted the disease while attending a funeral in the DRC. This marked the first time that this outbreak crossed an international border which brought this long festering outbreak back into the news. On the line to discuss some of the international efforts to halt the spread of ebola is Ambassador John Lange. He is a retired US Ambassador and currently serves as the senior fellow for global health diplomacy at the United Nations Foundation. We kick off discussing why this outbreak has been so hard to c

The protests in Hong Kong represent a key turning point for China, Hong Kong, and the world. Hong Kong is in the midst of the most significant protest movement since China assumed sovereignty in 1997.  These protests were sparked by a proposed law that could permit people in Hong Kong to be extradited to mainland China to face trial. Protesters fear that this law could be used by authorities in Beijing to erode the rights and liberties currently enjoyed by people in Hong Kong. At the heart of these protests is the longterm viability of Hong Kong's Independence from China   When sovereignty over Hong Kong was transferred from the United Kingdom to China in 1997, there was embedded in that agreement the principle of one country, two systems. In other words, while Hong Kong is formally part of China, the political and judicial system, civil liberties and rights enjoyed by the people of Hong Kong would be respected by authorities in Beijing.   However, as my guest today MK Tam explains, that principal of one co

Sudan is at a crossroads. In April, popular protests lead to the ouster of the country's longtime ruler, Omar al Bashir. He was toppled in a coup -- but the peaceful protests did not stop. Rather, the protesters held their ground and rallied outside the headquarters of the military junta demanding that civilians -- not military leaders -- lead the transition to democracy. The standoff between the military council and civilian protesters held firm until early June, when a paramilitary group known as the Rapid support forces, or RSF, attacked the protesters, killing over 100.    At time of recording, the situation remained fluid. The protesters had called for a general strike and are now reportedly back in  negotiations with the Junta.  On the line with me to discuss the situation in Sudan is Zachariah Cherian Mampilly, a professor of political science at Vassar College. We last spoke in early January, just as the protest movement was beginning to pick up steam. And that is where we pick up the story today. We

In 2003, before the US invasion of Iraq, there were an estimated 1.2 million Christians living there. Today, that number is less than 250,000 -- an eighty percent drop in less than two decades.   If this trend continues, a religious minority that has been in Iraq for centuries will be gone entirely.    A recent article in The Atlantic by reporter Emma Green describes the plight of Iraq's Chaldean Catholic community and the incredible pressure that they have been under since the fall of Saddam. This not only includes ISIS's reign of terror, but day-to-day discrimination against Christians that is causing so many to seek to leave the country.   Emma Green is a staff writer at The Atlantic covering policy, politics and religion. We kick off discussing the history of Christianity before having a broader conversation about the causes and consequences of the fact that a religious minority is fleeing Iraq in droves.    The plight of Iraq's Christians has key geo-political consequences as well as serving as an indica

Over the course of six years of running this podcast, I have interviewed hundreds of astounding people who have lived fascinating lives and led storied careers in international affairs. This includes foreign ministers, diplomats, famous academics, journalists, social entrepreneurs and more. I've decided to collect the very best of these interviews and offer them exclusively to premium subscribers.  Premium subscribers unlock the growing archive of these unforgettable interviews. Each week, for the next year, I will be posting one or two of these episodes, exclusively for premium subscribers.   To access these episodes and unlock other rewards, like a complimentary subscription to my daily global news clips service DAWNS Digest, please click here.  Support the Show --> Unlock Rewards  https://www.patreon.com/GlobalDispatches 

According to the latest data, over 41 million people were internally displaced last year due to conflict and violence, according to a new report from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center. This is a record high and excludes an additional 17 million people who were internally displaced due to a natural disaster.     When we say "internally displaced" we mean people who are forced to flee their homes, but do not cross an international border. This distinguishes internally displaced people, or IDPS, from those would be considered international refugees. This distinction is significant because, among other reasons, while there is a robust international law obligating governments to treat international refugees in a certain way, there is not much that international law or norms governing internal displacement.    My guest today, Alexadra Bilak, is director of the Internal displacement Monitoring Center which just released its flagship report on global displacement. In our conversation, Alexandra Bilak descri

In 2020 the West African Country of Ghana will conduct a census. This is a massive undertaking. Some 60,000 people will be deployed across the country in an effort to count every single person in Ghana.     Last week, in a reporting trip to Ghana, I got a sense of what this process entails. Along with a few other journalists, I shadowed census takers, known as enumerators, as they tested their systems in a few places around Accra. This included a mental health hospital and an urban slum. The idea is to ensure that even marginalized groups are counted in this census.     On the line with me to discuss how the census will be conducted, the kinds of questions that will be asked, and how census data can be harnessed to advance national goals around sustainable development is Omar Seidu. He is the head of demographic statistics and coordinator for the sustainable development goals at the Ghana Statistical Service.    This conversation offers an interesting perspective on the kind of herculean effort that is requir

Sherwin Bryce-Pease is the United Nations Bureau chief for South African Broadcast Corporation, SABC News. We have a wide ranging discussion about happenings at the United Nations, including debates and discussions at the Security Council about the deteriorating situation in Libya, why the dispute in Western Sahara is at a key inflection point, how the ongoing ebola outbreak in the Congo is being discussed at the UN, and why the Trump administration's Middle East peace Pplan will likely shape debates at the UN in the coming months.    This episode is the third installment of my series of chats with in-house UN correspondents about what's buzzing in Turtle Bay. The idea is to touch base with a UN reporter every six weeks or so to take the temperature around the UN and learn what issues are driving the agenda.    We kick off discussing the recent appearance of  Ghassan Salame, the Secretary General'a special envoy for Libya, before the Security Council. Sherwin Bryce-Pease was in the room during that briefing a

Air pollution results in the premature death of 7 million people around the world each year. It is a major global killer harming people in nearly every corner of the globe.  My guest today, Beth Gardiner is a journalist who traveled the world examining the impact of air pollution. Her new book is called Choked: Life and Breath in the Age of Air Pollution.    In our conversation she shares stories from her reporting, which includes not only detailing the harmful impact of air pollution but also an examination of policies that are working toward cleaner air for all. 

Several countries have laws on the books that enables governments to freeze the assets of corrupt foreign officials. Canada is one of those countries, and now one Canadian Senator is trying to take that law one step further by redistributing the frozen assets to those harmed by the actions of the corrupt official.   Ratna Omidvar is an independent Senator from Ontario to the Senate of Canada. She is the author of legislation that is starting to make its way through the Canadian Parliament called the Frozen Assets Repurposing Act. The bill would seize the assets of corrupt and abusive foreign officials and redeploy those assets to the very people harmed by those foreign officials. This includes people displaced by the actions of corrupt and violent regimes.  We kick off discussing Senator Omidvar's personal history of displacement before having a longer conversation about the contours of this legislation. This includes an extended discussion about how legislation in Canada can influence other parliaments of li

Over the last several weeks an estimated 140,000 people have been displaced by escalating fighting in Idlib, Syria.  Syrian regime forces, backed by Russia, have scaled up their attacks in what is the last part of Syria controlled by rebel forces.    Idlib is the only remaining rebel held territory. As regime forces re-captured parts of Syria under rebel control, rebels and their families fled to Idlib, which the key players in the conflict agreed would be a "de-escalation zone." There are now 3 million people in Idlib. Most are displaced and the vast majority are civilian non-combatants. But there are also al Qaeda affiliated militants and other jihadis.    My guest today, Dareen Khalifa is the senior Syria analyst with the International Crisis Group. She explains this escalating crisis and what the situation in Idlib says about the broader trajectory and trends of the Syria conflict. This includes some key geo-political forces that are now very much driving events on the ground.   The escalating fighting in

The spread of child sexual abuse material on the internet has grown at an exponential pace in the last fifteen years, since the advent of social media.  This is truly a global problem, affecting every country on earth. The tools of technology can be harnessed to combat the spread of images and videos depicting child abuse and one non-profit is leading the way. Thorn is a technology driver non-profit founded by Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore that develops tools to combat online child abuse and child sex trafficking. On the line with me to discuss some of these tools and strategies is Julie Cordua, the CEO of Thorn. In this conversation, Julie Cordua describes the scope of the problem, which she refers She also describes how emerging technologies developed by Thorn are being used to detect when this material is being uploaded and is aiding law enforcement around the world. We kick off discussing a recent announcement that Thorn was one of the winners of the Audacious Project, housed at TED, and will share in $

There is an escalating humanitarian crisis in Cameroon where more than half a million people have been displaced by conflict.  This conflict erupted in earnest in late 2017 and early 2018 in a series of attacks and reprisals between Anglophone separatists and the French dominated government. In international affairs circles, this is known as the "Anglophone Crisis" in Cameroon.   As my guest today, Jan Egeland says, when hundreds of thousands of civilians are displaced, it usually sets off international alarm bells. But this is not the case with Cameroon. There is virtually no international mediation, very little media attention, and the humanitarian response has been woefully inadequate.    Jan Egeland is the Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, a large humanitarian relief organization. He has spent his career in humanitarian affairs, including serving as an under secretary general of the United Nations and as a humanitarian relief advisor for the UN in Syria.  He is one of the world's most h