Global Dispatches -- Conversations On Foreign Policy And World Affairs

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 was born in conflict: she grew up in Algeria during the war for independence and served as a juvenile court judge during Algeria's civil war in the 1980s and 1990s before moving to a career with the United Nations. This is a great conversation. 

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 has been shelved. John Dalhuisen of Amnesty International is on the line to discuss this crisis, what Europe and Italy could be doing to stop it, what is compelling these migrants to make this dangerous journey, and why this ongoing tragedy is about to get much worse. 

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 Control and Prevention who puts the US outbreak in a global context. She discusses why epidemiologists are so concerned about the American outbreak; what accounts for the overall decline globally; and what needs to be done to reach that 2020 target. 

Ambassador Susan Jacobs is the Special Advisor for Children's Issues at the State Department. She has the distinction of being the first sitting US government official to be Mark's guest. Ambassador Jacobs describes her office's work on inter-country adoptions and custody disputes and when these issues rise to the level of high diplomacy. Ambassador Jacobs was one of the very first married women to be allowed to enter the US foreign service. She discusses what it took to break that barrier as she entered a long and distinguished career--including a stint at the US ambassador to Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands. It's a lively discussion with a foreign service pro. Enjoy!   

The Boko Haram insurgency is intensifying precisely as Nigerians prepare to go the polls in hotly contested elections. Earlier this month, the group pulled off their deadliest attack to date (though the media was consumed by the Charlie Hebdo attacks). So why is Boko Haram stepping up their attacks now? What effect might it have on the prospects of another term in office for President Goodluck Jonathan? What can the international community do to help beat back this insurgency? And what are the other big campaign issues on the table in Africa's largest democracy?  Alexander Thurston of Georgetown University answers these questions and more. 

Trita Parsi is the founder of the National Iranian American Council. He tells Mark the story of his family's escape from Iran to Sweden during the revolution, and how he eventually came to Washington, D.C.  Parsi is a scholar, activist, and media personality who has written extensively on middle east affairs.In this episode, he discusses some of the domestic barriers to a nuclear deal facing Iranian moderates; his amazing personal story; and how he came to found America's only organization dedicated to the political mobilization of Iran's diaspora in the USA. 

President Obama visits India this week. This means that for the first time in history, a US President will visit India twice while in office. Tanvi Madan of the Brookings Institute discusses the symbolic importance and concrete policy outcomes that this trip may bring. She argues that Obama's decision to travel to India for its Republic Day celebrations could lift a profound psychological barrier that has prevented closer ties between the world's two largest democracies. Have a listen! 

In September delegates at the United Nations will decide upon a set of Sustainable Development Goals to replace the Millennium Development Goals, which are expiring. The SDGs will almost certainly set an audacious goal: to totally of eradicate extreme poverty by 2015. Is that even possible? And what will it take to get there? In this episode, host Mark Leon Goldberg gets two distinct perspectives on the substance and process behind the Sustainable Development Goals. First up is John McArthur of the Brookings Institution and United Nations Foundation who discusses the big picture of why we need a common international development agenda. Next is Amina Mohammad, the UN Special Representative of the Secretary General in charge of spearheading the UN system around setting these goals. This is a great episode, published in conjunction with a day of social media action to raise awareness about the SDGs and big stakes ahead in 2015. 

2015 will be a big year for the United Nations. Richard Gowan of New York University and host Mark Leon Goldberg discuss the debates, events, and ideas that are going to drive the agenda at the United Nations this year. Some of these are predictable (Syria!) others probably under the radar, but will still shape international diplomacy in the coming year. If you are interested in learning what will make ambassadors and diplomats sweat in Turtle Bay in the coming few months, have a listen. 

This is a special edition of Global Dispatches Podcast for the holidays! Leave me a voicemail at 202 780 5166 and tell me what book about the world inspired you the most? What book shaped your worldview or informed how you understand international relations, foreign policy or world affairs? Leave me a message at the number above or click on the widget on GlobalDispatchesPodcast.com and I will play your answer on a future episode of the podcast. 

Pope Francis and the Vatican played a key role in brokering the historic resumption of diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States. This was high diplomacy, Vatican style. Father Thomas Reese of the National Catholic Reporter walks through the play-by-play that lead to the Pope playing a central role in the USA-Cuba deal. He also discusses the Vatican's robust history of diplomacy and the unique role of the Vatican's veritable clerical army of skilled diplomats. It's a fascinating discussion about the Vatican's specific role in the Cuba-USA detente and the international relations of the Holy See.  

Aaron David Miller has been at the center of nearly every major Arab-Israeli peace initiative since the late 1980s. The historian and Middle East expert discusses what drew him to study the politics of the Middle East and US foreign policy. Miller and host Mark Leon Goldberg have an extended conversation about Israeli politics, what has made Israeli leaders seek peace in the past, and what can be done to set American policy in the region on a better course. You'll learn a lot from this episode!  

Time Magazine named Ebola Fighters as their 2014 Persons of the Year. Mark spoke with one of these health care workers, Dr. Joia Mukherjee of Partners in Health, literally as she was en route to Sierra Leone. They discuss why ebola cases are on the decline in Liberia, but not seemingly in Sierra Leone; why the fear of ebola is still much deadlier than the disease itself; why we need to invoke human rights language into any discussion about health care disparities in poor countries; and what lessons the international community needs to draw from this outbreak. This was a powerful, informative and exceedingly timely conversation with an experienced frontline healthcare worker.   

Dr. Samantha Nutt is the founder of War Child, a group that assists children and their families in conflict affected countries around the world. Prior to founding War Child, Samantha Nutt was a humanitarian worker and researcher in places like Somalia, Burundi and Iraq. She pioneered a kind of gender study in war zones and her research on the deleterious humanitarian effects of economic sanctions is partly why there are so few countries currently under sanction these days. She tells some interesting (if harrowing) stories. It's a great episode!   

Delegates from around the world are in Lima, Peru for the latest round of international climate talks, known as "COP20." The climate change conference is not getting a tremendous amount of media attention, but it's tremendously important. Mark speaks with Eliot Diringer of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions about the big issues on the table, the big points of contention, and how these talks might move the needle towards an internationally binding climate accord. These talks are a big deal. Here's what you need to know about the diplomacy of it all. 

The journalist Howard French spent a career covering West Africa and China for the New York Times. He stumbled into journalism somewhat accidentally while living in the Ivory Coast and has reported from the Liberian civil war, conflict in DR Congo, and covered social upheavals in China.  Now out with a book about China's complex relationship with Africa, Howard sits down with Mark to discuss his unique path to become one of America's most respected journalists and observers of West Africa. Have a listen! 

The USA and Iran may remake the geopolitics of the Middle East with a successful outcome of a nuclear deal. Failure to reach a nuclear agreement between the USA and Iran will come with its own set of profound consequences. I speak with Alireza Nader of the Rand Corporation about the regional and global implications of both failure and success in reaching a nuclear deal with Iran. We discuss the potential shifting of alliances in the Middle East, how a detente between the USA and Iran may affect the conflict in Syria, and how Saudi Arabia may respond to a diplomatic breakthrough. Have a listen. 

Kori Schake is a Republican foreign policy advisor who served in various positions in the George H.W. Bush, Clinton and George W. Bush Administrations before joining the McCain-Palin campaign in 2008. Now ensconced in academia, she is working on a book about American foreign policy in the 19th Century. She discusses being mentored by Condoleezza Rice, her regrets about the Iraq War, and why she became a Republican. It's an interesting conversation with a thoughtful critic of my general worldview. Enjoy! 

The Rohingya are a religious and ethnic minority in Myanmar that faces horrid abuse and discrimination by Burmese authorities. As the politics of Myanmar lurches toward representative democracy, this group is still excluded from sharing even basic rights of citizenship. Even the lauded Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is shamefully silent about their situation. On the eve of President Obama's second visit to Myanmar, Mark speaks with Matthew Smith of the human rights group Fortify Rights about the plight of the Rohingya and what the international community can do to improve human rights in Myanmar as it opens up to the world. 

Tom Hart was at the center of the biggest international development debates of the last 15 years. Now serving as the US Director of the ONE Campaign, Hart lobbied for forgiving the debt of the world's poorest countries in the late 1990s, and in the early 2000s he helped pass the world's largest program to combat HIV/AIDS. In this episode. Hart tells the genesis story of the Jubilee Campaign, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, and the Millennium Challenge Corporation. And "Genesis" is apt--Tom grew up in Alaska the son of an Episcopal minister and became the Washington, D.C. lobbyist for the Episcopal church. It's a very interesting story, accessible and interesting for wonks and non-wonks alike.