Deep Dish on Global Affairs

This week, the Chinese Communist Party hosts its twice-a-decade National Congress and President Xi Jinping is set to secure power for a third term. Nonresident Senior Fellow Paul Heer joins Deep Dish to argue the importance of engagement with China as a necessary component of US foreign policy. If we do not pursue it, he says, we are missing opportunities for a more peaceful coexistence between both countries and the world.  This episode originally aired on August 4, 2022. 

President Putin has demanded the West take his nuclear threats seriously and North Korea is rumored to preparing to undertake a nuclear test in the coming days. On Deep Dish, South Korean and Ukrainian citizens share what it is like to live under the looming shadow of possible nuclear warfare and Ankit Panda discusses whether the nuclear taboo is likely to be broken and how the world should respond. 

President Putin mobilized over 300,000 military reservists to buttress Russia’s battered forces, prompting protests and an exodus of Russians to neighboring countries. On Deep Dish, recently fled Russian social media personalities share their perspective on the darkening political climate in their homeland. And independent journalist and filmmaker Mikhail Fishman and Moscow Times’ Leyla Latypova discuss how Russia’s reversals on the battlefield are transforming the nation's politics and society and could even threaten Putin’s leadership. 

Iran has entered its 12th day of protests following the death of #MahsaAmini in morality police custody. On Deep Dish, women in the Iranian diaspora share firsthand the severity of what is transpiring, and Narges Bajoghli of Johns Hopkins University unpacks why these demonstrations are different and strike at the core of Iran’s regime.

While Putin overreaches in his war on Ukraine, tensions are flaring in the former Soviet territories along present-day Russia’s southern border. The most immediate danger comes from two conflicts that escalated this month— between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the Caucasus and between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia, both clashes leading to hundreds being killed. Eurasianet’s Joshua Kucera and University of Oxford’s Madeleine Reeves join Deep Dish to explore the erupting violence and whether it could spiral into war. Reading List: Russia’s struggles in Ukraine seed conflict in its neighborhood, Elizabeth Shackelford, Chicago Tribune, September 22, 2022

Yesterday, Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Uzbekistan. While these nations are assumed to be America’s chief geostrategic competitors, Russia’s faltering invasion of Ukraine has isolated its economy, degraded its military, and undermined its international standing. Former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul and Wilson Center’s Lucian Kim join Deep Dish to discuss what the war in Ukraine has revealed about Russia’s global power and whether it can still be considered a great power. 

Last week power struggles between rival Shia groups erupted in deadly street battles that sparked fears of a renewed cycle of violence. Chatham House’s Renad Mansour joins Deep Dish and argues that the conventional view that Iraq’s political instability is driven by sectarian and ethnic divisions is wrong. Rather, the real cleavage is between a permanent political elite, across faith and ethnic divisions, who work together to divide up state resources to benefit themselves at the expense of the Iraqi people.  Like the show? Leave us a rating and review. 

Like Ukraine, the Western Balkans sit on a fault line between Russian and Western spheres of influence. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, political tensions have grown in the region, particularly in Bosnia and Kosovo. Many experts suspect Russia is exploiting ethnic divisions. The Economist’s Tim Judah and the Atlantic Council’s Ilva Tare join Deep Dish to examine Moscow's motives for fanning instability in one of Europe’s most fragile regions. Reading List: The Effects of the War in Ukraine on the Western Balkans, Tim Judah, IISS, August 2022 Interested in learning more about the key issues impacting the Western Balkans? Tune into the #BalkansDebrief podcast with host Ilva Tare.

While a 20-year war has ended, the Afghan people continue to suffer, now under a collapsed economy. International Crisis Group’s Laurel Miller and US Institute of Peace’s Andrew Watkins join Deep Dish guest host Elizabeth Shackelford to discuss how the international community's isolation of the Taliban has helped precipitate suffering in Afghanistan, and what can and should be done to help.   Like the show? Leave us a rating and review.

William Ruto has been declared winner of Kenya’s presidential election, after edging out longtime opposition leader Raila Odinga by a narrow margin. Odinga has refused to concede, will likely challenge the results in court, and his supporters took to the streets to protest in the election center. Uppsala University’s Kathleen Klaus and International Crisis Group’s Murithi Mutiga join Deep Dish guest host Elizabeth Shackelford to unpack election results, what it means for Kenya, the broader region, and democracy on the continent. Like the show? Leave us a rating and review.