Global Dispatches -- World News That Matters

Over ten years ago, most Arab countries in the Middle East cut ties with the Syrian government during the civil war and supported armed groups dedicated to the overthrow of the Bashar al-Assad regime. Meanwhile, Iran was Assad's key backer.  But now, in the Spring of 2023 a big shift is underway. Saudi Arabia and Iran are taking steps towards rapprochement and Arab governments throughout the region are re-opening embassies in Damascus and re-establishing diplomatic relations with Syria. Joining me to explain what is driving this regional re-alignment is Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma and the Mackey Chair. We kick off discussing how the outbreak of the Syrian civil war impacted regional diplomacy and why now we are seeing such profound changes in the the geopolitics of the Middle East.   

About six years ago, I received a request for an interview from an academic in the United Kingdom named Martin Scott who was doing journalism related research. That interview helped to inform the new book: "Humanitarian Journalists: Covering Crises from a Boundary Zone" by Martin Scott, and coauthors Mel Bunce, and Kate Wright -- all of whom are academics.  The book identifies and defines what the authors call "humanitarian journalism" which combines conventional journalistic norms like objectivity with certain key humanitarian principals like the moral equivalence of all lives, regardless of geography. The book explicitly cites my work, as well as that of a small number of other journalists who do what they called humanitarian journalism. I talk with Martin Scott, Associate Professor in Media and Global Development at the University of East Anglia about the concept and practice of "humanitarian journalism."

At time of recording, there are two ongoing outbreaks of Marburg Virus Disease, one in Tanzania and the other in Equatorial Guinea. Marburg is in the same family of diseases as Ebola and is extremely deadly, with a case-to-fatality ratio of up to 88%. Humans can become infected through contact with fruit bats, and like ebola, Marburg is transmissible between humans through contact with bodily fluids.  Joining me to discuss these outbreaks is Dele Ogunseitan, a professor of population, health and disease prevention at the University of California Irvine and a Visiting professor at Stanford University's Center for Innovation in Global Health. He also leads the training and empowerment objective for a USAID project called One Health Workforce Next Generation.  We kick off discussing the history of Marburg before having a longer discussion about these two outbreaks and what can be done to stop Marburg from spreading further. 

On November 15, the world population officially surpassed 8 billion people, according to United Nations estimates. The milestone was reached just 12 years after the world marked 7 billion people, and it is projected that global population will hit 9 billion people by 2037 So what are the key demographic trends driving population growth? Where is population growing fastest? Where is it declining? And what do the age structures of populations around the world tell us about the future of our planet? To answer these questions, we are joined by John Wilmoth, head of the Population Division at the United Nations Department of Economic and Social affairs.  We kick off with a brief history of population growth and with a discussion of the so-called demographic transition, which is the long process in which populations steadily live longer and have few children. 

My guest today Rory Stewart is an author, former diplomat and politician who served as the United Kingdom's Secretary of State for International Development. He is currently the CEO of Give Directly, an international NGO that specializes in no-strings attached cash transfers. This includes to people impacted by sudden onset crises and as a tool to provide basic income for people living in extreme poverty.  When we caught up, Rory Stewart had just returned from the earthquake affected areas of southern Turkey where Give Directly has a program to support small business owners impacted by the earthquake. We discuss the value and utility of conditionless cash transfers in emergency situations before transitioning to a longer conversation about the potential role that such cash transfers can play in reducing endemic extreme poverty around the world.  As we discuss, this is an empircally effetive way to combat extreme poverty, but it is not yet widely adopted by major donor governments, for reasons he explains.   

We present an episode of the Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women podcast, which is now in its third season. Each episode tells the story of how women are creating change through economic empowerment. In this new season, the Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women is partnering with journalists around the world to cover underreported ways women are challenign the status quo. For the season three opener, which we share with you today, the show takes us to Kenya where reporter Eunice Maina some of the econimic incentives that perpetuate female genital mutilation -- and how to end the practice. The Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women is from Foreign Policy magazine and hosted by Reena Ninan.

In early January, news emerged that Canadian foreign minister Melanie Joly was facilitating peace talks between the government of Cameroon and Anglophone separatist groups.  The news came as what is sometimes referred to as the "Anglophone Crisis" enters a seventh year of armed conflict. The conflict stems from the perceived marginalization of english speaking regions in the largely francophone country. Since fighting broke out in 2017, the consequences have been absolutely devastating. Thousands have been killed and over 800,000 people have been displaced by fighting.  I'm joined today by Arrey Elvis Ntui, senior analyst on Cameroon for the International Crisis Group. He explains how and why this conflict started, and why previous attempts at peace talks have failed. He then explains why all sides of this conflict should heed this new Canadian lead initiative to facilitate peace talks.   

Xi Jinping spent spent three days in Russia in a highly touted visit that included hours of direct talks with Vladimir Putin. The visit comes amid Putin's growing international isolation and heightening tensions between China and the United States. So what did Xi hope to accomplish with this major diplomatic summit? Joining me to answer that question and more is Jordan Schneider, founder of the podcast and newsletter China Talk. We kick off discussing the evolution of Chinese-Russian relations since the invasion of Ukraine and then discuss some of the key takeaways from the Xi Jinping-Vladimir Putin summit.     

It was twenty years ago this month that the George W Bush administration began its ill-fated invasion and occupation of Iraq. The ostensible justification for this war of choice was that the Iraqi regime had weapons of mass destruction that it might someday use against the United States. This premise proved to be false and today the Iraq war is widely regarded to have been a massive strategic blunder. It resulted in the deaths of over 4,000 American service members and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.  I'm joined today by journalist Spencer Ackerman. In our conversation we ask the question, now with 20 years of hindsight, "why did the US launch this war?" We also discuss the many lasting legacies of this decision on US foreign policy and international relations today?   Spencer Ackerman is a foreign policy columnist for The Nation the writes the newsletter Forever Wars. He is the author of Reign of Terror: How the 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump, now out in paperback.   

Other than Ukraine itself, no country has been more deeply impacted by Russia's invasion than Moldova. Moldova has absorbed more Ukrainian refugees per capita than any other country in the world and Moldova is uniquely dependent on Russian gas and electricity. Inflation is running at 30%. Moldova is governed by a stridently pro-European ruling party, and in recent weeks Russia has ramped up efforts to destabilize the country through protests and disinformation campaigns Joining me from Moldova's capital is journalist Paula Erizanu.  We kick off discussing destabilization efforts by the Kremlin, before having a wider discussion of the ways in which Moldova has been impacted by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.