Global Dispatches -- World News That Matters

The second worst Ebola outbreak in history is currently unfolding in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Since August last year there have been nearly 1,000 confirmed cases and over 600 deaths. The DRC is a very large country and these cases are so far confined to the eastern part of the country. This is also the region of the Democratic Republic of Congo that has long been mired in conflict and insecurity. In recent weeks, Ebola treatment centers have been attacked forcing medical staff to suspend operations. Meanwhile, new ebola cases are confirmed on a nearly daily basis. On the line to discuss is Karin Huster, the field coordinator for Medicins Sans Frontiers/Doctors Without Border in the DRC.  She spoke to me from the city of Goma, the largest city in the eastern part of the DRC.  We kick off discussing recent attacks on two Ebola treatment centers run by Doctors Without Borders, and then have a longer conversation about the trajectory of this outbreak and what can be done to halt its spread. One thing that comes though in this conversation is that this outbreak is not under control. Karin Huster explains why the current strategy has not be able to stop the transmission of Ebola and explains how this outbreak can be halted. The Ebola outbreak in DRC has fallen from the headlines. This episode provides you with a grounds-eye view of why this outbreak continues to fester.       Quick note before we begin. If you are listening to this show contemporaneously, I wanted to let you know that we have some available slots for advertising. This is a great way to get your message in front of tens of thousands of global affairs professionals, including leaders at the UN, the NGO community, government, academia and think tanks. Send me an email using the contact button on globaldispatchespodcast.com and I can tell you about our rates, availability and impact.

Getting bitten by a poisonous snake is not just an individual injury -- rather it is now recognized as a global health hazard. In fact, the World Health Organization estimates that between 80,000 and 136,000 people die from snakebite in each year. To put that in perspective, that is more than the number of people who died from meningitis and within the range of the number of people who died from Measles.  Getting bitten by a poisonous snake, or as it's known snakebite envenoming, is now included in the WHO's list of Neglected Tropical Disease   On the line with me is one of the world's leading experts on Snakebite, Dr. Gabriel Alcoba. He is a pediatrician who has treated snakebite as a doctor with MSF, or Doctors Without Borders. He is also a public health expert who works with the Geneva University hospitals.     This episode provides a very good introduction to snakebite as a global health hazard. Dr. Alcoba explains the link between poverty and injury and death from snakebite and why the pharmaceutical industry has been somewhat slow to develop proper anti-venoms.

Today's episode is the second installment of my new series "UN Correspondent Chat." As the name suggests, this series includes wide ranging conversations with in-house reporters at the United Nations who discuss what is driving the agenda at Turtle Bay.  On the line today is Carole Landry, who is a veteran UN Correspondent with Agence France Presse, AFP.    We float between topics that have been buzzing around UN in recent weeks including: how Brexit will impact diplomacy at the UN; some of the latest geopolitical intrigue at the Security Council; the ongoing Commission on the Status of Women conference; how the Secretary General has lived up to his pledge to have greater gender parity among senior staff at the UN; and more!   This new series is a great way to feel the pulse of the UN and learn what is driving the diplomatic agenda at United Nations Headquarters in New York

I caught up with CNN's Chief International Correspondent Clarissa Ward not long after she returned from reporting inside Taliban controlled territory in Afghanistan. She is one of the only western journalists to access Taliban territory to see what life is like under their control. She interviewed both civilians and Taliban officials and is on the Global Dispatches podcast to discuss her reporting. We kick off discussing the story behind her story: that is, how an unprecedented reporting project like this can be carried out in a volatile security environment?  We also discuss how she and her team navigated gender dynamics inherent in a female journalist interviewing Taliban officials. We then talk through some of her key findings about how the Taliban have evolved over the last 17 years. Her report comes at a vital time as the US and Taliban officials are negotiating face to face, and as Clarissa Ward explains, the fact of those ongoing negotiations helps provide some context for her reporting.

In late January, the Trump administration began a pilot program on the border between Tijuana and San Diego in which migrants who claim asylum are sent back to wait in Mexico as their asylum claims are processed. This is known formally as the Migrant Protection Protocols and informally as the "Remain in Mexico" policy.   The result has been to turn back individuals, mostly migrants from central America, before they can even present claims of asylum; and even if they are able to make a formal claim, they must wait in Mexico as their case proceeds through the US court system.    Needless to say, this is almost certainly in contravention of US law regarding asylum and a test case involving the American Civil Liberties Union is due to be heard in a few weeks.     In the meantime, this policy is causing profound harm for asylum seekers. My guest today, Kerri Kennedy recently returned from a fact finding trip to Tijuana in which she interviewed people turned away at the border due to this policy.     Kerri Kennedy is the associate general secretary for international programs with the American Friends Service Committee, this is of course the Quaker peace and justice organization. She spent a week in Tijuana, speaking to people impacted by this policy and visiting what are effectively homeless shelters that provide for migrants stranded in this limbo.   The picture she paints is pretty grim. And conforms with what we already know about the Trump administration's policies of inflicting harm on migrants as a way to deter people from making asylum claims. At time of recording, it appears that the Trump administration is seeking to expand this pilot from Tijuana to other key border crossings, like the Juarez - El Paso border.  If you are a regular listener to the show, you know I have a fairly even tempered disposition. This conversation, though, got me upset and pretty riled up. If you have the same reaction as I did, you can help raise awareness of this issue by sharing this episode on social media and beyond. And I will also post a link on Global Dispatches Podcast that tells you how to get involved with the world the American Friends Service Committee is doing on this issue.

For the past several weeks Algeria has been rocked by mass protests that harken to the Arab Spring. The protests were triggered by the decision of longtime ruler Abdelaziz Bouteflika  to run for another term in office in elections scheduled for April.  Bouteflika came to power in 1999 as the architect of a peace accord that ended Algeria's brutal civil war that killed as many as 200,000. But Bouteflika is now 82 years old and has not been seen in public since suffering a stroke over five years ago.    His decision to stand again for elections (or, probably more accurately, the decision of those around him to have him stand for elections) is being widely rejected by these protesters. Also fueling the protests is Algeria's languishing economy and a looming fiscal crisis, propelled by falling prices of oil and natural gas.   On the line with me to discuss this unfolding situation in Algeria is Dr. Dalia Ghanem, visiting scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, which is where I caught with her.    We kick off with the basic question on the minds of many Algerians: Where is President Bouteflika currently? We then discuss the politics of who is running the state while Bouteflika is possibly incapacitated. We then have a longer conversation about what is driving these protests and where these may be headed.

"Sometimes you gotta walkaway,"   That is how Donald Trump described the failure of he and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to come to an agreement during their summit in Hanoi, Vietnam.   So now that this meeting has ended in failure what comes next for nuclear diplomacy with North Korea?   On the line with me to discuss the events in Hanoi and talk through possible scenarios for future engagement with North Korea is Kelsey Davenport, the director of non-proliferation policy at the Arms Control Association.      We kick off discussing why this summit ended without any agreement. We also go over the events leading up to this Hanoi meeting, including the first summit between these two men in Singapore eight months ago. We then have a longer conversation about what the next iteration of diplomacy between the United States and North Korea may look like.    This conversation does a good job both explaining what happened in Hanoi and setting the context for understanding what may come next between the US and North Korea.   Support the show on Patreon and become a premium subscriber!

Tensions are rapidly escalating between India and Pakistan, following a suicide bombing in India controlled Kashmir that killed scores of Indian security forces. In retaliation, India bombed what it called a terrorist camp inside Pakistani territory.  The situation is still unfolding--as I'm recording this there is word that an Indian Air Force pilot has been captured after his plane was shot down over Pakistan.  On the line to discuss this ongoing crisis, and explain why Kashmir has become such a flash point between India and Pakistan is Michael Kugelman, senior associate for South Asia at the Woodrow Wilson Center.  We kick off discussing the events leading up to this escalation of hostilities before having a longer conversation about the history of Kashmir and India-Pakistani relations. One thing I particularly found helpful in this conversation was Michael's description of the domestic political logic in India and Pakistan that propels conflict over Kashmir.  Needless to say, India and Pakistan have gone to war with each other--the last time was in 1971. But now, they both have nuclear weapons so any hot crisis like the one unfolding now has the potential to descend into the worst-case scenario.

Energy Poverty conventionally refers to the lack of household electricity. Over 1 billion people live without reliable sources of electricity -- but a new group seeks to change how we think about energy poverty.   My guest today, Todd Moss is the founder and executive director of the Energy for Growth Hub, a new think tank. The Energy for Growth Hub seeks large scale solutions to end the kind of energy poverty that can stifle industrial and commercial development in the developing world. We kick off talking about energy poverty--specifically why the traditional definition of that term may be an inadequate understanding of the problem. We then have a lengthy discussion about the link between big scale energy solutions, global development and climate change. 

As I am recording this, the United States is deep into negotiations with the Taliban over some sort of political arrangement that would enable the Taliban's entrance into Afghan politics while the US drew down its troop levels. The specifics of these negotiations are opaque--not much is known about what is on the table.   What we do know is that there are precisely zero Afghan women at the table.    And what we also know, thanks to research done in part by my guest today Anna Tonelli, is that the exclusion of women from peace negotiations is a predictor of failure for peace negotiations. When women are excluded from peace talks, those peace talks are less likely to result in any durable success.     Anna Tonelli is the inclusive peace and security senior policy advisor wth Oxfam International. In this conversation we discuss some of the research that links the success of peace talks to the inclusion of women. We discuss examples from around the world, but kick off discussion the situation in Afghanistan.