On Shifting Ground

With record unemployment, increasing income inequality and soaring poverty, it’s hard to escape the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic, but there is one group of people that have fared well. The world’s billionaires are 27% richer than they were last year. As of July, their wealth has soared to a record high of $10.2 trillion. In the absence of a strong social safety net --  these are the people our society turns to for help. But is this philanthropy model working?  For his 2018 book, Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World, Anand Giridharadas spent three years embedded with the donor class. He found that many of the same people who are trying to save the planet, are actually responsible for making it worse, but he’s hopeful that our society is poised to turn a corner after 2020. “And so I think about this year as being obviously just one of unendurable pain for so many people, of a tremendous amount of loss. You know, we're getting to the level of one in a thousand Americans no longer being with us at the end of this year because of COVID alone. And yet also I think there is a way in which we're going to look back on this moment as generating not 2020 hindsight, but 2020 foresight where we might look back on this year as the year that freed us of certain illusions and, and compelled us to, to choose a different way. And what I hope is we're going to come out of this time exuberant, joyful, ready to celebrate, ready to enjoy physical space together again, but also politically galvanized to build the next chapter of the American story, because this one, this story is done.This chapter is bankrupted itself. We have learned very clearly from this year. And from these years that we have not been living, right. We just have not been living right. Our society was designed wrong and the immense pain and the immense loss of this year only confirms that. And so my hope is that we come out of this with an appetite, well, to enjoy, to celebrate, to live again fully but also to transform this country.”

 

Guest: 

Anand Giridharadas, Author and publisher of The.Ink

Host:

Markos Kounalakis, Visiting fellow, Hoover Institution 

 

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Direct download: 12_28_20_Anand_Giridharadas.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 10:12pm PDT

When the World Food Program was awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, executive director David Beasley warned that “famine is at humanity’s doorstep.”  He said that a “hunger pandemic,” worse than COVID-19, is a real possibility if the world does not address the problem. Hunger is not new, but the coronavirus pandemic and global recession has thrown millions of people into poverty. The good news is that there is enough food to feed everyone on earth; it’s just not always distributed fairly and affordably. Famines are man-made political problems and we have the power to end them. This week we’re looking at how to solve food insecurity around the world and right here in the United States. We’ll hear from nonprofit leaders working on the frontlines and a doctor in Yemen who treats malnourished children. 

 

Guests: 

Dr. Aida Alsadeeq, assistant professor at the University of Aden and former supervisor at the pediatric malnutrition ward at Aden's Al-Sadaqa Hospital 

Skye Fitzgerald, Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker and director of The Hunger Ward

Reverend Eugene Cho, President and CEO of Bread for the World and the Bread Institute

Laura Melo, Country Director at United Nations World Food Programme - WFP, Guatemala

 

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Direct download: 12_21_20_World_Hunger.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 9:36pm PDT

Now that the process is beginning for distribution of a vaccine for COVID-19  -- and another is close behind -- it seems as though ending the pandemic is finally in sight. But with the world’s wealthy countries hoarding billions of vaccine doses, the majority of people living in developing countries likely won’t get vaccinated in more than a year.

Dr. Larry Brilliant, best known for eradicating Smallpox, says that’s a problem because the virus “will continue to ping pong back and forth among nations.” “We cannot solve the COVID problem nationally. This is really a time for global cooperation.” He and Dr. Peter Hotez, who is part of a team developing a low-cost COVID vaccine for global distribution, join Ray Suarez to discuss how we will be able to vaccinate our way out of the pandemic.

 

Guests: 

Dr. Larry Brilliant, MD, PhD, epidemiologist and CEO of Pandefense 

Dr. Peter Hotez,  MD, PhD, epidemiologist and author of Preventing the Next Pandemic: Vaccine Diplomacy in a Time of Anti-science

 

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.​

Direct download: 12_14_20_Brilliant_Hotez_Vaccines.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 5:29pm PDT

At 60 million people and counting, Latinos are the largest minority group in the United States. But if the 2020 election taught us anything, it’s that our political establishment does not understand this community, which is undergoing a transformation. Young Latinos across the country are redefining their identities, pushing boundaries, and awakening politically in powerful and surprising ways. Many of them are coming together in solidarity under the term "Latinx." Join co-host Ray Suarez and VICE's Paola Ramos for a conversation on how communities from New York to Texas and California are defining the controversial term "Latinx," and what it means to be Latino and American.

 

Guests: 

Paola Ramos, journalist and author of  Finding Latinx: In search of The Voices Redefining Latino Identity

Ray Suarez, co-host of WorldAffairs and author of Latino Americans: The 500 Year Legacy That Shaped a Nation

 

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.​

Direct download: 12_07_20_Redefining_Latino_Identity.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

When Joe Biden ran for president, he pledged to make climate change a major priority. How will he make good on that promise and what are the consequences if he fails to act? On this week’s episode, we discuss climate policy with former California Governor Jerry Brown, oceanographer Sylvia Earle and former Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos, 2016 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. Then, we visit Paradise, California, the site of the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in the state’s history.

 

Guests: 

Jerry Brown, Governor of California (1975-1983 and 2011-2019)

Sylvia Earle, Oceanographer and President & Chair of Mission Blue Sylvia Earle Alliance 

Juan Manuel Santos, former President of Colombia & recipient of the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize

Emily Thomas, documentary filmmaker

Harmony VonStockhausen, student

 

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Direct download: 11_30_20_Climate_Future.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

A recent Politico poll found that 70% of Republican voters don’t believe the presidential election was free and fair, even though there is no evidence to support this claim. Historian Claire Bond Potter talks with Rachael Myrow about the rise of alternative media and pseudo news sites that continue to spread misinformation and are helping Donald Trump convince his base that the election was fraudulent. It was not.

 

Guest: 

Claire Bond Potter, Professor of History and co-Executive Editor of Public Seminar at the New School

 

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Direct download: 11_26_20_Alternative_Media.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

Joe Biden will be President in two months. In the meantime, Donald Trump is doing everything he can to make that transition as difficult as possible. He has prevented the president-elect from receiving top secret intelligence briefings and made a flurry of decisions that could jeopardize our national security. Career diplomat Nicholas Burns and Ray Suarez discuss the implications - and how to rebuild America’s foreign service.

 

Guest: 

R. Nicholas Burns, Former US Ambassador to NATO and Professor of diplomacy at the Harvard Kennedy School

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Direct download: 11_23_20_Nicholas_Burns.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 1:48am PDT

When Joe Biden takes office, he’ll face challenges like no other president before him. From the pandemic, to our fragile democracy, a world in transition, and challenges exacerbated by climate change, the Biden Administration will have to approach  foreign policy very carefully. On this episode, co-host Ray Suarez talks with Washington Post columnist Ishaan Tharoor about these challenges and how the Biden Administration might tackle them.

 

Guests: 

Ishaan Tharoor, Washington Post Columnist

 

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Direct download: 11_19_20_Biden_Policy.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 4:58am PDT

Pulitzer Prize- winning historian Anne Applebaum is worried about authoritarianism in the US. Since the election, world leaders have congratulated President-Elect Biden on his decisive victory, and yet, President Trump has not conceded. He’s gone on a rampage to discredit the results and put his loyalists in charge. Applebaum joins producer Teresa Cotsirilos on the podcast to talk about the nature of authoritarianism and how fascist leaders come to power. Democracy is fragile and sometimes, she says, the best way to push back against populist authoritarianism is to not answer it directly.

 

Guest: 

Anne Applebaum, Pulitzer-Prize winning historian, author of  Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism and staff writer at The Atlantic

 

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Direct download: 11_16_20_Lure_Authoritarianism.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

This year, the US is on track to spend $4 trillion on healthcare -- more than any other nation. Yet our healthcare system is famous for its dysfunction. What are we getting for our money? And how does our system stack up against those in other countries? This week, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel joins co-host Ray Suarez to compare different healthcare systems around the world. Then, producer Teresa Cotsirilos and Radio New Zealand’s Indira Stewart explain how Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern managed to nearly eradicate the coronavirus from New Zealand and return the country to some sense of normalcy.

 

Guests: 

Ezekiel J. Emanuel, MD, PhD, Vice Provost for Global Initiatives, University of Pennsylvania and author of Which Country Has The World’s Best Healthcare System?

Indira Stewart, Radio New Zealand

 

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Direct download: 11_09_20_Healthcare_System.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

On October 25, an overwhelming majority of Chileans voted to throw out their constitution, written during Augusto Pinochet’s brutal dictatorship. It started as a student protest at a high school and grew into a national movement. Now, the streets of Santiago are filled with jubilant celebration, music and fireworks. But soon, the hard work of writing the new charter will begin. Daniel Alarcón discusses his reporting from Chile with Ray Suarez. 

Featuring:

Daniel Alarcón, contributing writer at The New Yorker and Executive Producer of Radio Ambulante

Ray Suarez, co-host of WorldAffairs & Washington reporter for Euronews

Reading Material: 

Chile at the Barricades, by Daniel Alarcón, The New Yorker

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Direct download: 11_05_20_Democracy_Chile.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

Fraudulent elections can lead to long term voter apathy and erode democratic institutions. Sometimes, they can fuel widespread protests, and in some countries, revolution. On this episode of the podcast, we examine how a rigged election in Belarus is fueling a democratic uprising. Election observer and University of Missouri political scientist Mary Stegmaier is our guide.

 

Featuring: 

Mary Stegmaier,  Vice Provost for International Programs and Director of the International Center at the University of Missouri

Teresa Cotsirilos, WorldAffairs producer

 

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to WorldAffairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.​

Direct download: 11_02_20_Democratic_Belarus.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

Voter suppression. Allegations of fraud. Political violence. The whole world is watching the United States’ presidential election, and it feels like democracy itself is on the line. Political scientist and election observer Susan Hyde explains how politicians steal elections, what international observers can do to help, and what happens when voters demand a fair process.

 

Featuring: 

Susan Hyde, professor of political science at UC Berkeley

Teresa Cotsirilos, WorldAffairs producer

 

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to WorldAffairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.​

Direct download: 10_30_20_Election_Stealing.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 5:50pm PDT

As tensions intensify between President Trump and Xi Jinping, China is pursuing its global ambitions through the “Belt and Road Initiative,” a massive global infrastructure project. In her new podcast, former NPR Beijing correspondent Mary Kay Magistad partners with local journalists on five continents to investigate the initiative’s impact. She joins journalist Shuang Li to explain how China tightens its hold on communities by building roads and pipelines around the world.

 

Guest: 

Mary Kay Magistad, Creator & Host, “On China’s New Silk Road” and former East Asia correspondent for NPR, & for PRX's The World

Shuang Li, Journalist and documentary filmmaker

 

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.​

Direct download: 10_29_20_China_Silk_Road.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

The US economy is floundering. Unemployment remains high and Congress is squabbling over a badly needed stimulus package. Meanwhile, China’s gotten its pandemic under control—and its economy is surging. In this episode, we look at China’s economic rise to power. Wall Street Journal correspondent Lingling Wei and her editor, Bob Davis, explain how US-China trade disputes are fueling a new Cold War.

 

Guests: 

Lingling Wei, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal and co-author of "Superpower Showdown"

Bob Davis, Senior editor at The Wall Street Journal and co-author of "Superpower Showdown"

 

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.​

Direct download: 10_26_20_US-China_Showdown.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

Former CIA Director John O. Brennan worked at the agency under six different presidents, but he says he never served one quite like Donald Trump. In this episode, he talks with co-host Ray Suarez about Russian interference in US elections, America’s role in the global community, and what it’s really like to work at the CIA.

 

Guest: 

John Brennan, Former Director, Central Intelligence Agency

 

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Direct download: 10_22_20_John_Brennan.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

Since the attacks on September 11th, 2001, many Americans associate terrorism with the Middle East. But since 2001, more Americans have actually been killed by domestic terrorists than by any international groups. According to the Department of Homeland Security, white supremacists pose the deadliest terror threat to the United States, and a growing number of homegrown militia groups are mobilizing across the US. In this episode, we talk with former FBI agent Michael German, who argues that structural racism blinded the agency to the threat of white supremacy.

 

Guests: 

Michael German, Brennan Center for Justice at NYC Law School and former FBI agent

 

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Direct download: 10_19_20_Undercover_FBI.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

As we spend time on social media, liking, clicking and scrolling, our behaviors are being monitored and sold.Corporations, governments, and advertisers are spending unprecedented sums of money to collect data about us. Social media algorithms are pushing us toward partisan and extremist views to keep us online as much as possible, and many major events happening around us, like protests and even acts of violence, are started in Facebook groups. How does this process affect democracy? Media Editor at BuzzFeed News Craig Silverman joins co-host Ray Suarez to talk about Facebook, fake news, and where we go from here.

 

Guest: 

Craig Silverman, Media Editor at BuzzFeed News

 

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Direct download: 10_15_20_Big_Tech-Democracy.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

Governments around the world are struggling to take power back from the world’s biggest tech companies. In the US, House Democrats want to overhaul antitrust laws and force Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google to break into smaller companies. These brands wield a remarkable amount of wealth and power, and Alexis Wichowski has coined a new term for them: “net-states,” or companies that operate as sovereign entities. She joins us for a conversation with Financial Times reporter Patrick McGee about this phenomenon and her new book Information Trade: How Big Tech Conquers Countries, Challenges Our Rights and Transforms Our World.

 

Guests: 

Alexis Wichowski, Deputy Chief Technology Officer, City of New York; Professor, Columbia University

Patrick McGee, San Francisco Correspondent, Financial Times

 

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Direct download: 10_12_20_Alexis_Wichowski.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

The pandemic has seriously damaged the United States’ credibility abroad. Meanwhile, China is rising, climate change is getting worse, and an ongoing tech revolution is changing the world as we know it. How can the United States rebuild its global leadership in a world that’s changing this fast?  In this episode, Markos Kounalakis talks with academics Rebecca Lissner and Mira Rapp-Hooper, authors of An Open World: How America Can Win the Contest For 21st Century Order, about a new global strategy that could reposition the US in a post-COVID—and possibly post-Trump—world.

 

Guests:

Rebecca Lissner, Assistant Professor, U.S. Naval War College, co-author of An Open World

Mira Rapp‑Hooper, Senior Fellow at the Yale Law School’s China Center, co-author of An Open World

 

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Direct download: 10_08_20_US-World_Order.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

With just a few weeks to go before the election, the whole world is holding its collective breath to see what will happen next. Global dynamics have shifted, and American leadership is not what it used to be. Since taking office, President Trump has dramatically changed the country’s priorities, and the US's pandemic response has lowered its global standing considerably. In this episode, we examine two very different ideas for what US Global leadership should look like. Ben Rhodes, a former Obama advisor and the co-host of Pod Save the World, and Colin Dueck, a professor at George Mason University and author of Age of Iron: On Conservative Nationalism talk with Ray Suarez about the foreign policy issues at stake this election.

 

Guests: 

Ben Rhodes, former Deputy National Security Advisor for President Obama and host of Missing America

Colin Dueck, Professor at George Mason University and author of Age of Iron: On Conservative Nationalism

 

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Direct download: 10_05_20_Rhodes-Dueck.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 5:59am PDT

When Israel signed deals with two Gulf States earlier this month, Saudi Arabia was notably absent. The regional powerhouse recently opened its airspace to Israel for the very first time, but it still does not have any official diplomatic relations with them. In this episode, avid Rundell, former Chief of Mission at the American Embassy in Riyadh and author of Vision Or Mirage: Saudi Arabia at the Crossroads talks with NPR international correspondent Deborah Amos about the Kingdom, its political intrigues, and the crises it’s managing at home and abroad.

 

Guests: 

Deb Amos, NPR correspondent @deborahamos 

David Rundell, former Chief of Mission at the American Embassy in Riyadh and author of Vision Or Mirage: Saudi Arabia at the Crossroads

 

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Direct download: 10_01_20_Saudi_Arabia.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

This month, Israel signed deals with two Gulf States on the White House South Lawn. They’re the first Arab-Israel agreements in 25 years, known as the “Abraham Accords,” and President Trump hailed them as a major foreign policy achievement. So why were the Palestinians missing from the agreements? In this episode, we take a closer look at these deals and how they will affect the peace process in the region. 

 

Guests:

Daniel Estrin, NPR Correspondent in Jerusalem @DanielEstrin

Khaled Elgindy, Director of the Program on Palestinian - Israeli Affairs at the Middle East Institute and Author of Blind Spot: America and the Palestinians, From Balfour to Trump  @elgindy_If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Direct download: 09_28_20_Israel-Middle_East.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

As climate change gets worse, it’s hard to imagine a world in which we achieve a fair and sustainable future, But there’s hope. Political leaders around the world are taking action. In this episode, we'll hear from activists and political leaders who discussed climate resiliency at World Affairs’ recent Global Philanthropy Forum. Environmentalist Wanjira Mathai talks to  former Irish President and UN Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson about climate resiliency in Africa, and their histories fighting for climate justice. Then we’ll hear from some of the next generation of activists, Vanessa Nakate from Kampala, Uganda and Isha Clarke from Oakland, California, who discuss what motivates them to continue the fight for justice with Jacqueline Patterson of the NAACP.

 

Guests: 

Mary Robinson, Trinity College Dublin, Professor and Former President of Ireland

Wanjira Mathai, World Resources Institute, Vice President and Regional Director for Africa @MathaiWanjira 

Jacqueline Patterson, Director of the Environmental and Climate Justice Program, NAACP @JacquiPatt

Isha Clarke, Youth vs Apocalypse, Co-Founder and Activist

Vanessa Nakate, First Fridays for Future, Climate Activist @vanessa_vash

 

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Direct download: 09_24_20_Climate_Resilience.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

This week, we’re launching an ongoing series about our climate future. Climate change is making global inequality worse, hitting low income communities and communities of color harder than everyone else. Just look at California, where wildfires have burned to the edges of farm country and agricultural workers are still going to work, risking heat and smoke to pick our food. This is an essential workforce, mostly Latinx, that has spent decades fighting for better labor protections. In this episode, we hear from activists who are now raising concerns that 2020's wildfires, in the midst of a pandemic, are triggering unsafe working conditions. Fires and other natural disasters have also triggered a wave of climate refugees that will continue to grow. Environmental Justice Foundation’s Steve Trent and The Institute for Climate and Peace’s Maxine Burkett will also join us to talk about protecting human rights for climate refugees.

 

Guests: 

Steve Trent, Environmental Justice Foundation, Executive Director @steventrent 

Maxine Burke, The Institute for Climate and Peace, Co-Founder and Senior Advisor

Zeke Guzman, President of Latinos Unidos

Omar Paz, lead organizer for North Bay Jobs with Justice, @NorthBayJwJ

David Hornung, Senior Safety Engineer with California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) @CA_DIR

 

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Direct download: 09_21_20_Climate_Change.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

Universal Basic Income is an idea that has long been studied by economists as a way to ensure a basic standard of living for all people. Most of the studies have taken place outside the United States, but this year, in the city of Stockton, California, 125 residents have been receiving $500 payments every month for the past year as part of a UBI pilot program. On this episode of the podcast, Ray Suarez talks with Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs and Nobel prize-winning economist Abhijit Banerjee about the viability of a Universal Basic Income. Then, Teresa Cotsirilos takes us to Alaska, where every resident gets an annual dividend from the government.

 

Guests: 

Michael Tubbs, Mayor of Stockton, California & founder of Mayors for a Guaranteed Income @MichaelDTubbs

Abhijit Banerjee, Nobel Prize winning economist at MIT & co-author of Good Economics for Hard Times

Rashah McChesney, Alaska's Energy Desk - Juneau, Alaska Public Media

 

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Direct download: 09_17_20_UBI-Stockton_Juneau.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

What if we could lower COVID-19 rates all over the world with one program? It’s not a medical innovation, but an economic one. If all the world’s countries distribute a temporary basic income, could we slow the spread of the coronavirus? The idea was recently floated by United Nations Development Program, and it’s. In its report, UNDP says many people are too poor to shelter in place even when they are sick.  Staying home can be a choice between hunger and exposure to the coronavirus...and the consequences of their decisions affect us all.

UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner makes the case for a temporary basic income that would enable nearly three billion of the world’s poorest people to stay home. The idea is built upon the concept of a Universal Basic Income (UBI), something economists have studied and debated for decades. Tech entrepreneurs like Andrew Yang are only making it more popular, something economists have studied for decades. Tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang ran for president on a promise of a $1,000 per month UBI for every American adult. He called it the Freedom Dividend. On this episode, we explore a Basic Income project in Kenya.

 

Guest: 

Tavneet Suri, MIT Sloan School of Management & Editor in Chief of VoxDev @SuriTavneet

 

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Direct download: 09_14_20_UBI_Kenya.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 6:54am PDT

The United States is three months into a mass movement against police violence. We are the midst of a  national conversation about the relationship between law enforcement and communities of color, but the fight over defining the problem of systemic racism, and how to fix it, is only intensifying. In the first half of this episode, Teresa Cotsirilos brings us the story of Jinho “The Piper” Ferreira, a hip-hop artist who lost a friend to police violence and still chose to join law enforcement. Next, we look at how South Africa has grappled with its legacy of white supremacy and police brutality. With the end of Apartheid in 1994, the police were supposed to be reformed, but a quarter-century later, South Africa is still struggling with this issue. Ray Suarez talks with Stan Henkeman, Executive Director of the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation in South Africa, and John Steinberg, Professor of African Studies at Oxford University, about policing in South Africa today.

 

Guests: 

Stan Henkeman, Executive director of the Institute and Reconciliation in South Africa

Jonny Steinberg, African Studies Professor, at Oxford University

Jinho “The Piper” Ferriera, musician, actor and former Alameda County Sheriff’s Deputy


If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Direct download: 09_07_20_Oakland_Johannesburg.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

As inequality rises around the world, some citizens are losing faith in the liberal democratic capitalism that emerged in the 20th century. Protests from the United States to Belarus share themes of resentment towards economic policies that are seen as inherently unfair. Stanford University’s Larry Diamond and Francis Fukuyama join Ray Suarez and Philip Yun to discuss what’s at stake for liberal democracy and the changing world order.

 

Guests: 

Larry Diamond, Stanford University and author of Ill Winds: Saving Democracy from Russian Rage, Chinese Ambition, and American Complacency

Francis Fukuyama, Stanford University and author of Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment

 

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Direct download: 08_31_20_Democratic-Capitalism.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

It’s been three months since George Floyd was killed by a white police officer in Minnesota. The movement prompted an outpouring from lawmakers in Canada and Australia, and protests started in countries that share the United States’ colonial history. Now that the protests have started to slow down, how do we enact effective policies? The Black Lives Matter movement is calling to redirect police funding toward education and public services. Ideas that once seemed radical are now being discussed by politicians both on the local and federal levels. Historian Nell Irvin Painter and anthropologist Christen Smith join Ray Suarez to talk about the global Black Lives Matter movement, policing in the Western Hemisphere and why it’s important to understand the role white supremacy has played in building our institutions. 

 

Nell Irvin Painter, American historian, artist, author of numerous books including The History of White People and Professor of American History Emerita at Princeton University


Christen Smith, Associate Professor of Anthropology and African and African Diaspora Studies at The University of Texas at Austin, founder of Cite Black Women and author of Afro Paradise: Blackness, Violence and Performance in Brazil

 


If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Direct download: 08_24_20_White_Supremacy.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

After the Rwandan genocide, 70 percent of the country’s surviving population were women. They propelled the country’s reconciliation process and fostered its economic development. Today, life expectancies in Rwanda have doubled… and its parliament is majority female. Karen Sherman has witnessed many of these changes. She’s the president of Akilah, a college in Rwanda that provides affordable higher education for women, and she has interviewed thousands of women in war-torn and transitional countries. She joins us on the podcast to talk about her memoir Brick by Brick: Building Hope and Opportunity for Women Survivors Everywhere that covers her experience in global development.

 

Guests: 

Karen Sherman, President, Akilah Institute 

Linda Calhoun, Executive Producer, Career Girls

 

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Direct download: 08_20_20_Karen-Sherman-Rwanda.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

In the United States, the pandemic is getting worse than we ever could have imagined. Many of our political leaders underestimated the virus… And as they fumbled the country’s initial response, developing nations with far fewer resources got prepared. This week, we’re looking at Uganda and Rwanda, two countries who have fought pandemics before and were ready for this one. Both countries have lost very few people to the virus. How did they do it?

 

Guests:

Stephen Asiimwe, Program Director, Global Health Collaborative, Uganda

Agnes Binagwaho, Vice Chancellor at the University of Global Health Equity, former Minister of Health, Rwanda

 

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Direct download: 08_17_20_Uganda_Rwanda.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

Vietnam may have limited resources to stop the spread of the coronavirus, but it’s made up for it with proactive policies and manpower. The country mobilized tens of thousands of military personnel, health care workers and ordinary citizens to fight COVID-19. This level of collective action requires a unified front, and though it was ultimately successful, Vietnam is still an authoritarian country that weathered a 20-year, famous civil war. There are plenty of Vietnamese people who, with good reason, don’t trust their government, and our guest on the podcast, Nguyen Qui Duc, is one of them. He’s a journalist and restaurant owner who joined us to describe his experience in Vietnam during a global pandemic.

 

Guest: 

Duc Qui Nguyen, journalist and restaurant owner

 

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Direct download: 08_13_20_Vietnam_COVID-19.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

With 5 million recorded COVID-19  infections and 160,000 deaths, the coronavirus has paralyzed the United States…the richest, most powerful country in the world. We know it was preventable because at the same time, some countries with far fewer resources have kept infection and death rates remarkably low. Even with its close proximity to China, where the pandemic started, parts of Southeast Asia have managed to control the coronavirus far better than the US and Europe. What are Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar doing that the rest of the world finds itself unable to do? In this episode, we hear from New York Times Southeast Asia Bureau Chief Hannah Beech, Country Director for the Partnership for Health Advancement in Vietnam Dr. Todd Pollock and Director of the Oxford University clinical research unit in Vietnam Guy Thwaites about the quick decision making that went into these countries’ successes. What can we learn from them?

 

Guests:

Hannah Beech, NYTimes Southeast Asia Bureau Chief, based in Bangkok, Thailand @hkbeech

Dr. Todd Pollock, Country Director for the Partnership for Health Advancement in Vietnam @toddmpollack

Guy Thwaites, Professor of infectious diseases and the director of the Oxford University clinical research unit in Vietnam @ThwaitesGuy

 

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

 

Direct download: 08_10_20_Southeast-Asia_COVID-19.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

How did El Salvador become one of the most violent countries on earth? And what role did the United States play in creating the notorious MS-13 gang? In this episode, we revisit and update a program we recorded in January about the origins of El Salvador’s bloody gang war with journalist William Wheeler and Joanne Elgart Jennings. Wheeler spoke with gang members, frustrated reformers, crime investigators and government officials to better understand the violence in the country and what is driving Salvadorans northward. His book is: “State of War: MS-13 and El Salvador’s World of Violence.” 

 

Guest: 

William Wheeler, journalist and author of State of War: MS-13 and El Salvador’s World of Violence

Moderator:

Joanne Elgart Jennings, executive producer & co-host

 
If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Direct download: 08_03_20_MS-13_El-Salvador.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

After nearly twenty years of conflict, the United States is, once again, attempting to extricate itself from Afghanistan. This year, the US and the Taliban signed an agreement that was intended to be a first step towards an intra-Afghan peace deal and US forces began withdrawing troops. But for the time being, the peace process remains tenuous, and Afghanistan is still being used by Russia and the US as proxy war. Over the past few years, Russia has tried to present itself as an ascendant global power, expanding its influence in Syria, Ukraine, as well as Afghanistan. But Putin's government is also grappling with a raging pandemic and an economic crisis. Markos Kounalakis recently discussed Russia's delicate political moment with Steven Pifer.  He was ambassador to Ukraine, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, and was a senior director for Russia and Eurasia at the National Security Council.

 

Guest:

Steven Pifer, William J Perry Fellow at Stanford, nonresident Brookings fellow and former US Ambassador to Ukraine

 

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Direct download: 07_30_20_Russia_Putin.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

United States forces have been fighting in Afghanistan for almost twenty years, making it the longest war in American history. But for many Americans, the conflict only became top of mind again after hearing reports that a Russian military intelligence unit offered bounty money to the Taliban for killing US soldiers. In this episode, we take a closer look at how the war in Afghanistan has served as a proxy conflict between the US and Russia and how it fits into Russia’s global agenda. Former US Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry joins co-host Ray Suarez, followed by a conversation with Jennifer Glasse of Al Jazeera.

 

Guests: 

Jennifer Glasse, Senior Managing Editor at the Americas at Al Jazeera

Karl Eikenberry, former US Ambassador to Afghanistan, retired US Army Lieutenant General

 

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Direct download: 07_27_20_Afghanistan_Taliban.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

Protesters are back in the streets in Hong Kong to fight against a new security law that tightens the Chinese government’s  grip over the city. On this week’s episode, we look at how Hong Kong’s new security law will impact US-China relations, and what it means for the millions of people who live there. First, we’ll hear from Human Rights Watch’s China Director, Sophie Richardson, who argues that US-China relations are at their worst point since the Cold War. Will this new law make them worse? Next, an activist and artist from Hong Kong discusses the evolution of her city’s protest movement. Then, we revisit a conversation with journalist Mary Kay Magistad and professor Jeffrey Wasserstrom, a historian specializing in modern China. They unpack the history of Hong Kong and how the city got to where it is today. 

 

Guests: 

Mary Kay Magistad, former East Asia correspondent for NPR & Director of Audio Journalism at UC Berkeley

Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Professor at UC Irvine and author of Vigil: Hong Kong on the Brink

Sophie Richardson, China Director at Human Rights Watch and author of China, Cambodia, and the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence

Claire, artist and activist from Hong Kong


If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Direct download: 07_20_20_Hong-Kong.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 6:07am PDT

The United States is in the midst of a national conversation about the role systemic racism plays in law enforcement, but police brutality is not just an American problem. In this episode, we look at how South Africa has grappled with its own legacy of white supremacy and police violence. Under Apartheid, South Africa’s white leaders used the police as an instrument of control, enforcing a web of laws that bound black lives. When liberation came with the end of Apartheid, the police were supposedly reformed. Now, a quarter-center later, has anything changed? Co-host Ray Suarez talks with Stan Henkeman, Executive Director of the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation in South Africa, and John Steinberg, Professor of African Studies at Oxford University, about South Africa’s cautionary tale of police reforms made after Apartheid.

 

Guests: 

Stan Henkeman, Executive director of the Institute and Reconciliation in South Africa

Jonny Steinberg, African Studies Professor, at Oxford University

Credits:

Philip Yun, President and CEO, WorldAffairs

Ray Suarez, co-host, WorldAffairs

Teresa Cotsirilos, producer, WorldAffairs

Jarrod Sport, senior producer, WorldAffairs

Joanne Elgart Jennings, executive producer, WorldAffairs

 

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

 

Direct download: 07_16_20_South_Africa.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

Black Lives Matter might be the largest social movement in American history. Last month, an estimated 15-25 million people took to the streets to protest police violence, launching a national conversation about the role systemic racism plays in law enforcement. In this episode, producer Teresa Cotsirilos tells the story of a man whose past experiences with the police drove him to fight for justice from the inside. Jinho Ferreira, also known as “The Piper,” discusses his childhood in West Oakland, his experiences working in law enforcement and what it means to be an artist in a moment of radical change.

Guest: 

Jinho Ferreira, artist, actor and former Alameda County Sheriff’s Deputy

Credits:

Teresa Cotsirilos, producer

Jarrod Sport, senior producer

Joanne Elgart Jennings, executive producer

Philip Yun, President and CEO

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Direct download: 07_11_20_Jinho_Journey.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 10:39am PDT

Over the past few months, we’ve had to reimagine everything we do. From shopping, to eating and socializing, the ways we spend money have completely changed. And as each country manages the pandemic differently, the already fragile global economy has been disrupted by broken supply chains and shifts in demand. Now we’re questioning the role of the government, the future of capitalism and changing our values. The choices we make now could change the world for decades. On this week’s episode, we tackle these big issues and examine our new digital economy with James Manyika, Chairman and Director of the McKinsey Global Institute, Mohamed El-Erian, Chief Economic Advisor at Allianz, and Gillian Tett, Editor at Large at the Financial Times.
 
 
James Manyika, Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company; Chairman and Director, McKinsey Global Institute
 
Mohamed El-Erian, Chief Economic Advisor, Allianz
 
Gillian Tett, Chair of Editorial Board and Editor-at-Large, US, Financial Times
 

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Direct download: 07_06_20_Global_Economy_COVID-19.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

Seventy-five years ago, delegates from 50 countries met in San Francisco to sign the UN Charter. Initially, the purpose of the United Nations was to maintain peace and security through international cooperation and to essentially prevent another world war.  Today’s UN has 193 member countries and is facing a time of uncertainty and open disdain from US President Donald Trump, who has cut funding to the world body and declared, “The future does not belong to globalists. The future belongs to patriots.” On this week’s episode, we look at the UN’s achievements, its shortcomings and what the future holds for international cooperation with journalist James Traub. Then Ray Suarez talks with former Prime Minister of Canada The Rt. Hon Kim Campbell and former Foreign Minister of Mexico Jorge Castañeda about how the United States is viewed by its neighbors. 

 

Jorge Castañeda, former Foreign Minister of Mexico and author of America Through Foreign Eyes

The Hon Rt. Kim Campbell, Canada's 19th Prime Minister

James Traub,  fellow at New York University’s Center on International Cooperation, author of The Best Intentions: Kofi Annan and the UN in the Era of American World Power and regular contributor to Foreign Affairs and the New York Times Magazine


If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Direct download: 06_29_20_UN_75.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

Some countries are using smartphones and facial recognition to track COVID-19 outbreaks, but here, in the US, we’re starting with simple phone calls. On this week’s episode, we take a closer look at contact tracing in California and what it might look like into the future. We also hear from San Francisco Bay Area activists about the risks of protesting during a pandemic and how to protect yourself and others.

Dr. George Rutherford, Director of Prevention & Public Health at University of California at San Francisco

Melissa Millsaps, Investigator at San Francisco City Attorney's Office

Jon Jocobo, Latino Task Force for COVID-19

Cat Brooks,  Justice Teams Network and co-founder of the Anti-Police Terror Project

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Direct download: 06_25_20_Contact_Tracing_Testing.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

Can we contain COVID-19 without a vaccine? Congress allocated $25 Billion for COVID-19 testing this year, but Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul M. Romer, says  that’s a fraction of what we need. On this week’s podcast, he and epidemiologist Dr. Jonathan Quick join co-host Ray Suarez to talk about what it would take to use testing and tracing to contain the virus safely reopen the US.

Paul M. Romer, Co-recipient of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Economics and Professor at New York University

Dr. Jonathan Quick, Managing Director, Pandemic Response at The Rockefeller Foundation and author of The End of Pandemics: The Looming Threat to Humanity and How to Stop It

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Direct download: 06_22_20_Romer_Quick_Testing.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

The outrage of the last two weeks has made it clear that we are at a moment of national reckoning. The Black Lives Matter movement is calling to abolish the police and redirect police funding toward education and public services. Ideas that once seemed radical are now being discussed by politicians both on the local and federal level. On this week’s episode, historian Nell Irvin Painter and anthropologist Christen Smith join Ray Suarez to talk about the global Black Lives Matter movement, policing in the Western Hemisphere and why it’s important to understand the role white supremacy has played in building our institutions. 

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Direct download: 06_15_20_White-Supremacy.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

Fiona Hill was President Trump’s top Russia advisor on the National Security Council and testified during his impeachment hearings that Russia systematically attacked America’s democratic institutions in 2016. On this episode of the podcast, Hill says Russia is poised to meddle in the 2020 election and she says that America’s divisive politics make us vulnerable to a “hacking of the minds.” 

In an expansive interview with Mina Kim, Hill talks about Vladimir Putin’s plans to hold onto power and how he stokes America’s political divisions to advance his causes.

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Direct download: 06_08_20_Fiona_Hill.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 8:00pm PDT

The United States presidential election is only months away and intelligence officials warn that the risk of Russian interference in our political system is high. On this week’s episode, Fiona Hill, who was a top Russia advisor under three presidents, talks with KQED’s Mina Kim about how Vladimir Putin uses our internal divisions to his advantage. And co-host Ray Suarez discusses Putin’s rise to power and the nationwide vote on a constitutional amendment that would allow him to rule Russia for another 16 years with Reuters correspondent Catherine Belton. They also discuss her new book, Putin's People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took On the West. 

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Direct download: 06_05_20_Russia-Putin.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 6:12pm PDT

"Don’t be evil." It’s an iconic phrase that was written into Google’s code of conduct during the early days of the company. It conveyed a utopian vision for technology that would make the world better, safer and more prosperous. But twenty years later, has big tech lived up to its founding principles or has it lost its soul? Rana Foroohar, Global Business Columnist at The Financial Times and Global Economic Analyst at CNN, documents the bigger implications for how tech companies now operate.  In her conversation with World Affairs CEO, Philip Yun, Foroohar looks at the extent to which the FAANGs (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google) threaten democracies, livelihoods and our thinking. 

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please sign up for a World Affairs membership. Your donation enables us to produce programs you value and it connects high school students directly with leaders in the field of international relations while engaging them in critical global issues. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Direct download: 06_01_20_Rana_Foroohar.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 12:11pm PDT

Harvard Business School professor Rebecca Henderson talks with Markos Kounalakis about how to reimagine capitalism in a way that aligns with our moral and ethical values. Henderson says it’s not only possible, but it’s profitable to move beyond an obsessive focus on shareholder value to solve global problems like income inequality, climate change, and the coronavirus pandemic. How can capitalism drive systemic change worldwide?

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please sign up for a World Affairs membership. Your donation enables us to produce programs you value and it connects high school students directly with leaders in the field of international relations while engaging them in critical global issues. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Direct download: 05_25_20_Reimagining_Capitalism.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 9:00pm PDT

What does it take to avoid the worst of the pandemic and allow a country to return to some sense of normalcy? Producer Teresa Cotsirilos and Radio New Zealand’s Indira Stewart explain how Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern managed to nearly eradicate the virus from New Zealand. And New York Times Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nicholas Kristof has been sheltering in place in his home town of Yamhill, Oregon. Already devastated by the opioid epidemic, working class communities like Yamhill are reeling as the pandemic exacerbates America’s inequities. To learn more about Yamhill, check out Kristoff and co-author Sheryl WuDunn’s book Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope.

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please sign up for a World Affairs membership. Your donation enables us to produce programs you value and it connects high school students directly with leaders in the field of international relations while engaging them in critical global issues. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Direct download: 05_25_20_Leadership_New_Zealand_US.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 6:51pm PDT

When the novel coronavirus began to spread beyond China, we were told to stay home and flatten the curve. Many countries have been able to do that, to varying degrees, so what happens next? On this week’s episode, we’re taking a look at how governments around the world are struggling to re-open their economies. Timothy Martin, the Korea bureau chief at the Wall Street Journal, updates us on the latest outbreak in South Korea, a country being praised for how well it’s handled the pandemic. NPR reporters Joanna Kakissis and Rob Schmitz, explain how Germany and Greece may have avoided the worst of it, but are struggling to keep cases down during their reopenings. And former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, coronavirus advisor to former Vice President Joe Biden and  author of the new book, Fast Carbs, Slow Carbs, David Kessler, discusses lessons learned during the HIV/AIDS pandemic that could inform the search for  COVID-19 vaccines and drug treatments.
 
If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please sign up for a World Affairs membership. Your donation enables us to produce programs you value and it connects high school students directly with leaders in the field of international relations while engaging them in critical global issues. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.
Direct download: 05_18_20_Global_Reopening.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 8:58am PDT

At the age of 22, Amaryllis Fox was recruited to work for the CIA, making her one of the youngest female operators in the CIA’s history. After training, Fox was deployed to the Middle East where she infiltrated networks to disrupt acts of terrorism and stop illegal sales of arms and explosives. In her memoir, Life Undercover: Coming of Age in the CIA, she emphasizes that her biggest strength was her ability to connect with terrorists on a personal level rather than through tough negotiations. Out of government for over 10 years, she is now a peace activist and a mother. Fox sat down with KQED journalist Mina Kim to share her fascinating story of her time in the clandestine world of spycraft and how her perspective about her work at the CIA has evolved since she left.

 

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please sign up for a World Affairs membership. Your donation enables us to produce programs you value and it connects high school students directly with leaders in the field of international relations while engaging them in critical global issues. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Direct download: 05_11_20_Fox_CIA.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 3:00am PDT

As we’ve learned from this pandemic, human beings can act quickly in the face of immediate danger. However, we’re not so good at taking action against slow-moving threats. The threat posed by nuclear weapons is now as high as it’s been since the Cold War. This week on WorldAffairs, we talk about North Korea with veteran aid worker Katharina Zellweger, Pulitzer-nominated journalist Jean Lee and North Korean defector Joseph Kim. We also discuss Russia and nuclear proliferation with Dr. Ernest Moniz, who served as Secretary of Energy in the Obama Administration.

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please sign up for a World Affairs membership. Your donation enables us to produce programs you value and it connects high school students directly with leaders in the field of international relations while engaging them in critical global issues. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Host: Philip Yun

Producer: Teresa Cotsirilos

Senior producer: Jarrod Sport

Executive producer: Joanne Elgart Jennings

Direct download: 05_02_20_North_Korea-Russia_Nuclear_Threat.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 12:16pm PDT

While many of us are able to shelter in place through the pandemic, immigrants are disproportionately on the front lines, working essential jobs such as nurses, EMTs, home health aides and doctors. About 27,000 of these healthcare workers are adult children of undocumented immigrants that are authorized to work under an Obama-era program called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. Their future hangs in the balance as they await a US Supreme Court ruling on whether the Trump administration can legally end the program. And, for the many foreign born health workers, who have legal documentation, their ability to send remittances to families in their home countries has been compromised by the pandemic.

On this week’s episode, we hear from immigrant healthcare workers, journalists and representatives from non-profits who are fighting for workers’ rights. 

If you appreciate this program and want to support the work we do, please sign up for a World Affairs membership. Your donation enables us to serve the public and high school students and connect them to critical global issues – engaging and informing them along the way.

Direct download: 04_27_20_Undocumented_Essential.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 11:26am PDT

While many of us are able to shelter in place through the pandemic, immigrants are disproportionately on the front lines, working essential jobs such as nurses, EMTs, home health aides and doctors. For the many foreign born health workers, who have legal documentation, their ability to send remittances to families in their home countries has been compromised by the pandemic.

On this week’s episode, we hear from:

Rosalie Villanueva, nurse in Galveston, Texas

Jason DeParle, New York Times Global Poverty Reporter and Author of A Good Provider Is One Who Leaves: One Family and Migration in the 21st Century

Host: Ray Suarez

Producer: Teresa Cotsirilos

Senior producer: Jarrod Sport

Executive producer: Joanne Elgart Jennings

If you appreciate this program and want to support the work we do, please sign up for a World Affairs membership. Your donation enables us to serve the public and connect high school students  to critical global issues.

Direct download: 04_24_20_Rosalie_Journey.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 7:01pm PDT

How will we navigate a historic global recession? On this week’s episode, Financial Times US editor-at-large Gillian Tett talks with Markos Kounalakis about how this economic breakdown might unfold in the next few months. Next, New Yorker executive editor David Rohde talks about his new book IN DEEP, which investigates whether there really is a “deep state” controlling parts of the US government. He examines whether President Trump’s belief in the “Deep State” impeded the administration’s Coronavirus response. And last, filmmaker Jun Stinson and founder of Futbolistas 4 Life, Dania Cabello, join us to share their story of uplifting a community of undocumented youth in Oakland through soccer.

We want to hear from you! Please take part in a quick survey to tell us how we can improve our podcast: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PWZ7KMW

Direct download: 04_20_20_Economic_Future_Deep_State.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 7:15pm PDT

Around the world, governments are limiting freedoms by requiring people to stay home and prohibiting large gatherings. Though many of these actions are necessary, authoritarian regimes are using the pandemic as an excuse to abuse their power. In Egypt, for example, many citizens are encouraged to shelter in place, yet the realities of the outbreak are being censored. Also of concern is an economy that’s largely dependent on the informal sector, making social distancing a luxury. Now that large gatherings are prohibited in most countries, causing huge economic losses, cultural practices are also being disrupted. Will sports games continue without audiences? This week on WorldAffairs, we talk about how journalism, sports and religion persist through a global crisis.

We want to hear from you! Please take part in a quick survey to tell us how we can improve our podcast: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PWZ7KMW

Direct download: 04_10_20_Pandemic_Power.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 6:35pm PDT

Now that the global economy is mostly on hold, the demand for oil has dropped dramatically, destroying the market and threatening countries whose economies depend on selling it. Saudi Arabia and Russia have been engaged in an oil-price war to keep the markets in their favor. Saudi Arabia saw another economic loss when the kingdom decided to limit access to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. Meanwhile, violence in some of the most at risk countries rages on. In Yemen, preventable diseases like cholera already threaten people with limited access to healthcare and basic necessities. Would a global ceasefire help war-torn countries like Yemen manage their coronavirus outbreaks? On this week’s episode, we talk with experts from around the world about Yemen, oil and Saudi Arabia.

We want to hear from you! Please take part in a quick survey to tell us how we can improve our podcast: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PWZ7KMW

Direct download: 04_04_20_Saudi_Arabia-Oil.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 1:00am PDT

On this week’s episode, we check in with correspondents and artists from around the world. Dr. Erica Ollmann Saphire was instrumental in organizing a global effort to defeat Ebola. Can her team do it again for COVID-19? Co-host Ray Suarez also talks with journalists in Italy and South Africa, who are watching their countries’ responses to the pandemic closely. And though it feels like the rest of the world has come to a complete stop, artists have found creative ways to collaborate and keep us entertained. Members of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra created a virtual performance of Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring, which was commissioned in 1942 in a world at war. And lastly, photojournalist Caroline Gutman talks about her new exhibit, the Rhythm of Indigo, which documents indigenous Miao communities in China working to preserve centuries-old handicraft traditions at risk of disappearing.

We want to hear from you! Please take part in a quick survey to tell us how we can improve our podcast: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PWZ7KMW

Direct download: 03_30_20_Global_COVID-19_Update_Art.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 9:20am PDT

On this bonus episode, we get behind the scenes of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s virtual performance of Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring. It was the brainchild of Principal Double Bass Jeffrey Beecher. 

Then we take you to the remote and mountainous villages of Guizhou Province, China, where indigenous Miao communities are working to preserve centuries-old handicraft traditions that are at risk of disappearing. Our guide is Caroline Gutman, photojournalist and co-founder of Nu Market.

We want to hear from you! Please take part in a quick survey to tell us how we can improve our podcast: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PWZ7KMW

Direct download: 03_27_20_Virtual_Symphony-Rhythm_Indigo.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 6:53pm PDT

Breaking news about novel coronavirus is dominating headlines, making the context we need to understand it more important than ever. This week, as the virus redefines every aspect of our lives, we’re turning to the experts to help us understand where we were before the news of COVID-19 hit and how we ended up where we are today. What can we learn from past pandemics? How will this change our relationship with China, where this all began? First, we have Dr. Peter Piot, Director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to discuss the Spanish flu, his experiences fighting the Ebola outbreak, including, what a resilient global health system looks like and what needs to happen to be prepared for a pandemic. Next, we hear from David M. Lampton, of the Stanford Spogli Freeman Institute, to discuss the complicated history behind the US - China relationship.

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Direct download: 03_20_20_Coronavirus_Warning_US_China.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 4:53pm PDT

Taiwan is just 81 miles from mainland China, but it has managed to prevent an outbreak of the rapidly spreading COVID-19 disease. Stanford University’s Dr. Jason Wang explains how Taiwan acted quickly, aggressively and strategically to prevent the type of outbreaks and death rates we’re now seeing around the world. We also hear from William Yang, Taipei correspondent for Deutsche-Welle.
 
Today’s unrelenting coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic can feel overwhelming. Though it may seem like the world around us has come to a stop, major global events march on. Stories about U.S. airstrikes against an Iran-backed militia in Iraq and Vladimir Putin’s new plan to become president for life may not be front page news today, but they will inevitably demand our attention soon. This week on the podcast, Deb Amos, international correspondent for NPR and Michele Kelemen, NPR’s diplomatic correspondent, talk with Ray Suarez about the world’s most important stories that you might have missed.
 
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Direct download: 03_16_20_COVID_19_Taiwan_World_News.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 2:06pm PDT

The World Health Organization is warning all countries to take the threat of a coronavirus global pandemic seriously as governments around the world are scrambling to effectively contain the spread of COVID-19. Local health officials worldwide are preparing for widespread outbreaks while encouraging citizens to remain calm. Financial markets are bracing for the worst as many schools and corporate offices are closing their doors. On this week’s episode, Ray Suarez talks with Larry Brilliant, a renowned epidemiologist, credited with playing a major role in eradicating smallpox, and Pulitzer Prize-winning global health journalist Laurie Garrett. We also get dispatches from Rafael Suarez in China, Christopher Livesay in Italy and Peter Kenyon, who recently returned from Iran.

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Direct download: 03_09_20_Coronavirus_Global-Pandemic.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 3:36pm PDT

How did El Salvador become one of the most violent countries on earth? And what role did the United States play in creating the notorious MS-13 gang? On this week’s episode, we explore the origins of El Salvador’s bloody gang war with journalist William Wheeler. Wheeler spoke with gang members, frustrated reformers, crime investigators and government officials to better understand the violence in the country and what is driving El Salvadorans northward and for his new book: “State of War: MS-13 and El Salvador’s World of Violence.” He is in conversation with World Affairs executive producer Joanne Elgart Jennings.

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Direct download: 03_02_20_MS-13_El_Salvador.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 1:00am PDT

The deadly civil war in Syria has raged for almost a decade. For besieged civilians, accessing basic services, like health care, comes with extraordinary risks. In his Academy Award® nominated documentary film, The Cave, director Feras Fayyad reveals a world of hope and safety inside a subterranean hospital. The hospital’s director is 29-year-old Dr. Amani Ballour. In a patriarchal society, she is a force and an inspiration as she keeps the hospital running through air bombardments, chronic food shortages and the threat of chemical attacks. Ray Suarez talks with Fayyad and Ballour about the National Geographic film and the current situation in Syria.

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Direct download: 02_24_20_Syria_The_Cave.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 1:00am PDT

US - India relations are back in the spotlight as President Trump travels to the world’s largest democracy. The visit comes as India faces the slowest economic growth since 2009 and social unrest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, which has been pushing a Hindu nationalist agenda. Ray Suarez gets a debrief from Tanvi Madan, director of the India Project at The Brookings Institution and author of Fateful Triangle: How China Shaped U.S.-India Relations During the Cold War.

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Direct download: 02_22_20_India_Trump_Modi.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 1:00am PDT

Are we witnessing the end of Hong Kong as we know it - or is this the biggest challenge yet to China’s authoritarian rule? This week on the podcast, we’re looking at what’s driving the protests in Hong Kong and why the demonstrations have persisted for so long. We walk through the history of Hong Kong, right up to today with: Jeffrey Wasserstrom, professor of history at UC Irvine and author of Vigil: Hong Kong on the Brink, and former East Asia Correspondent for NPR and PRI’s The World, Mary Kay Magistad.

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Direct download: 02_17_20_Hong_Kong_Brink.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 1:00am PDT

American kids today are 55 percent more likely to die by the age of nineteen than children who grow up in other industrialized countries. Is the American dream an outdated one? Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn explore this question in their latest book, "Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope." It chronicles the lives of people Kristof grew up with in rural Oregon, where roughly a quarter of the children who rode the school bus with him, died in adulthood from drugs, alcohol, suicide or accidents. In conversation with KQED’s Mina Kim, Kristoff and WuDunn discuss why so many Americans are struggling with poverty, addiction and depression despite living in the wealthiest country in the world.

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Direct download: 02_10_20_Kristof_WuDunn.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 1:00am PDT

One question at the heart of the impeachment case against Donald Trump is whether the president threatened to withhold US military assistance from Ukraine. In this episode, we explore why the US has been supporting Ukraine in Europe’s only active war and why Ukraine needs help defending itself against Russian aggression. John E. Herbst, Atlantic Council and former US Ambassador to Ukraine, Oxana Shevel, Tufts University, and Simon Ostrovsky, Filmmaker and Journalist at the PBS NewsHour, speak with Ray Suarez.

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Direct download: 02_03_20_Ukraine-Explained.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 1:00am PDT

President Trump made building a border wall between the US and Mexico a cornerstone of his 2016 presidential campaign. Since taking office, he has called for a travel ban on people from Muslim countries.  He has limited the rights of asylum seekers and presided over a family separation crisis at the southern border. New York Times journalists Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Michael Shear discuss the decisions and the ideologies shaping US immigration policy with  WorldAffairs co-host Markos Kounalakis.

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Direct download: 01_27_20_Immigration.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 1:00am PDT

Protests from Paris to Santiago share themes of resentment towards economic policies that are seen as inherently unfair. These very public demonstrations show how, in many countries, citizens are losing faith in free market democracy, which emerged triumphant over communism and fascism in the 20th century. As the new world order is being reshaped, which form of government and governance will be ascendant? Stanford University’s Larry Diamond and Francis Fukuyama join WorldAffairs co-host Ray Suarez to discuss what’s at stake for liberal market democracy and the changing world order.

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Direct download: 01_20_19_Liberal_Capitalism.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 1:00am PDT

The killing of Iran’s most important general by an American drone and a subsequent Iranian missile attack on US assets inside Iraq, threatened to bring the United States and Iran closer to war than at any time since the hostage crisis in 1979. The U.S and Iran may have taken a step back from the brink, but underlying tensions between the two nations remain. In this episode, we look at the circumstances that led to this escalation. And we get an overview of how recent events impact the balance of power in the Persian Gulf. What are the strategic implications for Iran, the Middle East and the World? Vali Nasr of Johns Hopkins University, Barbara Slavin of the Future of Iran Initiative at the Atlantic Council and NPR’s Jane Arraf join WorldAffairs co-host Ray Suarez to talk about what US actions mean for the Middle East and the rest of the world.

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Direct download: 01_12_20_Iran_US.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 1:00am PDT

"Don’t be evil." It’s an iconic phrase that was written into Google’s code of conduct during the early days of the company. It conveyed a utopian vision for technology that would make the world better, safer and more prosperous. But twenty years later, has big tech lived up to its founding principles or has it lost its soul? Rana Foroohar, Global Business Columnist at The Financial Times and Global Economic Analyst at CNN, documents the bigger implications for how tech companies now operate.  In her conversation with World Affairs CEO, Philip Yun, Foroohar looks at the extent to which the FAANGs (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google) threaten democracies, livelihoods and our thinking.

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Direct download: 01_06_20_Rana_Foroohar.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 1:00am PDT

After 21 years as CEO and host of WorldAffairs, Jane Wales has moved on to join the Aspen Institute. In this bonus episode, Jane says farewell and sits down with Philip Yun, WorldAffairs’ new CEO, for a brief conversation about his vision for the future of WorldAffairs. While working on North Korea policy under President Clinton, he learned that context matters.

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Direct download: Jane_Wales_Philip_Yun-BONUS.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 1:00am PDT

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