On Shifting Ground

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


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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

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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

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