The Chinese balloon’s voyage over American skies has escalated concerns about foreign land ownership in the US. Lawmakers in roughly 11 states — from Arizona, to Montana, to Texas — are up in arms about Chinese ownership of American farmland. Nancy Qian, James J. O'Connor Professor of Managerial Economics & Decision Sciences at Kellogg MEDS, Northwestern University, joins Ray Suarez to share how a proposed ban of foreign land ownership could backfire.

Guest:

Nancy Qian, James J. O'Connor Professor of Managerial Economics & Decision Sciences at Kellogg MEDS, Northwestern University 

Host:

Ray Suarez

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.

The Chinese Communist Party has made reunification with Taiwan one of its main political goals, and it has threatened to take the island by military force. Meanwhile, President Biden has reiterated unequivocal support for Taiwan’s security. Dr. Joel Wuthnow, senior research fellow at the National Defense University's Center for the Study of Chinese Military Affairs, tells Ray Suarez why this puts the US in a political bind.

Guest:

Dr. Joel Wuthnow, senior research fellow at the National Defense University's Center for the Study of Chinese Military Affairs

Host:  

Ray Suarez

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.

As Arizona grapples with looming cuts to its allocation of Colorado River water, the arid state is taking a hard look at how its groundwater is used and who has access to it. Dr. Natailie Koch, author of “Arid Empire: The Entangled Fates of Arizona and Arabia,” joins Ray Suarez to explain how Saudi Arabia ended up at the center of a water crisis in the American Southwest.

Guest:

Natalie Koch, Professor for Human Geography at Heidelberg’s Geography Institute and author of “Arid Empire: The Entangled Fates of Arizona and Arabia”

Host:

Ray Suarez

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.

The OPEC+ oil cartel’s surprise decision to cut oil production has the potential to cause all kinds of trouble for the global economy, and may increase geopolitical frictions between longtime allies – the US and Saudi Arabia. So what happens to US-Gulf ties when the desert kingdom turns off the tap?

Ray Suarez sits down with Jim Krane, author of “Energy Kingdoms: Oil and Political Survival in the Persian Gulf,” to unravel what these escalating tensions mean.

Guest:

Jim Krane, author of “Energy Kingdoms: Oil and Political Survival in the Persian Gulf”, journalist, and the Wallace S. Wilson Fellow for Energy Studies at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy in Houston.

Host:  

Ray Suarez

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.

Amid heightened tensions between the US, North Korea, and South Korea in recent weeks, we produced a few episodes about nuclear ambitions and deterrence on the Korean peninsula.

In our first episode, we featured the voice of Siegfried Hecker – he's a nuclear scientist and former director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, and author of a new book called Hinge Points: An Inside Look at North Korea's Program.

It’s the story of how North Korea went from zero nuclear weapons in 2001, to an arsenal of nearly fifty in just twenty years. And it’s an amazing story… because Sig was there to witness it firsthand…

Guests:

Siegfried Hecker, former Director of Los Alamos National Laboratory and professor emeritus at Stanford University

Host: 

Ray Suarez

Jim Falk

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.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are heating up once again. For the first time in years, the South Korean and US militaries have been conducting combined military drills in response to North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats. And as South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declares nuclear weapons a policy option, journalist Jeongmin Kim, Lead Correspondent at NK News and Editorial Director at Korea Pro, answers what it’s like for South Koreans who live under the threat of a nuclear neighbor.   

Guest:

Jeongmin Kim, Lead Correspondent at NK News and Editorial Director at Korea Pro

Host:

Ray Suarez

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.

The security alliance between the United States and South Korea dates back to the Cold War. At its heart is the containment of North Korea, one of three nuclear powers that could threaten the United States – and South Korea and Japan – with catastrophic nuclear war.

Siegfried Hecker, the former Director of Los Alamos National Laboratory, identifies the moment North Korea became a nuclear power–and how the U.S. missed its chance to stop it. Then, Ray Suarez talks with Dr. Victor Cha, Senior Vice President for Asia and Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, to make sense of this escalating tension.

Guests:

Dr. Victor Cha, Senior Vice President for Asia and Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies

Siegfried Hecker, former Director of Los Alamos National Laboratory and author of Hinge Points

Host:

Ray Suarez

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.

In the background of the latest US-China political disputes, is the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. This year, the United States plays host to the meeting, which involves more than 1,500 delegates from 21 economies – including China and Russia.

Ray Suarez spoke with Matt Murray, senior US official for APEC, from the conference's first event in Palm Springs. Murray, who spent a number of years in Beijing and Shanghai, talks to Ray about whether the US and China can find common ground in trade on the Asian continent.

Guest:

Matt Murray, US Senior Official for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), US Department of State

Host:

Ray Suarez

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.

Congress is debating the future of TikTok, the hugely popular video app owned by a Chinese company called ByteDance. TikTok’s detractors suggest that while you watch, the app may be watching you too… vacuuming up data from user’s devices, which can then be handed to the Chinese government.

Caitlin Chin, a fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, joins Ray Suarez to explain the hubbub. She suggests the calls to ban Tiktok aren’t really about data privacy: they’re about China.

Guest:

Caitlin Chin, Fellow, Strategic Technologies Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies

Host:

Ray Suarez, host of On Shifting Ground

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.