Global Dispatches -- World News That Matters

On December 10th, Donald Trump upended over 30 years of US diplomacy with a tweet in which he declared American support for Morocco's claims of sovereignty over Western Sahara. Since the 1970s, Morocco and a local group called the Polisario Front have fought for control of Western Sahara. In the early 1990s the United States brokered a ceasefire agreement which called for the people of Western Sahara to vote in a referendum to determine their status as an independent country. A UN Peacekeeping mission was deployed to region to help maintain the ceasefire and prepare for the vote. Now, the United States has abandoned its previous support for self-determination of the Sahrawi people and simply affirmed that Western Sahara is part of Morocco. In exchange, Morocco has begun to establish formal diplomatic ties with Israel. On the line to help make sense of the significance of this move is Intissar Fakir, fellow at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and editor of Sadaa, a publication that focuses on political, economic and social developments in the Middle East. We spend a good deal of time in this episode discussing the recent history of the Western Sahara conflict from the 1970s to today. We then discuss the implications of the United States' sudden reversal of its long held diplomatic position. Check out our new referral program. Recommend the podcast and earn rewards! https://refer.fm/globaldispatches

The COVID-19 pandemic has made global health a top tier issue in Washington. In today's episode we explore what opportunities might exist for the incoming Biden administration and Congress to advance a global health agenda premised on strengthening international cooperation to take on common health challenges Loyce Pace is President and CEO of the Global Health Council. We kick off discussing how the Trump administration's approach to global health was something of departure from typical bi-partisan support for health and development around the world before discussing in depth how a Biden administration and new Congress may advance a global health agenda, including what a global response to COVID-19 might look like. Today's episode is produced in partnership with the Better World Campaign as part of a series examining the opportunities for strengthening multilateral engagement by the new Biden-Harris administration and the incoming 117th Congress. To learn more and access additional episodes in this series, please visit http://getusback.org/

December 12 2020 is the five year anniversary of the Paris Climate Agreement. And on that day a number of governments, non state actors and other world leaders will convene virtually for a Climate Ambition Summit hosted by the United Nations, the United Kingdom, and France, in partnership with Chile and Italy. Ahead of this summit, the podcast partnered with the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) for a live taping that explored ways countries can take on climate change while also improving human health and spurring economic development. We use Chile as a starting off point for a broader conversation about ways countries can design policies to take on climate change that have knock-on benefits for health and the economy. Panelists: Marcelo Mena Carrasco, Director, Center for Climate Action, Catholic University of Valparaiso, and the former Environment Minister of Chile Dr. Laura Gallardo Klenner, a Professor at the Center for Climate and Resilience Research at the University of Chile Graham Watkins, Chief of the Climate Change Division, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Chris Malley, Senior Research Fellow, Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) Links: http://sei.org/ The Benefits and Costs Of Decarbonizing Costa Rica's Economy: Informing the Implementation of Costa Rica's National Decarbonization Plan under Uncertainty Jobs in a Net-Zero Emissions Future in Latin America and the Caribbean

Ambassador Thomas Pickering is a legendary retired US foreign service officer. He had a four decade career in diplomacy, including serving as ambassador to Russia, India, Israel, Nigeria, El Salvador, among key postings. In 1989, President George H.W. Bush appointed him US Ambassador to the United Nations where he played a critical role in marshaling broad international support against Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. The diplomacy that accompanied the international effort to expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait in the early 1990s is considered to be a high water mark for US multilateral engagement. This is why I was curious to learn from Ambassador Pickering about what opportunities may exist for the incoming Biden administration to re-establish US global leadership and multilateral engagement? We kick off discussing the Trump administration's approach to multilateralism before having a broader conversation about the changing nature of the UN and ways the Biden administration can productively work with with allies and adversaries to advance American interests and the global good. Today's episode is produced in partnership with the Better World Campaign as part of a series examining the opportunities for strengthening multilateral engagement by the new Biden-Harris administration and the incoming 117th Congress. To learn more and access additional episodes in this series, please visit http://getusback.org/

The first 100 days of any new presidential administration offers a key inflection point, signaling the policies that the new administration will prioritize and champion. It is during those first 100 days that the new administration gets the most leeway from congress, the media, and the general public to set their agenda. Setting that agenda often includes a mix of new executive actions, supporting specific pieces of legislation, and releasing a federal budget request to congress which demonstrates the new administration's funding priorities. This is the opportunity for the Biden administration when it takes office on January 20. In today's episode, we take a deep dive into what a Biden-Administration's first 100-day agenda may look like when it comes to re-setting America's relationship with the United Nations and other multilateral organizations. Peter Yeo is the President of the Better World Campaign and Senior Vice President of the United Nations Foundation. He has had a long career in congress, the federal government and advocacy; and he explains the various executive actions and legislative priorities that the Biden administration will likely pursue to signal the United States' renewed commitment to multilateralism. Today's episode is produced in partnership with the Better World Campaign as part of a series examining the opportunities for strengthening multilateral engagement by the new Biden-Harris administration and the incoming 117th Congress. To learn more and access additional episodes in this series, please visit http://getusback.org/

Linda Thomas-Greenfield will be nominated by President-elect Joe Biden to serve as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations. She is a veteran diplomat who most recently served as Assistant-Secretary of State for African Affairs in the Obama administration. Prior to that she served as the US Ambassador to Liberia during a critical time in that country's transition to democracy. Linda Thomas-Greenfield left the State Department in 2017, amid a wider purge by the Trump administration of senior career diplomats. Not long after, she sat down with me for a long interview about her life and career. We cover a lot of ground in this interview, which alternates between a discussion about policy and her own fascinating life story. https://www.patreon.com/GlobalDispatches

When President Trump came to office in 2017, he inherited from President Obama the Iran Nuclear Deal. Trump rejected the deal and embarked on a fruitless "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran. Such is the state of relations between the United States and Iran that Joe Biden will inherit when he takes office in January. Trita Parsi of the Quincy Institute discusses whether or not it is even possible for a Biden administration to revive the nuclear deal; and what steps a Biden administration can take to get diplomacy with Iran back on track.

On November 9th the warring parties in Nagorno-Karabakh signed a ceasefire agreement brokered by Russia. The agreement comes after weeks of very heaving fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia which killed and displaced thousands of people. On the line with me to discuss these recent events Anna Zamejc, a freelance journalist who has covered this region for years. We spend a few minutes discussing the recent history of Nagorno-Karabakh before having a longer conversation about the regional and international implications of this ceasefire agreement.

On November 4th, the Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched military operations against the Tigray People's Liberation Front, the TPLF, which is the group that controls the Tigray region in Northern Ethiopia. Tensions have been simmering for some time between the Federal government, which Abiy controls and the TPLF. Now, one year after winning the Nobel Peace Prize, Abiy has launched a military campaign that could very well spark a widespread civil war. On the line with me to discuss recent events in Ethiopia and offer some analysis of why the country is on the brink of civil war is Mastewal Terefe, an Ethiopian policy analyst and lawyer. We kick off discussing the events of November 4 before having a broader conversation about the causes of escalating tensions between Abiy and the TPLF. As you will see in this conversation, there is a great risk right now that this conflict between the federal government and TPLF spreads to other armed groups that are organized along ethnic lines. Alliance for Peacebuilding PeaceCon 2020 Mastewal on Twitter

Gerard Araud is the former French Ambassador to the United States and the United Nations. We recorded this conversation on the Friday following the Tuesday of election day, when the result was all but certain. Ambassador Araud offers his take on how the election of Joe Biden will impact transatlantic relations and the ways that a Biden administration can repair some of the damage done to US-European relations these past four years.