Global Dispatches -- World News That Matters

I spoke to my guest today, Ilan Goldenberg, just a couple hours after Donald Trump addressed the nation following an Iranian missile attack on bases in Iraq. The Iranian attack, of course, was in retaliation to a US drone strike that killed a top Iranian official Qassem Souleimani on January third. In his remarks, Donald Trump signaled that he was ready for the offramp and would not launch new military strikes in the near term. The Iranian government also said that the missile attacks on bases in Iraq had concluded their retaliation. For the moment, the crisis is not poised to escalate. But, says Ilan Goldenberg, we can very much expect Iran to launch further reprisals in the future--and this could include terrorist attacks and assassination attempts against US targets. Ilan Goldenberg is a former Defense Department official in the Obama administration whose work focused on Iran. He is now director of the Middle East Security Program at the Center for a New American Security in Washington, DC. In our conversation we discuss the events of the first week of January and what comes next. Ilan Goldenberg describes the strategic thinking underway in Iran right now that lead to this missile strike on a base holding US troops in Iraq, and also why and how he expects further retaliation. We also discuss how the US killing of Souleimani might affect Iran's compliance with the Nuclear Deal and what opportunities exist, it at all, for de-escalation. https://www.patreon.com/GlobalDispatches

In 2017, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya muslims were driven from their homes in Myanmar. At the time, a UN official called this a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing." And today, the government of Myanmar is being sued at the International Court of Justice for perpetrating a genocide. These attacks against the rohingya are the most recent and extreme example of sectarian violence and discrimination in Myanmar -- which is an incredibly diverse country with a long history of ethnic conflict. So how does one stop this trend? How do you promote tolerance and pluralism in a place in which diversity has been used to fuel conflict? On the line with me today is someone who is doing just that. Aung Kyaw Moe is the founder and executive director of the Center for Social Integrity in Myanmar. This is an organization that provides both humanitarian relief but also engages in peacebuilding and advocacy work. He is himself a Rohingya and has used humanitarian aid in parts of the country where Rohingya live to encourage cross ethnic partnerships. Aung Kyaw Moe and his organization recently received a high honor, the Global Pluralism Award, which is conferred by the Global Centre for Pluralism, a joint partnership between The Aga Khan and the Government of Canada. We kick of discussing diversity in Myanmar before having a longer conversation about how that how diversity has been used as a wedge to ignite conflict, and how Aung Kyaw Moe is working to reverse that trend.

Pablo Yanguas is a research fellow at the Global Development Institute at the University of Manchester. He is the author of the new book "Why We Lie About Aid: Development and the Messy Politics of Change." In this conversation we discuss the central thesis of his book which is that there is a profound gap between the politics of development, and how economic development is actually achieved on the ground in the developing world. The book is provocative for arguing that the former causes us to misrepresent the latter. This thesis rings true to my experience covering global development as a journalist for over a decade now. And I must say I found this conversation very clarifying--he identifies and ascribes political motives to trends that I have certainly seen covering these issues. And even if you are not a global development nerd, I think you will find this conversation very useful. (Re-broadcast from February 2018)

Dr. Joanne Liu lead Medecins Sans Frontiers/Doctors Without Borders from 2013 to this past September. Listen back to her 2017 conversation in which she discusses why she joined MSF, and how MSF has evolved to respond to recent trends like the global refugee crisis and the increasing frequency with which hospitals are targeted in warfare. This is a powerful conversation that alternates between the wonky and the personal.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria was created in 2002 as a partnership between governments, philanthropies and civil society. At the time, these three diseases were completely out of control, killing millions of people each year and with no end in sight. 17 years later, thanks in large part to the Global Fund, we can imagine the end of AIDS, TB and Malaria. Deaths from these three diseases have declined precipitously. Instances of infection have also declined--though not as sharply as mortality rates. In all, some $32 million lives have been saved through the Global Fund, which is essentially a pool of money that is strategically disbursed in select countries to reduce instances and deaths from these diseases. The way this money is raised is from contributions from donors, the most significant of which are countries. And in late October in Lyon, France the Global Fund held a pledging conference in which it sought to raise a minimum of $14 billion to cover its operations over the next three years. And as my guest today Peter Sands explains it was something of a nail-biter in Lyon as to whether or not they would hit that goal. Peter Sands is the executive director of the Global Fund. And in this conversation he takes us behind the scenes at that donor conference. We discuss progress against those three diseases, how the global fund works and why of those diseases Tuberculosis has been the most difficult to confront.

India's prime minister Narendra Modi was re-elected to office in May in what was a landslide victory for his BJP party. Modi is a Hindu nationalist in a diverse country that includes one of the world's largest Muslim populations. He rose to political prominence in the early 2000s as the chief minister of Gujarat during inter-communal riots that lead to the murder of over a thousand people, mostly Muslims. He was widely accused of failing to stop the riots and has used the mass murder of Muslims in Gujarat in 2002 to his political advantage. Modi was first elected Prime Minister in 2014 and since his re-election in May 2019, Modi has very much doubled down on implementing a stridently pro-Hindu agenda that is undermining secular democracy in India. This includes, most recently, the passage of a law that excludes Muslim immigrants to India of certain citizenship eligibilities. That transparently anti-Muslim law has sparked massive protests across India, which at time of recording show little signs of abating. On the line with me to explain how a newly re-elected Narendra Modi is using his political power to advance a Hindu nationalist agenda, what what that means in a country with nearly 200 million Muslims is Michael Kugelman. He is Deputy director of the Asia Program and South Asia senior associate at the Wilson Center. We kick off discussing this new citizenship law before having a broader conversation about how Narenda Modi is changing India, what that means for Indian democracy and international relations.

The crisis in Libya is about to get much worse. Nine months ago a renegade general named Khalifa Hiftar launched an attack on the internationally recognized and UN-backed government in Tripoli. That assault suddenly ended UN-brokered peace process that seemed to be on the brink of success. In the ensuing months, the sides have been locked into a stalemate, with fighting mostly confined to neighborhoods on the outskirts of Tripoli. But, recently Hiftar's foreign backers have stepped up their support. This includes Russia, which has deployed troops and equipment to Hiftar this fall. Meanwhile, Turkey is raising the possibility that it will send troops to defend Tripoli from Hiftar's attack. The situation is now extremely perilous. Outside forces, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates are fueling this conflict. Meanwhile, key diplomatic players in Europe and the United States are sending mixed signals about their preferred outcome. So, at the end of 2019 it could very well transpire that Libya descends into a crushing proxy war and civil war, of enormous humanitarian consequence. On the line to discuss the crisis in Libya is Mary Fitzgerald. She is a longtime researcher who recently returned from Libya. In this episode of the Global Dispatches podcast she explains how we got to this point--that is, how Libya descended into chaos after the fall of Gadaffi and how a civil war in Libya became the venue for an international proxy war. If you have 25 minutes and want to learn why Libya could become the major international crisis of 2020, have a listen.

It's December at the United Nations. Just weeks before many delegates and staff take time off for the holidays. But as the year winds down, some issues are heating up. North Korea is once again dominating the Security Council. Meanwhile, the United Nations is running out of money -- literally. On the Global Dispatches podcast to discuss what is buzzing at the United Nations at the end of the decade, and otherwise driving the agenda at UN Headquarters is Margaret Besheer, UN correspondent for Voice of America news. We spoke in mid December and we kick off with a brief discussion about a sudden decision by the United States to back off its support for a Security Council meeting about human rights in North Korea. We then have a longer discussion about the still-new US Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft, who at the time was serving as president of the Security Council. Another key topic we spend a good amount of time discussing is the impact to the United Nations of a cash flow shortage. The United Nations is seemingly barely making payroll because some key countries have not paid their UN membership dues on time and in full. If you have 25 minutes and want to learn the latest news from United Nations headquarters in New York, have a listen Margaret Besheer is speaking in her own capacity. The opinions and thoughts she expresses are her own. Unlock a premium subscription --> https://www.patreon.com/GlobalDispatches

Over the summer, millions of people in Hong Kong took to the streets in an unprecedented protest against a proposed law that could allow for the extradition of people in Hong Kong to mainland china. Protesters saw this as an affront to what is known as the one country, two systems policy. This is the idea that though Hong Kong is formally part of China, it also has a special political status as a former British Colony -- and that status includes a degree of autonomy and freedoms from the political system of mainland china. But since those protests against the extradition bill over the summer, the situation in Hong Kong has changed dramatically. Protests have continued and have widened to include other demands. This includes a demand for universal suffrage for the people of Hong Kong. The protests and the police reaction to it have also become increasingly violent. On the Global Dispatches podcast today is Victoria Tin-bor Hui, a professor of political science at Notre Dame University. She discusses the situation in Hong Kong, including how the protest movement and Beijing's reaction to it have evolved since the summer. She also discusses the concrete demands of the protesters.

The Moria Refugee Camp on the island of Lesvos, Greece is the largest refugee camp in Europe. The camp has an official capacity of just over 2,000 people. But the population is now more than 17,000, with most people living in makeshift shelters in fields and olive groves on the island. In recent months the number of refugees arriving at Lesvos by boat from Turkey has sharply increased. This is following the breakdown of a 2016 agreement between Turkey and the European Union in which Turkey largely stopped boat departures from its shores. Now, thousands of refugees are once again arriving on the Greek Islands. Over 3,000 people have arrived in November alone. Needless to say, the conditions on the island of Lesvos are horrendous. People are stuck there, seemingly in perpetual limbo as they asylum claims are processed and they await transfer to the mainland. On the line with me to discuss the situation on Lesvos is Dr. Siyana Shaffi. She is the founder of the NGO Kitrinos which provides healthcare to refugees in Greece. She recently returned from Camp Moria when we spoke in November and in this conversation she gives you a real sense of the harsh conditions faced by refugees stranded on an island in Europe. Since we spoke, the government of Greece announced somewhat nebulous plans to close the camp and transfer its residents to effective prisons on the mainland. It is unclear, though, if that will actually happen. This episode gives you a grounds-eye view of how Europe's harsh treatment of refugees. https://www.patreon.com/GlobalDispatches