Global Dispatches -- World News That Matters

As the United States enters its next election cycle, our democracy is still extremely vulnerable to disinformation campaigns from Russia. Other democracies, particularly in Europe, are also vulnerable to this kind of threat and, indeed, have also been the target of Russian meddling. A new report from The Atlantic Council identifies some concrete ways that the United States and Europe can better protect themselves against propaganda, disinformation, and election related hacking. On the line with me to discuss this report and its findings is one of the report's co-authors, Ambassador Daniel Fried. He was a longtime US diplomatic who's career largely focused Russia and central and eastern Europe. The report was co-authored by Alina Polyakova of the Brookings Institute The report provides a useful heuristic for understanding the problem: it breaks down and categorizes the various kinds of election meddling we've seen thus far. Also what makes this report unique is that the authors' propose that countering this kind of election meddling can be a platform for transatlantic cooperation; that is, in response to this Russian meddling Europe and the United States have an opportunity to form a new kind of strategic alliance. It can be a catalyst for cooperation.

Noubar Afeyan is a business leader, entrepreneur and philanthropist. In 2015, along with other decedents of survivors of the 1915 Armenian genocide, he co-founded the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative. This initiative, as Noubar explains, seeks to empower modern day survivors of genocide and mass atrocities through a variety of projects the most high profile of which is a $1 million prize for individuals who are saving lives and promoting humanitarian values in the face of extreme adversity. Noubar's own family history and life story is one of survival. He was born in Beirut in the early 1960s, but his family took a circuitous route to get there, escaping the genocide and then subsequent persecution. Much of this history was relayed to him by his great aunt,with whom he lived growing up in Beirut. This is a very interesting conversation not only about Noubar's life journey and that of his family, but also how communities remember and honor historic atrocities visited upon them.

My podcast guest today 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. And 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. I have a fun little announcement to make. I just some ordered stickers with the podcast logo on it and I would love to send one to you. But first I need you to do something for the show, which is to tell everyone why you listen to the show in a review on iTunes. Leave a review, then send me an email using the contact button on GlobalDispatchesPodcast.com and I will mail you a sticker. To leave a review go here. If you are using the podcast app, follow these steps Launch Apple's Podcast app. Tap the Search tab. Enter the name of the podcast you want to rate or review. Tap the blue Search key at the bottom right. Tap the album art for the podcast. Tap the Reviews tab. Tap Write a Review at the bottom

Sulome Anderson was in utero when her father, the journalist Terry Anderson, was kidnapped in Beirut. She met him for the first time as a six year old, when he was finally released by his Hezbollah linked captors. Her book The Hostage's Daughter investigates the circumstances of her father's kidnapping and also serves as a memoir of her own experience dealing with her trauma and the trauma of her family. The book was published about 18 months ago to critical acclaim and it's since been optioned for a movie. In our conversation Sulome, now a journalist herself, discusses what it was like to write and report this book. She also opens up about the impact her father's kidnapping had on her childhood and adolescence, and she describes the catharsis she experienced after having interviewed one of her dad's kidnappers for this book. We kick off discussing something a little different: Sulome has been working as a freelance journalist in the Middle East for many years and she was recently the subject of a article in the Colombia Journalism Review that describes the challenges of working as a freelance foreign affairs journalist in a world obsessed with Trump. Please leave a review of the podcast on iTunes!

The conflict in Syria has entered a new phase. ISIS has been defeated, yet in many ways the war is metastasizing. In places like Eastern Ghouta, on the outskirts of Damascus, the war is as brutal as ever. After days of extremely heavy bombing, the UN secretary general called Ghouta "hell on earth." Meanwhile, in another part of Syria, in the northern town of Afrin, you have a situation where the US-backed Kurdish forces that were instrumental in defeating ISIS are now under attack by America's NATO ally, Turkey. Meanwhile, in recent weeks, an Israeli fighter jet was downed over the country and the United States reportedly killed dozens of Russian mercenaries in a bombing. On the line with me to help put what is happening in Syria in the broader context of the trajectory of this nearly seven year old conflict is Raed Jarrar who is the Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa for Amnesty International, USA. We kick off discussing the situation in Ghouta which is setting off international alarm bells as an ongoing mass atrocity event. We then discuss some of the broader trends of the conflict and what advocacy organizations like Amnesty are doing to keep pressure on the international community to reduce the toll this conflict is taking on civilian populations. Overall, this conversation serves as a helpful explanation of how the Syria conflict has evolved over the last several months and where it may be heading.

Djibouti is the only country in the world that hosts military bases for both the United States and China. The US base, Camp Lemmonier, hosts US special forces and its only a few kilometers from China's only military base outside of Asia. France, the former colonial ruler, also has a base in the country. That so many countries would want their military stationed in tiny Djibouti is partly due of the country's geography. It is strategically located in the horn of Africa, bordering Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea at the exact point where the Gulf of Aden meets the red Sea, across the straight from Yemen. But in part as a consequence of its strategic location its longtime leader President Ismael Omar Guelleh has had a stranglehold on power since 1999, cracking down on civil society, thwarting any potential political rivals and subverting democratic institutions. One person trying to restore democracy to Djibouti is Daher Ahmed Farah, who is on the line with me today. He is the leader of the country's main opposition political party, the Movement for Democratic Renewal and Development (MRD). He is currently in exile, living mostly in Brussels after the government issued a warrant for his arrest. We caught up as Farah was visiting Washington, DC for meetings at the state department and elsewhere. Djibouti is obviously not much on the news radar and I found this conversation an interesting explanation of how a government that is a strategic ally of many world powers can use that position to consolidate power at home at the expense of democracy. Support the show and earn rewards by becoming a premium subscriber on Patreon.

It's budget season in Washington, DC. And this year (like last year) the White House has requested massive cuts to foreign affairs spending in general, and to the United Nations in particular. The Fiscal Year 2019 budget request from the White House asks for about a 30% overall cut in non-military international affairs spending over current spending levels. Congress, which ultimately controls the purse strings, has largely pushed back against these more draconian spending measures. On the line with me to discuss how the United Nations fits into the US budget and spending debates ongoing in Washington, DC is Peter Yeo. He is the President of the Better World Campaign and Vice President for Public Policy and Advocacy at the United Nations Foundation. He was a longtime congressional staffer and knows the ins and outs of the foreign affairs budget and the UN budget process as well as anyone in DC. Peter explains the UN budget process and demonstrates how American funding for the United Nations ends up being a pretty good deal for the United States. This is a good, explanatory episode about one of the most important financial relationships in world affairs.

To the people of Kiribati, climate change is an existential threat. This is an Island nation in the pacific -- it is a string of atolls about halfway between Australia and Hawaii. It has a population of about 100,000 and is known for its vast Tuna stocks. But climate change and rising sea levels are making much of Kiribas uninhabitable--it is a country that is facing extinction. And not in some distant future. This is happening now. My guest today, Anote Tong served as President of Kiribas from 2003 to 2016. President Tong is well known in international circles for being a powerful advocate on behalf of people living in small island states that are on the front line of climate change. What I found so interesting about this conversation was learning how President Tong's advocacy in international forums has evolved over time--and how this existential threat contributed to President Tong's decision to create what is the world's largest marine sanctuary--the Phoenix Islands Protection Area. This episode is presented in partnership with the Global Challenges Foundation, whose aim is to contribute to reducing the main global problems and risks that threaten humanity. Last year, the Global Challenges Foundation held an open call to find new models of global cooperation better capable of handling the most pressing global risks. In May this year at the New Shape Forum in Stockholm, the top proposals will be presented publicly and further refined through discussions with key thought leaders and experts. US$5 million will be awarded to the best ideas that re-envision global governance for the 21st century. President Tong is a Global Challenges Foundation ambassador and in the conversation we discuss this prize and why new ideas for global governance are important for the future of small island states like Kiribati.

Last week, the Polish Senate passed a law that would make it a criminal offense to claim that Poland was complicit in Nazi crimes. The Israeli government strongly opposed this measure, as do most people who care about honest academic discourse. Nevertheless, the measure was passed and now awaits the signature of the president to become law. When I caught up with my guest today, Monika Mazur-Rafał, Poland's lower house had recently passed the law and as Monika explains the public debate and discourse about it was heavily colored by invocations of ethnic nationalism and hate speech. Monika is the director of Humanity in Action-Poland, which is an organization that seeks to promote pluralism and cosmopolitan values. As she explains the use of hate speech around this particular public debate is just one manifestation of a trend that has increased sharply in recent years. In fact a public survey, which Monika describes in detail, finds that Polish people's exposure to hate speech has increased dramatically with the coming to power of the far right wing Law and Justice party. She explains that dynamic, and the relationship between anti-semitism, homophobia, islamophobia and racism and the electoral success of the ruling Law and Justice Party. Needless to say, there are some interesting and disturbing parallels to what is happening in Poland and what happened during the 2016 election in the United States. Finally, Monika explains what organizations like Humanity in Action are doing to counter this disturbing trend.

Max Boot is a foreign policy commentator and historian. Just this week he was named a contributing writer to the Op-ed page of the Washington Post. He is the author of several books; his most recent is The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam Lansdale was a CIA officer who was the inspiration behind the title character of the famous Graham Green novel, The Quiet American. As Max explains Lansdale pioneered a "hearts and minds" approach to the Vietnam quandary and sought to avoid a massive American military buildup in Vietnam, but was ultimately overruled. We discuss this history in detail and also the relevance of Lansdale to American foreign policy today. We then have an extended conversation about Max's background, including his own intellectual evolution. And here, Max explains how the Trump administration is causing him to re-think certain assumptions he once held as a movement conservative and Republican.