Archives for October 2015

What Russia Wants in Syria

Less than a month ago, Russia began a military operation in Syria that is ongoing to this day.

Russia’s direct military involvement in Syria adds a complicated layer to an already complex conflict. On the line to discuss Russian military and political strategy for Syria, and the implications of this military action for the longer term prospects of a internationally negotiated resolution to this conflict is Michael Kofman, who is an analyst at the CNA Corporation and Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center.

Kofman offers some clearheaded analysis of the political implications of Russia’s military intervention and does an excellent job of unpacking some of the complexity of the current state of the Syrian conflict. The conversation also adds some insight into what will be on the agenda as John Kerry, Sergei Lavrov and representatives from Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey meet in Vienna this week to discuss the Syria conflict.

This episode is sponsored by World Politics Review, which provides uncompromising analysis of critical global trends to give policy makers, business people, and academics the context they need to have the confidence they want. The good people at World Politics Review are offering Global Dispatches Podcast listeners a two week free trial and then a 50% discount on an annual subscription. To redeem this offer go to about.worldpoliticsreview.com/dispatches 

Episode 85: Bill McKibben

Bill MckibbenBill McKibben started out as a journalist, and in 1989 wrote The End of Nature, which was first book for a general audience about climate change. It was a blockbuster hit, so he wrote more books and articles about the environment, climate and humanity’s relationship with the natural world.

But at some point, Mckibben realized that writing was not going to be enough–he needed to take action. In this episode, one of America’s best known climate change activists and writers describes his evolution toward activism. He traces his own personal and intellectual background from childhood to founding one of the most impactful environmental activist organizations in the world.  But first, Bill explains why he got himself arrested outside an Exxon station in Vermont last week. 

The Foreign Policy Implications of Canada’s Elections

The Liberal party in Canada, lead by Justin Trudeau (son of Pierre) shocked the world with a big, big win in hotly contested national elections. The Liberal ascent ends a near decade in power for the conservative Stephen Harper and has the potential to fundamentally re-balance Canada’s relationship with the world, so says my guest today Janice Stein who is the founding director of the Munk School of International Affairs at the University of Toronto.

We spoke the morning after the elections and have a truly interesting conversation about the discrete changes we can expect in Canadian foreign policy and how those changes may affect international relations and global affairs more broadly. We discuss what’s called “Middle Power Diplomacy” in academic circles we discuss Canada’s role in climate politics, and why the Obama administration may be none too pleased with some of the changes to come.
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Episode 84: Felice Gaer

felice gaerFelice Gaer has served on the UN Committee Against torture since 1999, making her the longest serving American elected to a UN Human Rights body. Though there is little power vested in the independent experts who staff treaty organizations, Gaer has been able to move the needle on human rights cases worldwide through creatively deploying the little power she has. This was an lesson she first learned while investigating the disappearance of the soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov in the early 1980s.

Felice has had a very long career in human rights, and we trace the origins of her commitment to human rights from an early age, and more recently to her work on the Committee Against Torture. We kick off our conversation with about a 15 minute conversation about the UN’s evolving posture on women’s rights and LGBT rights. Gaer tells an interesting story about how an early bureaucratic decision about the structure of the UN’s Economic and Social council enabled the integration of women’s rights into the broader UN human rights agenda.

My Wife Gave Birth to Our Son the Passenger Seat of Our Car, So This Episode is about Maternal and Newborn Health

This is a wild story. It ends well.

Two weeks ago my wife went into labor with our second child. We did not quite make it to the hospital. Or, rather, we did make it to the hospital. Just not inside. Our son was delivered in the passenger seat of our car by an ER Nurse on her way to lunch.

Over the last two weeks I have tried to reflect on this experience and put it in the context of my own reporting on global health, from the halls of the United Nations to the backroads of western Africa. I have a piece in the Washington Post today, and just put together this podcast episode about our scare and the experience of mothers around the world who give birth in dangerous situations.

This episode is in two parts. First, I speak with my wife about giving birth in our family car. It was intense to relive the experience, but cathartic to talk over what happened. She is amazing.

Then, I have an extended conversation with Dr. Luc de Bernis, senior maternal health advisor at the UN Population Fund. I wanted to put our scare into a larger global context, and discuss the role of what the World Health Organization calls “skilled birth attendants” in ensuring safe and healthy deliveries for mothers and infants. We discuss why maternal and newborn mortality is still so stubbornly high in many countries in the developing world, and what the UN and other international and local organizations are doing to improve maternal and newborn health.

The shock has worn off. Now, I’m hoping to use our experience to draw broader attention to the critical role of skilled birth attendants for maternal and newborn health in the developing world.

Episode 83: Stephen Rapp

220px-Stephen_Rapp_in_2010When Stephen Rapp was a 21-year-old intern in Washington, DC he was pistol whipped and left for dead in the trunk of his own car.

Throughout his career as a US Attorney and later as a UN war crimes prosecutor and the US Ambassador-at Large for War Crimes Issues, Stephen Rapp used his experience as a victim of a horrendously violent crime to keep him grounded. He served as a prosecutor for the Rwanda War Crimes Tribunal, where he lead the team of prosecutors in the famous case against a radio station accused of fomenting genocide. He also headed the Sierra Leone War Crimes Tribunal when it secured a conviction against former Liberian president Charles Taylor.

Ambassador Rapp recently stepped down as the US Ambassador at Large for War Crimes Issues and director of the State Department’s Global Justice office.  In this wide ranging conversation he discusses how his experience as a victim shaped his commitment to victims rights and the rule of law, why he decided to run for public office in his native Iowa, how he made the transition from a US Attorney to a UN war crimes prosecutor, and how he helped reset America’s relationship with the International Criminal Court.