Archives for December 2018

A Ten Year Old War Crime is Sowing Instability in Sri Lanka Today

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon greets one of the internally displaced persons receiving humanitarian assistance at the health clinic in the Manik Farm Camp. 23 May 2009 Vavuniya, Sri Lanka

One of the worst mass atrocities in recent times took place in Sri Lanka during the final days of that country’s long civil war. In May 2009, tens of thousands of people were killed by Sri Lankan armed forces over the course of just a few days as the military sought to deal a final blow to an insurgent group known as the Tamil Tigers. In the process, they killed as many as 40,000 civilians.

No one was brought to justice for this crime against humanity. And the lack of accountability for those crimes is a key factor in that my guest, Kate Cronin- Furman, argues is contributing to political instability in Sri Lanka today.

Kate Cronin-Furman is an assistant professor of Human Rights in the Department of Political Science, University College London. In this conversation, she explains what happened during the final days of that civil war when this massacre occurred. We then discuss how the forces that carried out that crime against humanity are posing a big challenge to the political life of Sri Lanka, which entered an extremely tumultuous period this fall in which two people claimed to be prime minister at the same time.

We kick off discussing the Sri Lankan civil war and its brutal end days before having a longer discussion about the ways in which the lack of accountability for those events are undermining the political stability of Sri Lanka today.

This massacre of 40,000 people was second only to the genocide in Darfur as the worst mass atrocity event of the first decade of the 21st century. As you will learn in this episode, Sri Lankan politics is still defined by this atrocity in ways harmful to a healthy democracy.

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Better Know Heather Nauert, Donald Trump’s Pick for UN Ambassador

Heather Nauert is the State Department spokesperson.

Heather Nauert is a former Fox News personality who has been tapped by Donald Trump to serve as the next United States Ambassador to the United Nations. If confirmed, she will replace Nikki Haley who served in the post for nearly two years.

Nauert’s background is much different from that of her predecessors. Unlike previous United States Ambassadors to the UN, she does not have a robust political profile, nor does she have much of an established record on key foreign policy issues. She was previously a journalist and host on Fox News.

Heather Nauert has served as spokesperson from the State Department since April 2017, and it is from this post that observers may glean insights into her foreign policy views and thinking.

On the Global Dispatches podcast to discuss how Heather Nauert may approach the job of UN Ambassador is a veteran member of the State Department press corps, Matt Lee of the Associated Press. We discuss what Nauert’s performance as State Department spokesperson might inform us  about her approach to the job of UN Ambassador. This includes a discussion of some of the issues that Nauert sought to emphasize, and what that suggests about her own foreign policy predilections.

We also have a conversation about the implications of a White House decision to downgrade the position of UN Ambassador from a cabinet level position. Unlike Nikki Haley, Nauert would not sit on Donald Trump’s National Security Council, and we discuss what that means for US foreign policy and US policy at the United Nations.

If you have 20 minutes and want to better know the likely next United States ambassador to the United Nations, have a listen.

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How Rivalry Between China and the United States Will Drive Global Development

Chinese building the Dolisie Pointe-Noire road Taken on 11 January 2014 in Congo around Doumanga Pointe-Noire Credit: flickr user jbdodane under CC license

An infrastructure “arms race” is emerging between the China and the United States over access to the developing world.

Competition over the building of ports, roads and railways are becoming more and more commonplace. These projects seek to connect established and emerging markets with manufacturing hubs and areas rich in natural resources.

This competition will have a big impact on development outcomes for years according to Seth Schindler, a senior lecturer in urban development and transformation at the Global Development Institute at the University of Manchester. He studies large scale infrastructure projects and as he explains, geopolitical rivalry between China and the United States will be the key factor driving the development of these massive projects.

In our conversation we talk through the implications of this trend, which has accelerated since China launched a massive global infrastructure-building strategy known as the Belt and Road Initiative. And it was in response to this Chinese strategy that the US Congress passed a law known as the US BUILD ACT, in October 2018 which established a new International Development Finance Corporation (IDFC). 

If you have 25 minutes and want to learn why competition between the United States and China will drive global development in the years to come, have a listen. 

This episode is part of a content partnership between the podcast and the Global Development Institute at the University of Manchester. Experts from the Global Development Institute discuss their research and also the pressing news of the day as it relates to global inequalities and development. If you’d like to learn more about the Global Development Institute you can go to GDI.Manchester.ac.uk or click on the add on globaldispatchespodcast.com

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The Yellow Vest Protests in France Have Big International Implications

yellow vests
Image credit: Flickr user NightFlightToVenus CC Commons

A protest movement in France known as the  Gilets Jaunes, or Yellow Vests, has become a political crisis for French President Emmanuel Macron. The protest movement began over a hike in a fuel tax, but has grown into something much more and is now threatening to further weaken President Macron, whose popularity was already sinking in France.

On the line with me to discuss the origins of this movement and its political significance both in France and throughout Europe is Arthur Goldhammer, a senior affiliate with the Center for European Studies at Harvard University. He is also a translator of French works into english. If you are one of the many people who read Thomas Picketty’s book Capitalism in the 21st Century, you read Art Goldhammer’s translation.

We kick off discussing the origins of this protest movement.  We then have a wider discussion about the roots of Macron’s unpopularity in France and the implications of his unpopularity for Europe, the European Project and liberal democracy more broadly.

If you have twenty minutes and want to learn the broader international implications of the Yellow Vest movement, have a listen.

Download this episode to listen later. You can subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify

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About Arthur Goldhammer

Arthur Goldhammer has a B.S. and Ph.D. in Mathematics from MIT and has taught at Brandeis University and Boston University. He has translated more than 125 books from French, for which he won numerous awards. His most recent award was for Thomas Piketty’s bestseller Capital in the 21st Century. At CES, he is Co-Chair of the Contemporary Europe Study Group and Chair of the Visiting Scholars Seminar.

A long-time observer of French politics, Goldhammer regularly contributes commentary on France and French politics on his blog site “French Politics.” He writes regularly for The American Prospect, The Nation, Democracy Journal, and Foreign Policy and serves on the editorial boards of The Tocqueville Review and French Politics, Culture, and Society.

The Global Compact for Migration, Explained

Over 180 countries are endorsing what is known as the Global Compact for Migration. The text of this non-binding agreement was finalized over the summer, and countries are meeting in Marrakech, Morocco on December 10th and 11th to formally launch the Compact. 

There is a great deal of misinformation being spread, mostly by right wing governments in Europe in the US, about what this agreement entails.

In this episode of the podcast, we set the record straight about the Global Compact for Migration

This agreement is not a treaty. Rather, it is an agreed set of principles and creates a kind of platform for multilateral and bilateral cooperation around issues of international migration.

On the line to explain the Global Compact for Migration, better known around the UN as the “GCM” is Alice Thomas of Refugees International.   I caught up with Alice Thomas from Marrakech where she was participating in civil society forums around the Compact. We discuss both the content of the Compact and its potential impact on destination countries, origin countries and migrants themselves. We also discuss the impact of the non-participation of a few countries in this compact, including the United States and some countries in Europe.  

If you have 20 minutes and want to a primer on the Global Compact For Migration, then I think you will very much appreciate this conversation.  

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About Alice Thomas

Alice Thomas is the Climate Displacement Program Manager at Refugees International. An expert on vulnerable communities displaced by extreme weather and climate change, Ms. Thomas has more than 15 years of experience in international environmental law and policy and humanitarian affairs. She launched the Climate Displacement Program at Refugees International in 2010 to advocate for solutions to address the impact of disasters and climate change on forced migration of vulnerable communities around the globe. Since joining RI, Ms. Thomas has conducted over a dozen independent assessments of the response to humanitarian crises brought on by extreme weather events including in Puerto Rico, Haiti, Somalia, and the Philippines. She has presented her findings to government and UN officials, and at numerous think tanks including the Brookings Institution and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. She is a member of the Advisory Committee to the Platform on Disaster Displacement (Nansen Initiative) and of the Advisory Group on Climate Change and Human Mobility, which provides technical support to state parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

 Prior to joining RI, Ms. Thomas was a staff attorney in the International Program at EarthJustice where she devised legal strategies to mitigate climate pollution and address climate impacts on vulnerable populations. She has also held several positions at the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative including as Deputy Director of the Asia Law Initiative. She started her career in private law practice. She received her J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School and a B.A. in History from Princeton University.  

Twitter: @AliceRThomas

Bahrain Hosts the Largest US Naval Base in the Middle East. It is also in the Midst of a Human Rights Crackdown

The Kingdom of Bahrain is the smallest country in the Middle East. It is an island in the Persian Gulf connected to Saudi Arabia by a causeway. It is home to the largest US Naval base in the region, which houses the Navy’s fifth fleet.

Bahrain is also in the midst of a years long crackdown in which political opposition figures, human rights defenders, journalists and bloggers have been languishing in jail. And it was in this context that last month Bahrain held elections that were a total sham, according to my guest today, Brian Dooley.

Brian Dooley is a senior advisor at Human Rights First and as he explains, the politics and international relations of Bahrain can teach us a lot about broader trends in the Middle East. In our conversation, we discuss why these recent elections in Bahrain matter and what the international community can do to restore a semblance of representative democracy to Bahrain.

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What You Need to Know about COP24, The Big UN Climate Conference

Diplomats, scientists, advocates and other concerned parties are gathering in Katowice, Poland for a major international climate conference that is serving as a followup to the Paris Climate Agreement. The meeting is formally called the 24th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. It is better known in UN lingo as COP24 and it stretches from December 2nd to the 14th.

This conference is a big moment in international diplomacy and a key inflection point for the implementation of the goals set forth in the Paris Accord.

On the line with me to discuss what is happening at this conference and why it matters is Yamide Dagnet, a senior associate at the World Resources Institute. And as she explains, there are three main tasks before delegates to this conference, which together are intended to facilitate global cooperation toward the Paris agreement goal of limiting the pace of global warming.

We also discuss how the United States fits into these negotiations given that it is both a major emitter and that President Trump has decided the US will pull out of the Paris Agreement.

If you have 20 minutes and want to learn the major tasks — and stakes —  of this key moment in the global effort to confront climate change, have a listen.

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