The Migrant Route to Europe is Changing (Again)

You would not know it from the headlines, but more irregular migrants and refugees are arriving to Europe via a route that takes them from Morocco to Spain than, are arriving to Italy via Libya or to Greece via Turkey. In fact, even as the numbers of migrants arriving to Europe declined overall in 2018, the migrant route from Morocco to Spain experienced a sharp increase.

More irregular migrants and refugees are now arriving in Europe via the straight of Gibraltar than anywhere else — and this is presenting a new set of challenges for European governments and the migrants themselves.  Most of these migrants are refugees are from sub-Saharan Africa, and are braving this perilous journey in order to improve their lives.

On the line with me to explain why the Morocco-to-Spain route has become so popular, and what this change in migration routes says about Europe’s shifting attitudes towards migrants and refugees is Joe Wallen.

Joe Wallen is a freelance foreign correspondent for The Telegraph, The Guardian and al Jazeera. He’s reported extensively from sub-saharan migrant communities in Morocco who seek to make the journey across the straight of Gibraltar. In the process, he has reported on human rights abuses that are being visited upon this community by both traffickers and Moroccan security forces backed by the European Union.

We kick off with a discussion of the evolving migrant routes from Africa and the Middle East before having a longer discussion about the current situation in Morocco.

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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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Thousands of Refugees Are Languishing in Libyan Detention Centers

In mid September, I was sitting next to the journalist Sally Hayden while attending a press briefing near the United Nations when phone started buzzing with WhatsApp messages.  Refugees and migrants stranded in a prison in Libya had gotten her number and were sending her messages describing awful details of their confinement.

These refugees were stranded in prison because of a deal worked out between the Libyan Coast Guard and Italian government. Thousands of refugees and migrants, mostly from Eastern and Sub-saharan Africa, are languishing indefinitely in confinement in Libya after having been captured by Libyan coast guard units as they tried to make their way to Italy. This has resulted in an ongoing human rights catastrophe as prisoners are left alone in jail cells, often without food or water.

As Sally Hayden explains, this has resulted in an unbelievably awful human rights calamity that is not getting the attention it deserves.  In this episode, Sally Hayden explains this unfolding crisis.

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977 Days as a Hostage of Somali Pirates

Michael Scott Moore spent 977 days as a hostage of Somali pirates. He is a journalist and in 2012 he set out for the Somali coast on a reporting trip when he was kidnapped. What followed was a two and a half year ordeal that he masterfully recounts in his new book: The Desert and the Sea.

In our conversation we discuss his capture and time in captivity, as well as broader issues surrounding piracy off the coast of Somalia. And one thing that does come through is that the gang that held Michael was part of an organized crime network whose business was kidnapping for ransom. The foot soldiers of this gang are far from what we might typically consider as “pirates.”

This book is both a beautifully written memoir and exposé into a criminal underworld that contribute to instability in the Horn of Africa.

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

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Episode 189: Steve Coll

 

Journalist Steve Coll is a staff writer at the New Yorker, dean of the Colombia School of Journalism and former president of the New America Foundation think tank.

Tn 2005 he wont he Pulitzer for his book Ghost Wars, which examines the secret history of the CIA in Afghanistan from the Soviet invasion to right before the September 11 attacks. It is the foundational text that provides the history and context for understanding America’s involvement in Afghanistan in the era leading up to the September 11 attacks. When published, it took DC by storm and became a canonical text for the national security community.

Needless to say, official Washington and beyond was eagerly anticipating his sequel to Ghost Wars, which was published just a few weeks ago. The book, Directorate S: The CIA and America’s Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan picks up where Ghost Wars leaves off, spanning from the September 11th attacks to the first few months of the Trump administration.

We kick off with an extended discussion of these two books and what went so wrong for the United States in Afghanistan. We then discuss his own life and career as a journalist, including how an accident of assignment lead him to South Asia at a very critical time.

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Mexican Towns Are Taking Security Into Their Own Hands

Tancintaro, Mexico claims to be the “avocado capital” of the world, selling one million dollars worth of the fruit per day. But what makes Tancitaro truly interesting is that the orchards — and the town itself — is under the protection of a militia funded by the avocado growers.

In a fascinating piece in the New York Times, Amanda Taub, Max Fisher and Dalia Martinez use the towns of Tancitaro, Neva and Monterrey to demonstrate a trend in Mexico: cities are effectively seceding from the state. As they write in their piece, “These are acts of desperation, revealing the degree to which Mexico’s police and politicians are seen as part of the threat.”

In this conversation Amanda Taub describes what her reporting from Mexico reveals about state fragility and the enduring presence of what can best be described as warlordism.

We discuss these three case studies in detail–and each are totally fascinating on their own. But what distinguishes this piece is the way in which it draws on social science literature to help explain this ongoing trend–which is present not only in Mexico but in other parts of the world as well.

This combination of original reporting backed by academic research is what you can expect regularly from the most excellent Interpreter column in the New York Times, which is written by Amanda Taub and Max Fisher.

If you have 30 minutes and want to learn how localities in Mexico are dealing with rampant insecurity and the weakness of the state, have a listen.[spp-ctabuttons]

Episode 167: Alexis Okeowo

Alexis Okeowo is a staff writer for the New Yorker whose debut book was published earlier this month. The book,  A Moonless, Starless Sky: Ordinary Women and Men Fighting Extremism in Africa has been getting rave reviews —  rightfully so.

The book tells the story of subtle forms of resistance; how individuals, in their own way, are pushing back against injustice. In doing so, she shines a light on some important though often overlooked global stories, like slavery in the country of Mauritania or the plight of former child soldiers in Uganda.

Alexis traces her interest in these issues to her upbringing as an American born child of Nigerian immigrants to Montgomery, Alabama where Rosa Parks’ act of resistance ignited the Civil Rights movement. Alexis also discusses her career in journalism, including some key stories she reported on like the Chibok School girls kidnapping in 2014.

To access to this podcast episode: subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher or get the app to listen later

Episode 163: Helene Cooper

Helene Cooper is the Pentagon correspondent for the New York Times. She is also the author of the new book Madame President: The extraordinary journey of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf which is a biography of the Liberian president and Nobel Peace Prize winner was was Africa’s first female head of state.

Helene was born and raised in Liberia. Her family fled to the United States in 1980, when she was 13-years-old, following a coup. Her immediate family was brutally targeted during this coup.

She describes the trauma around these events, and the search for her sister with whom she became separated during this time in her critically acclaimed book, The House on Sugar Beach: In search of a Lost African Childhood.

Helene discusses some of these experiences in our conversation and describes how a near-death experience covering the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 motivated her to go back to Liberia.

We kick off this conversation with a discussion of upcoming elections in Liberia and her newest book about Ellen Johnson Sirleaf before having a longer conversation about her experiences as a refugee to the United States and finding her long lost sister in Liberia.

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Episode 153: Sharon Weinberger

Sharon Weinberger is the author of the new book The Imagineers of War: The Untold Story of DARPA.

DARPA stands for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and it is the branch of the Pentagon that is famous for developing some far-out-there technologies, some of which were total flops but others that have become central to not only modern warfare, but also daily life.

We have an intriguing conversation about the history of technology in modern warfare and the implications of having a military institution conducting research that can have big-society wide consequences.

Sharon has been a journalist on my radar for many years since she founded this great national security focused section of Wired magazine called Danger Room. And we discuss Sharon’s pathway into journalism and another book called A Nuclear Family Vacation, with co-author Nathan Hodge that offers something of a tourist perspective on nuclear sites around the United States and its territories.

If you want to learn about the strategic and social implications of DARPA in particular and applied science in the service of warfare more generally, then have a listen.

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Episode 152: Jill Filipovic

Jill Filipovic is a Nairobi-based journalist and author of the new book The H-Spot: The Feminist Pursuit of Happiness.

Jill is someone I’ve known both online and in real life for many years. She is a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times and regular contributor to the Guardian among many other publications. She is also one of the original pioneers of political blogging — her contributions to the blog Feministe helped inspire the growth of a very vibrant feminist blogosphere that exists to this day.

We kick off with a discussion about some her global health reporting from Ghana and Niger. Jill and I spoke a few days after the State Department issued some clarifying guidance on how the Trump administration would interpret what is known as the Global Gag Rule. Jill explains what the Global Gag Rule is and how Trump’s interpretation of it is a profound deviation from how previous Republican administrations sought to prevent US global health aid from contributing to abortions.

We then pivot to a conversation about her life, career, and her book–which is getting rave reviews.

Subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher or get the app to listen later.

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