Conversations about Foreign Policy and World Affairs
The historian Gary Bass has penned a new book that is getting rave reviews. The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger and a Forgotten Genocide tells the story of the muted American response to a human rights and humanitarian catastrophe that befell Bangladesh in the wake of its separation from Pakistan in the early 1970s.
Gary and I talk about his story, what made this particular genocide “forgotten”, and how one goes about researching history like this. Have a listen!
Mark Leon Goldberg speaks with the demographer and economist Mark Montgomery about global population trends. It turns out that adolescent girls in the developing world hold a tremendous amount of demographic power.
The longtime executive director of Human Rights Watch is on the line this week. Kenneth Roth discusses some of the world’s most ignored human rights crises; how his father’s experience fleeing Nazi Germany propelled him to a career in human rights; and how the human rights movement is evolving as global centers of power shift.
The acclaimed actor and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador talks to Mark about her work for children in conflict zones around the world. Mia Farrow traces her committment to humanitarian causes from an early age and dicusses the role of celebrity in bringing to light the suffering of vulnerable people in oft-ignored parts of the world. Oh, and she also tells a crazy story about the time she beat up a man beating a woman on the side of the road in Chad! It’s a great conversation.
On the line this week is PJ Crowley, the former Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs. Mark and PJ talk about the role of public diplomacy in US foreign policy, PJ’s long career in the Air Force, and how speaking out against the treatment of accused Wikileaker Bradley Manning marked the end of his public service.
Octavia Nasr is on the line this week. The longtime CNN personality discusses how she cut her teeth reporting from the dangerous frontlines of Lebanon’s civil war; how women’s movements are shaping post-Arab Spring countries; and how a Tweet led to her being fired from CNN after 20 years of service.
You probably know him as “The Muslim Guy.” Arsalan Iftikhar is a civil rights lawyer and popular media commentator who fights daily against widespread bigotry facing Muslim Americans. In our conversation we discuss the how the child of immigrants from Pakistan got into this line of work, how the Bush administration officially sanctioned discrimination against Muslim Americans, and why Barack Obama refuses to set foot in an American Mosque.
This week’s guest is the filmmaker Dodge Billingsley. We discuss his new documentary about the political and cultural challenges of Korean unification; his time spent embedded with Chechen rebels; and the movies that that shaped his worldview.
In this week’s episode, I talk with Dr. Laura Seay who you probably know better as @TexasinAfrica. I learn how the daughter of a preacher from a cotton farming community near Lubbock became one of America’s most influential Africanists. We talk about how activism around Africa (think: Kony 2012 and ‘conflict minerals’) often has nefarious consequences on the ground; how the DR Congo can get back on its feet; and, speaking of feet, why she cringes at the sight of TOMS shoes.
