Episode 21: Ambassador Thomas Pickering

 

Amb Thomas Pickering has had a front row seat to some of the most important foreign policy events of the last 50 years. The career foreign service officer and widely respected diplomat served as US Ambassador to the United Nations, Israel, Jordan, Russia, India, among others places. He speaks with Mark about the faltering Israel-Palestine peace process, his role in shaping US policy during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, and an awkward phone call with President-elect George H.W. Bush, who tapped him to serve as US Ambassador to the UN during the run-up to the Gulf War.

 

Episode 20: Jessica T. Mathews

Jessica Tuchman Mathews is on the line this week. The longtime head of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and foreign policy trendsetter discusses the crisis in Ukraine, growing up with a famous mother, her unconventional path from molecular biology to foreign policy; and how two of her Foreign Affairs articles forever changed how we think about the world.

It’s a great conversation!  Have a listen and let me know what you think.

Egypt After the Counter Revolution

Egypt’s ex Army Chief Abdel Fatah al Sisi won election this week (with an astounding 96% of the vote!) The ascent of this Mubarak-era military functionary speaks to the profound failure of Egypt’s 2011 Arab Spring revolution.

Who is al-Sisi? Why did the Muslim Brotherhood and Mohammed Morsi fail so spectacularly? And what can prevent Egypt from lurching from one political crisis to the next? Here to provide the context for Morsi’s fall, al Sisi’s rise and What It All Means is Issandr al Amrani of the International Crisis Group. If you have 20 minutes and what to understand what’s going on in Egypt, have a listen.

 

 

Episode 19: Louise Arbour

hc-highres-middleInternational Crisis Group chief Louise Arbour is on the line this week. Ms Arbour is a true human rights pioneer, perhaps best known as the war crimes prosecutor who served Slobodan Milosevic his indictment for genocide. In this episode, she tells Mark about her amazing journey from law school in Quebec to the war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda — and how one dark episode of Canadian history propelled her to fight governments who abuse their citizens.

 

 

Episode 18: Zalmay Khalilzad

 

Zalmay Khalizad is on the line this week. The Afghan native served as US ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq and the United Nations under George W. Bush.

Ambassador Khalilzad discusses coming to the USA at the age of 15, how a chance encounter in grad school changed his career path, and how he helped shape US policy during the Iran-Iraq war. The conversation kicks off with a discussion of Afghan president Hamid Karzai’s legacy and America’s legacy of violence in Iraq.

 


Why Libya is Suddenly on the Verge of Civil War

Libya today is arguably closer to a full blown civil war than at any time since the fall of Muammar Ghaddafi in 2011. A renegade general named Khalifa Haftar is on the March, seeking to upend an Islamist controlled parliament. Who is this man, what does he want, and why are conditions ripe for a civil war? Mark speaks with journalist Marine Casalis who puts the unfolding situation in Libya in some context.

Episode 17: Gov. Bill Richardson

Bill Richardson is a former UN ambassador, governor, presidential candidate, member of congress and energy secretary. But throughout it all he’s had a second career: hostage negotiator. Richardson discusses how he developed a reputation as the “undersecretary for thugs”; his visits to hostile countries to secure the release of political prisoners; and how a famed African dictator almost bludgeoned him with a cane.

The Foreign Policy Implications of India’s Elections

 

The largest excerise in democracy in the history of humanity is coming to an end. Narendra Modi will cruise to victory, but what does his ascent mean for India’s relationship with Pakistan, China, the USA and the rest of the world? Mark speaks with Tanvi Madan of the Brookings Institution about the foreign policy implications of India’s elections.

What Boko Haram Wants

Boko Haram is in the news for all the wrong reasons. A series of audactious attacks, including the kidnapping of hundreds of school girls, has provoked international outrage. But why would Boko Haram launch such an attack? Who are these people, what do they want, and how can they be defeated?

Mark Leon Goldberg catches up with Jacob Zenn of the Jamestown Foundation who offers insight, context and an explanation for the Boko Haram insurgency. Have a listen.

Episode 14: Douglas Ollivant on Iraq’s Violent Death Spiral

Iraq is in the midst of an unrelenting descent into violence. Every day brings news of another bombing or attack that leaves scores of people dead. This has been the case for the past several months, and it only seems to be getting worse.

I speak with Douglas Ollivant of the New American Foundation who helps put this current wave of violence in context. Ollivant served as a military officer in Iraq, then served on the Iraq team at the National Security Council under both President Bush and Obama. Ollivant offers an indepth analysis of what is driving this violence, what can be done to stop it and the regional implications (read: Syria) of it all. Have a listen.