Global Dispatches -- World News That Matters

One of the key events during UN High Level Week in the New York is a major fundraiser for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, hosted by President Biden. This is the topic of our …

Today's episode was recorded on Wednesday, September 21 and under normal circumstances the President of the United States, as host of the UN, would have addressed the General Assembly yesterday. But …

A key focus of events at the United Nations and around New York this week is on food security and food access. On Tuesday, world leaders held a major Food Security Summit to combat soaring food price…

The annual opening of the United Nations General Assembly is always a key moment on the diplomatic calendar. Hundreds of world leaders head to New York to address the General Assembly and participate…

Energy prices are soaring in Europe, driven largely by the uncertainty surrounding Russian gas exports. Making matters worse was an announcement in early September that Russia would not re-open its N…

United Nations officials issued fresh warnings that parts of Somalia are on the verge of famine. Half the country is in need of food assistance and if present trends continue famine could hit Somalia…

In lay July, the military Junta in Myanmar carried out its first executions in decades. Four activists were killed, including very prominant pro-democracy leaders. The military carried out these exec…

On August 16, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law. This legislation is a $750 billion dollar health, tax and climate bill. Indeed, the inflation Reduction act is the single mo…

In this episode, we are joined by Zuhra Bahman, the Afghanistan country director for the peacebuilding NGO Search for Common Ground. She is based in Kabul. 

A year ago, when the Taliban captured Kabu…

The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine is Europe's largest. In March, Russian forces captured the plant and a crew of Ukrainians are maintaining operations at the plant -- effectively at gun…

In this episode, we are joined by Ali Wyne, senior analyst with Eurasia Group's Global Macro-Geopolitics practice, focusing on US-China relations and great-power competition, and author of the new bo…

When national security professionals discuss "missile defense" they are are typically referring to technologies that can intercept an in-coming nuclear missile and blow it out of the sky.

In 2002, th…

Why have some countries experience durable economic progress while other countries remain left behind?

This basic question has vexed development economists for decades -- and for decades economists h…

Longtermism is a moral philosophy that is increasingly gaining traction around the United Nations and in foreign policy circles. Put simply, Longtermism holds the key premise that positively influenc…

Rapidly identifying an emerging infectious pathogen is critical to  prevent a disease outbreak from becoming an epidemic -- or even a deadly pandemic. But right now, there is no agreed international …

Kenya's Ambassador to the United Nations Martin Kimani gave a viral speech at the UN Security Council on the eve of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Months later, Ambassador Kimani reflects on the impac…

Prior to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Middle East was heavily dependent on importing food from Ukraine and Russia. The disruption of grain exports from the Black Sea region has had a profoundly …

On May 9th, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was elected President of the Philippines. If that name sounds familiar to you, it is because he is the son of Ferdinand Marcos Senior, the brutal kleptocrat who ruled…

Kenyans will go to the polls on August 9th to elect a new president. The current president, Uhuru Kenyatta, is term limited from seeking re-election and the two main candidates are both very familia…

I caught up with Poland's Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Pryzdaz at the Aspen Security Conference in mid July. 

Poland is a front line state to the crisis in Ukraine and has been directly impacted by…