Global Dispatches -- World News That Matters

Episodios

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  Haiti Is Getting More Dangerous. The U.S. Is Sending People Back Anyway. 14.09.2026 28m

  Haiti's security crisis is deepening as armed gangs expand their control over territory and daily life, while a new UN-backed Gang Suppression Force begins to deploy amid major questions about whether it can actually reverse the country's descent into violence. Diego Da Rin of the International Crisis Group joins me to explain how Haiti reached this point, what the gangs are doing to consolidate their power, what the new international force is supposed to accomplish, and what it means that the United States is deporting Haitians back into this increasingly dangerous environment.
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  Why Yemen is Becoming the Iran War's Next Front 08.09.2026 25m

  The Iran war is spilling over into Yemen. And now, the country is on the verge of a full-blown civil war that could drag in Saudi Arabia, Iran — and potentially the United States. Over the last several weeks, the Iran-backed Houthis and the Saudi-backed internationally recognized government have been clashing at a pace and with a fury not seen since a 2022 ceasefire brought a halt to a devastating eight-year civil war. The war in Iran has changed the dynamics of the region in ways that have left Yemen poised to become the next place where the conflict spreads. My guest today, Alexandra Stark, is a political scientist at RAND who studies the region. She is the author of the book The Yemen Model and recently wrote a New York Times op-ed about the prospect of Yemen becoming a new front in a widening Middle East conflict. We kick off by discussing recent events on the ground in Yemen, their connection to the U.S.-Iran war, and the mechanisms through which Yemen could once again become engulfed in a devastating civil war — one fueled by Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United States.
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  Zambia's Fraught Election and the Global Race for Copper 03.09.2026 24m

  Zambia's election is raising fresh questions about the country's democratic trajectory — even as its vast copper reserves make it increasingly important to the global economy and to strategic competition between the United States and China. In this episode, Zaynab Hoosen of Pangea Risk explains the political tensions surrounding the election, Zambia's economic outlook, and why the global race for copper is putting the country in the geopolitical spotlight.
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  Why Oman Could Be Crucial to Ending the Iran War 31.08.2026 26m

  Oman has long played one of the Middle East's most unusual diplomatic roles: maintaining close ties with rivals and quietly creating space for enemies to talk. Secret U.S.-Iran negotiations in Muscat helped pave the way for the 2015 nuclear deal, and Oman has continued to serve as an intermediary on prisoner exchanges, regional conflicts, and nuclear diplomacy. But the Iran war has thrust Oman into a much more precarious position. Sitting directly across the Strait of Hormuz from Iran, the small Gulf state is no longer just a mediator on the sidelines. It is now deeply exposed to a conflict that threatens shipping, regional security, and the very diplomatic relationships Oman has spent decades cultivating. I'm joined by Tyler Parker, a professor at Mercer University who studies the foreign policies of the Gulf states, to discuss how Oman became the region's indispensable intermediary, why the Strait of Hormuz has made Muscat so important to the current crisis, and whether Oman could ultimately help create a path toward ending the war.
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  Did Russia Just Cross a New Line in AI Warfare? 28.08.2026 37m

  Last month, a Russian drone flew toward a gas station in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia. It crashed into a wall and exploded, killing three civilians. What made this strike different — and potentially a major turning point in modern warfare — is what investigators found afterward. According to reporting by The New York Times, the drone was equipped with an artificial intelligence system that allowed it to navigate toward the gas station and, once it got close, apparently choose its precise target on its own. Ukrainian officials and experts who examined the wreckage say the drone carried the telltale signs of being a fully autonomous, AI-powered weapon. If that assessment is correct, it represents a disturbing new threshold in the evolution of the war in Ukraine — and warfare more broadly: a weapon using AI to autonomously identify and attack a target, with lethal consequences. The day after The New York Times report, UN Secretary-General António Guterres and the International Committee of the Red Cross renewed their call for states to establish specific prohibitions and restrictions on autonomous weapon systems. "We are now dangerously close to crossing a moral red line: the autonomous targeting of humans by machines," Guterres said. Given this development, I wanted to revisit a conversation I recorded last year with Anna Hehir of the Future of Life Institute. We talked about lethal autonomous weapons, what it means for a machine to make targeting decisions without meaningful human control, and, crucially, whether diplomacy can prevent these systems from becoming a routine feature of warfare.
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  A Shakeup in the Race for UN Secretary-General | To Save Us From Hell 27.08.2026 29m

  The United Nations is in the midst of selecting its next Secretary-General — and the race to succeed António Guterres just got more interesting. Last week, the Security Council held a straw poll to test the viability of the eight women and men vying to become Secretary-General in January. The results: we have a new frontrunner, though her apparent lead is narrow. Meanwhile, some candidates once considered frontrunners now look like long shots. On this episode of our sister podcast, To Save Us From Hell,  Mark Leon Goldberg and Anjali Dayal dissect the results of the straw poll and discuss the latest developments in the Secretary-General race You can unlock full access to To Save Us From Hell with a paid subscription --> https://www.globaldispatches.org/ 
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  Why Policies to Stop Migration Often Ends Up "Aiding Autocrats" 24.08.2026 23m

  Kelsey Norman is a Fellow for the Middle East and Director of the Women's Rights, Human Rights, and Refugees Program at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy. Her new book, Aiding Autocrats: Migration Management, Governance and Repression in Africa, examines how wealthy countries increasingly use foreign aid to persuade other governments to stop migrants before they reach Europe or the United States—and the unintended political consequences of those policies. In this episode, Kelsey explains what she calls "migration management aid" and how it has shaped relationships with countries including Turkey, Libya, and Rwanda. We also discuss whether more recent policies, including the Trump administration's deportation agreements with countries such as Eswatini, fit into this broader pattern. The conversation then turns to one of the book's central arguments: that outsourcing migration control can undermine democracy and good governance by strengthening authoritarian governments and giving them new resources and leverage. We conclude by discussing whether there is a better way for wealthy countries to cooperate with governments on migration without reinforcing repression or sacrificing human rights.
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  UN Secretary General Candidate Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett 20.08.2026 25m

  Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett is a Guyanese diplomat and candidate for Secretary-General of the United Nations. If selected, she would become both the first woman and the first person of Indigenous descent to lead the world body. She joins Mark for a substantive conversation about her vision for the UN at a moment of profound strain on the multilateral system. Drawing on her experience representing Guyana on the Security Council, Rodrigues-Birkett discusses what she learned about the UN's strengths and limitations in preventing and resolving conflict—and what she would do differently as Secretary-General. She also lays out her approach to global development and global health, and makes the case for diplomacy and international cooperation as essential tools for tackling the challenges ahead.
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  How Vali Nasr's Life Shaped His Understanding of Iran | From April 2017 17.08.2026 43m

  Vali Nasr is everywhere in the news these days. The Iranian American scholar has written scores of books and articles about Iran and the Middle East, and even before the U.S.-Israel-Iran war, he was someone policymakers and journalists regularly turned to for insight into Iran. On a personal note, I have followed his work for years, and since the outbreak of the war, I have found his commentary and analysis particularly useful. Back in 2017, Vali came on the show to discuss his life and career. I wanted to understand how he developed his worldview and built a career that also included a stint in the Obama administration, where he worked with Richard Holbrooke on Afghanistan policy. In this conversation, Vali opens up about the influence of his father, a prominent academic in Iran, and the trauma of being forced into exile after the 1979 revolution. He explains how those experiences shaped his worldview in ways that, at the time of our conversation, he said he was still coming to grips with. Vali Nasr is helping to shape our collective understanding of Iran at this critical moment. This conversation goes deep into the personal experiences and intellectual influences behind the views he holds today. This episode comes from deep in the archives. Global Dispatches is now 13 years old, and the first 200 or so episodes followed a different format from the show today. Back then, I focused less on topical and thematic issues in international affairs and more on the life stories of the people who shape our understanding of the world. For obvious reasons, this felt like a particularly good moment to republish my interview with Vali Nasr, which originally aired in April 2017.
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  What Cuba's Doctors Reveal About U.S. Policy Toward Havana 13.08.2026 22m

  For decades, Cuba has deployed doctors on medical missions around the world, often to places where skilled health workers are badly needed. These missions have a genuine humanitarian component—but they also generate billions of dollars for the Cuban government, making medical services Havana's most lucrative export. The United States is now pressuring countries to end these agreements, threatening one of Cuba's last major sources of income. The story of Cuba's doctors therefore raises a much larger question: What is the United States actually trying to accomplish in Cuba—and what does its pressure campaign mean for the doctors and the communities they serve? Journalist Sarah Maslin recently wrote a fascinating piece in The Economist about the precarious situation facing thousands of Cuban doctors amid the U.S. crackdown—and what it could mean for Cuba's future.
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  Helen Clark on Whether the World Is Ready for the Next Pandemic 10.08.2026 25m

  The world promised to be better prepared for the next pandemic. But has it followed through? Former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, who co-chairs the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response, joins me for a wide-ranging conversation about the intersection of global cooperation, diplomacy, and pandemic preparedness. We begin by discussing what the current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo reveals about the strengths and weaknesses of the global pandemic response system. We then turn to the political and practical significance of a Pandemic Agreement reached at the WHO and an upcoming United Nations High-Level Meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response, taking place in September.  
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  Russia's War Economy Is Starting to Crack 06.08.2026 28m

  Russia's economy once seemed remarkably resilient in the face of international sanctions. But in recent months, a growing number of indicators suggest that Russia's war economy is coming under strains not seen since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022. The budget deficit, which had remained relatively stable, is beginning to balloon. Inflation is accelerating. Labor shortages are widespread. And banks are being compelled to offer preferential loans to military industries, crowding out lending to the civilian economy. Is Russia's economy finally approaching a breaking point? And what might that mean for Vladimir Putin's grip on power and his ability to sustain the war? I'm joined today by Charles Lichfield, director of economic foresight and analysis and the C. Boyden Gray Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council's GeoEconomics Center. He is the author of a new report showing how recent developments have intensified some of the Russian economy's underlying structural weaknesses. In our conversation, he explains why Russia's economy is beginning to crack after four years of war in Ukraine—and what those cracks could mean for the future of the war.
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  What are the "Causes of Peace" Today? | Live from the Aspen Security Forum with the International Crisis Group 03.08.2026 31m

  What can bring about peace in an era of geopolitical rivalry and persistent conflict? In an ambitious new report, the International Crisis Group takes a hard-nosed approach to this question, offering a realistic assessment of what is—and is not—possible when it comes to preventing and ending conflict today. I caught up with Crisis Group's Comfort Ero, Michael Hanna, and Ginger Jacobs at the Aspen Security Forum in July. They explain why a new approach to conflict resolution is needed—and why the old models are no longer suited to today's world.
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  World Food Program Chief Carl Skau on the Perfect Storm Driving Up Global Food Prices 30.07.2026 29m

  With humanitarian needs surging and resources increasingly scarce, how does the World Food Programme decide where to cut assistance? Our guest today is Carl Skau, acting executive director of the World Food Programme. We begin by discussing how renewed fighting between the United States and Iran—and the resulting closure of the Strait of Hormuz and a key Red Sea transit corridor—is driving up food prices and worsening food insecurity around the world. Carl Skau also responds to Israeli criticism of a recent food-security report on Gaza, explains the operational challenges facing the WFP in Afghanistan and Sudan, and discusses why, on top of everything else, the organization is bracing for the possible arrival of a powerful El Niño.
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  What Is the Future of US-China Relations? | Ambassador Nicholas Burns, Live from the Aspen Security Forum 27.07.2026 19m

  Nicholas Burns is a veteran diplomat who served as President Biden's ambassador to China during a crucial period in U.S.-China relations. We caught up at the Aspen Security Forum in July for a wide-ranging conversation about Chinese foreign policy, including Beijing's evolving diplomatic role in the conflict with Iran, what Xi Jinping hopes to gain from upcoming summits with Donald Trump, and whether China is really seeking to supplant the United States in international institutions.
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  UN Secretary-General Candidate María Fernanda Espinosa: The Interview 22.07.2026 28m

  The race to become the next United Nations Secretary-General is heating up, with the Security Council preparing to hold its first straw polls to test the viability of the candidates. In this Global Dispatches exclusive, I speak with María Fernanda Espinosa, a former foreign minister, defense minister, and UN ambassador for Ecuador who served as president of the UN General Assembly from 2018 to 2019. Espinosa discusses how her early work with Indigenous communities in Ecuador continues to shape her approach to diplomacy and problem-solving. She also explains her proposal to create a crisis-prevention and early-action hub at the UN and shares her views on the organization's role in conflicts involving Iran and Ukraine. We also discuss how the next Secretary-General can advance global health and development—and what should replace the Sustainable Development Goals after their 2030 deadline. It is a wide-ranging conversation with a leading international diplomat seeking to lead the United Nations at a particularly precarious moment in global affairs.
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  How Ukraine Turned the Tide of the War | Live from the Aspen Security Forum 20.07.2026 20m

  In recent months, Ukraine has clearly seized the initiative against Russia. Its impressive use of drones and autonomous weapons systems has put Russia on the defensive, while strikes on Russian energy infrastructure are causing gasoline shortages for ordinary Russians. I speak with The Wall Street Journal's Yaroslav Trofimov about how and why Ukraine's fortunes have suddenly turned—and what comes next in the war. We caught up at the Aspen Security Forum on the same day that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, even though Fedorov had championed many of the tactics that made Ukraine's advances possible. We begin by discussing that dramatic turn of events before broadening the conversation to the current trajectory of the war. Buy Yaroslav's book about the Urkaine war from an indy bookseller here: Our Enemies Will Vanish
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  How the Civil War in Myanmar Became the Deadliest Conflict in Asia 16.07.2026 35m

  The civil war in Myanmar recently passed a grim milestone. According to the conflict-monitoring NGO ACLED, an estimated 100,000 people have been killed since the war broke out in 2021. Seventy percent of them were civilians. This civil war rarely makes headlines in the West. It erupted after Myanmar's democratic transition collapsed and the military seized power in February 2021. The junta then violently suppressed peaceful protests, prompting many demonstrators to take up arms. The front lines have shifted in recent months as neighboring China has intervened more decisively on behalf of the junta. I'm joined today by Kelley Currie, the new UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar. We begin with a brief history of Myanmar's long-running conflicts before turning to an in-depth conversation about the current dynamics of the civil war, the geopolitical implications of China's intervention, and the particularly brutal military strategy that has resulted in so many civilian deaths.
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  Josh Rogin on Iran, NATO, and the Latest in Trump Foreign Policy 13.07.2026 40m

  It was a pleasure to welcome The Washington Post's Josh Rogin for a wide-ranging discussion of the foreign policy topics du jour — from Iran and NATO to Syria, Ukraine, and the latest moves from the Trump administration. We kick off by discussing the escalating retaliatory cycle between the United States and Iran, and whether it means the ceasefire brokered last month is effectively dead. Josh explains some of the concrete decisions that turned Iran into a foreign policy quagmire for the Trump administration, what this latest round of bombings reveals about the administration's strategy, and what might come next if the current escalation begins to wind down. We discuss much more than Iran. Josh helps unpack several of the biggest foreign policy including how Syria became an unlikely bright spot in Trump's Middle East policy, what actually mattered at the NATO summit, and how Trump came to adopt some new positions on Ukraine that are supportive of Kyiv. If you are trying to make sense of U.S. foreign policy in this chaotic moment, this conversation is a very useful guide. It is free for all listeners, but as always your support with a paid subscription goes a long way.
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  The UN Just Held Its First-Ever AI Governance Meeting. Here's Why It Matters 09.07.2026 30m

  On July 6 and 7, the United Nations convened its first major meeting on AI governance. The Global Dialogue on AI Governance, held in Geneva, was different from other global gatherings on artificial intelligence because it included significant participation from constituencies that are often left out of discussions about AI, including representatives from the Global South, civil society, academia, and communities most likely to be affected by the rapid deployment of AI technologies. Claire Melamed, the United Nations Foundation's Vice President for AI and Digital Cooperation Strategy, explains why this meeting marks a milestone in the global AI governance debate, what makes the UN's approach distinct, and how international cooperation can help ensure that AI is developed and deployed in ways that serve the public good. We discuss what happened in Geneva, why inclusive AI governance matters, and what role the United Nations can play as governments, companies, and civil society grapple with one of the most consequential technologies of our time. (Sorry for my mic issues on this one.)