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On September 19th, Azerbaijan launched a swift military offensive against ethnic Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh, a long disputed region. Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a bloody war over this territory following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, which resulted in de-facto Armenian control over what is internationally recognized to be Azerbaijani territory.
That status quo existed for nearly 30 years, until September 2020 when Azerbaijan launched a surprise military offensive routing ethnic Armenian forces. Russia brokered a ceasefire and installed Russian peacekeepers to enforce a truce. But Azerbaijan had the clear military advantage. Meanwhile Russia's invasion of Ukraine undermined its role in the region. So, Azerbaijan took the initiative and now a de-facto ethnic cleansing is underway as tens of thousands of ethnic Armenians flees their homes--and their homeland since the middle ages.
Joining me from Yerevan, Armenia to discuss this unfolding crisis is Olesya Vartanyan, Senior Analyst for the South Caucasus region at the International Crisis Group.
Justin Trudeau dropped a bombshell before Parliament last week when he accused the government of India of assassinating a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil. Hardeep Singh Nijjar was a Sikh dissident living in British Columbia when he was gunned down by assailants outside his place of worship. Nijaar had long agitated for an independent Sikh state apparently putting him in the crosshairs of Narendra Modi's government. The idea that a democracy like India would carry out a hit on North American soil is a major development — and one that will complicate American foreign policy as well.
Joining me to discuss this situation is Justin Ling, a Canadian journalist and author of the Bug Eyed and Shameless Substack. We kick off discussing what we know thus far about these accusations and then have a longer conversation about what this means for Canadian diplomacy and American foreign policy going forward.
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When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, there was a brief moment when it seemed possible that this crisis might inspire European governments to turn away from fossil fuels. Russia was a huge supplier of natural gas to many European markets, and with those supplies suddenly cut off, there was an opportunity to replace Russian fossil fuel with clean energy.
That did not happen. In fact, just the opposite occurred. According to research by my guest today Jeff Colgan, European investments in clean energy fell precipitously following Russia's invasion of Ukraine as governments scrambled for fossil fuels. Jeff Colgan is the Richard Holbrooke Professor of Political Science at Brown University and co-author of a new report, "Letting Europe's Energy Crisis Go to Waste: The Ukraine War's Massive Fossil Fuel Costs Fail to Accelerate Renewables'
We kick off discussing the state of Europe's energy transition from fossil fuels to renewables prior to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and then have an extended conversation about how and why Europe doubled down on Fossil fuels during the energy crisis that followed.
Throughout this week there has been a notable lack of female leaders. By my count just seven of the 99 Presidents or Prime Ministers to address the General Assembly were women. This is a recurring issue in every UN General Assembly I've covered since 2005. In our second segment today, I discuss the issue of women's political representation with Hibaaq Osman, founder and CEO of Karama a movement working in the Arab Region on ending violence against women and promoting women's political participation.
For our first segment, I speak with Pete Ogden, Vice President for Climate and the Environment at the United Nations Foundation. The Climate Ambition Summit convened on Wednesday by Antonio Guterres was the centerpiece of climate diplomacy at UNGA this year. Pete Ogden explains what happened at that summit and how events at the UN and throughout New York this week are helping to shape the outcome of the next major moment in climate diplomacy, COP28, which kicks off in Dubai in late November.
The Global Dispatches podcast is teaming up with the United Nations Foundation for a special daily series during the 78th United Nations General Assembly.
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Today is Wednesday, September 20th and it was a very busy day at the United Nations. Of all the days this week, today was arguably the most packed with high level consequential meetings. Throughout the day today was the Secretary General's Climate Ambition Summit. We will bring you full coverage of that in tomorrow's episode. Also today, the Security Council held a meeting on Ukraine, which featured Zelenskyy's first time addressing the Security Council in person since Russia's invasion.
There were two key meetings on Global health, one on Pandemic Preparedness and Response, the other on Universal Health Coverage. I will be speaking with Kate Dodson Vice President for Global Health at the United Nations Foundation about those meetings as well as a key meeting on Tuberculosis later in the week during our second segment.
Our first segment features Vera Songwe, Chairwoman and Founder of the Liquidity and Sustainability Facility and Co-Chair of the High Level Panel on Climate Finance who discusses the crucial topic of Financing for Development.
The Global Dispatches podcast is teaming up with the United Nations Foundation for a special daily series during the 78th United Nations General Assembly.
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Tuesday, September 19th marks the start of the United Nations General Assembly "General Debate." This is the parade of Presidents and Prime Ministers who address the world from the rostrum in the United Nations General Assembly hall. The day follows a familiar pattern each year: the Secretary General kicks off, followed by the new President of the General Assembly, who is Dennis Francis of Trinidad and Tobago. By tradition the President of Brazil is the first leader of a UN member state to speak, followed by the President of the United States.
Joining me to discuss these speeches and more is Anjali Dayal, Associate Professor of International Politics at Fordham University's Lincoln Center Campus and Maya Ungar of the International Crisis Group. We spoke just as Volodymyr Zelenskyy concluded his first in-person UNGA address since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. That is our first segment today. Our second segment features Butti Almheiri, UN Foundation Next Generation Fellow for Climate, who previews some of the climate focused themes this week.
The Global Dispatches podcast is teaming up with the United Nations Foundation for a special daily series during the 78th United Nations General Assembly.
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Monday, September 18 marks the kickoff to what is known around the United Nations as "High Level Week." The main event today was the Sustainable Development Goals Summit, which was intended to revive progress towards the SDGs following years of reversals during COVID. In the words of Antonio Guterres' opening remarks today, "the world needs an SDG rescue plan."
Joining us on the second half of the show to discuss the SDG Summit is Navid Hanif, Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA). To kick off and set the stage for all of High Level Week is Elizabeth Cousens, President and CEO of the United Nations Foundation. We discuss some of the key stories that will drive the diplomatic agenda during the 78th United Nations General Assembly and preview some of the major events and meetings happening throughout the week. This is your vital UNGA78 scene setter.
Global Dispatches is teaming up with the United Nations Foundation for a special daily series during the 78th United Nations General Assembly. This is episode one of four.
Interpol is the International Criminal Police Organzation. It was established 100 years ago to facilitate the cross border cooperation of national police agencies. Interpol is an international organization with very high name recognition, but few people have a decent understanding of how it works.
As it happens, before I became a foreign policy journalist I did an internship at Interpol's headquarters in Lyon, France. And it is there that I caught up with my guest today, Interpol Secretary General Jurgen Stock. He is a former German police officer who is entering his tenth and final year as the Secretary General. In our conversation we discuss some broad trends in the transnational organized crime that he has witnessed in his tenure, and how Interpol is evolving to meet those challenges. We discuss how Interpol manages geopolitical friction and rivalries among its 195 member states, to stay true to its original mission of facilitating international police cooperation.
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PEPFAR is an acronym that stands for the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. It is the largest foreign aid program targeted at a specific disease, and it is widely considered to be one of the most successful US foreign aid programs ever.
George W Bush who started the program in 2003. It continued and expanded under President Obama and even thrived during the Trump years. But today its fate is uncertain. Funding for PEPFAR is provided by congress every five years, and typically this is a highly bi-partisan and wholly uncontroversial affair. It was due to be re-authorized this year -- but with the end of the fiscal year rapidly approaching, this legislation has not gone through.
At issue is domestic politics around abortion. Anti-abortion groups in the United States have falsely accused PEPFAR under the biden administration of somehow indirectly or secretly supporting abortion. This idea has infected Republican politics -- several Republican members of congress who once supported PEPFAR are now preventing a vote on its re-authorization, threatening to undermine what one of these very members of congress once called "The most successful foreign aid program since the Marshall plan."
On the line to discuss PEPFAR's history of success and its uncertain future is Gayle Smith, CEO of the One Campaign and former head of the US Agency for International Development.
Bill Richardson passed away on September 1st at the age of 75. He was a long serving member of Congress and Governor of New Mexico, former Secretary of Energy and US Ambassador to the United Nations. But his most lasting impact on international affairs was his freelance work as an international hostage negotiator. He would travel in his personal capacity to places like North Korea, Burma, and autocratic regimes around the world to help free people wrongfully detained abroad. He had a knack for negotiating with particularly nasty foreign leaders, earning him the moniker, "Undersecretary of Thugs."
When we spoke in 2015, Richardson had recently published a book about his experiences negotiating with autocrats called "How to Sweet Talk a Shark." And in our conversation, Richardson recounts stories and lessons learned from his work as a freelance diplomat dedicated to the release of hostages and political prisoners. We kicked off discussing how his unique bi-cultural upbringing and early experiences as a politician in New Mexico helped him develop the kinds of skills he would later deploy in negotiations with people like Saddam Hussein.
I really appreciated this time with Bill Richardson. He was famously a very good talker, and this interview did not disappoint. The paywall on this episode is removed in remembrance of Bill Richardson.
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