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The Syrian war may be entering its final phase. Rebel fighters, from various factions, are now concentrated in Idlib, in northern Syria. Idlib is the place to which civilians and members of armed groups were permitted to escape as part of evacuation deals from places like Aleppo and Eastern Ghouta as they fell to government forces. Millions of displaced Syrians and some armed groups are now concentrated there. But now there is every indication that Syrian forces, backed by Russia, are preparing for battle. My guest today is trying to warn the world how disasterous such a battle would be for civilians caught in the crossfire. Jan Egeland is a senior advisor to the UN Special Envoy for Syria and heads the UN's humanitarian task force for Syria. As such, it is his job to negotiate access to besieged populations for relief workers and facilitate humanitarian relief in war zones. A battle over Idlib would be a bloodbath, he says, that could jeopardize the lives of 3 million people. In our conversation, Jan Egeland describes the significance of Idlib to the trajectory of the war , and the geopolitics underpinning a potential decision by the Syrians to lay siege to it. We also discuss what NGOs in Idlib are doing to prepare for a potential attack. Jan Egeland is a longtime humanitarian professional. He is current the head of the Norwegian Refugee Council and served as the top UN humanitarian relief official from 2003 to 2006. This meant he reported directly to Kofi Annan so we kick off with a brief conversation about the late Secretary General's legacy before discussing Syria at length.
On March 21, 2020 North Korea shoots down a South Korean civilian airliner, mistaking it for a US bomber. This sets off a series of events that leads to the launching 13 nuclear armed ballistic missiles towards the United States. Several of these missiles miss their target. But not all. One bomb levels Manhattan, another hits Northern Virginia and a third lands near Mar a Lago, in Florida. 1.4 million Americans are killed.
The 2020 Commission Report on the North Korean Nuclear Attacks Against the United States by Jeffrey Lewis explains how this tragedy transpired. The book, of course, is fiction -- Jeffrey Lewis calls it a "speculative novel." But it is all too believable. nd that's because Jeffrey Lewis is a nuclear security expert who has spent decades studying the North Korean nuclear program. He is the director of the Center for Non Proliferation Studies at the Monterrey Institute and is a pioneer in open source intelligence gathering and geospatial analysis. He and his team famously identified the location of North Korean missile test sites using tools available to ordinary citizens. And 'm sure many you know him as the host of the excellent Arms Control Wonk podcast. But now, he has taken his hand at fiction -- and his book, which takes the perspective of a government report explaining the series of mistakes and miscalculations that lead to this nuclear attack, is one of the most vital international relations books of many years -- despite the fact that it's fiction. I suspect it will be standard on international relations syllabi. That is because the scenario he lays out is entirely plausible and the politics that enable this tragedy are very real. We discuss the plot at length, including the miscommunications, misperceptions and just plain mistakes that lead to the events of March 22 2020.Dr. Vanessa Kerry is the Co-founder and CEO of Seed Global Health. This is an international NGO that works in five sub-Saharan countries to bolster the education of medical professionals.
We kick off discussing the newest ebola outbreak in the DRC. This is a very alarming outbreak for the fact that it is occurring a region of the DRC that is very much a hot conflict zone. We then have a broader conversation about the challenge of strengthening health systems in poorer countries and we of course discuss the specific work of Seed Global Health to that end. Dr. Kerry came to national attention in 2004, when she introduced her father, John Kerry at the Democratic National Convention, and she describes how her interest in global health issues was sparked by a trip to Vietnam many years ago, with her father. If you are a global health and development nerd -- and I know many of you are -- I think you will very much appreciate this episode.On August 19th 2003 the United Nations headquarters in Iraq at the Canal Hotel in Baghdad, was hit with a truck bomb. At least 22 people lost their lives in this attack, including the UN's top official in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello.
In subsequent years, August 19th has been commemorated at the United Nations as World Humanitarian Day, in which the sacrifices of humanitarian workers are honored. This year marks the 15th anniversary of the attacks on the UN headquarters in Iraq, which ushered an era in which the United Nations, and humanitarian workers more broadly, are more and more often the targets of terrorist violence. On the line with me to discuss the 2003 bombing and its legacy today is Ambassador Elizabeth Cousens. She knew many of the victims of this attack, having worked with the UN in the middle east. She is a former top ranking official at the US mission to the United Nations and is now the deputy CEO of the United Nations Foundation. We kick off discussing her experiences the day of the bombing and have a broader conversation about how this terrible event forever changed how the UN operates around the world.In 2014, I spoke with New Yorker writer Robin Wright about her life and career as a foreign affairs journalist.
On August 7th, 1998 my guest today John Lange was the acting United States Ambassador to Tanzania when a truck bomb exploded outside the embassy in Dar es Salaam. He did not know it at the time, but this bombing was part of a coordinated attack on US embassies in the region. Minutes early in Nairobi, Kenya the US embassy was bombed as well.
Al Qaeda was responsible for the attacks that killed over 200 people. To commemorate the 20th anniversary of these attacks, I invited Ambassador Lange on the show to share his experiences from that day and also reflect on how those attacks changed US diplomacy. Today, Ambassador Lange is a senior fellow for global health diplomacy at the United Nations Foundation. and he is a contributor, along with 40 other survivors of these attacks to a special commemorative issue of The Foreign Service Journal. The US embassy bombings were a pivotal moment for US diplomacy and world history. It was very much a pre-cursor to the September 11th attacks that drew the United States into conflict in Afghanistan that is ongoing to this day. And I want to thank Ambassador Lange for being so candid about his experiences and his reflections on the meaning of these attacks 20 years later.Michael Scott Moore spent 977 days as a hostage of Somali pirates. He is a journalist and in 2012 he set out for the Somali coast on a reporting trip when he was kidnapped. What followed was a two and a half year ordeal that he masterfully recounts in his new book: "The Desert and the Sea."
The book is beautifully written-- it's a page turner and he really puts you in his shoes as he struggles to survive. In our conversation we discuss his capture and time in captivity, as well as broader issues surrounding piracy off the coast of Somalia. And one thing that does come through is that the gang that held Michael was part of an organized crime network whose business was kidnapping for ransom. The foot soldiers of this gang are far from what we might typically consider as "pirates." Become a premium subscriber!David Kaye, is the author of the UN's first ever report on the regulation of user generated online content. That is, how governments and companies like Facebook and Twitter police their users.
David Kaye is the UN's special rapporteur for the freedom of expression and a law professor at UC Irvine, and in our conversation he explains how human rights principles can inform debates about how to approach "fake news," disinformation and online extremism all while maintaining a fidelity to the ideals of free speech. I'll a post a link to the report on global dispatches podcast.com and I really recommend people take a look at it because it is so unique. It examines policies in both more authoritarian countries and more liberal countries, as well as the disparate policies of social media platforms and is really the first global examiniation of this issue.Ivan Duque won a run-off election on June 17th to become the next president of Colombia. Duque is a right of center politician who has been a sharp critic of the peace deal negotiated by president Juan Manuel Santos that ended a half century long conflict with the FARC rebels. Duque will be sworn in on August 7th, and that of course raises the question: what happens to this peace deal now that the president of Colombia is on the record opposing it. Can the deal survive? And what comes next for the country? On the line with me to answer these questions and more is Provash Budden, the America's regional director for the NGO Mercy Corps. We kick off discussing the unique political history of Ivan Duque and then have a longer conversation about what his election means for the peace accords.
The year is 1985. Ronald Regan is president. Margaret Thatcher is prime minister of the United Kingdom. Michael Jackson, White Snake and George Michael are dominating the billboard charts. Back to the Future is a smash hit at the box office.
And scientists have just discovered a giant hole in the ozone layer above Antarctica.
Scientists were warning that if left unchecked, this hole in the ozone would grow ever larger, letting through harmful ultraviolet radiation from the sun that would wreak havoc on human health. Skin cancer rates would skyrocket, as would cataracts. In cities like Los Angeles and Washington, DC going outside for just a short period of time in the summer would be dangerous. Meanwhile, the basic ecology of the world's oceans could change as plankton that make up the bottom of the food chain would die off.
But in two years time, before even Universal Pictures released the sequel to Back to the Future, the international community had come together to create a binding international treaty that would lead to the healing of the ozone layer.
That agreement is known as the Montreal Protocol. It is widely considered the world's most successful global environmental treaty.
In this special episode of Global Dispatches podcast, produced in partnership with the United Nations Foundation, we bring you the inside story of how the world came together to create an internationally binding treaty to protect the ozone layer-- and ultimately human health.
You will hear from scientists who discovered the link between cloroflorocarbons and ozone depletion; key diplomats and government leaders who pressed for the international regulation of CFCs in 1987; and academics and civil society leaders who explain why this 31 year old agreement is as relevant today as it was the day it was signed.
The Montreal Protocol is a success of multilateral cooperation. This podcast episode tells its remarkable story.
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