Carnegie Council Podcasts

Journalist Sebastian Junger knows about war from the inside: the horror and pain, the excitement and heightened awareness, and the fierce brotherhood between soldiers. In this moving conversation he talks about his life and work, and ponders on what everyone owes their country, whether they choose to fight or stay home.

Has the perception of whistleblowers changed? With high-profile cases like Edward Snowden and increased protections for those who accuse their employers of misconduct, have we moved away from the view that it "takes a rogue to catch a rogue"? Tobacco industry whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand and others discuss blowing the whistle in the U.S.

"By relying so heavily on things like GDP, unemployment, and the suite of statistics that grew up in their wake, we are using a really good 1950s set of tools designed to answer questions of global depression, World War II, and 1950s industrial nation-states that made stuff. We're really good at measuring that world, but we're not living in that world."

In this bleak and revealing talk, Iraqi lawyer Zaid al-Ali provides an insider's analysis of Iraq's many failures of governance, from creating a constitution to providing Iraqis with jobs, electricity, and most of all safety.

In the latest Security Bulletin, Russia expert Professor Nicolai Petro speaks from Odessa in southern Ukraine on the ongoing crisis, with a particular focus on the strategically vital Crimean Peninsula, home to Russia's Black Sea Fleet and to a substantial ethnic Russian population.

Who controls the Internet? Internet governance is so technically and institutionally complex that it takes place mostly out of public view. But Internet control points do exist, and they affect civil liberties, national security, and global innovation policy. Laura DeNardis explains the inner workings of online governance and discusses its future.

As legal adviser to the State Department from 2009 to 2013, Harold Koh was responsible for making judgments about the most difficult issues in the "war on terror": drone strikes, military tribunals, preventive detention. This fascinating and revealing conversation explores Koh's moral convictions and the inner workings of government.

What are the ethical and legal questions raised by unmanned aerial vehicles, drones, and surveillance? How do they affect combatants, decision-makers, and civilians? An expert panel explores these crucial issues.

The courageous Gianni Picco played a central role in negotiating the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, met with Saddam Hussein to bring an end to the Iran-Iraq War, and traveled to both Beirut and Tehran to rescue 11 hostages and 91 other prisoners. How did he do it? By treating adversaries as individuals, not just government representatives.

This is the third in a series of Security Bulletins on the crisis in Ukraine, and here Dr. Nicolai N. Petro gives us a view from beyond Kiev, from Odessa in the country's South. He explains the various political factions and warns about the danger of right-wing nationalism--not overnight, perhaps, but over the long term.