Carnegie Council Podcasts

Although today's hot topic is nuclear proliferation, let's not forget that wars like Syria are being fought with conventional ones, such as aircraft and artillery. Jonathan Caverley has an intriguing and practical proposal to slow down the spread of these deadly weapons.

Next time on Global Ethics Forum, Stony Brook professor Jonathan Sanders discusses the media and propaganda in Russia, from Soviet times to Putin. In this excerpt, Sanders, former CBS News Moscow correspondent, describes to journalist Randall Pinkston the surprising state of Russian media in 2017.

In some ways Europe is more fragmented than at any time in the last three decades, says Drozdiak. There's a north/south split between wealthy creditor nations and deeply indebted ones; an east/west divide, as Poland and Hungary revert to nationalism; pressures of regional separatism; Brexit; and the migrant crisis. Then there's Trump, who sees Europe as a burden and economic rival. 2018 could be a pivotal year. What will happen?

Did you know that 122 countries have adopted a treaty to ban nuclear weapons? The organization behind this movement is the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). In this spirited and informative discussion, Ray Acheson and Beatrice Fihn of ICAN take apart the nuclear deterrence myth, expecially in the case of North Korea, and the belief that nukes are "special" and therefore exempt from the ban on targeting civilians.

Today there are 65 million people who have fled their homes because of conflict or persecution, says the International Rescue Committee's David Miliband. These are refugees not economic migrants, and half of them are children. It's a long-term crisis that will last our lifetimes. Why should we care? And what can we do about it, both at a policy level and as individuals?

Despite defeats like Mosul and Raqqa, ISIS and other extremist groups are thriving, says Ullah. For them, the most important battlefield is not the physical one but the information one, and there they are winning. They are nimble, moving from open-source platforms to encrypted ones and are not afraid to fail, getting instant feedback on what propaganda works best. We need a much more concerted effort--a "Manhattan project"--to combat this.

Next time on Global Ethics Forum, Columbia's Mark Lilla discusses his controversial book "The Once and Future Liberal" and how America can move forward in the Trump era. In this excerpt, Lilla explains the dire consequences of liberals playing identity politics, as he calls it, in the face of a dangerous and regressive Republican agenda and electoral strategy.

Hofstra University's Jess Holzer is focused on improving public health at the community level. But she teaches that good intentions alone are not enough to build an inclusive and succesful project. What are the tangible benefits of showing respect as a medical reseacher? And what's the connection between bioethics and biking on Long Island?

In a wide-ranging conversation, Emmy award-winning Vice News producer Josh Davis takes Devin Stewart behind the scenes of his in-depth documentaries, from the deadly white nationalist rally in Charlottesville to daily life in North Korea.

What has led to the rise of far-right parties across Europe and how have they evolved over time? Is immigration really the main issue, or is there a more complex set of problems that vary from nation to nation? What are the ideological and practical connections between the far right and Russia? Carnegie Council Senior Fellow Marlene Laruelle is an expert on Europe, Russia, Eurasia, and Europe's far right. Don't miss her analysis.