Carnegie Council Podcasts

Kilian Kleinschmidt describes how he, together with the refugees themselves, transformed the Zaatari refugee camp from what the media called a "hellhole of humanitarian aid" into a lively living space with shops and even fountains. Indeed, the entire aid paradigm needs to be transformed, says Kleinschmidt, and he offers innovative ways to do it.

"Eurasianism and the European Far Right" is the culmination of an intensive two-year project spearheaded by the Council's U.S. Global Engagement Program. This expert panel from France, Hungary, and the United States examines the complex spectrum of the European far right and its connections with Russia and with the U.S.

What does it mean to be human, and how do we want to live? "We possess intelligence. We possess consciousness. And we have this capacity as human beings to take this further step to become wise, which leavens intelligence and I think has an ability to advance evolution in the direction we want it to go."

On the next Global Ethics Forum, best-selling author Simon Winchester discusses the geopolitics of the Pacific Ocean. In this excerpt, Winchester describes how a natural disaster in the Philippines impacted American and Chinese naval policy, eventually leading to some difficult ethical questions.

In the short term, one of the biggest winners in the Iran deal is China, and the biggest loser is Saudi Arabia. But 10, 15 years from now, we may see that the deal was a seminal factor in reintegrating Iran into the global political economy and strengthening civil society--making the U.S. and Europe the winners and countries like Russia and Syria the losers.

Over 4.8 million Syrians have become refugees, mostly in neighboring countries, and this is not the only displacement crisis around the globe, says Kirişci, an expert in Turkish foreign policy and migration studies.  This troubling and informative talk raises both practical and ethical issues, not only for Turkey and its neighbors but for the entire world.

ISIS consists of three interlocked threats and is quite different from al-Qaeda, says counterterrorism authority David Kilcullen. To come up with a workable strategy going forward, we have to understand exactly what went wrong in the years since 9/11 and admit that everyone bears part of the blame, from "reckless" Bush to "feckless" Obama.

On the next Global Ethics Forum TV show, former European Commission president José Manuel Barroso discusses the European Union’s challenges and its bright future. In this excerpt from the show, Barroso, who was also prime minister of Portugal, calls the refugee crisis Europe's most formidable challenge.

Senior Fellow Devin Stewart speaks with sociologist James Farrer (Sophia University, Tokyo) about the changing norms around gender, sexual rights, dating, and marriage in Japan. They also discuss Farrer's advice for researchers interested in Japanese society. Farrer is co-author of "Shanghai Nightscapes: A Nocturnal Biography of A Global City."

In the next "Global Ethics Forum" TV show, Eurasia Group's Ian Bremmer discusses the top political risks and ethical decisions for 2016. In this clip, Bremmer speaks about the ethical considerations for and against U.S. intervention in the Middle East.