On the 16th anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq, Barbara Leaf, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, and Ellen Laipson, Professor and Director of the Center for Security Policy Studies at George Mason University, join host Carol Castiel to give an update on Iraq and Syria including the implications of Iran’s growing influence in those countries. They also discuss how US policy in both Iraq and Syria may have inadvertently strengthened rather than weakened the Islamic Republic.

Tensions escalated between nuclear-armed Pakistan and India after a February 14 bombing in Indian-controlled Kashmir killed at least 40 Indian paramilitary officers. Ambassador Richard Olson, Senior Adviser at the United States Institute for Peace, and Michael Kugelman, Deputy Director of the Asia Program at the Wilson Center, talk with host Carol Castiel about the fallout from this attack. They also discuss whether just-concluded talks in Doha between the United States and the Taliban can pave the way for a peaceful settlement of the Afghan conflict.

Benjamin Haddad, Director of the Future Europe Initiative at the Atlantic Council and Celia Belin, Visiting Fellow at Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution, join host Carol Castiel to discuss the origins, evolution and implications of the Yellow Vests or Gillets Jaunes movement that has rocked the political establishment in France.

On this edition of Encounter, Mike Fuchs, of the Center for American Progress, and Richard Johnson, from the Nuclear Threat Initiative, join guest-host Jeff Young to analyze and review the recent summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un.

John Fortier, Director of The Democracy Project at the Bipartisan Policy Center, and Will Marshall, President of the Progressive Policy Institute, spar over the constitutionality of US President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency at the southern border and implications of the Russia probe. They also talk with host Carol Castiel about diverse array of contenders for the Republican and Democratic primaries in advance of the 2020 presidential elections.

Judd Devermont, Director of the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and Bronwyn Bruton, Deputy Director of the Africa Center at the Atlantic Council, join host Carol Castiel to discuss what’s at stake in Nigeria’s nationwide elections--- for Nigeria, the region and the United States.

The US intelligence community and US President Donald Trump appear to disagree about the level of threats posed by North Korea, Iran, and ISIS. P.J. Crowley, former Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, and Kim Holmes, Executive Vice President of the Heritage Foundation, talk with host Carol Castiel about this rift as well as the foreign policy aspects of President Trump’s recent State of the Union address. Listen this Saturday and Sunday, on Encounter on the Voice of America!

Eric Farnsworth, Vice President of the “Council of the Americas and the Americas Society,” and Benjamin Gedan, Director of the Argentina Project at the Wilson Center, discuss the roots and wide-ranging ramifications of the political crisis in Venezuela with Encounter host Carol Castiel. Listen to Encounter on the Voice of America!

Jeffrey Rathke, President of the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies at Johns Hopkins University and Thomas Wright, Director of the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution, join host Carol Castiel to discuss the ramifications of Brexit, the state of transatlantic relations and NATO, which this year celebrates its 70th anniversary.

John Fortier, Director of the Democracy Project at the Bipartisan Policy Center and Jim Kessler, Senior Vice President for Policy at Third Way, talk with host Carol Castiel about the politics of the partial government shutdown, the oversight and legislative priorities of the 116th Congress and the challenges of divided government