Carol Castiel speaks with Jamie Fly, CEO & President of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, & Bay Fang, CEO of Radio Free Asia, to discuss challenges facing US-funded international broadcasters to bring objective news/information to people around the globe, particularly where there is no free press.

Barbara Slavin, Director of Future of Iran Initiative at the Atlantic Council, and Andrea Stricker, resident fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, discuss the pros and cons of salvaging the international deal to curb Iran’s nuclear program with host Carol Castiel.

Hussein Ibish, senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute, and Mona Yacoubian, senior advisor at the US Institute of Peace (USIP), spar over the points of convergence and divergence regarding Russia’s malign actions in Syria and Ukraine with host Carol Castiel.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has affected all regions of the world, including Latin America. Host Carol Castiel speaks with Benjamin Gedan, deputy director of the Latin American Program at the Woodrow Wilson Center and Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Council of the Americas and the Americas Society about the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the politics of lifting of two controversial US border policies which affect migration at the southern US border.

Against the backdrop of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Joshua Meservey, senior policy analyst for Africa & the Middle East at the Heritage Foundation, and Susan Stigant, director of Africa Programs for the U.S. Institute of Peace, join host Carol Castiel to discuss the perils of the Wagner group, Russian mercenaries operating at the behest of the Mali junta. They also give an update on and assessment of the civil war in Ethiopia and the resilience of the Sudanese people in the face of the military takeover in Khartoum which disrupted the transition to civilian rule.

Michael Newton, Law professor and former Senior Advisor to the U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues, and Visiting Harvard Law professor, Alex Whiting who is also deputy specialist prosecutor at the Kosovo Specialist Prosecutor’s Office in The Hague, join host Carol Castiel to discuss potential war crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine and the important ongoing process of documenting evidence, which is needed to hold perpetrators, up to and including Russian President Vladimir Putin, accountable at the ICC or any other national or international venue.

Host Carol Castiel talks with Jim Kessler, vice president for policy at Third Way, and John Fortier, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute about critical issues dominating the US political landscape from the seven hour and 37-minute gap in former President Donald Trump’s phone log on January 6, 2021, the day a violent mob attacked the US Capitol, US President Joe Biden’s decision to release more oil from the US strategic petroleum reserve to mitigate rising fuel prices, the politics surrounding the confirmation of the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court and headwinds for Democrats in the upcoming midterm elections.

Jennifer Cafarella, Chief of Staff and Inaugural National Security Fellow at the Institute for the Study of War and Colin Clarke, Senior Research Fellow and Director of Research at the Soufan Center talk with host Carol Castiel about how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has adversely affected its influence abroad, from sub-Saharan Africa to the Middle East and beyond. Moscow’s violations of international law and human rights have sullied its reputation; its use of mercenaries from the Wagner Group further expose Russia’s battlefield losses and undermine the country’s reputation as a global military power.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is exacerbating the conflict in Yemen which is dependent on wheat which is grown in both countries. Katherine Zimmerman, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), and Nadwa Al Dawsari, non-resident scholar at the Middle East Institute, review the military, political and humanitarian state of play in Yemen as the civil conflict which began in 2014, has morphed over the last eight years into a proxy war between regional rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia. They are pessimistic that the stalemate can be broken any time soon, even for a truce during the holy month of Ramadan.

Andrea Kendall-Taylor, senior fellow and director of the Transatlantic Security Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) and Melinda Haring, Deputy Director of the Eurasia Center at the Atlantic Council, analyze with host Carol Castiel the current state of play of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, the extraordinary unity of NATO and the European Union in coordinating the provision of defensive weapons to Ukraine and sanctions against Russia, the leadership and courage shown by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the increasingly isolated Russian President Vladimir Putin who has wrought untold devastation in Ukraine, hurt the Russian people and Moscow’s standing in the world.