New Thinking for a New World

Roughly six weeks ago, the two Middle East powers, whom everyone feared might someday go to war, actually went to war. After 12 days of fighting, mostly deadly exchanges of missiles, drones and air power, Iran and Israel agreed to a ceasefire on June 24th. But peace is an elusive concept in the Middle East, even more so these days. Will the ceasefire continue to hold? If it does, what are the likely consequences? If it doesn't, who would break it?

More importantly, was this the first Iranian-Israeli war or the last?

It is a hallmark of our info-bubble-infected world that we tend to listen to people with whom we agree rather than risk debating differences. Nowhere is that more true than in the Middle East. However, for this conversation, we invited three people who are not only deeply knowledgeable about the situation, but also approach issues from dramatically different perspectives. Francesca Borri is an Italian journalist who has spent much of the last decade living in Jenin and reporting from the West Bank, Israel, Syria, and other hot spots; Ambassador Hossein Mousavian is a former senior Iranian diplomat who now teaches at Princeton University; Abraham Silver is a lecturer at the Hebrew University on the Architecture of Jerusalem.

In this continuation of their dialogue with host Alan Stoga, the panel digs deeper into the lessons of the war, the risks of escalation, and the prospects—however slim—for a more peaceful future in the region.

👉 This conversation is published in two parts. You are listening to Part Two.

Roughly six weeks ago, the two Middle East powers, whom everyone feared might someday go to war, actually went to war. After 12 days of fighting, mostly deadly exchanges of missiles, drones and air power, Iran and Israel agreed to a ceasefire on June 24th. But peace is an elusive concept in the Middle East, even more so these days. Will the ceasefire continue to hold? If it does, what are the likely consequences? If it doesn't, who would break it?

More importantly, was this the first Iranian-Israeli war or the last?

It is a hallmark of our info-bubble-infected world that we tend to listen to people with whom we agree rather than risk debating differences. Nowhere is that more true than in the Middle East. However, for this conversation, we invited three people who are not only deeply knowledgeable about the situation, but also approach issues from dramatically different perspectives. Francesca Borri is an Italian journalist who has spent much of the last decade living in Jenin and reporting from the West Bank, Israel, Syria, and other hot spots; Ambassador Hossein Mousavian is a former senior Iranian diplomat who now teaches at Princeton University; Abraham Silver is a lecturer at the Hebrew University on the Architecture of Jerusalem.

Listen as they engage with host Alan Stoga in an exploration of both the underpinnings of the recent war, but also begin a conversation about the possibility of a peaceful future.

👉 This conversation is published in two parts. You are listening to Part One.

The Congo River Basin includes six countries and covers approximately 3.7 million square kilometers, making it the world's second-largest rainforest basin behind the Amazon. Like the Amazon, in practical terms, it is vital to the health of the planet. Also like the Amazon, scientists and conservationists worry that the Basin's ecology could tip if its rainforests are seriously degraded.

Global meetings on climate change almost always turn on two factors: political will and money. Even when the will is present, the money is not---and the result for decades has been the seemingly endless, accelerating slide toward a hotter, more volatile, climate.

Each year the big international climate meetings like the 2025 COP to be held in Belém, Brazil in November produce ever larger estimates of the financing needed to move away from fossil fuels, to compensate developing countries for loss and damage, to sustain biodiversity, etc. Each year governments are more and more stretched to meet growing social, defense, and endless other needs and less and less willing to even to pretend they can find the vast sums needed to slow, stop, or reverse the climate change spiral.

That only leaves the private sector as source of finance. However, many climate activists distrust private capital or seek to create conditions that deny businesses the opportunity to earn competitive returns on their investments. But without private money OR enough public money…there simply isn't enough money.

So, whether or not it's possible for a profit making enterprise to do the right things for the environment while making a decent return on their investment is critical to the future of the planet.

For insight, we went to the front lines of climate change, the Congo River Basin, one of the two "lungs" of the planet. SODEFOR is a forestry company in the Democratic Republic of Congo, that manages a million hectares of forest. They have a well documented record of operating legally and responsibly in the rainforest. Tânia Trindade plays a key role in managing the company's commitment to its shareholders as well as to the planet; she deeply believes that SODEFOR can do both.

Listen as she describes the challenges of operating in a complex environment as SODEFOR tries to do good and to do well at the same time.

What do you think: if the public sector won't find the resources to mitigate climate change, is there a viable role for the private sector? Or should we just give up?

We live at a moment when everything we thought we could rely on to understand our world seems to be becoming unglued. Whether it's “uncharted waters” or the “break up of global order” or “the end of the American century,” at the least we are entering a period of change and chaos unlike anything that most of us have experienced in our lifetimes.

President Trump has launched an unprecedented trade war, a radical overhaul of regulation, and a significant reshaping of U.S. fiscal policy. His purpose? To rewire global trade patterns and supply chains, recreate American manufacturing capacity, and change the essential structure of the U.S. and world economies. Can he succeed? How would success be measured? What are the risks it will fail --- and what would failure look like? How might all of this affect your job, your savings, your kids’ future prospects?

Great art is timeless because it provides insights into our souls, into how we think and why we do what we do. That's as true of Shakespeare's sonnets as it is of Michelangelo's frescoes, as it is of the Greek tragedies. 

In 2019, Carlos Nobre, a leading Brazilian scientist, published an open letter entitled "Amazon tipping point: Last chance for action.” If that article were published today, it might have to be titled, “No more chances” because the past five years have seen record-breaking drought throughout the region as well as record-breaking forest fires. 

Normally, that's a simple question with a simple answer: of course, the Congress matters; after all, its powers are enthroned in the American Constitution. However, as the Trump presidency unfolds, nothing is simple anymore. President Trump obviously has an expansive view of presidential power and is clearly intent on exercising it at the expense of the Congress and of the courts. 

Healthcare is intensely personal. Even when national statistics show improvement—which has been the case for most countries over recent decades—what matters is whether my baby in rural Uganda is having trouble breathing or whether my aging father in New York who went into the hospital with a broken hip will now die from the MERS he contracted there or whether why my wife in Buenos Aries can access the drugs she needs to survive cancer. 

This episode was originally published on November 27, 2024.