The Final Service

On August 3, Ebrahim Raisi, a hardline judge with close ties to Ayatollah Khameini, will replace Hassan Rouhani as President of Iran. And now, the fragile Nuclear Deal negotiated under former President Obama, hangs in the balance. As a candidate, President Biden promised to return to the Iran Nuclear Deal, and relieve crippling economic sanctions imposed under Trump’s policy of maximum pressure. But in the recent aftermath of his landslide victory, Ebrahim Raisi has already rejected a meeting with President Biden and said that he will not negotiate over Tehran’s ballistic missile program, nor its support of regional militias.

In this week’s episode, we talk with US-Iranian relations expert, Trita Parsi, and journalist Negar Mortazavi, about the recent elections in Iran, and whether the Iran Nuclear Deal can get back on track. Plus, we host a conversation between Barbara Slavin and former US Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel.

Guests: Chuck Hagel, Former US Secretary of Defense & US Senator; Barbara Slavin, Future of Iran Initiative, Atlantic Council & author; Trita Parsi, Executive Vice President of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft & author; Negar Mortazavi, journalist & host of the Iran Podcast

Hosts: Teresa Cotsirilos, Senior Producer, WorldAffairs

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When Syrian protesters tore down pictures of their dictator, Bashar al-Assad, toppled statues, demanded government reform and braved a military crackdown in 2011, Feras Fayyad was twenty-six years old. He picked up a camera and filmed it all. As his country devolved into warring factions, Fayyad bore witness, documenting the horror, and went on to make two Academy Award nominated films. More than ten years after that first protest, 600,000 people have been killed, more than 6 million Syrians are now refugees, and Assad’s forces have retaken much of the country. This war may have fallen off the front page, but it’s not over, and it’s not just some humanitarian crisis on the far side of the world.

On this week’s episode of the podcast we revisit a program about Syria’s war. We explore what was accomplished after 10 years of bloodshed and what could happen if justice is not served for Syria’s people.

Guests: Feras Fayyad, documentary filmmaker, Last Men in Aleppo and The Cave; Tima Kurdi, author of The Boy on the Beach: My Family’s Escape from Syria and Our Hope for a New Home; Joby Warrick, national security reporter for The Washington Post and author of Red Line: The Unraveling of Syria and America’s Race to Destroy the Most Danger Arsenal in the World

Hosts: Teresa Cotsirilos, senior producer, WorldAffairs; Ray Suarez, co-host, WorldAffairs

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

As COVID-19 spread rapidly around the globe last year, teachers, parents and students scrambled to adapt to a world in lockdown. Some students turned to virtual and hybrid learning. Others had in-person school with social-distancing and masks, but some saw school closures and increased responsibilities at home. Now, many Americans are starting to get vaccinated, making it easier to imagine a normal school year in the fall, but the pandemic has disrupted the education of about 1.6 billion students worldwide. This massive disruption not only limits the skills of students now, but it could have economic implications for the rest of their lives.

In this episode, we look at the lasting effects of the pandemic on education around the world.

Guests: Xiaoyang Liang, lead education specialist at the World Bank Group; Alice Albright, CEO of the Global Partnership for Education; Whitney Dwyer, teacher at MetWest High School in Oakland, CA; Vanessa Rancaño, education reporter at KQED

Hosts: Teresa Cotsirilos, senior producer, WorldAffairs; Ray Suarez, co-host, WorldAffairs

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

The year is 2050. With 9.7 billion residents on Planet Earth, how will we feed everyone? In what ways will our lifestyles, and our global food system, adapt to meet the needs of a changing, warming and expanding planet? Today, we already have food shortages and the pandemic has revealed just how fragile our global food system is. On this week’s episode, we hear from two experts with competing visions of how we can sustainably feed a growing planet. Please join Ray Suarez, Raj Patel and Robert Paarlberg on a journey through the international food system.

Guests:

Raj Patel, author of Stuffed and Starved and
co-director of The Ants and the Grasshopper, University
of Texas

Robert Paarlberg, author of Resetting the Table: Straight Talk About the Food We Grow and Eat, Harvard University

Hosts:

Philip Yun, CEO, WorldAffairs

Ray Suarez, co-host, WorldAffairs

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

When NATO leaders, including US President Joe Biden, meet in Brussels on June 14, one of the items at the top of the agenda is how the alliance should handle threats and opportunities from emerging technologies. What is the security impact of climate change? How can we responsibly harness artificial intelligence for defense? How do we strengthen cyber security and prepare against the threat of cyber warfare? As autonomous and quantum technologies are changing the world, how should  NATO work with the private sector? On this episode of the podcast, Markos Kounalakis talks with David Van Weel, NATO’s Assistant Secretary General, and Sarah MacIntosh, the permanent representative to the British delegation to NATO. 

This conversation was recorded on May 27, 2021 as part of The World Affairs Councils of America series NATO 2030 -  Strengthening the Alliance to Address New Security Threats.

Speakers:

Sarah MacIntosh, CMG, Permanent Representative to the UK’s Delegation to NATO

David Van Weel, Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges, NATO

Moderator:

Markos Kounalakis, Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Israeli politics are moving fast right now, and Benjamin Netanyahu’s future hangs in the balance. But no matter who wins the country’s latest political battle, many Palestinians see little hope for real change. Co-host Ray Suarez explores one of the underlying tensions that fuels the Israeli-Palestinian crisis by focusing on a single house in East Jerusalem. We hear from Samira Dajani, a Palestinian resident who’s facing eviction from her family home; Terry Boulatta, a Palestinian advocate; and Avi Bell, an Israeli-American law professor who advocates for the Jewish settlers.

Guests:

Samira Dajani, East Jerusalem resident

Terry Boullata, East Jerusalem resident

Avi Bell, law professor at the University of San Diego and Bar-Ilan University

Hosts:

Teresa Cotsirilos, senior producer, WorldAffairs

Ray Suarez, co-host, WorldAffairs

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

In May, the Israeli-Palestinian crisis erupted into all-our war… again. Over 260 people were killed, the vast majority of them Palestinians in Gaza. Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas have agreed to a ceasefire, and as of this reporting, it seems to be holding. They’ve also both declared victory, but neither party has much to show for it—and both have been accused of war crimes. So, where does the conflict go from here? And what role will the US play in future peace prospects? In this episode, we look at this seemingly never-ending conflict, Biden and Netanyahu’s approaches to the conflict, and emerging models of Palestinian governance.

Guests:

Anshel Pfeffer, columnist for Haaretz who covers Israel for The Economist, author of Bibi: The Turbulent Life and Times of Benjamin Netanyahu

Khaled Elgindy, former advisor to Palestinian leadership in Ramallah and senior fellow at the Middle East Institute

Aaron David Miller, former historian and advisor at the US State Department and senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Hosts:

Philip Yun, CEO, World Affairs

Ray Suarez, Co-Host, World Affairs

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

The world’s refugee population is the highest it’s been since World War II. After fleeing violence, poverty and climate change in their home countries, many displaced people seek asylum in the United States. But coming to the US as a refugee is not easy. Our resettlement system is hopelessly bureaucratic, and four years of President Trump’s nativist immigration policies just made things harder. On the campaign trail, Joe Biden promised to raise a cap on the number of refugees admitted to the US per year, but he’s wavered in recent months. In this episode, journalist Hana Baba talks with former refugee Maryan Hassan and author Ty McCormick, whose new book "Beyond the Sand and Sea" tells the story of Hassan and her family’s heroic journey from Somalia, to the world’s largest refugee camp in Kenya, and eventually, on to the United States. Then we hear from Nazanin Ash, Vice President of Global Policy and Advocacy at the International Rescue Committee, who walks us through the state of displaced people worldwide.

Guests:

Maryan Hassan, former refugee 

Ty McCormick, Journalist and author of Beyond the Sand and Sea

Nazanin Ash, Vice President, Global Policy and Advocacy at International Rescue Committee

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

In the past year, reports of anti-Asian hate crimes have spiked in major cities. A lot of this is attributed to anti-Asian rhetoric about the pandemic. But the hard truth is that whenever tensions escalate between the United States and Asian nations overseas, Asian-Americans bear the brunt of that anger at home. In this episode, we hear from US Congressman Andy Kim about how the  power competition between China and the US creates fear and anxiety on the home front, which often escalates to anti-Asian rhetoric. Then, we hear the stories of two scientists, Wen Ho Lee and Xiaoxing Xi. Both were racially profiled by the FBI—and falsely accused of spying for the Chinese government. 

Read Joyce Xi’s op-ed in USA Today. 

Guests:

Rep. Andy Kim, (D-NJ)

Helen Zia, journalist, activist and author of many books including Last Boat out of Shanghai and My Country vs. Me

George Koo, retired business consultant and writer

Joyce Xi, community advocate

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

When Joe Biden ran for president, he pledged to make climate change a major priority. During his first 100 days in office, he rejoined the Paris Agreement, pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030, and his administration hosted a global climate summit. Now comes the hard part; convincing Congress to pass a $2 trillion infrastructure and climate plan. This week on the podcast, we talk about climate policy with former California Governor Jerry Brown, oceanographer Sylvia Earle and former Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos, 2016 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. Then, we visit Paradise, California, the site of the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California's history.

Guests: 

Jerry Brown, Governor of California (1975-1983 and 2011-2019)

Sylvia Earle, Oceanographer and President & Chair of Mission Blue Sylvia Earle Alliance 

Juan Manuel Santos, former President of Colombia & recipient of the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize

Emily Thomas, documentary filmmaker

Harmony VonStockhausen, student

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.