Michael McKay is going to talk to guests over the next few weeks on  how  the world sees America - through the eyes of Americans who have an experience of life outside the United States.

In the second programme, Michael talks to John, who was for 8 years Global Chairman of Republicans Abroad – the official arm of the Republican Party abroad - stepping down at the time of George W. Bush’s Inauguration in 2001.

Michael McKay is going to talk to guests over the next few weeks on  how the world sees America - through the eyes of Americans who have an  experience of life outside the United States.

In the first programme, Michael speaks to Geneva based US political scientist Dr Daniel Warner.

My Guest today is Michael Møller, known to many of you listening as the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva up until a year or so ago.

Well, you cannot keep a good and energetic man down! And he has re-emerged as one of the principal leaders of this new organisation that I mentioned which is called the Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator Foundation.  Quite a mouthful to say. And so, for short, they call themselves GESDA.

We are going to hear from Michael Møller himself why this organisation has been formed and what it is doing that will make a difference.

Here were some of the questions that we covered:

My topic this time is Privacy. And by that I mean how states, governments, corporations, organisations, businesses and we ourselves as individuals, view things like privacy, secrecy, the characteristic or human quality of being discreet; whether or not we have a right to Privacy; or whether or not that depends on the law of the land, societal and cultural norms or international standards of behaviour.

My Guest is Ron Rock, Co-founder and CEO of Microshare®, Philadelphia, USA. He will help me unravel some of the many complexities, and even inconsistencies in where we find ourselves today, such as the Internet of Things, and the use of personal data to improve security and mitigate risk, especially in these times of pandemic.

Monday 21st December 2020, via Zoom.

Dr David Hawley  is the Director-General of the International School of Geneva and  Antonia Molnar is a Year 12 Student at the La Châtaigneraie Campus. We talk about international Education.

A very special guest for the final McKay Interview of  this extraordinary year – one we are probably all glad to see the back  of – the Swiss Ambassador to the United Kingdom, or to give him his  official title in the UK, the Ambassador from the Swiss Confederation to  the Court of St. James's, His Excellency Mr Alexandre Fasel.

On this week's McKay Interview, Michael talks to the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, Tatiana Valovaya.

She discusses the future of the UN in Geneva, how the pandemic is affecting the work of the UN and conflicts around the world.

This week Michael McKay speaks to Lorenzo Stoll, Director-General of SWISS International Airlines for the Suisse Romande.

The pandemic has meant major disruptions to airlines around the world due to travel bans - but how is the industry adapting and what is its future?

Michael McKay speaks with Professor Jovan Kurbalija. He is prominent in many important circles in Geneva, in Switzerland and internationally.

Professor Kurbalija is a former diplomat, and has a professional and academic background in international law, diplomacy, and information technology. He has been a pioneer in the field of cyber diplomacy since 1992, when he established the Unit for Information Technology and Diplomacy at the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies in Malta.

And apart from his day job in Geneva as Head of the DiploFoundation, the Geneva Internet Platform , he lectures on e-diplomacy and Internet governance in academic and training institutions in many countries, including Austria (Diplomatic Academy of Vienna), Belgium (College of Europe), Switzerland (University of St. Gallen), Malta (University of Malta) and the United States (University of Southern California).

Michael's guest is Karel Leeflang. His bread and butter is in leading large-scale transformations, both as a corporate executive and advisor.

And in describing what he does, jargon words and phrases like “global organizational efficiency” and “effectiveness programs” and “ productivity improvement solutions” feature prominently. He has his own firm called StrategyPod, focusing on advisory, analytics and digital solutions.

He has also worked for Barclays Bank, Cadbury Schweppes and Unilever. And he has consulted across a wide range of business sectors.