We follow up on the Russia Ukraine conflict with Professor  Pratistha Joshi Rajkarnikar, Elisabeth Morgan, Anastasia Bannikova, Tyler Rossi, Ruya Akar, Roddy Denor and Alex Homer. In this episode, we focus on understanding the interests of China, economic alternatives for Russia, as well as the power dynamics between impacting the humanitarian crises.

Episode cover Photo by Nati Melnychuk on Unsplash

We follow up on the Russia-Ukraine conflict with Professor  Pratistha Joshi Rajkarnikar, Elisabeth Morgan, Anastasia Bannikova, Tyler Rossi, Ruya Akar, Roddy Denor and Alex Homer. In this episode, we focus on understanding the interests of China, economic alternatives for Russia, and the power dynamics impacting the humanitarian crises.

A thinking-through episode unpacking the Russia-Ukraine conflict with Elisabeth Morgan, Anastasia Bannikova, Tyler Rossi, and Ruya Akar.  The first of many to come every two weeks until we get to some ground of resolution for peace and security, not to mention restoring people's dignity and identity.

The Africa Forum at Brandeis University started a series of debates on what happens on the continent. Therefore, in this episode, you’ll hear Burkina Faso’s discussion with Fatim Wedraogo and the updates of Sudan with Yasser Adam. In between the participants of the debate session, have also delivered their elaborate questions for discussions.

After learning about the Political Instability in Sudan, and following up the active protests, the curse goes own in the continent. Armed groups killed two thousand people and displaced about one million and four hundred who had to flee for their lives. Ebenezer Obadare blogged at the Council on Foreign Relations on January 25. An informative situation report of the last Coup d’état about the military taking command of the government that was not delivering its promise of development. Instead, it led the country to chaos through increased violence against the population, political instability, and economic collapse.

Resources for this Episode

UN (n.d) Burkina Faso Map - Geospatial location information for a better world, available at https://www.un.org/geospatial/content/burkina-faso-1

African Union. (2021, January 29). Conflict Resolution, Peace & Security | African Union. https://au.int/en/conflict-resolution-peace-security

African Union & Commission. (2015). Agenda 2063: The Africa we want.

AfricaNews. (2021, November 25). Burkina Faso: Opposition, business community protest internet suspension. Africanews. https://www.africanews.com/2021/11/25/burkina-faso-extends-internet-suspension/

Aljazeera. (2021, November 17). Burkina Faso: Death toll in security post attack jumps to 53 | News | Al Jazeera. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/11/17/burkina-faso-death-toll-security-post-attack-jumps-to-53

Mednick, S. (2021, November 17). Hundreds go missing in Burkina Faso amid extremist violence. AP NEWS. https://apnews.com/article/africa-islamic-state-group-burkina-faso-missing-persons-80ffd2f58e9bd11c94db316da45f5014

Obadare, E. (2022, January 25). Coup in Burkina Faso Bodes Ill for Stability in West Africa [Council on Foreign Relations]. Council on Foreign Relations. https://www.cfr.org/blog/coup-burkina-faso-bodes-ill-stability-west-africa

Palik, J., Rustad, S. A., & Methi, F. (2020). Conflict Trends in Africa, 1989–2019. 40.

Raleigh, C., & Kishi, R. (2021, February 1). Africa: The only continent where political violence increased in 2020. The Mail & Guardian. https://mg.co.za/africa/2021-02-01-africa-the-only-continent-where-political-violence-increased-in-2020/

Reuters. (2021, December 1). Sudan’s Hamdok would quit if post-coup deal not implemented—Source. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/hamdok-would-quit-if-post-coup-deal-not-implemented-supported-source-2021-12-01/

UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs. (n.d.). Goal 16 | Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice

On October 30, Sudanese citizens and supporters in the United States organized none violent protests and delivered messages of concern for the country's future. Jessica Addis and Krithi Vachaspati, as  Conflict Resolution and Coexistence students, organized another discussion session at Heller with Nagi Mussa and Yasser Adam. 

Professor Alain Lempereur discusses the Dilemmas of Conflict Transformation and Power Dynamics. As a professor, author of publications in conflict resolution and coexistence, and an active expert member of the global experts in negotiation programs, Alain holds an essential experienced opinion to shape change narratives. In this podcast, I seek to explore why conflicts recur and, most importantly, who pays the price while a handful of minorities shape the lives of the world's population. Furthermore, I ask whether Accademia plays a role, assuming that most of the world's ongoing and past negotiations are managed by actors from a particular school of liberal or local agendas. To that, a key question followed to find out if a change in the narrative away from the colonial legacies could not be an option to build a better sense of ownership in most of the peacebuilding processes, so far failing to address the root causes of conflict and the use of more exclusive approaches to negotiation.

Professor Alain Lempereur discusses the Dilemmas of Conflict Transformation and Power Dynamics. As a professor, author of publications in the field of conflict resolution and coexistence, and being an active expert member of the global experts in negotiation programs Alain, holds a key experienced opinion to shape change narratives. In this podcast, I seek to explore why conflicts recur and most importantly who pays the price while a handful of minorities shapes the lives of the world's population. Furthermore, I also ask whether the Accademia plays a role, assuming that most of the world's ongoing and past negotiations are managed by actors who come from a particular school of liberal or local agendas. To that, a key question followed to find out if a change in the narrative away from the colonial legacies could not be an option to build better senses of ownership in most of the peacebuilding processes, so far failing to address the root causes of conflict and the use of more exclusive approaches to negotiation.

Episode Art Cover source is a map of visualized world's  ongoing conflicts in 2021, available  at:
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-where-are-the-worlds-ongoing-conflicts-today/

The context in which countries differ their capability response to an outbreak is highly dictated by the global health system rules which place millions of civilians in the global south countries already trapped in ongoing political unrests and economic hardships, in vulnerabilities through which their inability to respond, poses a global security threat.

Samantha Lee shares her research findings and analysis around global health as it relates to security and international development. During the discussions we hold, her concerns are mostly around policy designs and governance in global health with a focus on the impacts of such decisions made at the top, to the people on the ground who are in constant need of accessible vaccines, testing kits, and locally applicable containment measures. Her arguments advocate for prevention as the best and cheapest solution for a global health crisis.

Links for more information on the data we used and a few extra relevant for the Global Health discussions:

Episode Photo by Martin Sanchez on Unsplash


Fisher DA, Carson G, on behalf of the GOARN Steering Committee. Back to basics: the outbreak response pillars. Lancet 2020; published online August 17. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)31760-8.

²Michaud, J., Moss, K., & Kates, J. (2021, May 21). The U.S. Government and Global Health Security. KFF. https://www.kff.org/global-health-policy/issue-brief/the-u-s-government-and-global-health-security/

³Broad, W. J. (2020). Putin’s Long War Against American Science. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/13/science/putin-russia-disinformation-health-coronavirus.html

⁴Howard, A. (2020). The Pandemic and America’s Response to Future Bioweapons. https://warontherocks.com/2020/05/the-pandemic-and-americas-response-to-future-bioweapons/

⁵Das, K. N. (2021). India could ship vaccines to COVAX in a few weeks, say sources. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/world/india/india-could-ship-vaccines-covax-few-weeks-say-sources-2021-11-09/

⁶Gostin LO, Halabi SF, Klock KA. An International Agreement on Pandemic Prevention and Preparedness. JAMA. 2021;326(13):1257–1258. doi:10.1001/jama.2021.16104

Worldometers.info (November 23, 2021) Coronavirus Cases. https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

On October 25, 2021, the Military Army in Sudan took power and arrested government officials, claiming to restore the well-being of the Sudanese. This claim is not shared with all, more than 40 million Sudanese worldwide.  In this episode, I have Yasser Adam analyzing the ongoing conflict with lenses of a Sudanese born in the Darfur region and Studying Master of Arts in Conflict Resolution and Coexistence at Brandeis University, the Heller School for Social Policy and Management.

On October 25, 2021, the Military Army in Sudan took power and arrested government officials, claiming to restore the wellbeing of the Sudanese. This claim is not shared with all, more than 40 million Sudanese in the world.  In this episode, I have Yasser Adam analyzing the ongoing conflict with lenses of a Sudanese born in the Darfur region and Studying Master of Arts in Conflict Resolution and Coexistence at Brandeis University, the Heller School for Social Policy and Management.