World Affairs Report

Angélica Ocampo speaks with Professor Ross Harrison on the current state of US Foreign Policy towards the Middle East. In this episode they discuss the history of the Cold War and its effects on the region, the global ramifications of crises in the Middle East, and Russian influence in regional conflicts. Professor Harrison walks us through the lack of regional power structure and the role that outside influencers play, such as the United States’ interests in the area. He provides an update for the changing American strategies in the Middle East, and offers his own opinion on political policies.  He reminds us that there are no inter-state conflicts currently, yet many of the lingering disputes center around themes such as water, regional dominance, or land boundaries. Professor Harrison also provides additional insights from his own experience participating in back-channel diplomacy in Yemen and Syria, and shares his recommendation on future political strategies in the Middle East.

Additional resources:

There were 68.5 displaced persons throughout the world at the end of 2017; of those, refugees account for 25.4 million.  Carolyn Miles from Save The Children joins us to share insights from her recent trip to South Sudan and Somalia and to discuss Save The Children’s mission to give children in the United States and around the world a healthy start, the opportunity to learn, and protection from harm. The global Save the Children movement currently serves over 157 million children in the US and in 120 countries. As a global organization, Save the Children has committed to driving down the numbers of preventable deaths of children under 5, ensuring every child gets a high-quality basic education and protecting all children from harm.

Carolyn Miles 

Carolyn Miles is President & Chief Executive Officer of Save the Children.  She joined the U.S. organization in 1998, was COO from 2004-2011, and became President and CEO in September 2011. Under her senior leadership, the organization has more than doubled the number of children it reaches with nutrition, health, education and other programs. Resources were just under $800m in 2017. Miles’ signature issues include hunger, learning outcomes, and ending preventable child deaths.

Prior to Save the Children, she worked in the private sector in Hong Kong for American Express and as an entrepreneur. While in Asia, she confronted the deprivation of the region’s children, which motivated her to dedicate her life to their welfare.

Read more about Carolyn’s biography here.

Resources

On September 13, join All for All for a day-long, interactive gathering on the role of immigrants in entrepreneurship and the local economy, as well as the intersection of immigrant inclusion with local politics, the arts, and more.  

On this week’s podcast, Angelica interviews Betty Cruz, Project Director for All for All, and Bibhuti Aryal, Chair of the Governor’s Advisory Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs, to discuss this second annual event and to share their experiences working in immigration inclusion projects in the Pittsburgh region.

All for All connects people, organizations, and communities to actions that build a welcoming and inclusive region for all. Driven by collaboration with community and cross-sector partners, we aim to advance economic opportunity, break down barriers, and increase institutional best practices to further immigrant inclusion across the Pittsburgh region.

Resources:

Angelica interviews Scott Shiller and Karla Boos about the upcoming Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts. This will be the fourth iteration of the Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts, featuring artists from all over the world and the country having their US premieres. The festival is running for 8 weeks in the Cultural District, with over 30 artists and 500 performances representing over 20 countries. We discuss how Karla and Scott selected the artists to participate in the festival, how local Pittsburghers can join in, how the Festival has evolved over the past decade, and why this Festival of Firsts is so important to the Pittsburgh arts community.

From the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust:

Guest Biographies:

Karla Boos

Scott Schiller

Resources:

What combines scientific discovery, national security, natural resources, and the complexities of international law? Outer space! The Outer Space Treaty formed the basis for international space law in 1967, but has since been subject to future case law, legislation and international treaties. Join us on this episode as we welcome Pittsburgh-based “space lawyer” Justine Kasznica to the The World Affairs Report to discuss her work, the history of space law, private space companies, and the future of human interaction in space.  

Justine Kasznica is an attorney at Pittsburgh firm Babst Calland and a shareholder in the firm’s Mobility, Transport and Safety, Transportation Safety, and Corporate and Commercial groups. Her work at the firm primarily centers on representing technology companies, investor groups, universities and research institutions that seek to commercialize new technologies and representing commercial space and drone companies. She holds a B.A. from Yale University and a J.D. from Rutgers University. In her free time, Justine is a recreational drone pilot and has a passion for robotics, space and aviation that carries over into her work.

Additional Resources:

Justine’s Biography

Justine’s TedXBudapest Talk on “Who owns the space?”

Information on the Outer Space Treaty

On March 1, 1954, crew members of the Japanese fishing boat “Lucky Dragon No. 5” were astonished to see what appeared to be snow falling while sailing in the Pacific Ocean. They continued to work and gathered up the white “snow” as it fell. The snow was in reality radioactive ashes from a nuclear fallout caused by the detonation of a hydrogen bomb 1,000 times stronger than the Hiroshima blast. The fishermen soon began to fall ill, one shortly died, and many more spent years in the hospital recovering. Director Keith Reimink seeks to tell the stories of three of the surviving fishermen and joins The World Affairs Report to discuss his latest film, Day of the Western Sunrise, which is dedicated to these survivors. Day of the Western Sunrise will premier right here in Pittsburgh on September 29th and 30th , 2018, at the Row House Cinema.

Keith Reimink graduated from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts in 2002 with a BFA in Film and TV Production.  A decade of wandering and traveling led him to Antarctica where he spent seven years working for the United States Antarctic Program.  There he filmed his first documentary, the award winning No Horizon Anymore, which chronicled a year he spent living and working at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station.  No Horizon Anymore screened at film festivals in Germany, New Zealand, Alaska, and Hollywood, and received numerous awards including Best Documentary and Audience Choice.  In 2013, Keith started Daliborka Films LLC, a Pittsburgh based documentary film company focused on films with a purpose. He is the director/writer/producer for “Day of the Western Sunrise.”  

Additional Resources:

Tickets for the Pittsburgh Premiere on September 29 and 30

No Horizon Anymore

Daliborka Films

Lucky Dragon Museum

On this episode of the World Affairs Report, Angélica is joined by Daniel Zorub. Daniel is an Impact Donor Manager at Vitamin Angels, a non-profit that provides lifesaving vitamins to mothers and children at risk of malnutrition with the aim of reducing preventable illness, blindness and death. Vitamin Angels was founded in 1994 by Howard Schiffer, who was motivated to utilize his experience as a midwife and success in the natural products industry to better public health after an earthquake hit Southern California in 1994. Despite humble beginnings, Vitamin Angels is now reaching 61 million children and mothers in 74 countries around the world.

Previously, Daniel has worked as an Account Manager at Vitamin Angels and as an Orfalea Fellow and Teaching Assistant at the University of California Santa Barbara. He earned a B.A. in Global & International Studies and Middle East Studies as well as a Master’s in Global & International Studies from the University of California Santa Barbara.

Additional Resources:

Vitamin Angels Website

One day in class, fifteen-year-old Peyton Klein looked around and noted that she knew everyone’s name in the class, except for one person who was an English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) student. Her desire to connect Native English Speakers (NES) and ESL students gave birth to The Global Minds Initiative, a non-profit based right here in Pittsburgh that operates as a for-youth, by-youth organization for students of both ESL and NES backgrounds. Global Minds functions as an educational support system for ESL students, aims to instruct NES students about other cultures and seeks to promote leadership, community engagement, global friendships, cultural identity and inclusivity among its members.

Peyton Klein is a junior at Taylor Allderdice High school. She is the founder of The Global Minds Initiative, President of CISV Pittsburgh’s Junior Board, Vice President of Generations to Generations and a volunteer with the PRYSE Academy. Peyton’s work has been featured on the Today Show, Fox News, Teen Vogue and the New York Times. You can follow Global Minds on Instagram @globalmindsinitiative and on Twitter @globalmindspgh.

Additional Resources:

Global Minds Website

University of Pittsburgh School of Education’s Collaborative for Evaluation and Assessment Capacity

In this episode, Andy Burnett discusses his visits to Sudan, the role of the Special Envoy for Sudan and South Sudan, and his visits to Khartoum & Addis Ababa. Andy summarizes the current situation in Sudan & South Sudan, providing a brief historical overview for our listeners. He walks us behind the scenes in mediating peace agreements, the history of the rocky relationship between Sudan and the USA, and what changes he has witnessed over the past years in the region. He also shares professional advice for professionals interested in pursuing careers in conflict resolution.

Andy Burnett currently serves as the Deputy Director in the office of the U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan and South Sudan (S/USSESSS). He was the lead special advisor to Ambassadors Princeton Lyman and Donald Booth during their tenure as Special Envoy and has over nine years of experience working on Sudan and South Sudan policy. During his time in the Special Envoy’s office, Mr. Burnett and his staff worked directly with international partners to mediate the 2012 Cooperation Agreements between Sudan and South Sudan and the 2015 Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan. He has also developed and coordinated the 2016-2017 bilateral engagement plan with Sudan which led to progress towards a number of U.S priorities and the lifting of U.S. sanctions on Sudan.

Thank you to our supporters Highmark, UPMC, and PwC for making this episode possible.

Peter Krause sat down with Anna to talk about his new book, Rebel Power: Why National Movements Compete, Fight, and Win during his visit to Pittsburgh in March 2018.   Peter explains that the quest to create a new country or to be free from a colonial power is often fraught with infighting, several setbacks, and several roadblocks on the road to independence.   He walks us through examples of states that have been successful in gaining independence like Israel and Algeria, but others have limited or no progress towards their own state such as the Palestinian Authority or Northern Ireland.   He also talks about what lessons can we learn from these four examples to apply to modern-day nationalist movements such as the creation of South Sudan, the Kurdish national movement, the Scottish national movement, and the Catalan national movement.

Peter is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Boston College and a Research Affiliate with the MIT Security Studies Program.  His research and teaching focus on Middle East politics, terrorism and political violence, national movements, and international relations. He has a Ph.D. in political science from MIT and a B.A. in political science and history from Williams College.

Additional Resources:

Thank you to our supporters, Ernst & Young, Hefren-Tillotson, & Jones Day, for making this episode possible.