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Global Dispatches

The longest running independent international affairs podcast features in-depth interviews with policymakers, journalists and experts around the world who discuss global news, international relations, global development and key trends driving world affairs.

Named by The Guardian as "a podcast to make you smarter," Global Dispatches is a podcast for people who crave a deeper understanding of international news.

Global Dispatches -- World News That Matters

In 2023, the United Kingdom hosted the world’s first major international summit on the risks of advanced artificial intelligence. That Bletchley Park gathering kicked off a series of high-profile summits — in Seoul in 2024, in Paris earlier this year, and with India set to host the next in 2026.
 
But here’s the big question: are these summits actually building the guardrails the world needs to keep AI safe — or are they falling short?
 
My guest today, Robert F. Trager, says the answer depends on whether this summit series is reformed. Trager is Co-Director of the Oxford Martin AI Governance Initiative, which recently published a roadmap for how the AI Summit Series can live up to its potential.
 
We dig into those recommendations, and we also take stock of what these summits have accomplished so far — and what’s at stake if they fail.
 
This episode was supported through a grant from the Tarbell Center for AI Journalism
 
Report mentioned: The Future of the AI Summit Series

Can a Series of Global AI Summits Actually Shape the Rules that will Govern the World’s most Powerful Technology?

What does it mean to make peace with nature — and why could that be the key to lasting peace between people? Former Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos shares the extraordinary indigenous mandate that shaped his leadership, while Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim explains how climate shocks in Africa are driving conflict and migration. Khouloud Ben Mansour brings in the youth, peace, and security lens, stressing that climate justice must include women and young leaders at the table. Across the conversation, you’ll hear why African knowledge systems are vital to global climate solutions, and how reframing climate as a security issue could shift the way the world responds.
 Guests • 

Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, Chair of the Planetary Guardians and President of the Indigenous Women and Peoples Association of Chad
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 Khouloud Ben Mansour, Tunisian junior diplomat and former African Union Youth Ambassador of Peace
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Juan Manuel Santos, former President of Colombia, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Chair of The Elders
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 Background Materials • 

 Cooperation on Climate, Peace and Security is Needed Now, The Elders
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 Africa Climate Security Risk Assessment, Africa Union
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 Planetary Health Check, Planetary Guardians
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The Climate, Peace & Security Nexus | Future of Africa Episode 2

The past week has seen a frenzy of diplomatic activity on Ukraine, culminating in Donald Trump’s extraordinary announcement that he will host Vladimir Putin in Alaska for talks on the war. Setting aside the propriety of Putin visiting the United States (he launched this war of aggression and is wanted by the ICC for the systematic abduction of Ukrainian children) what could such a summit actually achieve? Would Ukraine really be willing to trade land for a ceasefire? And would Putin simply use a pause in hostilities to regroup?
 
I put these questions and more to Evelyn Farkas, a longtime Ukraine specialist who is now the CEO of the McCain Institute.
 
We spoke just hours before Trump announced the Alaska summit and we kick off with a discussion about the current state-of-play of the conflict on the ground before discussing the prospects of a diplomatic solution to this conflict.

What We Can Expect from the Putin-Trump Alaska Summit

Africa is the world’s youngest continent — and its future is everyone’s future. By 2030, 70% of sub-Saharan Africa’s population will be under the age of 30. By century’s end, one in three people on the planet will be African. What happens in Africa will shape the course of the 21st century.
 
That’s why Global Dispatches is proud to launch a bold new podcast series: The Future of Africa. Produced in partnership with the African Union, The Elders, and the United Nations Foundation, this series explores how Africa’s rising generation is transforming the world—and how global leaders are engaging with this dynamic shift.
 
Hosted by the powerhouse Kenyan journalist Adelle Onyango, The Future of Africa features intergenerational conversations between former presidents, Nobel Peace Prize winners, diplomats, and trailblazing young leaders. These are solutions-driven discussions tackling the most urgent issues of our time: climate, education, economic growth, governance, and more.
 
Africa’s influence on global decision-making is rising as the world’s youngest and fastest-growing continent — but will young people be given the power to shape it? Chukwuemeka Eze lays out why legitimacy at home is the foundation for influence abroad, while Chido Mpemba champions young people’s leadership in every sphere of governance. Jake Obeng-Bediako warns against “waithood” as the lost years between education and meaningful leadership, and calls for young Africans to be decision-makers. Together, they highlight ways young African countries are navigating geopolitical shifts, increasing their role in multilateral forums, and leveraging demographic and economic momentum. This is a call-to-action for anyone who believes Africa should lead as an innovator on the world stage.
 Guest Speakers • 

 Jake Bediako, Director of Policy and Implementation for Global Citizens Move Afrika Initiative.
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 Dr. Chukwuemeka Eze, Director for Democratic Futures in Africa at the Open Society Foundation
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 Chido Mpemba, formerly the African Union’s Special Youth Envoy and currently the Advisor to the African Union Commission Chairperson for Women, Gender and Youth.
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Africa's Role on the Global Stage | Introducing: The "Future of Africa" Podcast Series

“The worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip.”
 
That was the conclusion of a July 29 report by the leading global authority on food security, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC). The report found that more than one in three people in Gaza (39 percent) are now going days at a time without eating. More than 500,000 people—nearly a quarter of the population—are enduring famine-like conditions. Malnutrition rates are skyrocketing, and deaths from acute malnutrition are mounting.
 
This is the direct result of Israel’s policy of preventing sufficient food from entering Gaza. Now, as images of emaciated children flash across screens around the world, will that be enough to generate the political will in Israel, the United States, and Europe to change course? Alternatively, how much worse can this get?
 
Joining me to discuss the ongoing famine and humanitarian crisis is Tjada D’Oyen McKenna, the CEO of Mercy Corps, a major international humanitarian NGO with ongoing operations in Gaza. She explains why famine has taken hold, what can be done to immediately end it, and why this crisis is very much at a tipping point.
 
Support our humanitarian journalism with a paid subscription:
 
https://www.globaldispatches.org/

Famine in Gaza — A Political and Humanitarian Tipping Point?

In 1997, Jessica Matthews' landmark Foreign Affairs essay “Power Shift” captured the growing influence of NGOs and other non-state actors in shaping global affairs. But nearly three decades later, that tide has turned. A provocative new piece in Foreign Affairs argues that the age of NGOs is over—and states are reasserting dominance.
 
Joining me to unpack this shift is Jennifer Hadden, co-author of the new article and Associate Professor at Brown University. We discuss the heyday of NGOs in the 1990s, what led to their decline, and what this reversal means for the future of human rights, democracy and freedom worldwide. 
 
Foreign Affairs

The Stark Demise of the Era of NGOs

A groundbreaking new study published in the British medical journal The Lancet Global Health finds that unilateral economic sanctions—most of which are imposed by the United States—lead to approximately 564,000 excess deaths worldwide each year. Up to half of these deaths are children.
 
While sanctions are often touted as an alternative to military force, this research shows they can devastate public health, cause severe food and medicine shortages, and drive mortality rates to levels comparable to those seen in armed conflicts. In fact, the findings suggest that sanctions are about as deadly as military conflicts around the world each year.
 
Joining me to discuss this new study is one of its authors, Mark Weisbrot of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. We begin by examining his key findings and then explore how and why sanctions end up killing so many people globally.
 
https://www.globaldispatches.org/40PercentOff
 
Mark Weisbrot's research.

A New Study Shows that Sanctions Kill As Many People As War

I caught up with Comfort Ero at the Aspen Security Forum last week. She is the President of the International Crisis Group, and in that role, she brings a truly global perspective on the drivers of conflict worldwide. Earlier in the forum, she participated in a panel on international aid—timely, given the massive scaling back of foreign assistance by the Trump administration and other traditional donors in Europe. So, for most of this conversation, we explore the implications of this sudden retraction of foreign aid on regional and global security—that is, how might these aid cuts impact conflict dynamics around the world?
 
Get a 40% discount off Global Dispatches and support the show! https://www.globaldispatches.org/40PercentOff

Comfort Ero on How Foreign Aid Cuts May Spark Conflicts Worldwide | Live from the Aspen Security Forum

My guest today, Thordis Gylfadottir, served as Iceland's foreign minister until 2024. We spoke last week at the Aspen Security Forum, where she delivered a forceful case for the necessity of continued military and diplomatic support for Ukraine. However, that view—once broadly shared across Europe and the Atlantic—is no longer as ubiquitous as it once was. In our conversation, I wanted to learn from her exactly how firm support for Ukraine remains across Europe, both in politics and in society. And what, if anything, can be done to shore up that support. 
 
We begin, however, with a discussion of her current work as the Special Envoy for the Council of Europe on the situation of children in Ukraine, where she helps bring home Ukrainian children kidnapped by Russia during its invasion.

Can Europe Stay Unified on Ukraine? With Thordis Gylfadottir, Iceland's Former Foreign Minister | Live From the Aspen Security Forum

Trump’s pick for UN Ambassador, Mike Waltz, faced questions from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this week. You may recall he previously served as National Security Advisor before being sidelined by Trump after “Signalgate.” But Waltz was never officially fired — he was banished to the United Nations instead. For over two hours, he fielded questions from senators.
 
So, what did we learn about how the Trump administration might approach diplomacy at the United Nations with Mike Waltz as U.S. Permanent Representative? Mark and Anjali watched the full two-and-a-half-hour hearing so you don’t have to.
 
Upgrade to paid to acccess the full episode. https://www.globaldispatches.org/

What We Learned From Mike Waltz's Confirmation Hearing for UN Ambassador | To Save Us From Hell

Agnès Marcaillou is the director of the United Nations Mine Action Service. This is the UN agency that helps clear mine fields, defuse IEDs and clean up unexploded ordinance around the world. It is the UN Bomb Squad. 
 
In this conversation, we discuss the problem of landmines and unexploded ordinance around the word, the work of UNMAS, and how funding shortages is preventing her agency from being maximally effective in places like Iraq, where UNMAS has received high praise for defusing a bomb-laden bridge in Fallujah to allow aid to enter the city following ISIS' defeat. 
 
Agnès has had a long career in the UN and I think younger professionals and students who listen to this show will find some inspiration in how Agnes was able to make a very big policy impact as a relatively junior UN staffer working on the Convention on the prohibition of chemical weapons in the late 1980s and early 1990s. 
 
Last month, I saw Agnès give an acceptance speech at the Global Leadership Awards, which is an event hosted by United Nations Foundation. The way in which she both described the work of UNMAS and her own long experience in the UN system compelled me to reach out to her for an interview. 
 
This is a great conversation with a true bureaucratic entrepreneur. 
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Episode 172: Agnès Marcaillou Leads the UN's Bomb Squad

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