Global Dispatches -- World News That Matters

Today's episode is produced in partnership with the Global Challenges Foundation. The foundation is dedicated to raising awareness of global catastrophic risks and strengthening global governance to address them. The Global Challenges Foundation's 2026 Global Catastrophic Risks report outlines five of the biggest risks facing humanity today -- and how to stop them. You can find the report at globalchallenges.org/gcr-2026.
This is the fifth episode of this series, which has included episodes on specific risks like nuclear weapons, ecological collapse, catastrophic climate change — and even near-Earth asteroids. In today's episode, I am joined by the former prime minister of Sweden, Stefan Löfven, and Jens Orback, a strategic advisor to the Global Challenges Foundation, for a wide-ranging conversation about how we can better reform our politics and diplomacy to confront global catastrophic risks.
Managing global catastrophic risks requires systems of global governance, and in this episode we discuss how we can build our common defense against these challenges.

Today's episode is produced in partnership with the Global Challenges Foundation. The foundation is dedicated to raising awareness of global catastrophic risks and strengthening global governance to address them. The Global Challenges Foundation's 2026 Global Catastrophic Risks report outlines five of the biggest risks facing humanity today, including an asteroid colliding with earth, the topic of this episode. You can find the report at globalchallenges.org/gcr-2026.
To discuss the potential consequences of an asteroid impact, and how we have built a system of planetary defense to guard against this risk, I am joined by Romana Kofler, program management officer at the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, and Anja Olin-Pape, head of programs at the Global Challenges Foundation.
We kick off by discussing the ways in which an asteroid impact could disrupt life on Earth and cause mass destruction, before turning to a longer conversation about how international cooperation and global governance have given us the tools to prevent an asteroid impact — and the catastrophe that would entail.

The civil war in Sudan is now entering its fourth year. Full-scale conflict broke out in April 2023 following a failed democratic transition, when two powerful rival militaries, the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces, fought each other for control of the country. Caught in the middle were the Sudanese people, 14 million of whom have been displaced, making this the largest humanitarian crisis in the world by the numbers.
Four years on, I wanted to learn more about the state of the civil war today, including how the Iran conflict is impacting Sudan. Many of the same outside forces in the Gulf that have backed various sides in Sudan's civil war are now themselves under attack. Further, as we explored in a previous episode, rising fertilizer prices are hitting crisis-prone places like Sudan particularly hard.
My guest today is Sudan analyst Dallia Mohamed. We kick off our conversation by discussing the current trends in this war. She then explains how the Iran war is impacting Sudan's own conflict before we have a longer discussion about what can break this cycle of violence.

The Security Council is weighing yet another U.S.-backed resolution on the Strait of Hormuz that is probably doomed from the start. In this first segment of To Save Us From Hell, Anjali and Mark explain the flawed logic behind this latest effort to return the Strait to its status quo ante bellum. Then, Mark discusses what he learned covering the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference, underway at the UN — the major multilateral nuclear security gathering that happens every five years. Finally, Anjali and Mark consider the latest American effort to withhold money it already owes to the UN — threatening to plunge the organization into an even deeper fiscal crisis. The full episode is available to paying subscribers. https://www.globaldispatches.org/40PercentOff

*]:pointer-events-auto R6Vx5W_threadScrollVars scroll-mb-[calc(var(--scroll-root-safe-area-inset-bottom,0px)+var(--thread-response-height))] scroll-mt-(--header-height)" dir="auto" data-turn-id="d03fb3f0-533e-4efb-a046-d481c56672f8" data-testid="conversation-turn-1" data-scroll-anchor="false" data-turn="user"> *]:pointer-events-auto [content-visibility:auto] supports-[content-visibility:auto]:[contain-intrinsic-size:auto_100lvh] R6Vx5W_threadScrollVars scroll-mb-[calc(var(--scroll-root-safe-area-inset-bottom,0px)+var(--thread-response-height))] scroll-mt-[calc(var(--header-height)+min(200px,max(70px,20svh)))]" dir="auto" data-turn-id= "request-WEB:ccae54eb-f4b0-4e6b-a1ae-15b689f25724-0" data-testid= "conversation-turn-2" data-scroll-anchor="false" data-turn= "assistant"> I wanted to share with you a new podcast that I've had a hand in supporting. Houston at Large is a show produced by Rice University Master of Global Affairs students Luisa Tolda and Dante Garcia. The podcast aims to analyze Houston's role in international matters such as immigration, energy, and trade. The first episode of this series, presented today, features Dr. Tony Payan, Director of the Claudio X. González Center for the U.S. and Mexico at the Baker Institute at Rice University. In this episode, Dr. Payan discusses a range of issues, including how immigration impacts Houston and how current events, such as the Iran conflict, have affected Houston, a major energy hub. Congratulations to these students for bringing this podcast to life! Now here are Luisa Tolda and Dante Garicia.