Global Dispatches -- World News That Matters

What can bring about peace in an era of geopolitical rivalry and persistent conflict? In an ambitious new report, the International Crisis Group takes a hard-nosed approach to this question, offering a realistic assessment of what is—and is not—possible when it comes to preventing and ending conflict today.
I caught up with Crisis Group's Comfort Ero, Michael Hanna, and Ginger Jacobs at the Aspen Security Forum in July. They explain why a new approach to conflict resolution is needed—and why the old models are no longer suited to today's world.

With humanitarian needs surging and resources increasingly scarce, how does the World Food Programme decide where to cut assistance?
Our guest today is Carl Skau, acting executive director of the World Food Programme. We begin by discussing how renewed fighting between the United States and Iran—and the resulting closure of the Strait of Hormuz and a key Red Sea transit corridor—is driving up food prices and worsening food insecurity around the world.
Carl Skau also responds to Israeli criticism of a recent food-security report on Gaza, explains the operational challenges facing the WFP in Afghanistan and Sudan, and discusses why, on top of everything else, the organization is bracing for the possible arrival of a powerful El Niño.

Nicholas Burns is a veteran diplomat who served as President Biden's ambassador to China during a crucial period in U.S.-China relations. We caught up at the Aspen Security Forum in July for a wide-ranging conversation about Chinese foreign policy, including Beijing's evolving diplomatic role in the conflict with Iran, what Xi Jinping hopes to gain from upcoming summits with Donald Trump, and whether China is really seeking to supplant the United States in international institutions.

The race to become the next United Nations Secretary-General is heating up, with the Security Council preparing to hold its first straw polls to test the viability of the candidates.
In this Global Dispatches exclusive, I speak with María Fernanda Espinosa, a former foreign minister, defense minister, and UN ambassador for Ecuador who served as president of the UN General Assembly from 2018 to 2019.
Espinosa discusses how her early work with Indigenous communities in Ecuador continues to shape her approach to diplomacy and problem-solving. She also explains her proposal to create a crisis-prevention and early-action hub at the UN and shares her views on the organization's role in conflicts involving Iran and Ukraine.
We also discuss how the next Secretary-General can advance global health and development—and what should replace the Sustainable Development Goals after their 2030 deadline.
It is a wide-ranging conversation with a leading international diplomat seeking to lead the United Nations at a particularly precarious moment in global affairs.

In recent months, Ukraine has clearly seized the initiative against Russia. Its impressive use of drones and autonomous weapons systems has put Russia on the defensive, while strikes on Russian energy infrastructure are causing gasoline shortages for ordinary Russians.
I speak with The Wall Street Journal's Yaroslav Trofimov about how and why Ukraine's fortunes have suddenly turned—and what comes next in the war.
We caught up at the Aspen Security Forum on the same day that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, even though Fedorov had championed many of the tactics that made Ukraine's advances possible. We begin by discussing that dramatic turn of events before broadening the conversation to the current trajectory of the war.
Buy Yaroslav's book about the Urkaine war from an indy bookseller here: Our Enemies Will Vanish