
100 episodes

On Shifting Ground World Affairs
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4.4 • 204 Ratings
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Geopolitical turmoil. A warming planet. Authoritarians on the rise. We live in a chaotic world that’s rapidly shifting around us.
“On Shifting Ground with Ray Suarez” explores international fault lines and how they impact us all.
Each week, NPR veteran Ray Suarez hosts conversations with journalists, leaders and policy experts to help us read between the headlines – and give us hope for human resilience.
A co-production of World Affairs and KQED.
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Decolonizing Energy: Indigenous Led Climate Action
What does a ‘just’ transition away from fossil fuels actually mean for Indigenous communities? At the APEC Multistakeholder Forum (AMF), organized by the Commonwealth Club World Affairs, Ray Suarez sat down with Chéri A. Smith, a renewable energy expert and Mi’kmaq descendant. They discussed how the Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy is working to combat energy poverty, bring solar to Indigenous communities and secure Native people a seat at the clean energy development table.
Guest:
Chéri A. Smith, founder, president and CEO of the Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy
Host:
Ray Suarez
If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you. -
US State Department’s Mallory Stewart on Controlling Nuclear Escalation
It’s been 78 years since a nuclear weapon was last used in war. Since then, the number of countries with a nuclear arsenal has increased from one… to nine. For the US government, two of the greatest nuclear threats are China and Russia – two superpowers that are escalating their nuclear capacity. US State Department nuclear expert, Mallory Stewart, shares how serious these threats are to the US.
Guest:
Mallory Stewart, Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Arms Control, Deterrence, and Stability.
Host:
Ray Suarez
If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you. -
I'll See Your Deterrence, And Raise You... Nuclear Annihilation
Former president Dwight Eisenhower described nuclear war as “unwinnable, unsurvivable and unthinkable.” But what changes when the use of a nuclear weapon now seems thinkable, and maybe… inevitable?
Ray Suarez sits down with Shannon E. French, Director of the Inamori International Center for Ethics and Excellence, and Matt Korda, Senior Research Fellow for the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists, to unpack why talk of nuclear annihilation is now being so casually thrown around by world leaders.
Guests:
Shannon E. French, Director of the Inamori International Center for Ethics and Excellence and a tenured professor in the philosophy department at Case Western Reserve in Cleveland
Matt Korda, Senior Research Fellow for the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists and Associate Researcher with the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s Weapons of Mass Destruction program
Host:
Ray Suarez
If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you. -
Kofi Annan’s Masterclass on Peace and Power Sharing
Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who died in 2018, was one of the most famous diplomats of his time. In today’s episode, we're sharing an Foreign Policy Magazine's The Negotiators about Annan’s mediation of a Kenyan political crisis in 2008—which stands out as one of his most impressive acts of diplomacy.
What we can learn about the nuances of negotiating?
Guest:
Meredith Preston McGhie, Secretary General for the Global Centre for Pluralism
Hosts:
Ray Suarez
Jenn Williams
Producer:
Laura Rosbrow-Telem
If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you. -
Biden and Xi Walk into a Room… Will They Continue to Play Nice?
During APEC, President Xi Jinping reminded world leaders that China is “open for business.” So what does the next era of US-China relations look like? Ivan Kanapathy, Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic & International Studies, joins Ray Suarez to unpack the stakes of the Biden-Xi sideline talks, and just how far the two leaders will go to reestablish ties.
Guest:
Ivan Kanapathy, Senior Associate, Freeman Chair in China Studies at the Center for Strategic & International Studies
Host:
Ray Suarez
If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you. -
The Covert War on LGBT+ Rights
While the past year has seen major gains for LGBT+ rights, politicians around the world are increasingly using the community as scapegoats. Julie Dorf, Co-Chair of the Council for Global Equality, joins Ray Suarez to explain how a transnational network of American Christians is targeting LGBT+ rights at home… and abroad.
Guest:
Julie Dorf, Co-Chair of the Council for Global Equality
Host:
Ray Suarez
If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.
Customer Reviews
Really Interesting Talks, Usually Foreign Policy
Super interesting discussions with experts will deepen your understanding of what’s happening in the world.
Rays knowledge is encyclopedic
In depth, global coverage
Ray and Reza
This week’s episode is, as always, fascinating, but also fun, as Ray, who is a wonderful storyteller, interviews another great storyteller, Reza Aslan about the history of an earlier revolution in then, Persia, in which a young Christian missionary English teacher in Persia leads his students in a revolt in the besieged city of Tabriz…and dies. A serious subject, pleasurably told.