On Shifting Ground World Affairs
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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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From Crisis to Normalization – and Back Again: A Conversation with the Cuban Ambassador
Cuba is facing its worst economic crisis in decades, and shortages of food, fuel, medicine — and opportunity — have fueled a record-breaking surge of Cuban immigrants at America’s borders. But the US shows no signs of changing its policy towards the embargoed island, nor reversing former President Trump’s designation of the communist-led nation as a “state sponsor of terror.”
Ray Suarez sits down with Lianys Torres Rivera, Cuban Ambassador to the US, to unpack how migration and economic sanctions are linked.
Guest:
Ambassador Lianys Torres Rivera, Chargée D'Affairs, Embassy of Cuba in United States
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. -
How Europe Paid to Lock Up Migrants… and Threw Away The Key
Mass death and disappearances have become normalized on Europe’s borders. Back in 2015, when more than a million refugees turned up on Europe’s doorstep to request asylum, the European Union cut deals with North African and Middle Eastern nations to hold back the flow of asylum-seekers. Since then, roughly 29,000 people have died or disappeared in the Mediterranean, reports the Missing Migrants Project.
And for the migrants who were were intercepted while attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea and forcibly placed in detention centers in Libya, they face inhumane living conditions, beatings, sexual abuse, starvation… and death — consequences of Europe’s ongoing cooperation with nations like Libya on migration and border control.
In My Fourth Time, We Drowned, journalist Sally Hayden reports on the shadowy immigration system created by the European Union which captures and imprisons migrants from Africa to keep them from reaching European soil. In an interview with Senior KQED editor Rachael Myrow, Hayden explains how western institutions are complicit in this humanitarian crisis.
Featuring:
Rachael Myrow, senior editor of KQED's Silicon Valley News Desk
Sally Hayden, author of My Fourth Time, We Drowned and Africa correspondent for the Irish Times
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. -
Ukraine Diaries: The Ones Who Stayed
The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine has forced millions to flee their homes. And for the Ukrainian civilians caught in the crossfire, war has become a way of life.
This week, we talked to Ukrainians about the ways that the war unexpectedly changed their lives. Kateryna Lazarevych, an archivist at the PinchukArtCentre in Kyiv, shares how she’s working to improve her country, as if everyday were her last day on earth. Filmmaker Iryna Tsilyk takes us through her decision to leave Kyiv where her husband is fighting as a soldier in Ukraine’s Territorial Defense Forces. And Alex Gerz, a Russian-Ukrainian student living in Germany, records his story from the road, where he provides humanitarian assistance and safe passage to those fleeing Ukraine with a ragtag army of volunteers.
Guests:
Kateryna Lazarevych, archivist at the PinchukArtCentre in Kyiv
Iryna Tsilyk, filmmaker and director of “The Earth is Blue as an Orange”
Alex Gerz, Russian-Ukrainian student based in Kassel, Germany
Host:
Ray Suarez
Producers:
Andrew Stelzer, KALW producer
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. -
How Kenya Took the Fight for Gender Equality… to Reality TV
Shortly before the end of his term in 2022, former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta pledged to end gender-based violence in his country by 2026. With two years left before the deadline, is Kenya still on track to fulfill the promises made to Kenyan women? And how is Kenyan media keeping the fight alive?
This week, we’re sharing an episode from Foreign Policy’s “Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women”, about how reality TV is helping women’s rights activists press the Kenyan government to uphold its pledge.
Guests:
Audrey Mugeni, the co-founder of Counting Dead Women Kenya
Anne Ireri, the executive director of the Federation of Women Lawyers in Kenya
Hosts:
Reena Ninan, founder of Good Trouble Productions
Laura Rosbrow-Telem, senior producer at Foreign Policy
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. -
Kara Swisher’s Tech Love Story: The Good, Bad, and Ugly of Silicon Valley
To leaders in Silicon Valley, artificial intelligence is just the latest innovation in a never-ending “make our lives better.” But can we trust them with our data… and our lives… if they can’t be held accountable?
Journalist Kara Swisher joins Ray Suarez to discuss her newest book, “Burn Book,” and the psyche of Silicon Valley’s biggest players.
Plus: Hear Kara Swisher discuss “Burn Book,” the inside story of Silicon valley and the biggest boom in wealth creation in history live at the Commonwealth Club World Affairs on Thursday, March 7. Register here.
Guest:
Kara Swisher, author of “Burn Book,” and host of the podcast “On with Kara Swisher”
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. -
Foreign Policy is on the Ballot… But Do We Care? A 2024 Election Special
Most Americans are far more focused on “pocketbook issues” – like stretching an ever-inflating dollar – than what the country does overseas in their name. But this election cycle, calls for additional aid for overseas wars has put foreign policy on the ballot for voters.
In the second episode of our special election series, South Carolina voter Maryann Wright shares her thoughts on the role of American democracy at home… and its responsibility abroad. Then, Ray Suarez sits down with Wendy Sherman, former US Deputy Secretary of State, and Nicholas Kristof, columnist at The New York Times, to see why international affairs will matter come November.
Guests:
Wendy Sherman, former US Deputy Secretary of State
Nicholas Kristof, NY Times columnist
Maryann Wright, retired teacher and South Carolina voter
Phil Hemingway, former owner of Phil’s Repair, LLC and Iowa voter
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.