On Shifting Ground

In 2018, Chinese scientist He Jianku sent shockwaves through the world’s medical and scientific world when he claimed to have made two children immune to HIV using a powerful gene-editing technology called “CRISPR”. After a three-year prison sentence, Jianku is back in the lab, but should he be experimenting with human genes? Ray Suarez talks with Dr. Alta Charo, the Warren P. Knowles Professor Emerita of Law and Bioethics at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, about the ethics of CRISPR, and the opportunities and risks of the technology. Guest: Dr. Alta Charo, the Warren P. Knowles Professor Emerita of Law and Bioethics at the University of Wisconsin at Madison Host: Ray Suarez, host of World Affairs 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.

According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, access to water in Gaza has dropped by 95 percent since October 7th, and as many as seven-in-ten Gazans are drinking salty and contaminated water to survive. Water is at the center of environmental challenges facing the whole Middle East, and it is perhaps the most pressing concern for desperate Gazans. So what are regional NGOs doing to provide clean water to millions of displaced people? Climate One’s Greg Dalton speaks with Nada Majdalani, Palestinian Director of EcoPeace Middle East, about Ecopeace’s three-decade journey to water security in the Middle East. Then, Ray Suarez speaks with Dr. Tareq Abu Hamed, Executive Director of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, to understand how climate scientists are trying to rebuild in Gaza following the recent violence. Guests: Nada Majdalani, Palestinian Director of EcoPeace Middle East Dr. Tareq Abu Hamed, Executive Director of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies Host: Ray Suarez Greg Dalton, founder and co-host, Climate One

By 2030, it’s estimated one out of every six people on planet earth will be over 60. Thanks to leaps in technology and public health, people are living longer and better than ever before. We’re taking a look at what economists and demographers are calling “the Silver Wave.” Ray speaks with MIT’s Joseph F. Coughlin,and New York Times Tokyo Bureau Chief Motoko Rich, on the challenges – and opportunities – that global aging presents. Guests: Joseph F. Coughlin, PhD, Founder and Director of MIT’s AgeLab Motoko Rich, Tokyo Bureau Chief for the New York Times 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.

For the most part, the world has gone back to normal. We’re getting on planes… going to concerts… but many Americans haven’t changed their pandemic drinking habits. And this increased consumption trend is especially high for older Americans. In 2020, alcohol accounted for more than 11,000 deaths among those 65 and up – that’s an 18 percent increase from the previous year – and many of those cases went untreated. Ray speaks with Keith Humphreys, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, to understand why. Guest: Keith Humphreys, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University 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.

Ray Suarez talks with former NPR Beijing correspondent Louisa Lim about China’s brazen efforts to stamp out free speech in Hong Kong, the city she grew up in. Lim shares the experiences she chronicled in her book Indelible City, an emotional eyewitness account of the pro-democracy protests and a reflection on Hong Kong’s identity. Guest: Louisa Lim, journalist and author of “Indelible City: Dispossession and Defiance in Hong Kong” 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.

Ray Suarez speaks with Sebastien Lai, the son of the imprisoned media mogul Jimmy Lai, and Jonathan Price, a member of Lai’s legal team. He’s on trial for his pro-democracy campaign, and they explore the fate of Hong Kong after China’s passage of the restrictive Article 23. Guests: Sebastien Lai, democracy advocate and son of jailed Hong Kong businessman and publisher Jonathan Price, a member of Jimmy Lai’s legal team 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.

Abortion advocates have long warned the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade would reverberate across all areas of reproductive health. Two years later, state personhood laws have challenged IVF and birth control… further threatening women’s bodily autonomy. In our third special election episode, we explore how the issue of abortion rights is likely to shape the 2024 election. First, we hear from two women whose lives were changed by rapidly shifting legislation surrounding IVF and abortion access. Then, Ray Suarez sits down with Dr. Jamila Perritt, President and CEO of Physicians for Reproductive Health (PRH), and UC Davis Law Professor Mary Ziegler to discuss the upcoming cases before the Supreme Court, and who may be the next “Roe”. Special thanks to All Roads Productions LLC for sharing the audio of Maleeha’s encounter with a crisis pregnancy center. You can watch the full scene from “Preconceived” at preconceivedfilm.com. Guests: Latorya Beasley, therapist and in vitro fertilization (IVF) patient in Alabama Maleeha Aziz, Deputy Director at the Texas Equal Access Fund Dr. Jamila Perritt, President and CEO of Physicians for Reproductive Health (PRH) Mary Ziegler, Martin Luther King Professor of Law at the University of California, Davis Host: Ray Suarez Guest Producer: Elize Manoukian 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.

Earlier this year, a grassroots movement emerged in the key battleground state of Michigan calling on Democratic voters to cast “uncommitted votes” in protest of president Joe Biden’s policy towards Israel’s war in Gaza. And in the months since, it’s gone national. But are Arab and Muslim American voters willing to gamble a second Trump presidency to hold Biden accountable for his Israel policy? Nihad Awad, a CAIR Action board member, joins Ray Suarez to share why Arab and Muslim voters feel abandoned by the Democratic party, and why they won’t be bullied into accepting the “lesser of two evils.” Guest: Nihad Awad, Board Member of Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Action 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.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's staunch opposition to a ceasefire in Gaza — and a future Palestinian state — is putting President Joe Biden in a vulnerable position at home. And as the 2024 election quickly approaches, it’s becoming clearer that US-Israel policy will be a lingering concern. Ray Suarez sits down with Zack Beauchamp, a senior correspondent at Vox, to unpack how the political winds on Israel may be shifting. Guest: Zack Beauchamp, Senior Correspondent at Vox 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 US has once again ignored the United Nations’ annual resolution calling for an end to its decades-long embargo on Cuba, even as Cubans took to the streets to protest the island nation’s worst economic crisis in decades, with shortages of food and fuel. And when the US Embassy urged the Communist-led regime to “attend to the legitimate needs” of its people, the Cuban government criticized the comment as “open interference in Cuba’s domestic affairs.” For Cuba, Washington's long standing role in the current crisis makes their complaints a “hypocrisy.” In this episode, we revisit Ray’s conversation with Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Ada Ferrer on just how intertwined the histories of the US and Cuba are, and why we’re so inseparable. Guest: Ada Ferrer, Julius Silver Professor of History and Latin American Studies at New York University and Pulitzer-Prize-winning author of Cuba: An American History Host(s): 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Saturday marks the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. And while foreign support may be dwindling, Ukrainian determination to win the war is not. But what’s at stake when war no longer feels like an emergency… but a way of life? Ray Suarez sits down with Masha Gessen, staff writer for The New Yorker, to unpack the toll of Russia’s aggression on Ukraine’s freedoms… and democracy. Guest: Masha Gessen, Russian-American award-winning author and staff writer for The New Yorker Host(s): 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.

Vladimir Putin set the world on edge when Russia invaded Ukraine. Two years later, international support for Ukraine’s sovereignty is becoming more precarious, and war weariness amongst the resistance — and their allies— has begun to set in. Global affairs analyst Michael Bociurkiw joins Ray Suarez to explain how a besieged Ukraine may be Europe’s last line of defense against Putin. Guest: Michael Bociurkiw, global affairs analyst and nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center 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.

On February 16, 2024, the Russian prison service reported that Alexei Navalny had died, and offered no further explanation. The cause of death hasn’t yet been reported, but since the news broke, world leaders have started speaking out against Vladimir Putin… and it brings a new round of scrutiny to the Russian dictator. In May 2022, Ray sat down with documentarian Daniel Roher to chat 'Navalny,' his new film following the famed Russian opposition leader’s recovery from a Kremlin-sponsored assassination attempt and his ongoing search for justice. The film took home the Academy Award for best documentary last year. To remember the life and political career of Alexei Navalny, we’re revisiting Ray’s conversation with Daniel Roher. Guest: Daniel Roher, documentary filmmaker and director of 'Navalny' 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.

Nearly 30,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza as Israel continues its massive retaliation against Hamas. And as violence spreads to Yemen, Iraq, and Syria, America’s global standing is taking a hit. Ray Suarez sits down with Trita Parsi, Iran expert and Executive Vice President of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, to unpack how Biden’s unwavering support of Israel could cost him in the Middle East… and at home. Guest: Trita Parsi, Executive Vice President of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft 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.