Global Dispatches -- World News That Matters

Mark here! I just wanted to talk directly to you about my comings and going this UNGA and preview for you my plans for covering the UN.  Some relevent links: 50 % discounted subsciption to support the show! Support the show at full price! Contact me!   

Haiti's security crisis is deepening as armed gangs expand their control over territory and daily life, while a new UN-backed Gang Suppression Force begins to deploy amid major questions about whether it can actually reverse the country's descent into violence. Diego Da Rin of the International Crisis Group joins me to explain how Haiti reached this point, what the gangs are doing to consolidate their power, what the new international force is supposed to accomplish, and what it means that the United States is deporting Haitians back into this increasingly dangerous environment.

The Iran war is spilling over into Yemen. And now, the country is on the verge of a full-blown civil war that could drag in Saudi Arabia, Iran — and potentially the United States. Over the last several weeks, the Iran-backed Houthis and the Saudi-backed internationally recognized government have been clashing at a pace and with a fury not seen since a 2022 ceasefire brought a halt to a devastating eight-year civil war. The war in Iran has changed the dynamics of the region in ways that have left Yemen poised to become the next place where the conflict spreads. My guest today, Alexandra Stark, is a political scientist at RAND who studies the region. She is the author of the book The Yemen Model and recently wrote a New York Times op-ed about the prospect of Yemen becoming a new front in a widening Middle East conflict. We kick off by discussing recent events on the ground in Yemen, their connection to the U.S.-Iran war, and the mechanisms through which Yemen could once again become engulfed in a devastating civil war — one fueled by Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United States.

Zambia's election is raising fresh questions about the country's democratic trajectory — even as its vast copper reserves make it increasingly important to the global economy and to strategic competition between the United States and China. In this episode, Zaynab Hoosen of Pangea Risk explains the political tensions surrounding the election, Zambia's economic outlook, and why the global race for copper is putting the country in the geopolitical spotlight.

Oman has long played one of the Middle East's most unusual diplomatic roles: maintaining close ties with rivals and quietly creating space for enemies to talk. Secret U.S.-Iran negotiations in Muscat helped pave the way for the 2015 nuclear deal, and Oman has continued to serve as an intermediary on prisoner exchanges, regional conflicts, and nuclear diplomacy. But the Iran war has thrust Oman into a much more precarious position. Sitting directly across the Strait of Hormuz from Iran, the small Gulf state is no longer just a mediator on the sidelines. It is now deeply exposed to a conflict that threatens shipping, regional security, and the very diplomatic relationships Oman has spent decades cultivating. I'm joined by Tyler Parker, a professor at Mercer University who studies the foreign policies of the Gulf states, to discuss how Oman became the region's indispensable intermediary, why the Strait of Hormuz has made Muscat so important to the current crisis, and whether Oman could ultimately help create a path toward ending the war.