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Council on Foreign Relations
Why It MattersEpisodes
Council on Foreign Relations
Why It Matters
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A little over a week ago, Iran directly attacked Israel from its own territory for the first time in history. And while the United States and Israel shot down almost all of the missiles and drones, the attack remains unprecedented. Since the re
Thirty years ago, Rwanda’s government began a campaign to eradicate the country’s largest minority group. In just one hundred days in 1994, roving militias killed around eight hundred thousand people. Would-be killers were incited to violence b
Many Americans are losing faith in the benefits of internationalism. But whether it’s wars in the Gaza Strip and Ukraine, worsening extreme weather as a result of climate change, or the trade-offs of globalization, events abroad are increasingl
Unidentified flying objects (UFOs) are real. And the truth about them is often hidden from the public, for reasons related to national security. That secrecy has fed conspiracy theories about the possibility of alien life on Earth, creating a s
Every January, CFR’s annual Preventive Priorities Survey analyzes the conflicts most likely to occur in the year ahead and measures their potential impact. For the first time, the survey predicts that this year/in 2024 the United States will co
Billions of people will take to the polls next year, marking the world’s largest-ever electoral field. But this historic scale is not the only thing that will make 2024 unique. As new threats like deep fakes become cheaper and more widespread,
The United States and India have a long and complex history. In recent years, the two democracies have grown closer, linked by their shared concern about the rise of China. But the relationship has also been marked by a number of challenges. Ju
Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas are again at war. The most recent iteration of the conflict, which erupted after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, has stoked public debate throughout the world. In the United States, heat
International trade has shaped the world for much of the past century. Countries benefited from the global flow of goods, and the world became richer and safer. At the same time, many Americans lost their jobs to cheaper overseas competitors. N
Over the past few years, a new threat has emerged as a leading cause of death in the United States: fentanyl. Yet even as the drug wreaks havoc on Americans lives, preventing its flow into the United States is complicated, partially because of
Russia has caused unprecedented damage in Ukraine. And with no diplomatic end in sight to the conflict, many Ukrainians are wondering when, if ever, they will be able to go back to their homes. According to many experts, the answer is actually
For decades, U.S. homeowners have counted on property insurance to protect them from catastrophic loss if their homes are destroyed—and the U.S. economy has rested on the functionality of that model. But as this summer’s extreme weather broke r
Female representation in politics leads to numerous benefits, but the vast majority of the world’s most powerful politicians are men. Using the Council on Foreign Relations’ Women’s Power Index tool to track women’s leadership across the globe,
A small island one hundred miles off the coast of China could be the flashpoint that determines the future of great-power competition. Experts increasingly warn that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would be globally catastrophic, regardless of its
The rapid emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) has brought lawmakers and industry leaders to the same conclusion: regulation is necessary to ensure the technology changes the world for the better. The similarities could end there, as gover
After decades of seeming like another sci-fi catchphrase, artificial intelligence (AI) is having its moment. Some experts predict that AI will usher in an era of boundless productivity and techno-utopia; others see a new realm of great-power co
Feeding the world's eight billion people has never been easy. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine shocked the market for fertilizer, that task has gotten even harder. The fertilizer crisis threatens to exacerbate food insecurity worldwide, es
Before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the possibility of nuclear war felt like a problem of days past. Now, as great-power competition heats up, the potential for nuclear conflict seems higher than at any point in decades. How did the nuclear
All current U.S. military personnel have one thing in common: they volunteered. But falling recruitment has raised questions of national security, military readiness, and the health of U.S. society. Can the all-volunteer force handle a changing
Freedom of the press is under attack around the globe, but for journalists in Latin America in particular, reporting has become a matter of life and death. Populist leaders in the region have consolidated power and clamped down on press freedom
As rising global temperatures thaw the ice at the North Pole of the planet, competition between nuclear-powered states threatens to heat up the Arctic Circle even further. An increasingly minable Arctic, which contains vast natural resources, h
The world is entering a new era of great-power competition. As U.S. policymakers look ahead, it pays to know what global threats to anticipate. Every January, the Council on Foreign Relations publishes a survey that analyzes the conflicts most
In 2022, several major events reverberated around the world: a war in Europe, a global economic downturn, historic protests in Iran, the death of a queen. But these stories couldn’t cover everything that happened in our interconnected world.
For years, the world thought of the internet as a borderless zone that brought people from around the world together. But as governments pursue very different regulatory paths, the monolithic internet is breaking apart. Now, where there had bee
The 2022 FIFA World Cup has kicked off in Qatar, and billions of fans worldwide are tuning in to the world’s most popular live event. And yet as in years past, the Qatar Cup is transpiring under the shadow of controversy.Featured GuestsLaur
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