Video Abstracts

Amb. John Lange of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, joins Doug Savage, Assistant Director of the Institute of World Affairs, to discuss the politics of international pandemics.

A discussion with Abdur Chowdhury,Chair of the Department of Economics at Marquette University and Ken Spirewka, Vice President of Foreign Exchange for US Bancorp, regarding the current European economic crisis and the possibility of a Euro meltdown.

A discussion with Yasir Suleiman, Director, Centre of Islamic Studies, University of Camridge regarding Muslims in Secular Democratic Societies today.

Ron Larson, Journalist, Graduate Student from UW- Milwaukee joins Rob Ricigliano of the Institute of World Affairs on this episode of International Focus, to discuss international conflict journalism.

US Institute of Peace South Asia adviser Moeed Yusuf describes the political dynamics of Pakistan's domestic and foreign policy.

The Horn of Africa represents a complex interplay between conflict, peace, human rights and development. What interests and role does the US have in stabilizing this precarious region? Hamse Warfa, Executive Director of the Institute for Horn of Africa Studies and Affairs, speaks on his own experiences as a Somalian refugee and the precarious conflict in the Horn of Africa.

Lorelei Kelly, Director of the New Strategic Security Initiative discusses changing notions of national security.

Today's approach to security must involve more than the quest for military dominance. How should the US government respond to the changing nature of the threats we face?

National Catholic Relief Services Foundation board member Art Wichers discusses the 2011 referendum in southern Sudan.

Charles "Chic" Dambach reflects on his career and the emerging field of peacebuilding.

Ugandan native Victor Ochen describes the challenges facing children in conflict zones and efforts to foster reconciliation and capacity building.

Anthropologist Homa Hoodfar discusses the role of women in Iranian political life.

US Ambassador to Tunisia Gordon Gray discusses trade relations and development in the Arab world.

UW-Milwaukee graduate students Jonathan Burkham and Michael Tyburski discuss remittances by migrant communities and their impact on their communities of origin.

UW-Milwaukee Sociologist A. Aneesh discusses the implications of patenting life forms.

Kira Kay and Jason Maloney, co-founders of the Bureau for International Reporting discuss their reporting on fragile states around the world.

Author and activist Ben Skinner describes his undercover work in the fight against human trafficking work in several countries.

Dr. Luther Castillo, activist and recipient of Rotary International's 2006 "Doctor of the Year" award, discusses alternative models of health care delivery in the developing world.

James Bohn, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the US Drug Enforcement Administration's operations in Wisconsin talks about global trafficking and its impact on US security.

Alliance for Peacebuilding President and CEO Charles (Chic) Dambach on the development of peacebuilding as a discreet discipline and instrument of policy.

The City of Milwaukee Health Department's Director of Disease Control and Environmental Health, Paul Biedrzycki discusses the origins of and responses to global pandemics.

James Holmes, Professor of Strategy and Policy at the US Naval War College describes China's emerging maritime doctrine and its impact on US interests.

Malkhaz Mikeladze, Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of Georgia in Washington discusses his nation's relations with Russia and other states in the region.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist Patrick McIlheran and economist Michael Rosen debate the effects of a global free market approach in light of the economic crisis of 2009-09.

Mehrzad Boroujerdi, Director of Middle Eastern Studies at Syracuse University discusses Iran's domestic political landscape.

Diplomat, scholar and policy adviser Peter Galbraith discussed the role of special envoys in achieving foreign policy objectives.

Historian Aims McGinness and Latin America Working Group Director Lisa Haugaard discuss the first year of the Obama Administration's policies in Latin America.

UWM political scientist Robert Beck and Marisa Porges of the Council on Foreign Relations discuss legal issues surrounding detainees in Guantanamo Bay and other facilities.

Discussion of the consequences of the dollar being replaced as the world's reserve currency, with UWM economist Mohsen Bahmani and institutional brokerage consultant Stephen Isaacson.

The Institute of World Affairs joins with the US Center for Citizen Diplomacy to present the findings of a multi-year, 35-country study that challenges perceptions about attitudes in the Muslim world. The program features study co-author, Dalia Mogahed, Senior Analyst and Executive Director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, Washington D.C.

Exploration of the global water crisis with Katherine Bliss of the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Global Health Policy Center.

Examination of the parallels between the conflicts in Vietnam and Afghanistan with UW-Milwaukee historian Chia Vang and Louis Fortis, publisher and editor-in-chief of the Shepherd-Express.

The Institute of World Affairs joins with the US Center for Citizen Diplomacy to present the findings of a multi-year, 35-country study that challenges perceptions about attitudes in the Muslim world. The program features study co-author, Dalia Mogahed, Senior Analyst and Executive Director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, Washington D.C.

Discussion of the Obama Administration's nuclear disarmament efforts with Jennifer Nordstrom, Institute for Energy and Environmental Research and Joseph Cirincione of the Ploughshares Fund.

Czech Ambassador to the US Petr Kolar discusses the origins of the 1989 Czech "Velvet Revolution" and the changes it precipitated.

Differing approaches to development in Afghanistan with Michael Tobin, US Army (Ret.) and Rick Barton, Center for Strategic and International Studies.

An analysis of North Korean foreign policy with Uk Heo of UW-Milwaukee and Seongho Sheen of Seoul National University

A discussion of various models of health care around the world and their applicability to the US.

H.E. Houda Ezra Nonoo, Ambassador of Bahrain to the United States talks about reform in the Arabian Gulf nation.

IWA director Rob Ricigliano just back from Vietnam and Jeff Brown of Vietnamics speak about development in Southeast Asia.

Michael Cory Davis, an actor, human rights activist and director of the film Cargo talks to us about the Human Trafficking and its prevalence in the world today.

The 2009 George F. Kennan Forum on International Issues, a discussion of the role of the US in a changing global order, featuring Thomas Donnelly, Resident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute and Nina Hachigian, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress. Recorded live at Milwaukee's Pabst Theatre

Martiza Vazquez, a garmet worker, Bob Cheseboro, the President of Wigwam Mills, and Mike Bernhardt, President of UFCW Local 147T at Wigwam Mills talk about the Sweat-Free Movement.

Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of the Food and Water Watch and Harvey Bootsma, a Research Scientist at UWM Great Lakes Water Institute talk about the future of water security.

Christopher Delgado joined the World Bank in April 2006 as Strategy and Policy Adviser in the Agriculture and Rural Development Department. He also task manages the coordinating secretariat for the Bank’s Global Food Crisis Response Program (GFRP). He came to the Bank from nearly 27 years at the International Food Policy Research Institute, and also held for 11 years a part-time external faculty appointment at the Johns Hopkins University Nitze School of Advanced International Studies. He has worked extensively in Africa and Asia. From 2003 until joining the Bank, he was a joint appointee of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Nairobi, Kenya, where he directed ILRI’s Markets Theme. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Cornell University and is the author or editor of 6 books and over 100 research monographs and professional papers in agricultural economics, published in several languages.

Christopher Delgado, a strategy and policy adviser for the Global Food Crisis Response Program at the World Bank speaks about the implications of the financial and food crisis on the world's poorest nations.

Irina Bystrova earned her PhD in history from the Russian Academy of Sciences. Her doctoral research focused on the history of the Soviet military-industrial complex. Since 1999, she has served on the faculty of the Russian State University for Humanities. Dr. Bystrova is the author of more than 60 publications, including two books The Military-Industrial Complex of the USSR in the years of the Cold War (2000), and Soviet Military-Industrial Complex: Problems of Creation and Development (2006). Her recent research concentrates on the international history of military-industrial complexes (the USSR and Russia, the USA, China, France). Her scholarship has been recognized internationally. She has received an IREX grant to Stanford University and two Fulbright Fellowships affiliated with George Washington University. She has also been a Nobel Institute Fellow in Oslo, and a visitor at the Academy of Social Sciences of China and Maison des Sciences de l’Homme in Paris. She is a native of Moscow.

Robert Pollin is Professor of Economics and founding Co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. His research centers on macroeconomics, conditions for low-wage workers in the U.S. and globally, the analysis of financial markets, and the economics of building a clear-energy economy in the U.S. His books include A Measure of Fairness: The Economics of Living Wages and Minimum Wages in the United States (co-authored, 2008); An Employment-Targeted Economic Program for Kenya (co-authored, 2008); An Employment-Targeted Economic Program for South Africa (co-authored, 2007); Contours of Descent: U.S. Economic Fractures and the Landscape of Global Austerity (2003); and The Living Wage: Building A Fair Economy (co-authored 1998); and the edited volumes Human Development in the Era of Globalization (co-edited 2006); Globalization and Progressive Economic Policy (co-edited, 1998); The Macroeconomics of Saving, Finance, and Investment (1997); and Transforming the U.S. Financial System (co-edited 1993). . Most recently, he co-authored Job Opportunities for the Green Economy, (June 2008) and Green Recovery, (September 2008), exploring the broader economic benefits from large-scale investments to build a clean-energy economy in the United States. He has worked with the United Nations Development Program and the United Nations Economic Commission on Africa on policies to promote to promote decent employment expansion and poverty reduction in Latin America and more recently, sub-Saharan Africa. He has also worked with the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress and as a member of the Capital Formation Subcouncil of the U.S. Competiveness Policy Council.

Richard Pollin, an economist from the Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts-Amherst speaks about the possibility of an environmentally friendly recovery to the recent economic downturn.

William F. Schulz is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress specializing in human rights. From 1994-2006 he served as Executive Director of Amnesty International USA. During his twelve years at Amnesty, Dr. Schulz led missions to Liberia, Tunisia, Northern Ireland, and Sudan. He also traveled tens of thousands miles in the United States promoting human rights causes and was frequently quoted in the media. He is the author of two books on human rights, In Our Own Best Interest: How Defending Human Rights Benefits Us All (2001, Beacon Press) and Tainted Legacy: 9/11 and the Ruin of Human Rights (2003, Nation Books); and the contributing editor of The Phenomenon of Torture: Readings and Commentary (2007, University of Pennsylvania Press) and The Future of Human Rights: US Policy for a New Era (2008, University of Pennsylvania Press). All of this prompted the New York Review of Books to say in 2002, "William Schulz…has done more than anyone in the American human rights movement to make human rights issues known in the United States." An ordained Unitarian Universalist minister, Dr. Schulz came to Amnesty after eight years (1985-93) as President of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations. He has served on the boards of People for the American Way, Planned Parenthood Federation of America and many other organizations and is currently Chair of the Board of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee. Dr. Schulz is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Oberlin College, holds a master's degree in philosophy from the University of Chicago and the Doctor of Ministry degree from Meadville/Lombard Theological School (at the University of Chicago) as well as seven honorary degrees.

William Schulz, the former Director of Amnesty International USA speaks about the new administration's stance on human rights.

Amal Hamada Fulbright Scholar & Faculty of Economics and Political Science at Cairo University

Amal Hamada, a visiting Political Scientist and Fulbright Scholar from Cairo University speaks about stability and democratic reform in Egypt.

Wayne Smith The Center for International Policy

Wayne Smith, a Senior Fellow at the Center for International Policy discusses the new administrations engagement with Cuba.

Neamat Nojumi George Mason University

Neamat Nojumi of George Mason University speaks about facing challenges in Afghanistan in order to find a way forward towards peace.

Michael Kraig The Stanley Foundation

Michael Kraig of the Stanley Foundation talks about the the US relationship with rising powers in the world.

Keith Smith, former U.S. Ambassador to Lithuania and Stephen Issacson discuss the future of European Energy Security.

Robert Ricigliano, Director of the Institute of World Affairs and founder of Sustainable Peacebuilding Initiative at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee discusses the recent outbreak of violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Dr. Aaron Buseh of UWM's College of Nursing and Dr. James Sanders of the Medical College of Wisconsin discuss the difficulty of being health are providers is some of the world's most dangerous places, conflict zones.

Jan Egeland, Director General of Norwegian Institute of International Affairs and Former United Nations Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs speaks about Combating Global Poverty.

Jan Egeland, Director General of Norwegian Institute of International Affairs and Former United Nations Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs speaks at an exclusive engagement about battling humanitarian crises.

Dave Ranney, a Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois-Chicago speaks about changing politics in Latin America and the end of current consensus held in Washington D.C.

Jacques du Plessis, a native South African and Assistant Professor of Information Studies at UW-Milwaukee, along with Mokwining Nhlapo of the South Africa NCIS talk about the future of the African National Congress amid recent political turmoil.

George Martin, a local peace activist and former program director of Peace Action Wisconsin gives viewers an update on the anti-war movement.

Yitzhak Reiter, of Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Rakefet Ginsber, of the Jewish Agency Emissary give us an update about the Politics of Peace in Israel today.

Clifford Gaddy of the Brookings Institution joins International Focus to discuss Russia's "Petro-Politics" with local experts Stephen Isaccson & John Katzka.

Ambassador Le Cong Phung of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam talks with IWA's Assistant Director Doug Savage about his country's economic and political progress.

Kenneth Menkhaus, Associate Professor of Political Science at Davidson University and David Buck, Professor of History at UW-Milwaukee, discuss the recent crisis occurring in Somalia.

Lobsang Tenzin of the Wisconsin Tibetan Association and David Buck of UW-Milwaukee discuss criticism of China's human rights record as it prepares to host the Olympics in Beijing.

Kevin Bales, President of Free the Slaves, discusses efforts to end the widespread practice of slavery.

UW-Milwaukee faculty members Johannes Britz and George Clark discuss the April 2008 electoral impasse in Zimbabwe.

David Marash, former Lead Anchor, Al-Jazeera English and Claudia Rosset, Journalist-In-Residence at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies discuss the relationship between American foreign policy and the news media. Discussion Moderated by Wisconsin Public Radio's Ben Merens.

Author Jeremy Scahill discusses the expanding role of private military firms and efforts to regulate them.

Ploughshares Fund President Joseph Cirincione discusses efforts to halt the spread of nuclear weapons and eliminate current stockpiles.

Paul Bledsoe from the National Commission on Energy policy discusses the formation of national-level strategies on energy and climate change.

The Hon. Jamil Mahuad, former Pr4esident of Ecuador, discusses neo-liberalism and the rise of left-of-center governments in Latin America.

Ploughsahres Fund President Joseph Cirincione discusses nuclear proliferation.

IWA Director Rob Ricigliano discusses an assignment in Afghanistan in March 2008.

Paul Bledsoe from The National Commission on Energy Policy outlines the organization's recommendations on balancing economic interests, national security, and the environment.

Ecuador's former president, Jamil Mahuad, discusses the origins and aspects of various left-of-center governments in Latin America.

Ambassador David Mack discusses the costs and benefits of engaging with unfriendly governments and groups.

Former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State David Mack talks about engaging with unfriendly groups and governments.

David Shorr of the Stanley Foundation discusses the war on terror and its alternatives as the basis for US security policy.

David Shorr of the Stanley Foundation discusses the Bush Administration's use of the war on terror as the framework for American security policy.

Steven Kull, Director for the Program on International Policy Attitudes.

Dr. Steven Kull, Director, Program on International Policy Attitudes University of Maryland, addresses the question, "How can we improve America's standing in the world?"

Former Chicago Tribune reporter Richard Longworth discusses the American Midwest and the global economy.

David Bethea (UW-Madison), Donald Pienkos (UW-Milwaukee), and Anne Hamilton (UW-Whitewater) discuss the Russian parliamentary election.

John Katzka, a retired US Foreign Service Officer with extensive experience in the Balkans discusses the future of Kosovo.

On the occasion of International Focus' 500th episode, panelists comment on clips of foreign policy punditry from the early 1980's.

Retired US Army Col. Michael Tobin discusses his work as the US military's sole Rule of Law officer in Afghanistan in 2005-2006.

Author and ENOUGH project co-founder John Prendergast discusses efforts to find a just settlement for the crisis in Darfur.

Author and activist John Prendergast provides history and analysis of the Darfur conflict.

Former Vice President of the Republic of Congo Azarias Ruberwa, discusses the ongoing conflict in his national and efforts to build a lasting peace.

Azarias Ruberwa, former Vice President of the Democratic Republic of Congo discusses efforts to build a lasting peace.

UW-Whitewater Business professors Sameer Prasad and Jerry Gosen discuss their research on small-scale artisan producers in India.

Alterra Coffee founder Lincoln Fowler and Omanhene Cocoa Bean Company President Steven Wallace join Fair Trade Activist Lisa Castagnozzi in a discussion of the fair trade movement.

Three activists, two Palestinian and one Israeli, discuss prospects for peace.

Ambassador Afif Safieh, Head of the Palestinian Mission to Washington DC, speaks about Palestinian-Israeli relations.

Barukh Binah, Head of Mission of the Consulate General of Israel to the Midwest speaks about Israeli-Palestinian Relations.

Former parliamentarian Coetzee Bester discusses democracy in post-Apartheid South Africa.

The Lt. Governors of Wisconsin and California discuss policies to combat climate change.

California Lt. Governor John Garamendi discusses the role of state and local government in combating climate change.

Justice Richard Goldstone discusses the prosecution of genocide and other war crimes.

A discussion of the role of South Africa's Apartheid-era president BW Botha in the nation's transition to democracy.

Chandika Bahadur, Policy Adviser to the UN Millennium Project discusses global poverty and the responses proposed in the UN Millennium Development Goals.

Marwan Kraidy, Professor of International Communication at American University, Steven Clemons, the Director of the American Strategy Program at the New America Foundation and Mordecai Lee, a Professor of Governmental Affairs at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee participate in a panel discussion the Middle East.

Arab media scholar Marwan Kraidy and Steven Clemons, Publisher of the Washington Note, discuss the changing media landscape in the Arab world.

Amb. Augustine Mahiga, Tanzania's Permanent UN Representative, talks about the UN Peace Building Commission.

Amb. Augustine Mahiga, Tanzania's representative to the UN and co-chair of the UN PeaceBuilding Commission discusses the new organization's mission and mandate.

Mark Anderson, President of the Center for International Health discusses how governments and institutions must collaborate to promote health and security across borders.

ACLU legal director Steven Shapiro discusses torture and the US war on terrorism.

Susannah Sirkin, Deputy Director of Physicians for Human Rights speaks about the topic of international human rights and its relationship with development and democracy.

Project for the New American Century Executive Director Gary Schmitt discusses the war on terror and the US role in promoting democracy.

Lee Feinstein, the Senior Fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations, speaks about the United States' relationship with the United Nations in the new century.

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Julia Sweig of the Council on Foreign Relations discuss anti-Americanism and its impact on US foreign policy.

Asma Lateef, Director of Bread for the World, Patrick Bellegarde-Smith, Professor of Africology at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Abdur Chowdhury, Professor of Economics at Marquette University discuss the causes and implications of the global food crisis.

Gareth Evans, Former Foreign Minister of Australia and member of the UN High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change and Gillian Sorensen, Senior Advisor at the UN Foundation and former head of the Office of External Relations for Secretary General Kofi Annan, debate the future of the UN.

Ambassador Jean-David Levitte, French Ambassador to the United States speaks about the Franco-American relationship.

Larry Korb of the Secure America Project debates Tom Donelly of the American Enterprise Institute on US national security strategies for the new administration.

Jim White from the international relief organization Mercy Corps provides a ground-level look at the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Former Senator Gary Hart and former US Rep. Bill McCollum discuss the US role in the world; moderated by John Berman from ABC news.

Sandra Postel,a leading authority on international freshwater issues and the National Geographic Society Freshwater Fellow, discusses global water policy.

Abdur Chowdhury, Chair of the Economics Department at Marquette University & Ken Spirewka, Vice President of Foreign Exchange for US Bancorp join Doug Savage of the Institute of World Affairs to discuss a potential Euro Meltdown & its implications.

Ambassador David Scheffer, Northwestern Law School, joins Rob Ricigliano, Director of the Institute of World affairs to discuss the United Nations and International Justice.

Peter Coleman, Director of the International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution and an Associate Professor at Columbia University, joins Rob Ricigliano of the Institute of World Affairs to discuss the background of intractable conflicts.