Council of Councils
Think Global Health
Online Store
Introduction
Over the last several decades, governments have collectively pledged to slow global warming. But despite intensified diplomacy, the world is already facing the consequences of climate…
Show Notes
In this special edition, CFR.org Managing Editor Robert McMahon, CFR's Director of Studies Jim Lindsay and Stanton Nuclear Security Fellow Elizabeth Saunders start off the summer with a list of books that they will be reading in the weeks ahead. Listen in for recommendations from their reading lists.
Elizabeth's books:
Anxious Politics: Democratic Citizenship in a Threatening World, by Bethany Albertson and Shana Kushner Gadarian
Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us, from Missiles to the Moon to Mars, by Nathalia Holt
Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race, by Margot Lee Shetterly
Finale: A Novel of the Reagan Years, by Thomas Mallon
Robert's books:
Pumpkin Flowers: A Soldier’s Story, by Matti Friedman
One Child: The Story of China’s Most Radical Experiment, by Mei Fong
Rome 1960: The Olympics that Changed the World, by David Maraniss
Jim's books:
Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America’s Vietnam, by Fredrik Logevall
The Sympathizer, by Viet Thanh Nguyen
Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins
Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen, by Mary Norris
Censorship and Freedom of Expression
In this special episode to mark World Press Freedom Day, Jeffrey Gedmin, cofounder and editor-in-chief of American Purpose and former president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, joins Robert McMahon and Carla Anne Robbins to discuss the global state of press freedom. They cover the challenges that a growing number of journalists face in exile or imprisonment, the U.S. role in upholding freedom of the press, and more.
Blinken Visits China, May Day Stirs Workers’ Rights Concerns, the U.S. Resumes Ukraine Aid, and More
Secretary of State Antony Blinken wraps his second visit to China as tensions mount over Beijing’s military support of Russia’s war in Ukraine and ongoing threats in the South China Sea; International Workers’ Day on May 1 comes at a time of revived labor activism over wages and inequality; and U.S. President Joe Biden approves a $61 billion foreign aid package providing critical military assistance to Ukraine, potentially improving the situation on the ground in the war with Russia.
Concerns grow over the widening Middle East conflict after Iran launches three hundred ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones at Israel; European Union (EU) leaders discuss how to bolster aid to Ukraine amid an uptick in Russian attacks and the situation unfolding in the Middle East; India kicks off the world’s largest democratic election—spanning more than forty-four days—where the incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is expected to win again; and warming water temperatures cause a mass bleaching of coral reefs.