Background Briefing: September 25, 2024
Israel Appears Poised For a Ground Invasion of Lebanon
We begin with Israel calling up reservists as its military chief General Herzi Halevi tells his troops that they should prepare for a ground entry in Lebanon. Joining us to assess whether the pounding of Lebanon is a prelude to a wider war is Asher Kaufman, Director of the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies and a professor of History and Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame. Prior to that, he taught at Hebrew University, Jerusalem and was a research fellow at the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace where he headed its Middle East Unit. Asher Kaufman is the author of Reviving Phoenicia: The Search for Identity in Lebanon and his latest book is Contested Frontiers: Cartography, Sovereignty, and Conflict at the Syria, Lebanon, Israel Tri-Border Region.
UN Activities and Speeches Today and Yesterday
Then we look into activities at the UN with Biden’s speech yesterday calling out leaders who cling to power to a General Assembly comprising a lot of autocrats, kleptocrats and dictators as well as today’s speeches with Ukraine’s President Zelensky seeking attention for the plight of his country under attack by a powerful neighbor while much of the global attention is on Gaza and a looming war in Lebanon. Joining us is Dulcie Leimbach, the founder of PassBlue, for which she edits and writes, covering primarily the United Nations, West Africa, peacekeeping operations and women’s issues. Previously, she was an editor for the Coalition for the UN Convention Against Corruption; was the publications director of the United Nations Association of the USA, and was an editor at The New York Times for more than 20 years.
Zelensky Tries to Get the UN to Focus on Ukraine While a War in Lebanon Looms
Then finally we assess President Zelensky’s effort in his UN speech today to educate the global south about Russia being a brutal colonial power as was the Soviet Union. Joining us is Dr. Oleh Kotsyuba, the Director of Print and Digital publications at the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, where he oversees a publications program that includes translations of Ukrainian literature, as well as Harvard Ukrainian Studies, the Institute’s peer-reviewed journal. He is also the director of the Ukrainica database project and the chief online editor of Krytyka, the leading Ukrainian journal of intellectual inquiry.