Geopolitical turmoil. A warming planet. Authoritarians on the rise. We live in a chaotic world that’s rapidly shifting around us. “On Shifting Ground with Ray Suarez” explores international fault lines and how they impact us all. Each week, NPR veteran Ray Suarez hosts conversations with journalists, leaders and policy experts to help us read beyond the headlines—and give us hope for human resilience.
Eric Pelofsky, Deputy Chief of Staff and Vice President of the Rockefeller Foundation, joined Ray Suarez days before the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact in Paris to share how international financial institutions...
Laicie Heeley, Executive Producer and Host of “Things That Go Boom,” joins Ray Suarez to break down how cracks in our food system have paved the way for international conspiracy theories about the ongoing food...
Ray Suarez speaks with French legal scholar Rim-Sarah Alouane about the "great replacement theory", and what it takes to be considered “French first.”
Anatol Lieven, journalist and Eurasian Program Director at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, joins Ray Suarez to explain why ethnic tensions are once again flaring up in the Balkans.
Ray Suarez speaks with Merve Tahiroğlu, Turkey Program Director at the Project on Middle East Democracy about Erdoğan’s imperial ambitions.
Reporter Levi Bridges takes us on the ground to the former Soviet state of Georgia where we hear about the dangers of standing up to Russia.
Ray Suarez spoke with retired Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch about a lifetime of public service, and why she remains optimistic about Ukraine’s fight for freedom.
The 15-Minute City has the potential to address many challenges of city living— but it hasn’t been without its critics. CityNerd creator Ray Delahanty joins Ray Suarez to debunk anti-urbanism conspiracies.
Ray Suarez speaks with US Secretary Pete Buttigieg about repowering America.
In this episode, we revisit the story of Wen Ho Lee, a Taiwanese-American scientist who was falsely accused of spying for the Chinese government.
World Affairs President & CEO Philip Yun and California Assemblymember Alex Lee share how an election changed their lives.
Ray Suarez speaks with Aarthi Shahani, author of the memoir "Here We Are: American Dreams, American Nightmares," about her family's painful path to citizenship and how America's broken immigration system is used as a...
Sabrina Rodriguez, national politics reporter at The Washington Post, joins Ray Suarez to explore America's broken immigration system.
Ray Suarez speaks with Idrees Kahloon, DC bureau chief at The Economist, about how men have been pushed to the sidelines.
Angela Saini, author of "The Patriarchs: How Men Came To Rule," joins Ray Suarez to break down what the "patriarchy" is, and how it operates.
Ray Suarez speaks with BBC journalist Fauziyya Tukur about her work debunking disinformation in Africa's largest democracy.
Tom Nichols, staff writer at The Atlantic, joins Ray Suarez to break down what Trump's historic indictment — and the fight for the truth in the US – means for the coming 2024 elections.
Ray Suarez sits down with Mark Goldberg, host of "Global Dispatches," to explore how international journalism can remain vital.
Gulnoza Said, CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator, joins Ray Suarez to discuss the ongoing threats to free press around the world.
Ray Suarez sits down with Nancy Qian, James J. O'Connor Professor of Managerial Economics & Decision Sciences at Kellogg MEDS, Northwestern University, to discuss the China-rooted land panic.
On this episode, Ray Suarez speaks with Dr. Joel Wuthnow about China's potential invasion of the island it claims as its sovereign territory.
Ray Suarez speaks with Dr. Natailie Koch, author of "Arid Empire: The Entangled Fates of Arizona and Arabia," about mining water, from Arizona to Arabia.
On this episode, Ray Suarez sits down with Jim Krane, author of "Energy Kingdoms: Oil and Political Survival in the Persian Gulf,” to discuss OPEC's surprise oil cuts, and what that means for your wallet.
SPECIAL RELEASE: Global Santa Fe chair Jim Falk spoke with Siegfried Hecker, author of "Hinge Points: An Inside Look at North Korea's Nuclear Program," to discuss our missed opportunity to stop a nuclear North Korea.
South Korean journalist Jeongmin Kim sits down with Ray Suarez to share what it's like living a mere 15 miles from a threatening, nuclear-armed neighbor.
In this episode, Siegfried Hecker talks about missed opportunities to denuclearize North Korea. Then, Ray Suarez explores the escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula with Dr. Victor Cha.
In this episode, Ray Suarez talks with Ambassador Matt Murray, senior US official for APEC, about whether the US and China can find common ground in trade on the Asian continent.
Ray Suarez sits down with Caitlin Chin, a fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, to discuss Congress' efforts to ban the Chinese-owned video app, TikTok.
In today's episode, Ray talks with post-Soviet expert Nicholas Eberstadt to understand why Russia's historic population collapse is fueling Putin's brinkmanship in Ukraine.
Beth Van Schaack, ambassador-at-large for Global Criminal Justice at the DOS, tells Ray Suarez why it's so challenging to prosecute war criminals.
In this episode, we revisit Ray's conversation with Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya to understand how women might light a new path of leadership, and why there is still more work to do following the...
Bank run? How about banks run by women? Ray Suarez sits down with Mary Ellen Iskenderian, President & CEO of Women's World Banking and author of "There's Nothing Micro About A Billion Women: Making Finance Work For...
In this episode, Ray Suarez talks with APEC research head, Carlos Kuriyama, about how the global economy can bounce back from the pandemic.
Ray Suarez is joined by the World Bank's Norbert Schady, Chief Economist for Human Development, and Mamta Murthi, Vice President for Human Development, to discuss COVID-19's hidden economic crisis.
Joshua Yaffa wasn't a war correspondent, but The New Yorker writer became one when Russia invaded Ukraine. In this episode, he joins Ray Suarez.
In this episode, Ambassador Michael McFaul tells Ray Suarez why the global response to the current crisis will determine who wins or loses.
In part two of our Ukraine anniversary special, journalist Levi Bridges tells the story of the Russian exodus, and the cultural reckoning that followed.
In the first part of our Ukraine anniversary special, Bill Browder joins host Ray Suarez to answer what Putin might do next – and how long this war may last.
Ray Suarez sits down with authors John Delury and Orville Schell to help us understand China's fight for global dominance.
A new generation of Armenian pilgrims are traveling to what is now eastern Turkey in the hopes of locating their ancestral homes. In this episode, the podcast Kerning Cultures brings us the story of Armenian-American...
The siege of Nagorno-Karabakh is now in its 64th day, leaving 120,000 ethnic Armenians cut off from food, fuel and medicine. In this episode, journalist Lara Setrakian and advisor to the state minister of Artsakh Artak...
In this episode, Ray Suarez sits down with Bloomberg News reporter Neil Weinberg to explore how the National Rifle Association forged ties went global.
How did Brazil's love of guns lead to an attack on its Congress earlier this year? Ray Suarez speaks with Reuters reporter Gabriel Stargardter about Brazil's version of the January 6th Insurrection, and the Latin...
What is Xi Jinping's plan to reset China, and how do we make sense of his enigmatic rule? Sue-Lin Wong, a reporter from The Economist, joined Ray for a live streamed discussion of the consolidation of power by the...
As we slouch towards economic recovery, what can we learn from past fights with inflation? In this episode of "On Shifting Ground," Ray Suarez speaks with author and economist J. Bradford DeLong about who is most...
Tech reporter Pranav Dixit has found that drastic tech worker cuts have left immigrant programmers and computer scientists wondering if it's worth staying in the U.S.
In the age of remote warfare, how do we judge accountability when the rules of engagement remain murky? We revisit Ray's conversation with investigative reporter Azmat Khan and ethics professor Shannon French.
In this episode, Ray Suarez and Council on Foreign Relations Senior Fellow Chris Tuttle discuss the impacts of the midterms on US foreign policy.
In this episode, Rep. Andy Kim sits down with World Affairs CEO Philip Yun to discuss foreign policy in 2023 and the growing disconnect between Washington and the American people.
In this episode, authors Ruth Ben-Ghiat and Julia Ebner join Ray Suarez to discuss authoritarianism and misinformation to answer how we can prevent the next January 6.
In this episode of "On Shifting Ground," author and scholar Reza Aslan joins Ray Suarez to reveal an unlikely figure from Iranian history: an American missionary named Howard Baskerville who joined Iran's first fight for...
Ray Suarez is joined by Tammerlin Drummond, creator and host of the “Gold Chains” from the Northern California chapter of the ACLU. Then, Jenn Williams, host of Foreign Policy’s show, “The Negotiators,” talks...
Speaking with reporters about the protests in Iran can mean jail or worse, but that hasn't stopped the Iranian people from trying to be heard. In this episode, Ray Suarez and Golnaz Esfandiari, Senior correspondent for...
In this special episode, we share "Before Me", a five-part podcast series following one woman's life—from Cambodia to America—over the course of decades. The story was created, written, and produced by Lisa Phu,...
It's been half a century since the Khmer Rouge killed an estimated 2 million people. The genocide tribunal lasted 16 years, cost over $300 million dollars and only convicted three men. Was it worth it? In this episode,...
What does the anti-#abortion agenda look like across social media? Who are they reaching? In this episode of "On Shifting Ground," Ray Suarez Reveal producer Alaa Mostafa and UC Berkeley Human Rights Center...
On this episode of "On Shifting Ground," Ray Suarez speaks with author and feminist Agnieszka Graff about Poland's war on abortion – and how a historic protest movement is fighting back.
Qatar smashed records by spending over $200 billion dollars to host the 2022 World Cup. What does this signal about the tournament's future? On this episode, the Athletic UK editor-in-chief Alex Kay-Jelski and American...
CEO of PeaceTech Lab, Sheldon Himelfarb, sits down with Ray to discuss what makes our present-day information crisis so unique – and dangerous. Then Alexa Koenig, Executive Director of UC Berkeley’s Human Rights...
Ray Suarez brings us to the frontlines of Sudan’s daily street protests, guided by activist and researcher Muzan Alneel. Then, guest host Hana Baba speaks with Declan Walsh, Chief Africa Correspondent for the New York...
Epidemiologist Larry Brilliant joins Ray Suarez to break down what the global pandemic response community got wrong (and right), the enduring geopolitics of vaccination and the urgent need to build a more...
This week, Ray takes a close look at Taiwan: its colonial past, vibrant democratic tradition, and what recent disputes over independence could mean for its people — and national security – today. We hear directly...
New name...same award-winning insights. "On Shifting Ground with Ray Suarez" drops on October 31st.
Ray Suarez sits down with two Middle East policy experts to debate the best path forward for US engagement in the region. Quincy Institute Executive Vice President Trita Parsi and Brookings Institution senior fellow...
Ray Suarez sits down with Daniel Byman, a counterterrorism expert and author of Spreading Hate: The Global Rise of White Supremacist Terrorism, to discuss the roots of the global white power movement, how extremism...
President Barack Obama delivered over 450 speeches during his tenure, but one of his most famous was entirely unscripted. Back in 2015, as the country mourned the victims of Charleston church shooting, the president...
In this week’s episode, we explore the deep roots of Cuban internationalism…and its impact on everyday Cubans. We begin with historian William Kelly, who charts Cuba’s little-known history of solidarity with...
This episode, Ray Speaks with The Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian about his story, and why he thinks it’s essential that the US government and media change the way they talk about American hostages abroad so we...
This episode, ESPN investigative reporter TJ Quinn and hostage expert Dani Gilbert join Ray to discuss how state-endorsed hostage-taking creates leverage for autocrats—like Putin—upends American diplomatic norms, and...
Former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul and Ray Suarez explore what we can expect from the war in Ukraine in the coming weeks and – perhaps – months, and how it’s impacting Russia’s international standing.
Ray Suarez takes a deep dive into the global world of cryptocurrency — from Kazakhstan to Ukraine.
Ronan McCrea joins Ray Suarez to break down the global implications of new British leadership. Then, we travel to Northern Ireland, where the fate of a Brexit protocol – and the precarious peace between north and south...
On this week’s episode, we hear from two experts with competing visions of how we can sustainably feed a growing planet. Ray Suarez is joined by Raj Patel and Robert Paarlberg on a journey through the inequities and...
In collaboration with Foreign Policy, we bring you the lesser-known role of women’s rights in the fight to end apartheid, and how the current struggle to reform sexist property laws in South African courts is keeping...
In this episode, a co-production with Foreign Policy, we take a look at South Africa’s path to political and economic equality. Political scientist Evan Lieberman joins Voice of America’s “Straight Africa...
KQED senior editor Rachael Myrow speaks with Sally Hayden, an Irish investigative journalist, about a shadowy immigration system funded by the E.U. which captures and imprisons North African migrants before they ever...
Listen to the show every Monday night at 10:00 PM Pacific Time on KQED public radio (88.5 FM) in the San Francisco Bay Area. We’re also syndicated on NPR and PRX stations across the US.
Acclaimed journalist, author, and public speaker Ray Suarez hosts “On Shifting Ground with Ray Suarez,” a co-production of World Affairs and KQED-FM. He also covers Washington for the English-language all-news network Euronews. In his long and distinguished career, Ray has hosted NPR’s “Talk of the Nation,” Al Jazeera America’s daily news program “Inside Story” and was Chief National Correspondent for the PBS NewsHour.
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