Gen Z Global Affairs

In this episode, our host Dana interviews Michael Metrinko, a foreign service officer, Peace Corps volunteer/diplomat, and hostage during the Iran Hostage Crisis about Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution and Hostage Crisis.  Shortly before he graduated from Georgetown University in 1968 and then departed for Peace Corps training, Michael Metrinko watched the flames that erupted on the Washington horizon following the assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King. It was a portentous scene, signifying vast social and political change, and one that Metrinko would see again and again in his 25 years of service outside the United States. Some version of martial law, police brutality, mob violence, terrorism or bloody revolution were hallmarks of almost every place he served. Two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Turkey and then 3 more years with the Peace Corps in Iran prepared him for several years more years as a Foreign Service Officer in both of those countries, and he witnessed the Turkish-Cypriot War, the rise of ethnic hostility in Turkey, the heavy hand of Hafez Al -Assad's police during an assignment to Syria, and then the frenzy and violence of events as Iran fell into revolution. He was taken to prison twice in Iran, once in Tabriz in 1979 because he had remained behind as the only U.S. official in western Iran in an effort (ultimately successful) to help 4 Americans and 4 other westerners escape from the Tabriz prison. That was followed by a return to Iranian prison later that same year in the better-known 444 days of the Hostage Crisis. Both were harsh experiences. In the early 1980s, he was assigned to Krakow, Poland, for 3 years, and watched as the Polish Solidarity Movement crashed up against the Communist government. And then on to Israel in 1989 for 4 years as Consul General in Tel Aviv, where he closely witnessed the ongoing Palestinian intifada. And the Persian Gulf War, when Iraq's Saddam Husseinn repeated the air attacks over Israel that Metrinko had already experienced in 1980 when Saddam Hussein launched his invasion of Iran and Metrinko was in an Iranian prison under aerial bombardment. There were, of course, some quiet times in Washington and abroad, but 9/11 changed the world. Metrinko was called out of retirement and asked to go to Kabul to help the newly opening embassy for 30 days. That "30 days" turned into more than 5 years in Afghanistan, with a series of Embassy-related and military-advisory positions that led him over much of the country. A second assignment in Yemen took him there for several months to help the Embassy in Sana'a, and the war in Iraq resulted in his two deployments into that combat zone in 2004 and 2009. And now? His focus is on helping Afghan refugee students adjust to their new lives in America. Stay tuned for our next episode and don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter which you can do by visiting our website genzglobalaffairs.com. Questions, comments, feedback, or requests for future episodes and topics? Send us an email at [email protected]. Don't forget to follow us on Instagram and Twitter!

In this episode of the Gen Z Global Affairs Podcast, our host Dana provides a historical and political background of Iran. Stay tuned for our next episode and don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter which you can do by visiting our website genzglobalaffairs.com. Don't forget to follow us on social media! Questions, comments, feedback, or requests for future episodes and topics? Send us an email at [email protected]

In this episode, our host Dana interviews Gen Z Ukrainian student and activist, Catarina Buchatskiy. She is the co-founder of the Shadows Project, a youth-led Ukrainian cultural organization. Catarina grew up in Kyiv, Ukraine, and watching the annexation of Crimea shaped her passion for national security and foreign affairs. She is now a student at Stanford University majoring in International Relations with a focus on International Security. Stay tuned for our next episode and don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter which you can do by visiting our website genzglobalaffairs.com. Questions, comments, feedback, or requests for future episodes and topics? Send us an email at [email protected]. Don't forget to follow us on Instagram and Twitter!

In this episode, our host Dana interviews former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Steven Pifer about the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.  Ambassador Steven Pifer is an affiliate of the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University as well as a non-resident senior fellow with the Brookings Institution. He was a William J. Perry Fellow at the center from 2018-2022 and a fellow at the Robert Bosch Academy in Berlin from January-May 2021. Pifer's research focuses on nuclear arms control, Ukraine, Russia, and European security. He has offered commentary on these issues on National Public Radio, PBS NewsHour, CNN, and BBC, and his articles have been published in a wide variety of outlets. He is the author of The Eagle and the Trident: U.S.-Ukraine Relations in Turbulent Times (Brookings Institution Press, 2017), and co-author of The Opportunity: Next Steps in Reducing Nuclear Arms (Brookings Institution Press, 2012). A retired Foreign Service officer, Pifer's more than 25 years with the State Department focused on U.S. relations with the former Soviet Union and Europe, as well as arms control and security issues.  He served as deputy assistant secretary of state in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs with responsibilities for Russia and Ukraine, ambassador to Ukraine, and special assistant to the president and senior director for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia on the National Security Council. In addition to Ukraine, he served at the U.S. embassies in Warsaw, Moscow, and London as well as with the U.S. delegation to the negotiation on intermediate-range nuclear forces in Geneva. From 2000 to 2001, he was a visiting scholar at Stanford's Institute for International Studies, and he was a resident scholar at the Brookings Institution from 2008 to 2017. Stay tuned for our next episode and don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter which you can do by visiting our website genzglobalaffairs.com. Questions, comments, feedback, or requests for future episodes and topics? Send us an email at [email protected]. Don't forget to follow us on Instagram and Twitter!

In this episode of the Gen Z Global Affairs Podcast, our host Dana discusses the Russian Invasion of Ukraine. She provides a historical background of the two country's relations as well as their respective history. Stay tuned for our next episode and don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter which you can do by visiting our website genzglobalaffairs.com. Don't forget to follow us on social media! Questions, comments, feedback, or requests for future episodes and topics? Send us an email at [email protected]

In this episode, our host Dana interviews Gen Z Afghan feminist, activist, and educator, Pashtana Dorani. At the age of 21, she became the head of her family following her father's passing. By then she had already founded LEARN Afghanistan, the country's first-ever digital school network. LEARN has educated 7,000 girls in Kandahar, Afghanistan, and trained more than 80 teachers in digital literacy. LEARN also focuses on girls' health, and has trained 700 girls in menstrual hygiene management. Forced into exile by the Taliban takeover in 2021, she is currently a visiting fellow at Wellesley Centers for Women while continuing to provide education for hundreds of girls in Afghanistan despite the current ban on them from attending school. Dorani is a regular commentator on TV and radio and has been the subject of articles and profiles in PBS, BBC, and Elle magazine. Dorani has also been named a Global Education Champion by the Malala Fund for her outstanding work to advance Afghan girls' education. The BBC nominated her as one of its 100 most influential women in 2021 and she was additionally included in the #Times100talks in 2022. Dorani is a member of UNGEI's Feminist Education Coalition, is an Aspen New Voices Fellow and she also received the 2021 Tällberg-SNF-Eliasson Emerging Leader prize. She previously served as a global youth representative for Amnesty International and as a board member of the steering committee for the Global Environment Facility. Dorani's biography, Last to Eat, Last to Learn, will be published in the United States and Italy in 2023.   Stay tuned for our next episode and don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter which you can do by visiting our website genzglobalaffairs.com. Questions, comments, feedback, or requests for future episodes and topics? Send us an email at [email protected]. Don't forget to follow us on Instagram and Twitter!

In this episode, our host Dana interviews Azra Jafari. Azra Jafari, Afghanistan's first female mayor, was born in 1978 in the Ghor province of Afghanistan. She joined the Research Committee of Secretariats for the Afghanistan Constitution Commission and her team helped commissioners draft a new constitution for Afghanistan in 2004. Later, in December of 2008, Azra Jafari made history by becoming Afghanistan's first female mayor in Nili, the capital of Daikundi province. As mayor, Azra put great efforts into bringing positive change to the city's infrastructure, public service, and women's rights. She obtained a midwifery diploma from I.H.S Kabul in 2006 and studied at the Nonviolence and Peace Studies center at the University of Rhode Island from 2015-2016. She also wrote a book on the rights of Afghan women in the labor market titled "I'm a woman worker," and was a co-writer for, "The New Afghanistan Constitution." Today Azra continues to support and advocate for women, Afghan refugees, and Hazara communities all around the globe.    Stay tuned for our next episode and don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter which you can do by visiting our website genzglobalaffairs.com. Questions, comments, feedback, or requests for future episodes and topics? Send us an email at [email protected]. Don't forget to follow us on Instagram and Twitter!

In this episode of the Gen Z Global Affairs Podcast, our host Dana discusses the ongoing situation in Afghanistan and the Taliban takeover. She covers Afghanistan's history, its demographics, and essentially how the country got to the point it is at today. Stay tuned for our next episode and don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter which you can do by visiting our website genzglobalaffairs.com. Don't forget to follow us on social media! Questions, comments, feedback, or requests for future episodes and topics? Send us an email at [email protected]

In this episode, our host Dana interviews Rafif Jouejati about the ongoing Syrian Civil War. Rafif Jouejati is a Syrian-American human rights defender. She is the co-founder and director of the Foundation to Restore Equality and Education in Syria (FREE Syria), and the principal architect of the Syrian Freedom Charter project, which surveyed more than 50,000 Syrians on democratic aspirations and political transition. Rafif served as spokesperson and Executive Committee member of the Local Coordination Committees in Syria, and as spokesperson for the National Coalition for Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces during the Geneva II peace process. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of The Day After, and President of the Board of Directors of Baytna – both established NGOs working within Syria and the region. Rafif is a published author of analytical pieces and op-eds on Syria, including a chapter in the book, The Syria Dilemma, and a frequent media commentator and public speaker. A management consultant with extensive industry experience, Rafif is the CEO of a company that helps client organizations evolve to higher levels of capacity and maturity through business development, targeted training, and strategic communication.  Stay tuned for our next episode and don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter which you can do by visiting our website genzglobalaffairs.com. Questions, comments, feedback, or requests for future episodes and topics? Send us an email at [email protected]. Don't forget to follow us on social media for updates!

In this episode, our host Dana discusses recent events taking place in Iran following the murder of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini by Iranian authorities, which took place on September 16th, 2022. Stay tuned for our next episode and don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter which you can do by visiting our website genzglobalaffairs.com. Questions, comments, feedback, or requests for future episodes and topics? Send us an email at [email protected].