Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP)

What are frozen conflicts? Did you know that over 3 million people living in Eurasia today are affected by frozen conflicts? Their lives have been frozen in these conditions of political uncertainty and insecurity because while these armed conflicts have been suspended, no peace treaties have been agreed upon to permanently end them. In this episode, we are honoured to have Ambassador Thomas Greminger, Director of the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP) and former Secretary General of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) from 2017 to 2020, to shed light on how to harness the potential of trade for peace in frozen conflicts. With a lifelong career in peace and security, Ambassador Greminger shares with us his views on frozen conflicts in Eurasia and how trade can be used as a confidence-building measure (CBM) in peacebuilding. Guest: Ambassador Thomas Greminger, Director of the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP) and former Secretary General of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). Host: Mr. Axel M. Addy, Former Minister of Commerce and Industry and Chief Negotiator of Liberia's accession to the WTO.

"Global health security: COVID-19 and beyond" is the final episode in this podcast series where Dr Paul Vallet interviews Dr Johanna Ralston, CEO; World Obesity Foundation. Welcome to the Geneva Centre for Security Policy weekly podcast. I'm your host, Dr Paul Vallet, Associate Fellow in the Global Fellowship Initiative. For the past weeks this spring, I've been talking with subject matter experts to discuss issues of peace, security and international cooperation. Thanks for tuning in. In recent days, since this spring and the beginning of our weekly podcast, the rollout of vaccinations, however unequal in different parts of the world, has given us hope about the COVID 19 pandemic. It is also the time to reckon with other major public health questions that were side-lined by our preoccupations with the pandemic. As some of these concerns our everyday lives and can easily affect each of us and to remind us there are other ways to take care of ourselves, my guest today is Johanna Ralston, Johanna Ralston, who is currently the CEO of the World Obesity Foundation since 2017, has over 25 years’ experience in global health and development. She is a global leader in advocating for non-communicable diseases and a dual Swedish and US citizen. After training at the Harvard Business School and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Her career took her to the American Cancer Society, they were set up global programs on cancer and tobacco control projects in more than 30 countries. she proceeded on to the World Heart Foundation based in Geneva, which was appointed CEO in 2011. Working closely with the World Health Organization and other UN agencies tackling cardiovascular diseases. She was instrumental in implementing the Non-Communicable Diseases Declaration adopted that year and worked to place strong targets on cardiovascular disease mortality reduction in the WHO Global Action Plan, and the Sustainable Development Goals. She has worked and published with many institutions devoted to medicine and public health. And at least she's been a member of the GCSP Global Fellowship Initiative, for a few years now. So, it's nice to welcome you, Johanna, to the podcast. And thank you for speaking with us today.

"Peacebuilding through arts and culture" is episode 18 in the 2021 GCSP Podcast Series where Dr Paul Vallet interviews Dr Rama Mani Convenor, Enacting Global Transformation, Centre for International Studies, University of Oxford; Founder, Theatre of Transformation Academy; Co-Founder, Home for Humanity; Founding Councilor, World Future Council.

"Latin America and transnational organised crime" is episode 17 in the 2021 GCSP Podcast Series where Dr Paul Vallet interviews Professor Realuyo is Professor of Practice at the William J. Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies at the National Defense University in the United States Dr Paul Vallet: Welcome to the Geneva Centre for Security Policy weekly podcast. I'm your host, Dr Paul Vallet, Associate Fellow with the Global Fellowship Initiative. For the next few weeks, I'm talking with subject matter experts to discuss issues of peace, security and international cooperation. Thank you, listeners for tuning in. As you may have heard, a successful law enforcement operation led worldwide by the US, European, Australian and New Zealand police forces has just concluded against international organised crime and drug trafficking networks, reminding us that the global importance of allied forces in fighting transnational crime. So, to discuss this I'm joined today by one of our guest speakers at this year's recently concluded Leadership in International Security Course, Professor Celina Realuyo. Professor Realuyo is Professor of Practice at the William J. Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies at the National Defense University in the United States, where she focuses on US national security, illicit networks, transnational organised crime, counterterrorism, and threat finance issues in the Americas. She's a former US diplomat, also an international banker with Goldman Sachs, US counterterrorism official, and Professor of International Security Affairs at the National Defense Georgetown, George Washington, and Joint Special Operations Universities. Professor Realuyo has over two decades of experience in international public, private and academic sectors. She's a regular commentator in the international media, including CNN en Espanol, Deutsche Welle, Foreign Policy, Reuters and Univision and has testified before the US Congress on national security, terrorism and crime issues. Professor Realuyo is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, International Institute for Strategic Studies and women in international security. She has travelled to over 70 countries, she speaks English, French, Spanish, and is convergent in Italian, German, Filipino and Arabic. So, with all that combined knowledge, I think you will give us some fabulous insight into transnational crime. So welcome to the podcast, professor. And thank you for joining us today.

Listen to this special edition podcast with multiple experts providing analyses on the Biden-Putin Summt in Geneva on 16 June 2021. This is episode 16 in the 2021 GCSP Podcast Series. Dr Paul Vallet: Welcome to the Geneva Centre for Security Policy weekly podcast. I'm your host, Dr Paul Vallet, Associate Fellow in the Global Fellowship Initiative. As you all know, on the 16th of June 2021, Geneva hosted the first in person meeting of President of the United States Joe Biden, and President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin. This was the first in person meeting of the two leaders since Biden's election to the presidency of the US. It was a Summit which had generated a lot of interest a lot of coverage, over 3,000 journalists converged on Geneva for what was billed as an important and historical landmark meeting that was in line with previous US-Soviet meetings in Geneva, in 1955, and 1985. Much was expected and much was on the agenda for this meeting for which the Swiss government played host. During the day, the GCSP joined the array of commentators for this event, by constituting a specially dedicated newsroom in which we coordinated a lot of the views of our different experts and relayed also interviews given to the local and international press. We've also produced a series of video commentaries virtually live to offer on-the-moment comment, especially following the two press conferences that the leaders held separately in the evening of June 16, before they returned to their respective countries. So, today's podcast is a little bit because we've decided to rebroadcast some of these views to give you of course, what our experts see as the important takeaways from the Summit.

"GCSP & Swiss Security Policy: Building Expertise, Confidence and Communities" is episode 15 in the 2021 GCSP Podcast Series. Col Christian Bühlmann interviews Ambassador Teddy Winkler. To mark the 35th anniversary of the GCSPs flagship course – founded as SIPOLEX, later the International Training Course in Security Policy (ITC), and now the Leadership in International Security Course (LISC) - we spoke with Ambassador Theodore Winkler, the GCSP’s first Director, whose role was crucial in founding the course. Ambassador Winkler shared his insights on the origins of the course, in the wake of the 1985 Geneva Summit, its role in contributing to Swiss Foreign policy, as well as expectations for the upcoming summit between Presidents Biden and Putin.

International Geneva and the Biden-Putin Summit is episode 14 in this GCSP podcast series. Dr Paul Vallet interviews Ms Alexandra Matas, Head of Effective Governance at the GCSP. Welcome to the Geneva Centre for Security Policy weekly podcast. I'm your host, Dr Paul Vallet, Associate Fellow in the Global Fellowship Initiative. For the next few weeks, I'm talking with subject matter experts to discuss issues of peace, security and international cooperation. Thanks for tuning in. Early last week, it was confirmed that the presidents of the United States and of the Russian Federation Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin will hold their first summit meeting since Biden's inauguration here in Geneva on June 16. This has been hailed in Switzerland as a new occasion for Geneva to play an important role in US-Russian relations, as it often has in the past. The current state of tension between the two powers and the many issues of global scale, which they need to discuss, especially on arms control and counter proliferation, also mean that the Geneva Summit will be closely watched by international observers. It is also worth recalling that the 1985 Summit held also in Geneva between Mikael Gorbachev for the USSR and Ronald Reagan for the United States, served as another epiphany for Swiss diplomacy, and was the origins of the launch of the International Training Course around which the GCSP itself would be formed a decade later. Our podcast will discuss this in a forthcoming edition. To discuss the importance of this forthcoming summit. I'm joined today by Ms Alexandra Matas, the Head of the Effective Governance cluster at the GCSP. Alexandra Matas, who is originally Russian, trained in both Public Relations and International Affairs at the Russian State University of Physical Education, Sports and Tourism and at the Geneva Graduawte Institute of International and Development Studies, and she joined the GCSP staff full time in 2011. She has coordinated the activities of the programmes on Security and Law and WMD and disarmament respectively. She's been a short course coordinator, and more recently, the course director in Effective Governance in either English or French language courses for state officials from different countries. She also designs dialogue events in Geneva and internationally on the topic of European Security, OSCE conflict prevention mechanisms, and post war reconstruction in Syria. Her research interests include the European security architecture, Russia and the post-Soviet states. She joins us in the midst of a busy agenda this week. So we're very fortunate to have her as a guest. Welcome to the podcast, Alexandra.