About a hundred years ago, the Boston-based banana company, United Fruit, reigned supreme in Central America. It didn’t just own banana plantations, but also railroads and telephone lines. The company even dictated national policies and overthrew governments. For his podcast “Under the Shadow,” about US involvement in Central America, Michael Fox traveled to Guatemala, where he looked at the legacy of United Fruit and its impact on the global fruit industry today.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank is, which is the larger of the two Palestinian territories, is backed by the international community and the US. But the PA has lost much of its sway in Gaza. To explore where the PA and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas fit into the larger picture, The World’s host Marco Werman speaks with Nour Odeh, a Palestinian political activist, researcher and author based in Ramallah.
The Middle East has seen decades of unrest, much of it stemming from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The current Israel-Hamas war is the latest outbreak of violence that threatens lasting peace across the region and the globe. The World has compiled a timeline of key events in the conflict.
US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns was in the room this week when Secretary of State Antony Blinken sat down with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Amb. Burns spoke with The World’s Marco Werman about Taiwan, Ukraine and why US and Chinese military leaders have stopped talking to one another.