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Founded in 2020 and led by Terrell Jermaine Starr, this is the go-to podcast for those who want relatable content on global affairs that doesn’t center the perspectives of white male experts. Few foreign policy shows are led by Black people or center the opinions, experiences and expertise of people of color. Black Diplomats is one exception. Guests are mostly people of color and people who are indigenous to the regions the episodes focus on.

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Ukrainian POW Recalls How He Went From Pacifist To Soldier

I sat down with Maksym Butkevych, a human rights activist who spent more than two years as a POW in Russian captivity. Hearing him describe the torture and starvation he endured was heartbreaking. What moved me most was Maksym's transformation—from a pacifist with no military experience to someone who took up arms to defend his homeland immediately after the Russian invasion. He fought bravely…

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Ukrainian Soldier: Trump Thinks Putin Is His Friend. He’s Not.

Regardless of how the talks in Alaska end between Russian President Vladimir Putin And U.S. President Donald Trump, Ukrainian-American soldier Yaroslav Ponomarov believes it will not end in Ukraine’s favor. Yaroslav moved to Brooklyn with his parents when he was five and grew up American. But when Russia invaded his homeland he decided to return, join the military and fight the colonizers. He said…

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Terrell at the Lviv Book Forum with Myroslav Shkandrij and Bohdana Romantsova

Terrell was invited to be on a panel at the Hay Festival in Lviv in October. It's a wide ranging conversation that places the current war in the kind of historical context that is rarely a part of legacy media reporting. The work of Myroslav Shkandrij , professor emeritus at the Department of German and Slavic Studies, University of Manitoba, and author of Revolutionary Ukraine, 1917-2017:…

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What is Project 2025?

Have you heard of Project 2025? If not, you better learn fast. It's the GOP's 900-plus page conservative manifesto aimed at dismantling the federal government and the Democratic Party has no answer for it. Here to talk about 2025 is Anne Nelson, who read the entire document and is traveling the country to educate communities about the dangers that lie ahead if Trump wins in November. Host: Terrell…

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Are Pro-Palestine Protests An Elite College Phenomenon?

Do HBCU students care about what’s happening in Gaza? Of course they do, but there are some distinct social-economic factors that play a role in how Black kids who attend HBCUs are protesting—or, in many cases, not at all. Two-time HBCU president Dr. Walter Kimbrough joins the podcast this week to talk about how he’d handle some of the challenges HBCU presidents face when it comes to student…

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Black People Care About Foreign Affairs

This week, Black Diplomats Podcast speaks with Christopher Shell, a fellow in the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment. At Carnegie, Christopher’s work studies how Black Americans feel about foreign policy issues. We talked about how Black folks feel about Ukraine, Gaza and other foreign policy issues, based on his research Host: Terrell Jermaine Starr Guest: Chris Shell Producer:…

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Young Georgians Talk About #TbilisiProtests

Today, I speak with two young Georgians under 30-years-old who have been hitting the streets every day in protest of their ruling government’s introduction of a “foreign agent” law that critics say will restrict the work of organizations and independent media that safeguard free and fair elections and other services that depend on foreign financial support. Read more about the controversial bill…

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Ukrainians and Palestinians Are Fighting Occupation

This week, I spoke with two Ukainians who support Palestine and why they feel it is important for their countrymen and women to understand colonialism in other parts of the world. Rita Adel, a humanitarian analyst, and Vladyslav Starodubtsev, a socialist leader and historian, and I talked about Ukrainian socialism, what progressives in the west don’t get about Ukraine and NATO and why Ukrainians…

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How A Ukrainian Therapist Supports People Sexually Assaulted By Russian Soldiers

Warning: This week’s episode will focus on sexual violence committed by Russian soldiers. Reader, listener and viewer discretion is advised This week, I talk about Ukrainian civilians who survived sexual assault from Russian troops during the war. Ukraine is investigating nearly 300 cases of sexual assault, but that number is likely much higher. Today, I am talking with Nadiia Volchenska,…

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Why Georgians Are Protesting a Russian 'Foreign Agent' Bill

This week’s episode is about the ongoing protests in Georgia in response to the country’s ruling political party, Georgia Dream, moving forward with its “foreign agent.” Officially titled “On the Transparency of Foreign Influence," the bill, if passed into law, would require organizations in the country receiving more than 20% of their funding from overseas to register as “foreign agents” or face…

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