The U.S. Congress returns from its summer recess to try to pass a budget for federal discretionary programs before the fiscal year ends and avoid a government shutdown; the United States and other Western allies accuse Iran of transferring ballistic missiles to Russia, raising concerns over intensified strikes on Ukraine; Hungary faces a second deadline to pay a $221 million fine for breaking European Union asylum law, which President Viktor Orbán remains unwilling to follow; and China gifts Cambodia two newly built Type 056 corvette warships, raising questions about Beijing’s naval ambitions.

Mentioned on the Podcast

Zongyuan Zoe Liu, “Tracking China’s Control of Overseas Ports,” CFR.org

For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The World Next Week at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/twnw/congresss-funding-battle-iran-sends-missiles-russia-orban-defies-eu-and-more 

The United States, Egypt, and Qatar prepare another cease-fire proposal after Hamas killed six Israeli hostages and Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu demanded control of the Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border; Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump hold their first presidential debate; the Toronto International Film Festival showcases independent films spanning from Hungary to Georgia and more; and the United States seizes Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s plane.  

What to Watch at Toronto International Film Festival

Edward Berger, Conclave

William Bridges, All of You

Brady Corbet, The Brutalist

Dea Kulumbegashvili, April

Mentioned on the Podcast

Brett Goldstein, Bill Lawrence, Jason Segel, Shrinking

Brendan Hunt, Joe Kelly, Bill Lawrence, Ted Lasso

For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The World Next Week at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/twnw/gazas-troubled-cease-fire-efforts-harris-and-trump-debate-toronto-international-film-fest 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the incursion into Kursk is an important step towards ending the war with Russia, but Ukraine is facing a major test in its own Donbas battlefields; the intensifying mpox outbreak places additional strain on the Democratic Republic of Congo and surrounding African nations; heightened security tensions spur the United States, keeping nuclear defense planners busy; and the Taliban bans the voices of women and girls in public. 

Mentioned on the Podcast

“Countries Should Act Faster to Curb the Spread of Mpox,” The Economist

“If a China and America War Went Nuclear, Who Would Win?,” The Economist

Allison Krugman and Chloe Searchinger, “Mpox Vaccine Tracker: Millions Pledged, Millions Still to Be Delivered,” Think Global Health

David E. Sanger, “Biden Approved Secret Nuclear Strategy Refocusing on Chinese Threat,” New York Times

Lara Seligman, “U.S.-Made F-16 Jet Fighter Crashes in Ukraine,” Wall Street Journal

“Ukraine’s Attack on Kursk, With Liana Fix,” The President’s Inbox

“Ukraine Pushes Into Russia, 2024 DNC Begins, Foreign Hacking Targets Trump and Harris, and More,” The World Next Week

For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The World Next Week at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/twnw/stakes-ukraines-kursk-offensive-stopping-mpox-spread-nuclear-arms-race-returns-and-more 

This special episode of The World Next Week features a summerlong feast of reading, watching, and listening treats. Deborah Amos, the Ferris Professor of Journalism in Residence at Princeton University and a former international correspondent for National Public Radio, joins CFR’s TWNW hosts Robert McMahon and Carla Anne Robbins to discuss good reads they recommend, books they are looking forward to reading, and other entertainment they are enjoying this summer.

Mentioned on the Podcast

Bob’s Picks

Elizabeth Kolbert, H Is for Hope: Climate Change from A to Z 

Stefan Zweig, The World of Yesterday: Memoirs of a European

Carla’s Picks

Steve Coll, The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the CIA, and the Origins of America's Invasion of Iraq

Peter Pomerantsev, How to Win an Information War: The Propagandist Who Outwitted Hitler 

Deborah’s Picks

Jayne Anne Phillips, Night Watch

Nathan Thrall, A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy 

Additional Books, Films, Podcasts, Shows and More Mentioned on the Podcast

Books

Russell Baker, Growing Up

Ron Chernow, Grant 

Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History

Roy Stewart, The Places In Between

Films

Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel

James Bridges, The China Syndrome

George Clooney, Good Night, and Good Luck.

Alex Garland, Civil War 

Howard Hawks, His Girl Friday

Roland Joffé, The Killing Fields

Richard Linklater, Hit Man

Sidney Lumet, Network

Alan J. Pakula, All the President's Men

Peter Weir, The Year of Living Dangerously

Podcasts

Alistair Campbell and Rory Stewart, The Rest is Politics, Goalhanger

Jon Ronson, Things Fell Apart, BBC Radio 4

Television Shows

Jez Scharf, Bodkin 

David Simon, The Wire

Aaron Sorkin, The Newsroom

Other

The Reckoning Project

“Watch the U.S. Stall on Climate Change for 12 Years,” Vox

For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The World Next Week at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/twnw-special-what-read-summer-2024 

Ukraine’s surprise incursion of Russia’s Kursk region captures territory and stuns the Kremlin; the Democratic National Convention kicks off in Chicago with concerns of divisions in the party over support for Israel in its war in the Gaza Strip; U.S. intelligence is on high alert after foreign hacking attempts on both former President Donald Trump’s and Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaigns; and Mexico turns down Ukraine’s request for it to uphold warrants to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin by the International Criminal Court.   

Mentioned on the Podcast

Tim Alberta, “Trump Is Planning for a Landslide Win,” The Atlantic

Kevin Collier, Ken Dilanian, and Dan De Luce, “FBI Says It's Investigating Efforts to Hack Trump and Biden-Harris Campaigns,” NBC News

Alina Lobzina and Anton Troianovski, “Ukraine’s Incursion Into Russia Flips the Script on Putin,” New York Times

Jonathan Weisman, “Worried About a Convention Clash, Democrats Woo Uncommitted Delegates,” New York Times

For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The World Next Week at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/twnw/ukraine-pushes-russia-2024-dnc-begins-foreign-hacking-targets-trump-and-harris-and-more 

Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her new running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, campaign ahead of the party’s convention; world leaders and diplomats reach out to Iran and Israel to head off a wider regional war after the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran spurred retaliation threats; Bangladesh prepares an interim government after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country; and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government responds to anti-immigrant riots across the country.   

Mentioned on the Podcast

Fred Kaplan, “Kamala Harris Has Been Much More Involved in Foreign Policy Than We Realize,” Slate

Jonathan Masters, “The U.S. Vice President and Foreign Policy,” CFR.org

Recommended Reading

Swift Boats at War in Vietnam, edited by Guy Gugliotta, Neva Sullaway, John Yeoman

For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The World Next Week at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/twnw/us-presidential-campaign-picks-iran-mulls-retaliation-bangladeshs-new-government-and-more 

The Middle East braces for the possibility of a full-scale war between Israel and Iran-backed forces after the assassinations of Hamas senior leader Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr; Venezuelans protest the results of the presidential election that grant incumbent President Nicolás Maduro a third term; the Edinburgh Festival Fringe spotlights wide-ranging, new talent; imprisoned journalists in Russia are freed in a major prisoner swap; and militant groups kill troops from Russia’s private military company Wagner Group, including a Wagner commander, in Mali.  

Mentioned on the Podcast

Steven A. Cook, “Are Israel and Iran Headed for All Out War?,” CFR.org

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Edinburgh Festival Fringe App

Edinburgh Fringe Festival Recommendation Lists: Independent, Playbill, and Time Out Magazine

Kali Robinson, “What Is Hamas?,” CFR.org

For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The World Next Week at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/twnw/israel-iran-tensions-escalate-venezuela-election-questioned-edinburgh-fringe-shines-and 

Global leaders react to U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of the 2024 race and endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for the Democratic nomination; France ramps up security measures as the Summer Olympics kick off in Paris; Diplomacy continues over a potential Israel-Hamas cease-fire after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the U.S. Congress; and a Russian court sentences two American journalists. 

Mentioned on the Podcast

Charles A. Kupchan, “Biden’s Legacy: Major Accomplishments but Unfinished Business,” CFR.org

Linda Robinson, “Vice President Kamala Harris’s Real-World School of Foreign Policy,” CFR.org

“Politics and Protest at the Olympics,” CFR.org

Suzanne Lynch and Ben Munster, “‘Invisible’ Kamala Harris Struggles to Win Over Europe,” Politico

For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The World Next Week at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/twnw/world-reacts-biden-withdrawal-summer-olympics-begin-gaza-diplomacy-after-netanyahus-visit   

The world reacts to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the selection of Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as former President Donald Trump’s running mate; Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a joint session of Congress; Cyprus marks fifty years since the Turkish invasion that left the country still split in two; and Nepal’s Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli begins his fourth term in office.   

Mentioned on the Podcast

Steven Cook, “Netanyahu’s High-Stakes Visit to Washington,” CFR.org

Ross Douthat, “What J.D. Vance Believes,” New York Times

For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The World Next Week at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/gop-election-enthusiasm-netanyahu-addresses-us-congress-cyprus-50-years-after-invasion-and 

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) wraps its seventy-fifth summit, pledging to keep Ukraine on an “irreversible” path to membership while concerns grow about the future of U.S. commitment; Japan hosts the tenth Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting to counter China’s influence in the region; France struggles to form a government as party differences intensify; and President-Elect Masoud Pezeshkian raises hopes for possible change in Iran.   

Mentioned on the Podcast

A Conversation With Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen of Denmark, Council on Foreign Relations

Emmanuel Macron, “A Letter to the French People,” Le Parisien

Pacific Aid Map, Lowy Institute

Ray Takeyh, “What Could Change Under Iran’s New ‘Reformist’ President?,” CFR.org

Washington Summit Declaration, NATO 

Sarah Wheaton, “Orbán’s Humble Pie,” Politico

For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The World Next Week at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/nato-and-ukraine-beyond-75-japan-hosts-pacific-islands-frances-political-gridlock-and-more 

This special episode of The World Next Week features a summerlong feast of reading, watching, and listening treats. Deborah Amos, the Ferris Professor of Journalism in Residence at Princeton University and a former international correspondent for National Public Radio, joins CFR’s TWNW hosts Robert McMahon and Carla Anne Robbins to discuss good reads they recommend, books they are looking forward to reading, and other entertainment they are enjoying this summer.

Mentioned on the Podcast

Bob’s Picks

Elizabeth Kolbert, H Is for Hope: Climate Change from A to Z 

Stefan Zweig, The World of Yesterday: Memoirs of a European

Carla’s Picks

Steve Coll, The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the CIA, and the Origins of America's Invasion of Iraq

Peter Pomerantsev, How to Win an Information War: The Propagandist Who Outwitted Hitler 

Deborah’s Picks

Jayne Anne Phillips, Night Watch

Nathan Thrall, A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy 

Additional Books, Films, Podcasts, Shows and More Mentioned on the Podcast

Books

Russell Baker, Growing Up

Ron Chernow, Grant 

Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History

Roy Stewart, The Places In Between

Films

Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel

James Bridges, The China Syndrome

George Clooney, Good Night, and Good Luck.

Alex Garland, Civil War 

Howard Hawks, His Girl Friday

Roland Joffé, The Killing Fields

Richard Linklater, Hit Man

Sidney Lumet, Network

Alan J. Pakula, All the President's Men

Peter Weir, The Year of Living Dangerously

Podcasts

Alistair Campbell and Rory Stewart, The Rest is Politics, Goalhanger

Jon Ronson, Things Fell Apart, BBC Radio 4

Television Shows

Jez Scharf, Bodkin 

David Simon, The Wire

Aaron Sorkin, The Newsroom

Other

The Reckoning Project

“Watch the U.S. Stall on Climate Change for 12 Years,” Vox

For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The World Next Week at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/twnw-special-what-read-summer-2024