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Alon Ben-Meir is an extraordinary figure, born in Baghdad in 1937. He is a professor of international relations at New York University. He has long been involved in international negotiations. He knows the Middle East intimately. In this conversation, he and Jay cover a good part of the waterfront (not that there’s much water in the Middle East): Turkey, Syria, the Yazidis, the Arab-Israeli conflict, etc. The conversation is also personal, about Ben-Meir’s life. He has lived in many places and speaks several languages. Does he feel at home everywhere – or nowhere? No one will agree with every word he says, but all can learn from this immensely learned, thoughtful, and experienced man.
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is a legislator from Hong Kong and a democracy leader. She has just given testimony before the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva (as an invitee of UN Watch, a non-governmental organization accredited at the U.N.). Chan talks with Jay about the democracy movement in Hong Kong. What does it want? What is its current mood? Who calls the shots in the city, the local government or the Party rulers in Beijing? What about police brutality? What about American flags in the streets? What about the relationship between Hong Kong and Taiwan? How about Chan personally – does she feel like a Hong Konger, like a Chinese woman, or some combination? Jay asks her all this and more. She is a brave woman, Tanya Chan. Earlier this year, she was sentenced to prison, although this sentence was suspended, owing to health: She was operated for a brain tumor. An interesting, candid, and indeed brave woman, in this “Q&A.”