Happy Sunday, Meridian Readers! It sure was an eventful week, so let’s jump in. What happened at the U.N. General Assembly Publication: The New York Times | By Rick Gladstone and Alan Yuhas Every year presidents and prime ministers come together for UNGA, the word’s most prominent convening of leaders in diplomacy. With Brexit, the climate crisis and plenty of global tensions, this year’s assembly was nothing short of eventful. Here’s a quick rundown of what went down: Boris Johnson, Britain’s new prime minister, made is UN debut just after Britain’s top court ruled that he acted unconstitutionally when...

Hey there, Meridian Readers. You know the drill by now, let’s jump on it. What an African free-trade deal means for the world Publication: The Washington Post | By Ishaan Tharoor Had a busy year? So has Africa. After more than 365 days of diplomatic effort, on September 9 South African President Cyril Ramaphosa extolled the virtues of a potentially monumental African free-trade pact. How monumental? Ramaphosa said the deal is “going to be the greatest opportunity for economies on the continent to generate growth through trade.” So, pretty monumental. After Nigeria signed on to the African Continental Free Trade...

Happy Sunday, Meridian Readers! September is in full swing and we know it’s a busy time for everyone, so let’s take a second to sit back, relax and catch up.  Afghan talks could mean diplomatic opportunities for Islamabad Publication: The Washington Diplomat | By Jason Overdorf Feeling exhausted after a busy few months? Asad Majeed Khan, Pakistan’s top diplomat in Washington, feels your pain. Here’s why: At the beginning of July, the International Monetary Fund approved a $6 billion bailout package for his country that could be political kryptonite for his populist boss, Prime Minister Imran Khan. A week later,...

The Study of U.S. Institutes (SUSI) brings over 100 emerging international leaders from more than 20 countries to the U.S. for an immersive education program that spans several weeks. SUSI focuses on five global themes: civic engagement, economic development, religious freedom, closing the skills gap and public service. Once they’ve selected a theme to study, students are sent to one of five colleges, which included Bard College, the University of Massachusetts, Temple University, the University of Washington and the University of Nevada. The program culminated in Washington, D.C. with a symposium that allowed students to showcase all they had...

The U.S. Congress – Republic of Korea National Assembly Exchange Program is a unique program designed to broaden the perspectives of Korean and American young people on the legislative process, the history of U.S.–Korean relations and current economic, political and security aspects of the bilateral relationship. The program also provides the U.S. and Korean participants with firsthand experience of each other’s people and culture, and creates opportunities for participants to form long-lasting personal contacts. The following was written by Corbin Cerny, a participant of the program. South Korea remains an obscure place in the American mindset. Despite the many cases of...