← The World and Everything In It
The World and Everything In It
5.13.26 Managing a rivalry with Beijing, eradicating leprosy, and courageously engaging the culture
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- [00:06]
Lindsay Mast
Good morning. Trade, Taiwan and the war in Iran. Who has the leverage as President Trump talks with China.
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Hunter Baker
I spoke with President Xi. We look forward, we both look forward to the meeting. It's going to be great.
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Nick Iger
Hunter Baker standing by for Washington Wednesday. Also today, world tour and later, a Christian worldview program sending hundreds into schools, churches, medicine and media. What we need is a cadre of
- [00:31]
Kent Covington
people who know how to defend Christianity
- [00:33]
Hunter Baker
in every single area of life.
- [00:35]
Nick Iger
And world commentator Daniel sir on US Pushback to mass migration.
- [00:47]
Lindsay Mast
It's Wednesday, May 13th. This is the world and everything in it from listener supported World Radio. I'm Lindsay Mast.
- [00:54]
Nick Iger
And I'm Nick Iger. Good morning.
- [00:58]
Lindsay Mast
Up next, Kent Covington has today's news.
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Kent Covington
President Trump is in Beijing today to sit down with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Trade negotiations top the agenda, but of course, the Iran war also looms over the talks. Republican Senator Dave McCormick says China, as Iran's biggest oil customer has the leverage to help put an end to the war.
- [01:20]
Hunter Baker
They should want to find a resolution and add more pressure. They also are a supporter of Iran with a lot of military technology and I would hope the president's going to make them stop assisting Iran with its bills, up a ballistic missiles and so forth.
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Kent Covington
Trump says he will have a long talk with Xi Jinping about Iran, but trade is his main focus. Top business executives including Elon Musk and Apple's Tim Cook are along for the trip. Today's gathering in China comes after a Southern California mayor this week agreed to plead guilty to acting as an illegal agent for the Chinese government. Federal officials said. Eileen Wang, the mayor of Arcadia, was charged with one count of acting in the United States as an illegal agent of a foreign government. The 58 year old's plea agreement states that she worked on behalf of Chinese officials to advance their interests by promoting pro China propaganda. President Trump's FDA chief, Marty Makari is resigning just 13 months into the job. The president told reporters, Marty's a great guy.
- [02:23]
Nick Iger
He's a friend of mine.
- [02:24]
Hunter Baker
He's a wonderful man. And he's going to be off and the assistant, the deputy is taking over temporarily until we find everybody wants that job.
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Kent Covington
Makari, who is a surgical oncologist, has drawn fire in recent months from a range of critics. Those include pharmaceutical companies and pro life groups frustrated that he slow walked an FDA review of abortion drugs. Kyle Diamantis, the FDA's food chief, steps in as acting commissioner. A permanent pick will need Senate confirmation. Authorities are working to contain a hantavirus outbreak that spread aboard the high seas after a new case was detected on Tuesday. So far, three people are dead after the outbreak aboard a Dutch cruise ship that departed from Argentina. There are now 11 reported cases, nine of which are confirmed. A Spanish passenger is the latest to test positive after being evacuated from the ship, but World Health Organization chief Tedros Gabriel told reporters, at the moment there is no sign that we are seeing
- [03:26]
Nick Iger
the start of a larger outbreak.
- [03:30]
Kent Covington
But of course the situation could change and given the long incubation period of the virus, it's possible we might see more cases in the coming weeks. The ship's complement of more than120passengers has already been sent home to their own countries. That includes more than a dozen Americans, only one of whom has since tested positive for the virus, but that individual is not showing symptoms. Most of those American passengers were sent to the University of Nebraska Medical center for quarantine and and as for the other countries, they have the sovereignty, so we can't force them to take our protocols. We can only advise and recommend, but I hope they will follow the advice and the recommendations we're making, doctors said. A French woman who was infected on the ship was critically ill. Health officials characterize this particular strain of hantavirus as rare but severe, with more than 30% of cases resulting in death. Federal prosecutors have filed criminal charges related to the collapse of Baltimore's Francis Scott key Bridge in 2024. The indictment names two companies, operators of the container ship known as the Dolly, as well as the firm's shore based superintendent. Six construction workers were killed when the Dolly slammed into a bridge support Justice Department official Adam Gustafson.
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Nick Iger
When the Dolly crashed into the Key Bridge, massive pieces of the bridge fell into the Patapsco river along with vehicles, cargo containers and other debris. The crash also resulted in the discharge of oil into the water.
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Kent Covington
Prosecutors say the crew rigged up a makeshift pump instead of using the proper fuel supply system and when it failed, the ship lost power and steering. FBI Special Agent Jimmy Paul as is laid out in this indictment, the collapse should never have happened. As alleged, the bridge was struck and
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Nick Iger
collapsed because those who are responsible for
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Kent Covington
the ship's operation deliberately cut corners at the expense of safety. Replacing the bridge will cost up to $5.2 billion and the new bridge won't be open to traffic until 2030. Federal agents are investigating six deaths at a Texas rail yard as a potential human smuggling case. World's Kristin Plavin reports.
- [05:54]
Lindsay Mast
Opened a shipping container this week in Laredo and found the bodies inside. The medical examiner says heat stroke killed them slowly over as long as eight hours in the metal box. Five men and one woman were among the dead. IDs and cell phones at the scene suggest the deceased were from Mexico and Honduras. Laredo sits on the busy U. S. Mexico border, a major land port and a frequent crossing point for human smuggling. The deadliest Such case in US history happened nearby in 2022, when 53 illegal immigrants were found dead in a sweltering tractor trailer in Texas. For world, I'm Kristin Flavin.
- [06:36]
Kent Covington
And I'm Kent Covington. Coming up, more on the president's trip to China and later, a Christian Worldview program sending hundreds into schools, churches, medicine and media. This is the WORLD and EVERYTHING in it.
- [07:02]
Nick Iger
It's Wednesday, the 13th of May. Glad to have you along for today's edition of the World and Everything In It. Good morning. I'm Nick Iger.
- [07:10]
Lindsay Mast
And I'm Lindsay Mast. President Trump is in Beijing with a delegation of major American CEOs from finance, tech, manufacturing and aviation. This comes against a backdrop of tensions over Taiwan, trade and military competition in the Pacific. There's an official welcome ceremony tonight, which is actually Thursday morning, Beijing time.
- [07:31]
Nick Iger
Meanwhile, Chinese analysts and state media increasingly describe the United States as a declining and internally divided power. The New York Times carried a major piece on that yesterday. Some reports suggest Beijing believes it may now hold more leverage in the relationship than at any point in years. It's Washington Wednesday. And joining us now, political scientist Hunter Baker. Hunter, good morning.
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Hunter Baker
Good morning.
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Nick Iger
So, Hunter, this trip comes at a moment when China is seeing the US as weakened and distracted. But President Trump appears to be approaching Beijing with a very transactional mindset. His idea is trade and economic opportunity. So what do you think each side believes it has to gain going into the summit?
- [08:19]
Hunter Baker
Carl F.H. henry, who some of the audience may remember, he wrote a short book called Has Democracy Had Its Day? And I think that if we were to ask the Chinese, has democracy had its day? I think they would say, yes, it has. They would look at the United States. They would see how we have our elections every couple of years with power changing hands. And they would say, how can you govern that way, especially when the population is not united? And so they see that as a tremendous weakness that we have. You know, we, on the other hand, tend to see the ability of human beings to be true citizens, to vote, to organize, to speak, as more of a strength than a weakness. But right now, as you're seeing how events in Iran are affecting the United States, you can see something to the Chinese position. You can see Right. The US President is trying to resolve this thing, and the Iranians know if they can just draw it out long enough that it will be a problem. Now, what Trump wants, yes, he wants trade, he wants economic wins, and I think he probably wants Beijing to pressure Iran to resolve this thing and to get world commerce going full tilt again. The Chinese, of course, want to continue to do business with the United States. We have the greatest markets in the world. They benefit tremendously from doing business with us. They're not that crazy about us protecting ourselves. They're not that crazy about us trying to prevent them from doing things to American corporations that want to do business in China. And most of all, maybe they want to affect our posture toward their policy with regard to Taiwan.
- [10:06]
Lindsay Mast
Hunter, I wanted to ask you about that. How central is Taiwan to this trip, really? Even if both sides publicly emphasize economics,
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Hunter Baker
Taiwan is a big deal. It has been for a long time. And they are very aggressive in their push against anyone who acknowledges Taiwan's independent existence. The United States has been cagey about it for quite a while. And we sort of take this kind of strategic ambiguity with regard to Taiwan. You know, some folks may remember that Joe Biden at one point made a fairly strong statement about our defense of Taiwan, and there was almost this rush to kind of walk these words back to kind of return to strategic ambiguity. But the Chinese care tremendously about it. They would view it as a huge victory if we would not sell arms to Taiwan or if we would express that Taiwan is not our business.
- [11:06]
Lindsay Mast
You know, Hunter, we also talk a lot about military rivalry, but things like soybean purchases and aircraft deals seem. Still seem to matter enormously here. I want to know, why are basic commodities still such powerful geopolitical tools?
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Hunter Baker
Well, in the case of China, you're just talking about an incredible amount of money. It's certainly true that we have come to rely tremendously on Chinese products in the United States. Walmart, for example, is absolutely full of things made in China. And American consumers have benefited from that. You know, we have paid lower prices. You know, before COVID we had an incredibly long period of price stability that I think was achieved in part because of trade with China and cheap goods, but it is also the case that we sell things to them. There was once a time when China was constantly deprived of foodstuffs and unable to feed their massive and burgeoning population. United States agriculture is a very big part of that, and so our farmers depend on having those markets open. So Trump is always aware of how our trade relationship with China is going to affect the sale of agricultural stuff and also, of course, things like aircraft. In aircraft. We have largely a duopoly between the European Airbus and the American Boeing. And he wants to make sure that Boeing is able to be part of that growing Chinese market.
- [12:43]
Nick Iger
You know, nothing says this meeting is about the economy more than having a plane full of multinational CEOs with you. What do you think? It says that some of America's biggest corporations still see China as indispensable, despite years of rhetoric around the idea of decoupling.
- [13:04]
Hunter Baker
It's a really complex situation. There's a famous sort of international political concept called the Thucydides trap. It's the idea of a nation like Sparta having once been dominant and facing the rising power of Athens. And the trap is that the dominant power and the rising power, very often, you know, if you study history, will end up in conflict, maybe a real war. I think that the big players are aware of that dynamic between the United States as the dominant power and China as the quickly rising power. And there is a desire to achieve something like a managed rivalry. We don't want a war. They don't want a war. If you talk to people who really understand China, they'll emphasize this idea of winning without fighting. They want to find a way to defeat, to overcome the United States without ever actually having to get into a fight. And for our part, you know, we have no appetite for the sort of gigantic military conflict that that would entail. And so we continue in this sort of rivalrous dance that we've been involved with for the past couple of decades.
- [14:21]
Nick Iger
Speaking of rivalrous dances, we've got a story out of Arcadia, California, of all places. Federal investigators say that the mayor of that town agreed to plead guilty, acting as an unregistered agent for the Chinese government while serving in office. Prosecutors say that the case is connected to a broader influence network involving Chinese language, media, and efforts to shape opinion inside Chinese American communities in Southern California. So, Hunter, when Americans hear Chinese espionage, perhaps they're thinking cyber attacks or something huge like spies in Washington. But this case apparently involves just a local mayor, community, media, and smaller influence operations. What stands out to you about this story?
- [15:13]
Hunter Baker
Remember those words that I used just a couple of minutes ago, winning without fighting? They. They are willing to use any number of different kinds of levers of influence. And this is the kind of thing that the United States of America is vulnerable to. We are a free society. And so that means that there are lots of ways that enemies of the United States or rivals of the United States will try to influence American citizens, to influence opinion. It's understood that opinion is maybe the most powerful source of law in the United States. And everybody on the outside understands that they can do something about that, that they can try to affect that. And so that's what we're seeing with this one small instance of this mayor in Arcadia. You can assume that we could multiply this instance probably by many thousands, and never get to the end of the different types of influence that are being used to affect American politics and culture and institutions.
- [16:14]
Lindsay Mast
Switching continents here, the Wall Street Journal this week highlighted what it called a capitalist makeover underway in Sweden. The country long held up by many American progressives as proof that expansive social democracy works has embraced school choice, private sector reforms, and tougher conversations around immigration and welfare state sustainability. Hunter Sweden occupies an almost mythic place in American progressive politics. So why is the Wall Street Journal suddenly talking about Sweden embracing market reforms and school choice? And really, why should Americans care?
- [16:50]
Hunter Baker
It's a really important part of the American political conversation. So, you know, for a long time, you had this kind of debate about the United States versus the Soviet Union, and it was understood, or at least it was thought by various American elites, that the Soviet Union was at least on par with the United States, possibly better. And then, you know, of course, the Soviet Union fell apart, and it became quite clear that it could not compete with the American model and that capitalism had been or free market economics had been vindicated over against that Marxist model. But when you would have that conversation, people on the left would say, well, there's Sweden, right? You know, and they would point to Sweden with their social democracy and their very high taxes and very extensive welfare state and, you know, healthcare provided and education provided, basically everything coming forth from the state as the superior model, you know, that the Soviet Union had failed and hadn't respected human rights, but that Sweden had done it the right way. And that what we have seen, and really this has been for probably the past couple of decades, is Sweden slowly unwinding, slowly engaging in more privatization. And it's just amazing to me to read this story in the Wall Street Journal and talk about the success of school choice in Sweden. It's unbelievable. The other thing to say about this is it's amazing that we have these American socialists who are trying to do the things that other people have tried and are walking away from.
- [18:35]
Lindsay Mast
Well, Hunter Baker is a political scientist and provost of North Greenville University. Hunter, thank you so much.
- [18:41]
Hunter Baker
Thank you.
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Kent Covington
Additional support comes from Water's edge Most churches aren't ready if their bookkeeper left tomorrow. Watersedge Ministry accounting is watersedge.com accounting from Dort University, whose online MBA and MBA PA programs prepare leaders for lasting impact. Dort University until all is made new. And from St. Dunstan's inviting young men into the building arts and the adventure of holiness on a Blue Ridge mountain farm. St. Dunstansacademy.org.
- [19:40]
Nick Iger
Coming up next on the World and Everything in It World Tour in ancient times, many skin issues were lumped under one term that was later translated into English as leprosy. Thousands of years later, scientists are still learning about it. Although it's no longer a public health problem, it still occurs in 120 countries. World Correspondent Amy Lewis has the story.
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Amy Lewis
In March, Chile became the second country in the world to eradicate leprosy. Dr. Jarvis Barbosa is the World Health Organization's Regional director for the Americas.
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Hunter Baker
I want to congratulate the government of Chile for achieving the elimination of leprosy according to international standards of the World Health Organization.
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Amy Lewis
Chile has logged no local cases for more than 30 years. It joined Jordan, which earned the same designation in 2024. But to many, the big news was not that Chile eliminated the disease, but that it still needs eliminating. The WHO classifies it as an NTD, a neglected tropical disease, because 95% of the world's population is naturally immune. But the battle against leprosy continues, especially for those who have it. Eva Lee is the international Program officer for Leprosy Mission Australia. Here she is on the awareness podcast. Leprosy is actually a bacterial disease that affects the nerves as well as affects the skin. For centuries, it was thought to be a hereditary disease. Whole families were quarantined and thought to be under God's curse. During biblical times, people with leprosy were kept from corporate worship. In 1873, Norwegian doctor Armar Hansen made a discovery reenacted in this CBS production. More than a century later, these small
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Hunter Baker
rods bacilli must be the cause of leprosy.
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Nick Iger
The discovery of the leprosy bacillus is
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Hunter Baker
a milestone in man's struggle to find remedies for ancient scourges.
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Amy Lewis
It's the first time bacteria was discovered to cause human illness. The disease was renamed Hansen's disease. In the 1980s, the advent of multidrug antibiotic therapy made new cases of leprosy plummet from the millions of to only 200,000 globally each year. Most occur in India, Brazil and Indonesia. The disease is normally only mildly infectious and not at all after a week of antibiotic therapy. Dr. Barbosa says a unified front helped achieve the eradication of Hansen's disease in Chile.
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Hunter Baker
I especially highlight the integration of leprosy care into general health services without stigmatization and with universal access to diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation, regardless of nationality or migratory status.
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Amy Lewis
With proper antibiotic treatment, the disease is completely curable within six to 12 months between 1994 and 2014, 16 million people around the world were cured of the disease. But symptoms mimic other skin diseases, and few doctors are trained to recognize or test it. So cases can go undiagnosed for years until victims become disabled or disfigured. The suffering goes beyond the physical. 38 countries have legislation that discriminates against people with leprosy. Some countries still require them to live in leper colonies. Doctors familiar with the disease are working to eliminate the shame associated with it. Brazil, for example, works to destigmatize it by only calling it Hansen's disease instead of lepra, the term for leprosy. In biblical times, Christians were some of the first to establish care for those with leprosy. Many still help those with the disease.
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Hunter Baker
Brother, sister, let me serve you.
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Nick Iger
Let me be as Christ to you.
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Amy Lewis
Last week, hundreds of people gathered in meetings online for a global day of prayer led by leaders from Leprosy Mission International. People from countries with very few cases, like the Netherlands, Germany, Northern Ireland and Australia, praised God for the good news from Chile and prayed for complete eradication. Leprosy Mission's Dr. Uttane Bernadette Adama in Nigeria shared her experience. When you see these people reconnect with
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Hunter Baker
their families, it makes you to know that it is not just medicine or public health, but that you're participating in
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Amy Lewis
something more meaningful, that is restoring humanity or dignity. Attendees prayed with hope for the elimination of an ancient disease and in the great physician who demonstrated centuries ago that he cares for the body, mind and soul of each person who suffers. That's this week's world tour. I'm Amy Lewis.
- [24:57]
Nick Iger
Detectives in Southern California say organized retail crime has entered its pasta phase. Police accuse a man of buying Lego sets from Target stores, removing the Legos, then refilling the boxes with uncooked pasta and returning them for free full refunds. Investigators say the switch worked. At least it worked for a little while because a box of dried pasta sounded enough like a box of Legos to fool store employees. But crime does not pay, not even in California. Body cam video shows officers dragging the suspect from his Lexus. And now the master plan is fully cooked. It's the world and everything in it. Today is Wednesday, May 13th. Thank you for turning to world radio to help start your day. Good morning, I'm Nick Icker.
- [25:58]
Lindsay Mast
And I'm Lindsay Mast. Coming next on the World and everything in it, helping Christians live out their way worldview. That was Chuck Colson's goal in 1991 when he established the organization that bears his name. But helping men and women clearly and confidently think and speak from a biblical lens comes with challenges, especially in a culture that twists the truth about identity and purpose. World's Myrna Brown begins a two part series on how Colson's vision is still helping Christians step boldly into everyday cultural moments.
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Hunter Baker
Hi, I'm Chuck Colson of Breakpoint.
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Stuart Kellogg
Thirteen years after he started the Colson center for Christian Worldview, Chuck Colson identified a problem.
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Hunter Baker
What we need desperately in the world
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Nick Iger
today is a cadre of people who
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Hunter Baker
know how to think Christianly and defend Christianity in every single area of life.
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Stuart Kellogg
Colson started looking for a few good men and women, 100 of them. Like a Roman officer.
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Hunter Baker
We started something here at Breakpoint called the Centurion programs.
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Stuart Kellogg
Stuart Kellogg is part of the class of 2007.
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Kent Covington
I'm a C4, the fourth class of centurions.
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Stuart Kellogg
Back then, Kellogg was a 50 year old general manager of a television station who wanted to know how to better apply what he believed to how he lived. His fellow Centurions were journalists, doctors, educators, business owners and homemakers. Colson spent 10 months educating them in worldview, culture and biblical theology.
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Kent Covington
Chuck Colson used to constantly tell us about be winsome. We're speaking the truth. It makes people uncomfortable. But be winsome.
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Stuart Kellogg
Colson's death in 2012 put the Centurion program on pause. John Stonestreet, current president of the Colson
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Hunter Baker
Center There was already a lot of
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Kent Covington
parts of the legacy.
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Hunter Baker
There were books, there was organizations, there
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Kent Covington
was a public Persona, there was a counselor to statesmen and to presidents and Democrats.
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Stuart Kellogg
But future generations needed worldview training too. He pushed to preserve what he calls the most important part of Colson's legacy.
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Hunter Baker
But he was like, no, it's reproduction. I need to equip a new generation
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Kent Covington
of leaders in Christian worldview.
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Nick Iger
Welcome to the national commissioning ceremony for the Colson fellows class of 20. 25.
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Stuart Kellogg
Centurions are now called Colson Fellows. More than 6,000 men and women around the world globe have completed the program. On this day, an additional 700 are about to walk across the stage.
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Nick Iger
It's literally 51% women, 49% men.
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Stuart Kellogg
Michael Craven is the dean of the Colson Fellows program.
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Nick Iger
They've spent about 273 hours of attention to curriculum that they've been accessing online. They've been gathering in their cohorts, they've been participating in these rigorous discussions, debates, wrestling with what they're learning in community.
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Stuart Kellogg
Now these Colson Fellows will go back to their communities equipped to answer four questions.
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Nick Iger
What is good in this world that I could be used to preserve, protect, promote? That's the first question. Second, what is evil that I absolutely must oppose? Third is what is broken that the Lord might use me to restore? And finally, what is missing that I might be able to to provide or innovate.
- [29:18]
Stuart Kellogg
After he was commissioned, Stuart Kellogg stepped into the pro life movement. He published a five part pro life series for students and he's still teaching parenting classes for men who walk through the doors of his local pregnancy resource center.
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Kent Covington
So I can say 20 years later, hey, thank you, Chuck, I'm still working.
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Stuart Kellogg
The new generation of Colson Fellows will head out into a variety of places. Plans in place.
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Nick Iger
Colson Fellows in training. Are you ready to receive your commission?
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Stuart Kellogg
37 year old Alonzo Blankenship is an assistant principal at a Christian school in Austin, Texas.
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Kent Covington
There's a need for them to be grounded and understand why they believe and what it means to live with a biblical worldview. Dr. David H. Kim Dr. David Kim
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Stuart Kellogg
Co founded a faith based health center in Staten Island, New York. He's also teaching the next generation of health care professionals.
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Hunter Baker
Thought it would be a great way for me to really pick up more of the language and knowledge that I would need to be even better able to really teach that foundation that we felt that students needed.
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Amy Lewis
Cynthia Kitchen.
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Hunter Baker
Steven Kitchen I'm a pastor and I homeschool my kids.
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Stuart Kellogg
Stephen and Cynthia Kitchen are from Massachusetts.
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Amy Lewis
We're going to read through one of
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Kent Covington
the books with our kids next fall
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Hunter Baker
and then we're talking about doing a summer introductory course pulling out some of these material for our church.
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Stuart Kellogg
Christine Smith and Chris Smith is a retired teacher and grandmother. She lives in California and wants to focus on middle school girls at her
- [30:56]
Lindsay Mast
church and work on gender identity and who God made us.
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Nick Iger
It's going to be exciting to see what God does.
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Amy Lewis
Okay, God worked hard.
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Hunter Baker
What's the next step?
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Amy Lewis
How's it going to flesh out?
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Nick Iger
So please rise, raise your right hand and repeat after me. I having been commissioned the Colson Fellow,
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Stuart Kellogg
what happens after they walk across the stage? What challenges lay ahead and how will they respond? We asked one of these Colson fellows to take us along tomorrow. Their audio diary Reporting for World I'm Myrna Brown in Louisville, Kentucky.
- [32:00]
Lindsay Mast
Good morning. This is the World and everything in it from listener supported World Radio. I'm Lindsay Mast.
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Nick Iger
And I'm Nick Icker. The Trump administration is escalating its clash with the United nations, this time over migration policy. The State Department this week rejected a new UN migration declaration, accusing the global body of helping to drive mass migration into the United States and Europe. World commentator Daniel sir says the administration is doing more than objecting to policy, it's challenging the worldview behind it.
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Daniel Sir
The Trump administration picked a fight this week with one of Washington's favorite punching bags, the United Nations. The State Department announced the United States would not participate in the UN's latest review of the Global Compact on Migration and then explained why in unusually blunt terms. The official statement accused UN agencies of helping facilitate mass migration into the United States and Europe while ignoring the consequences for the citizens of those countries. That language may sound sharp, but it reflects something bigger than a disagreement over border policy. For decades, the governing assumption inside many international institutions has been that borders are obstacles to overcome, not protections to preserve. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio laid out that critique earlier this year at the Munich Security Conference and in a
- [33:28]
Kent Covington
pursuit of a world without borders, we opened our doors to an unprecedented wave of mass migration that threatens the cohesion of our societies, the continuity of our culture, and the future of our people.
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Daniel Sir
That's the real argument here, not whether immigration should exist. America has always welcomed immigrants. The question is whether democratic nations still have the sovereign right to decide who enters, how many enter, and under what conditions. The administration says the UN's migration framework steadily pushes nations in the opposite direction, toward treating migration as a global entitlement rather than a national decision. And Secretary Rubio argues Western leaders ignored the scale of the problem for too long.
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Kent Covington
Mass migration is not was not some fringe concern of little consequence. It was and continues to be a crisis which is transforming and destabilizing societies all across the West.
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Daniel Sir
The State Department backed that accusation up with specifics. It pointed to UN funded groups working migration routes through Central America, aiding migrants moving toward the US border and condemning countries that tried to tighten enforcement. The Trump administration also argues that working class Americans bore much of the cost strained cities, competition for housing and services, billions spent managing the crisis. Whether one agrees with all of that language or not, the political reality is hard to miss. Across the west, voters have repeatedly demanded tighter border control. Yet many international organizations continue promoting policies in the opposite direction. That disconnect helps explain why institutions like the UN increasingly face skepticism not just from conservatives in America, but from voters across Europe as well. Secretary Rubio put it plainly in Munich,
- [35:27]
Kent Covington
controlling who and how many people enter our countries. This is not an expression of xenophobia. It is not hate. It is a fundamental act of national
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Daniel Sir
sovereignty that may end up being the defining divide of this debate. Not immigration versus no immigration, but whether democratic nations or international institutions ultimately control our borders. For world I'm Daniel Sir.
- [36:00]
Lindsay Mast
Tomorrow, farmers grapple with with fertilizer shortages since the Iran war. We'll have a report and we'll follow along as a Colson fellow puts into practice what she's learned. That and more tomorrow. I'm Lindsay Mast.
- [36:13]
Nick Iger
And I'm Nick Iker. The world and everything in it comes to you from World Radio. World's mission is biblically objective journalism that informs, educates and inspires, the Bible says. Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead by him, this man is standing before you. Well, this Jesus is the stone that was rejected by by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else. For there is no other name under heaven given among men, by which we must be saved. Verses 8 through 12 of Acts chapter 4. Go now in grace and peace.
- [37:19]
Kent Covington
It.