Carl Hobert

Paul Rusesabagina is the one-time hotel manager who was portrayed as a hero of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, in the critically-acclaimed film Hotel Rwanda. Just 2 days ago, the 67-year old Rusesabagina, who allegedly saved hundreds of Hutus and Tutsis during the genocide, was found guilty of being part of an organized rebel group responsible for "terrorist" attacks against the present government of Rwanda. Read More >

After a high profile case in his native city, Kigali, Rwanda, Rusesabagina was sentenced to 25 years in prison by a Rwandan court, after he chose to boycott Monday's verdict, declaring that he did not expect justice in a trial that was a "complete sham." Professor Hobert, who has known Rusesabagina and Rwanda's President Paul Kagame personally and for years, offers a balanced view of their stormy relationship, their ulterior motives, and how both men are dealing with the political, diplomatic, military, intelligence and media fallout around the world today. Read Less ^

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) declared its 10th outbreak of Ebola over the past 40 years in early-August, 2018, in northeastern North Kivu province. This latest outbreak has recently spread into the neighboring Ituri region of the DRC, and has killed over 700 people. It is now the second worst Ebola outbreak ever to date, the deadliest being a 2014 epidemic in West Africa which killed more than 10,000 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The World Health Organization has declared the most recent outbreak to be "a public health emergency of international concern." And this Ebola outbreak is spreading faster than the 2014 emergency. Why? Because many people in the affected region’s vulnerable communities are no longer seeking care, not trusting the Ebola responders. Poor security, owing to the presence of several armed groups in the region, has also hampered the fight to stem the spread of the disease. This is a humanitarian crisis that is a 21st century form of genocide. Why do so many around the world look the other way, as they did in the DRC's neighboring country of Rwanda in 1994, and how can the US help to stem this growing international health threat?

Hobert has worked in Rwanda since the height of the genocide there in 1994. Along with Dr. Paul Farmer of Partners in Health (PIH), whose focus was on medical reform, Hobert has helped the Rwandan government’s Ministries of Education and Foreign Affairs to improve nursery - grade 12 education, and to create a national, youth-focused conflict resolution program. Hobert speaks with passion about the incredible differences between the Rwanda of 1994 and the country today.

China has become increasingly powerful and prominent across Africa over the past two decades. Through President Xi Jinping's flagship Belt and Road Initiative, China has loaned more than $143 billion to African countries since 2000, to build highways, dams, stadiums, airports and skyscrapers. In addition, more and more African children, from Kenya to Uganda to South Africa, are learning Chinese as part of their country’s nationwide education reforms. The Confucius Institute, a non-profit organization partially-funded by the Chinese government, works to promote Chinese language and culture in 48 centers across the African continent and Mandarin, many African Education Ministries feel, will provide these students with better university education and future job prospects, in both China and Africa. Is this growing influence in Africa a new form of colonization, as China wields its economic and educational influence across the African continent, in order to create hundreds of new Chinese ports, and to extract billions of dollars in minerals each year?

In the past 150 years, tens of millions of innocent men, women and children have lost their lives in genocides or mass atrocities. From Armenia to the Holocaust, from Cambodia to Bosnia, and from Rwanda to Darfur, millions have been tortured, raped, killed or forced from their homes. Is Syria next? These past genocides and mass atrocities represent just some of the historic examples that serve to remind us what is at stake if we let genocide happen again. We must fulfill the promise the world made following the Holocaust: "Never again!" by remembering these atrocities, learning from them - and taking action to prevent genocide once and for all.

Each day, DarkSide, REvil, and other cybercriminal hacking groups threaten US corporations and government agencies with ransomware attacks. The US must invest in the creation of a National Cybersecurity Education Center (NCEC) for K-12 educators and students, in order to tap a precious national resource - child prodigies in the field of cybersecurity - now and for decades to come. We can learn exactly how to do so from Israel, where the Cyber Education Center (CEC) successfully increases the number and raises the level of young, cyber savvy Israelis for their future integration into the Israeli security services, industry and the academic world.