TRANSCRIPT:
Anyone who wants to keep America first should keep Voice of America in business. I’ve talked to people across the Balkans region where I’ve worked on the ground for a dozen years and I know the enormous impact that Voice of America has — highly professional journalists, relevant topics and most important, high impact and high credibility among citizens of that region.
If Voice of America is not broadcasting, you have a vacuum. And particularly in the Balkans region, you have a vacuum that can be filled with actors who are not interested in putting America first or American values first or stability and peace first. And those are three things that I believe this current administration, the Trump administration, cares about.
Letting VOA go, it’s a self-inflicted wound, particularly in countries where the media is vulnerable and susceptible to those who wish to do America harm. And it couldn’t be more confusing why anyone who wants to put America first would want to put VOA last.
Published
Joseph is a senior fellow at the Johns Hopkins SAIS Foreign Policy Institute, where he focuses on conflict management, informed by his years of field expertise addressing conflicts in the Balkans, Haiti, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.