Today's episode of the A6 and Z podcast recorded a month ago focuses on the refugee crisis,

as well as where tech may come in.

The conversation is co-hosted by A6NZ policy team partner Matt Spence,

who was previously Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense at the Middle East,

Lena Sergei Atar, who is the co-founder of the Karam Foundation,

which focuses on education, development, and smart aid for displaced

communities in Syria and in neighboring countries. And finally, we have Tony Blinken, the current

Deputy Secretary of State, who has focused on the global refugee crisis. Before we consider

the role of tech, we begin by talking about the sheer scope and magnitude of the problem,

something no single conversation can do justice,

who are the refugees beyond statistics?

It's really important to put this in perspective.

You know, we throw around words like crisis very easily, but this is a global crisis,

and it is of historic proportions.

Think about it this way.

We are now dealing with the largest single wave

of human displacement around the world since World War II, more people on the move because they

are displaced from their homes. And if you put all of these people together who are now

currently displaced into one country, it would be the 25th or 24th largest country on earth,

bigger than South Korea,

bigger than Spain. And what's in the headlines, of course, is Syria, but it's global in

nature. We have refugees, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, a dozen countries in Africa,

...