Much has been going on around the world this year so climate and environment have taken a back seat. Now with the US electing a president who calls climate change a hoax, how will conversations and actions change globally? Perhaps there are opportunities for Australia as China increases its dominance.  Martijn Wilder joins us to discuss - and it's not all bad. Martijn founded Pollination, a climate change advisory and investment firm that's working to speed up the transition to net zero. But...

Donald Trump has a mandate to do what he promised after winning easily. But how far will he actually go and how fast? And will he try to unite the country a little, as hinted at in his victory speech?  Jonathan Swan, who’s been covering Trump for close to a decade, warns that Trump's been emboldened to take more risk, and little stands in his way this time. Swan is a reporter for The New York Times covering national politics and the US government but known for his Emmy-award winning...

An election on a knife-edge, and a nation seemingly on the brink. How do we make sense of this fever-pitched moment?  First a snapshot from USA Today political reporter Deborah Berry, who's been in Georgia a lot lately. Then we hear how strategist Rachel Bitecofer has advised the Democrats to beat the Republicans at their own game, with less focus on policies and more on  negative attacks. And we discuss the deluge of listener feedback to our Niall Ferguson...

Our friends at If You're Listening have a new series about the US presidential election that we want to tell you about.  Donald Trump still refuses to accept the result of the 2020 election. Now he’s on the ballot again, and in his campaign against Kamala Harris he’s calling on his supporters to make the race ‘too big to rig’. In America's Last Election, Matt Bevan leaves his basement and heads to the US, examining the chaotic aftermath of the 2020 election and what it means for the vote...

In this extended conversation with Geraldine and Hamish, renowned historian Sir Niall Ferguson warns that Donald Trump is not the biggest threat to American democracy. A bigger threat, he says, lies much closer to Australia... RECOMMENDATIONS: Geraldine: Niall Ferguson: The Treason of the Intellectuals article in The Free Press Hamish: The tragedy of a 50-50 America article in the Financial Times by Janan Ganesh GET IN TOUCH:  We'd love to hear from you! Email us at...

Like it or not, we all have a stake when Americans head to the polls in November. So what would a Harris or Trump presidency mean for the global economy, conflicts in the Middle East and Europe, and an increasingly powerful China? Guest: Edward Luce - US national editor, Financial Times. RECOMMENDATIONS: Geraldine: Secret Documents Show Hamas Tried to Persuade Iran to Join Its Oct. 7 Attack by Ronen Bergman in The New York Times Hamish: The World from Down Under by George Negus. GET IN...

In the final instalment of our New Frontlines mini-series, we look at the ideological fault-lines that are dividing countries from within. Identity, values and fears are being weaponised by those on the political extremes, and it's working.  Guest: Margaritis Schinas - the European Commission vice president for Promoting our European Way of Life. RECOMMENDATIONS: Geraldine: Europe Takes a Trumpian Turn by Hans Kundnani in Foreign Affairs Magazine Hamish: Kosciuszko: The incredible life of...

Iran talks a big game, but in the last two weeks Israel has dealt some serious blows to the ‘axis of resistance’, while Tehran has done little to deter Netanyahu from going even further. Is the balance of power in the Middle East swinging away from Iran and towards Israel? Or is there more going on inside Iran than meets the eye? Guests:  Ali Ansari - Professor of Iranian History & Founding Director of the Institute for Iranian Studies at the University of St Andrews  David Hale...

Exploding pagers, attacks on underwater gas pipelines and deepfake videos - we’ve entered a terrifying new realm of hybrid warfare, where the aim is to sow discord deep within our democracies. But how do you fight a war that isn’t really a war, against an invisible enemy? We visit a centre in Finland where they are urgently trying to find the answers to that question.   Teija Tiilikainen - Director of the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats.  Elina Valtonen -...

As the war in Ukraine spills into Poland, Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski makes an impassioned call to countries around the world to wake up to what he sees as Putin's true imperialist intentions.  RECOMMENDATIONS: Geraldine: America’s Role in the World Is Hard. It Just Got Much Harder. Thomas Friedman in The New York Times. Hamish: Take Me To Your Leader Season 3: Dictators & Demagogues on ABC Listen App. VOTE FOR US: Love the pod? Vote for us in the Australian Podcast Awards...

We kick off this Global Roaming mini-series by looking at the ways wars will be fought in the future. From drones to electronic warfare and even social media, war today looks completely different to what it did even a decade ago. Russia’s war on Ukraine is providing a breeding ground for testing and innovation of new weapons, but are we in Australia prepared for any of this? Do we need to be?    Guest: Dr Jack Watling - Senior Research Fellow for Land Warfare at the Royal United Services...

Sure, we have great beaches, but when it comes to forging strong economic and security ties, does Australia leave something to be desired? Guest: Dr Kyung-wha Kang – President and CEO of the Asia Society; South Korea’s 38th Minister of Foreign Affairs (2017 to 2021) under President Moon Jae-in  RECOMMENDATIONS: Geraldine: Kiss the Future documentary - SBS On Demand Hamish: Zhou Enlai: A Life - review in London Review of Books VOTE FOR US: Love the pod? Vote for us in the Australian...

With 40 million eligible Gen Z voters, the tight US presidential race has become a battle for followers, likes and shares on social media. But will this actually translate to votes in November?  GUEST: Katie Harbath - founder and CEO of technology policy firm Anchor Change; Former Facebook Public Policy Director for global elections  RECOMMENDATIONS: Geraldine: The Born in the USA fallacy - The New Statesman  Hamish: This wasn't 't the social media election everyone expected - BBC VOTE...

With the rest of the world swinging left and right, how do we make the progressive centre of politics more attractive, and its proponents sound less like 'pious schoolteachers'? Rory Stewart thinks Australia may hold the key... GUEST: Rory Stewart is the co-presenter of the hit podcast The Rest is Politics. He served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Penrith and The Border between 2010 and 2019, representing the Conservative Party.  Rory is coming out to Australia at the end of October to...

At the eleventh hour, journalist Masha Gessen has been granted a visa to enter Australia, but why are they considered so dangerous?  Guest: Masha Gessen - Russian-American journalist and author. Masha is due to appear at The Edge, Fed Square in Melbourne for the Wheeler Centre (21 August) and at Carriageworks in Sydney, as part of the Festival of Dangerous Ideas (24-25 August). KEEP AN EYE OUT: Our main episode will drop Friday, with special guest Rory Stewart, co-host of The Rest Is...

In a sign of our deepening strategic ties, Australia will play host to more frequent US military deployments across air, land, and maritime domains. At the same time, an updated AUKUS agreement provides a 'get-out' clause for the US and the UK. Former prime minister Paul Keating has raised his concerns, but he's not alone is asking: Is Australia getting the short end of the stick?  Guest: David E. Sanger is chief Washington correspondent for The New York Times and the author, most recently...

The sudden departure of Sheikh Hasina after weeks of student protests sparked jubilant celebrations, which stretched all the way to Australia. It’s paved the way for a new interim government led by Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus, who is heralding this as a 'second liberation' for Bangladesh. Guests:  Dr Mubashar Hasan - Bangladesh born academic and social justice activist. Post Doctoral Researcher at the University of Oslo, Norway and an adjunct research fellow at Humanitarian and...

Kamala Harris has chosen Minnesota governor Tim Walz as her running mate, but who is he? It turns out he was actually in Australia last November for a trade mission and he spoke remarkably openly with Hamish Macdonald.  GET IN TOUCH: Love this bonus discussion? Have your own thoughts on Gov. Tim Walz that you need to share? We're listening! Email us at [email protected]

In the wake of two major assassinations of a Hezbollah commander in Beirut and a Hamas leader in Tehran, both at least ostensibly by Israel, former Mossad director Efraim Halevy issues a surprisingly critical assessment of Israel’s strategy for the broader Middle East. Plus, former US Ambassador to Lebanon David Hale gives some much-needed context on Hezbollah’s engagement in the conflict, and what diplomacy might achieve, should cooler heads prevail. Recommendations: Hamish: Caledonian...

There's been a whole lotta love for Kamala, particularly on social media this week. But is she really a better candidate than Biden? What are her economic; her foreign policy credentials? Does she have what it takes to beat Trump? Geraldine and Hamish have thoughts...  GET IN TOUCH: Love this bonus discussion? Have your own thoughts on Kamala that you need to share? We're listening! Email us at [email protected]

Turn on the news and you are confronted with the fact that the United States, and US-led systems, are not what they once were. Kishore Mahbubani argues that the West has lost its shine and that Australia should be looking to its Asian neighbours for a stronger future. But is this really the Asian century?  Guest: Kishore Mahbubani, Singaporean Diplomat and former president of the UN Security Council.  Recommendations:  Geraldine: Biden, Trump, and Washington's Wishful Thinking - A...

What could another Trump Presidency mean for the world order? 

A weekly examination of world affairs with Geraldine Doogue and Hamish Macdonald.

Where have all the centrists gone? And how have the far-right taken hold of politics in the west?