“We cannot know what sort of human beings will emerge from this.” Following Hamas’s deadly attack on 7 October 2023, Israel’s military response has been described as “inevitable”. Eleven months on, the scope and ferocity of that military response has stunned the world. In this episode of the podcast we speak to four of the writers who contributed to the New Statesman essay collection Losing Gaza . Raja Shehadeh: “Palestinians are not treated as human beings deserving o...
Sep 09, 2024•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast The ongoing war between Israel and Hamas has now passed the 100 day mark. On the 14 January Alona Ferber attended the Jewish Labour Movement conference, which happened to take place on the 100th day of the war. In this podcast she speaks with Susan Neiman, the American moral philosopher, about the splits this war has caused on the left and tensions she sees between tribalist currents on the left and universalist principles, which Neiman believes are the values of a true left. Read Susan Ne...
Jan 22, 2024•16 min•Transcript available on Metacast In 2024 countries with more than 4 billion people will be sending their citizens to the polls. The US, Russia, and India to name a few; this is set to be the biggest election year in history. In this episode of the podcast Anoosh Chakelian is joined by the New Stateman's foreign correspondent Bruno Maçães and senior data journalist Ben Walker to review some of the major political forces at play around the globe in 2024. Download the app: iOS: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/new...
Jan 08, 2024•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Earlier this month we published a magazine with the cover ‘Being Jewish Now’. At this time of crisis in the Middle East, with divisions over the Gaza war and rising anti-Semitism, we asked a group of writers, thinkers, and activists to reflect on the question of what it means to be Jewish and on the left today. In this episode of the podcast senior editor Alona Ferber speaks to five of the writers who contributed to this essay collection, delving deeper into the the...
Dec 16, 2023•59 min•Transcript available on Metacast Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah – all of whom operate out of Beirut’s southern suburbs – have coordinated their positions in various ways for years in pursuit of what they see as the greater good. John Jenkins, former British ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Libya, Iraq, Syria and Burma, speaks to senior editor Katie Stallard about Iran's interest in the Israel-Hamas conflict and how this will play out across the region. Subscribers get ad-free access to all our podcasts via the New Statesman app. Download...
Nov 18, 2023•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast **NEW EPISODE** As Israel prepares a ground attack on Gaza, Katie Stallard is joined by Alona Ferber and Professor Lina Khatib to explore the wider geo-political situation in the Middle East - including mounting violence on Israel's west bank and the looming shadow of Hezbollah in Iran. This episode was originally published in the New Statesman podcast feed. We now regularly publish Ideas and Global Affairs content on Mondays on the New Statesman podcast. Follow or subscribe here: https://podfol...
Oct 17, 2023•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast Listen to Katie Stallard and Megan Gibson's discussion on Russia's war on the future here: https://shows.acast.com/newstatesman/episodes/russias-war-on-the-future-conversation Download the app: iOS: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/new-statesman-magazine/id610498525 Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.progressivemediagroup.newstatesman&hl=en_GB&gl=US Subscribe to the New Statesman from £1 per week: https://newstatesman.com/podcastoffer Sign up to our daily politics em...
Aug 21, 2023•1 min•Transcript available on Metacast We won't be releasing regular World Review episodes any more. Interviews about the biggest foreign affairs stories will now be included as part of a rotation of interviews on the New Statesman podcast , available wherever you listen to podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Jun 08, 2023•46 sec•Transcript available on Metacast As the European Union weighs new sanctions on Chinese companies, which could be announced later this week, Katie Stallard speaks to Bruno Maçães, a former Portuguese Europe minister andthe New Statesman 's foreign affairs correspondent , about his recent interview with Fu Cong, China's ambassador to the EU. They also discuss Beijing's likely response to the new measures, what the fall-out would be for EU-China relations, and about the difficult balancing act Chinese diplomats have s...
Jun 05, 2023•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast On Tuesday (30 May), several drones damaged buildings in Moscow in by far the largest attack on the Russian capital since the war in Ukraine began. Kyiv denies carrying out the strikes – at least one of which affected Rublyovka, a wealthy suburb home to many of Russia's elite, and close to where Putin has an official residence. Megan Gibson and Katie Stallard discuss the strategy behind the attacks, how they might be viewed by Ukraine’s allies, and whether further strikes on Russian terri...
Jun 01, 2023•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week our guest is the historian Serhii Plokhy, a professor and the director of the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard and the author of a number of books, including his latest, The Russo-Ukrainian War . He speaks to Megan Gibson about Putin’s war on Ukraine, the end of the Russian empire and what the new world order could look like. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
May 29, 2023•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast Last week British adherents – including several prominent ministers – of a traditionalist political movement with origins in post-Trump US politics attended the National Conservatism conference in London. It is a major influence in America but remains on the fringes of British political thought. Will Lloyd joins Megan Gibson in London, and Ido Vock in Berlin, to discuss whether National Conservatism could ever catch on in the UK. Then, they discuss attacks by anti-Kremlin militias in the Belgoro...
May 25, 2023•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast With international arrest warrants now active against Vladimir Putin, Ido Vock speaks to Philippe Sands, professor at UCL, about his attempts to force a prosecution of the Russian president. They discuss the crime of aggression, whether international tribunals could hear the case against him, and what efforts are being made to encourage more countries to help bring Putin to justice. Read more: Putin on trial Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
May 22, 2023•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Ukrainian army this week announced gains around Bakhmut, its first substantive advances in about six months. That progress has prompted analysts to ask: has Ukraine’s much-vaunted counter-offensive already begun? Not yet, perhaps. But it is coming. Katie Stallard in Washington DC and Ido Vock in Berlin discuss what the next phase of the war could look like. Will Ukraine’s army make rapid progress – as it did in the Kharkiv region last September – or get bogged down in attr...
May 18, 2023•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast Fourteen months into Russia’s war against Ukraine, Katie Stallard speaks to Raffaello Pantucci, senior fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore and the co-author of Sinostan: China’s Inadvertent Empire , about how the geopolitical landscape of Central Asia has changed. They discuss China’s growing influence, Vladimir Putin’s efforts to court regional leaders, and how the West could play a more significant role. Read more: The world accordi...
May 15, 2023•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, oversaw a muted parade in Moscow for Victory Day on 9 May, which celebrates the Soviet Union’s triumph over Nazi Germany. Where in previous years there have been grand shows of military might, this year there was a single, Second World War-era, tank. Rather than a show of force, the parade showed how a year of war in Ukraine has degraded Russia’s military. Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, meanwhile, reinforced his country’s turn towards the West...
May 11, 2023•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast With a new era of great-power competition taking shape on Earth, Katie Stallard speaks to the journalist and author Tim Marshall about his new book The Future of Geography and the next geopolitical battleground: space. They discuss how the Cold War propelled the space race between the US and the Soviet Union in the last century, and why the US, China and Russia are now engaged in a new contest to reach the moon and exploit its natural resources. Plus: why the ex...
May 08, 2023•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast Republicans in the US House of Representatives passed legislation last week that would increase the US debt ceiling only in exchange for significant spending cuts, and the repeal of some of Joe Biden’s key legislative achievements. The president has said he will not negotiate on raising the US’s borrowing limit, but there could be severe consequences if the two parties fail to reach a deal. Megan Gibson in London, Katie Stallard in Washington DC and Ido Vock in Berlin discuss the global impact a...
May 04, 2023•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast Ido Vock speaks to the American linguist Noam Chomsky, one of the world’s most prominent commentators on international politics since the Vietnam War. A trenchant critic of American foreign policy, Chomsky explains what he thinks the US is getting wrong in Ukraine, the prospects of a conflict over Taiwan, and why Finland and Sweden sought to join Nato. Read more: Ukraine is not a proxy war After Iraq: the great unravelling The dual atrocity of rape in the wa...
May 01, 2023•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast A three-day ceasefire has allowed some countries to evacuate their citizens from Sudan, where rival military factions have been fighting since 15 April. General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Sudan’s de facto leader, has long been in a bitter power struggle with Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, his former deputy. Now, that struggle has become an open conflict. Megan Gibson in London, Katie Stallard in Washington DC and Ido Vock in Berlin discuss Sudan’s recent history, the evacuation effort and where local and r...
Apr 27, 2023•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast Six months after Giorgia Meloni, leader of the post-fascist Fratelli d’Italia party, became prime minister, Megan Gibson speaks to the historian and author David Broder about how Meloni has governed. They discuss whether she has confounded expectations, her relationship with other conservative movements around the world, and Silvio Berlusconi's legacy. Read more The making and meaning of Giorgia Meloni The struggle for Italy Europe’s far-right parties are le...
Apr 24, 2023•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast Since the start of the war in Ukraine last year, there has been a strong focus on the China-Russia relationship – and on whether Xi Jinping might be preparing to distance himself from Russia, or, as Emmanuel Macron hopes, to pressure Putin to end the war. That debate intensified after Xi’s visit to Moscow in March. Ido Vock and Jeremy Cliffe in Berlin, along with Katie Stallard in Washington DC, discuss the history of the two countries’ relations, what message the recent visit was intende...
Apr 20, 2023•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast Nearly three weeks ago Russia arrested the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, accusing him of spying. Ido Vock speaks to Pjotr Sauer, a reporter on Russia for the Guardian who worked with Gershkovich at the Moscow Times, about the arrest, what this means for media freedom in Russia, and what might happen to him now. Read More: Vladimir Putin knows that hostage taking works Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Apr 17, 2023•15 min•Transcript available on Metacast Returning from a trip to Beijing, Emmanuel Macron, the French president, attracted international criticism when he told reporters that when it comes to Taiwan, Europe should resist becoming “America’s followers”. Megan Gibson in London and Ido Vock in Berlin discuss Macron’s attempt to distance Europe from the US on Taiwan, why his comments have been so inflammatory, and the potential risk to European security. Then they turn Northern Ireland, where Joe Biden touched down this week for a four-da...
Apr 13, 2023•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast Last week Tsai Ing-wen, president of Taiwan, and Kevin McCarthy, Speaker of the US House of Representatives, met in California. Katie Stallard speaks to Paul Huang, a research fellow at the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation and a journalist, based in Taipei, about the politics of the encounter. They discuss the calculations behind the response of China, which claims Taiwan as its own; how that could play into Taiwan’s 2024 presidential election; and the pace of Taiwan’s military reforms and ho...
Apr 10, 2023•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast On Tuesday, the former US president Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records, amid allegations that he orchestrated hush-money payments to two women before the 2016 election. Katie Stallard in Washington DC, Megan Gibson in London and Ido Vock in Paris discuss what Trump’s arrest and trial could mean for the 2024 presidential race. Next, the team turn to Finland where Prime Minister Sanna Marin conceded defeat on Sunday. The right-wing...
Apr 06, 2023•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast As the Ukraine war continues, one of the strongest supporters of Vladimir Putin has been Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church. Katherine Kelaidis, author of a new book on the Church, joins Ido Vock to discuss its history, the Church's split with Ukraine, and the influence it holds over Russian politics. Read more: The invasion of Ukraine forces a reckoning for the Orthodox world Putin believes he is defending Orthodox Christianity from the godless...
Apr 03, 2023•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast On Monday, after protests swept the country and trade unions threatened major strikes, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, announced that he was delaying his controversial judicial reforms package. Netanyahu said he was doing this “to avoid civil war”. Ido Vock in Berlin and Megan Gibson and Alona Ferber in London discuss the response to Netanyahu’s announcement in Israel and abroad, as well as how far the crisis could go. Next, the team turn to Russia, where Vladimi...
Mar 30, 2023•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast Protests continue in Israel and many trade unions have called immediate strikes over Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposed reforms to the judiciary, which critics say will turn the country into a dictatorship. Over the weekend the defence minister was sacked for calling for the plans to be withdrawn but there’s growing expectation that the prime minister will have to back down. Ido Vock speaks to Alona Ferber, Spotlight editor, about what’s behind the protests, why Netanyahu is so desperate to pass the ...
Mar 27, 2023•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast On Wednesday Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin signed a joint statement in Moscow promising to deepen their strategic partnership and stressing the importance of “settling the Ukraine crisis through dialogue”. Megan Gibson in London and Katie Stallard in Washington DC discuss how Xi has attempted to frame his visit as a “journey for peace” and what really sustains his relationship with the Russian president. Next they turn to the 20th anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq and the lessons t...
Mar 23, 2023•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
