Episode description

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein, the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths, Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates.

The following is a sample of the Munk Debates’ weekly current affairs podcast, Friday Focus.

On this edition of the Friday Focus podcast, Janice and Rudyard open the show with a discussion of the reports of the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin in a fiery plane crash outside Moscow. What does the latest and seemingly last act in the Prigozhin-Putin drama say about elite power in Russia? Is Putin’s position further secured by Prigozhin’s exit or is intra-regime strife entering a new and more dangerous phase? The second half of the program explores a wild week in US conservative politics with the first GOP debate, all-time record-high broadcast audience numbers for Trump’s interview with Tucker Carlson, and the arraignment of the former president in Georgia on felony state charges. What does it all say about the state of US politics as the country soon starts the one-year countdown to the 2024 presidential vote?

To access full-length editions of the Friday Focus podcast consider becoming a donor to the Munk Debates for as little as $25 annually, or $.50 per episode. Canadian donors receive a charitable tax receipt.

This podcast is a project of the Munk Debates, a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to fostering civil and substantive public dialogue.

More information at www.munkdebates.com.