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.

Rudyard and Janice start off the show with news out of the Middle East, specifically Israel's incursion into the West Bank to thwart planned terror attacks. How will its aggressive approach to external threats further harm its relationship with western allies? Next Rudyard and Janice discuss what Kamala Harris's foreign policy agenda will look like if she were to win November's election. Without a lot of experience abroad, they are predicting something close to Obama and Biden's doctrine: American power blended with prudence. In the back half of the show Rudyard and Janice anticipate the Liberal Party's next steps as Parliament is set to resume. Will a drop in inflation and a likely interest rate cut improve their low polling numbers?

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.