Episode description

Latvia has cancelled the licence of Russia's last independent media channel TV Rain only five months after it began broadcasting in exile, accusing the channel of showing support for Russia's war in Ukraine. In response, TV Rain, or Dozhd, has called the decision "unfair and absurd".

Emily Tamkin and Katie Stallard in Washington DC are joined by Ido Vock in Berlin to discuss TV Rain’s turbulent history and why Latvia has branded it a threat to national security, the importance of independent Russian media, and the struggle for Russian political exiles to understand their place in the conflict.

Elsewhere, the Democrat Raphael Warnock has beaten the Republican Herschel Walker in Georgia's run-off election to retain his place in the Senate. This is the first time since 1934 that the president's party has defended every incumbent Senate seat. The team discuss the key takeaways from Warnock's victory, the series of scandals that have plagued Walker’s career, and if Warnock, a star on the rise, has presidential ambitions.

Then in You Ask Us, a listener asks whether this really is the end of China’s zero-Covid policy and, if so, what it will mean for China's economy and the world's.

If you have a question for You Ask Us, go to newstatesman.com/youaskus

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Read more:

Ido on why Dozhd could never have survived in Latvia.

Emily on why even an abortion scandal might not stop “pro-life” candidate Herschel Walker

Katie asks if this is the beginning of the end for China’s zero-Covid policy?

Katie on what China’s lockdown protests mean for Xi Jinping

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