Episode description

This week Olaf Scholz confirmed that Germany will send 14 Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine and gave partner countries permission to send their tanks too. The decision, which could have a significant effect on the war, came after months of stalling.

Megan Gibson in London, Katie Stallard in Washington DC and Jeremy Cliffe in Berlin discuss what led to Germany’s shift, what toll the delay has taken and how Russia will respond.

Next, they turn to the alarming rise in mass shootings in the US this year – including a series of shootings in California in which 19 people were killed in less than 48 hours. The team discuss the experience of gun violence, public support for gun control legislation, and why this is also a foreign policy issue.

Then, in You Ask Us, a listener asks what led to the resignation of Jacinda Ardern as prime minister of New Zealand.

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Jeremy writes that Germany took too long to reach the right decision on tanks, and he calls the country the “roadblock at the heart of Europe”.

Katie says that Jacinda Ardern’s resignation is both a shock and entirely unsurprising.

Sarah Churchwell on the myth of America’s love affair with guns.

Bruno Maçães interviews Ukraine’s national security adviser on German betrayal, the oncoming Russian onslaught and why the West is scared.

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