“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 of human rights”

Ghada Karmi: “The physical damage of Israel’s assault is real enough. The mental trauma will be far worse” 

Raja Khalidi: “After the war, world leaders will need a new Marshall Plan for Palestine”

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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 Neiman's essay: The universalist tradition has been forgotten, the Enlightenment betrayed

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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.

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After a year under the Taliban, Afghanistan is now in “survival mode”, the UN has warned. Its economy has crumbled and rights – especially for women and girls – have been sharply curtailed. The fall of Kabul, on 15 August 2021, came after the US announced its intention to withdraw troops by the following month. There were chaotic scenes at Kabul airport as thousands of desperate Afghans sought to flee. One of those who escaped was the veteran journalist and commentator Bilal Sarwary. He and his family have been granted asylum in Canada, from where he continues to report on Afghanistan.

Alix Kroeger speaks to Bilal Sarwary about his last days in Kabul, the failings of the Afghan government and the international community, and the missed opportunities for reconciliation with the Taliban.

Read more:

John Simpson writes how the Taliban have learned that they cannot shut out the West.

Afiq Fitri explains how living standards in Afghanistan have collapsed.

Shiraz Maher on the tensions exposed within the Taliban by the death of the al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Kabul.

Lynne O’Donnell on the “lifetime of lockdown” facing Afghan girls who have been shut out of education.

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Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has called on Russia to withdraw from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, and warned of the disastrous consequences for Europe of any radiation incident at the plant. But why was Russia so keen to take the plant in the first place? Alix Kroeger in London joins Emily Tamkin and Katie Stallard in Washington DC to discuss.

Plus, as another US congressional delegation visits Taiwan, Katie Stallard analyses how China’s military exercises could signal the beginning a new normal in the Taiwan Strait and why US-China relations are so bad.

Then, in You Ask Us, they answer a listener’s question on what documents former US president Donald Trump is accused of taking from the White House and why he might have done it.

Read more:

Are Russian forces in Ukraine exploiting Western fears of a nuclear disaster?

Is China preparing to invade Taiwan?

Republicans, this is why you wait for more information

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On Monday 8 August the FBI launched an unprecedented search of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home. Agents were reportedly searching for classified documents, including those related to nuclear weapons. The raid has prompted Republican officials to condemn the Department of Justice and fuelled speculation that Trump will pursue a presidential run in 2024.

Emily Tamkin speaks to Nick Bryant, the former BBC New York correspondent and author of When America Stopped Being Great: A History of the Present, which is released in paperback by Bloomsbury on 18 August.

They talk about the reaction to the raid from the US right, as well as what paved the way for Trump’s political rise, covering post-Cold War optimism and the scandal-wracked Nineties, and how the billionaire became a working-class hero. They also discuss whether Ronald Reagan was the “godfather of polarisation”, and if this division is here to stay after these recent dramatic events.

Further reading:

Emily Tamkin argues that the FBI raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort was the rule of law in action.

Emily Tamkin asks is everything coming up good for Joe Biden?

Emily Tamkin writes Republicans, this is why you wait for more information.

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The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has called on Western governments to bar Russians from entering their countries. In an interview with the Washington Post he said that they ought to “live in their own world until they change their philosophy”. Finland, Estonia and Latvia have also backed restrictions on Russian travel. 

Emily Tamkin in Washington DC, Ido Vock in Berlin and the New Statesman’s environment correspondent, India Bourke, in London, discuss the rationale behind Zelensky’s request, the consequences such a ban might have for people in Russia and how Western countries have responded.

Meanwhile, the US Senate has finally passed the Inflation Reduction Act. It is the largest climate investment in the country’s history and the biggest victory against climate change since the 2015 Paris Agreement. The team discuss what the bill includes, the concessions made to get the legislation through the Senate and what it means for inspiring climate action around the world.

Then, in You Ask Us, a listener wants to know what on Earth a vote-a-rama is, and will we have more of them?

Further reading:

India Bourke explains why Biden’s bill is the biggest climate victory since the Paris Agreement.

Ido Vock writes Volodymyr Zelensky is wrong to ask the West to ban Russian tourists.

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The US House speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan on 2-3 August, and China responded with large military exercises and missile launches. To analyse this, Katie Stallard speaks to Bonnie Glaser, the director of the Asia Program at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. They talk about the signals Beijing is trying to send with its live-fire drills, and what the risks are of a serious escalation in the Taiwan Strait. 

They discuss the background to the current crisis, the breakdown of US-China relations, and the range of coercive measures Beijing could bring to bear on Taiwan in the coming weeks and months. Plus, what the Chinese leader Xi Jinping has really said about potential timelines in trying to seize the island.

Further reading:

Is China preparing to invade Taiwan?

The crisis around Taiwan is only just beginning.

The pointlessness of Nancy Pelosi’s Taiwan trip.

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Leonid Volkov, chief of staff for the jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, speaks to Europe correspondent Ido Vock about how the war in Ukraine could end Vladimir Putin's regime.

They discuss Navalny’s treatment in Russian prison, the miscalculations that Putin made in starting the invasion, and why giving into Russian energy blackmail would make a Ukrainian victory more difficult.

Further reading:

How Vladimir Putin views the world 

The conflict in Ukraine is reaching a critical moment

Russia counterattacks in its economic war with the West

Russia is bluffing about its success in the war – but so is Ukraine

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Nancy Pelosi, the US House Speaker, arrived in Taiwan on Tuesday 2 August to meet President Tsai Ing-wen. Chinese officials had repeatedly warned against her visit to the self-governing island, which Beijing claims as its own territory.

Alix Kroeger in London, and Emily Tamkin and Katie Stallard in Washington DC, discuss why Pelosi went ahead with the visit now and how Beijing is likely to respond in the coming days and weeks as the Chinese navy begins live-fire drills around Taiwan.

Then, the US state of Kansas has become a surprising place for a triumph of abortion rights. On 2 August its residents resoundingly voted to keep abortion protections in the state constitution. The team discuss what this early political victory for supporters of abortion rights tells us and whether, along with the recently brokered Inflation Reduction Act, there’s cause for cautious optimism among the Democrats.

Then in You Ask Us, a listener asks about the background to this weekend’s dispute in Kosovo.

If you have a You Ask Us question for the international team, email podcasts@newstatesman.co.uk.

Podcast listeners can subscribe to the New Statesman for just £1 a week for 12 weeks using our special offer. Just visit newstatesman.com/podcastoffer.

Further reading:

Emily Tamkin on why a bid to strip away abortion rights in Kansas backfired.

Katie Stallard on Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan.

Alix Kroeger says that the flurry of alarm over Kosovo reveals underlying tensions.

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In Bosnia and Herzegovina a dispute over a proposed new elections law has led to protests and concerns about the stability of the country. For more than 25 years since the Bosnian War ended in 1995 the country has been governed through a complex federal system intended to strike a balance between the three main ethnic groups: Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats. Many Bosnian Croats, however, now want changes that would, they say, give them better representation.

Alix Kroeger speaks to Gerald Knaus, the chairman of the European Stability Initiative, a think tank focusing on south-eastern Europe and the enlargement of the European Union. He’s been researching the two big European peace agreements of the 1990s: the Dayton Peace Accords in Bosnia and the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland. They discussed the parallels between the two, the role of the international community in Bosnia and the lessons for the war in Ukraine.

Further reading:

Jeremy Cliffe on Bosnia and the weakness of the West. 

Alix on the echoes of Bosnia in Ukraine.

Ivan Krastev and Mark Leonard on the end of peace in Europe.

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The Italian prime minister, Mario Draghi, has resigned after roughly a year and a half in charge of a caretaker government, meaning there will be early elections.

Emily Tamkin and Katie Stallard in Washington DC are joined by Jeremy Cliffe in Berlin to discuss why Draghi quit, the far-right coalition hoping to take power, and what a government led by Giorgia Maloni would mean for Italy and its future support for Ukraine.

Meanwhile, China is warning of “serious consequences” if Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the US House of Representatives, visits Taiwan, as she is said to be planning. The team discuss what’s behind those threats, why the timing of the proposed visit is particularly important, and how it could exacerbate tensions between Washington and Beijing.

In You Ask Us, a listener asks why a long-term adviser to Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian prime minister, has resigned.

If you have a You Ask Us question for the international team, email podcasts@newstatesman.co.uk.

Podcast listeners can subscribe to the New Statesman for just £1 a week for 12 weeks using our special offer. Just visit newstatesman.com/podcastoffer.

Further reading:

Katie Stallard writes on the gathering storm over Pelosi's proposed visit to China.

Jeremy Cliffe on what a Giorgia Meloni government would mean for Italy.

Emily Tamkin on the threat of Viktor Orbán's anti-mixed race speech.

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As the war in Ukraine enters its sixth month, Ukrainian MP Lesia Vasylenko speaks to Megan Gibson about what support Ukraine needs to win against Russia.

She explains how parliament keeps functioning in a war, the way the country is uniting behind President Volodymyr Zelensky and why the West needs to keep up the supply of weapons to help Ukraine beat back the Russian forces.

Further reading:

Russia is bluffing about its success in the war – but so is Ukraine

Why the Russian military should be very worried

Which countries could Putin try to ‘protect’ next?

Who’s arming Ukraine?

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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 Belgorod region of western Russia, which neighbours Ukraine. They ask: what effect might this raid have on the next phase of the war?

Read more:

Will Lloyd on “dark new factions” in the Conservative Party:

Katie Stallard asks: who was behind the drone attack on the Kremlin?

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Hundreds of thousands of Russians have fled their country since Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in February. With open dissent to the president’s regime almost impossible, many opposition activists have fled to neighbouring Georgia.

Katie Stallard in Washington DC and Alix Kroeger in London speak to Ido Vock, who has been reporting from the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, about its status as a growing hub for the opposition in exile, the threats activists face, and their prospects of return.

Next, the team turn to the influence of powerful Russians in London and the questions around Boris Johnson’s links to Alexander and Evgeny Lebedev. Alexander is a former KGB agent and oligarch, now a British citizen; Evgeny, his son, owns the Evening Standard.

Then in You Ask us, a listener asks what happens if Russia cuts off gas supplies to Germany.

If you have a You Ask Us question for the international team, email podcasts@newstatesman.co.uk.

Podcast listeners can subscribe to the New Statesman for just £1 a week for 12 weeks using our special offer. Just visit newstatesman.com/podcastoffer.

Further reading:

Katie Stallard writes that Russia is bluffing about its success in the war – but so is Ukraine

Ido Vock reports from Georgia, which is now a hub for Russian opposition in exile.

“Boris Johnson’s secret conversations with Alexander Lebedev raise serious concerns”: Alix Kroeger interviews Christopher Steele

Ido on what happens if Russia doesn’t turn Germany’s gas back on

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After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the German chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke of a watershed moment for Europe and announced a shift in Germany’s approach to foreign policy. In this special episode, in partnership with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES), World Review looks at the context of this shift and whether it will make a difference to how Germany interacts with the world.

Megan Gibson speaks to Katarina Barley, the vice-president of the European Parliament and a SPD politician in Germany, about what this change will look like.

Then she discusses Germany’s approach to foreign relations with Sophia Besch from the Centre for European Reform, Jeremy Cliffe, the New Statesman’s writer-at-large, and Christos Katsioulis, head of the FES regional centre for cooperation and peace in Europe, in a conversation recorded shortly after the FES Tiergarten Conference “Zeitenwende: Into a new era”, held in June.

For more information on the FES, visit uk.fes.de or the FES Competence Centre for Peace and Security.

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Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the Sri Lankan president, has been forced to resign amid mass protests over his mismanagement of the economy. The country is suffering runaway inflation and shortages of food, fuel and basic supplies.

Ido Vock speaks to Ganeshan Wignaraja, senior research associate at the Overseas Development Institute, a British think tank, and a former senior official at the Asian Development Bank. They discuss the background to Sri Lanka’s economic collapse, the role of debt-trap diplomacy, and what the resignation of the president will mean for the country.

Podcast listeners can subscribe to the New Statesman for just £1 a week for 12 weeks using our special offer. Just visit newstatesman.com/podcastoffer.

Further reading:

Katie Stallard writes Sri Lanka's protests boil over

Himal Kotelawala reports on Sri Lanka on the brink

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The British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, resigned as Conservative Party leader last week, bowing to pressure after more than 50 government resignations. Emily Tamkin in Israel and Katie Stallard in Washington DC are joined by the host of the New Statesman podcast and the NS’s Britain editor, Anoosh Chakelian, to discuss the race to replace him, the candidates’ foreign policy agendas and what Johnson’s departure might mean for the UK’s support for Ukraine.

In Japan, the country’s former prime minister Abe Shinzo has died after being shot while making a speech in the western city of Nara. The team discuss the attack, Abe’s political legacy and what his death means for Japan and the politics of the wider Asia-Pacific region.

Then, in You Ask Us, a listener asks what to watch for in US president Joe Biden’s visit with Israel’s interim prime minister, Yair Lapid.

Further reading:

Emily Tamkin explains how Joe Biden’s democratic values will be tested in the Middle East.

Katie Stallard on the assassination of Abe Shinzo.

Jeremy Cliffe on the political legacy of Japan’s longest-serving prime minister.

If you have a You Ask Us question for the international team, email podcasts@newstatesman.co.uk.

Podcast listeners can subscribe to the New Statesman for just £1 a week for 12 weeks using our special offer. Just visit newstatesman.com/podcastoffer.

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Just hours after Israel’s parliament dissolved itself on 30 June 2022, Yair Lapid became Israel’s 14th prime minister. He will act as interim leader until the upcoming elections in November this year.

Amir Tibon, senior editor at the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, joins Emily Tamkin to discuss whether Lapid will prove himself in office over the next four months, or whether the elections will be a lifeline for the country’s former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu. They also cover the string of challenges facing Israel at home and abroad, including what’s next for Palestine.

Further reading:

Emily Tamkin writes about how Joe Biden’s democratic values will be tested in the Middle East.

Alona Ferber explains why Israel’s ouble standard on flag-waving is a risk to democracy.

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After another mass shooting in the US, politicians seem resigned to these incidents happening again and again. Emily Tamkin and Katie Stallard in Washington DC are joined by Megan Gibson in London to discuss why they appear unable to do anything to stop them. 

Plus, more than four months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the team look at how Russia’s war plan has changed and what the West needs to do to support Ukraine in this new phase. 

Then in You Ask Us, they answer a listener’s question on what a change of UK prime minister would mean for Ukraine. 

To submit a question for You Ask Us, email podcasts@newstatesman.co.uk

Read more:

Republicans put US shootings down to anything but guns

Can Ukraine win the war?

Guns still take priority over safety, despite the closure of the “boyfriend loophole” 

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The former US ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, talks to Emily Tamkin about how Russia and the world underestimated Ukraine’s resolve ahead of former’s February invasion, and how the West needs to hold its nerve and stay united to support Ukraine.

Yovanovitch, who was pushed out by President Donald Trump in 2019 following a smear campaign during his first impeachment, talks about the 6 January Capitol riot congressional hearings and whether the US has really returned to the world stage. Plus, she explains how Ukraine is an example to the world because of the way it has fought against the invasion.

Further Reading:

The Capitol riot testimony was more smoking gun than smoke and mirrors.

Russia’s army is fighting Ukraine the way it was designed to.

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On Friday 24 June, the US Supreme Court overturned Roe vs Wade, a 1973 decision that guaranteed the right to an abortion. Emily Tamkin and Katie Stallard in Washington DC are joined by Jeremy Cliffe in Madrid to discuss the fear and frustration felt on the ground in America, the Democrats’ lukewarm response amid rising polarisation in the country, and the global implications of the decision.

Meanwhile in Madrid, Nato leaders have met this week for a pivotal summit, the organisation’s first since Russia invaded Ukraine earlier this year. The team discusses Turkey’s decision to lift its veto over Finland and Sweden’s bid to join the alliance.

Then in You Ask Us, a listener has a question about the significance of Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony, who was an aide to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, at the 6 January US Capitol riots committee hearings.

If you have a You Ask Us question for the international team, email podcasts@newstatesman.co.uk.

Podcast listeners can subscribe to the New Statesman for just £1 a week for 12 weeks using our special offer. Just visit newstatesman.com/podcastoffer.

Further reading

Emily on the end of Roe vs Wade.

Katie and Emily on Roe vs Wade and the land of lost liberty.

Jeremy on the new era of American darkness.

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It is twenty-five years since the handover of Hong Kong from British to Chinese rule in 1997, when Beijing promised that Hong Kongers’ freedoms would be protected for 50 years. Katie Stallard speaks to Lord Patten, the last British governor of the territory from 1992-1997, about his new book, The Hong Kong Diaries.

They discuss his dealings with the Chinese Communist Party, the failure to foresee Beijing’s crackdown on civil liberties in Hong Kong and his belief that Hong Kong might change China more than China would change Hong Kong. Also, the folly of the so-called “Golden Era” of UK-China relations under David Cameron, and what he really thinks of Boris Johnson.

If you have a You Ask Us question for the international team, email podcasts@newstatesman.co.uk.

Podcast listeners can subscribe to the New Statesman for just £1 a week for 12 weeks using our special offer. Just visit newstatesman.com/podcastoffer.

Further reading:

The betrayal of Hong Kong

Hong Kong’s authoritarian future is already here.

China doesn’t just want to be part of the global order – it wants to shape it.

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In 1972 the Club of Rome published the Limits to Growth report: a pioneering document on the extent to which the Earth's natural resources can support rates of industrialisation and population growth.

Now, 50 years on, we consider the impact of that report and what is happening to create a new social and economic paradigm that will help the global population live in tune with the environment.

The New Statesman's environment editor, Philippa Nuttall, is joined in Brussels by Kate Raworth, the economist who created the concept of "Doughnut Economics"; Tim Jackson, a British economist from the University of Surrey; and Sandrine Dixson-Declève, co-president of the Club of Rome.

This special edition of World Review is produced with support from the Club of Rome and the BMW Foundation.

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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

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Strikes across Europe have thrown the continent into chaos just as summer travel takes off. Emily Tamkin, Alona Ferber and Alix Kroeger discuss what is driving workers across the public sector to take to the picket line, and they speculate where the “summer of discontent” is headed.

In Israel, the coalition government has dissolved, prompting the fifth election in almost four years, and giving Israel’s longest-serving prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu another shot at returning to power. The team discuss what finally brought the “government of change” to its knees, if it indeed did bring about any change, and what the election means for Netanyahu.

Then in You Ask Us, a listener asks how the UK views the rising tide of Islamophobia in India.

If you have a You Ask Us question for the international team, email podcasts@newstatesman.co.uk

Podcast listeners can subscribe to the New Statesman for just £1 a week for 12 weeks using our special offer. Just visit newstatesman.com/podcastoffer.

Further reading:

Emily Tamkin on India's diplomatic dilemma over war in Ukraine.

Alona Ferber writes Israel's double standard on flag-waving is a risk to democracy.

Anoosh Chakelian on why rail strikes are testing the Tory's culture war on working at home.

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In the final episode of this series of France Elects Ido Vock, Europe correspondent, is joined by the New Statesman’s writer-at-large Jeremy Cliffe to digest France’s legislative election, at which Emmanuel Macron’s party failed to win a majority and Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally had its best ever result. Macron will now be the first president in 20 years to govern without a parliamentary majority.

They discuss whether Macron and his party could have done more to prevent the far right winning so many seats, what the next few years has in store for France and whether forcing the executive to work with other factions could benefit the country’s political culture.

Further reading:

Emmanuel Macron falls to earth

France’s Jupiter may be about to discover a culture of compromise

In the long shadow of De Gaulle

Podcast listeners can subscribe to the New Statesman for just £1 a week for 12 weeks using our special offer. Just visit newstatesman.com/podcastoffer.

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With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine heading towards its fifth month, Europe correspondent Ido Vock speaks to the former Nato general secretary Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

They discuss what else can be done to support Ukraine, what form security guarantees for a neutral Ukraine might look like, and why democracies need to stand up to autocrats.

Further reading:

Europeans were united in support of Ukraine, but that consensus is fraying.

The war in Ukraine should have strengthened Europe’s common voice. Why hasn’t it?

Vladimir the Great

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On 7 June, the former German chancellor Angela Merkel appeared at a speaking event at a Berlin theatre, to discuss how she has spent the past six months since leaving office and reflect on present politics. Jeremy Cliffe in Berlin joins Emily Tamkin and Katie Stallard in Washington DC to assess Merkel’s defiant stance on her policies towards Moscow and ask whether we should reappraise her international legacy. Could she have done more to prepare Germany, Ukraine and the rest of Europe for Russia’s invasion?

Meanwhile, in a speech in Moscow on 9 June, Vladimir Putin compared himself to Peter the Great and his leadership during Russia’s Great Northern War against Sweden. He claimed that the imperialist, who ruled tsarist Russia from 1682 to 1725, was “returning and reinforcing” Russian land, and “it fell to us to return and reinforce as well”. The team discuss this troubling historical comparison and why so many commentators appear reluctant to believe that Putin does not envisage a future for Ukraine as a sovereign state.

Then, in You Ask Us, a listener notes that unlike other networks Fox News did not air the first public hearing on the Capitol riot that shocked America and the world on 6 January 2021. The listener asked how concerned we should be that a major news network is helping to create an alternative reality for a significant portion of the US.

If you have a You Ask Us question for the international team, email podcasts@newstatesman.co.uk

Podcast listeners can subscribe to the New Statesman for just £1 a week for 12 weeks using our special offer. Just visit newstatesman.com/podcastoffer.

Further reading:

Jeremy Cliffe writes that Angela Merkel’s self-justification over Russia does not add up

Katie Stallard on Vladimir the Great

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In the first of a two-part special of France Elects, as the united left comes ahead of Emmanuel Macron’s party in the first round of the French legislative elections, we look at what this might mean for the French president and what’s to play for in Sunday’s second round.

Europe Correspondent Ido Vock discusses the result with Alix Kroeger. They talk about how the left managed to unite, what has happened to the far-right, and what it could mean for Macron if he fails to keep his majority in the French National Assembly.

Podcast listeners can subscribe to the New Statesman for just £1 a week for 12 weeks using our special offer. Just visit newstatesman.com/podcastoffer.

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Fresh from his reporting trip to Kharkiv in Ukraine, Bruno Maçães talks to Katie Stallard about the mood in Ukraine.

They discuss how Kharkiv is at the heart of a new national movement, why Ukraine needs long-range artillery capabilities and how Macron’s “off-ramp” offer to Putin will not help end the war.

Further reading:

Bruno Maçães’s Diary: Kharkiv is shelled, streets are renamed, and soldiers on a break head for the cafés

How will the Ukraine war end?

“Russia cannot afford to lose, so we need a kind of a victory”: Sergey Karaganov on what Putin wants

A “strategic nuclear exchange” would offer Putin zero military gains

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After narrowly missing out on making the second round of the presidential election, the leader of the left in France, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, is battling Emmanuel Macron’s renamed Renaissance party to win this weekend’s legislative elections. Could he give the president a tough five years?

The New Statesman's Europe correspondent, Ido Vock, joins Emily Tamkin and Katie Stallard to look ahead to the vote.

Also this week, as a progressive district attorney is recalled in San Francisco, the panel discuss why US police are so bad at tackling crime.

In You Ask Us, Ido, Emily and Katie answer a listener’s question on whether Vladimir Putin might actually be dead or dying? If you have a question for You Ask Us, email podcasts@newstatesman.co.uk.

Further reading:

Headache for Emmanuel Macron as support for the French left surges.

Policing in America is broken.

Is Vladimir Putin dead?

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Bessborough House, a grand mansion on the outskirts of the city of Cork, was one of Ireland’s largest mother and baby institutions, open from 1922 to 1998. Thousands of women and girls confined there had their babies taken from them and placed for adoption, often without maternal consent.

In her new bestselling book, Bessborough: Three Women, Three Decades, Three Stories of Courage, the BBC journalist Deirdre Finnerty recounts the stories of three women who spent time there across three different decades, and the devastating impact the institution had on their lives.

She speaks to Alix Kroeger about what went on inside this secretive institution, the legacy of trauma and shame, and the findings of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes, published last year.

Further reading:

Megan Nolan on the appeal of Catholicism – but not the Catholic Church.

Michael Coren writes about the hypocrisy of the Pope to lecture anyone about violence against women.

Helen Charman on the politics of everyday life: motherhood.

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As the EU claims victory with a partial oil embargo on Russia, Ido Vock, Emily Tamkin and Katie Stallard discuss whether Hungary’s right-wing populist prime minister, Viktor Orbán, is weakening the West's response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. They also look at the significance of Russia’s latest advances in the east of Ukraine.

Then, in You Ask Us, they answer a listener’s question on France’s policing of the Liverpool vs Real Madrid Champions League final in Paris.

If you have a question for You Ask Us, email podcasts@newstatesman.co.uk

Podcast listeners can subscribe to the New Statesman for just £1 a week for 12 weeks using our special offer. Just visit newstatesman.com/podcastoffer.

Further Reading:

Viktor Orbán is using the war in Ukraine to entrench his power

Hungary throws sand in the gears of an EU oil embargo

The West can’t desert Ukraine

Will the West pressure Ukraine to concede territory?

Were fake tickets behind the Champions League final chaos?

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When the site of the Chernobyl disaster was occupied by Russian troops during their invasion of Ukraine, fears of further contamination put the safety of nuclear power in the spotlight once again.

In his latest book, Atoms and Ashes: From Bikini Atoll to Fukushima, the Ukrainian historian Serhii Plokhy looks at the history of nuclear disasters and asks whether there are better ways to tackle climate change than nuclear power.

He speaks to Alix Kroeger about his book and the dangers of a lack of transparency around nuclear power, plus how academics in Ukraine asked him to keep their records safe before the invasion, and how Russia underestimated Ukrainians’ resolve.

Podcast listeners can subscribe to the New Statesman for just £1 a week for 12 weeks using our special offer. Just visit newstatesman.com/podcastoffer.

Further reading:

Philippa Nuttall on the risks of nuclear power in an increasingly destabilised world

How Vladimir Putin weaponised the environment in Ukraine

Serhii Plokhy: it’s impossible for states to be both democratic and pro-Russian

Adam Tooze on whether Ukraine needs a Marshall Plan

Listen to The Future of Media, Explained – from the Press Gazette

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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 attritional battles, as has been the case at Bakhmut? Katie and Ido also discuss Wagner Group head Yevgeny Prigozhin’s increasingly voluble complaints about the Russian ministry of defence, and whether the cracks in Vladimir Putin’s system are starting to show. 

Read more:

Katie Stallard on what to expect from Ukraine’s coming counter-offensive 

Ido Vock asks: has Prigozhin turned on Putin? 

Ido again, on the Wagner Group’s brutal tactics 

Lawrence Freedman on Russia and Ukraine's attempts to control the narrative of the war 

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Australia has a new prime minister, but how much of an impact did climate change have on the defeat of Scott Morrison?

Environment and sustainability editor Philippa Nuttall joins Emily Tamkin and Katie Stallard to discuss Labor’s election win. Plus, with Covid spreading rapidly in North Korea, is there any sign the regime will accept international help?

And after at least 19 children and two teachers were killed in an elementary school in Uvalde in Texas, they answer a listener’s question on whether the US will ever attempt to introduce gun control.

If you have a You Ask Us question for the international team, email podcasts@newstatesman.co.uk

Podcast listeners can subscribe to the New Statesman for just £1 a week for 12 weeks using our special offer. Just visit newstatesman.com/podcastoffer.

Further Reading:

Australia’s Scott Morrison shows that danger lies in the hollow politics of the status quo

North Korea’s Covid-19 catastrophe

The forgotten nuclear threat of North Korea

The Texas school shooting won’t change the US’s deadly gun laws

Listen to The Future of Media, Explained – from the Press Gazette

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As millions of Ukrainians flee from the Russian invasion of their country, could those seeking refuge be vulnerable to exploitation?

Alix Kroeger speaks to Suzanne Hoff, international coordinator at La Strada International, a European NGO that campaigns against human trafficking, about the organisation's new report on the dangers facing Ukrainian refugees.

They talk about the different forms exploitation can take, the worries around unvetted help offered through social media, and what governments and agencies can do to protect Ukrainians.

Further reading: 

Refugees caught in the UK's Homes for Ukraine scheme feel powerless amid delays and red tape. 

The EU’s welcome for Ukrainian refugees could be a model for asylum reform. 

Russia’s Black Sea blockade is a problem for the whole world. 

Courage and camaraderie on the borders as refugees flee the fighting in Ukraine. 

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The mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, on Saturday (14 May) by a white nationalist appears to have shown the real consequences of the racist “great replacement theory”. Emily Tamkin in Washington, DC, Megan Gibson in London and Ido Vock in Berlin discuss how this far-right conspiracy theory evolved from being a fringe notion in France to entering mainstream political discourse in the US, and the worrying frequency of racist shootings.

Sweden and Finland, meanwhile, have formally applied to join the Nato military alliance, confirming a radical transformation of Europe’s security landscape since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The team discuss the application and the global response, including Turkey’s objections.

Then in You Ask Us, a listener asks what is the significance of Emmanuel Macron, the French president, appointing Élisabeth Borne to be his prime minister.

If you have a question for You Ask Us, email podcasts@newstatesman.co.uk

Podcast listeners can subscribe to the New Statesman for just £1 a week for 12 weeks using our special offer. Just visit www.newstatesman.com/podcastoffer.

Further reading:

Sarah Manavis writes attacks like the Buffalo shooting have become numbingly inevitable.

Adam Tooze on the second coming of Nato.

Ido Vock reports for only the second time, France has a female prime minister.

Megan Gibson writes Sweden’s decision to join Nato isn’t just about security.

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Thus far, international concern for the Chinese Uyghur ethnic minority has been focused on their persecution within China itself. But the reach of the Chinese government's campaign against them extends to countries around the world.

Katie Stallard is joined by Bradley Jardine, a research director at the Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs and a global fellow at the Wilson Center’s Kissinger Institute on China and the US. 

They discuss his new publication, Great Wall of Steel: China’s Global Campaign to Suppress the Uyghurs, which documents China’s pursuit and harassment of Uyghurs in at least 44 countries.

Katie and Jardine cover the global scale of China's campaign, as well as the complex toolkit used to target, harass, detain and extradite individuals, which includes the exploitation of the global policing organisation, Interpol. They also suggest actions that Western governments should be taking in response.

Further reading:

Bradley Jardine on how China's repression of Uyghur's extends far beyond its own borders.

Anoosh Chakelian interviews the Uyghur poet Fatimah Abdulghafur Seyyah about her family’s devastating persecution.

Rian Thum and Musapir on how historic Uyghur culture is under existential threat.

Katie Stallard on suspicion and subjugation in Xinjiang.

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Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr, son of the Philippines’ former dictator, who was ousted in 1986, won a decisive victory in the presidential election on Monday 9 May, according to unofficial results. Emily Tamkin and Katie Stallard in Washington DC discuss what the Marcos dynasty’s return to power will mean for the country, as well as its relations with China.

Meanwhile, both Russia and Ukraine observed Victory Day on the anniversary of Germany’s defeat in the Second World War. Katie and Emily discuss the competing narratives of the countries’ leaders, and the latest on Russia’s war.

Then in a special You Ask Us our producer, Adrian Bradley, reports from Turin, where Eurovision 2022 is being held, to answer a listener’s question on how the song contest can be reconciled with all the turmoil and violence in Europe right now.

If you have a You Ask Us question for the international team, email podcasts@newstatesman.co.uk.

Podcast listeners can subscribe to the New Statesman for just £1 a week for 12 weeks using our special offer. Just visit www.newstatesman.com/podcastoffer.

Further reading:

Adrian Bradley explains Ukraine’s 2022 Eurovision song

Ido Vock writes that Vladimir Putin has little to celebrate at his Victory Day parade.

Katie Stallard on Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky’s contrasting visions of the future.

Katie Stallard on the Marcos dynasty’s return to power in the Philippines.

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South Korea’s new president Yoon Suk-yeol takes office on Tuesday 10th May. Emily Tamkin speaks to Ramon Pacheco Pardo, a professor at Kings College London and author of Shrimp to Wale: South Korea from the Forgotten War to K-Pop, about the challenges facing this political outsider.

They discuss relations with North Korea after Kim Jong Un conducted another weapons test ahead of his inauguration, his promise to take a more combative stance against China, and how far his appeal to the “anti-feminist” movement during his election campaign will translate to policy.

If you have a You Ask Us question for the international team, email podcasts@newstatesman.co.uk

Podcast listeners can subscribe to the New Statesman for just £1 a week for 12 weeks using our special offer. Just visit newstatesman.com/podcastoffer

Further reading:

South Korea’s new president weaponises anti-feminism to win election.

The forgotten nuclear threat of North Korea.

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A leaked draft decision suggests the US Supreme Court is about to repeal Roe vs Wade, threatening abortion rights across the United States. Emily Tamkin is joined by Katie Stallard and Rachel Cunliffe to discuss what this ruling could mean, how dangerous a moment this is for women, and how the decision is reverberating across the world.

Plus, after Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov sparked a row with Israel by suggesting that Hitler was of Jewish descent, they discuss the role that Russia's revisionist history of the Second World War plays in selling the invasion of Ukraine to the Russian public.

And in You Ask Us, they answer a listener's question on whether Russia will formally declare war with Ukraine on its Victory Day holiday on 9 May.

Podcast listeners can subscribe to the New Statesman for just £1 a week for 12 weeks using our special offer. Visit newstatesman.com/podcastoffer.

Further reading:

The threat to abortion is just the beginning of the assault on individual rights in America

Goodbye, Roe vs Wade?

Overturning Roe vs Wade blurs church and state

Why a murder charge in Texas heralds a frightening new phase in the fight for abortion

How the world’s dictators rewrite the past to control the future

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As Russia’s war on Ukraine continues, the way the Russian regime is attempting to retell its own history is crucial to Vladimir Putin’s hold on power at home. Katie Stallard talks to Emily Tamkin about how authoritarian regimes manipulate history, what the parallels are between Russia, China and North Korea, and how the Kremlin has twisted the past in its attempt to justify the invasion of Ukraine.

Katie’s new book, Dancing on Bones: History and Power in China, Russia and North Korea is available now.

If you have a You Ask Us question for the international team, email podcasts@newstateman.co.uk.

Podcast listeners can subscribe to the New Statesman for just £1 a week for 12 weeks using our special offer. Just visit newstatesman.com/podcastoffer.

Further reading:

The truth about Vladimir Putin's “denazification” of Ukraine fantasy.

How Putin has substituted his own interests for those of the Russian state. 

Putin’s power vertical and the pathologies of authoritarian rule.

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Emmanuel Macron has defeated Marine Le Pen to be re-elected as president of France. Emily Tamkin in Washington DC, Ido Vock in Paris and the New Statesman’s associate business editor Emma Haslett in London discuss the response in Europe, Macron’s relationship with the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and the future of the far-right in France.

Then they move to Twitter, which Elon Musk is set to purchase for $44bn. They discuss the potential reasons for the deal and how the self-described “free speech absolutist” might change the platform.

Then, in You Ask Us a listener asks whether Russia is going to invade Moldova.

Further reading:

Will Dunn writes that Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover is about controlling attention.

Emily Tamkin asks whether we are prepared for Donald Trump to return to Twitter.

Jeremy Cliffe reports that Emmanuel Macron promises humility in victory.

Ido Vock on accusations that Russia is orchestrating attacks in Moldovan breakaway region.

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With populist movements gaining ground in Europe, the New Statesman's international managing editor Alix Kroeger speaks to the journalist and political scientist Yascha Mounk.

They discuss how populists play on divisions in society, why some of the ways in which the left tries to fight back can make the problem worse, and how to make diverse democracies more stable.

Monk's book The Great Experiment is available in book shops now.

If you have a You Ask Us question for the international team, email podcasts@newstatesman.co.uk

Podcast listeners can subscribe to the New Statesman for just £1 a week for 12 weeks using our special offer. Just visit newstatesman.com/podcastoffer.

Further reading:

Right-wing populism is a bigger threat to the West than “woke ideology”

What does Europe’s right want?

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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 according to Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin

What would it take to make Vladimir Putin feel secure?

Xinjiang: a region of suspicion and subjugation

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The results of France’s presidential election are in: Emmanuel Macron has won a second term as the French president with a comfortable majority. However, this victory is tempered by the fact that the far right, led by Marine Le Pen, achieved its best result in the history of the Fifth Republic.

Ido Vock discusses Macron’s success and Le Pen’s relative gains with the New Statesman executive foreign editor, Megan Gibson.

They cover the reaction in France and across the world, the sincerity of Macron’s promise to deliver change via an entirely new political project, and the looming parliamentary elections in June.

While the election is over, the France Elects podcast series will continue to provide updates on French politics with special episodes to cover big developments.

Further reading:

Macron wins re-election: live results and analysis here.

How Le Pen failed to land knockout blow against Macron in TV debate.

Macron courted left-wing voters in Marseille.

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In a special episode of France Elects supported by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), we discuss its latest report on the far right, "Understanding Right-Wing Populism and What to do About It". As Marine Le Pen faces Emmanuel Macron in the second round of the French presidential election, her National Rally party is on course for the far-right’s best ever result in the country.

We’re joined by one of the report's co-authors, Daphne Halikiopoulou from the University of Reading, and by Marta Lorimer, a fellow in European politics at the LSE European Institute. 

They discuss how the far right has managed to detoxify its brand, the challenges for the centre left as it looks to counter this electoral success, and the dangers of trying to out-populist the populists.

Then Ido is joined by the FES’s head of office in Vienna, Johanna Lutz, to explain more of the work of the foundation. 

Further reading:

The FES report: "Understanding Right-Wing Populism and What to do About It"

Find out more about the work of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung internationally and in the UK, and on the topic of democracy

Also recommended is the IPS, the English-language FES Journal

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As discontent rises in Shanghai during another Covid lockdown, Katie Stallard, the New Statesman's senior editor, China and global affairs, and Emily Tamkin, senior editor, US, discuss how China has ended up in this situation and why it could struggle to find a way out.

They also examine the increasing communal violence in India. 

Then in You Ask Us, they answer a listener’s question on the role of diplomacy in Russia's war in Ukraine.

If you have a question for You Ask Us, email podcasts@newstatesman.co.uk

Podcast listeners can subscribe to the New Statesman for just £1 a week for 12 weeks using our special offer. Visit newstatesman.com/podcastoffer

Further Reading:

“Control your soul’s desire for freedom”: Shanghai’s dystopian Covid regime

India reveres its democracy, but the room for dissent is shrinking

Why Putin’s war in Ukraine turned into a military disaster

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