Global Roaming with Geraldine Doogue and Hamish Macdonald

A month after catastrophic floods and glacial collapse swept through Nepal, thousands are still missing and entire mountain communities have been wiped off the map. The Australian's Asia Pacific correspondent Amanda Hodge, just back from the disaster zone, tells Geraldine Doogue and Hamish Macdonald what she saw on the ground — including a shelter where 70 children have lost every member of their family — and unpacks the stark contrast between Nepal's response and Beijing's heavily censored silence. Plus: a story that's had almost no coverage in Australia — how Sri Lanka's High Court has just convicted 14 men over the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings, and why a former president now faces imminent arrest over explosive allegations regarding the attack.  Guest: Amanda Hodge, Asia Pacific correspondent, The Australian Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Australian author Richard Flanagan joins Global Roaming to talk about his new essay collection Heresies.  He tells Hamish Macdonald and Waleed Aly why he thinks Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter echoes the public punishment of heretics in the Spanish Inquisition, why he believes Australia is a uniquely conformist nation unable to reckon with its colonial history, and the extraordinary story of a plan to build a Jewish homeland in the wilderness of southwest Tasmania. Plus: why Flanagan says hope, not despair, is the truly heretical position in 2026. Guest: Richard Flanagan, author of Heresies Vote in Radio National's Top 100 Australian books here Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

China controls as much as 95–99% of the world's heavy rare earth processing. Your phone, your car, the wind turbines on the horizon, the F-35 fighter jet; all of them run on permanent magnets made from a handful of obscure elements, and nearly every gram of it passes through Chinese hands before it reaches the rest of the world.  Beijing didn't seize this position overnight. It's the result of three decades of Western capital and regulation walking away from an industry China chose to dominate.  Now, with export freezes already hitting Japan and rattling European car makers, analyst and author Tomasz Nadrowski explains how deep the West's dependency really runs and whether Australia's own rare earth deposits can help close the gap before it's too late. Guest: Tomasz Nadrowski, author of Mineral War: China's Quest for Weapons of Mineral Destruction.  Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

Argentina's President Javier Milei is suffering in the polls. The Falkland Islands may help with that. Javier Milei's radical style of leadership has earned him more than just the nickname 'El Loco', it's engendered a serious turnaround in Argentina's economy, slashing inflation down from triple digits.  However, with his approval rating dropping and an election approaching, Milei has returned to a long-standing issue to drum up some support - Argentina's claim to the Falkland Islands. Hamish Macdonald and Waleed Aly are joined by Constanza Sanhueza, a senior lecturer in comparative politics at ANU, on why exactly the issue of the Falklands (or Malvinas) resonates so strongly with the Argentinian people, and whether there's any bite behind the president's bark. Plus, will Trump back Argentina's claim in order to punish the UK over the Iran conflict? and why is Argentina struggling with such a persistent poverty rate despite their economic turnaround? Guest: Constanza Sanhueza, senior lecturer in comparative politics, ANU Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Former Prime Minister Paul Keating has said of AUKUS that "we don't need to be a pair of shoes hanging out of America's backside". Is that a fair characterisation of Australia's position vis a vis AUKUS? Are we getting the short end of the stick with this deal, and sacrificing our sovereignty to boot?  GUESTS: Sam Roggeveen - Director of the Lowy Institute’s International Security Program. He is the author of The Echidna Strategy: Australia’s Search for Power and Peace Malcolm Turnbull - 29th Prime Minister of Australia 2015-2018. Richard Marles - the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, Minister for Defence and the Federal Member for Corio. GET IN TOUCH:  We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

In this episode Hamish and Geraldine examine the strategic thinking behind AUKUS. If China has undertaken the most rapid military expansion of any country since WWII, how does the AUKUS pact factor into Beijing's thinking? And does a plan that ties us more closely to the United States make us more or less safe? GUESTS: Zhou Bo – Senior Colonel (Ret.) of China's People's Liberation Army, is Senior Fellow at the Center for International Security and Strategy, Tsinghua University.  Vice Admiral Mark Hammond - Chief of the Royal Australian Navy. Hugh Jeffrey - Deputy Secretary Strategy, Policy, and Industry, Department of Defence GET IN TOUCH:  We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

The plan for us to acquire nuclear submarines has been dubbed the 'Optimal Pathway', but achieving it will be no mean feat. In this episode we explore what the scheme involves, what the key challenges are to making it work, and we get some cold hard facts about what it is really going to cost us.  GUESTS: Jennifer Parker - expert associate at the national security college ANU, an adjunct fellow at UNSW, and associate fellow at the Council on Geostrategy. Vice Admiral Peter Jones - a retired senior officer in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), who served as the Chief Capability Development Group (CCDG) from 2011 until his retirement in October 2014. Vice Admiral Jonathan Mead - the inaugural Director-General of the Australian Submarine Agency. GET IN TOUCH:  We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

In a special mini-series, Geraldine Doogue and Hamish Macdonald get the answers to all your burning questions about AUKUS.  In this first episode, we investigate how AUKUS came about - who spoke to who, what the true motivation was for going nuclear and whether the total secrecy around the deal was justified.  GUESTS: Andrew Fowler - investigative journalist and author of Nuked: The Submarine Fiasco that Sank Australia’s Sovereignty (MUP), which won the 2024 Walkley Book Award. Scott Morrison - 30th Prime Minister of Australia, now Non-Executive Vice Chairman of the US-headquartered advisory and consulting firm American Global Strategies LLC and member of several advisory boards, including the DYNE Strategic Advisory Board. GET IN TOUCH:  We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

2024 has been an extraordinary year in terms of global affairs. And as we try to wind down, events internationally have been ramping up. Global Roaming's inaugural year has been packed, and we thank our audience for being so engaged. This episode we highlight some of those moments and look back at what an incredible year it's been around the world. GET IN TOUCH:  We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

A short bonus episode where Geraldine and Hamish discuss the shock fall of Damascus, and the rest of Syria, to opposition group Hayat Tahir al-Sham. The hardline Sunni Islamic group has its roots in Al Qaeda but has refined its image to be more moderate. With Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and family getting asylum in Russia, Syrians around the world are celebrating. But what happens next? RECOMMENDATIONS: Hamish: New Yorker: How Syria became the Middle East's drug dealer Geraldine:  Firas Maksad with the Middle East Institute GET IN TOUCH:  We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

When Hamish visited Finland he met up with Finland's Minister of Education Anders Adlercreutz - although unfortunately not in a sauna. But they do discuss the importance of saunas in keeping Finnish society egalitarian. And of course its focus on public education. Finland takes a holistic approach that gives teachers freedom and flexibility to teach multiple subjects together - a lesson might include maths, geography and art. Schools also focus on creativity, play and practical skills but don't test until the final years. And now the curriculum includes lessons on decoding fake news and assessing online sources for reliability. RECOMMENDATIONS: When Anders Adlercreutz’s cello performance of a patriotic Ukrainian song was widely shared it attracted backlash from Russian officials. GET IN TOUCH:  We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Why is Germany in a bit of a funk? How did the superstar of Europe go so far off the rails - even the German trains aren't running on time. Germany is governed by a three party centre-left coalition that's in disarray, a snap election has been called for February, and polls show the main ruling SPD party is set to suffer a big loss. Meanwhile, the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) is the second most popular party. Tobias Cremer is a German member of the European Parliament and he’s with the SPD party. But he was only elected a few months back so still has several years in parliament, at least. Tobias also has an interesting background researching the relationship between religion, secularisation and the rise of right-wing identity politics throughout western societies. RECOMMENDATIONS: Geraldine:  The Granddaughter By Bernhard Schlink Hamish:  The Quiet German feature in The New Yorker  GET IN TOUCH:  We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Last week New Zealand parliament went viral when MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke performed a haka and tore up a controversial bill. And this week tens of thousands of New Zealanders marched in protest, opposing the bill.  At the heart of the debate is the Treaty of Waitangi and a bill that seeks to reinterpret it, with some fearing it will dilute Maori rights.    Guest: Taiha Molyneux, Māori News Editor Radio New Zealand      RECOMMENDATIONS:  Hamish - Rear Vision episode on the Treaty of Waitangi and the podcast The Last Voyage of the Rainbow Warrior Geraldine - Fateful mix: Great powers, strongman leaders and manifest destinies, essay by Michael Wesley in Australian Foreign Affairs   GET IN TOUCH:  We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Much has been going on around the world this year so climate and environment have taken a back seat. Now with the US electing a president who calls climate change a hoax, how will conversations and actions change globally? Perhaps there are opportunities for Australia as China increases its dominance.  Martijn Wilder joins us to discuss - and it's not all bad. Martijn founded Pollination, a climate change advisory and investment firm that's working to speed up the transition to net zero. But he's worked in climate law and policy for many years, advising governments and organisations.  RECOMMENDATIONS: Geraldine: Documentary film Martha on Netflix  Hamish:  The Jury: Death on the Staircase  directed by Tosca Looby on SBS on Demand GET IN TOUCH:  We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Donald Trump has a mandate to do what he promised after winning easily. But how far will he actually go and how fast? And will he try to unite the country a little, as hinted at in his victory speech?  Jonathan Swan, who’s been covering Trump for close to a decade, warns that Trump's been emboldened to take more risk, and little stands in his way this time. Swan is a reporter for The New York Times covering national politics and the US government but known for his Emmy-award winning interview with Trump when he was president. RECOMMENDATIONS: Hamish:  The Great Global Rebalancing with Dr Samir Puri  - episode of War Studies podcast Geraldine: Noble Fragments: The maverick who broke up the world’s greatest book, by Michael Visontay GET IN TOUCH:  We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

An election on a knife-edge, and a nation seemingly on the brink. How do we make sense of this fever-pitched moment?  First a snapshot from USA Today political reporter Deborah Berry, who's been in Georgia a lot lately. Then we hear how strategist Rachel Bitecofer has advised the Democrats to beat the Republicans at their own game, with less focus on policies and more on  negative attacks. And we discuss the deluge of listener feedback to our Niall Ferguson episode.  RECOMMENDATIONS: Geraldine:  Don Waton's Quarterly Essay - High Noon Stopping the Steal documentary on SBS  Hamish: Elon Musk's Secret Conversation with Vladimir Putin GET IN TOUCH:  We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Our friends at If You're Listening have a new series about the US presidential election that we want to tell you about.  Donald Trump still refuses to accept the result of the 2020 election. Now he’s on the ballot again, and in his campaign against Kamala Harris he’s calling on his supporters to make the race ‘too big to rig’. In America's Last Election, Matt Bevan leaves his basement and heads to the US, examining the chaotic aftermath of the 2020 election and what it means for the vote this November.  Find the latest episodes by searching for If You're Listening in the ABC listen app.

In this extended conversation with Geraldine and Hamish, renowned historian Sir Niall Ferguson warns that Donald Trump is not the biggest threat to American democracy. A bigger threat, he says, lies much closer to Australia... RECOMMENDATIONS: Geraldine: Niall Ferguson: The Treason of the Intellectuals article in The Free Press Hamish: The tragedy of a 50-50 America article in the Financial Times by Janan Ganesh GET IN TOUCH:  We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Like it or not, we all have a stake when Americans head to the polls in November. So what would a Harris or Trump presidency mean for the global economy, conflicts in the Middle East and Europe, and an increasingly powerful China? Guest: Edward Luce - US national editor, Financial Times. RECOMMENDATIONS: Geraldine: Secret Documents Show Hamas Tried to Persuade Iran to Join Its Oct. 7 Attack by Ronen Bergman in The New York Times Hamish: The World from Down Under by George Negus. GET IN TOUCH:  We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

In the final instalment of our New Frontlines mini-series, we look at the ideological fault-lines that are dividing countries from within. Identity, values and fears are being weaponised by those on the political extremes, and it's working.  Guest: Margaritis Schinas - the European Commission vice president for Promoting our European Way of Life. RECOMMENDATIONS: Geraldine: Europe Takes a Trumpian Turn by Hans Kundnani in Foreign Affairs Magazine Hamish: Kosciuszko: The incredible life of the man behind the mountain by Anthony Sharwood GET IN TOUCH:  We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Iran talks a big game, but in the last two weeks Israel has dealt some serious blows to the ‘axis of resistance’, while Tehran has done little to deter Netanyahu from going even further. Is the balance of power in the Middle East swinging away from Iran and towards Israel? Or is there more going on inside Iran than meets the eye? Guests:  Ali Ansari - Professor of Iranian History & Founding Director of the Institute for Iranian Studies at the University of St Andrews  David Hale - Global Fellow, Wilson Center; Former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs; Former Ambassador to Pakistan, Lebanon, and Jordan. RECOMMENDATIONS: Geraldine: Kaos, series on Netflix Raf:  English teacher, series on Disney + VOTE FOR US: Love the pod? Vote for us in the Australian Podcast Awards here: Voting - Australian Podcast Awards GET IN TOUCH:  We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Exploding pagers, attacks on underwater gas pipelines and deepfake videos - we’ve entered a terrifying new realm of hybrid warfare, where the aim is to sow discord deep within our democracies. But how do you fight a war that isn’t really a war, against an invisible enemy? We visit a centre in Finland where they are urgently trying to find the answers to that question.   Teija Tiilikainen - Director of the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats.  Elina Valtonen - Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland  RECOMMENDATIONS: Geraldine: Ezra Klein podcast with David Remnick: Israel vs. Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran — and Itself Hamish: We have changed, says Indonesia’s Jemaah Islamiah leader Para Wijayanto by Amanda Hodge in The Australian VOTE FOR US: Love the pod? Vote for us in the Australian Podcast Awards here: Voting - Australian Podcast Awards GET IN TOUCH:  We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

As the war in Ukraine spills into Poland, Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski makes an impassioned call to countries around the world to wake up to what he sees as Putin's true imperialist intentions.  RECOMMENDATIONS: Geraldine: America’s Role in the World Is Hard. It Just Got Much Harder. Thomas Friedman in The New York Times. Hamish: Take Me To Your Leader Season 3: Dictators & Demagogues on ABC Listen App. VOTE FOR US: Love the pod? Vote for us in the Australian Podcast Awards here: Voting - Australian Podcast Awards GET IN TOUCH:  We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

We kick off this Global Roaming mini-series by looking at the ways wars will be fought in the future. From drones to electronic warfare and even social media, war today looks completely different to what it did even a decade ago. Russia’s war on Ukraine is providing a breeding ground for testing and innovation of new weapons, but are we in Australia prepared for any of this? Do we need to be?    Guest: Dr Jack Watling - Senior Research Fellow for Land Warfare at the Royal United Services Institute. His 2023 book is The Arms of the Future: Technology and Close Combat in the Twenty-First Century  RECOMMENDATIONS: Geraldine: A Trump loss could stabilise US politics for a generation by Janan Ganesh, Financial Times Hamish: ‘Whatever Happens in the Sauna Stays in the Sauna’: Diplomacy, Conducted in the Nude By Alison Krueger, The New York Times VOTE FOR US: Love the pod? Vote for us in the Australian Podcast Awards here: Voting - Australian Podcast Awards GET IN TOUCH:  We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Sure, we have great beaches, but when it comes to forging strong economic and security ties, does Australia leave something to be desired? Guest: Dr Kyung-wha Kang – President and CEO of the Asia Society; South Korea’s 38th Minister of Foreign Affairs (2017 to 2021) under President Moon Jae-in  RECOMMENDATIONS: Geraldine: Kiss the Future documentary - SBS On Demand Hamish: Zhou Enlai: A Life - review in London Review of Books VOTE FOR US: Love the pod? Vote for us in the Australian Podcast Awards here: Voting - Australian Podcast Awards GET IN TOUCH:  We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

With 40 million eligible Gen Z voters, the tight US presidential race has become a battle for followers, likes and shares on social media. But will this actually translate to votes in November?  GUEST: Katie Harbath - founder and CEO of technology policy firm Anchor Change; Former Facebook Public Policy Director for global elections  RECOMMENDATIONS: Geraldine: The Born in the USA fallacy - The New Statesman  Hamish: This wasn't 't the social media election everyone expected - BBC VOTE FOR US: Love the pod? Vote for us in the Australian Podcast Awards here: Voting - Australian Podcast Awards GET IN TOUCH:  We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

With the rest of the world swinging left and right, how do we make the progressive centre of politics more attractive, and its proponents sound less like 'pious schoolteachers'? Rory Stewart thinks Australia may hold the key... GUEST: Rory Stewart is the co-presenter of the hit podcast The Rest is Politics. He served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Penrith and The Border between 2010 and 2019, representing the Conservative Party.  Rory is coming out to Australia at the end of October to discuss his political memoir Politics on the Edge. RECOMMENDATIONS: Geraldine: BBC podcast The Long History Of... Ignorance Hamish: ABC Rear Vision The Kamala Harris Story GET IN TOUCH:  We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

At the eleventh hour, journalist Masha Gessen has been granted a visa to enter Australia, but why are they considered so dangerous?  Guest: Masha Gessen - Russian-American journalist and author. Masha is due to appear at The Edge, Fed Square in Melbourne for the Wheeler Centre (21 August) and at Carriageworks in Sydney, as part of the Festival of Dangerous Ideas (24-25 August). KEEP AN EYE OUT: Our main episode will drop Friday, with special guest Rory Stewart, co-host of The Rest Is Politics podcast.

In a sign of our deepening strategic ties, Australia will play host to more frequent US military deployments across air, land, and maritime domains. At the same time, an updated AUKUS agreement provides a 'get-out' clause for the US and the UK. Former prime minister Paul Keating has raised his concerns, but he's not alone is asking: Is Australia getting the short end of the stick?  Guest: David E. Sanger is chief Washington correspondent for The New York Times and the author, most recently of New Cold Wars: China's Rise, Russia's Invasion, and America's Struggle to Defend the West. Recommendations: Geraldine - When Keating went to war with the White House  Australian Financial Review article by James Curran.  Hamish - The Places in Between by Rory Stewart. Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

The sudden departure of Sheikh Hasina after weeks of student protests sparked jubilant celebrations, which stretched all the way to Australia. It’s paved the way for a new interim government led by Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus, who is heralding this as a 'second liberation' for Bangladesh. Guests:  Dr Mubashar Hasan - Bangladesh born academic and social justice activist. Post Doctoral Researcher at the University of Oslo, Norway and an adjunct research fellow at Humanitarian and Development Research Initiatives, Western Sydney University.      Associate Professor C. Christine Fair - Professor in the Security Studies Program within Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service.  Recommendations: Geraldine: Lies, Politics and Democracy on SBS on Demand Hamish: Bangladesh has achieved its second liberation, says Muhammad Yunus, The Economist Bonus episode: Hamish speaks to Gov. Tim Walz Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Kamala Harris has chosen Minnesota governor Tim Walz as her running mate, but who is he? It turns out he was actually in Australia last November for a trade mission and he spoke remarkably openly with Hamish Macdonald.  GET IN TOUCH: Love this bonus discussion? Have your own thoughts on Gov. Tim Walz that you need to share? We're listening! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

In the wake of two major assassinations of a Hezbollah commander in Beirut and a Hamas leader in Tehran, both at least ostensibly by Israel, former Mossad director Efraim Halevy issues a surprisingly critical assessment of Israel’s strategy for the broader Middle East. Plus, former US Ambassador to Lebanon David Hale gives some much-needed context on Hezbollah’s engagement in the conflict, and what diplomacy might achieve, should cooler heads prevail. Recommendations: Hamish: Caledonian Road by Andrew O'Hagan Geraldine: The Lammy Doctrine by Jason Cowley in The New Statesman VOTE FOR US: We've been announced as a finalist in the Radio Today Australia/NZ podcast awards! You can vote for us here. Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

There's been a whole lotta love for Kamala, particularly on social media this week. But is she really a better candidate than Biden? What are her economic; her foreign policy credentials? Does she have what it takes to beat Trump? Geraldine and Hamish have thoughts...  GET IN TOUCH: Love this bonus discussion? Have your own thoughts on Kamala that you need to share? We're listening! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Turn on the news and you are confronted with the fact that the United States, and US-led systems, are not what they once were. Kishore Mahbubani argues that the West has lost its shine and that Australia should be looking to its Asian neighbours for a stronger future. But is this really the Asian century?  Guest: Kishore Mahbubani, Singaporean Diplomat and former president of the UN Security Council.  Recommendations:  Geraldine: Biden, Trump, and Washington's Wishful Thinking - A conversation with Ben Rhodes, Foreign Affairs  Hamish: Measuring the power of the Global South - Kishore Mahbubani, Chatham House  Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

What could another Trump Presidency mean for the world order?

A weekly examination of world affairs with Geraldine Doogue and Hamish Macdonald.

Where have all the centrists gone? And how have the far-right taken hold of politics in the west?

Do you ever want to hide from the headlines? With 1 in 4 people now saying they are worn out by the news and many turning to a fragmented social media news landscape for their information we explore what's gone wrong in recent years, and what we might do about it.  Guests: Marty Baron: American Journalist, Editor of The Washington Post 2012 to 2021 and author of a new memoir called Collision of Power.  Recommendations: Geraldine: The Bright Side with Sabra Lane on ABC Listen Hamish:  All the Presidents Men, book by Woodward and Bernstein  Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

You know things aren't good when Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un sign a mutual defence pact... could it be that a powerful new anti-western axis is emerging between Russia, China, North Korea and Iran? Plus, we get an insight into how Ukrainians feel about being caught in this geopolitical quagmire.  Guests: Alisa Sopova - Ukrainian journalist and anthropologist. Sir Lawrence Freedman - Emeritus Professor of War Studies at King's College London. Recommendations: Geraldine: We’re in 1938 now: Putin’s war in Ukraine and lessons from history - Patrick Wintour in the Guardian. Hamish: Premier Li Qiang’s visit has Malaysia wanting more from China pivot - Financial Times. Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

​The high-profile visit by Chinese Premier Li Qiang signals warming relations between Canberra and Beijing, but could it be indicative of deeper economic and political anxieties in China? What is it, really, that China wants from us?  Guest: Richard McGregor - former Beijing bureau chief for the Financial Times, author of Xi Jinping: The Backlash and Senior Fellow for East Asia at the Lowy Institute. Recommendations: Geraldine - reading: We’re in 1938 now’: Putin’s war in Ukraine and lessons from history article by Patrick Wintour Hamish - reading: The Hollow Crown: Shakespeare on How Leaders Rise, Rule, and Fall book by Eliot Cohen You can also listen to Hamish's interview with Eliot Cohen and Fintan O'Toole on the Big Weekend of Books on the ABC Listen App  Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

In India, Mexico and South Africa, frustrations and hopes have been borne out at polling booths, with extraordinary results. Geraldine and Hamish take an in depth look at South Africa, which is about to enter an exciting new phase both at home and abroad. Guests: Lynsey Chutel - reporter for The New York Times based in Johannesburg.  Melanie Verwoerd - former Member of Parliament for the ANC, the former Ambassador to Ireland, and the former Director of UNICEF- Ireland.  Recommendations: Geraldine - watching: A Life in Ten Pictures Season 2 - Nelson Mandela on ABC iView Reading: Winnie and Nelson: Portrait of a Marriage book by Jonny Steinberg Hamish - watching: Ladysmith Black Mambazo - Nkosi Sikelela (Live At Montreux 1989) on Youtube Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

One week into the UK election campaign and to say things have been unexpected is an understatement. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has come out firing, announcing a controversial national service scheme that caused Gen Z to have a meltdown. But is it enough to close the gap between the Tories and Labour, led by Sir Keir Starmer?  Guest: Krishnan Guru-Murthy - one of the main anchors of Channel 4 News. He also fronts the podcast Ways to Change the World and reports for the foreign affairs series Unreported World.  Recommendations: Hamish - reading: The Forever War: America’s Unending Conflict with Itself book by Nick Bryant Geraldine - reading: In death as in life, Yael Dayan is an inconvenient Israeli by Noah Efron Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Well, it's happened. Donald Trump is a convicted felon. In this bonus episode, former Republican speechwriter David Frum reacts to the historic verdict and discusses whether Trump has any hope now of being re-elected. Guest: David Frum - staff writer at The Atlantic and the author of 10 books, most recently Trumpocracy (2018) and Trumpocalypse (2020). In 2001 and 2002, David was a speechwriter for President George W. Bush.  You can read his latest on the Trump verdict here.

The International Criminal Court is considering whether to issue an arrest warrant against Benjamin Netanyahu - the first time in history such a move has been made against a pro-Western leader. It's sparked a mixed reaction, internationally, but it's unclear whether Israeli or Hamas leaders will ever be held accountable for potential war crimes. It's also unclear what impact, if any, this development will have on the ongoing conflict and humanitarian crisis in Gaza.  Guest: Julian Borger - World Affairs Editor at The Guardian; author of The Butcher's Trail and I Seek A Kind Person. Recommendations: Geraldine: Reading - Friendly Fire: How Israel Became Its Own Worst Enemy and the Hope for Its Future book by Ami Ayalon Hamish: Reading - Netanyahu and Khamenei find themselves in a tightening vice article in the Financial Times by Kim Ghattas  Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Treasurer Jim Chalmers touched a nerve when he suggested Australians should start having more kids, but does he actually have a point? Fertility rates are falling dramatically across the world and it's stoking all sorts of fears.   Guest: Dr Jennifer Sciubba - one of the foremost experts in the field of political demography & the author of 8 Billion and Counting: How Sex, Death, and Migration Shape Our World Recommendations: Geraldine: Reading - You can’t even pay people to have more kids by Anna North, Vox. Hamish: Reading - China's high stakes struggle to avoid demographics disaster by The Economist.  Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Some Europeans certainly think so, with polls predicting a swing to the hard-right in upcoming EU elections. So, what would a more conservative Europe mean for us?  Geraldine and Hamish travelled to Canberra to ask the EU Ambassador to Australia in person, and to find out whether a free trade deal between the EU and Australia really is dead.  Guest: His Excellency Mr. Gabriele Visentin, the EU Ambassador to Australia.  Recommendations: Hamish: Watching - The 2022 Schuman Lecture: Strengthening Relationships in Challenging Times Geraldine: Watching - Freud's Last Session (2023 drama film) Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Australia is buddying up to India and Modi as a counter-weight to China, but what kind of country - and leader - are we really befriending? Guests: Avani Dias - ABC's South Asia Bureau Chief. Ravi Agrawal - editor in chief of Foreign Policy and host of the podcast and video channel FP Live. Recommendations: Hamish: Listening - Looking For Modi ABC News podcast Geraldine: Listening - India is transforming. But into what? episode of the Ezra Klein podcast. Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Not only has the war of words between Prime Minister Albanese and Elon Musk grabbed global headlines, its prompted debates about whether the unelected leaders of multinational tech companies have more power than democratically elected leaders. Tech governance expert Dr Alexis Wichowski says other world leaders will be watching how this plays out, closely. Guest: Dr Alexis Wichowski – Professor at Columbia University and author of The Information Trade: How Tech Companies Act Like Countries Recommendations: Geraldine - reading/watching: Salman Rushdie’s memoir is horrific, upsetting – and a masterpiece by Erica Wagner / Salman Rushdie interview ABC 7:30 Hamish - reading/listening: What I Saw Working at The National Enquirer During Donald Trump’s Rise by Lachlan Cartwright in the New York Times and on 'The Daily' podcast.  Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

As the first ever criminal trial of a former US president gets underway in New York, we speak to ‘The Mooch’ - Anthony Scaramucci – who famously served as White House Communications Director in the Trump Administration for 11 days. He now warns that Donald Trump is a ‘lunatic’ and that a second Trump term would be disastrous for America, and the world.   Guest: Anthony Scaramucci - American financier who served as the White House Director of Communications from July 21 to July 31, 2017. He has a new book coming out: “From Wall Street to the White House and Back: The Scaramucci Guide to Unbreakable Resilience”.  Recommendations: Geraldine - reading: Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs Tim Watts' response to The Economist calling the flat white "Australia's greatest culinary export"  Hamish - watching: The Rise and Fall of Boris Johnson on ABC iview Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Foreign Minister Penny Wong has hinted that Australia might recognise Palestinian statehood. It's a significant move, politically, but will it have any impact on what's happening on the ground in Gaza? Hamish and Geraldine sit down with Tirana Hassan, the Australian who has just become head of Human Rights Watch, to discuss this, and whether we'll ever see Nuremberg-style justice for the war crimes being perpetrated around the world today. Guest: Tirana Hassan - Executive Director, Human Rights Watch Note: The Israeli Embassy has been contacted for comment. Recommendations: Geraldine - watching: The Cold War of Spies, docuseries on SBS on Demand Hamish - reading: Tonnes of food is stuck on Gaza’s border while the enclave nears famine FT Visual Story Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

It's worrying when one of Europe's most influential leaders says that the world is in a 'pre-war state', similar to 1939. But just how worried should we be, here in Australia? Ian Bremmer gives us his frank assessment of where things stand and reveals why Australia might just be a geopolitical haven.  Guest: Ian Bremmer - president of political risk consultancy Eurasia Group and author of 11 books on global affairs.  Recommendations: Geraldine - watching: The American Führer documentary on SBS on Demand Hamish - listening: Dark Shining Moment podcast by Ranieri & Co Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

In the absence of decisive US leadership, it could fall to Middle Eastern leaders to push for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and create sustainable pathways to peace. A stable, post-American regional order is in the interests of most Middle Eastern powers, but does anyone have the political will to take the lead? Guest: Dr Sanam Vakil - director of the Middle East and North Africa programme, Chatham House. Recommendations: Geraldine - Reading: 10 books to help you understand Israel and Palestine, recommended by experts (The Conversation) Hamish - Reading: Royal Bodies, essay by Hilary Mantel (London Review of Books) Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

When it comes to Chinese politics, reading the tea leaves is never easy. In this episode Hamish and Geraldine are joined by Rana Mitter, the man dubbed the 'rockstar' of China studies by former PM Kevin Rudd, to break open the black box of the Politburo and reveal just how stable (or unstable) Xi Jinping's leadership is, given the economic and demographic headwinds that China is facing. Guest: Rana Mitter - ST Lee Chair in US-Asia Relations at the Harvard Kennedy School. Recommendations: Rana - Listening: Face-Off: US vs China podcast, dropping on April 9. Hamish - Reading: Restless Empire: China and the World Since 1750 by Odd Arne Westad Geraldine - Watching: Turning Point: The Bomb and the Cold War docuseries on Netflix Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

A new global arms race is on, to develop and control AI. But with so much power and profit tied up in this transformative new technology, is it in anyone's interest to ask where this new age of empire might lead? AI expert Anu Bradford says if we don't put proper guardrails in place soon, the consequences could be dire.  Guest: Anu Bradford - Professor at Columbia Law School and author of Digital Empires: The Global Battle to Regulate Technology. Recommendations: Hamish: The Age of AI Has Begun by Bill Gates and 'Way too much news': US conservatives face a fragmented media map - Financial Times Geraldine: Israel Must Decide Where It’s Going—and Who Should Lead It There - Ehud Barak in Foreign Affairs Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

As a resistance fighter turned statesman, Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão has devoted his life to the struggle for Timorese independence. On the sidelines of the ASEAN-Australia summit, he opened up to Geraldine and Hamish about why he is such a staunch advocate for processing the gas from the Greater Sunrise project onshore in Timor-Leste and what his dreams are for his country.

Sitting down with Geraldine and Hamish on the sidelines of the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim revealed his desire for Australia to adopt a more 'mature' approach on China, his frustration at Western 'hypocrisy' concerning Gaza, achieving 'spiritual enlightenment' through Shakespeare and why being Prime Minister is no 'bed of roses'.  Recommendations: Past episodes of Global Roaming

Big decisions are being made about the future of Australian defence, with very little public debate. Highly esteemed defence strategist Hugh White is trying to inspire this national conversation. He joins Geraldine and Hamish to discuss why he thinks AUKUS is a mistake and what he thinks Australia needs to do instead, if we really want to secure ourselves in a rapidly contested region. Recommendations: Geraldine: Navalny - documentary. Available on SBS On Demand until 20 April 2024 Hamish: Essay by Hervé Lemahieu in Australian Foreign Affairs journal (AFA20 - February 2024), proposing that Australia pursue a common travel area and an integrated digital market with the Pacific.

Financial Times journalist Gideon Rachman says the world order is fundamentally shifting, and not in a good way. Recommendations:  Hamish: In the Time of Madness – Richard Lloyd Parry (Book)  Geraldine: Lunch with Prabowo, by Ben Bland at the Financial Times  Nemesis, Series 1 Episode 3 The Morrison Years, ABC

What might this upcoming election mean for the Indonesia - Australia relationship?  Recommendations: Hamish: Sarah Snook on The Today Programme – BBC Radio 4 Geraldine: A Year Of Living Dangerously – Book by Christopher Koch

Following the death of three Americans, pressure is growing on President Biden to take a stronger stance against Iran. Few, however, are asking what the mood is inside Iran, and who is pulling the strings? Iran scholar Ali Ansari argues that understanding this is imperative in determining what should come next.  Recommendations:  Hamish: Tom Friedman - A Titanic Geopolitical Struggle is Underway - New York Times. Geraldine: A Separation - Film available Apple TV Reading Lolita in Tehran - Book by Azar Nafisi

With the Israel-Gaza war spilling into the broader Middle East and a US election looming that could see the re-election of Donald Trump as president, the start of 2024 feels incredibly volatile. Geraldine and Hamish ask former US national security advisor John Bolton where he sees the situation heading, and how the US and its allies should respond.  Recommendations: Hamish: Ghost of Beirut - television series Geraldine: Anthony Blinken playing the guitar - YouTube

A war breaks out, a leader emerges, a revolution unfolds. How did it happen, and what are the implications for you? Two award-winning journalists with decades of experience reporting on major world events, Geraldine Doogue and Hamish Macdonald join forces for a fresh conversation about global news and how to make sense of it.

Historian Lord Andrew Roberts, biographer of Churchill and Napoleon, sits down with Geraldine Doogue fresh from visiting the site of the Bondi Beach massacre, a visit he links directly to his work chairing the 7 October Parliamentary Commission Report, produced by the UK-Israel All-Party Parliamentary Group.  He argues antisemitism's fastest growth is coming from elite universities, traces a "bridgehead" from fringe to mainstream politics in the UK and Europe, and gives his read on Trump's Iran gamble, Taiwan, and whether the postwar order can hold.  Guest: Lord Andrew Roberts Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

Tech giants from OpenAI, Anthropic, and X have all warned in the same week that AI could threaten humanity itself, as former employees go public with their concerns.   Geraldine Doogue and Hamish Macdonald ask foreign correspondent Anna Fifield if calls for regulation are credible, and if Donald Trump is even listening.   Plus, how does China feel about AI? Models like DeepSeek have grabbed media attention, but internal voices have been raising concerns that widespread AI use could undermine the party line.   Meanwhile, China and the U.S. vie for allies in the Pacific islands. Can America be taken seriously as a diplomatic force when they haven't had a resident ambassador in a Pacific island nation for over a decade?   And Russians have gone to the polls for the first parliamentary elections since the beginning of the Ukraine invasion. It doesn't take a fortune teller to predict that Putin's Russia United party would be successful, but is his political grip beginning to slip?   Guest: Anna Fifield, Independent journalist and foreign affairs commentator. Author of the Between Giants Substack. Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

After The Alliance mini-series drew a flood of listener mail, Hamish McDonald and Geraldine Doogue open the mailbag and bring in Guardian Australia's Ben Doherty to answer the hardest question listeners asked: how much control does Australia actually have over the US military presence on its own soil? Doherty's investigation found the US has access to roughly 110 of Australia's 150 defence installations, including Pine Gap, permanently commanded by a US soldier, and bases used by nuclear-capable bombers. From 2032, we could also see nuclear-armed submarines through HMAS Stirling in Perth. Doherty reveals that, under the US policy of "strategic ambiguity," Washington won't say whether nuclear weapons are on board, and Canberra wont ask. Plus, what are the "shared values" our alliance is based upon and what are the alternatives? Guest: Ben Doherty, senior reporter with Guardian Australia. You can read Ben's full investigation here.   Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

Nine years after Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed by a car bomb, the businessman accused of arranging her assassination has walked free.  A jury acquitted Yorgen Fenech of complicity and criminal association by an 8–1 vote, despite his own admission that he paid €50,000 to the middleman who recruited her killers and passed him confidential police information.  Geraldine Doogue and Latika Bourke speak to Daphne's sister, Corinne Vella, about the verdict she calls "shocking," the political web the case exposed, reaching Malta's former prime ministerial chief of staff and energy minister, and why she believes prosecutors' promised appeal is the family's last real shot at justice. Guest: Corinne Vella, sister of Daphne Caruana Galizia Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

Much has been made of Trump dispatching his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, for high-stakes diplomatic missions to solve conflicts across the world, but what do we know of the rest of the Kushner family?    Jared's father, Charles Kushner, is now ambassador to France, pardoned by Trump after a criminal conviction that included tax violations and witness tampering.  And his younger brother, Josh Kushner, quietly bought an NBA team after a bruising, aborted deal to sell off pieces of the World Cup earlier this year. Geraldine Doogue and Latika Bourke go roaming through the Kushner story with investigative journalist and author Andrea Bernstein. She traces it from the family's escape from the Nazis in Poland, through Charles Kushner's spectacular fall, to Jared's current role as a "special government employee" operating with none of the disclosure obligations that usually apply in Washington. Bernstein's verdict: the US isn't drifting toward oligarchy anymore. It already is one.  Guest: Andrew Bernstein, investigative journalist and author of American Oligarchs: The Kushners, the Trumps, and the Marriage of Money and Power. Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

Global debt has passed 300 per cent of world GDP, bond yields are climbing across the world, and the U.S. war with Iran is putting pressure on households. Could we be facing the beginning of another global financial crisis? Geraldine Doogue and Latika Bourke sit down with the Financial Times Asia and Australia editor Robin Harding to explain how the bond market works, why it has such an impact on the economy, and why U.S. interventions have been lambasted by high-profile economists. Plus - how Australia passing one trillion dollars in debt might actually put us in a pretty safe spot, and how AI companies creating their own funding system could blow up in their faces. Guest: Robin Harding, Asia editor at the Financial Times  Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband told Parliament the UK will ban trade with unlawful Israeli settlements days after publicly thanking Israel for sheltering his grandmother from the Nazis. Israel has shut the British consulate in East Jerusalem in response.  Hamish Macdonald and Geraldine Doogue are joined by former diplomat and Managing Editor of International Intrigue Jeremy Dicker to unpack the fallout. Plus, a bombshell Haaretz report claiming Netanyahu was warned five days before October 7 (a claim his office denies), Javier Milei's revived push on the Falklands, and the funeral for war criminal Ratko Mladic that's put Serbia's EU bid in jeopardy. Guest: Jeremy Dicker, former diplomat and Managing Editor International Intrigue Mentioned in this episode: Revealed: Netanyahu Received an Explicit Warning Days Before Oct. 7. He Didn't Brief Israel's Security Chiefs - Haaretz Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

In the five years since the AUKUS agreement was announced, can we still rely on our British and American allies? While most debate on AUKUS focuses on the United States and the promised Virginia-class submarines, the ultimate goal is the British-designed vessels. So how confident should Australia be that the UK can actually deliver? Acting British High Commissioner to Australia Dr Brian Jones joins Hamish Macdonald and Waleed Aly to discuss defence budgets, shipyard capacity, and the timetable for Australia's most ambitious military acquisition. They also discuss Britain's new prime minister, and whether Andy Burnham can finally bring the UK into its post-Brexit place in the world. Plus - how does the UK feel about China's increasing forays into the Pacific? Guest: Dr Brian Jones, Acting British High Commissioner to Australia. Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Nine years after more than a million Rohingya fled Myanmar, Bangladesh wants them to return. But return to what? As Myanmar's civil war intensifies, the Rohingya are caught between the military that drove them from their homes and the powerful Arakan Army now reshaping the battlefield in Rakhine State. Award-winning filmmaker and investigative journalist Ali Fowle joins Latika Bourke and Laura Tingle to unpack her new Al Jazeera documentary, Bloodshed on the Border. She explains how the Rohingya are being drawn into the conflict, why villages are being destroyed once again, and how a forgotten crisis has become even more dangerous. Plus: who is the Arakan Army, how did it become one of Myanmar's most effective rebel forces, and why does Bangladesh still hope to repatriate refugees despite the continuing war? Guest: Ali Fowle, documentary filmmaker and investigative journalist. You can watch Bloodshed on the Border here Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Giorgia Meloni has become Italy's longest continuously serving prime minister since Mussolini - no small feat in a country that usually burns through leaders in under a year.  Once written off as a fringe far-right risk, she's since charmed Brussels and shared a book preface with Donald Trump. That was until Trump attacked the Pope and made a demeaning remark about her at the G7, and the honeymoon soured.  At home, she's just lost a referendum, wages are among the lowest in Europe, and a more radical challenger, retired general Roberto Vannacci, polling at eight per cent and rising, is squeezing her from the right.  Dr Marina Cino Pagliarello joins Global Roaming to unpack the split between Meloni's international and domestic image. Guest: Dr Marina Cino Pagliarello, senior visiting fellow at the London School of Economics and senior research fellow at the European University Institute. Mentioned in this episode: Giorgia Meloni Cuts the Hard Right a Path to Power, New York Times Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

A far-right party is on the verge of forming a German state government for the first time since World War II. The Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) has surged in Saxony-Anhalt, raising questions that extend well beyond one regional election.  Is this the latest chapter in a political shift that has been building across Europe for more than a decade? Or could it mark a deeper break with the post-war order that shaped modern Germany, the European Union and NATO? Hamish Macdonald and Waleed Aly examine the rise of the AfD, why eastern Germany has become its strongest base, and what reunification left unresolved. They trace the broader populist wave from the global financial crisis to Orbán, Brexit, Meloni, Le Pen and Trump, and ask whether Germany's political "firewall" against the far right is beginning to crack. Plus: Waleed reflects on the arguments behind his new Quarterly Essay, What Future for Liberalism? and why he believes the challenge facing liberal democracy runs deeper than any single election result.  You can find Waleed's Quarterly Essay here Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

China shock 2.0 has arrived and this time it's not the US rust belt in the firing line, it's Germany's beating industrial heart.  Geraldine Doogue and Nick Bryant are joined by Jeremy Shapiro of the European Council on Foreign Relations to unpack how a flood of Chinese exports is hollowing out the car industry that Germany built its post-war identity on. With up to 1.1 million jobs exposed and the far-right AfD looking increasingly competitive, Chancellor Friedrich Merz is clinging to the lowest approval rating of any German leader in memory. Plus, the Pentagon has sent a leaked questionnaire asking NATO allies to prove their loyalty to Washington, including whether they backed the recent strikes on Iran, and Shapiro makes the contrarian case that Obama's much-mocked Syria "red line" retreat wasn't weakness at all, but one of the smartest diplomatic wins in modern US history. Guest: Jeremy Shapiro, European Council on Foreign Relations Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

After a week examining the history, logic and limits of the ANZUS alliance, Hamish Macdonald and Geraldine Doogue turn to the American perspective. Former Trump White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci joins the podcast to discuss how alliances are viewed in Washington, whether America's partners should trust Donald Trump, and why he believes the next few years could test the West's security architecture. Along the way, Hamish and Geraldine reflect on what they've learned from former prime ministers, historians and defence thinkers: Was ANZUS always driven more by interests than values? Is Australia more strategically important to the US than we realise? And in an increasingly uncertain world, can Canberra say no to Washington and still rely on the alliance when it matters most? It's the final chapter of The Alliance series and a conversation about the question at the heart of Australia's foreign policy: if the old assumptions no longer hold, where do we go from here? Guest: Former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci. Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Andrew Hastie, the Liberal MP for Canning and Shadow Minister for Industry and Sovereign Capability, joins Geraldine Doogue and Hamish Macdonald for the fourth instalment of The Alliance, marking 75 years of ANZUS.  A former SAS soldier who deployed to Afghanistan and Middle East, Hastie traces his own path into the military back to a family story from World War II, and argues that Australia's deepening reliance on the US, from Pine Gap to AUKUS, has come at the cost of diminishing Australia's sovereignty.  He makes the case for Australia investing in its own drone and AI capability, questions whether the public is being prepared for what the alliance might demand of them in a future conflict, and reflects on why he still sees the US as indispensable to Australia's security despite his reservations about the Trump administration. Guest: MP and former military officer, Andrew Hastie. Coming up on The Alliance: former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci. Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

Fear of China and Japan has long defined Australia's foreign policy. Could there be a new way forward?   In the third episode of The Alliance, Hamish McDonald and Geraldine Doogue put that question to Kevin Rudd: former prime minister, former foreign minister, and, until recently, Australia's ambassador to the United States.   Rudd makes the case for what he calls "ANZUS Plus": not a straight bet on Washington, but a widening web of security arrangements layered on top of the US alliance rather than instead of it.    He defends the joint facilities in the Northern Territory and Western Australia as genuinely different from US sovereign bases, arguing Australia retains the right to say no, as it did over Iraq.   On China, Rudd draws on the doctorate he completed on Xi Jinping's worldview, arguing Xi has deliberately shifted Chinese politics further left on ideology, further left on economics, and further nationalist on foreign policy and warns against ever underestimating him.    He also lays out the numbers behind the region's naval build-up: China's submarine fleet, its expanding surface fleet, and how the US calculates the "pacing challenge" against it.   Plus, why Rudd calls Japan's military future 'a work in progress.'   Guest: Kevin Rudd, former Australian prime minister, former foreign minister, former Ambassador to the U.S. Coming up on The Alliance: MP and former military officer Andrew Hastie; and former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci.   Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

The ANZUS treaty might be based more on cynical self-interest than a shared system of democratic values.  In this episode of The Alliance mini-series, Hamish Macdonald and Geraldine Doogue trace the origins of Australia's most important strategic partnership and examine how it has evolved through the Cold War, Vietnam, the War on Terror and the rise of China. Historian Michael Wesley and U.S. politics scholar Timothy Lynch explore why ANZUS was created, why Washington wanted the deal in the first place, and whether the alliance has always been far less certain than Australians assume.  They also examine the key tension between Australia's fear of being abandoned in a time of conflict, and the United States' fear of being entangled in a war it doesn't want or need.  As Donald Trump forces allies around the world to question old assumptions, the discussion turns to whether Australia still needs to prove its value to Washington, or whether its geography, intelligence facilities and strategic position make it more important to the United States than many Australians realise. At 75, ANZUS remains a cornerstone of Australian foreign policy. But is the alliance stronger, more flexible and more durable than we think? Or is it time to rethink what it was designed to do in the first place? Guest: Prof. Michael Wesley & Prof. Timothy J. Lynch, University of Melbourne. Coming up on The Alliance: Former prime minister and US ambassador Kevin Rudd; MP and former military officer Andrew Hastie; and former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci. Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

In a special series this week, Global Roaming is checking the use-by date on our relationship with the U.S. Signed on 1st September 1951, the ANZUS treaty has been the lynch-pin of Australia's security and foreign policy. As we approach the 75th anniversary of the alliance, it is perhaps more challenged and questioned than ever before; Can Australia trust the U.S? Is the U.S a good ally? Are our interests and values aligned?   In the first episode of The Alliance, Hamish McDonald and Geraldine Doogue put these questions to John Howard, the only Australian prime minister ever to invoke it. Howard explains how the decision to invoke ANZUS after the September 11 terror attacks came together on the flight home from Washington, defends AUKUS as a direct outgrowth of that loyalty, and repeats his on-the-record criticism of Donald Trump's refusal to concede the 2020 election. Plus, how much of the ANZUS treaty is based on fear of China? John Howard weighs in, comparing the China of Jiang Zemin with what he calls the more "aggressive and disruptive" China of Xi Jinping. Guest: former Australian prime minister John Howard Coming up on The Alliance: Former prime minister and US ambassador Kevin Rudd; historians Timothy Lynch and Michael Wesley; MP and former military officer Andrew Hastie; and former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci. Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

At age nine, Kbora Ali arrived in Australia as an Afghan refugee after her family fled Taliban rule. Less than a decade later, she became the first Afghan woman to join the Australian Army. In this deeply personal conversation, Kbora reflects on her journey from Afghanistan and Pakistan to suburban Adelaide, the challenges of growing up Hazara, and her determination to serve the country that gave her family safety and a future. She speaks to Hamish Macdonald and Waleed Aly candidly about belonging, identity, military life, and the deeply difficult choice she made to remove her headscarf when she first arrived at Kapooka.  Now an Air Force flying officer, and co-author, along with her sister,  of her new memoir First of Her Kind, Kabora shares a story that sits at the intersection of migration, service, multicultural Australia and the enduring consequences of war. Guest: Kbora Ali, Air Force flying officer and co-author of First of Her Kind. Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Nobel Peace laureate and Rappler founder Maria Ressa sits down with Hamish McDonald at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas in Sydney to make the case that the algorithms in your pocket, not any one leader, are manufacturing the conditions for authoritarian rule worldwide.  Ressa says 74 per cent of the world now lives under authoritarian rule, that only a quarter of the open web is still open, and that most internet traffic is now non-human.  She lays out an "authoritarian stack": Peter Thiel bankrolling Donald Trump and JD Vance, Palantir winning a US $10 billion military contract, and Silicon Valley firms wiring themselves into state power. Closer to home, Ressa questions Australia's push for so-called sovereign artificial intelligence, and asks whether the ABC should feed its audio archive to Anthropic to train American models, a deal she calls a "Faustian bargain".  She also talks to press freedom, big tech starving newsrooms of revenue, and on whether journalism can survive at all.  Guest: Maria Ressa, Rappler founder, Nobel Laureate and journalist Mentioned in this Episode:  Is a unified Korea a lost cause? Justice Michael Kirby has hope, Global Roaming Helen Clark defends Fauci pleading the fifth and says Trump's vaccine cuts could cost lives, Global Roaming Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

Helen Clark led New Zealand as Prime Minister for nearly nine years and she hasn't slowed down since. Now the Chair of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, Clark spoke to Global Roaming at a moment when vaccines have become a genuine political battleground.  Clark talks to Hamish Macdonald about Trump's executive order to cut the recommended childhood vaccine schedule, RFK Jr.'s rise at the top of US health policy, and why she thinks Anthony Fauci pleading the Fifth before a Senate committee isn't necessarily what it looks like. She also raises a crisis that's had almost no attention: a fast-growing HIV outbreak in Fiji, driven by drug use and a lack of harm-reduction infrastructure. Plus: the misogyny and threats faced by women in politics - including, she says, threats to Jacinda Ardern far beyond what she or Julia Gillard ever experienced - and the story of the Tampa refugees New Zealand took in, and the search to reunite them with their families. Guest: Helen Clark, Former Prime Minister of New Zealand & Board Chair, Gavi the Vaccine Alliance. Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

In April 2024, an Israeli strike hit a World Central Kitchen convoy in Gaza, killing Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom and and six of her colleagues.  Two years later, on World Humanitarian Day, the Israeli military said that its commanders' decisions did not raise reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct and said it would not pursue a criminal case.  In a joint statement, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom called the announcement "shameful". It comes as the United States sanctions International Criminal Court (ICC) judges and Secretary of State Marco Rubio vows to dismantle the court "brick by brick", in retaliation for its arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Laura Tingle and Latika Bourke ask whether international law is collapsing, and what middle powers like Australia can still do about it.  Their guest, Human Rights Watch Executive Director Philippe Bolopion, warns that impunity is back as democracy slides to its lowest levels since the late 1970s. He makes his case for a coalition of middle power democracies, including Australia, to push back.   Guest: Philippe Bolopion, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

As rebel forces grow in strength, and tensions rise their once-friendly neighbour Pakistan, how long can the Taliban rule? The Australian's Asia-Pacific correspondent Amanda Hodge joins Geraldine Doogue and Hamish Macdonald to assess the Taliban's record in the 5 years since the last U.S. troop left Afghanistan.  Plus, a so-called 'super El Niño' weather pattern is on its way. In Australia it's likely to bring dry conditions and a higher risk of fire, but across South-East Asia, the effects could be even more catastrophic. What are the consequences of weather that could serious slow or even reverse the explosive economic growth in the region? And a running club in Bali has come under fire for prioritising digital nomads and ex-pats over Indonesian residents, reviving debate on Indonesian's colonial past, and how to balance Bali's status as a tourist destination with the dignity of the local citizens. Plus, Amanda, Geraldine, and Hamish share what they've been reading and watching recently. Guest: Amanda Hodge, Asia-Pacific corresondent with The Australian Recommendations:  Amanda – Joe Strummer and the Legend of The Clash by Kris Needs Geraldine – Greg Bearup's article on the death of Kumantjayi Tjapaltjarri Hamish - Tampa: The Turning Point available on ABC iview Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Has the world taken a wrong turn, or are we simply losing sight of how much progress has already been made? In the second part of this conversation, former Justice of the High Court of Australia Michael Kirby reveals why, after years of working in the courts and in international aid, he is convinced that the world is moving in the right direction. Pointing to progress made in the treatment of AIDS and other world pandemics, the growing acceptance and visibility of LGBTQIA+ people, and the spread of universal education, Michael Kirby says that there are reasons to be hopeful. But, he adds, we cannot remain complacent against threats of fascism, climate change, and allowing irrationality to return to the forefront.  In this expansive chat, Hamish Macdoanld and Waleed Aly ask Michael Kirby whether public trust in law and experts has been irreparably harmed, and whether political upheavals across the world are a sign of temporary unrest, or a symptom of something much deeper.  Plus - what role does the media have in fostering a sense of pessimism or fatalism in the public? Guest: Michael Kirby AC, former justice of the High Court of Australia Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

How do you begin mending one of the most destructive political divides in modern history? That is the challenge that former High Court of Australia justice Michael Kirby faced when he led a UN inquiry into human rights abuses in North Korea in 2013. Despite being confronted with brutal repression and repeated failures of negotiation, Kirby remains hopeful that progress can be made, and that the United Nations has an irreplaceable role in facilitating communication between either side of the Korean DMZ. In this first part of an expansive two-part episode, Hamish Macdonald and Waleed Aly join Justice Michael Kirby to discuss his history in international governance, his impressions of leaders like Donald Trump and George W. Bush, and how nuclear weapons have completely changed the future of the region. Plus: how a very stern teacher and his cane gave Michael his first taste of injustice.  Guest: Michael Kirby AC, former justice of the High Court of Australia Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

When does political resistance become a moral obligation? Chinese-Australian artist Badiucao and Chinese-American journalist Melissa Chan have both paid a personal price for criticising China's one-party system. Between them, they've faced expulsion, surveillance, harassment and intimidation. Badiucao even found a man who had assumed his identity.  Together, Chan and Badiucao have created the graphic novel You Must Take Part in Revolution, exploring a dystopian future in which a tech-authoritarian China locks horns with a fascistic United States, with Taiwan caught in the middle. The book asks the question: how far should you go in resisting an authoritarian regime? Hamish Macdonald and Geraldine Doogue speak with Chan and Badiucao about how the Hong Kong protests of 2019 brought their concerns about China to the forefront, the risks of AI supercharging the threat of surveillance, and why the individual right to liberty and freedom of expression is more important than simply siding with the United States or China.  Guests: Melissa Chan, journalist & Badiucao, artist. Melissa Chan and Badiucao are speaking at Sydney's Festival of Dangerous Ideas. Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

What happens when a party's own voters start to rebel against the establishment? The victories of New York mayor Zohran Mamdani and Democratic senate nominee for Michigan Abdul El-Sayed have brought a lot of attention to progressive candidates, but some in the centre are warning about 'insurgents' that may never reach mainstream electability.  Asma Khalid is an American journalist who has spent years reporting from the White House - she says that this movement could represent a real shift for the future of the Democratic party when it comes to tax, healthcare, and America's relationship with Israel. On today's episode, Asma joins Hamish Macdonald and Waleed Aly to talk about the strengths, weaknesses, and goals of the new trend of progressivism that is taking the spotlight, and its roots in Bernie Sander's transformative 2016 presidential bid.  Plus: who are the Democratic Socialists of America, are they socialist, communist, or something new? And will these internal divisions lead to a stronger or weaker Democratic party? Guest: Asma Khalid, journalist, co-host of The Global Story podcast, and former NPR White House correspondent Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

China fired a nuclear-capable missile into the South Pacific. Then its neighbours couldn't agree to condemn it. The missile came down in waters close to Tuvalu's exclusive economic zone a month before foreign ministers met at the Pacific Islands Forum in Suva, Fiji.  Australia's Penny Wong and New Zealand's Winston Peters pushed for a joint statement. Nauru and Kiribati refused to sign even the weakest version.  Both have taken Chinese money and built closer ties with Beijing, and it showed. China is pressing south in other ways too: a security deal with the Cook Islands, coast guard vessels probing deeper into the region, and a clear interest in the minerals under the seabed. Journalist Anna Fifield, who reported across Asia and the Middle East for the Washington Post and the Financial Times, asks whether Australia's much-praised Pacific reset is as solid as Canberra claims.  She also takes on New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon surviving a second leadership challenge before the 7 November election, Vietnamese President To Lam's charm offensive in Australia and New Zealand, and Kim Jongn's apparent grooming of his teenage daughter to inherit North Korea.  Hosts Geraldine Doogue and Hamish McDonald steer a tour of a neighbourhood that suddenly matters far more. Guest: Anna Fifield, Independent journalist and foreign affairs commentator. Author of the Between Giants Substack. Recommendations:  Anna – All Her Lives by Ingrid Horrocks Geraldine – World War II With Tom Hanks Hamish - Unsettled by Kate Grenville Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has labelled AUKUS a bipartisan mistake. Is he right? Peter Garrett, former Labor minister and rock superstar, is now leading a public inquiry into Australia's submarine pact with the U.S. and UK to answer a number of essential questions.  Are the promised submarines likely to arrive? Why is Australia paying billions into US and UK submarine production? And does AUKUS strengthen Australia's security, or deepen our dependence on Washington at a time of growing uncertainty about America's role in the world? In this episode, Peter Garrett joins Global Roaming to explain why the inquiry believes Australians have been largely excluded from one of the biggest defence decisions in the nation's history. Hamish Macdonald and Geraldine Doogue also test the arguments around China's military rise, Taiwan, interoperability with US forces, and whether Australia has ever had the national conversation that a project of this scale demands. Guest: Peter Garrett, leading commissioner of the public inquiry into AUKUS

Is the abuse worth it? A growing body of research suggests women in public life are facing a wave of online harassment that has been amplified by artificial intelligence, deepfakes and coordinated misinformation campaigns. In this episode of Global Roaming, Geraldine Doogue and Latika Bourke examine the implications for democracy.  If women are increasingly targeted with sexualised abuse, fake images and threats of violence, will fewer choose to enter public life? Australian journalist and academic Dr Julie Posetti, who led a landmark UN study on online violence against women in public life, explains how AI is changing the threat landscape and why research is drawing links between online abuse and real-world harm. Former NSW minister Bronnie Taylor reflects on her own experience of abuse in politics and why she fears the problem could deter women from putting their hands up for elected office. Could online misogyny be reshaping democracy itself? And what can governments, regulators and technology companies do about it? Guests: Dr Julie Posetti, journalist, academic and UN researcher Bronnie Taylor, former NSW Nationals minister and Women for Election advisory board member Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

Arash Azizi says Iran's rulers may be more afraid of peace than war. While the world watches Donald Trump, the American-Iranian historian argues the real story is the stasis inside Tehran.  A collective leadership built around a 13-member National Security Council, with parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf the strongest figure, now calling the shots.  Azizi says they stepped away from the June memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Washington that would have reopened the Strait of Hormuz, partly because normal governance frightens them more than crisis.  Now the new Mecca defence pact between Turkey, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, a throwback to the 1955 Baghdad Pact, is leaving Iran more isolated than ever. Azizi's sharpest claim is that the biggest threat to the regime is its own people. The ideological Khomeini era is over, he says, and the state has quietly lost its war on the hijab, with women now in tank tops on the streets of Tehran.  So who breaks the deadlock? Latika Burke and Geraldine Doogue ask whether Iran can find its own Deng Xiaoping, or whether it just hobbles on like Saddam Hussein's Iraq in the 1990s. Guest: Arash Azizi, author of What Iranians Want Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.  Mentioned in this episode: These are Iran's emerging power players, Azizi's previous appearance on Global Roaming

Antony Loewenstein says Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank has turned "almost apocalyptic". The independent Australian journalist has reported from the territory for more than 20 years. On a trip to the area last month, Loewenstein says he witnessed near-daily attacks on a Palestinian family. It comes as the United Nations says Israeli settler violence has reached unprecedented levels.   Loewenstein points to roughly 800,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank, a prosecution rate for settler violence he puts close to zero, and the upcoming Israeli election as all contributing to the increased violence.  He tells hosts Kylie Morris and Latika Bourke that, while he welcomes Foreign Minister Penny Wong's sanctioning of West Bank settlers and some Israeli ministers who openly advocate for the displacement of Palestinians, the move is merely "tinkering at the edges" should Australia keep exporting weapons parts to Israel.  And, as a Jewish Australian, he warns the Antisemitism Royal Commission risks conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism.  Guest: Antony Loewenstein, independent journalist and author of The Palestine Laboratory Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.  Mentioned in this episode:  Global Roaming: Should Israel remain a Jewish state? A look at Gaza's future.

Labor MP Ed Husic has a blunt warning: a handful of US tech firms could switch off the AI tools Australia runs on. On 15 July the Prime Minister used a national address to label artificial intelligence (AI) a national interest, announcing a new Office of AI inside his department, mandatory rules for large data centres, and a digital duty of care for big tech. At the same time Sydney is being tipped as one of the world's data centre hotspots, with firms like Anthropic and OpenAI scouting sites and the build-out talked up as the next mining boom. The catch: Australia has no frontier AI model of its own, so we store the data without controlling the technology. Digital Rights Watch founder Lizzie O'Shea and the McKinnon Institute's Tom Mooney, once chief of staff to Foreign Minister Penny Wong, argue Australia holds more cards than it thinks: a stable democracy, cheap renewables and a strong bargaining position. They make the case for shaping big tech rather than receiving it and explain why Australians rank among the world's most sceptical about AI even as heavy users. In this episode Hamish Macdonald presses them on jobs, sovereignty, and whether any government can force these companies to care. Guest:  Lizzie O'Shea - Digital Rights Watch Tom Mooney - McKinnon Institute Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

Fresh from winning the 2026 Miles Franklin Award, writer and artist Omar Musa joins Global Roaming to take us into the rainforests of Borneo, a place where environmental destruction, colonial history, economic development and cultural identity collide. Drawing on the themes of his award-winning novel Fierceland, Musa explores how palm oil transformed Malaysian Borneo: lifting many families out of poverty while accelerating the loss of rainforest, Indigenous lands, languages and traditions. With Hamish Macdonald and Geraldine Doogue, he discusses the enduring legacy of colonialism in Southeast Asia, the tensions between multiculturalism and nationalism, Australia's relationship with the region, and his own journey growing up between Queensland and Borneo. It's a conversation about memory, belonging, faith, identity and one of the world's most remarkable forests. Guest: Omar Musa, Author of 2026 Miles Franklin award winning novel Fierceland Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

Pauline Hanson sat down with Tommy Robinson, one of Britain's most notorious far-right figures. So why did the interview happen, and what does it say about the rise of right-wing populism globally?  From Luton to Moscow, the money behind the far right has gone global. Journalist Daniel Trilling traces cash flowing from the United States and Canada to fund Islamophobic activists in the United Kingdom, Russia's long-running interest in stirring British politics, and Elon Musk using X to play kingmaker: backing Nigel Farage, cooling on him, then boosting Robinson and another breakaway rival.  And Robinson himself has been courted by Israel and photographed in Moscow alongside Errol Musk. So how connected are far-right movements around the world?  Trilling argues these movements, supercharged by a fragmented media landscape and the failures of neoliberalism, share a style and a pool of funders but are not formally coordinated. He also explains to hosts Latika Bourke and Kylie Morris why the political centre keeps ceding ground on immigration, why Reform UK is suddenly in real trouble, and what can eventually make these movements come unstuck. Guest: Daniel Trilling, journalist and author of If We Tolerate This: How the British Establishment Made the Far Right Respectable. Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

Should the FIFA World Cup be sold to private investors? That was the proposal by FIFA president Gianni Infantino that shocked the world and FIFA council members. Though the proposal has been abandoned after a swift backlash, Infantino now faces a leadership crisis that could see him booted from the top position, with others already vying to take his place.  But bigger questions remain. The 2026 FIFA World Cup was the most profitable in history and generated over $15 billion in revenue. So why was the proposal made in the first place? And is this really the end of the idea, or just the beginning? Geraldine Doogue and Latika Bourke speak with veteran football broadcaster Simon Hill about the plan to create FIFA Forward Enterprise, the governance crisis now facing FIFA, the growing influence of money in the game, and why selling part of the World Cup crossed a line that even many football insiders found unacceptable. They also explore whether this was a geo-political victory for Europe, what Donald Trump's orbit has to do with the controversy, and if the plan could have some unappreciated merit.  Guest: Simon Hill, football commentator and broadcaster. Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.

Australia has been offered a seat in space, but time is running out. The European Space Agency has invited Australia to send its first government astronaut, Katherine Bennell-Pegg, to the International Space Station (ISS). The catch? The ticket likely costs about $100 million and the ISS is set to deorbit around 2030.  The offer stands for a few months longer, at most. Deputy Director of the International Space Centre at the University of Western Australia, Larissa Wiese, calls it a once-in-a-generation shot at an Australian seat at the global space table, backing an industry that already turns over $4.6 billion and employs 17,000 people.  Miss it, she warns, and we may never catch up. But as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stares down a tight budget and a cost-of-living crisis, is a $100 million space ticket smart nation-building, or an easy political target?  Hosts Waleed Aly and Hamish Macdonald dig into the money, the potential stakes for AUKUS and advanced manufacturing, and whether Australia is happy to remain a space "consumer" as other countries reach for the stars. Guest: Larissa Wiese, the deputy director of the International Space Centre at the University of Western Australia.  Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.  Mentioned in this episode: Global Roaming: Prof Brian Cox on whether Elon Musk owns the moon Flykatherine.com.au

What does the war in Gaza mean for the future of Israel, Zionism and Jewish identity? Peter Beinart has become one of the most prominent and controversial Jewish voices challenging Israel's political direction. Once a supporter of a two-state solution, he now argues that lasting peace can only come through equal rights for Israelis and Palestinians, regardless of religion or ethnicity. In this conversation with Geraldine Doogue and Hamish Macdonald, Beinart explains his struggle with the idea of a Jewish state, how his South African upbringing shaped his views on nationalism and democracy, and why he believes Israel is becoming increasingly isolated internationally. Beinart also asks: how can you make a plan for the future when there is no clear way for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza to make their voice heard? Without elected representatives, how can decision-makers know what the Palestinian people want for themselves? Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.