World Review from the New Statesman

“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 coll...

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 a...

In 2024 countries with more than 4 billion people will be sending their citizens to the polls. The US, Russia, and India to name a few; this is set to be the biggest election year in history.   In this episode of the podcast Anoosh Chakelian is joined by the New Stateman's foreign correspondent Bruno Maçães and senior data journalist Ben Walker to review some of the major political forces at...

Earlier this month we published a magazine with the cover ‘Being Jewish Now’. At this time of crisis in the Middle East, with divisions over the Gaza war and rising anti-Semitism, we asked a group of writers, thinkers, and activists to reflect on the question of what it means to be Jewish and on the left today.      In this episode of the podcast senior editor Alona Ferber...

Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah – all of whom operate out of Beirut’s southern suburbs – have coordinated their positions in various ways for years in pursuit of what they see as the greater good. John Jenkins, former British ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Libya, Iraq, Syria and Burma, speaks to senior editor Katie Stallard about Iran's interest in the Israel-Hamas conflict and how this will play out acros...

**NEW EPISODE** As Israel prepares a ground attack on Gaza, Katie Stallard is joined by Alona Ferber and Professor Lina Khatib to explore the wider geo-political situation in the Middle East - including mounting violence on Israel's west bank and the looming shadow of Hezbollah in Iran. This episode was originally published in the New Statesman podcast feed. We now regularly publish Ideas and Glob...

Listen to Katie Stallard and Megan Gibson's discussion on Russia's war on the future here: https://shows.acast.com/newstatesman/episodes/russias-war-on-the-future-conversation Download the app: iOS: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/new-statesman-magazine/id610498525 Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.progressivemediagroup.newstatesman&hl=en_GB&gl=US Subscribe to the Ne...

We won't be releasing regular World Review episodes any more. Interviews about the biggest foreign affairs stories will now be included as part of a rotation of interviews on the New Statesman podcast , available wherever you listen to podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the European Union weighs new sanctions on Chinese companies, which could be announced later this week, Katie Stallard speaks to Bruno Maçães, a former Portuguese Europe minister andthe  New Statesman 's   foreign affairs correspondent , about his recent interview with Fu Cong, China's ambassador to the EU. They also discuss Beijing's likely response to the new measures, what the fall...

On Tuesday (30 May), several drones damaged buildings in Moscow in by far the largest attack on the Russian capital since the war in Ukraine began. Kyiv denies carrying out the strikes – at least one of which affected Rublyovka, a wealthy suburb home to many of Russia's elite, and close to where Putin has an official residence.   Megan Gibson and Katie Stallard discuss the strategy behind the...

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for...

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 Conservati...

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.    R...

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 ar...

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, a...

Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, oversaw a muted parade in Moscow for Victory Day on 9 May, which celebrates the Soviet Union’s triumph over Nazi Germany. Where in previous years there have been grand shows of military might, this year there was a single, Second World War-era, tank. Rather than a show of force, the parade showed how a year of war in Ukraine has degraded Russia’s military. Vo...

With a new era of great-power competition taking shape on Earth, Katie Stallard speaks to the journalist and author Tim Marshall about his new book  The Future of Geography  and the next geopolitical battleground: space. They discuss how the Cold War propelled the space race between the US and the Soviet Union in the last century, and why the US, China and Russia are now e...

Republicans in the US House of Representatives passed legislation last week that would increase the US debt ceiling only in exchange for significant spending cuts, and the repeal of some of Joe Biden’s key legislative achievements. The president has said he will not negotiate on raising the US’s borrowing limit, but there could be severe consequences if the two parties fail to reach a deal. Megan...

Ido Vock speaks to the American linguist Noam Chomsky, one of the world’s most prominent commentators on international politics since the Vietnam War. A trenchant critic of American foreign policy, Chomsky explains what he thinks the US is getting wrong in Ukraine, the prospects of a conflict over Taiwan, and why Finland and Sweden sought to join Nato.   Read more:   Ukraine is not a&nbs...

A three-day ceasefire has allowed some countries to evacuate their citizens from Sudan, where rival military factions have been fighting since 15 April. General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Sudan’s de facto leader, has long been in a bitter power struggle with Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, his former deputy. Now, that struggle has become an open conflict. Megan Gibson in London, Katie Stallard in Washington D...

Six months after Giorgia Meloni, leader of the post-fascist Fratelli d’Italia party, became prime minister, Megan Gibson speaks to the historian and author David Broder about how Meloni has governed. They discuss whether she has confounded expectations, her relationship with other conservative movements around the world, and Silvio Berlusconi's legacy.   Read more   The making and meanin...

Since the start of the war in Ukraine last year, there has been a strong focus on the China-Russia relationship – and on whether Xi Jinping might be preparing to distance himself from Russia, or, as Emmanuel Macron hopes, to pressure Putin to end the war. That debate intensified after Xi’s visit to Moscow in March.   Ido Vock and Jeremy Cliffe in Berlin, along with Katie Stallard in Washingto...

Nearly three weeks ago Russia arrested the  Wall Street Journal  reporter Evan Gershkovich, accusing him of spying. Ido Vock speaks to Pjotr Sauer, a reporter on Russia for the  Guardian  who worked with Gershkovich at the  Moscow Times,  about the arrest, what this means for media freedom in Russia, and what might happen to him now. Read More: Vladimir Putin knows th...

Returning from a trip to Beijing, Emmanuel Macron, the French president, attracted international criticism when he told reporters that when it comes to Taiwan, Europe should resist becoming “America’s followers”. Megan Gibson in London and Ido Vock in Berlin discuss Macron’s attempt to distance Europe from the US on Taiwan, why his comments have been so inflammatory, and the potential risk to Euro...

Last week Tsai Ing-wen, president of Taiwan, and Kevin McCarthy, Speaker of the US House of Representatives, met in California. Katie Stallard speaks to Paul Huang, a research fellow at the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation and a journalist, based in Taipei, about the politics of the encounter. They discuss the calculations behind the response of China, which claims Taiwan as its own; how that c...