Global Roaming with Geraldine Doogue and Hamish Macdonald

With a rogue United States causing havoc in the Middle East, is it time for Australia to abandon its 'good doggy' approach to US foreign policy? In the final instalment of Global Roaming's three-part series, The World Reordered, hosts Hamish Macdonald and Geraldine Doogue are joined by one of Australia's most respected military thinkers, who argues Australia needs to 'grow up'. Guest: David Kilcul...

How much do we Australians really understand South East Asia? Australia has long prioritised neighbours further north when it comes to our strategic alliances, but as China rises as a great power, have our blind spots become our greatest weakness?  Michael Wesley joins Geraldine Doogue and Latika Bourke (The Nightly) to make the case for appraising South East Asia as more than a holiday destinatio...

In a broad-ranging conversation, Hamish Macdonald speaks to historian and host of the hit podcast Empire William Dalrymple about the pitfalls of trying to understand the contemporary world without a firm grasp of the past, whether India can replicate its success as an ancient superpower and how countries like Australia and Britain deal with uncomfortable truths from their past. 

The world is getting more dangerous. The closure of the Straight of Hormuz has sent shock waves around the world. The price of oil has skyrocketed and with fuel shortages now reaching Asia, Australia faces 'crunch time' on its energy security. So how vulnerable are we right now? And how do our perceptions shape our foreign policy?  Rory Medcalf from the ANU's National Security College has been stu...

To celebrate Hamish Macdonald's new television series The Matter of Facts, we'll be taking a deep dive into the global ramifications of mis- and disinformation. First up is the world of AI deepfakes.  Generative artificial intelligence has us questioning our own eyes and ears, and the rapid pace at which we're consuming information is quite literally changing our brains. How do we navigate this wo...

With Ali Larijani killed, and the whereabouts of the new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei unknown, who is calling the shots in Iran?  Iranian-American historian Arash Azizi joins Geraldine Doogue and Hamish Macdonald to talk through the emerging power players, like Mohammad Bagher Ghabliaf and Saeed Jalili, and how much would genuinely change under their potential leadership.  Guest: Arash Azizi, a...

With thousands dead and millions displaced in Iran, the humanitarian price of the US-Israel war will be steep. But there's another priceless casualty of war: art. With multiple UNESCO World Heritage sites in Iran sustaining damage, how do you protect a nation's cultural heritage during war time?  Latika Bourke and Kylie Morris are joined by Basia Solokowska, who served as Defence and Crisis Manage...

The so-called Operation Epic Fury isn't working according to Trump's plan, if he has one at all. Now, as Iran's blockade Strait of Hormuz threatens the global economy, will Trump's allies in NATO and Asia answer his calls for military assistance?  Latika Bourke and Geraldine Doogue speak to Richard Haass, a foreign policy stalwart who has sat in US negotiations with Northern Ireland and Iran. They...

There's no way Australia could possibly be supporting Russia's invasion of Ukraine, right? According to Ukrainian MP Anastasia Radina, think again.  During a visit to Australia to rally support for her besieged country, this episode the Ukranian MP sits down with Hamish Macdonald and Kylie Morris to argue the case for Australia to stop buying refined oil from India because of its links to Russia....

Our inbox at Global Roaming is chockers with requests to take a closer look at China's history. So this episode, we're sharing a Sydney Writer's Festival panel recorded at the State Library of NSW with Frank Dikötter, pre-eminent China historian.  Hear Hamish Macdonald and Geraldine Doogue speak to Dikötter about rummaging through smuggled archives to challenge CCP narratives of China's modern his...

The Baltic nation of Estonia knows a little about what Russia is like.  One of Russia's closest neighbours, they were part of the Soviet Union until gaining independence in 1991. But is its independence being threatened?  Geraldine Doogue and Hamish Macdonald speak to the Minister about Putin's "master plan" and his message for Australia's leaders. Guest: Estonia's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ma...

Last year's Gen Z protests in Nepal saw the Parliament building set ablaze, and Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli step down. In the first election since, it looks like the 35-year-old rapping former Mayor of Kathmandu could be next leader of the Himalayan nation. But with impacts of the war reverberating through Nepal's massive migrant diaspora, can Balendra Shah fulfil his promise of economic stabilit...

Could the war in the Middle East be over in a little over a week, or is that wishful thinking?  With global oil markets in unprecedented territory as they react to Trump's ever-changing timeline on the US-Israel war on Iran, the prospect of peace seems a distant reality. The New York Times chief diplomatic correspondent, Steven Erlanger, however, offers a more hopeful view.  He speaks to Geraldine...

The Iran football team's decision not to sing the national anthem during the AFC Women's Asian Cup was an act of silent protest. Now, after days of rallies, and a phone call from US President Donald Trump, five of the players have been granted humanitarian visas by Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke. What could happen to the remaining players? Hamish Macdonald and Kylie Morris are joined by former S...

Geraldine Doogue and Kylie Morris are joined by regional expert and former army officer Rodger Shanahn to answer your questions about the situation unfolding in the Middle East. Is the bombing of Shajareh Tayyebeh girl's school a war crime? What does Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu want from Iran?  Guest: Rodger Shanahan Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.ne...

In just twenty four hours, a US submarine has torpedoed an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean. Turkey, a NATO member state, has shot down an Iranian ballistic missile. And while Israel hammered Tehran and southern Lebanon with fresh rounds of strikes, Trump is considering arming Kurdish forces. The death toll is climbing into the thousands. In less than a week, has the US and Israel's military ca...

Iran, Venezuela, Iraq, and Afghanistan all have something in common: They've been subject to foreign-imposed regime change by the United States. So as regional war spreads across the Middle East following another stunning Trump intervention, can 'regime change' ever work?  Alex Downes, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at The George Washington University, studies what happen...

From Barbie to Casablanca, Warner Bros studios have fundamentally shaped western popular culture. So will its $110 billion dollar takeover by Paramount re-write the script for American cinema as we know it? And with Trump's least favourite cable news channel, CNN, also changing hands in the deal, who is the 'nepo baby' now in charge, what is his connection to MAGA? Geraldine Doogue and Latika Bour...

It's been just three days since Israel and the US launched their war on Iran and Trump is already floating the possibility of deploying US troops on the ground, as so-called precision strikes on Iran spiral into far more dangerous regional conflict.   So, as casualties rise into the thousands and violence rips across the Middle East, what's driving the full-scale attack on Iran?   Today, as Israel...

With Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dead, and Trump promising military operations will continue until "all objectives" are achieved, it's unclear what American and Israeli calls for regime change will lead to.  Hamish Macdonald, Geraldine Doogue and Latika Bourke (The Nightly) are joined by two guests to unpack the extraordinary attacks against Iran. From Abu Dhabi, Mohamad Ali Harisi shares his concerns...

With the Supreme Leader of Iran killed by military strikes, what happens next in Iran? Announcing his death, President Trump called Ayatollah Ali Khomeini "one of the most evil people in history." But does regime change follow the audacious attack by Israel and the US, or do they become mired again in a Middle Eastern war with no guaranteed outcome? And what about the Iranian people? What do they...

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is stuck in a political trap. On the one hand, Trump has threatened to intervene if she doesn't tackle the country's cartels. On the other, her strike against notorious 'El Mencho' this week sparked violence and unrest, with some cities like Guadalajara shutting down for days. But is killing El Mencho the end of America's fentanyl woes, or the start of a new cha...

Four years ago, Vladimir Putin rolled Russian tanks into Ukraine at the start of a full-scale invasion. Now, as peace talks lead by Trump and the USA fail to make progress, there is no easy end in sight for the most deadly conflict in Europe since World War Two.  With host Latika Bourke (The Nightly) in Kyiv for the anniversary of the war, she joins Kylie Morris in speaking to official Yuiry Sak a...

With the possibility of charges against Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, being removed from the line of succession could be the last of the former Prince's worries. But with the House of Windsor in freefall following the latest Epstein revelations, have King Charles and Buckingham Palace been transparent about what they knew, and when?  Andrew's unauthorised biographer, Andrew Lownie, knows what its li...

Should Australia turn its back on the United States? And what's at stake if it did?