I4C Trouble with Daly and Wallace

This week we’re talking about the war in Ukraine from a different point of view. We discuss the period of undoing that we’re seeing in EU policy- across all areas hard-won environmental and social progress is being sacrificed in the name of the war. We discuss military mobility and transport, energy, food security and data privacy laws. We also discuss the upcoming EU-China Summit and EU sanctions...

Calls for increased militarism, and now abandoning environmental goals… A month in to the war in Ukraine and it is becoming clear how certain interests are taking advantage of the crisis. This week we’re discussing one example of this- the recent EU plan for ensuring food security in the context of the war, a win for big agri and a huge loss for the planet. We’re also discussing recent updates fro...

This week Mick and Clare are in Lesvos, Greece for the trial of Amir Zahiri and Akif Razuli who are being prosecuted as "people smugglers" for trying to seek asylum. They face 50 years each. We discuss their case and how Fortress Europe is allowing member states to criminalise asylum seekers through anti-smuggling laws. We also discuss a recent trip to Lithuania for another trial- this time that o...

This week we discuss Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine. Things have ratcheted up yet again and we are continuing to watch disaster unfold. Among other things, we discuss what we mean when we call for de-escalation and diplomacy, what that could look like at this stage and why it has not been seriously pursued. We also discuss how the dominant, pro-military narrative around the war is making this de-...

Eight days on from the invasion of Ukraine and much has changed since our last episode. We discuss our vote against the European Parliament resolution on Ukraine which has drawn considerable anger. We didn’t vote against condemning Russian aggression, we voted to condemn Russian aggression and will continue to do so. Our vote was against accelerating the provision of military equipment and weapons...

Russia launched attacks on Ukraine this morning. This is the moment we had hoped would never materialise. We discuss what we know about what has happened so far, how things have come to a head in this way and the way forward.

This week on the podcast we’re talking about the Winter Olympics and how they’re being covered in the media. Then on to the biggest foreign policy question of the day - Ukraine. Last Wednesday when we recorded the episode was supposed to be the day the war would start but that’s not what’s happening. Mick talks about challenging the general narrative about this in the parliament. There was also a...

This week on the podcast we discuss: the latest diplomatic attempts to address the situation in Ukraine, Irish neutrality under threat, sustainable aviation, subsidies for retrofitting houses, Chinese direct investment in the EU and French neocolonialism in the Sahel.

This week discuss the European Parliament delegation to Ukraine and the latest developments there. We also chat about Clare’s participation in the Bloody Sunday commemoration march, Mick’s meeting with Irish fishing groups, the recent political turmoil that we’ve seen across the African continent, a debate on the war in Yemen and the visit of Afghan women to the European Parliament.

This week on the podcast we’re focusing on Ukraine and how the narrative of Russian aggression and encroachment into Europe doesn’t really chime with what has unfolded there. We also discuss the concept of disinformation and how it is used to silence dissenting voices, the strategic compass- the EU’s military and defence policy, and finally a new proposal on EU policing cooperation. Read the study...

This week Mick and Clare are in Strasbourg for the European Parliament plenary. They’re joined by Oisin to discuss the election of the new European Parliament President, and the French Presidency of the Council of the EU. They also discuss EU High Representative Josep Borrell’s proposal to link the opening of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to the situation in Ukraine and why it’s a terrible idea,...

I4C Trouble is back to normal programming after the Christmas break. We discuss the situation in Kazakhstan, looming humanitarian disaster in Afghanistan, tensions in Ukraine and the critical raw materials needed for the “green transition”- there are no silver bullets when it comes to the climate crisis.

We will be back next week with out first I4C Trouble Podcast for 2022. Meanwhile, we recommend you listen to this short podcast of Pushback with Aaron Maté - it’s an interview with a retired US Army Colonel and is a very clear analysis of the Russia/Ukraine issue. Worth a listen

In the last episode before the Parliament closes for Christmas, we discuss the EU’s refusal to share the vaccine technology with the Global South; Navalny winning the EU Sakharov prize for “freedom of thought”; tensions in Ukraine; yet another European Parliament resolution condemning Cuba; and proposed new powers for the Gardaí. We also discuss the country of the week- Spain.

links: European Council on Foreign Relations, essays on neutrality and European defence: https://ecfr.eu/publication/ambiguous-alliance-neutrality-opt-outs-and-european-defence/  Study on EU Border Regime: Profiteering from Dehumanisation and Mythologised Technologies: https://left.eu/content/uploads/2021/11/EU-Border-Regime-Profiteering-from-Dehumanisation-and-Mythologised-Technologies_.pdf 

It’s been a busy week at the parliament. We discuss Covid and the world going mad over the new variant, the European Parliament’s foreign interference committee and their report on social media disinformation by the EU’s so-called enemies- Russia, China and Iran, an anti-money laundering proposal to limit the use of cash which could have problematic implications for EU citizens, the EU “green” tax...

We’ve got a second podcast for you this week, we discuss Covid, Vaccines, the Common Agricultural Policy, Tsikhanouskaya (Belarus’s Guiado) visiting the EP (again), and lovely Belgium.

Damien is back from the COP climate conference in Glasgow. We talk about the failure of the rich countries to address financing climate change adaptation and mitigation in the Global South.

This week Mick and Clare are joined by the wonderful Bethany Howard, another week, another host. They are just back from Lithuania at the trial of Algirdas Paleckis former journalist and MP accused of espionage. They fill us in on the trial and what they saw there. They also discuss the COP in Glasgow and the depressing reluctance of rich countries to take meaningful action on the climate Finally,...

Clare and Mick are back in the Parliament, we discuss their recent trips. Clare fills us in about the report she just launched in Bulgaria and her visit there; Mick tells us about his trip to Nicaragua during the recent elections; Finally Clare has just been to Chios island in Greece where she met asylum seekers imprisoned on charges of people smuggling. She tells us the stories of the people she...

Mick and Clare are just back from the Julian Assange trial in London. This week the podcast is all about journalism- what does it mean for the world when journalists can be jailed for exposing war crimes? Following on from that we discuss Taiwan and the lambasting Mick got last week for a video he put out on Taiwan and the One China policy. The One China policy is something accepted by the UN and...

Poland is causing trouble in the EU- the Polish government is being accused of interference with the judiciary and overstepping the mark in terms of EU law. Is this the EU getting involved in the sovereign issues of member states or is it simply a case of enforcing the rules of the game? This week Mick, Clare and Damien get into the some big questions about the EU- what are the limits of EU power...

Damien and Clare are missing this week and Ciara, Mick’s parliamentary assistant, is taking over as presenter. Mick gets his revenge for previous “censoring” of his jokes by telling a long story he heard about a priest… lord help us. We discuss rising energy prices and gas shortages as we come into the winter- how did we get here, and what comes next? Also on the agenda- EU relations with the Sahe...

Clare reports back from her mission to Bulgaria, Mick and Clare discuss the I4C position on Belarus. They also talk about tax havens, the Pandora Papers and the EU’s hypocrisy in blacklisting certain Global South countries as tax havens while countries within the Union… including our own…. continue to engage in similar practices. They look at the International Criminal Court’s decision to pursue t...

So many issues, so little time. This week Clare and Mick are taking us through a whole range of recent events in the Parliament and beyond, most notably the letter that they wrote to the CEO of Portuguese bank Novo Banco calling on the bank to release Venezuelan funds for medicines and vaccines. They’re also talking about the attempted arrest of Catalan MEP Carles Puigdemont, a visit to Brussels b...