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If You’re Listening — News & Politics
If You’re Listening

The world is on fire. There’s a coup. Inflation is through the roof, and AI is taking our jobs. What does it all mean? Each week, Matt Bevan explains the biggest story in world news while hiding in his basement from assassins and authoritarian regimes.

Recent episodes include an exploration of the relationship between India and China, a closer look at the Saudi Arabian city of NEOM, the conflict in the Middle East, the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran, and Ukraine’s incursions into Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Matt Bevan draws connections between stories from the past and the events of the present to help listeners understand world news and international affairs.

The podcast also features series about big moments in world news; previous series have focused on the United States presidential election, the United Kingdom’s 14 years of Conservative Party leadership, Donald Trump’s relationship with Russia, Donald Trump’s presidency and promise to Make America Great Again, the Mueller Report, Vladimir Putin’s scheme to destroy western democracies, how the relationship between Australia and China came to the verge of collapse, and Australia’s turbulent history with climate change.

There’s a new episode of If You’re Listening every Thursday.

Latest Episodes:

Hello America: Lost in Lansing Oct 30, 2024

Show notes

On the road in Michigan, Matt Bevan heads to the state's political capital of Lansing. There, he meets a swing voter named David who is all in on Trump, navigates the labyrinth that is the state Capitol building, and samples local delicacies on the I-96.

Former top Trump advisor Steve Bannon is out of prison, and vowing to do what he can to help the Trump campaign win days out from the election, but the car radio is abuzz with a different story — the impact of comedian Tony Hinchcliffe's jokes on Puerto Rican voters in key swing states.

Episode 3 of America's Last Election will drop on Thursday morning.

Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.

Check out our series on YouTube: https://youtu.be/GOA7NxYvYKg?si=8U9OnBgsFBIjqRlA

Hello America: Motorcade in Michigan Oct 29, 2024

Show notes

Matt Bevan is on the ground in Michigan, Detroit, a key swing state in next week’s US presidential election. There are some things you just don’t get when you’re telling a story from your basement in Newcastle: candid chats with Republican voters on the plane, for one. Vice presidential motorcades screaming past you on the highway for another. Follow Matt as he travels through America in the lead up to election day, and hear from the people he meets along the way.

Episode 3 of America's Last Election will drop on Thursday morning.

Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.

Check out our series on YouTube: https://youtu.be/GOA7NxYvYKg?si=8U9OnBgsFBIjqRlA

America’s Last Election 2: The fake elector plot Oct 24, 2024

Show notes

After the 2020 election, Donald Trump searched desperately for any theory that would allow him to retain control of the White House. On Christmas Eve, his team called a constitutional lawyer named John Eastman, who gave them something to work with. Eastman’s theory relied on Vice President Mike Pence playing along.

In this second episode of America’s Last Election, If You’re Listening looks at the theory the riot on January 6 was based on, and why Trump’s supporters thought it might work.

Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.

Check out our series on YouTube: https://youtu.be/GOA7NxYvYKg?si=3aBNwguMgMxDDmSl

America’s Last Election 1: The big lie Oct 17, 2024

Show notes

Donald Trump did not win the 2020 presidential election. But if you watched his speech on election night, you wouldn’t come away with that understanding. ‘Frankly,’ he said ‘We did win this election.’

In the months that followed, the story backing up that claim warped and changed, but at its core was a big lie about a supercomputer called ‘The Hammer’, an imaginary software called ‘Scorecard’, and a man with a long history of fooling the US government.

And now Donald Trump is on the ballot again. Over five episodes, If You’re Listening looks at the transition period after the 2020 election, and what it tells us about the plan in 2024.

Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.

Check out our series on YouTube: https://youtu.be/J2021J90VM8?si=rfkto42PZEG4PTPT

How close did President Trump get to nuclear war? Oct 10, 2024

Show notes

Within months of becoming US president in 2017, Donald Trump threatened North Korea with “fire and fury”. Soon afterwards, he would tear up a nuclear deal with Iran and bring the US to the brink of war. And yet that war never came. This is the story of how Donald Trump resisted temptation and kept the peace.

This is a repeat episode, it was first broadcast on September 21, 2020. You can hear the rest of that series on our website or in our podcast feed: America, If You’re Listening.

News audio used in this episode comes from: Arirang News, Inside Edition, CNN, ABC America, Democracy Now, Fox News, CBS, ABC News, and France 24.

Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.

Check out our series on YouTube: https://youtu.be/J2021J90VM8?si=Tzw4B2i3Zp_qzPaK

Is AI a threat to humans? Oct 03, 2024

Show notes

The world's most famous artificial intelligence company, OpenAI — the creator of ChatGPT — was set up to create a superintelligent AI, while at the same time safeguarding humanity from an omnipotent robot overlord which could enslave us all.

So is an AI apocalypse possible, and with wunderkind CEO Sam Altman in charge, will OpenAI be able to protect us from its own robots?

This is a repeat episode. It was first broadcast on November 30, 2023. You can watch this episode now on YouTube.

We'll be back with new episodes from October 17.

Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.

Check out our series on YouTube: https://youtu.be/-vew1rfrG6k?si=GFuWe7-uTaZiq_Gb

Can India and China bury the hatchet? Sep 26, 2024

Show notes

After years of tension, diplomatic cold shoulders, and mountain skirmishes, both India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping appear to be looking for ways their nations can be friends again.

So what’s changed between the world’s two most populous countries? And what would a closer relationship between India and China mean for the rest of us?

Subscribe to If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.

Check out our series on YouTube: https://youtu.be/J2021J90VM8?si=WIqBJ1vtlZ2et0lB

How US YouTubers were paid to spread Putin’s propaganda Sep 19, 2024

Show notes

This month, the US Justice Department unsealed an indictment of two Russian state media employees. It alleges that they were funnelling millions of dollars into the pockets of American YouTubers, known for their contrarian viewpoints and controversial takes on the war in Ukraine. The YouTubers say they are victims of a criminal scheme and did not know they were being paid by Russia. But it’s not the first time that something like this has happened. There’s a long history of foreign adversaries covertly paying Americans to spread fake news to other Americans—it’s a move right out of Nazi Germany’s propaganda playbook.

Subscribe to If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.

Check out our series on YouTube: https://youtu.be/6XNK55tc3x8?si=LfMKtmTckpSzSGHO

The sci-fi Saudi city that might be a scam Sep 12, 2024

Show notes

The massive infrastructure project NEOM sits in the Saudi Arabian desert, and the jewel in its crown is The Line, a futuristic city which looks insane. The AI-generated ads depict a car-free city, for 9 million people, housed between two mirrors. Despite promises of millions of residents by 2030, the project has been scaled back by 98 per cent. The Line will be more like a dot. So what the hell happened? And was it all just a scam?

Subscribe to If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.

Check out our series on YouTube: https://youtu.be/SQdCl-cX-cU?si=AEQhcHtoBQXz2tSn

How Ukraine called Putin’s nuclear bluff Sep 05, 2024

Show notes

Russia defends its enormous borders with the threat of nuclear war. It’s this threat that has long stopped Ukraine and its allies from attacking Russia on its home turf—there are ‘red lines’ that can’t be crossed without nuclear retaliation. Yet Ukraine just invaded Russian sovereign territory and still, no nukes. Volodymyr Zelenskyy appears to be calling Vladimir Putin’s bluff. It seems the ‘red lines’ were done in red pencil, not red pen. So how does this reshape the war, and what does it mean for Putin?

Subscribe to If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.

Check out our series on YouTube: https://youtu.be/j08l1rGSdK4?si=6fW29sO97EPL991u

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