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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:

The race to build a petrol station on the moon Sep 14, 2023

Show notes

The US, Russia, China and India are all sending missions to the moon — and all to its totally unexplored south pole.

Why? Well, in order to make the next giant leap, we need to build a petrol station on the moon.

How a discovery made a century ago will allow us to use the moon as a stepping stone to explore the solar system.

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

Find more If You're Listening on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWhuh87aYOM

Is the century-long search for a weight loss drug over? Sep 07, 2023

Show notes

For a century society has bullied and shamed people into trying to lose weight, without much result.

Now, a seemingly accidental discovery by Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk may be the first weight loss drug that actually works.

People are hailing semaglutide, marketed under the names Ozempic or Wegovy, as a miracle weight loss drug — but it comes at a cost.

One clear winner is the Danish economy, as semaglutide has shot Novo Nordisk into the stratosphere as the most valuable company in all of Europe.

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

Find more If You're Listening on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meJItedDm2Y

China cooked its population data. Now its economy is in crisis Aug 31, 2023

Show notes

China's economy is struggling. Similar things are happening across Asia but in China it's happening extremely fast.

And a big part of the reason why is the disastrous One Child Policy and years of dodgy population data.

How can you make plans for a country when you don't know how many people you have?

Now the population is going backward, the property sector is faltering, and China is in a world of trouble.

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

Find more If You're Listening on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4E5qY_tTDg&t

Why is Russia meddling in West Africa? Aug 24, 2023

Show notes

While everyone has their eyes on the war in Ukraine, West Africa is threatening to break out into war.

There's been a seemingly unstoppable wave of coups washing along the edge of the Sahara, gaining strength each time.

After the recent military coup in Niger, locals were seen chanting "down with France" and "long live Putin".

What are France and Russia doing in West Africa? And could they end up in a proxy war?

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

Find more If You're Listening on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_N9w5e9NrE

How microchip-maker TSMC became the world's most important company Aug 17, 2023

Show notes

Microchips are in your car, your microwave — there might even be one in your kettle. They run everything.

And the best microchips are made by TSMC, the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company.

TSMC chips have put Western tech companies and militaries streets ahead of China, and China is not happy about it.

TSMC is so important, that the world could go to war over it.

Find more If You're Listening on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tC3u8NEqU8&t

The decision that saved Australia from Argentina's 100 per cent inflation nightmare Aug 10, 2023

Show notes

Inflation in Argentina is at 100 per cent. The government is printing money fast and locals are spending in US dollars because the peso is so unreliable. The economy is like a rollercoaster.

It might be tempting to think, "they're different over there", but here's the thing: they're kind of not. Argentina — one of the wealthiest countries in the world — was once uncomfortably similar to Australia. Until it totally lost control of its own economy.

How a bunch of boxes might land Trump in prison Aug 03, 2023

Show notes

Donald Trump has been charged with trying and failing to delete CCTV evidence of farcical, and allegedly criminal behaviour.

It's just the latest charge in the case against the former president over his… interesting decision to take classified documents with him when he left the White House.

Could it land him in jail? We tell the story of how Trump got into this predicament, and his plan to get out of it.

How "General Armageddon" and a bromance almost brought down Vladimir Putin Jul 27, 2023

Show notes

A bromance is a powerful thing. Lennon and McCartney. Holmes and Watson. Gilbert and Sullivan. Han and Chewy. But occasionally a bromance can nearly get you killed.

A month ago the entire world watched transfixed as a former chef named Yevgeny Prigozhin marched with his private army on Moscow. At the core of this mutiny is a bromance between Prigozhin and a guy you've probably never heard of — General Sergei Surovikin.

Prigozhin assumed his friend Surovikin would back him up, but he flaked, and now both men are missing. So how did Prigozhin's bromance with Surovikin nearly bring down the Russian Government? And what's the punishment for even thinking about trying to roll Vladimir Putin?

We now make a video version of If You're Listening! Check us out on YouTube and iView.

INTRODUCING | If You're Listening Jul 20, 2023

Show notes

If You're Listening is back, and better than ever. Same espionage, same corruptions, same scandals, but more often.

Not only will we be in your feed every Thursday, we'll also cover a different story each week. And if you prefer to watch rather than listen, we're also making videos for iView and YouTube.

Episode one drops Thursday, 27th July.

RUSSIA | S07 E6 - How will the war against Ukraine end? Dec 14, 2022

Show notes

After ten months of war, a few likely outcomes of the war in Ukraine are emerging.

A win for Vladimir Putin. A win for Volodymyr Zelenskyy. A bitter frozen conflict.

Neither Putin or Zelenskyy will sign a peace agreement and admit defeat.

But what if Putin’s regime ends?

Guests:

Dr Paul Dibb - Emeritus Professor of Strategic Studies at ANU; Former Director of the Australian Joint Intelligence Organisation
Lieutenant General (retired) Ben Hodges - former commanding general of the US Army in Europe
Dr Mykhailo Minakov - Philosopher; Editor in Chief of Focus Ukraine blog from the Kennan Institute at the Wilson Center
Michael Bociurkiw - Global Affairs Analyst and former spokesperson for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
Philip Short - Former BBC Moscow Correspondent; Author of Putin: His Life and Times
Professor Daniel Treisman, University of California, Los Angeles, co-author “Spin Dictators: The Changing Face of Tyranny in the 21st Century”

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