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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:

RUSSIA | S07 E5 - Has Putin finally pushed the Russian people too far? Dec 07, 2022

Show notes

Protest is not allowed inside Russia.

There was little resistance from the Russian people to the invasion of Ukraine, and those who didn’t like it simply left.

But Vladimir Putin has made a decree that has caused discord across Russia. Has he finally pushed his people too far?

Guests:

Zoya Sheftalovich - Contributing editor for POLITICO
Dr Christina Ezrahi - Historian; author of Swans of the Kremlin and Dancing for Stalin
Denis Volkov - Director - Levada Centre, Moscow
Dr Yevgenia Albats - Chief Editor of The New Times
Dr Mykhailo Minakov - Philosopher; Editor in Chief of Focus Ukraine blog from the Kennan Institute at the Wilson Center

RUSSIA | S07 E4 - Undersea sabotage? The mysterious pipe blasts Nov 30, 2022

Show notes

On 26 September, a series of underwater explosions destroyed a cluster of natural gas pipelines on the bottom of the Baltic Sea.

The pipes were designed to deliver gas directly from Russia to Germany, and the explosions exacerbated the already dire energy crisis in Europe.

Everyone agrees it was sabotage, but nobody can agree on who did it.

Today: the mystery of the Baltic Sea bubbles, and the story of how Germany’s plan for peace-through-capitalism blew up in their face.

Featuring:

Dr James Henderson - Chairman of the Gas Research Programme at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies
Michael Bociurkiw - Global Affairs Analyst and former spokesperson for the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe

RUSSIA | S07 E3 - Why it’s hard to fight when you don’t know why Nov 23, 2022

Show notes

What does war look like on the ground, for the soldiers who go off to fight? What’s it like to be sent into the muddy confusion of a battlefield, asked to lay down your life for your country?

In this episode: two soldiers. A Ukrainian in his 50s and a Russian in his 20s. One of them is still on the battlefield. The other fought for a week, and is now serving a 15 year prison sentence.

These two stories explain a lot about how Russia messed this up, and how Ukraine was far stronger than anyone realised.

Guests:

Isabella Higgins - ABC News Europe Correspondent
Sean Rubinsztein-Dunlop - ABC News Investigative Reporter
Taras Rodtseyvich - Ukrainian Territorial Defence Volunteer; IT Manager
Dr Paul Dibb - Emeritus Professor of Strategic Studies at ANU; Former Director of the Australian Joint Intelligence Organisation
Zoya Sheftalovich - contributing editor for POLITICO
POW interview audio courtesy of Volodymyr Zolkin

RUSSIA S07 E2 | Zelensky's big call: run away or stay to fight Nov 16, 2022

Show notes

Vladimir Putin's plan for a three day takeover of Ukraine relied on a quick strike to take out Volodymyr Zelenskyy - to kill him, to capture him, or to make him flee.

Putin assumed that Zelenskyy was weak, but on the very first day of the invasion, two events showed that Putin was wrong, and led to the transformation of a man into a symbol of defiance against Russian tyranny.

Guests:

Simon Shuster - Reporter for Time Magazine; author of an upcoming biography of Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Zoya Sheftalovich - contributing editor for POLITICO
Philip Short - Former BBC Moscow Correspondent; Author of Putin: His Life and Times
Dr Paul Dibb - Emeritus Professor of Strategic Studies at ANU; Former Director of the Australian Joint Intelligence Organisation
POW interview audio courtesy of Volodymyr Zolkin

RUSSIA | S07 E1 - How war weakened strongman Putin Nov 09, 2022

Show notes

For 20 years the Russian President Vladimir Putin was happy to lurk in the shadows, trying and occasionally succeeding to manipulate the rest of the world into doing what he wanted them to do.

But this year he chucked that out the window.

His invasion of Ukraine has turned global security and the global economy upside down. In this episode we ask, why did he do it?

Guests:

Philip Short - Former BBC Moscow Correspondent; Author of Putin: His Life and Times
Dr Yevgenia Albats - Chief Editor of The New Times
Dr Mykhailo Minakov - Philosopher; Editor in Chief of Focus Ukraine blog from the Kennan Institute at the Wilson Center
Dr Paul Dibb - Emeritus Professor of Strategic Studies at ANU; Former Director of the Australian Joint Intelligence Organisation
Simon Shuster - Reporter for Time Magazine; author of an upcoming biography of Volodymyr Zelenskyy

RUSSIA | 07 INTRODUCING Russia, If You're Listening series seven Nov 03, 2022

Show notes

In the seventh season of If You're Listening, we tell the story of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Will Putin fulfil his dream of expanding the Russian empire, or has he made the biggest mistake of his life? Episode 1 drops Wednesday November 9!

AUSTRALIA | S06 E8 - The 49-year-old energy prophecy that is finally coming true Apr 13, 2022

Show notes

Australia is now in a race to build enough renewable energy to replace our coal fired power stations before they close.

We’re in this situation because of a series of ignored warnings and missed opportunities over the last five decades.

Now, experts are telling us that the transition to a decarbonised economy presents a big opportunity for Australia. The question is - can we grasp it?

Guests:

Dr Alan Finkel - Commonwealth government energy advisor and former Australian Chief Scientist

Alison Reeve - Deputy Program Director of Energy and Climate at the Grattan Institute; former Commonwealth energy policy advisor; author of the National Hydrogen Plan

Dr Kerry Schott - Independent chair of the Energy Security Board

Scott Hamilton - Australia-German Energy Transition Hub & former energy policy advisor to federal and Victorian governments

Dr Ross Garnaut - Economist, Author of Superpower: Australia's Low Carbon Opportunity

Dr Marcia Langton - Foundation Chair of Australian Indigenous Studies at the University of Melbourne

Robert Hill - former Federal Environment Minister

Dr Graeme Pearman - Former Chief of Atmospheric Research, CSIRO

AUSTRALIA | S06 E7 - The countdown on coal fired power Apr 06, 2022

Show notes

Over the last five years, politicians in Australia and around the world have regularly tried to blame renewable energy whenever something goes wrong with our electricity supply.

But lately whenever something catastrophic has happened to our energy supply, it’s been old technology at fault.

This is the story of a series of disasters that show how the system we’ve always relied on to deliver electricity is faltering.

Guests:Dr Alan Finkel - Commonwealth government energy advisor and former Australian Chief Scientist

Wendy Farmer - Latrobe Valley resident and founder of “Voices of the Valley”

Alison Reeve - Deputy Program Director of Energy and Climate at the Grattan Institute; former Commonwealth energy policy advisor; author of the National Hydrogen Plan

Darren Chester - Federal MP for Gippsland

Dr Kerry Schott - Independent chair of the Energy Security Board

Scott Hamilton - Australia-German Energy Transition Hub & former energy policy advisor to federal and Victorian governments

Ian Macfarlane - Chief Executive of Queensland Resources Council & former federal resources minister

Graham Richardson - Former Federal Environment Minister

AUSTRALIA | S06 E6 - Can we keep digging for energy? Mar 30, 2022

Show notes

Australia has always found energy underground - digging up coal, gas and uranium.

As climate change begins to change the way we get our power, our leaders regularly argue that we can keep on digging for power while also saving the planet.

But do nuclear energy, carbon capture and storage, and gas fired power have a role to play in the future?

AUSTRALIA | S06 E5 - What we missed while we were knifing PMs Mar 23, 2022

Show notes

For more than a decade, Australian politicians have discovered - the hard way - that climate policy is a dangerous game.

But as the Federal Parliament tore itself apart, the rest of the world moved on, finding new ways to understand the effects of climate change, and deal with it.

This is the story of how Australia fell behind the rest of the world, and why we might finally be ready to catch up.

Guests:

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