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Syrian Opposition Negotiating Team Member - Bassma Kodmani Jan 06, 2017

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Stephen Sackur speaks to Bassma Kodmani, member of the negotiating team of the Syrian opposition. After six years of terrible bloodshed could 2017 dramatically shift the dynamic of the Syria conflict? Change is certainly in the air. Aleppo has fallen to the Assad regime and a ceasefire deal brokered by Russia and Turkey is just about holding. Moscow's dominant role in the diplomatic endgame is now undisputed, with Ankara also playing a pivotal role. Is it time for the moderate rebels to accept their de facto defeat?

Commander UK Joint Forces Command 2013 - 2016 - General Sir Richard Barrons Jan 04, 2017

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Stephen Sackur speaks to General Sir Richard Barrons who led the UK’s Joint Forces Command and fought in wars from the Balkans to the Middle East and Afghanistan. How vulnerable is the West in the new balance of global military power?

Film Director - Mohamed Diab Dec 30, 2016

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Stephen Sackur speaks to Egyptian film director, Mohamed Diab. His new film, Eshtebak, or Clash, paints a remarkable picture of the tumult in Egypt which led to the military takeover in 2013. What has happened to the spirit of the Tahrir revolution?

(Photo: Egyptian director Mohamed Diab (R) poses after receiving the silver Tanit award for his film Clash at the 27th Carthage Film Festival, 2016, Tunisia. Credit: Fethi Belaid/AFP)

Homa Hoodfar, recently released after 112 days imprisoned in Iran Dec 21, 2016

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HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to Homa Hoodfar, a Canadian- Iranian academic recently released after 112 days imprisoned in Iran’s notorious Evin prison. Why did a respected anthropologist become an enemy of the Iranian state? Reading the political mood inside Iran is notoriously difficult. Since last year’s nuclear deal it seemed the relatively moderate President Rouhani was in the ascendancy. But Homa Hoodfar has reason to see things differently.

Paul Beatty - Man Booker Prize Winning Author Dec 16, 2016

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Paul Beatty's novel The Sellout won a Man Booker prize. It deploys biting satire to unpick the black American experience. After eight years of a black president, amid a swirl of demographic and social change, black Americans still feel the bite of discrimination and prejudice. How best to respond?

South African Comedian - Trevor Noah Dec 14, 2016

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Zeinab Badawi speaks to the South African comedian Trevor Noah. How did a poor boy who grew up with a black mother and white father under apartheid, become the presenter of one of America’s most influential TV programmes - The Daily Show?

(Photo: Trevor Noah attends the Paramount Pictures with The Cinema Society. 2016, New York. (Credit: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)

Nobel Peace Prize winner, President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia Dec 12, 2016

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HARDtalk is in Oslo to speak to Colombia's president Juan Manuel Santos who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to secure peace with Colombia's Farc rebel group. President Santos tells HARDtalk's Stephen Sackur that the prize was a 'gift from heaven' and says ‘this came like a big wind that pushed the whole country, and me, and the whole process to the port of destiny which was a peace agreement.’

Deputy Prime Minister, Kurdistan Regional Government - Qubad Talabani Dec 09, 2016

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HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to Qubad Talabani, Deputy Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government. The Kurds are key fighters in the war against so-called Islamic State. But does their ambition for independence threaten even more instability in Iraq?

(Photo: Qubad Talabani. Image: Getty Images)

Northern Ireland First Minister - Arlene Foster Dec 07, 2016

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How will the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland be managed once the UK has left the EU? Sarah Montague asks Arlene Foster, Northern Ireland’s First Minister, how she will make sure Brexit does not mean a return to the divisions of the past.

(Photo: First Minister of Northern Ireland Arlene Foster arrives for a meeting at 10 Downing St, London, 2016 in , England. Credit: Leon Neal/Getty Images)

Foreign Minister of Lithuania - Linas Linkevičius Dec 05, 2016

Show notes

What impact will the election of Donald Trump have on global geopolitics? Judging from the expressions of alarm coming from eastern Europe it could tilt the balance of power decisively in favour of Russia as regional tensions rise. But is that just scaremongering? Stephen Sackur talks to Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius who recently described himself as "very afraid" of Russia's intentions in the region.

(Photo: Lithuania's Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius at the Baltic and Nordic Foreign Ministers meeting in Riga, Latvia, 2016. Credit: Ilmars Znotins/AFP/Getty Images)

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