Monocle Radio Podcast (September 20, 2024): As the Israel-Hezbollah conflict reaches boiling point, Georgina Godwin is joined by Hannah McCarthy and Mark Lyall Grant to discuss what the UN Security Council can hope to achieve during its emergency meetings this week.
Plus: Carlota Rebelo considers whether or not the Thames river will ever be swimmable.
The last sighting of Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader who is widely accused of unleashing the Gaza war, was from a retrieved Hamas security video that was apparently recorded three days after the 7 October attack on Israel.
Since then an estimated 41,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in a furious and devastating Israeli bombing response. Yet the prime target Sinwar has remained at large and apparently unscathed.
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Spotlight | Another apparent assassination attempt on Donald Trump Violence and instability have become a feature, not a bug, of US political life, writes Washington DC bureau chief David Smith
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Environment | Darién Gap migration rush creates a pollution crisis Isolated communities on the Colombia-Panama border are sounding the alarm over poisoned rivers and cultural erosion after a surge in migrants crossing their ancestral lands, finds Luke Taylor
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Feature | The age of rage Anger has come to def ine the public mood – felt in the posts of social media warriors and harnessed by populist agitators. Psychoanalyst Josh Cohen asks why are we so mad, and how can we navigate to calmer waters
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Opinion | The return of border checks in Germany The German chancellor Olaf Scholz’s border clampdown threatens the entire European project, argues Maurice Stierl – no wonder the continent’s rightwing populists are cheering
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Culture | Michael Kiwanuka on faith, family and fulfilment The Mercury prize-winning musician explains to Alexis Petridis how he went from being a ‘slight weirdo’ to wowing Glastonbury – and why he thinks more people are turning to religion
Monocle Radio Podcast (September 19, 2024): Lebanon sees further explosions of digital devices as Hezbollah vows retaliation. We unpack the latest and explore the broader concerns for global security.
Plus: Colombia’s president declares an end to peace talks with the ELN, the Dutch try to opt out of EU migration rules and a look at Uzbekistan’s disco scene.
Monocle Radio Podcast (September 17, 2024): We discuss the latest from the Middle East as Israel says that time is running out for a diplomatic solution with Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Also on the programme: Putin’s latest ambitions to expand Russia’s army and Greece’s dwindling birthrate. Then: what does the second assassination attempt on Donald Trump say about the safety processes for presidential candidates? Plus: we hear about New Zealand’s bird of the year.
Liberal democracy’s last stand against Big Tech by Barry C. Lynn
In 1609, James I lectured the English people on his rights and responsibilities as king. It was his duty to “make and unmake” them, he said. Kings have the “power of raising and casting down, of life and of death; judges over all their subjects, and in all causes.”
Part of the intrigue has been which movement would run out of steam first: Trump’s MAGA, through its failures, or Obama’s liberalism, through its successes. By Benjamin Wallace-Wells
The Art of Taking It Slow
Contemporary cycling is all about spandex and personal bests. The bicycle designer Grant Petersen has amassed an ardent following by urging people to get comfortable bikes, and go easy. By Anna Wiener
The Anguish of Looking at a Monet
More than beauty, more than color, the artist reveals the doubts that bind us. By Jackson Arn
Monocle Radio Podcast (September 16, 2024): The latest from the US as the FBI investigates a second attempt on Donald Trump’s life.
Then: a missile fired by Houthi rebels lands in Israel, and Armenia and Azerbaijan’s fragile peace deal ahead of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict’s one-year anniversary. Plus: we have an exclusive interview with Marina Abramovic ahead of the opening of her ‘Healing Frequency’ exhibition, recap the 2024 Emmy Awards and pop by the Pure experiential-travel show.
Monocle on Saturday (September 14, 2024): Author Kate Kruimink joins Georgina Godwin to talk about her award-winning novella ‘Astraea’ and China Moses discusses her music ahead of the London Jazz Festival launch party.
Plus: Charles Hecker on British diplomats accused of spying in Russia, soaring coffee prices in Italy and the 2024 Ig Nobel Prize.
…the U.S. has been too slow in arming its ally, too restrictive in setting conditions on the use of weapons, and generally too fearful of Vladimir Putin’s threats. The result is that Ukraine, for all its unfathomable courage and boundless ingenuity, has been permitted to fight, but not win, the war. If this keeps up, Ukraine could actually lose.
When I step back a bit, I can see that Zuckerberg isn’t just haplessly begging our forgiveness. He’s trying to save his business. Meta Platforms, the company he controls, contains some of the world’s most widely used and profitable digital brands, including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Meta appears to be thriving, with its stock price more than quadrupling since a rocky 2022. But Zuckerberg knows that his company’s brands are built on foundations of sand. Just as a sandbar will move with tides, the user base of any social platform can drift away in a surprisingly short time.
This is Harris’s challenge: She’s the incumbent vice president running for higher office in a change election. She’s an undefined candidate whose positions and job performance are vulnerable to attack. She wants to be seen as a disruptor while remaining loyal to President Biden. And she wants to move away from the far-left views she held as a senator while she continues to proclaim that her values have stayed the same.
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