Affairs / Podcast

The Foreign Desk

Presented by Andrew Mueller, Monocle’s flagship global-affairs show features expert guests and in-depth analysis of the big issues of the week. Nominated for ‘Best Current Affairs’ show and the ‘Spotlight Award’ in the 2022 British Podcast Awards.

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Explainer 458: Why is Rodrigo Duterte being sent to The Hague? : Rodrigo Duterte, the former president of the Philippines, has been arrested and sent to The Hague, where he will face charges for crimes against humanity. Andrew Mueller explains the former president’s bloody ‘war on drugs’ and its marked popularity with voters.

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Episode	Date	Description	Download	Play
★	12 Mar 2025 9 min	Explainer 458: Why is Rodrigo Duterte being sent to The Hague? Rodrigo Duterte, the former president of the Philippines, has been arrested and sent to The Hague, where he will face charges for crimes against humanity. Andrew Mueller explains the former president’s bloody ‘war on drugs’ and its marked popularity with voters.	Download Share X Facebook LinkedIn LINE Email	Play
584	8 Mar 2025 37 min	Has the US given up? It is clear by now that Donald Trump’s second administration will not be a rerun of the first. Why has the United States tilted away from Europe? Is there any method to the apparent madness? And how should Europe adjust? Leaders from the CIA, Nato and the US military join ‘The Foreign Desk’ to sift through the US’s new reality.	Download Share X Facebook LinkedIn LINE Email	Play
★	5 Mar 2025 7 min	Explainer 457: What does Ukraine do now? What shape will the war in Ukraine take now that president Trump has paused all military aid? Andrew Mueller unpacks the nation’s prospects following Friday’s showdown in the Oval Office.	Download Share X Facebook LinkedIn LINE Email	Play
583	1 Mar 2025 39 min	Russia’s ripple effect Russia’s rampage in Ukraine has had knock-on effects elsewhere, few if any of them positive. At the Munich Security Conference, Georgia’s president Salome Zourabichvili told us how she’s fighting Russian interference at home, and Belarus’s exiled opposition leader discussed how Moscow is underpinning her country’s tyrant. Leaders from the countries staring down the threat from the Kremlin join ‘The Foreign Desk’ to tell us how to defeat the menace at the gate.	Download Share X Facebook LinkedIn LINE Email	Play
★	26 Feb 2025 7 min	Explainer 456: What’s halting Germany’s defence? History. As security risks on the European continent rise and the US retreats from its historic role, will Germany be able to shake off its history and arm itself to meet the moment?	Download Share X Facebook LinkedIn LINE Email	Play
582	22 Feb 2025 39 min	Very well, alone? In the week following US vice president JD Vance’s explosive speech at the Munich Security Conference, European leaders scrambled to two emergency summits to consider the prospect of American detachment. In this special episode recorded at the conference, we reflect on this new reality almost exactly three years on from the invasion of Ukraine. We speak with current and former office-holders, including Pål Jonson, Sweden’s minister of defence, and Oleksii Reznikov, former minister of defence of Ukraine.	Download Share X Facebook LinkedIn LINE Email	Play
★	19 Feb 2025 6 min	Explainer 455: Mauritius’s money-laundering prime minister Former Mauritius PM Pravind Jugnauth was arrested last weekend after the country’s Financial Crimes Commission recovered suitcases full of banknotes worth over €2m. We explain why the scandal is not just bad news for Mauritius but the UK too.	Download Share X Facebook LinkedIn LINE Email	Play
581	15 Feb 2025 38 min	Is Serbia OK? Between the infrastructure disaster that has sparked prolonged protests and the ongoing troubles with Kosovo, Albania and Nato, is Serbia OK? Andrew Mueller speaks to the country’s minister of foreign affairs, Marko Đurić, and our Balkans correspondent, Guy De Launey, for the view from the ground.	Download Share X Facebook LinkedIn LINE Email	Play
★	12 Feb 2025 6 min	Explainer 454: New Zealand’s beef with its neighbours Why has New Zealand fallen out with the Cook Islands and Kiribati? And what does China have to do with it? Andrew Mueller explains.	Download Share X Facebook LinkedIn LINE Email	Play
580	8 Feb 2025 30 min	How to win a trade war It seems clear that the newly inaugurated US president Trump has a philosophy on trade wars: they are good and easy to win. Tina Fordham, Alex von Tunzelmann and Elisabeth Braw join us to discuss whether the history of trade wars can tell us anything about how to wage one. And are these new economic tussles really anything remarkable, or just part of a wider backlash against globalisation?	Download Share X Facebook LinkedIn LINE Email	Play
★	5 Feb 2025 7 min	Explainer 453: Does China really control the Panama Canal? Is there any truth to Donald Trump’s claims that China controls the Panama Canal or is he out of his depth? Following secretary of state Marco Rubio’s meeting with Panama’s president, Andrew Mueller explains the US’s rocky history with the country and its waterways.	Download Share X Facebook LinkedIn LINE Email	Play
579	1 Feb 2025 36 min	What is Rwanda doing in the Democratic Republic of Congo? The idea of Rwanda invading the Democratic Republic of Congo looks, on paper, preposterous. However, as an alliance of rebel groups seized Goma, the biggest city in the DRC’s east, we ask: what is the plan? Fred Bauma joins Andew Mueller with the latest from Kinshasa. Then: Jason Stearns and Michela Wrong tell us about the history behind this conflict and consider the view from Rwanda.	Download Share X Facebook LinkedIn LINE Email	Play
★	29 Jan 2025 7 min	Explainer 452: Trump’s Greenland grab Why is US president Donald Trump eyeing up Greenland? And if it’s not for sale, would he take it by force? Andrew Mueller explains the likelihood of an old-school territorial conquest.	Download Share X Facebook LinkedIn LINE Email	Play
578	25 Jan 2025 34 min	Can the Israel-Hamas ceasefire become lasting peace? Relative calm has descended over Gaza after 15 months of war. A ceasefire agreement has been enacted but what happens next is unclear. Nada AlTaher, Esther Solomon and Aaron David Miller join Andrew Mueller to discuss how Palestinians would like to move forward, the domestic political tensions in Israel and whether real peace is on the table.	Download Share X Facebook LinkedIn LINE Email	Play
★	22 Jan 2025 7 min	Explainer 451: The veteran rebels behind Colombia’s violent turf war At least 100 people were killed this week during renewed fighting in Colombia’s northeast. Who is involved? And what are they fighting over? Andrew Mueller explains.	Download Share X Facebook LinkedIn LINE Email	Play

Affairs / Podcast

The Foreign Desk

Latest episode

Latest episodes

Explainer 458: Why is Rodrigo Duterte being sent to The Hague?

Has the US given up?

Explainer 457: What does Ukraine do now?

Russia’s ripple effect

Explainer 456: What’s halting Germany’s defence? History.

Very well, alone?

Explainer 455: Mauritius’s money-laundering prime minister

Is Serbia OK?

Explainer 454: New Zealand’s beef with its neighbours

How to win a trade war

Explainer 453: Does China really control the Panama Canal?

What is Rwanda doing in the Democratic Republic of Congo?

Explainer 452: Trump’s Greenland grab

Can the Israel-Hamas ceasefire become lasting peace?

Explainer 451: The veteran rebels behind Colombia’s violent turf war