The Foreign Desk
Monocle’s global-affairs show with Andrew Mueller. Expert guests, in-depth analysis, and sharp commentary on major geopolitical issues.
Latest Episodes
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…
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?
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…
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…
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…
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.
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…
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…
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…
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.
