Le Monde diplomatique - English edition
Le Monde diplomatique - English edition
Le Monde diplomatique
Each month, George Miller interviews LMD authors about their articles and the issues behind them
Taiwan's history, Taiwan's future
Taipei-based journalist Alice Hérait is our guest on this second podcast of the month on significant elections. Alice has a piece in the January edition of the paper entitled ‘Taiwan's divided loyalties' in which she writes about the disagreements over the island's history that still shape its politics and its people's view of their future. In this interview, she discusses the result of the elections on 13 January, a third consecutive victory for the governing – and pro-sovereignty – Democratic (...) - 2024/01 / Podcast, 2024/10 Taiwan
Jan 25
US election: the case of South Carolina
With the US primary season now under way, in this month's podcast we turn the spotlight on the electoral contest in South Carolina, home state of prominent Trump challenger Nikki Haley and the state that ended Bernie Sanders' hopes of the 2020 Democratic nomination. Our guide to its political landscape is journalist Julien Brygo, who visited South Carolina's Baptist churches, university campuses and political activist meetings last November, a year out from a likely electoral rematch which (...) - 2024/01 / Podcast, 2024/01 USA
Jan 16
The end of conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh?
In this month's podcast, our guest is Vicken Cheterian, who teaches history and international relations at the University of Geneva. In the December edition of the paper he writes about Azerbaijan's recent military offensive to seize control of the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh (‘Armenia stands alone'). When war last broke out between Armenia and Azerbaijan, in 2020, Russia intervened. This time, it allowed ethnic cleansing of Armenians to proceed. In the interview, Cheterian explains (...) - 2023/12 / Podcast, 2023/12 azerbaijan
Dec 15, 2023
Will unchecked urban development make Phnom Penh unliveable?
In this month's podcast, journalist and South East Asia specialist Christine Chaumeau discusses how the Cambodian capital has been transformed over the last 20 years, with a mushrooming of skyscrapers and private, gated developments, which she writes about in the October edition of the paper (‘Phnom Penh: rising skyline, disappearing lakes'). Under outgoing prime minister Hun Sen, the country experienced rapid economic growth, but his exercise of power was ruthless, and opponents of the (...) - 2023/10 / Podcast, 2023/10 cambodia
Oct 12, 2023
Why so many coups in Africa?
The tally of coups in West Africa currently stands at six, after the recent military takeover in Niger (which was followed by another in Gabon in Central Africa). In this month's podcast, Anne-Cécile Robert, director of international editions at Le Monde diplomatique, talks about the conditions in which generals step in, offering simple solutions to complex problems. But, Robert says, it would be wrong to see this as a purely regional phenomenon, an ‘epidemic' affecting a ‘coup belt'. As she (...) - 2023/09 / Podcast, 2023/09 W African coups
Sep 25, 2023
Alexander the Great comes to Naples
On this month's podcast, culture critic Maya Jaggi talks about an exhibition currently on at the National Museum of Archaeology Naples (MANN), which she reviews in the July issue of Le Monde diplomatique in a piece entitled ‘Alexander the Great, between Asia and Europe'. As Alexander the Great pushed ever further east in the late 4th century BCE, his aim was conquest. But the result was much more than that: it also brought cultural exchange, unexpected encounters and the sharing of learning. (...) - 2023/07 / Podcast, 2023/07 alexander
Jul 1, 2023
Moldova: a state stuck in the grey zone between east and west?
In this month's podcast, Ukraine-based journalist Glen Johnson discusses his article in the June edition of Le Monde diplomatique, ‘Moldova's stark choices about its future'. The key choice this landlocked former Soviet republic faces is over whether it should maintain its hitherto strict neutrality or seek protection under the NATO umbrella. Johnson describes Moldova's initial reaction to the war in Ukraine as ‘pitch perfect'. But since then, he says, its government has veered sharply towards (...) - 2023/06 / Podcast, 2023/06 Moldova
Jun 19, 2023
China's quest for AI supremacy
China has designated it a ‘national priority' to become ‘the world's premier artificial intelligence innovation centre' by 2030. OpenAI's release of ChatGPT suggests China may have some catching up to do. In this month's podcast, Gabrielle Chou of NYU Shanghai University discusses some of barriers to China achieving its goal, including a brain drain, corruption and a US embargo on high-end (...) - 2023/04 / Podcast, 2023/04 china
May 3, 2023
After Sturgeon, Humza Yousaf: what next for Scotland?
In the second of two podcasts this month, Glasgow-based journalist Jamie Maxwell discusses Scotland's change of leader after Nicola Sturgeon's surprise decision to stand down after eight years as Scotland's first minister. As Humza Yousaf takes on her role, Jamie discusses the Sturgeon legacy and the challenges ahead for her successor, both in terms of the independence movement and progressive politics in (...) - 2023/03 / 2023/03 Scotland, Podcast
Mar 28, 2023
Jacinda Ardern calls it a day
In the first of two podcasts this month on the resignations of two prominent female leaders, journalist Glen Johnson reflects on New Zealand's prime minister Jacinda Ardern's surprise departure. She won international admiration for her handling of Covid and the Christchurch massacre but, Johnson explains, elements in the business community, the political opposition and the national media cultivated a highly toxic environment that ultimately made her position (...) - 2023/02 / Podcast, 2023/02 Ardern
Mar 23, 2023