What are the possible implications as the Omicron variant spreads around the world? Experts from South Africa, the US and Europe assess the potential dangers and the remedies available. With Tanya Beckett. (Image: Coronavirus in the Vein/Getty/DrPixel)

How will we cope with the Omicron variant?

The Inquiry gets beyond the headlines to explore the trends, forces and ideas shaping the world.

News

The current record holder for the world’s biggest iceberg is the A23a. Back in 1986 this colossus broke away from an Antarctic ice sheet. This process of breaking off or ‘calving’ as it is known is a natural part of the life cycle of an ice sheet. But A23a then became lodged in the Weddell Sea for more than thirty years, until four years ago a gradual melting allowed the berg to refloat.  Since then it’s been steadily on the move, heading in the same direction as Antarctic icebergs before it, towards the warm waters of the Southern Ocean,  where it will eventually shrink from melting.  As it travels, the iceberg has been playing an important role on the ecological environment around it, both in positive and negative ways.   
So, on this week on The Inquiry, we’re asking ‘What can the world’s biggest iceberg tell us?’ Contributors: 
Dr. Catherine Walker, Glaciologist, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Massachusetts, USA 
Dr. Oliver Marsh, Glaciologist, British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, UK 
Jemma Wadham, Professor of Glaciology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway  
Christopher Shuman, Research Associate Professor, NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre, Maryland, USA  Presenter:  William Crawley  
Producer:  Jill Collins 
Researcher:  Katie Morgan 
Editor:  Tara McDermott 
Production Co-ordinator:  Ellie Dover Image Credit: A23a in Antarctica, Jan 2024. Rob Suisted/Reuters/via BBC Images

What can the world’s biggest iceberg tell us?

In February 2024, Myanmar reactivated an old law which had been on hold for 14 years, stating adult men aged up to 35, and women up to 27 years old, must serve at least two years in the country’s armed forces. The plan is to add sixty thousand new recruits annually – and anyone caught avoiding conscription faces prison and a fine. It’s part of the military-led government’s bid to fight back in a brutal civil war, which broke out in 2021 after its coup seized power from the democratically elected party. A violent crackdown on the peaceful public protests that followed triggered widespread armed resistance and has energised other groups who are determined to end military leadership.  Myanmar is no stranger to internal unrest, but this latest conflict is pushing it closer to the edge.  This week we’re asking - Is Myanmar on the brink of collapse? Contributors: 
Tin Htar Swe, Former Editor of BBC Burmese Service & freelance Myanmar consultant
Professor Michael W. Charney, Professor of Asian and Military History, SOAS, University of London
Dr David Brenner, Senior Lecturer in International Relations, University of Sussex
Dr Min Zaw Oo, Executive Director, Myanmar Institute for Peace and Security Production team: 
Presenter: Charmaine Cozier
Producer: Lorna Reader
Researcher: Matt Toulson
Editor: Tara McDermott Image: A protester holds a placard with a three-finger salute in front of a military tank parked aside the street in front of the Central Bank building in Yangon, Myanmar, on 15 February 2021 (Credit: Aung Kyaw Htet/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Is Myanmar on the brink of collapse?

Historically, Turkey has always had a strong women’s rights movement, stemming from the  days of the Ottoman Empire through to the emergence of the Republic of Turkey into the present day.
 
At the top of the movement’s agenda now is the fight to protect women against violence from men.   It’s three years since Turkey pulled out of the Istanbul Convention, the Europe wide treaty on combatting violence against women and girls.  The Turkish Government has its own version of domestic violence law, but there are concerns that this doesn’t offer the same protection as the Convention.  Campaigners say that femicide and violence against women continues to plague society and that there is an increasingly anti-gender rhetoric within mainstream politics.  So, this week on The Inquiry, we’re asking ‘Is Turkey getting more dangerous for women?’ Contributors:  
Dr. Sevgi Adak, Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations, The Aga Khan University. 
Professor Seda Demiralp, Işık University, Turkey. 
Dr. Ezel Buse Sönmezocak, International Human Rights Lawyer, Turkey 
Dr. Hürcan Aslı Aksoy, German Institute for International and Security Affairs, Berlin. Presenter:  Emily Wither 
Producer:  Jill Collins 
Researcher:  Katie Morgan
Production Co-ordinator: Liam Morrey  Image credit: Cagla Gurdogan via REUTERS from BBC Images

Is Turkey getting more dangerous for women?

The war in Ukraine has reached a pivotal moment.  After months of an apparent stalling on the frontlines, Russia has recently made a series of critical breakthroughs. Now the race is on for Kyiv to get newly approved military aid to the front line before Russian forces attack Ukraine’s second largest city, Kharkiv. The 60 billion dollar bill passed in America’s congress at the end of April allows for Ukraine to push back against Russian forces and prepare to mount an offensive next year. But a gap in the supply of missiles has left Kyiv dangerously exposed and huge questions remain about how Ukraine’s President will act next.  So, on this week’s Inquiry, we’re asking ‘Has US military aid come in time for President Zelensky?’ Contributors: Gustav Gressel, senior policy fellow with the Wider Europe Programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations’ Berlin office. Max Bergmann, Director, Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program and Stuart Center, at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), in the US. Dr Marina Miron, post-doctoral researcher in the War Studies Department and an honorary researcher at the Centre for Military Ethics and the Department of Defence Studies, Kings College, London. Professor Olga Onuch, Professor (Chair) in Comparative and Ukrainian Politics at the University of Manchester, UK. Presenter: Tanya Beckett 
Producer: Lorna Reader
Researcher: Matt Toulson
Production Co-ordinator: Liam Morrey Image credit: Ukrainian Presidential Press Service via Reuters via BBC Images

Has US military aid come in time for President Zelensky?

Last year the US state of Texas introduced a controversial law designed to control the huge number of undocumented migrants crossing its southern border with Mexico.   The law known as Senate Bill 4 or SB4, allows local and state police the power to arrest and charge people with a newly created state crime - ‘illegal entry’.     Immigration law has historically been handled by the federal government.  Crossing the border is a federal crime and addressed by immigration courts that fall under the justice department. Now Texas is embroiled in a legal battle and SB4 has been paused.  But it’s just the latest measure that Texas has taken to stop hundreds of thousands of migrants entering the US on its border.    Back in 2021 the state’s Governor, Greg Abbott launched a multi-billion   dollar border security programme known as Operation Lone Star.   Along with his Republican lawmakers, the Governor’s argument is that Texas has a legal right to defend itself and they allege that Democrat President Joe Biden has failed to secure the US southern border in violation of the law.
But with a Presidential election this November, it remains to be seen if Texas will have a more sympathetic ally in the White House in the future.  So, on this week’s Inquiry, we’re asking ‘Can Texas go it alone on border control?’  Contributors:  Dr. Ernesto Castañeda, Director of the Centre for Latin American and Latino Studies and it’s Immigration Lab, American University, Washington DC, USA  Dr James Henson, Director, Texas Politics Project, Department of Government, The University of Texas at Austin, USA. Denise Gilman, Clinical Professor, Co-Director Immigration Clinic, The University of Texas at Austin, School of Law, USA  Julia Gelatt, Associate Director, US Immigration Policy Programme, Migration Policy Institute, Washington DC, USA  Presenter: Charmaine Cozier 
Producer: Jill Collins 
Researcher: Matt Toulson 
Editor: Tara McDermott 
Technical Producer:  Craig Boardman  
Production Co-ordinator:  Liam Morrey (Photo credit: Adam Davis via BBC Images

How will we cope with the Omicron variant?

Download our free app to listen on your phone