Iran, Venezuela, Iraq, and Afghanistan all have something in common: They've been subject to foreign-imposed regime change by the United States. So as regional war spreads across the Middle East following another stunning Trump intervention, can 'regime change' ever work? 

Alex Downes, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at The George Washington University, studies what happens when leaders are violently deposed by foreign nations. He speaks to Kylie Morris and Latika Bourke why peace and democracy are the least likely outcomes in Iran. 

Guest: Alexander B Downes, author of Catastrophic Success: Why Foreign-Imposed Regime Change Goes Wrong 

Get in touch:

We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]

Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts. 

From Barbie to Casablanca, Warner Bros studios have fundamentally shaped western popular culture. So will its $110 billion dollar takeover by Paramount re-write the script for American cinema as we know it? And with Trump's least favourite cable news channel, CNN, also changing hands in the deal, who is the 'nepo baby' now in charge, what is his connection to MAGA?

Geraldine Doogue and Latika Bourke are joined by legendary entertainment reporter Kim Masters, who first broke the news of a potential deal last year, to talk about David Ellison's journey from aspiring actor to media mogul; his controversial instalment of Bari Weiss at CBS; and what his political connections say about the shrinking free press. 

Guest: Kim Masters, co-founder and writer for Puck

Get in touch:

We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]

Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts. 

It's been just three days since Israel and the US launched their war on Iran and Trump is already floating the possibility of deploying US troops on the ground, as so-called precision strikes on Iran spiral into far more dangerous regional conflict.  

So, as casualties rise into the thousands and violence rips across the Middle East, what's driving the full-scale attack on Iran?  

Today, as Israel launches flurries of missiles into Lebanon, hosts Hamish Mcdonald and Kylie Morris head to the streets of Beirut to speak with Al Jazeera's Heidi Pett as the situation unfolds.

Guests: Heidi Pett, Al Jazeera correspondent reporting from Beirut

Recommendations:

Hamish -  Dictators & Demagogues 05: Iran's Ali Khamenei, Take Me To Your Leader!

Get in touch:

We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]

Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts. 

With Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dead, and Trump promising military operations will continue until "all objectives" are achieved, it's unclear what American and Israeli calls for regime change will lead to. 

Hamish Macdonald, Geraldine Doogue and Latika Bourke (The Nightly) are joined by two guests to unpack the extraordinary attacks against Iran. From Abu Dhabi, Mohamad Ali Harisi shares his concerns from a shaken region. And from Washington DC, Barbara Slavin talks about who the Assembly of Experts could chose as the next Supreme Leader. 

Guests: Mohamad Ali Harisi, foreign editor of The National; and Barbara Slavin, distinguished fellow at the Stimson Centre in Washington

With the Supreme Leader of Iran killed by military strikes, what happens next in Iran?

Announcing his death, President Trump called Ayatollah Ali Khomeini "one of the most evil people in history."

But does regime change follow the audacious attack by Israel and the US, or do they become mired again in a Middle Eastern war with no guaranteed outcome?

And what about the Iranian people? What do they want, and how do they get it?

After this episode was recorded, Iran confirmed the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. 

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is stuck in a political trap. On the one hand, Trump has threatened to intervene if she doesn't tackle the country's cartels. On the other, her strike against notorious 'El Mencho' this week sparked violence and unrest, with some cities like Guadalajara shutting down for days. But is killing El Mencho the end of America's fentanyl woes, or the start of a new chapter in the 'War on Drugs'?

David Mora from the International Crisis Group joins Hamish Macdonald and Geraldine Doogue from Guadalajara to talk about the Jalisco cartel's global drug networks, and why ordinary Mexicans are bearing the brunt of Sheinbaum's diplomatic tightrope-walking.

Guest: David Mora, senior Mexican analyst with the International Crisis Group

Get in touch:

We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]

Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts. 

Four years ago, Vladimir Putin rolled Russian tanks into Ukraine at the start of a full-scale invasion. Now, as peace talks lead by Trump and the USA fail to make progress, there is no easy end in sight for the most deadly conflict in Europe since World War Two. 

With host Latika Bourke (The Nightly) in Kyiv for the anniversary of the war, she joins Kylie Morris in speaking to official Yuiry Sak about why Ukraine is emerging from Winter 'stronger and more united'. 

Guest: Yuriy Sak, former advisor to Ukraine's Ministry of Strategic Industries

Get in touch:

We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]

Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts. 

With the possibility of charges against Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, being removed from the line of succession could be the last of the former Prince's worries. But with the House of Windsor in freefall following the latest Epstein revelations, have King Charles and Buckingham Palace been transparent about what they knew, and when? 

Andrew's unauthorised biographer, Andrew Lownie, knows what its like to navigate the British Royal Family's web of power. He joins Geraldine Doogue and Latika Bourke to talk about the financial corruption at the centre of the Royal power, whether Albanese has jumped the gun on removal calls, and why he's still a monarchist.

Guest: Andrew Lownie, historian and author of Entitled: The rise and fall of the House of York

Get in touch:

We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]

Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts. 

Should Australia turn its back on the United States? And what's at stake if it did? 

This episode hosts Kylie Morris and Hamish Macdonald turn their attention to the Indo-Pacific as the US scrambles to project power in the increasingly volatile region. To find out more they speak with former high-ranking US official Dr Ely Ratner, who argues America's traditional allies should show some resolve and strengthen their military pacts even as Trump tears up the international rules based order.  

Guest: Dr Ely Ratner, former US Assistant Secretary of Defence for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs 

Get in touch:

We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]

Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts. 

There's a growing trend on TikTok of being in a "very Chinese era of life". It's associated with changing shoes indoors, drinking hot water, and preparing traditional Chinese meals. It's being called 'Chinamaxxing'. But what exactly is this indicating more broadly?

China has been growing in 'soft power' -- the kind of power that comes from cultural influence and intrigue rather than more forceful geopolitical approaches.

Kaiser Kuo, heavy metal rocker and host of the Chinese current affairs podcast, Sinica Podcast, will join Hamish Macdonald and Geraldine Doogue to talk about the internal cultural shifts of China, including how much creative expression exists under Xi Jinping's regime.

Guest: Kaiser Kuo, host of Sinica Podcast.

Recommendations: 

Geraldine – The Infrastructure of Jeffrey Epstein's Power, The Ezra Klein Show 

Hamish – L-FRESH The Lion, 2006, The Year that Made Me

------------- 

Get in touch:

We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]

Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts.