If you think political shifts in Germany don't effect the rest of the world, think again. The country has been rocked by the interference of American Vice President JD Vance and Elon Musk, who are openly backing the far-right, and the security of Europe may hang on whoever takes power next. 

Guest: Dr Constanze Stelzenmüller - Director of the Center on the United States and Europe and the inaugural holder of the Fritz Stern Chair on Germany and trans-Atlantic Relations at Brookings.

Recommendations:

Geraldine: Who will defend Europe? Keir Giles, FT.

Hamish: German Election Campaign Flooded with Fake News and Videos Spiegel International.

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In a special mini-series, Geraldine Doogue and Hamish Macdonald get the answers to all your burning questions about AUKUS. 

In this first episode, we investigate how AUKUS came about - who spoke to who, what the true motivation was for going nuclear and whether the total secrecy around the deal was justified. 

NOTE: This podcast was first released on 20 December 2024.

GUESTS:

 Andrew Fowler - investigative journalist and author of Nuked: The Submarine Fiasco that Sank Australia’s Sovereignty (MUP), which won the 2024 Walkley Book Award.

Scott Morrison - 30th Prime Minister of Australia, now Non-Executive Vice Chairman of the US-headquartered advisory and consulting firm American Global Strategies LLC and member of several advisory boards, including the DYNE Strategic Advisory Board.

GET IN TOUCH: 

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

We've handed over $798 million to the US, but can we really be sure that President Trump is as 'supportive' of AUKUS as we've been told? It's just one of the burning questions you've been sending us about AUKUS, that we'll be answering in this special Q&A episode of Global Roaming. 

Guests: 

Jennifer Parker - Expert Associate at ANU’s National Security College, wo has over 20 years of service with the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).

Rex Patrick - former Senator for South Australia and earlier a submariner in the armed forces. Rex is running for the Senate on the Lambie Network ticket this year. 

Recommendations:

Jennifer: The Hunt for Red October

Rex: Down Periscope

Get in touch:  

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

Canada has a lot going on right now. It's facing a potential trade war with the United States, President Trump wants it to become the 51st US state and its long-standing leader Justin Trudeau is set to depart in March, ahead of a general election where a Conservative victory looks likely. Former leader of Canada's Liberal Party Michael Ignatieff joins Geraldine and Hamish to discuss why he is taking President Trump's threats very seriously, and why he thinks we should too. 

Guest: Michael Ignatieff - former leader of the Liberal party of Canada. He teaches history at Central European University, Vienna. 

Audio grab courtesy of Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

Recommendations:

Geraldine: Fire and Ashes: Success and Failure in Politics, by Michael Ignatieff

Hamish: Syria's new Islamist president consolidates power, Financial Times

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A scrappy Chinese startup turned the tech world on its head this week, when news broke that DeepSeek had developed a competitive AI model much faster and cheaper than anyone thought possible. Does this mean China has pulled ahead in the arms race that could define our time? And what's really at stake in the battle for AI supremacy?

Guest: Alice Han - an expert in Chinese macroeconomics, political economy, and global fintech and the Director of China at Greenmantle.

Recommendations:

Geraldine: Rogue Russia: nuclear poker - Slow Newscast podcast by Tortoise Media 

Hamish: A bushwalk

Get in touch:  

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Geraldine and Hamish ask Donald Trump’s longest serving national security advisor whether there is method to what seems like madness in President Trump’s foreign policy announcements, and they get a message for Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. 

Guest: Ambassador John Bolton - served as national security adviser under US President Donald Trump for 17 months and is the author of "The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir". 

Recommendations:

Geraldine: Canada, Trump and the new world order by Michael Ignatieff

Hamish: Freedom by Angela Merkel

Get in touch:  

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

There are two states that have the most to gain, and the most to lose, when it comes to AUKUS: South Australia and Western Australia. In the final episode of AUKUS Investigated Hamish and Geraldine speak to South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas about why he thinks the rest of the country needs to come to the AUKUS party. 

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

AUKUS doesn't only affect us. From the time that it was announced there were mixed reactions from our neighbours - some who wanted in, and some who thought it unwise and provocative. A big part of the fear - both regionally and within Australia - concerns the nuclear question. As the first non-nuclear country to ever acquire a conventionally armed nuclear-powered submarine, can we be confident of our own safety? And what happens to the waste that will remain dangerous for generations of Australians to come? 

*Correction: An earlier version of this caption suggested that Australia is acquiring a nuclear weapon, which is incorrect. The caption has been updated to reflect that Australia is acquiring conventionally armed nuclear-powered submarines. 

GUESTS:

Gareth Evans - former Australian Foreign Minister (1988 –1996).

Maria Rost Rublee - Associate Professor of International Relations at Monash University, with expertise in international security and nuclear politics.

Dr Evan Laksmana - Senior Fellow for Southeast Asia Military Modernisation at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).

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Former Prime Minister Paul Keating has said of AUKUS that "we don't need to be a pair of shoes hanging out of America's backside". Is that a fair characterisation of Australia's position vis a vis AUKUS? Are we getting the short end of the stick with this deal, and sacrificing our sovereignty to boot? 

GUESTS:

Sam Roggeveen - Director of the Lowy Institute’s International Security Program. He is the author of The Echidna Strategy: Australia’s Search for Power and Peace

Malcolm Turnbull - 29th Prime Minister of Australia 2015-2018.

Richard Marles - the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, Minister for Defence and the Federal Member for Corio.

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

In this episode Hamish and Geraldine examine the strategic thinking behind AUKUS. If China has undertaken the most rapid military expansion of any country since WWII, how does the AUKUS pact factor into Beijing's thinking? And does a plan that ties us more closely to the United States make us more or less safe?

GUESTS:

Zhou Bo – Senior Colonel (Ret.) of China's People's Liberation Army, is Senior Fellow at the Center for International Security and Strategy, Tsinghua University. 

Vice Admiral Mark Hammond - Chief of the Royal Australian Navy.

Hugh Jeffrey - Deputy Secretary Strategy, Policy, and Industry, Department of Defence

GET IN TOUCH: 

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