Friday Focus: Donald Trump's Oval Office tirade and Mark Carney's threat to Israel
Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein, the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths, Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates. Rudyard and Janice open the show with Donald Trump's Oval Office meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, where the US President accused his guest of genocide against white farmers. Was this an open display of racism in the White House? And why has the public reaction to this been so muted? Rudyard and Janice agree that Trump - right out of an authoritarian playbook - has created a permissive structure that allows for the breakdown of societal norms and civility. In the second half of the show Rudyard and Janice turn to Canada where Mark Carney released a statement with Keir Starmer and Emanuel Macron criticizing Israel's withholding humanitarian aid to Gaza and threatening consequences should Israel not change course. Most notable here is that the statement did not align with US policy, showing that Canada is moving away from America and building stronger relationships with European allies. And finally, Janice and Rudyard wonder: How are changing demographics within these countries - Canada, France, and the UK - informing policy towards Israel, Gaza, and Palestinian statehood? To support the Friday Focus podcast consider becoming a donor to the Munk Debates for as little as $25 annually, or $.50 per episode. Canadian donors receive a charitable tax receipt. This podcast is a project of the Munk Debates, a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to fostering civil and substantive public dialogue. More information at www.munkdebates.com.
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Friday Focus: Trump's graft in the Gulf States and Bibi's war drags on
Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein, the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths, Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates. On this week's Friday Focus episode Janice joins Rudyard from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where Trump made his first state visit since taking office in January. Trump's next stop was to Qatar which came with news of a gift to the President from the small oil rich country: a $400 million dollar private jet for Air Force One, which comes on the heels of Eric Trump's $5.5 billion dollar development deal with Qatar (this is the same country that has been funding Hamas to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars). Next up on Trump's tour was the United Arab Emirates, which announced it will be using up to $2 billion in Trump's meme coin to fund a crypto exchange. The graft and bribery on display is like nothing we have witnessed before. As Janice points out, this is how Kleptocracies are born. In the second half of the show Rudyard and Janice turn to Israel and the release this week of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander. Janice believes Netanyahu is dragging on the war in Gaza to serve his own political interests even though 75% of Israelis want the war to end. It is becoming apparent that Donald Trump and Steve Witkoff are losing patience with Bibi and in the next few weeks we could see them force Netanyahu's hand to agree to a ceasefire. To support the Friday Focus podcast consider becoming a donor to the Munk Debates for as little as $25 annually, or $.50 per episode. Canadian donors receive a charitable tax receipt. This podcast is a project of the Munk Debates, a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to fostering civil and substantive public dialogue. More information at www.munkdebates.com.
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Munk Dialogue with Andrew Coyne: The Crisis of Canadian Democracy
We are a long way from a fully functioning democracy, according to Globe and Mail columnist Andrew Coyne. That's the main argument in his new book, The Crisis of Canadian Democracy, in which Andrew points to the many ways our political system is broken: a dysfunctional parliament, MPs whose party loyalty is valued more than their constituents' concerns, and elections that reward regional interests at the expense of national unity. Andrew offers thoughtful and substantive solutions for how Canada can change course and make this country's democracy work for the citizens whom it is supposed to represent. Find out how to purchase Andrew's book here.
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Friday Focus: Two nuclear powers face off and Carney meets with Trump
Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein, the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths, Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates. Rudyard and Janice open today's show with the fast developing and worrying situation between India and Pakistan. What started in the long disputed territory of Kashmir has expanded into strikes along the border shared by these two nuclear powers. As Janice argues, when the global policeman (the U.S.) retires from the job local leaders take advantage of the vacuum in leadership. In the second half of the show Rudyard and Janice turn to this week's meeting between Mark Carney and Donald Trump. Both had mixed feelings about the meeting: while it was friendly and relaxed in nature, and we are in a better place than we were when Trudeau was negotiating with Trump, there were no concrete outcomes from this meeting that benefit Canadians. Ultimately, many of our most important sectors are facing a massive slowdown because the Trump administration is not interested in the core products like cars and steel that were once central to the Canada-US relationship. To support the Friday Focus podcast consider becoming a donor to the Munk Debates for as little as $25 annually, or $.50 per episode. Canadian donors receive a charitable tax receipt. This podcast is a project of the Munk Debates, a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to fostering civil and substantive public dialogue. More information at www.munkdebates.com.
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Friday Focus: Mark Carney gets a Boomer boost and Trump wants a nuclear deal
Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein, the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths, Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates. Rudyard and Janice open today's show with their key takeaway from the Canadian election: Mark Carney's functional minority was delivered to him by the Boomers who want to protect their assets and wealth accumulation, often at the expense of the younger generation who are faced with poor job prospects and an inflated housing market. Governments need to address these conflicting demographic interests and provide a pathway to financial security for our young people. In the second half of the show Rudyard and Janice turn to the ongoing nuclear negotiations between the US and Iran. The new agreement being discussed is very similar to Obama's JCPOA, a deal that Trump backed out of in his first term in office. Why does Trump want to pursue a deal with Iran at the expense of the security of their close ally Israel? How are the Saudis influencing Trump's foreign policy in the Middle East? And will Israel be forced to go against Trump and strike Iran's nuclear facilities on their own? To support the Friday Focus podcast consider becoming a donor to the Munk Debates for as little as $25 annually, or $.50 per episode. Canadian donors receive a charitable tax receipt. This podcast is a project of the Munk Debates, a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to fostering civil and substantive public dialogue. More information at www.munkdebates.com.
The Munk Debates podcast is an extension of the main stage events - in subject, speaker selection, tone and format. It will introduce the iconic brand - and its engaging debates about significant issues of our time. Audiences will hear strong and passionate arguments from both sides of an issue so they will have enough information to make up their own minds about where they stand.
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