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The world is on fire. There's a coup. Inflation is through the roof, and AI is taking our jobs. What does it all mean? Each week, Matt Bevan explains the biggest story in world news while hiding in his basement from assassins and authoritarian regimes.
Recent episodes include an exploration of the relationship between India and China, a closer look at the Saudi Arabian city of NEOM, the conflict in the Middle East, the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran, and Ukraine's incursions into Vladimir Putin's Russia. Matt Bevan draws connections between stories from the past and the events of the present to help listeners understand world news and international affairs.
The podcast also features series about big moments in world news; previous series have focused on the United States presidential election, the United Kingdom's 14 years of Conservative Party leadership, Donald Trump's relationship with Russia, Donald Trump's presidency and promise to Make America Great Again, the Mueller Report, Vladimir Putin's scheme to destroy western democracies, how the relationship between Australia and China came to the verge of collapse, and Australia's turbulent history with climate change.
There's a new episode of If You're Listening every Thursday.
Recent episodes include an exploration of the relationship between India and China, a closer look at the Saudi Arabian city of NEOM, the conflict in the Middle East, the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran, and Ukraine's incursions into Vladimir Putin's Russia. Matt Bevan draws connections between stories from the past and the events of the present to help listeners understand world news and international affairs.
The podcast also features series about big moments in world news; previous series have focused on the United States presidential election, the United Kingdom's 14 years of Conservative Party leadership, Donald Trump's relationship with Russia, Donald Trump's presidency and promise to Make America Great Again, the Mueller Report, Vladimir Putin's scheme to destroy western democracies, how the relationship between Australia and China came to the verge of collapse, and Australia's turbulent history with climate change.
There's a new episode of If You're Listening every Thursday.
153 Episodes
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The people of Georgia are in the streets of Tbilisi, protesting the ruling party’s recent election win. At the heart of the fight is whether the country should appease Vladimir Putin, or oppose him. For years Georgia was moving closer to the European Union, but the war in Ukraine changed everything. Now, billionaire oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili and his Georgia Dream party are betting on a relationship with Putin, hoping to save the country from a fate similar to Ukraine’s. Today on If You’re Listening, the story of a democracy at the crossroads of the West and the East, fighting over whether to be afraid of Vladimir Putin or not.Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://youtu.be/q9zRfSut8TU?si=0KJ4A49zvSz35Th6
1We want to know what you think of the show so we can make it better in 2025! Give us your feedback here: https://forms.office.com/r/w0hT5fzuxgHunter Biden has been a main character in far-right conspiracy theories for years, and Donald Trump’s associates have spent significant effort searching for proof that could lead to his prosecution. In the end, Hunter reportedly provided the only evidence that has mattered: a laptop full of terribly embarrassing and potentially incriminating material. The story of how that laptop found its way to Trump’s favourite lawyer Rudy Giuliani is almost too bizarre to believe. But the Biden family story has been improbably tragic for decades, and it was those tragedies that have seemingly steered the outgoing president to pardon his son despite the very real cost to his own reputation, and the country.Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0R75Jqu0ySM&list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq
We want to know what you think of the show so we can make it better in 2025! Give us your feedback here: https://forms.office.com/r/w0hT5fzuxgThe International Criminal Court in The Hague wants Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrested for alleged war crimes in Gaza. But international justice works differently to other forms of justice — it relies on everyone opting in. More than 20 years into its existence the court is yet to convict any world leaders of anything. As the first fugitive from the ICC who is also an ally to Western countries like Australia and France, this case is one that could make or break the court itself. So what does that mean for Netanyahu and his allies? And what does it mean for the idea that there are some crimes that go beyond borders, committed against humanity itself. Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://youtu.be/LAUiawjoKKs?si=fSxJDpMEK7EuhdWs
A Chinese-owned cargo ship called the Yi Peng 3 is sitting idle in Danish waters, after undersea internet cables were cut in the Baltic Sea. European officials have cried sabotage. It’s not the first time something like this has happened; similar events have seen cables cut in other parts of the ocean. There’s serious concern that China and Russia are planning more of these attacks, and the way the internet is set up, it wouldn’t take many of them to cause serious problems. So how vulnerable is the internet to undersea sabotage? And if a big global conflict were to break out, would the cables be the first casualty?Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://youtu.be/GOA7NxYvYKg?si=QgMQOudReqZkahlU
After January 6, many who had stuck by Donald Trump through his presidency condemned his denial of the election, and his failure to stop the attack on the Capitol. Banished to Mar-a-Lago the former president was banned from major social media platforms, driving his messages and MAGA community underground, into a parallel online world. That response by big tech to the violence of January 6 was designed to stop it happening again. Instead, it found Donald Trump powerful allies, and fostered his comeback, one that would send him all the way back to the White House. This is the final episode of America's Last Election. We'll be back next week with an episode about something completely different. If you liked the series, please share it around. Editor's note: In this episode, host Matt Bevan states that the Biden administration found itself in a "lose-lose situation" when it came to prosecuting Donald Trump.While the position of Attorney General is appointed by the President, and sits within their cabinet, decisions over particular prosecutions are traditionally made without the President's input.Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://youtu.be/GOA7NxYvYKg?si=8U9OnBgsFBIjqRlA
Over the last four episodes we’ve told the story of Donald Trump’s denial of the 2020 election result. It’s a period of time many thought would disqualify him from another run for US president. Now, exactly four years later Trump is preparing to head back to the White House after a significant election win against Kamala Harris, and the way his last presidency ended has shaped his campaign. January 6th and the events that led up to it alienated many moderate actors in Trump’s orbit, and unless they’re brought back into the fold, this presidency is set to look very different to his last.Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://youtu.be/GOA7NxYvYKg?si=8U9OnBgsFBIjqRlA
It’s Matt Bevan’s last 24 hours in Washington DC, and he’s leaving a very different place to the one he arrived in. Donald Trump is going to be president again, and in the United States, people from across the political spectrum are figuring out exactly what that looks like. Matt sits down with ABC Global Affairs Reporter John Lyons in sunny Lafayette Park to chat about the potential geopolitical impacts of a second Trump term and how world leaders are already scrambling to get Trump on the phone to strike a deal. This episode was produced by Kara Jensen-Mackinnon and Jess O'Callaghan. This is the final Hello America bonus episode of If You’re Listening, thanks for coming along for the ride. The next episode of America’s Last Election will drop next Thursday morning. Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://youtu.be/GOA7NxYvYKg?si=8U9OnBgsFBIjqRlA
In this update from Washington DC, Matt Bevan is filling in as host for ABC News Daily to bring you an early morning update on all the events from overnight Australian time. In a spectacular victory, Donald Trump has secured the US election to become the 47th President of the United States. Matt is joined on the ground by Emma Shortis from The Australia Institute to explain where the Democrats went wrong and the Republicans went right - and what a more emboldened Trump with the support of the House, the Senate and the Supreme Court means for America.
As the night goes on, and key states in the US presidential election are called for Donald Trump, it's becoming harder to see a way that Kamala Harris wins the White House.Matt Bevan shares his view from a Washington rooftop on election night, where ABC News is covering the results. He reflects on the Harris and Trump campaigns, and what a second Trump presidency could look like. Matt will be back in this podcast feed on Thursday morning hosting a special episode of ABC News Daily, speaking with Dr Emma Shortis from the Australia Institute. Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://youtu.be/GOA7NxYvYKg?si=8U9OnBgsFBIjqRlA
It's election day in America! But in the dying hours of Monday night (and the campaigns), Matt Bevan took a train to Pennsylvania to stand in queue for a massive Lady Gaga concert — Kamala Harris's final event before election day.Luckily, you can get the speeches online. What you can't get is the vibe, which was apparent speaking to supporters in this kilometres-long queue. On the train ride home Matt and Dr Emma Shortis from The Australia Institute decide the Democrats' election-eve vibe was: things seem good for Kamala Harris ... nobody jinx it.We'll be back on Wednesday evening with an election-night update.Read Matt on ABC News: When do polls close and when will we know the result of the US election?Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://youtu.be/GOA7NxYvYKg?si=8U9OnBgsFBIjqRlA
It's election eve in America, and Matt Bevan is in Washington DC. How did he get there? By train, from Detroit, where he took in the fall foliage from the comfort of his tiny bunk bed, and talked politics over breakfast with a fellow train-devotee named Bill. But neither Kamala Harris or Donald Trump is taking the slow train to election day -- both campaigns have whirlwind 24 hours planned, hitting the swing states key to winning the White House. Donald Trump is ending years of campaigning with a late-night rally that looks to soothe his superstitious mind, and Kamala Harris is throwing a massive garden party in Philadelphia. Speaking of which, Matt has another train to catch ... This episode was produced by Kara Jensen Mackinnon and Jess O'Callaghan. Catch Matt across the ABC's election coverage on ABC TV, ABC NewsRadio and digital platforms, including this one; we'll drop a bonus episode when results start to shape up on Wednesday evening AEDT.Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://youtu.be/GOA7NxYvYKg?si=8U9OnBgsFBIjqRlA
Eight months before January 6, a very similar mob stormed a different government building. Armed men, furious about an extension of COVID lockdowns, stormed the state Capitol building in Lansing, Michigan. It was a precursor to the march on the Capitol in Washington DC, with chants, signs and even protesters in common. But among some of the men in Michigan that day, a plot was brewing that was more sinister. It shows just how insidious and dangerous the lies spreading among Donald Trump’s supporters can be. If he wins, Trump has vowed to pardon those people convicted of crimes on January 6—what signal could such immunity send?We've released this episode of America's Last Election early, so you can listen before election day. The video of this podcast episode will be released on Saturday morning as usual. Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://youtu.be/GOA7NxYvYKg?si=8U9OnBgsFBIjqRlA
With only days until the election both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are zigzagging across the United States holding rallies to shore up support. At a Trump rally in the suburbs of Detroit, Matt Bevan chatted to a whole lot of fans waiting in line about why they're voting for Trump and what happens if the election doesn't go his way. He and Insiders host David Speers debriefed in the car ride back to the city.If You're Listening's Hello America bonus episodes are produced by Kara Jensen Mackinnon and Jess O'Callaghan. Episode 4 of America's Last Election will drop early on Tuesday morning AEDT.Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://youtu.be/GOA7NxYvYKg?si=8U9OnBgsFBIjqRlA
It’s Halloween in America, and with the countdown on to election day, things are getting spooky. In downtown Detroit, Matt Bevan meets early voters, trick-or-treaters, and samples local delicacies — thanks to everyone who emailed with tips. Keep them coming, Washington DC is next: ifyourelistening@abc.net.auAnd as mentioned in the episode, if you have a question about the US election or our series America’s Last Election, email it through in the next few days. Matt will be kicking off election week by answering your questions in a live blog on ABC News Monday November 4, from 7AM AEDT.Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://youtu.be/GOA7NxYvYKg?si=8U9OnBgsFBIjqRlA
In the United States, presidential elections rely on thousands of actual people coming together to scrutinise and then certify the results. That’s what will happen next week, when polls close on the race between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. So what would happen if they just refused to certify a result, for political reasons? In 2020, exactly this scenario played out, in an extraordinarily tense meeting room in Detroit, Michigan. In the four years since, Trump’s supporters have worked hard to try and replicate this roadblock around the country.In this third episode of America’s Last Election, If You’re Listening looks at what that could mean for election day 2024, and the weeks that follow.Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://youtu.be/UOu943VhPUM?si=tYbye3Z1esOay8n-
On the road in Michigan, Matt Bevan heads to the state's political capital of Lansing. There, he meets a swing voter named David who is all in on Trump, navigates the labyrinth that is the state Capitol building, and samples local delicacies on the I-96. Former top Trump advisor Steve Bannon is out of prison, and vowing to do what he can to help the Trump campaign win days out from the election, but the car radio is abuzz with a different story — the impact of comedian Tony Hinchcliffe's jokes on Puerto Rican voters in key swing states.Episode 3 of America's Last Election will drop on Thursday morning. Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://youtu.be/GOA7NxYvYKg?si=8U9OnBgsFBIjqRlA
Matt Bevan is on the ground in Michigan, Detroit, a key swing state in next week’s US presidential election. There are some things you just don’t get when you’re telling a story from your basement in Newcastle: candid chats with Republican voters on the plane, for one. Vice presidential motorcades screaming past you on the highway for another. Follow Matt as he travels through America in the lead up to election day, and hear from the people he meets along the way. Episode 3 of America's Last Election will drop on Thursday morning. Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://youtu.be/GOA7NxYvYKg?si=8U9OnBgsFBIjqRlA
After the 2020 election, Donald Trump searched desperately for any theory that would allow him to retain control of the White House. On Christmas Eve, his team called a constitutional lawyer named John Eastman, who gave them something to work with. Eastman’s theory relied on Vice President Mike Pence playing along. In this second episode of America’s Last Election, If You’re Listening looks at the theory the riot on January 6 was based on, and why Trump’s supporters thought it might work.Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://youtu.be/GOA7NxYvYKg?si=3aBNwguMgMxDDmSl
Donald Trump did not win the 2020 presidential election. But if you watched his speech on election night, you wouldn’t come away with that understanding. ‘Frankly,’ he said ‘We did win this election.’In the months that followed, the story backing up that claim warped and changed, but at its core was a big lie about a supercomputer called ‘The Hammer’, an imaginary software called ‘Scorecard’, and a man with a long history of fooling the US government.And now Donald Trump is on the ballot again. Over five episodes, If You’re Listening looks at the transition period after the 2020 election, and what it tells us about the plan in 2024. Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://youtu.be/J2021J90VM8?si=rfkto42PZEG4PTPT
Within months of becoming US president in 2017, Donald Trump threatened North Korea with “fire and fury”. Soon afterwards, he would tear up a nuclear deal with Iran and bring the US to the brink of war. And yet that war never came. This is the story of how Donald Trump resisted temptation and kept the peace.This is a repeat episode, it was first broadcast on September 21, 2020. You can hear the rest of that series on our website or in our podcast feed: America, If You’re Listening.News audio used in this episode comes from: Arirang News, Inside Edition, CNN, ABC America, Democracy Now, Fox News, CBS, ABC News, and France 24. Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://youtu.be/J2021J90VM8?si=Tzw4B2i3Zp_qzPaK
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Bluff or not. Ukraine is destroyed and Blackrock have no interest to build it. Hello 2030.
PolPot was down on education as well
wasn't Hitla arrested before becoming leader of Germany?
Also there's no evidence of "a soldier making mistake shooting down a passenger airplane", Except what the Islamic regime says. You gotta be naive believing whatever comes out of their mouth.
Qasem Soleimani wasn't a national hero before hia death. Just another general in the regime but .ore known yo foreigners due to the nature of Qods unit. Zarif, the FM of Islamic regime at the time, started a propaganda (as he said in an interview), to present him as a national hero.
Great podcast⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Matt, You frame this chaos so clearly. You show that mud is on everyone's hands and all contributed to this sad state of Australian politics! Thank you again
Matt Bevan thank you for your work. Like always this third series lays out the truth so easily for all to know. so glad you keep educating us all
Nice one. Gold: "MALCOLM TURNBULL: I would say, in talking about America and the West with Xi, it's a reminder that Chinese leaders have a much better understanding of the West than the West does of China." Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull know China relatively better than the rest of Australian politicians🤷♂️
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Can someone remind me what the name of the song is at the start of this episode please. Also, brilliant journalism.
It's 1989 instead of 1999. How many times have the host got it wrong🤦♂️
The host should simply put a "She" sign in front of him 🤦♂️
Everyone on the show is able to pronounce Xi... except for the host. It's driving me crazy.
Great episode! So glad it's back for another season and this one already fascinating
What happened... so enjoyed listening to you, come back please!!! Are you?
I really enjoy your podcast...thank you
Looking forward to the next instalment
such a brilliant, well-researched podcast! I love this series! so good!
Great series!