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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.
203 Episodes
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It’s been almost two weeks since we woke up to the news of Charlie Kirk’s assassination. If you were online that morning, you probably saw rolling updates, speculation, conspiracy theories, and graphic footage — all before breakfast.But it hasn’t always been like this. When Abraham Zapruder filmed the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, the public didn’t see those 26 seconds of film for many years. That delay fuelled decades of fascination and conspiracy.Today, Matt Bevan and Supervising Producer Kara Jensen-McKinnon discuss the Zapruder Film and how the way we experience big news events has changed.
In the days since the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the internet has been awash with conflicting information about the assassin’s ideological motivations. Until recently, most people understood that political violence in America tends not to be organised, but one idea has galvanised many of those on the right: “they are trying to get us”. Just minutes after the shooting, US President Donald Trump and his allies called for revenge on what they call “left-wing extremists”. There is no evidence of an organised left wing militia trying to take down the Trump Administration, but is a crackdown on anti-Trump groups now inevitable? Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq
While researching our last episode on the bizarre wave of Iran-banked anti-semitic attacks in Australia and around the world, Matt ended up somewhere unexpected… Swedish TikTok. He was intrigued (and baffled) by a viral sound from a gangster known as the Kurdish Fox that blew up in late 2023.To help him understand this meme, Matt got in touch with the journalist who broke the story and released this now-apparently-iconic audio to the public. Kim Malmgren is a crime reporter for Swedish Newspaper Expressen and hosts the Swedish-language true crime podcast Krimrummet. What starts as a conversation about a meme leads to a bigger story about Sweden’s growing problem with gang violence, tracing the Kurdish Fox’s rise, his war with the fearsome Strawberry, and the teenage "child soldiers" caught in the crossfire.Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq
There has been a spike in antisemitic attacks around the world, but there was something off about the ones happening here in Australia. The graffiti had Israel spelled wrong and they were committed largely by people with no clear ideological motivation. For many, the slapdash nature of these attacks raised a serious question about who was really behind them. Recently ASIO revealed that at least some of these attacks were coordinated and financed by Iran to intimidate and destablise their enemies. It turns out, Iran has spent the last few years bankrolling low level attacks just like this all over the world so is this a signal of Iran’s strength or a weakening regime? Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq
2There’s a story Matt’s been trying to tell on If You’re Listening almost since day one. It’s about the agriculture, soil and water of Ukraine, and he thinks it’s fascinating. Over the years he's tried to write it into episode after episode, only for it to be cut out by four separate producers.Today, Matt attempts to convince Supervising Producer Kara Jensen-Mackinnon (and hopefully you, too) on his obsession with the jet-black soil that’s altered the course of wars from WWII to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Maps referenced in the episode:Map of chernozem distributionMap of European waterwaysFollow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq
Donald Trump once said he could end the war between Russia and Ukraine in one day. Well, it’s now been over 200 days and he’s finally admitted that it might be a little more complicated than he originally thought. The man he’s sent to broker this important peace deal is his best bud Steve Witkoff, a lawyer turned billionaire real estate developer turned peace negotiator. In the last few months, Witkoff has had a number of top-secret peace meetings with Vladimir Putin. Unfortunately we don’t know what happened in those meetings, and it now appears that Witkoff didn’t know what was happening in those meetings either. Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq
In 1999, a young American called Robert Bogucki dumped his bicycle and walked out into the Great Sandy Desert in remote northern Australia. In 2022, Erin Parke became obsessed with this story and the media circus surrounding it. It's a tale that spans three decades, two continents and a bizarre cast of characters: from booty-wearing bloodhounds, to a cigar-chomping, moustachioed American named Garrison ‘Gunslinger’ St Clair. Matt chats to Erin about her quest to uncover the truth about the mysterious Gunslinger. From his colourful past of fraud and rumours of international espionage, he was larger than life and, as it turned out, too good to be true.Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq
It’s no secret that Donald Trump has his sights set on a Nobel Peace Prize. He already claims to have brokered peace in a number of conflicts around the world - and is now planning ceasefire talks for Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Palestine. So how does Trump intend to bring lasting peace to these decades-long conflicts? Well, he’s tasked his best bud and former real estate tycoon, Steve Witkoff with the job. Unfortunately, Witkoff doesn’t really have any credentials for negotiating peace… but he is very good at golf and for Trump that’s all that matters. CORRECTION: In this episode we state that “Armenians are mostly catholic”, and that is incorrect, the vast majority of Armenians are Christian and are members of the Armenian Apostolic Church.Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq
When Palestinian statehood is recognised at the UN General Assembly in September, a small office tucked away in a residential street in Canberra will become the official embassy of Palestine. This office is near many other embassies in the nation’s capital - some similarly unassuming, while others are incredible ornate architectural feats complete with gardens and water features. On a recent work trip to Canberra, Matt and producer Kara strolled around the Canberra suburbs judging the architectural merits of some of our nation’s great embassies.Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq
Australia, the UK, France and Canada intend to recognise Palestine as a state at the UN General Assembly in September. But what does that actually mean? Well Timor Leste, the small island nation 500km off the coast of Australia was recognised as a state back in 2002 after years of Indonesian occupation and violence, and might offer us a glimpse into what the future looks like for Palestinians. Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq
After an entire week looking into the Oslo Accords, we still had a residual urge to find out more about Mona Juul and Terje Rod Larsen, the Norwegian couple who were instrumental in brokering that landmark agreement. We were reading about the Broadway play about their work, reading about the movie adaptation... and then suddenly, unexpectedly, Kara plunged into a rabbit hole. A very unexpected, but oddly familiar one…it involves a trip to Mongolia, a former Australian Prime Minister, and Mona and Terje.
Even the most seasoned negotiators can’t agree on how to bring peace to the Middle East. Everyone agrees that - on a personal level - it’s a problem too big, too old and too entrenched for them to even have an impact on. Except Mona and Terje. Norwegians Mona Juul and Terje Rød-Larsen looked at this extremely complicated conflict and said “we can fix this”. Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq
Getting accused of murder is never a good thing. But, hypothetically if you are going to get accused of murder, it’s generally for the best that it’s not somewhere like Houthi-controlled Yemen - a part of the world that barely has a functioning justice system.This is the reality for Nimisha Priya, an Indian nurse who has been convicted of murder and is currently awaiting trial in a Yemeni prison. The question is now whether she’ll be executed for her crimes or whether the victim’s family will accept a blood money payment to spare her life. Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq
The internet is flooded with hour-long podcasts about what really happened to Jeffrey Epstein. Until recently, two of the most high profile Epstein conspiracy truthers were MAGA podcasters, Dan Bongino and Kash Patel. But that all changed when they joined the FBI. In the last few months, Bongino and Patel have done a complete 180, and are now saying there’s nothing to see… So are they telling the truth about the so-called Epstein files? Or has the deep state got to them too?Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq
So Jeffery Epstein probably wasn’t a Mossad spy. But online conspiracies like this pop up closer to home too. Could Israeli intelligence have been involved in Australia’s most traumatic mass shooting? There are people who think so. In this bonus episode of If You’re Listening, Matt is joined by Conspiracy Nation author Cam Wilson, who breaks down the pervasive PA96 conspiracy about the Port Arthur massacre. Cam Wilson and Ariel Bogle's book Conspiracy Nation is out now.Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq
The Jeffrey Epstein rabbit hole has opened into a cavernous rabbit abyss and it seems no one is safe. Conspiracy theorists and right-wing podcasters are following a particularly spicy lead: that Epstein was actually Israeli intelligence. It explains the curious circumstances around his death, the suppression of his so-called client list, and why Donald Trump seems keen to bury the story entirely. But where did the Mossad rumours come from and are they all just an elaborate smoke screen? If you're in Canberra and interested in coming to our live show on the 21st of August at the Canberra Theatre Centre you can buy tickets here: https://canberratheatrecentre.com.au/show/if-youre-listening-live-25/Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq
Forty years ago, a man named Mordecai Vanunu came very close to exposing Israel’s secret nuclear enrichment facility in a bible group in the heart of Sydney. But before he could speak to journalists, he was lured to Rome by a beguiling blonde named Cindy. In this bonus episode of If You’re Listening we take a closer look at “Cindy” the mysterious Mossad honeypot who abducted Vanunu and changed the course of his life forever. If you're interested in watching Stanley Hanin's tyre company advertisement you can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-zCM_8APc0 If you're in Canberra and interested in coming to our live show on the 21st of August at the Canberra Theatre Centre you can buy tickets here: https://canberratheatrecentre.com.au/show/if-youre-listening-live-25/Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq
It’s widely accepted that Israel has nuclear weapons. How many? Well, it’s impossible to know because to this day the Israeli government has never officially confirmed or denied that it possesses a nuclear arsenal at all, instead it maintains a policy of “strategic ambiguity”. In truly one of the most extraordinary stories we’ve told on this show - we get to the bottom of how Israel hides its nukes, how we found out about them, and why the global community seems to be fine with it.If you're in Canberra and interested in coming to our live show on the 21st of August at the Canberra Theatre Centre you can buy tickets here: https://canberratheatrecentre.com.au/show/if-youre-listening-live-25/Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq
With Iran still in the news, we thought we would revisit the man who created the regime that so many in the Israeli and American political establishments would love to topple: Ayatollah Khomeini. This is the man who came back from 16 years in exile to be the Supreme Leader of Iran’s fundamentalist Islamic regime and overthrew the 2500 year old monarchy. This episode was originally published on the 22nd February 2024.Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq
Before Iran was the Islamic theocracy it is today, it was a monarchy for two and a half thousand years. The last Shah or king of Iran was overthrown in 1979. In this episode of If You're Listening we hear about the Shah’s battle with cancer that resulted in a Shakespearean tragedy that brought about the end of the Iranian monarchy and shaped the Middle East conflict we see today.This episode was originally published on the 15th February 2024.Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.Check out our series on YouTube: https://youtu.be/vOsdbCwS5qQ?si=ye2_zy0TOkLRMZLi
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this was one of your finest episodes thanks Matt
excellent episode, thanks Matt
Stick to geopolitics Matt. This episode and the some of the last few where you are spitballing with a random guest have, in my opinion, been uninteresting.
Matt, I'm sure it takes time to make all of this content, but you need to work a little harder. I'm subscribed to a bunch of different podcasts and none of them are consistently good, and none of them are ever as good as this one, and I hold you responsible. You have set the bar too high. You need to put out more episodes, so I don't have to listen to all of that other trash.
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?