April 2009
Until recently, Georgia’s wars were fought against separatist movements of ethnic minorities. In August 2008 it took on the Russian army. In this podcast, George Miller talks to journalist and political analyst Vicken Cheterian about the nature of the five-day war and its consequences for the Caucasus and beyond. Click here to listen.
March 2009
In this month’s podcast to accompany the print and online editions of Le Monde diplomatique, I talk to Walter Benn Michaels, author of The Trouble with Diversity, about his article on the growing promotion of diversity policies in France.
He sees in this an almost scientifically mappable similarity with the past few decades in the United States, where diversity programmes have grown in popularity at the same time as the gap between haves and have-nots has widened.
Michaels sees such programmes as at best a distraction and at worst a way of entrenching prevailing inequalities.
Click here to listen to the podcast and hear where he thinks France is heading with such policies and for his views on whether Obama and the financial crisis will change the situation in the US.
February 2009
In Le Monde diplomatique‘s February podcast, I talk to Middle East expert and deputy director of the French edition of the paper, Alain Gresh.
His article in this month’s edition focuses on the consequences of the Israeli action against Hamas, both for the participants and the wider region.
In the podcast he talks about the reactions of nations such as Iran and Turkey to the conflict and considers why Israel’s relations with the EU are more cordial than at any time since 1967. He also responds to my question about what we can tell about the Obama administration’s approach to the Middle East. Listen to the podcast by clicking here.
(Image © Joel Carillet)
January 2009
Click here to listen to Valia Kaimaki of the Eleftherotypia newspaper talking about the mass uprising of Greece’s youth following the death on 6 December of Athenian teenager Alexis Grigoropoulos at the hands of the Greek police. As she explains, the boy’s death ignited the flames, but there was already a great deal of combustible material available. (Image © Vasiliki Varvaki)
Click here to hear Johann Rossouw, editor of the Afrikaans edition of Le Monde diplomatique, talking about the deeper roots of the recent violence in South Africa.
Click here to hear Christopher Bickerton talking about what the Irish no vote to the Lisbon Treaty says about widespread popular discontent with the EU across the Union.