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The Globalist
Can Trump win the fight against Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell? Plus: Finnish technology
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Craft matters in small ways like how a coffee is brewed, and in not so small ways, like how your money is cared for. Which is why for 160 years, UBS has elevated banking to a craft, tailoring unique strategies that combine human expertise with the latest technologies, all happening across 24 time zones and 12 key financial hubs. With you at the heart of it all, UBS advice is our craft. You're listening to the Globalist, first broadcast on 14 January 2026 on Monocle Radio. The Globalist in association with U. Live from London. This is THE Globalist with me, Emma Nelson. A very warm welcome to today's program. Coming up, I know Chairman Powell very well. I will be stunned. I will be shocked if he has done anything wrong. The Chairman of the U.S. federal Reserve is placed under criminal investigation. We'll ask whether this is another move by Donald Trump to silence dissent in the U.S. also ahead in the next 60 minutes, Russia targets Ukraine power plants in the depths of winter. Will it freeze Ukraine's morale? And we'll hear more on a move by South Korean prosecutors to seek the death penalty for the former president, Yoon Suk Yeol.
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Plus, it all starts with integrating the technology so deep inside the product that it's actually becoming almost invisible. And this is iconic, timeless and hidden technology in plain sight.
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A Finnish firm claims to have invented the world's first spectacles that automatically adjust to whatever you're looking at. Plus the papers and the news from Japan, too. That's all coming up live on THE Globalist from London. First, a quick look at some of the other stories we're following today. It's been reported that more than 2,400 people have now been killed during anti government protests spreading across Iran. China has announced the largest annual trade surplus in history, despite Donald Trump's tariff war. And the chairman of the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles has announced many tickets to the games will cost $28 each. He said the Games have to be affordable. Stay tuned to Monocle Radio throughout the day for more on these stories. But first, there has been widespread support from senior figures across the world's banking sector after President Trump launched an investigation into the chairman of the US Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell. In fact, the repercussions from the announcement have been felt globally, with fears that the investigation is a means by the White House to win a longer batt over the Fed's independence, especially when setting interest rates. I'm joined now from London by the global economist and geopolitics expert Kalyn Birch Very good morning to you, Kaelyn.
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C
Good morning.
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So where are we now with this investigation? Because it stems from a series of exchanges over Christmas, doesn't it, from between the Fed and also the U.S. attorney team for the District of Columbia.
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C
Yes, that's exactly right. And that's been reported most recently because the pretext of the. The announcement of this investigation was that the Fed had been unresponsive to requests for more information from the doj, the Department of Justice. And it turns out now that we see kind of in the news this morning that actually two requests were sent over the Christmas holidays that weren't particularly urgent and didn't mention a criminal investigation. So it all does seem like a bit of political theater, which, in fairness, we have seen many times over from the Trump administration to put these big issues kind of front and center and cast them in the light that they want.
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And at the heart of it is an argument about renovations at the central bank's headquarters. It's a rather strange pretext. Yes.
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It all does seem kind of mundane in a way. Powell testified before Congress about the progress of the refab, which are now carrying a price tag of 2.5 billion, which is a major, you know, investment in the renovation of the building, and mainly that the costs had overrun quite significantly by about 700 million. So Powell has already spoken to Congress about this. He answered their questions both in person, but then followed up with more information in written form that also hadn't been private previously reported that. All of which suggests that he actually has been complying with all the requests for information about this. And there'll be more going on in the DOJ investigation to try to uncover any source of fraud as part of that renovation work. But it's starting to feel much thinner now than it did even just a few days ago.
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A
At the heart of this is the argument that Donald Trump is effectively trying to remove the Fed's autonomy. How true is that?
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C
I think we can safely say now that. That this is the most kind of bald attempt at doing that. And the statement that we had from Powell on Sunday night, shortly after he arrived, received the subpoen, was unbelievably direct and really took the administration head on. And I just can't emphasize enough how much of a departure that is from his approach so far, really, in the second Trump term, remembering that he was appointed by Trump in his first term in 2017. But Powell so far has really just absorbed the pressure from the White House and continued to focus on his mandate of stabilizing the economy focusing on inflation and jobs. The fact that he would kind of launch a, if you could call it an attack on the White House on Sunday with this comment. The two minute video statement he made was really exceptional and showed that they are digging in and, and are going to defend, defend the record here.
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Everybody is fighting this in public, aren't they? Because we have Donald Trump saying yesterday that Powell is bad in a lot of different ways, but he's bad because his interest rates are too high. And we also have the prosecutor for the, sorry, the, the U S Attorney for the District of Columbia, a former Fox News host Janine Pirro, about the fact that you know this toing and froing about contact and it is ostensibly a very, very grubby public fight, isn't it?
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C
Yeah, definitely. But we've had a few of those already. And as you noted, the Trump administration has been putting extraordinary pressure on Powell throughout this term, which again, in and of itself is absolutely unprecedented to kind of have that visible pressure for a particular decision on interest rates applied to the Fed chair. So it's in keeping with the pressure campaigns we've seen from the administration on particular public officials. But it just carries a lot more economic weight than anything else because it's all wrapped up in where public confidence lies with the Fed's decision making. And if there is any daylight between the Fed decisions and what the public and businesses think is going to happen with inflation. So what we commonly refer to as inflation expectations, if those start to be kind of divorced from what the Fed says their 2% target is, we'll start to see higher inflation be priced in already to kind of inflation setting mechanisms to long term bond yields and the overall premium on U.S. government debt. So even just the suspicion that the Fed was making decisions based on something other than the current state of the economy would be very bad for the economy. And we're heading that way now really at the direction of the executive.
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We haven't seen tremendous turmoil in the markets in the last 24 hours since this investigation was announced. We've also seen the great and the good from the world of banking, the Christine Lagarde of this world standing up and rallying around Powell. Is there a sense actually that we all know what is going on here and business is continuing as usual?
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Yes, I think, I mean, again, fingers crossed, all will be calm. I think the fact that we had the sharp response from Powell in his video statement, step one, and then very strong responses from all the living former Fed chairs, some former Department of Treasury chairs and These international counterparts are absolutely unequivocal. But then also crucially, we also had a statement by some members of the Senate Banking Committee and specifically I'm thinking of Tom Tillis who have said essentially that they wouldn't consider any White House nominations for the Fed until this matter is resolved. Basically blocking, given how evenly divided that committee is, blocking any attempt to appoint a new Fed chair or a new Fed governor. So the response has been overwhelming and has been not in the White House's favor. So this says to markets, okay, that they can relax a little bit and it probably isn't going to go down kind of the worst case scenario. So we're likely to still see markets, markets be, be cautious but calm in the coming days. And I have to say the bond market is the one kind of real signal that tends to be a warning to the White House. The only other time that we saw real instability in bond markets was around the March April super hike in US Tariffs that was announced around Inauguration Day. And it was only after, not the stock market, but only after bond markets started to look quite wobbly. So again, that long term government deb that the White House walked back from some of its more aggressive measures. So that kind of bond market financial market response, but particularly from leaders, says to us probably this will be an actual check on the White House, which again is quite rare now.
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Indeed. And how long term are the effects of that check on the White House? Given the fact that everything with this story has suggested that this is a wider drive by Donald Trump to root out dissent, to overreach in terms of his power and to actually send messages. Messages that, for example, if you're a Supreme Court justice contemplating a ruling against Donald Trump, woe betide you do this. There's a concerted feeling that there is a chilling effect attempted here.
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Yes, definitely. And unfortunately, the effect won't last all that long because Powell's term comes to an end in May, so he's only got a few months left. We're talking about a fight over a very short period of time. So I agree it probably is a message being being sent to his prospective replacements and the rest of the Fed board to say that the White House expects to see lower interest rates and they're willing to use every power in their arsenal to make sure that happens. It does actually cast a lot of questions about the pick of a replacement process. If anything. Kevin Hassett, the chair of the Council of Economic Advisers for the White House, has been one of the frontrunners. He wouldn't have been as traditional a pick for the Fed chair. And that may actually make it harder now for the White House to get him approved if he were to become the eventual nominee, because essentially Congress is going to be looking for absolutely ironclad candidates with a long track record of good governance on the Fed, and they won't be as willing perhaps to consider other alternatives that the White House would like to have.
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Kaylin Burt, global economist and geopolitics expert, thank you so much for joining us on the Globalist. 912 in Kyiv. 7:12am here in London now, as Ukraine heads into the depths of winter, Russia is matching the brutality of the weather by stepping up its assault accordingly, by targeting the country's infrastructure. Moscow is plunging thousands of Ukrainians into the freezing cold with nighttime temperatures dropping as low as -19 Celsius at night. I'm joined now by Julia Jen, who's Monocle's researcher and writer. Very good morning to you, Julia. Good morning, Emma. Now, you have direct family out in Kyiv. What's actually happening out there? What are you, what are you being told?
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There are so many kind of moving parts. There are obviously the rocket barrages that they can actually see from their windows. So the night before this, last night that's just gone. They were awake for half the night because the kind of neighboring suburbs, so if we talk in London terms, that's kind of Finsbury park to Highbury and Islington, that was under huge missile attack. Their sort of substations were being attacked and they could just see these kind of plumes of fire and smoke sort of erupting in the sky. But in terms of heat and electricity, they are in the suburbs and they've been told that they will have no electricity until tomorrow. Luckily, because they live in the suburbs, they have a kind of a private house, as it's called in Ukraine, because most people live in high rise towers, but luckily they live in their own kind of detached house. And so they have access to an aga. They have kind of older infrastructure, lots of people in, you know, high rise blocks of flats. They can't sort of modify their home as they want to. They can't add these sort of little tricks in to sort of heat their homes, but luckily they're safe in that way.
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Now let's talk about what happened on the 9th of January. This is when it really felt as if it was being stepped up. Volodymyr Zelensky warned the citizens of Kyiv that there would be a huge attack. And people had a couple of hours to prepare and then the infrastructure. It's the power plants that Russia's after, isn't it?
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Yes. And the images that we see, the videos we see from inside those power plants after the attacks are done, when the electricians are doing their jobs, they are absolutely sort of apocalyptic. We see sort of frozen water bursting out of tanks and bursting out of pipes. We see electricians with their bare hands, because you can't really wear gloves when you're doing very delicate work. They're sort of trying to thaw some of the ice that's surrounding the pipes. They're trying to sort of do this very delicate kind of repair work in sub zero temperatures. And around them there's just sort of this chaos. And they have to navigate this chaos in order to get homes back. You know, heated water, warm water. And we're talking, you know, in, you know, temperatures like this, we're having water freezing in pipes. And we know in this country, for example, when that happens, pipes burst along the way. There are so many unforeseen consequences. We've had people sitting in their homes for five days now. There are at least just under a thousand homes. For five days they have had absolutely no electricity, no warm water, no heating.
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The wider aim from Russia here is to disconnect the capital, isn't it?
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I think, yeah. I mean, that's sort of their aim, their kind of war aim in many different cities. We've seen that in Odessa as well. So that's the port city. We've even had military intelligence which said that Russia wanted or wants to create a military assault and take the city. And that coupled with their energy strikes on the city, disconnecting the city. When attacks like this happen, they don't just affect people's homes and you know how much that affects people's morale. But also they affect supermarkets, they affect trams, they affect schools, they affect nurseries, they affect lots of different things. We've had the mayor of Kyiv, Kalichiko, calling for people to leave the capital. He also asked if, you know, you do have electricity in your home, please take people in. Please kind of be a good neighbor, they neighbor and take people in from other regions. But if you're. If you're sort of. If your tactic is to shut down ordinary life, ask people to move into kind of villages and so on and so forth, then you are really isolating cities. And that is very much a war aim of Russia's.
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And indeed, I mean, how successful is it? Because obviously you're talking about what's happening on the ground, people trying to use you know, immediate dynamic tactics to try and make sure that they stay warm. That said, the longer term effect on Ukrainian population is what?
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Well, of course we'll see deaths, we'll see people dying from this, especially older people, more vulnerable people, babies. We actually have a family friend who's just had a baby and, you know, she's sitting in her flat without the ability to warm her own newborn child properly. There isn't really a question of resolve because I don't think Ukrainians can compare that situation to living under Russian occupation, which would be a much more grave threat in terms of physical violence, in terms of repression, in terms of torture and so on and so forth. Ukrainians are very clear about what that is, what occupation looks like, because actually many parts of Kyiv and other cities in the east have actually suffered from occupation. So they know exactly how to compare those two situations. They have real life lived experience of that. But I think there is a growing sense of resentment and actually there's an analyst that I follow very closely, Phillips o'. Brien. We've had him before on the show. He is in Kyiv at the moment and he is writing about this and he's talking about the growing resentment that Ukrainians have where things are still called aid when they come from Europe into Ukraine. And yet Ukrainians, by putting up with these conditions, he argues, are really aiding Europe because they are creating that wall of resilience between Russia and Europe.
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Finally, domestically, the resilience of the President Zelensky, he's come unstuck this week, hasn't he? Because the Ukrainian parliament hasn't approved his choice of energy minister. I mean, this is obviously a hugely important role given what we've just been talking about. How damaging is that to Zelenskyy's ability to govern?
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Well, I think there has been a lot of damage done in the last year, really. And in terms of these strikes that we're seeing now, a lot of people would argue that if there was proper preparation taken earlier and if we had sort of programs, the electrician, for example, as a job in Ukraine, I mean, that's. We need a lot of electricians and not just in Ukraine. If we've seen blackouts as well in other European countries, we understand that that sort of job is so vital to national security, something we didn't quite appreciate before. But I think, yes, this the kind of next few days, I think today there will be another vital vot happening in Ukrainian parliament and also for the head of kind of military intelligence and so on, these vital ministries to govern, sort of test on Zelenskyy's hold of power.
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Julia. Jen Monocles, researcher and writer. Thank you as ever, for joining me in the studio. It's seven. It's 18 minutes past seven here in London. You're listening to the globalist. Craft is a matter of perspective, a unique outlook, an obsessive attention to detail. With UBS's Chief Investment Office Houseview, we're focused on identifying the latest investment opportunities and market risks to help you achieve your financial goals. So you get the big picture broken down into thought provoking insights delivered daily and curated by over 200 globally connected, locally active analysts. UBS Banking is our craft. Now let's have a look at today's newspapers. I'm joined in the studio by Jack Dickens, journalist and historian covering Europe, America and the Middle East. He's also the commissioning editor at Engelsburg Ideas. Good morning, Jack. How are we?
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Good morning, Emma. I'm doing very well. It's a pleasure to be here.
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How's your new year been shaping up?
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Well, it was going very calmly, really, and I was just sort of easing myself into the new year, trying to unhook a little bit from the news cycle. But then of course, we were overtaken by events.
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Events, dear boy. Right, okay, what's happening in the papers?
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So, first of all, we've got this big story from yesterday where the Greenlandic and Danish prime ministers showed what could only be described as a display of unity. They held a press conference in Copenhagen where they made it very explicitly clear that Greenland should not be a part of the United States and that Greenland stands with Denmark.
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How surprising are we about, how surprised are we about this statement?
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Well, it's interesting. I think it's interesting that they felt the need to show this, like I said, united front, a display of unity before they head to Washington to have discussions with the Trump administration. I think there had been some speculation in the administration in the US but also in various press outlets around the world that Greenland might be open to an offer from Trump, you know, an offer that they can't refuse in the kind of Don Corleone style of politics that he likes to pursue. But I think this is made very clear now that Denmark and Greenland are at the moment united on this issue.
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And it is obviously very comforting for Denmark and also for Europe as well.
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I think it's comforting for Europe in one way. Again, it's a kind of display of a united front and it might cause some of the more hawkish figures in the administration to perhaps ease off or reconsider their position. However, I think it would be naive to think that this issue is going to go away. I think this is a long term preoccupation for the Trump administration.
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Let's move to a story in the Times. Ramzan Kadyrov, the head, the leader of Chechnya, a very famous and well known figure in this part of the world, by all accounts, at the age of 49, is ill. And to the point where this is serious. He's gravely ill.
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Yes, it's something quite intriguing about Kadyrov. He's almost like a figure from a kind of 13th century chronicle or a Nordic sark. But he is reported by the Novaya Gazeta, the Russian opposition website, to be gravely ill. Apparently, he was in Moscow and admitted to hospital last week and he failed to attend the State Council meeting with President Putin. And obviously this on top of various other geopolitical events, such as what's happened in Venezuela and Iran, will cause another headache for Putin.
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Tell us a little bit more about Kadyrov, because he is famous in Chechnya for running things for human rights abuses, for extrajudicial killings and torture. Where does Kadyrov sort of sit in the great scheme of things?
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So you're right to say that Kadyrov has an iron grip on Chechnya. He's very much Putin's man. He's pro Kremlin. And he in turn gets a lot out of having that Kremlin connection. So the arrangement essentially is that Kadyrov keeps a lid on unrest in Chechnya that satisfies the Kremlin because the Kremlin doesn't have to commit troops and treasure and blood to keeping that part of its federation quiet. So he's allowed a broad degree of internal autonomy so long as he's unflinchingly loyal to Putin and the regime.
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Now, the fact that at the age of 49, apparently it's his pancreas and kidneys which are failing at speed. So at speed now there is the hunt for the successor to Kadyrov, which in many ways seems a very, very difficult challenge.
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It is a difficult challenge. And you know, as you always see with these strongman regimes, doesn't matter where it is in the world, the Middle East, North Korea, the succession always has to be very carefully orchestrated. And there are always fears about a succession crisis or a conflict over who should succeed the strongman, because it could plunge the country into chaos.
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Right, let's move a little bit further into what's happening in Israel. Israel. And this is from the AI Monitor Israel assesses Trump may opt for Iran strike despite protest crackdown. Tell us a little bit about what's happening here.
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E
So this is, you know, a fantastic article from a brilliant journalist, really, an Israeli journalist called Ben Kaspit, who writes for Al Monitor. As you said, he has a lot of connections in Israeli intelligence and security circles, it's fair to say. And it's always interesting to get the view of Israeli officials because they're obviously one of the major regional allies of the United States, but they're also very accomplished America watchers and Trump whisperers. So they believe that Trump ordering some kind of strike in support of the protesters in Iran is a matter of when, not if. They think this is going to go.
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Ahead, head and explain to us a little bit, I mean, the reasons why they believe this and what, in fact, what nature this attack would take.
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So they, they believe that Trump, now that he has said very, very clearly and publicly yesterday on Truth Social, that help is on the way for the Iranian protesters and that they should take control of their, their institutions. He won't want to be seen as setting down a red line, that he then doesn't back up, up with force and that he doesn't want the regime to rest up. And it's unlikely, very, very unlikely that there'll be any boots on the ground. But what we might see is something that similar to what we saw last year, where the United States conducts airstrikes on strategic facilities linked with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the regime in Tehran.
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So explain a little bit more the looking at Al Molita's coverage of it, the view from Israel is what? Because obviously the connection between Israel and the United States, Trump and Netanyahu are politically close and allied internationally. What are the Israelis worried about here?
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Well, I think in terms of worries, I wouldn't necessarily say that they're concerned that a strike might go ahead. I think they want to be prepared, as always, if the United States does take some kind of unilateral action or seeks to coordinate some action in Iran with Israel. And you're right to say that actually it is a very important security relationship for them. So I think they just want to make sure that they're always in lockstep and moving in lockstep with their allies on such an important issue.
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Brilliant. Right. Let's move finally to a story in the Times, which is fabulous, fabulous. It's about two bronze statues in Malaga which have been planned to be placed at the entrance of the port. And everybody says that they look like Comic superheroes.
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Yes, exactly. They say it's. It's like something from the Marvel universe. It's absurd. It's. The city's Royal Academy of Fine Arts said that they're unbelievably pretentious and grandiloquent, that they have a certain kitsch appeal, that they don't want to be associated with the city. So I think the consensus from a lot of people who live there is that these are completely tasteless.
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Tasteless. Yet, I mean, you're going to have to describe them to me because we're not exactly looking at, I don't know, I'm just thinking of the Farnese Hercules, which you can see extensively, which is effectively all muscle. And I'm trying to work out what they're actually trying to achieve here. This is a tricky thing on radio. We have to describe things when we can't see them.
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Of course. I think that's, that's a good point.
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Point.
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It's certainly not the Villafarnese Hercules we have. I wouldn't, I wouldn't compare it to that. Aesthetic achievements. There is. So there's going to be two statues. One will be an 11 meter tall Neptune with a kind of toga covering his, you know, private areas and big trident. And with him, with him will stand a 5 meter tall Venus, who similarly will have a kind of, you know, tasteful coverings with various different pieces of foliage to make sure that nothing is inappropriate for tourists who might wander past these statues. So they're going to be huge and they're also going to be very, very cheesy.
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They sound absolutely marvelous. I mean, the figures are conceived to sort of celebrate local character, aren't they? Because Neptune with his fishing net will be Malaga's maritime tradition and Venus will be apparently holding the sun as a nod to the Costa del Sol. I mean, this is glorious. And one sort of like cannot bear help to think that you actually quite admire the people in Malaga for just their brazen chutzpah here. Because they're pretty out there, I think.
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E
I think I do admire it and I certainly don't think McKinsey would have come up with this solution. But I think actually you do tap into something important here, and that is that these kinds of statues in Portuguese are steeped in a tradition that goes back to the Greeks and Romans and to the ancient Mediterranean world, where a grand colossus statue obviously stood at the harbor of Rhodes guarding over its safety and security. But I imagine the fear from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts is that this might end up looking like something from the TV comedy show Benidorm or perhaps Carry on rather than the mighty Colossus that once bestrode Rhodes.
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Seriously, I can't wait for for them to be built. Jack Dickens, journalist and historian, thank you so much for joining us on the Globalist.
- [29:32]
E
Thank you.
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A
Now a quick look at some of the other stories we're keeping an eye on today. It's been reported that more than 2,400 people have now been killed during anti government protests spreading across Iran. President Trump has again threatened action against the authorities and has been consulting security advisors. China has announced the largest annual trade surplus in history despite Donald Trump's tariff wars. China says it sold US$1.2 trillion more in goods and services than it imported last year. The Chairman of the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles has announced many tickets to the games will only cost $28 each. He says the games have to be affordable and Japan's Prime Minister and South Korea's president have been playing the drums together in a display of unity following a summit in Seoul. The pair more wore matching tops and T to 2K pop songs. Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takeichi was in a heavy metal band as a student. This is the Globalist. Stay tuned. Now let's take a look behind the headlines. Here's Monocles Anita Rioto at the latest from Paris as the Louvre museum raises the entry fee for some, but not all of its visitors, foreign tourists arriving at the Louvre ticket booth may be in for a surprise. Starting today, the world's most visited museum will raise its ticket prices for non European Economic area visitors by 45%, asking them to now fork out €32. The price hike has caused quite the stir in France, with the museum's trade unions decrying the policy as shocking philosophically, socially and on a human level. The Louvre was founded to bring art and culture into the lives of all socio economic classes and a significant portion of its 500,000 artworks and artifacts come from outside of Europe. Can it really justify charging an Egyptian visitor more to see the Great Sphinx of Tanis than their French counterpart? Apparently so. The Louvre has defended the move due to the price increase, bringing in a reported 20 million euros a year needed to tackle structural issues that would include restorations and state of the art security upgrades, though these needs are not to be underestimated. Generosity and transparency are part of the institution's spectacle, WELCOMING A staggering 9 million visitors annually from all over the world. The Louvre is more than just a museum. The glass pyramid has become a monolith to the world's cultural imagination. Every everyone, regardless of nationality, should be able to ponder the Mona Lisa's smile or marvel at the winged victory equally. Monocle's Anita Riota there in Paris. For more, you can sign up to our daily newsletter, the Monocle Minute, just by going to our website. You're listening to the Globalist. 1632 in Seoul, which is where we head next. South Korean prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for the former President Yoon Suk Yeol following his conviction last year when he declared martial law in 2024. It's the first time in around three decades that a sitting or former South Korean president has been tried on insurrection related charges. To bring us up to date, I'm joined now by Rafael Rashid, who's a Seoul based journalist for publications including the Guardian and Al Jazeera. Good afternoon, Rafael.
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F
Hello. Good afternoon or good morning to you.
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A
How much of a surprise is this? This seeking of the death penalty?
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F
I mean, I don't think it was too much of a surprise. Essentially insurrection charges, you basically have one of three options. Life imprisonment, with or without labor, or the death penalty. They're basically all more or less the same thing in reality. So I don't think it was too much of a surprise that prosecutors seek such a strong conviction, essentially.
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A
Nonetheless, it is quite a shocking concept.
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F
It is a shocking concept, of course, to hand down the death penalty. But in South Korea, I mean, even though they have the death penalty, they haven't executed anyone since I think it's 1997. The death penalty remains on the books, but it's basically de facto, basically they don't carry it out anymore. I think it's more of a symbolic gesture when they hand down a life imprisonment sentence.
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A
Explain to us a little bit more of the context here. Given the effect of Yoon Suk Yeol, I mean, we have to go back to what, December 2024, when he very quickly and for a very short period of time declared martial law. And it threw South Korea into upside down, didn't it? Up until then? A hitherto very young yet stable democracy finding itself in a moment of complete turmoil, which has then lasted for a good year because of this trial. Where are we up to now?
- [34:53]
F
Yeah, I mean, I think that was quite a good summary there. It basically brought complete chaos for the past, you know, almost a year and a half, and took people completely off guards when he declared martial law. And right now, you know, the prosecutors yesterday have demanded the death penalty. But this is the first insurrection trial of a sitting or former Korean president in three decades. But I think the difference here is that Yoon himself was democratically elected. And the debate centers on whether a democratically elected president attempted to overturn or overthrow constitutional order through martial law or not. Yun himself actually faces eight separate trials. He's wanted for all sorts of misdeeds. And this entire chaos, this saga, has also brought down his wife, who is wanted on corruption charges as well. We're going to see a potential conviction for that very soon. And also, you know, elites in the political establishment and within the military are all facing their own reckonings. Over 120 people have been indicted. So this has been quite the legal onslaught for the past year and a half. And now, you know, the verdicts are slowly going to be coming out now.
- [36:19]
A
Not just a legal onslaught, but also an onslaught when it comes to public opinion. Because this wasn't a straightforward case, was it, in terms of the amount of support that Yoel enjoyed during his trial?
- [36:31]
F
Yeah. I mean, this is a country that is sharply divided along partisan lines, lines. I mean, like many other countries, but here it's very much. It's very. A lot of animosity on both sides. And Yun's supporters, they basically view this as political persecution. His opponents see it as accountability for an attempted coup. And of course, you know, when we bring in the death penalty demand, I think that, of course, has intensified the divisions. Some considerations consider it appropriate given the charges. Others see it as excessive. But even, I think this morning, the conservative flagship newspaper the Chosunilbo, the headline basically said that the death penalty, requesting the death penalty is an embarrassment to the nation. I think it's extremely. Even within conservative bloc. It's very embarrassing that this is basically happening in the 21st century when kind of dictatorships and authoritarianism were meant to be things of the past.
- [37:40]
A
And as a result, would the carrying out of the death sentence be something which is actually pretty much unlikely to happen? It's unimaginable.
- [37:48]
F
Yeah. I mean, it's impossible. Essentially. It's impossible. I think the difference is, well, a, it's a symbolic move to ask for the death penalty, and B, of course the prosecutors will aim high and, you know, usually the judge, when it comes to the verdict, will probably tone it down a bit. Probably, you know, if the judge does agree that this was an insurrection, then we'll bring it down to life imprisonment, which is also a bit easier to commute as a crime versus the death penalty. But, you know, he will likely face many, many years in prison. As I said, many Ongoing trials. But as happens with all the VIPs and presidents that that face the courts at one point or another, they will likely be pardoned.
- [38:37]
A
Rafael Rashid soul based journalist for publications including the Guardian and Al Jazeera. Thank you so much for joining us. You're listening to Monocle Radio. Now as winter tightens its grip across much of the western hemisphere, many thoughts are turning to sunnier escapes. And one place drawing attention is Mexico where the Chablis collection has built a reputation for secluded design led luxury hotels rooted in local culture. Diego Gutierrez is the founder and director of development at GND Properties. They're the company behind the brand. I spoke to him earlier and began by asking what Chablis is and what makes these boutique hotels so special.
- [39:25]
B
We are boutique Mexican owned luxury collections of hotels in Mexico. We have two at the moment in the Yucatan Peninsula, one in the state of Yucatan and the other one in the state of Quintana Roo. The first one was opened in 2017. It was Chabla Yucatan, which is where awarded the best hotel in North America and number eight in the world by the world's 50 best.
- [39:50]
A
That must make you burn with ambition.
- [39:53]
B
No, no, no.
- [39:54]
A
Eight is brilliant. Top 10.
- [39:56]
B
Extremely happy about the recognition and just truly honored.
- [39:59]
A
When are we top five?
- [40:01]
B
Hopefully next year.
- [40:02]
A
Now tell me about yourself at the devastatingly ripe age of 36. You've been doing this for how long? How did you land in this world?
- [40:11]
B
This project mainly it was 16 years ago.
- [40:15]
A
So you were 20. Right. So what's 20 year old Diego doing?
- [40:19]
B
First I wanted to be a developer, honestly, but I had a lot of passion for hospitality. So I worked 16 years ago, another place in the Riviera Maya, getting to learn every single piece of hospitality as waiter, reservations, concierge, everything. And that's when I felt that we as Mexicans, we love to host people at our houses, at our places, create parties and everything. I think the hospitality is something that you just have a party in the.
- [40:47]
A
Middle of the Mayan jungle without disturbing local four legged residents.
- [40:51]
B
Well, this was in Mexico City.
- [40:53]
A
Okay.
- [40:53]
B
I'm based in Mexico City so I.
- [40:55]
A
Always parties in the jungle.
- [40:57]
B
Yes, we do have parties in the jungle, which is amazing. We have lots of buyouts, weddings, special celebrations and it's quite unique, it's quite something to me.
- [41:05]
A
What does a jungle part? I'm keen, I'm going to push you on this one. What does a jungle party look and sound like?
- [41:09]
B
It's amazing. Lots of lights. I mean in the middle, you know, the Maya were amazing astronomers so you get to see the sky at that moment because we're literally in the middle of the jungle. So imagine nice music, nice lighting, lots of friends, family, literally once again in the middle of the jungle.
- [41:26]
A
Do we get any jungle friends coming to say hello?
- [41:29]
B
All of the fauna that is nearby? Yes, of course.
- [41:32]
A
Excellent. Do they turn up and want to get crashed your party? Tell me a little bit more about you. You have a new project. It's taking a long time and that is a very, very good thing. And this is all now going to be telling us about Mexican wine, which I am ashamed to say I have never drunk a drop of Mexican wine. But this is your next new project, isn't it?
- [41:53]
B
Precisely. It is in. It's called Valle de Guadalupe. It is on the northwest area of Mexico. So if you go to San Diego's international airport is one hour and 45 minutes away. And it is beautiful place, literally in the middle of the valley. It took us six years just to find that place. And we're developing now 70 rooms and 10 branded residences at that project. And yes, Mexican wine is getting to know even more nowadays. Grapes like Nebbiolo, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay. So it's a really nice Mexican wine. Would love for you to try it.
- [42:30]
A
Because you wouldn't necessarily associate when you think about Mexico. You don't think of a wine growing climate in many ways. So tell us a little bit more about what the rest of the world is missing out on here.
- [42:41]
B
This is a very special area, as you've mentioned. I mean the sea is about 30 minutes away where we are, so it's in high altitude as well. I mean rare climate as well. So the grapes can deliver the best of themselves. And it is quite unique. I mean, obviously it is not very well known worldwide. I think we've missed to express this to the world. And that is also one of our missions. As I said previously as Chabl, we're trying to deliver the best of Mexico. So we decided to go to this place because it is truly unique. Mexican wine is also very different. So for what you can try all around the world. And we're on a mission of that. I mean to try to express the best terrace in Mexico.
- [43:19]
A
Tell us a little bit bit about 2026 and what you will be doing. Obviously we have the Valle de Guadalupe. Apologies for the bad pronunciation. What are your sort of main ambitions for 2026, especially when you are in the middle of the international luxury travel market? You are clearly picking up ideas and you know, being the magpie that we all are when we're at these places. What are you, what are you learning here that you're taking back to Mexico?
- [43:44]
B
That's great. I mean, I think there's a trend now that we are on it and in the luxury level with the branded residences. So we're launching branded residences in the Yucatan in Valle Guadalupe and in a third project in the Pacific coast, which is called Costa Alegre, we're working on that one. We've just had our first residences in the Yucatan and once again we're trying to deliver the next ones in Valle Guadalupe two years from now. But I think also in this trend, you need to have activities and amenities that create community. For example, in the Yucatan this year we will launch the new kids club and new the farm of the grandfather, which we do have all of these mini animals like for example, mini chickens in which you can go.
- [44:29]
A
Mini chickens?
- [44:30]
B
Yes.
- [44:30]
A
Right. I need to know everything about mini chickens.
- [44:33]
B
That's amazing. I mean you can go with your kids, with your granddaughters, everyone.
- [44:37]
A
By myself. I'll be fine.
- [44:38]
B
That is amazing. And you can gravel the eggs, go with the chef.
- [44:41]
A
Are they tiny eggs?
- [44:42]
B
Tiny eggs as well. And you could get your own eggs in the morning. There's an orchid house as well in the area. So it's a place where you can create more community with all your friends and family or as you mentioned, new activities for yourself.
- [44:57]
A
And that was Diego Gutierrez, the founder and director of development at GND Properties. He was talking to me a little while ago at Monocle's pop up studio at the international luxury travel market in Cannes. You're listening to the Globalist iq, EQ and AI. Three components key to the craft of innovation at ubs. Because to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving age, you need a partner with decades of experience, endless passion for the work and a finger on the pulse of leadership technologies. Bridging human expertise with artificial intelligence. All to elevate you. UBS banking is our craft. We head now to Finland on the Globalist where a Helsinki based startup is trying to do for eyewear what autofocus did for photography. IXI is a young company backed by fresh European investment claims to have developed the world's first consumer ready glasses that automatically adjust to whatever you're looking at. Our Helsinki correspondent Petri Birtsoff has been to meet the team at the launch of their first generation frames.
- [46:24]
B
It's launch day for ixi and while the company's technology has been whispered about in Finland, Startup Circles for some time. This is the first time they're letting people see the final product. XY's promise is simple to explain, but extremely complex to engineer glasses that automatically adjust focus instantly based on where the wearer looks. So how does that actually work? I put the question to the founder and CEO Nico Aydin. There's one word describing them which is out of focus. And if you think of the camera analogy, it's exactly the same. So you point and shoot, and then the camera adjusts automatically. We are doing glasses that do exactly the same. So whatever you're looking at, the glasses provide you the right focus, the optical power, so that you can actually see sharply. But autofocus vision correction is something that has defeated far larger companies than ixi. Traditional lens is are static, Xs are not. And that's because of a liquid crystal system embedded inside the lens itself. We had three big questions when we started the company four and a half years ago. The first one was, can we do a tunable lens? And the technology that we selected was liquid crystals. So we have liquid crystals as a very thin layer, free floating, and then we create the electrical field with a very complicated electrode structure. And with the, with this signal, we can manipulate the liquid crystal so that we can emulate the traditional lens so we can create the wave front with a liquid crystal. So that's how the tunable lens works in very kind of simple terms. The second big question was how do we do the autofocus functionality? And for this, we have created an eye tracker with very low power consumption. So it's really ultra low power, so we can run an eye tracker for the full day in this form factor. And the third question was really, can we actually do glasses that look and feel? And that's what we are launching here today. And those glasses, well, they look surprisingly normal. Sleek acetate frames, not a hint of the electronics inside. That's deliberate. Says Chief Design Officer Timo Uliluwona. It all starts with integrating the technology so deep inside the product that it's actually becoming almost invisible. This gives us the freedom to actually find directions to the design and aesthetics itself. And we have chosen for our first gen product line to be very classic. So we have looked back in time and kind of looked what has existed for a long time, and what are the most iconic shapes in the world. Then we have refreshed them a little bit just to give them a modern look. And this is iconic, timeless, and hidden. Technology in plain sight. The potential market is substantial. More than 2 billion people around the world need vision correction and traditional eyewear hasn't fundamentally changed in decades. For icsiq, that's an opportunity. Eyewear hasn't really changed for a very, very long time. And the way how we correct vision, it's static. For the first time, we are looking, looking at the product that could actually dynamically change the vision and what it means. In a sense, it has the potential to change pretty much everything around the industry. How it's being made, how it's being distributed, how you purchase glasses, because in the future you can tune in the power that is required. The glasses can also change and adapt towards your eyesight during the day. With an eye tracker, we can actually, we have a good idea whether you are able to focus still or not or whether eyes are tight. So all those things can be done in the future. So the impact will be massive. The company's frames are produced in Europe and Ixi has built its manufacturing process in a way that can be scaled rapidly. Design takes place here in Finland, and for those launch models, that design included a lot of user testing. For all the sophisticated engineering inside the lenses, IXI discovered that what users care about most is comfort. We constantly talk with our users and ask what they dream of and what are their pain points with their current and existing eyewear. And we actually found out that there is one single element that prices above everything else but people really value with their eyewear and it's the comfort and fit. So this is actually why we have also designed something that we call the true frame fit technology. So we can actually adjust the temples, the nose piece and the pantoscopic tilt of the frame. While there's still work to do for Ixi, such as scaling, manufacturing, securing distribution and proving that autofocus eyewear is more than a niche, the company's ambitions are global. If its lenses work as promised, they may mark the biggest shift in everyday eyewear since the invention of the bifocal lens for monocle in Helsinkip Ein Petri Burzoff.
- [51:27]
A
That was our Helsinki correspondent, Petrie Burzoff.
- [51:30]
D
There.
- [51:30]
A
You're listening to the Globalist. Finally, and on today's program, we head to Tokyo, where the time is what, 1650? Joining us for a roundup of all the news from Japan is our Tokyo bureau chief, Fiona Wilson. A very good afternoon, early evening, Chief Fiona.
- [51:51]
G
Hi. Thank you, Emma.
- [51:52]
A
How's it looking where you are this evening?
- [51:54]
G
Yep. Enjoying yet another sunny day. Don't mean to make everyone jealous, but no, another very clear day. Great views of Mount Fuji at the moment. I Feel like every day I. I turn a corner and there, suddenly, unexpectedly, is the great mountain itself.
- [52:08]
A
Beautiful, right? What's happening where you are?
- [52:12]
G
Well, I mean, quite a lot politically. It looks like we're gonna have a general election soon. That's the big news today. I mean, it's sort of been flagged for, you know, pretty much since the end of the year, but it really looks like it will happen now. You've got the new session of the Diet about to happen, and, you know, if everything is to be believed, and I think now it's being pretty much reported in every paper, it looks like the election will be called for either the second or third week of February. So, yeah, that's coming up. That's around the corner. So that's. Everyone's going to be preparing. Actually, the election period here is pretty short, so you don't get put through these very long campaigns. That's one good thing. And I think Prime Minister Takechi needs to bolster her incredibly slender coalition majority. You know, she can't afford to lose a seat. That's how tight it is. She's in a coalition with the Japan Innovation Party, and. And with any luck, I mean, her ratings. I just saw the ratings from the weekend, and she's up at 78%, which, you know, these are ratings that many prime ministers would dream of, so it may be a good moment for her to capitalize on those.
- [53:14]
A
Indeed, she's only been in situ since when? October. And yet she seems to have made an enormous impression both domestically and internationally.
- [53:23]
G
Yeah, she has. I mean, you know, we've talked about her, haven't we? She's an unusual figure, you know, from Nara, middle of Japan. Japan, traditional, you know, the old capital of Japan. She's not from a political family. She, you know, famously loves motorbikes and drumming, as we now know. That's much talked of. She was once a drummer in a heavy metal band, but, you know, she speaks her mind. She's a very. She's been a politician for a long time, married to a retired politician. You know, she's. She's really an unusual person, and I think she probably is not taking all the decisions that people are expecting. She set off a very, very unfortunate spat with China quite early on, and that slightly shaped the early part of her premiership. But, yeah, I think this election may be able to sort of cement her slightly rocky start. You know, it's difficult in Japan. These coalition governments tend not to last. But she seems to be doing okay.
- [54:16]
A
Well, this spat that was ignited with China about what Japan would do were China to mount a military attack on Taiwan. Wan has not just shone the spotlight between Tokyo and Beijing, but it is also shone the spotlight of, of, of a closer relationship between Seoul, South Korea and, and Tokyo. And this is demonstrated by the most astonishing thing that happened. Yeah. Now that for those of us who aren't absolutely sure what's going on there is the Fiona, it's the President of South Korea and the Japanese Prime Minister banging it out on the drums to some K pop. Is that correct? What's happening, Fiona?
- [55:11]
G
I mean, that is correct. And even when you understand it, you still can't quite believe it, can you? I mean, the fantastic photographs. They're both in sort of blue uniforms, little bomber jacket, one with the Japan flag, one with the flag for South Korea. Yeah. I mean, so Takaichi is, as we've just said, is a drummer. And it seems that at apec he may have regretted it. Yesterday, President Lee of South Korea said he'd love to play the drums. So as a surprise at the end of this two day summit, you know, he's here now, he was told, here you go, here's the drum kit. And the two of them sat down and bashed their way through a BTS song. And that one you just heard, golden, that sort of smash hit from last year. And you know, I thought, what a moment of soft power. I just could not imagine Xi Jinping pulling off the same thing. And I think it certainly points to the eccentricity of Takaichi that we've been speaking about. She does the unexpected, that's for sure.
- [56:05]
A
And it's a former heavy metal drummer in her that's coming out there. So she's basically setting a massive challenge to President Lee.
- [56:12]
G
Yeah, he was brilliant though, I thought. And honestly, they're waving their sticks in the air. It looked like good fun. Great photos. I mean, I just don't know. It was quite hard to process that. And then of course, you know, the, the Kante. The Cabinet Office has, has posted a short video on their YouTube channel. I recommend everyone immediately runs to YouTube to watch that. It is so good.
- [56:32]
A
I agree.
- [56:32]
G
Extraordinary.
- [56:33]
A
If there's one thing you do today, look this stuff up. Right, let's move away from Japanese politics and, and to Japanese language instead.
- [56:42]
G
Yeah. So the Oxford English Dictionary, you know, occasionally adds borrowed words from other languages and they've just added a load of words from Japanese. I think the last time they did it was two years ago and those words were a lot of those words they added at that point. Were culinary, you know, they all related to food culture. And it's interesting, the selection they've picked as 11 new words have gone into the Oxford Dictionary. Japanese words. Fascinating for me because I thought, are these words really in currency in English? I must have been away for two. You know, some of them, the washlet, the famous Toto washlet, toilet, which is another great sort of weapon of soft power for Japan. The wash and blow loo with a heated seat, you know, can't be beaten down.
- [57:27]
A
Believe me, winters can't be survived without them, I'll be assuring you.
- [57:32]
G
But there are some. I think there are a bit of a sort of anime connection. So you've got things like yokai, which, you know, these are these sort of ghost spirits. And I think they are a big feature of, you know, anime manga that have definitely cut through to English language culture. Big in Japan. Some were a bit surprising to me. Naginata, which is a, you know, I mean, I don't know. I look, I thought, how on earth do you translate that? It's described as a polearm. It's a very. It's a weapon with a long wooden handle and a blade. And it's used in martial arts. I was amazed to find that was, you know, frequently used or used enough to appear in English. You've got White Day, where. Which is March 14, a month after Valentine's Day. Japan's confectioners have created a day which is a sort of response to Valentine's Day. Here in Japan, Valentine's Day is when women give chocolate to men, to their colleagues. It's not really a day for romance. And White Day is the day in reverse. Men give chocolate to women. So that's gone into the language. White Day ekiden, which is this sort of very long relay race which is very big in Japan. So, no, fascinating to me. It was, you know, it's interesting to see what words people have picked up.
- [58:45]
A
Fiona Wilson, our Tokyo bureau chief, joining us on the line from Japan. Thank you so much for your update of what's happening where you are. And that's all the time we have for today's program. The warmest of thanks to all my guests and to the producers, Laura Kramer, Tom Webb, Anita Riota and Rima Takahashi. Our researcher was Anneliese Maynard and our studio manager was Christy o', Grady, with editor assistance by Steph Chungu. After the headlines. More music on the way. The briefings live at midday here in London. The Globalist is back at the same time tomorrow. Join me for that if you can. But for now, from me, Emma Nelson, Goodbye. Thank you very much for listening. Sam. With ubs, you have a truly global.
- [60:07]
D
Partner incorporating new technologies, innovative approaches and.
- [60:11]
A
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D
Because it's about rising with the dawn each day, knowing that we can do even better.
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A
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- [60:31]
B
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