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- [00:04]
UBS Narrator
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 and 12 key financial hubs. With you at the heart of it all, UBS advice is our craft.
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Emma Nelson
You're listening to the Globalist, first broadcast on 16 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, South Korea's former president Yoon Suk Yeol is found guilty of abuse of power and fabricating official documents. We'll have the latest on this breaking story. Also ahead in the next 60 minutes.
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Andrew Muller
Help us create a database of the atrocities against Minnesotans, not just to establish a record for posterity, but to bank evidence for future prosecution.
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Emma Nelson
The governor of Minnesota. They're calling for cool heads, but the president is ramping up the pressure as Donald Trump threatens to use a rare piece of legislation to stop protests against immigration raids. We'll find out what the Insurrection act is and whether it'll stop the unrest. Plus, in Greece, the head of the Civil Aviation Authority has resigned after a radio control tower blackout cut communications between land and air. We'll hear more about how climate change is forcing the farmers of Sicily to turn tropical.
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Andrew Muller
And for the first time in the history of this, the Friday what We Learned monologue on Monocle Radio, we were able to check out on a story which even supplied its own rim shot.
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Emma Nelson
Andrew Muller tells us what we learned. Plus, we polish our rice grains with the latest news from the world of sake. That's all ahead on the Globalist, live from London. Let us begin today's program with some breaking news. In the last couple of hours, a South Korean court has found the former President Yoon Suk Yeol guilty of abuse of power and fabricating official documents. The court in Seoul is delivering its verdict in the first of several cases linked to Mr. Yoon's failed attempt to impose martial law in December 2024. To bring us up to date, I'm joined now by Rafael Rashid, who's a Seoul based journalist for public locations including the Guardian and Al Jazeera. The time in Seoul has just gone 1600. Rafael, a very good afternoon to you.
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Rafael Rashid
Good afternoon.
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Emma Nelson
So bring us the latest if you would, please.
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Rafael Rashid
Yeah. So today, former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was he was sentenced to five years in prison for obstructing his own arrest back in January 2025, and also abuse of power, including falsifying documents. So the court found him guilty of bas mobilizing presidential security service to physically block investigators who came to arrest him with a valid warrant. Last year, he set up barricades with buses and military personnel around his residence. And this is just, you know, one of the first verdicts of what is an unprecedented legal crisis facing Yun. And of course, the other charge that was, you know, against him was essentially that he. He basically, when he declared martial law, he only notified selected cabinet members about the emergency meeting, deliberately excluding ministers who had basically a constitutional right to deliberate on such a critical decision. But he excluded those who basically he thought might not agree with him. So the. The judge found that he had essentially gone above the constitution and basically tried to do whatever he wanted. And so that is just the first, first case, first verdict that we're having. And there will be several more to come over the coming weeks.
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Emma Nelson
Five years in jail. A couple of days ago on the Globalist, we were talking about prosecutors seeking the death penalty. This is what being considered to be a reasonable term.
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Rafael Rashid
Yeah, well, yeah, as you mentioned, just two days ago, prosecutors demanded the death penalty for Yun in his main insurrection trial, and the verdict for that will come out in mid February. They characterized the martial law declaration as basically seriously destroying the constitutional order. And they use extremely strong language, of course, under South Korea's criminal code, leading an insurrection, because this is what they're calling it, carries basically three possible sentences. Life in prison with labor, without labor, or the death penalty. They're basically all the same thing, more or less. You know, you end up in prison for life. But I think the severity of it demanded the death penalty, according to the prosecutors. And I think many people were happy to see that they put such a strong, strong request against him. Because when we have the verdict that will come out next in February, the judge might tone it down a bit and say, okay, maybe not life and maybe not the death penalty, but life in prison, basically the same thing. So I think that's one of the reasons why prosecutors aimed so high, given the severity of Yun's actions.
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Emma Nelson
So this is just the first in a series of cases that the. The Seoul court is. Is considering. What happens now?
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Rafael Rashid
What happens now is, well, he has already been detained for, I would say, most of the past year in a detention facility, but now he is officially, you know, in jail, where he will likely stay for many years. To come. We will then have the main insurrection verdict in mid February. This is just one of many trials that are proceeding right now. There's a total of eight. So on top of life in prison or the death penalty or the five years he got today, he faces many more years in prison and of course, all the people around him as well, including his wife, who is now investigating her for corruption. So we have many different people from his former cabinet who are on trial. So we're going to have many more verdicts coming out. But I guess no matter how many years he faces in prison, everyone also does expect that at one point or another, as happens with all former presidents who go into prison, he will eventually be pardoned. And that's what many people think will happen at some point or another.
- [07:39]
Emma Nelson
Rafael Rashid in Seoul, thank you so much. Rafael is a journalist for publications including the Guardian and Al Jazeera. You're listening to the Globalist with me, Emma Nelson. The time here in London is seven minutes past seven. Now. A standoff has emerged between the US President Donald Trump and the governor of Minnesota, Tim Walls, over what can be done and by which authority. On the streets of Minneapolis, Mr. Walls has encouraged people to speak out urgently but peacefully against the ICE immigration raids. In response, Mr. Trump has pulled out a rarely used item of legislation, the Insurrection act, and says he's ready to use it against protesters to explain oil. I'm joined in the studio by Monocle senior news editor Chris Chermack. A very good morning to you, Chris.
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Chris Chermack
Good morning, Emma.
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Emma Nelson
Good to see you. Good to have you with us. Right before we even start, what is.
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Chris Chermack
The insurrect, the Insurrection act of 1807 invoked or created by Thomas Jefferson. So it goes back a long way. It's been used about 30 times over its history. A couple of interesting ones, maybe, to note just for background here. Basically, this is an act that's used in order to bring the military into states when they believe it's in the name there is some sort of insurrection or rebellion, something that is not allowing federal laws to be applied in a state. That's what this is. A couple of interesting examples back in 1992 with the riots over Rodney King and the police officers who were not convicted in the beating of Rodney King. That was a time where the Insurrection act was invoked, but the California governor asked for George H.W. bush at the time to use it. Going back a bit further, JFK, interestingly, 1962, back the old Ms. Riots when there was an attempt to desegregate schools and universities JFK invoked the act in order to allow an African American student to attend Ole Miss. So that was a famous example as well. Now we're having Donald Trump threaten. He's threatened in his first term to use the Insurrection Act. He's threatening again now in order to clamp down on protests in Minnesota. He says the military would be needed to do that.
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Emma Nelson
So we now have this. Again, we're seeing a situation where we have tensions between the federal, the executive in the White House and then state governors trying to manage a situation on their own doorstep. Cause this goes back to when there was a shooting dead of an American woman in her car by immigration agents last week. And this has precipitated all this. Tim Walls, the governor of Minnesota, is saying, we cannot fan the flames of chaos. That's what Donald Trump wants. But we have another standoff, don't we?
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Chris Chermack
We do. And to the point about something like the Insurrection Act. Donald Trump needs the flames to be fanned quite dramatically, at least if you want, legally speaking. Because simply to have a protest is not enough to invoke something like the insurrect, frankly. As I said, there aren't many times where it's been used in history in the last decades, especially against the will of a governor. So he'd really need reason to do it. Although we know with Donald Trump that he doesn't necessarily follow legal niceties. So what you've seen from officials, Minnesota officials, including Tim Walls, is trying to tamp down, trying to tell people, please protest, but protest peacefully. Don't give Donald Trump any reason to invoke something like the Insurrection Act. We saw some protests that turned somewhat violent on Wednesday night. There were injuries after a Venezuelan immigrant was shot by ICE agents. This sort of ramped things up again. Yesterday, by comparison, was relatively quiet. There is a lot of fear when you look at the Minnesota News in the last days. People staying at home because of ICE agents, some 3,000 of them on the street, and yes, the governor, the mayor of Minneapolis as well, Jacob Frey, they're all urging calm at this point, but at the same time, they're urging citizens to document what is happening. So they're saying, take out your phones and simply document what ICE agents are doing on the streets. Don't get involved, don't protest loudly, throw fireworks at them or anything else. Document it. And they've even created forms so that you can document any violations that you see of ICE agents. So they can get, like a list, if you will, for any future court action.
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Emma Nelson
There's an excellent article in the New York Times in the last couple of days, where they've actually gone down into Minneapolis and have basically gone and walked around the bars and just to find out what's really happening out there and is it. There's this quote saying there's a divide in Minneapolis. Protesters who are obviously causing all this trouble now saw the death of Renee Goode as the killing of an innocent woman who has been. Whose life has been taken by a federal agent. That is why they've taken to the streets. Yet there is, I think they go into a bar called the Pickle, and regulars there at the bar see Renegood as a woman who should have complied. This exposes a much deeper divide in America, doesn't it?
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Chris Chermack
It does. It fits into the divide that we've been seeing for a number of years now, frankly. But something that is being leaned into more than in the past. What was also interesting yesterday, speaking of that, is that you actually had Republican candidates for governor of Minnesota on TV doing a debate, and they basically said exactly this. They took this line, if Minnesota were to simply comply with Donald Trump and ICE agents, none of this would happen. So you're seeing that from across the levels. You will from politicians should comply to the people as well. Now, I think it is important to say when you look at that video to suggest that Renee Goode was so aggressively not complying that she deserved to be shot. Well, I think I'd urge people to look at the video again. She was attempting to drive away from a scene, she was unarmed, et cetera, et cetera. But it has been incredible to read those kinds of stories, including the New York Times. Also, the rural divide that you see within that people outside of Minneapolis saying, well, we haven't seen this here. We just kind of wish that these big cities would comply with federal agents. We don't see what the big deal is. So, yes, you haven't seen a huge movement, although you have seen some opposition to Trump's immigration policies as a result of this rising also in the polls.
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Emma Nelson
Finally, just thinking about the last two stories that we've just covered. We have Donald Trump sending in or wanting to invoke the Insurrection act in the United States. And it's seeming to be rather uncontrolled at the moment. And yet just five, six minutes ago, we were in Seoul hearing about how the former president has been found guilty of abuse of power for starting martial law. There's a wider question coming up here, isn't it? This is like rule of law, abuse of rule of law. And when the executive doesn't follow what I think you just called legal niceties. We are in a very unusual world.
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Chris Chermack
We are in an unusual world. I would bring a third one into that, Emma, that struck me yesterday, which is of course Iran, because Donald Trump is, is threatening Iran specifically for attacking protesters and conducting violence against protesters in Iran that are fighting for democracy. Meanwhile, he is invoking potentially the Insurrection act to quell protests in the United States, in Minnesota. So there are a lot of contradictions around these stories, a lot of contradictions around the world as well. We'll be speaking later in this show about, say, Brazil being part of restrictions on visas. Of course, Donald Trump there famously as well is supporting Jair Bolsonaro, who was convicted of attempting to sway an election in Brazil. So, yes, there are so many different contradictions at the start of this year. Emma.
- [15:16]
Emma Nelson
Chris Chermack, our senior news editor, thank you so much for joining me in the studio. You're listening to the Globalist. The time in Athens is 9.15am 7.15am here in London now. The head of Greece's Civil Aviation Authority has resigned after an investigation into an air traffic blackout at the beginning of this month. Aircraft were grounded on Greek tarmacs for hours on January 4th. To tell us more, I'm joined in the studio by the Greek journalist and regular Monocle contributor, Emmanuel Papavasilio. Very good morning to you. Manners.
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Emmanuel Papavasilio
Hi, Emma, how are you?
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Emma Nelson
So what happened?
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Emmanuel Papavasilio
Basically what happened. Yes, you put it correctly. The head of Chris's Civil Aviation Authority has resigned. Jorgo Sanuachos. I think he was a bit thrown under the bus here because let's put it from the beginning. So on the 4th of January, earlier this month, Greek airports basically experienced what I can put bluntly as communications failure. Basically multiple radio frequencies serving the, the whole of the Greek airspace were hit by continuous noise interference. That was really odd. Basically what happened was that the whole of the Greek airspace just shut down for hours, about eight hours. And we're not talking about just problems with an airport like, like you have normal things where, where flights are canceled, planes are grounded, but there were no planes, literally no planes above the Greek airspace for eight hours. Like if you saw one of those websites that track flights, you would have thought that there is a major incident in Greece like you would see in war zones.
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Emma Nelson
Basically, it's a huge knock on effects.
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Emmanuel Papavasilio
It's a huge knock on effects, exactly. Because it's not just Greece that we're talking about here, it's the whole of Europe. Because Greece basically, you know, is One of the busiest airspace zones in southeastern Europe. It's a key corridor linking Europe, Middle East, North Africa. So we're talking about a massive disruption with, with the whole of the international flight network where planes were trying to fly above, below, left and right.
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Emma Nelson
It's, it's a.
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Emmanuel Papavasilio
It's a huge. It's a huge deal and a failure from Greece in that regard. But we need to. What we need to see is like, after an investigation into the matter. And what's worse is that that was not a hack as they initially thought. Basically what happened is that they found out that the systems used, like the radars, the communication networks, etc. Were dated so much. Basically, they were built in 1999 and they were so dated that the company that makes them has stopped making replacements for them.
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Chris Chermack
Them.
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Emmanuel Papavasilio
And that is actually one of the worst bits of this story, basically. And it's one of the biggest things with Greece at the moment. Infrastructure. Yes. This was a big preventable mistake. The systems need to be fixed. The fact that the head of the Civil Aviation Authority resigned is not enough to just throw someone under the bus.
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Emma Nelson
Because that's not going to fix the problem.
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Emmanuel Papavasilio
Problem is, it's not going to fix the problem. And many people in Greece have brought into their Memories the deadly 2023 Tempe rail train crash, which is also a problem with infrastructure. And to be honest with you, a lot of people might see this incident and tend to blame Greece for what happened. But in reality, we have to put things into perspective. So Greece used to be in a big economic crisis, and now it finds itself a position where it's financially expanding rapidly. What happens with this is that you're going to have infrastructure problems. We have infrastructure problems throughout, from tourism to rails to aviation to everything, because we're expanding in such a rapid pace that things need to be fixed more and more. We don't have the infrastructure there. We saw this, yes, in the Tempe train crash. We saw this this year with record numbers of tourism coming up and people in hospital saying we don't have enough infrastructure to house them all. The good thing is that any tragedy was prevented in this incident.
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Emma Nelson
I mean, the picture that you describe is sort of diametrically opposite to what we see of Greece. And so when you look from the outside, you see a place which is welcoming, which is relaxed and yet which sort of accommodates extra tourism and extra and infrastructure with ease. Perhaps not the most efficient and sharp. Nonetheless, it does the job well. But when you start to look at train crashes and over tourism. And then you look at the fact that the aviation sector was dealing with equipment that was nigh on 30 years old. There are wider worries here, aren't there?
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Emmanuel Papavasilio
There are wider worries here. It is something that the government needs to look into immediately. The problem with the current government is that they are the ones responsible for the financial boom after a crisis, which is a huge deal. It's a great thing that they did this, but they kind of starting to rely and lie on their laurels because they need to think about the fact that yes, you're the ones who brought the financial boom, but now you need to deal with more problems such as how we're going to expand, how we're going to deal with the infrastructure, etc. The fact that the systems were dated was something that was addressed in the previous government in 2019. In fact, there was a deal in 2019 from the Syriza up to 4.7 million euros to change the systems to update them. However, with the government change, this deal has been passed from one minister to another. I mean, within seven years now, four different transport ministers have sat on this deal, which has never materialized. To get new equipment, they need to. What the government needs to do at the moment is to, you know, it's like any business, if your business is expanding, you need to, instead of lying on your laurels, you need to be thinking about the fact that your operations need a bit of an update as well. You need to be thinking of the fact that new infrastructure is needed and this is what they have to do.
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Emma Nelson
Emmanuel Papavercilio Manos, thank you so much for joining me in the studio. Still to come on today's program, we always find a common place and the need for great food and great experiences. And thank you for offering that for us. As people having a lovely time eating and drinking in Sicily. But one of its greatest treasures, the food it grows may have to change as temper temperatures rise. Find out more a little bit later on. The globalist.
- [22:52]
UBS Narrator
Craft is a matter of perspective, a unique outlet and obsessive attention to detail. With UBS's Chief Investment Office House View, 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.
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Emma Nelson
At 7:22 here in London, let's have a look at today's newspapers. Joining me in the studio is Zoe Grunewald, who's Westminster Editor at the lead. Good morning, Zoe. How's life?
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UBS Narrator
Yeah, very well, thank you.
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Emma Nelson
What are we up to?
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UBS Narrator
Oh, you know, just. Just sliding into the New year with. With all sorts of work and, you know, feelings of existential crisis, but it's fine.
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Emma Nelson
Happy days. Right, okay. Before we get to the existential crisis happening in the British opposition party Conservatives, let's talk about the Nobel Peace Prize, which is now no longer in the hands of Maria Corina Machado, who's a Venezuelan opposition leader. It is now in the hands of Donald Trump.
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UBS Narrator
That's right. So Machado met with President Trump ostensibly to kind of persuade him to have her head up the new kind of Venezuelan government, obviously, since Trump and the US Operation in Venezuela where they captured the former Venezuelan president, she presented him with her Nobel Peace Prize, which she had won earlier in the year, as she said, as a recognition of his commitment to freedom. She spoke about how the Marquis de Lafayette, who fought in the American Revolutionary War, gave a medal bearing the likeness of George Washington to one of the founding fathers of modern Venezuela. And she said it's a sign of brotherhood between the countries. This might have been an attempt to kind of woo Donald Trump over, massage his ego a little bit, but it doesn't seem to have changed the US Position on the fact that they don't want Machado to lead the new government. And he actually, Trump has said that although she is a freedom fighter, she doesn't have enough domestic support.
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Emma Nelson
It does. It's quite disappointing. There's a sort of slight sadness to this, isn't there?
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UBS Narrator
I think it is. I mean, it definitely feels sad. And the Nobel Peace Prize committee have basically said once a peace prize has been given out, it can't be given or transferred to anybody else. So this is kind of symbolic. But it does. It does definitely feel a bit sad because Trump was very rude about the fact that he didn't get a peace prize. He was pretty dismissive of her winning this in the first place. So the fact that she has now given it over to try and get the US to give her some authority in the country, it does definitely feel a little bit like trying to please the bullies.
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Emma Nelson
Okay, let's move to British domestic politics. Your. Your patch. Another high profile member of the Conservative Party, the opposition here in the United Kingdom, has resigned from the Conserv Conservative Party. And when that news dropped yesterday, we all took a beat and just went, robert Jemerich's going to reform, isn't he? And off he went.
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UBS Narrator
Yes, well, indeed. And I have to say, not quite resigned, rather unceremoniously kicked out of the party because there was a huge amount of psychodrama yesterday when the leader of the Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, announced that she had found irrefutable evidence that Robert Jenrick was planning to defect. And we should point out the significance of Robert Jenrick. Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch both went for the Conservative leadership. Robert Jenrick didn't win, Badenoch did. She kept him on side, but everybody knows he still had those leadership ambitions. Anyway, he has jumped ship. He has now gone to reform after being very, very rude about reform. And he gave a blistering speech yesterday criticizing the Conservative Party, saying it broke Britain, which is highly ironic considering the fact that he served as a Housing Secretary and Immigration Minister under the Conservatives and seemed to have no problem doing that. But now, of course, now he's in reform. He is being very, very rude about the party and his former leader, Kerry.
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Emma Nelson
Badenock, and even people in ref Reform, the populist party, which is, which is sort of attracting huge amounts of influence at the moment at top speed. But if you look at an article in the Telegraph today, the candidate to be the next London mayor, Leila Cunningham, has said, I don't want Jenrick in reform. She suggested that he played a key role in the messes that the Tories created.
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UBS Narrator
And I think that's quite a fair analysis actually, if you, if you look at general the roles he's had. I mean, he was very close to the former Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, he was one of his university friends. But I would also point out there have been a number of high profile Conservative defections to reform. And at some point you have to ask if this is supposed to be a disruptor, anti establishment party. If you fill it with former Conservative MPs and members, is it really anti establishment party anymore or is it just a retirement home for former Conservative MPs?
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Emma Nelson
Let's look at an astonishing thing that that's appeared as a campaign video for the Hungarian, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. This is an article in the Guardian and a video has been made including Giorgio Maloney from Italy, Marine Le Pen from France and Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, all backing Orban.
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UBS Narrator
Yeah, it's quite extraordinary. So this is a campaign video that's been published by Orban's team. And of course this is in the run up to the Hungarian elections in April, trying to bolster support for Orban. Orban is trailing behind the opposition teaser party and what Orban and his team, the Fidesz party are trying to do is they're trying to shore up Orban's international connections. They're basically trying to say, stick with Orban because we're in a changing world and he has the most support. They're also trying to, in this video, they were trying to present him as a friend to Ukraine and standing strong in the face of Russian opposition, which, you know, is a questionable statement considering the fact that Orban has repeatedly blocked attempts by Brussels to present a united EU front. But you're absolutely, absolutely right. This video contains lots of high profile far right or hard right leaders who are backing Orban. And very interestingly, as you pointed out, Netanyahu is in there. He makes an appearance saying security cannot be taken for granted, it must be won. And he describes Orban as someone who has the qualities needed to protect the country. But this is interesting because Israel has an official boycott of two of the far right parties in the video, including the AfD and the FPO because of their anti Semitic roots. So interesting coalition of people backing Orban.
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Emma Nelson
Incredible faces. And also there's that idea that Orban domestically has weakened democratic institutions. He's gone after the media again. We're on another one undermining the rule of law. That's the third attempt we've had in the first half hour of this program. We already have Yun Suk Yeol and Donald Trump. And you see these things that actually, domestically, if you looked at what Giorgio Maloney would be doing, you would think that that is not something that you'd see in Italy.
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UBS Narrator
Oh, yeah, absolutely. There are points of coalescence here, but there are also points that differ. And I think it's interesting because actually when you, we talk about the far right across Europe as this kind of homogenous blob, but actually when you look at the different things that they stand for, some are far more authoritarian, some are kind of more liberal or libertarian. What you ultimately have is a meeting of minds in some way, but there are underlying differences. And it's interesting that the US Actually, there's no US backing in this particular video.
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Emma Nelson
Finally, a quick glance in the seconds that we have remaining to talk about voice notes. Do you like voice notes?
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UBS Narrator
I don't like voice notes. And that's why I selected this article because it's basically pointing out that there has been this huge rise in people sending voice notes as a form of communication. So this is over facetiming or calling or just texting or even meeting face to face. People are increasingly sending voice notes.
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Emma Nelson
Well, when you're meeting face to face.
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UBS Narrator
That would be brilliant. Instead of face to face, obviously, but. Yes, but the author points out that actually this is a rather irritating fad because what essentially happens is people are sending longer and longer voice notes, 6 minutes, 7 minute voice notes, and the who receives it has to basically listen to a monologue, remember all the points, and then send one back. So she's kind of making the case for can we stop sending these huge voice notes, can we meet up in person, can we have calls? And can we just remember the art of conversation where you say something and someone says something back?
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Emma Nelson
Agreed. ZOE groenevelt, Westminster EDITOR AT THE LEAD thank you so much for not sending me any voice notes. I'm delighted you're listening to THE globalist. A quick look now at some of the other stories we're following today. Donald Trump has thanked the Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corinna Machado for presenting him with her Nobel Peace prize medal. The US President called Ms. Machado a wonderful woman, but didn't endorse her to lead Venezuela. President Xi Jinping has expressed optimism about China's improving ties with Canada. He was speaking as he hosted talks in Beijing with the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney. It follows almost a decade of strained relations relations and the United States and Taiwan have signed a trade agreement that reduces import taxes on goods from the island. In return, Taiwanese tech firms will invest US$250 billion in the United States. And those are the headlines on the Global.
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UBS Narrator
Now.
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Emma Nelson
The United States decision to suspend certain visa processes has hit some countries by surprise. Citizens from the likes of Thailand and Brazil, for example, will find their applications being frozen. So what does it mean for the movement of people? Well, joining me now from Bangkok is Monocle's Asia editor James Chambers, and here in the studio, the Latin American security and politics expert Antonio Sampaio. Good morning. Good afternoon to you, James.
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James Chambers
Hi, Emma.
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Emma Nelson
So who's affecting who who is being affected where you are, James?
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James Chambers
I mean, you're very right, Emma, to say they're surprised because I guess everyone in Thailand, including the minister of foreign affairs, woke up on Thursday morning with this surprise announcement out of Washington and immediately summoned the the head diplomat here in from the US in, in Bangkok for an explanation. And it seems like they were surprised as well. And they basically said, well, you know, we'll have to get back to you. We this is the first we've heard of it too, I guess. I mean, there's 75 countries on the list. I'm not sure if anyone has actually worked out how the White House put this list together, but I'm sure it wasn't a very diligent exercise. But here in Thailand, everyone's a bit flummoxed because they're kind of scratching their heads thinking why are we on there? And the reason why Thailand is interesting is because it is the, the US's oldest ally in Asia. I mean, diplomatic ties go back, you know, to the 1830s. And so, you know, Bangkok has worked very closely with Washington over the years, especially during the Vietnam War. And so they're thinking, well, you know, what have we done to deserve this?
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Emma Nelson
And indeed, if you are in Thailand and if you are in some of the authorities, you've been, you've been caught off guard and also you owe the public some sort of explanation or outlining how this changes. I mean, how did the authorities really react?
- [34:22]
James Chambers
Yes, that's right. They scrambled to get some more information because the initial news wasn't very clear. So I guess the, the most important point of clarification for ties was that this only relates to kind of immigrant visas. So people who are trying to move to the US and get some kind of permanent residence, it doesn't affect, you know, tourists, it doesn't affect students, it doesn't affect ties flying to the us, the US on business. So that would have calmed a lot of people down, you know, yesterday and today. And so I guess it is a very much smaller number than we expected. But there's still not a lot of information. I mean the Thais don't understand what criteria was used and, and why they're included. I mean, the Foreign Minister was very quick to, to come out and, and meet the press and give a press conference. And one of his major points was, I mean the Thai community in the US is about 300,000. So it's very small and it'll be a tiny percentage who are perhaps, you know, putting any burden on the US tax system. And he was, he didn't name any countries, but he says there are some countries that are not on that list who have, you know, people illegal, illegal overstayers much larger than the total Thai population in the us. So they just don't understand why they're on their list, on that list and they just want some clarification.
- [35:48]
Emma Nelson
Quite a few slack jawed reactions as well in South America, Antonio?
- [35:52]
Andrew Muller
Yes, a lot of confusion as well because these pause, as they're calling it on immigrant visas came very close to or a few months after the, this ban on a complete ban on several countries that were mostly countries affected by war or very fragile countries, institutionally fragile. So it's causing a lot of confusion. I think it's behind the sense that your Thailand correspondent mentioned about some people initially being scared and saying, oh, is this going to be a complete ban? But no, it's just on immigrant visas. And this sense of confusion was very richly illustrated in a Brazilian magazine website that I looked at. The first paragraph said it does not affect tourists that want to go to Disney World, which is the main concern, I think, for a lot of Brazilian tourists.
- [36:45]
Emma Nelson
But how reassuring that makes us.
- [36:48]
Andrew Muller
How reassuring, yes. So some Brazilian immigration lawyers were saying their interpretations that it doesn't affect not only visitors, short term visitors, but also those who are moving or planning to move with student visas or company transfer visas. So these are not affected, according to some immigration lawyers that were cited in Brazilian press. But it's still a lot of confusion.
- [37:14]
Emma Nelson
I guess there's also a lot of confusion. Articles are being, and I'll stay with you on this one, Antonio, that there are articles being written left, right on center. Or does it affect me for this? Does it make me you for that? People saying, well, the World cup is now going to find itself in a mess because yes, tourists can go because the World cup is being held sort of like north and South America this year, isn't it? But if you're a footballer, does that mean you're going to be able to get into the United States? I mean, absolutely. This confusion could have longer term impacts rather than just making people think, can I travel? It actually will destabilize the view of travel to the United States. Do we feel that that's a deliberate gesture by Donald Trump?
- [37:57]
Andrew Muller
I don't know if it's deliberate, but it's certainly the case that now everybody is concerned and it's a climate of extreme uncertainty. You know, I haven't had go to the US in recent months, but I would be very concerned if I have to go and I would make whatever I can to talk to whoever is bringing me for work there that I don't know if I'm gonna be able to go, but I'd love to go. So I think that the US Ban, technically it doesn't affect the footballers because even the countries that were banned, the administration has said that footballers for the world would be permitted, but who knows, you know, there were also alongside not only the bans and the immigrant visas, there were measures to restrict and technically they can look into your phone to see if you posted negative political comments about the US So It's a very hostile environment.
- [38:54]
Emma Nelson
Final quick question to you, James. In Bangkok, despite feeling somewhat bruised by the gesture in that part of the world, are people able just to carry on as normal and pivot to, towards other parts of the world to their own region, which may not be so volatile?
- [39:12]
James Chambers
Yeah, for sure. I think this is a good opportunity for countries like, maybe like the UK if they want to seize on it. But I guess this kind of anti immigration policy seems to be spreading. I mean, one of the things that's just deluded about this is that Trump is trying to separate the world between Americans and the rest of the world, ignoring the fact that there are a lot of Americans in Thailand married to ties who might be thinking about moving back to the US and now are worrying about whether, you know, their husband or wife will be able to come in and, or, and when they do, if ICE are going to kind of round them up and send them back. So it is a very complicated situation. It's not just about Brazilians or Thais thinking about moving to the U.S. the thing about America is that there are a lot of Americans around the world, you know, with partners from these countries. So know it's a, it's a very complicated system. But like with the World cup, you know, I guess people were already questioning whether they would go because of the, the reception they receive on the border. And with this, I guess you know that the message is loud and clear. You know, America doesn't want you, so stay away.
- [40:17]
Emma Nelson
Monocle's Asia editor James Chambers. Thank you so much for joining us on the line from Bangkok and the Latin American security and politics expert, Antonio Sambayo here in the city studio. Thank you both. You're listening to the Globalist. Right, it's Friday, so it's time for what we learned. Here's Andrew Muller.
- [40:43]
Andrew Muller
We learned this week of potentially exciting news for the Cheyenne, Arapaho, Cherokee, Choctaw, Navajo, Apache and other first nations of the United States. Apologies to everyone we missed which to be honest is pretty much all of them. Given that there are. We learned from looking it up just now fully 574 Native American tribes recognised by the US federal government.
- [41:08]
Emma Nelson
Ha. Didn't know that. Well, I'll be you learn something new every day.
- [41:12]
Andrew Muller
We learned anyway that said federal government of the United States may shortly be poised to acknowledge the total illegitimacy of its sovereignty over the territories of it has long claimed. And we learned this from the personage who presently leads the federal government of the United States as he further pursued the necessary, valuable and sane policy of menacing one of his country's most reliable allies.
- [41:38]
John Gauntner
By the way, I'm a fan of Denmark too, I have to tell you. And you know, they've been very nice to me. I'm a big fan. But you know, the fact that they had a boat land there 500 years ago, there's a nice mean that they own the land.
- [41:50]
Andrew Muller
So we learned, and from the highest of authorities, that it does not mean one single goddamn thing if a crew of your ancestors blundered onto some foreign shore several centuries back, ran up a flag and claimed to own the place. We have not as yet learned of the Seminoles knocking on the door at Mar a Lago and giving the occupant an hour to pack his bags, self awarded golf trophies and stolen classified documents. But the year is young, and if you can't be hopeful, enjoy January. When can you? For we did indeed learn of indications that the new year may break with recent form and usher in a new era of peace, harmony, and everybody just getting along. We learned that even within the generally recently rancorous United States, all forms of ideologically partisan unpleasantness were going to cease forthwith. And we Learned this from US Vice President and 2029's Masked Singer 6th place getter, JD Vance. These people should not feel emboldened because they have, for the first time maybe in American history, an administration that is not going to tolerate political violence of any kind from anywhere. From which we learned that the administration in which Vance serves has had quite the rethink vis a vis the excusability of political violence during its first year in office. On the evening of his inauguration, President Donald Trump, not wasting any time getting down to business, he has just returned to the White House and assigning a series of executive actions in the Oval Office, where he is pardoning some 1500 January 6th rioters who have been convicted for participating in the attack on the Capitol four years ago. Peas, peas, peas, peas.
- [43:45]
Emma Nelson
Eatin gooberry.
- [43:47]
Andrew Muller
We also learned that the same administration had solved the United States chronic obesity issues as we learned that what may have seemed an absolutely bizarre regimen of tariffs imposed, apparently at random, upon bewildered American trading partners, including the penguins of the Heard and McDonald Islands. You tell them, Keith. Which accordingly and inevitably spiked the price of everyone shopping.
- [44:15]
UBS Narrator
Chances are you feel it. New numbers from the government show prices at the grocery store rose to the steepest since 2022 was not the deranged.
- [44:23]
Andrew Muller
Vindictive bungling it may have looked to the untrained eye, but in fact, a cunning plan to render Americans more svelte. And we learned further details of the proposed cuisine of the glorious second Trump era from Secretary of Agriculture Brook Rollins, who we learned learned has run the maths on it and everything.
- [44:42]
UBS Narrator
We've run over a thousand simulations. It can cost around $3ameal for a.
- [44:48]
Emma Nelson
Piece of chicken, a piece of broccoli.
- [44:51]
UBS Narrator
You know, corn tortilla, and one other.
- [44:54]
Andrew Muller
Thing we have not as yet learned but greatly look forward to discovering the levels of excitement among MAGA voters for their new daily diet of a piece of chicken, a piece of broccoli. Once again, they've looked up what broccoli even is a corn tortilla and quote one other thing. And also how many of them assume that the definition of one other thing might include a 48 pack of Krispy Kremes. But we also learned of what this sumptuous feast might be washed down with. And we learned this from the president himself during the portion of a White House event for which he remained awake.
- [45:29]
John Gauntner
It's actually a legal definition, whole milk. And it's whole with a W for those of you that have a problem.
- [45:35]
Andrew Muller
But. We learned, looking with some relief away from the United States of a potential new means of easing tensions between traditional enemies, that is, persuading them that being at loggerheads, whatever loggerheads even are, is no match for being behind drum kits.
- [45:56]
UBS Narrator
I can't wait.
- [45:57]
Emma Nelson
Interesting.
- [45:58]
Chris Chermack
Tell me more where this goes.
- [46:00]
Andrew Muller
Knew you'd be intrigued. We learned this from South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Japanese Prime Minister Sanai Takechi, leaders of nations which traditionally annoy the bejeebas out of each other, who set aside their differences for a K pop jam. A bit of it sounded like this. We learned that this was followed by the signing of some agreement or other. And this time we will have a verite drum roll to cue up the traditional punchline that everyone may have seen coming from some distance. So this was literally. A symbol of reconciliation. And we learn to our barely expressible delight, that for the first time in the history of this the the Friday what We Learned monologue on Monocle Radio, we were able to check out on a story which even supplied its own rim shot near enough for Monocle Radio. I'm Andrew Mullock.
- [47:08]
Emma Nelson
Thank you, Andrew. You're listening to the Globalist on Monocle Radio.
- [47:15]
UBS Narrator
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 leading technologies bridging human expertise with artificial intelligence. All to elevate you. UBS Banking is our craft.
- [47:53]
Emma Nelson
Now here on the Globalist, we like to hear the latest from the world of drinks, from luxury, from design. Today we're quite rarefied. We want to find out what's happening in the world of sake. Who better to ask than John Gauntner, sake evangelist, educator, exporter in Tokyo, described by some of the world's leading non Japanese sake expert. We are delighted to have him join us. From. I think you're about an hour south of Tokyo, aren't you? Good afternoon, John.
- [48:20]
John Gauntner
Good afternoon. And yes, you're correct, I'm about an hour south of Tokyo.
- [48:23]
Emma Nelson
Excellent. How's it looking where you are today?
- [48:26]
John Gauntner
Oh, it's pretty warm actually. Winters don't get too harsh here, but it's warm even for not so harsh winters in Japan.
- [48:32]
Emma Nelson
Would things look better on a Friday afternoon on the other side of a glass of sake?
- [48:37]
John Gauntner
Well, sumo for once, which I'm watching on television as I talk to you, or at least I got the sound down, but everything seems to look better when you're enjoying something sake, if you ask me.
- [48:45]
Emma Nelson
Okay, so we're going to need this, we're going to need the sumo experts as well, because you seem to be in what could only be described as heaven. So tell us, how is the world of sake from, from your, from your viewpoint?
- [48:58]
John Gauntner
Well, it's kind of been in constant change for the past, I don't know, several hundred years. But currently it's been a very, very rough year for sake breweries because rice price increases have just skyrocketed and that's the main, the main cost of breweries because besides labor, labor costs have as well energy costs as well. So things are getting much more expensive for the brewers. And I don't know if there's going to be much of a reprise from that in this coming year. So it's kind of tough this year. Having said that, sake has never been better. A conflagration of what would you say traditional methods and modern technology have led to just a lot more really, really great sake out there.
- [49:35]
Emma Nelson
Indeed. And just explain to us a little bit about how the nature of sake is changing because brewers are different now. I mean, it's an incredibly transparent, traditional way of creating a very delicious drink. But there are new generations coming through. There are new women coming through, for example, and I mean, how is that sort of being reflected in what you buy on the supermarket or in the sake shop shelves?
- [50:02]
John Gauntner
Well, new technology and newly discovered yeast and newly discovered rice strains leave the more expressive, assertive flavors of. And aromas. And these are great. It's great technology and they're very, very appealing. However, they do shift away from traditional, more subtle flavor profiles and aromatic profiles. So you see things going to extremes in terms of aromatics and aromas. I mean, I'm sorry, aromatics and flavors, and then they kind of come back towards center a little bit. And that's kind of. Those are kind of the changes we see in the terms of the quality or the nature of sake and itself out on the market. In terms of women, as you may have surmised, even as recently as 30 or 40 years ago, women weren't even allowed in sake breweries at all. But now we've got probably close to 75 or 100 women master brewers in the industry that are active. So that's changed as well.
- [50:51]
Emma Nelson
And how is, how are things going to change in terms of taste? I mean, you mentioned the fact that things are more refined. But there is this glorious thing about the production of sake as it happens all across Japan, which has different climates and different rice grains as well. So we're seeing, seeing sort of very light, light sakes coming through a lot more, which are being. They're being introduced for sort of like more comprehensive, more easy drinking events, aren't they? They're not just the sort of like the heavier sides of sake, which, which we. We would probably more be more associated with.
- [51:24]
John Gauntner
Well, you're correct, there are a lot of lighter sake now and they're very, very appealing, especially to people who enjoy wine. And what I want to avoid, to suggest that if they're not super light, then they're super heavy. There's a lot in between. And a long time ago, they didn't have the milling technology to mill the rice far enough to make it light. But even today, there's a lot of slightly rich, slightly umami driven sake that goes very well with food. And this is in contrast to the very, very light, refined, super aromatic sake that's out there. They're both good and they both have a place.
- [51:57]
Emma Nelson
Now, you mentioned milling, which is something which I think the whole world needs to know about. The milling of a sake rice grain is the polish. Polishing process is an incredibly crucial part of it. So much so that it's what it's. It's stamped on the back of the bottle, isn't it?
- [52:10]
John Gauntner
Yes, it is. It legally has to be there for premium grades.
- [52:13]
Emma Nelson
Explain to us what it is for those of us Who've not milled a rice grain, what is it?
- [52:17]
Chris Chermack
Sure.
- [52:17]
John Gauntner
Well, when you look at a grain of rice, especially but not limited to sake rice, the starches are in their center, and around that you've got fat and protein. The starches get converted into sugar, that gets converted into alcohol. The fat and protein lead to character, but after a certain degree, it leads to cloying flavors. So to make light, elegant sake, you want to mill the rice more and more. Because in sake rice, the starch is in the center and the fat and green, the fat and protein are around that. So the more you mill it, the more you remove the stuff that's going to give you cloying flavors. And that's why milling is so important. The more you mill, the more elegant and refined the sake will be.
- [52:55]
Emma Nelson
Thank you for that. You export the stuff, what are people wanting and who's calling out for it?
- [53:01]
John Gauntner
Well, I export only to the United States, but it's not, I think pretty much tastes for sake overseas are pretty similar everywhere. But people like something that surprises them, that actually, really, really impresses them. And so people in the United States, but not just the United States, like what they call dai ginjo, very highly refined, very aromatic, very impressive sake stuff that's impressive enough to pull them away from wine. I think the more people enjoy sake, the more their preferences return to center, the more their preferences move towards things that might be more umami driven and might be more food friendly than the super light, super aromatic stuff.
- [53:41]
Emma Nelson
John Gauntner, sake evangelist just south of Tokyo. Thank you so much for joining us on Monocle Radio. Finally, we stay with food and drink today because the traditional produce of Sicily, the island off the boot of Italy, are celebrated and well, storied. Lemons, oranges, olives, all used in food that marries both Italian and North African flavors. But rising temperatures are signaling an end to Sicily's traditional agriculture. But it could be flagging the start of a new tropical era. Well, we head now to Paris to meet to hear from Annik Weber, his Monocle's correspondent there. Very good morning to you.
- [54:20]
Annik Weber
Good morning, Emma.
- [54:21]
Emma Nelson
So what's the problem?
- [54:25]
Annik Weber
Well, the rising temperatures, I think that's top of mind with Italian, and particularly southern Italian farmers. Yeah, the changing climate. So even in, well, in 2021, the highest ever European temperature of 48.8 was recorded in Sicily. So traditional farming is becoming ever more challenging. But rather than being disillusioned, Sicilian farmers are turning to these new crops. They see it as an opportunity to deal with the changing climate.
- [54:59]
Emma Nelson
So what Are these new crops?
- [55:02]
Annik Weber
So we have avocados, mangoes, papayas, even coffee. Some are even experimenting with growing coffee.
- [55:09]
Emma Nelson
And cacao, which is an incredible shift, isn't it? Because when you think traditionally about Sicily, you just think, well, for starters, you immediately think of lemons and bergamots. But to have sort of things like that growing, I mean, how widespread a practice is this now?
- [55:26]
Annik Weber
Well, there are now quite a few farms across the island who are cultivating those crops and they don't even need greenhouses or anything because those, the extreme heat that happens naturally now. And there's also. There are periods of very intense rain, more than before, there's high humidity from the sea. So these are all conditions that tropicals like. So, yeah, they can grow them without the need of greenhouses and even organically without the need of any pesticides or chemicals. But they're still, they're growing them alongside the tropical crops.
- [56:01]
Emma Nelson
No, no, do carry on.
- [56:03]
Annik Weber
I would. In case. Well, it's just a way of future proofing, diversifying their crops so that in case one fails, another one will hopefully do well. So if we. One year the lemons aren't doing well, hopefully the next year, or hopefully the same year that the avocados will do well. So it's just a way of making it safer for the future.
- [56:26]
Emma Nelson
There is also this idea of future proofing the industry itself, agriculture itself, because Sicily is losing its young generation of what could be farmers. They are leaving the land, they are going elsewhere seeking more profitable lives. Could this actually change their minds and make young Sicilians fall in love with the earth again?
- [56:49]
Annik Weber
It could, absolutely. And this is actually a topic I reported on for Confect, the Monocle's sister publication. So I met a lot of farmers across Sicily and most of the farmers that are growing tropicals are very young. So diversifying to this new, to these new sorts of harvest give gives the young generation hope again. And it, it keeps farming attractive for them. It's also because these tropes crops are more economically viable, their profit margin is higher. So yeah, they're even investing quite a lot in desalination systems as a way of using sea water for irrigation. So I feel like there is optimism around and the younger generation is turning to farming again.
- [57:42]
Emma Nelson
And how do you think this might actually sort of change the way that Sicilians live their lives? Because if you actually start to abandon the sort of the, the DNA of their food, this, this, this forces the Sicilians to cook differently and to work differently.
- [57:57]
Annik Weber
Well, I think I asked the farmer if he thinks that Sicily will lose its title as the land of lemons. And he, he actually said that? No, he thinks it will always stay the land of citrus fruit, but also the land that grows all these other crops as well. But I think they will keep their traditional crops. There might be less lemons than they used to be. There might be less olive oil than there used to be. And in addition, there's going to be this new variety of tropical crops. But hopefully they can keep their traditional produce and they can keep their tomatoes that they're famous for. But then, yeah, maybe come up with new recipes that incorporate some of these.
- [58:39]
Emma Nelson
New producers, as I have done for centuries. Annique Weber, Monocle Correspondent in Paris thank you for joining us on the Globalist. And that's all the time we have for today's program. The warmest of thanks to all my guests and to the producers, Chris Chermack, Laura Kramer and Ryuma Takahashi. Our researcher is Anneliese Maynard and our studio manager was Elliot Greenfield, with editing assistance by Mariella Bevan. After the headlines. More music on the way. The briefings live at midday here in London. The Globalist is back on at the same time on Monday. Hope you can join me for that if you can. But for now, from me, Emma Nelson, goodbye. Thank you for listening. Have a great weekend.
- [59:40]
UBS Narrator
With ubs. You have a truly global partner incorporating new technologies, innovative approaches and unexpected opportunities, leading you to insights that help answer the questions that matter. Delivered with passion, care and unmatched expertise. Because it's a about rising with the dawn each day, knowing that we can do even better. That's what banking is to us. Not just work, but a craft. UBS advice is our craft.