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We're proud to support the craft of journalism. UBS brings you the latest news from around the world with the Globalist on Monocle Radio. Be part of an international network that brings together leading insights, research and technology across 24 time zones and 12 key financial hubs. With you at the centre of it all, UBS advice is our craft. You're listening to the Globalist, first broadcast on 3rd September 2025 on Monocle Radio. The Globalist in association with U Hello, this is the Globalist broadcasting to you live from Midori House in London. I'm Georgina Godwin on the show ahead. During China's biggest military parade ever today President Xi Jinping warned that the world is facing a choice between war and peace. We'll hear more and look at how previously non aligned India might be picking a side as Iran considers withdrawing from the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty in the face of renewed UN sanctions. We'll ask what's next for the troubled nation? And is California Governor Gavin Newsom the best troll of all time? Has there never been a better troll? We'll ask if challenging Trump by using his own methods is paying off and how else Democrats could be responding. We'll rustle through the day's front pages and have a roundup of news from France.
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And then this is my first survey exhibition and this I guess marks the mid career so I'm pretty excited that it showcased work from past 20 to 25 years.
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We'll catch up with the performance artist Aki Sasamoto. And finally, K Pop is getting its own purpose built arena in Seoul, a global hub for a genre that conquered the world years ago. The question is why has it taken so long? That's all ahead here on the Globalist. Live from London. First a look at what else is happening in the news. The U.S. says a strike on a Venezuelan vessel killed 11 people in the first major action of Trump's new Caribbean crackdown. Israel is calling up tens of thousands of reservists for a push on Gaza City with airstrikes killing at least 100 people. And a fresh quake has rattled Afghanistan two days after a disaster that kill killed more than 1,400 people. Do stay tuned to Monocle Radio throughout the day for more on those stories. Now Beijing marked 80 years since Japan's defeat with a vast military parade today and a clear message from Xi Jinping about China's growing power and its challenges to Western led order. With Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un and leaders from across Asia, Africa and the Middle east looking on the lineup Says plenty about the company China keeps. Well, I'm joined now in the studio by Ash Bhardwaj, who is a writer and a broadcaster. Welcome back to the show. Ash. Who turned up at Beijing, who didn't? And what does that guest list tell us about the alliances that China's trying to build and how it's trying to position itself?
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C
Well, you mentioned that Putin and Kim Jong Un were there. There was also the prime minister of Pakistan, there was Lukashenko of Belarus, the president of Iran, prime minister, president of Zimbabwe, Vucic from Serbia and Fito from Slovakia. So there were two European representatives there, the leaders of Cuba, Myanmar and several of the Central Asian stans, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan. And I think it's continuing from what we saw at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, this dialogue that happened in the southern city of Tianjin in China the other day, which is really trying to counterbalance what is being seen as the Western dominated world order. So it's trying to build an alternative collection of countries that could come together to compete against what they see as the overbearing influence that's existed since at least the end of World war.
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Now, he gave quite a bellicose speech warning between war and peace. Just unpick that a little for us.
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C
So one of the first things he talked about was about rejuvenation and he talked about the defeat of Japan in the Second World War as China's first complete victory against foreign invaders. And this almost marked the end of what the Chinese call the century of shame, where China had been occupied either physically on land by the Japanese in the run up to during the war and also the overbearing influence of the British during the Opium wars and the sense of shame that China had of being manipulated, occupied, exploited by foreigners and this era that it wants to go into, and it was backed up by this massive display of military power. So not only was it the sheer volume of military kit on display, but the type of as well. So really China is at least matching and in some ways beating the United States in military technology. So there was massive submarine drones which would be part of a submarine fleet to take out enemy submarines if in the event of a conflict there's new missiles. So one of the things China has been doing in recent years is developing the land component of what's known as a nuclear triad. So it's got Seabourne nuclear weapons, showed some of those new seaborne nuclear weapons that could be launched from submarines. There's weapons that they can launch from aircraft, but now they're building lots of nuclear silos in northern China, which would give them another layer of nuclear deterrence against the United States. As well as kit like robotic drones that could be used on the battlefield. There was a drone tank that was on display, so lots of new kit that they are showcasing that not only do they have the will or desire to compete with the Western order, but if it comes to it militarily, they could at least, least stand up to the United States.
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You mentioned the sco, the Shanghai Cooperation Summit, which of course just took place on Sunday and Monday. Now, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi was there for that. I don't think he stayed for the parade. But given India's long tradition of non alignment, do you think we're seeing a significant reset in ties with China?
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C
Well, the words that have been said certainly suggest that that's what they're looking for. Xi talks about the elephant and the dragon working together. And you're right, India does have long history of non alignment. During the Cold War, it really held a non aligned position. But India has also bought many of its weapons. A lot of its military is based on Russian technology, Soviet, then Russian technology. But it's also had a lot of problems with China. There's been a couple of border conflicts quite recently. Some in the east of the country, north of where Bangladesh is, and then others in the Tibetan region up in that part of India there. So they do, they're trying to settle those border disputes. But whether or not what they've said in public will turn into a more strategic confirmed alliance, it's hard to know right now. But what we do know is that India has in recent years held itself up as a potential counterweight to China in the Pacific. America started to refer to it as the Indo Pacific, partly to placate India, partly. But Trump has been annoyed recently when at the end of the recent conflict between India and Pakistan, Trump said that he was one of the people that ended that conflict through dialogue. Modi refused to acknowledge that and said that this doesn't have anything to do with what the United States has done. And that puts pressure on the quad, which is this alliance between Japan, China, the United States, sorry, Japan, India, the United States and Australia to counterweight China in the Indo Pacific. So it's quite confusing right at the moment. But the fact that Trump has imposed 50% tariffs on India, weirdly, as a way to punish Russia without punishing Russia. When Trump's self imposed deadline against Russia.
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Expired yesterday, I mean, it's extraordinary. I mean, you talk about the border, they do share A disputed border, but actually little else. And I wonder if India is as much of a rival to China as an ally, why would Modi want to see China replace the US As a global power?
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C
I think that's less that India wants to see China replace the US As a global power, but India wants to be able to get the best of both. So maybe what India is doing in this instance is effectively starting negotiations with the United States. Almost a way of saying, look, if you don't take these tariffs off or if you don't start treating us better, this is the direction we're going to go to. And you don't want China being even more dominant than it already is.
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And of course, this is what China was saying with the parade today. We are dominant, we are here to stay. And just sort of longer term, looking across what is being called the axis of upheaval or the grand restructuring, just a quick look at what Russia has to do with this. Russia offers nukes and gas but little else. And I wonder what all this rhetoric means for stability in the Indo Pacific.
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Well, I remember passing through Russia in 2018 and hearing people saying things like, you know, Russia has the potential to be a great power, but we need to learn from all the other countries around the world. And Russia exports a lot of gas, it exports a lot of oil, but it's hard to really say what else it does add to the world as a global economy or in terms of innovation. And if it does partner with China, maybe it can draw some of that innovation. China is innovative and it is creative, so that would be the benefit for Russia. But Russia's always had this challenge of how does it position itself in the world? Is it a European state, is it a Eurasian state, is it a Pacific state? Most of its population is in the west, but it's got snarled up in Europe by trying to invade Ukraine or invading Ukraine and not having this success. It wanted but it isn't seen as a partner in Europe. Apart from Vic and the Slovakian president and of course Victor Orban in Hungary, no one in Europe really wants to deal with Russia.
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Ash, thank you. Fascinating. Ash Bajwaj there, writer and broadcaster. This is the globalist. It is 7:10 here in London now. Iran's president joined Xi and Putin in Beijing today even as Tehran faces mounting pressure at home and abroad. Britain, France and Germany have triggered the snapback clause of the 2015 nuclear deal, raising the prospect of renewed UN sanctions. In response, Iran's parliament is threatening withdrawal from the nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty at the Same time, Washington is pressing back Baghdad to dismantle Iranian backed militias, a move that strikes at Tehran's regional influence. Well, I'm pleased to say I'm joined in the studio now by Nega Anger, who is former adviser to the State Department and White House National Security Council and now a fellow at the Wilson Center's Middle east program. Nega, lovely to have you here in the studio. What is the significance of Iran's president appearing alongside Xi and Putin in Beijing today?
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Morning. Thanks again for having me. I think it's quite important. I think it's what we're seeing happening play out on the world stage is a game changer and a prelude to what we're going to see at the UN General assembly in just a few short weeks.
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So with the European powers triggering this snapback clause, has Europe, in your opinion, lost its credibility as a mediator? I mean, what has Tehran said about the bloc now doing Trump's bidding?
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Right.
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D
No, that's a very interesting question. And I think just in terms of Context, right, on August 28th, the E3, which is the UK, France and Germany, triggered this snapback mechanism at the UN which was essentially reimposing the sanctions that were suspended under the 2015 JCPOA. Obviously Iran is calling this illegal. The Europeans are acting on behalf of Israel, Israel and the United States. And the Europeans have failed to shield Iran, considering sort of the US Pulling out of the jcpoa. And I think what's happening is partly rhetorical. Tehran wants to discredit the E3 both domestically and internationally. But it also kind of reflects a reality. I mean, Europe's leverage with Iran has essentially collapsed in many ways. Trade is down to a fifth of 2017 levels. And so Tehran sees, sees the EU policy as more aligning with Washington than really trying to provide some sort of economic relief and being a mediator in this.
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So Iran's parliament is moving towards a possible withdrawal from the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty. I wonder though, if this is a serious bid to end UN oversight or just a tactic to wring concessions before sanctions return.
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I think that's a great question. I think, quite frankly, you know, if we think about sort of where we are right now, it's important to take into consideration, right, snapback can't be vetoed. So once this 30 day clock runs out, sanctions return automatically. A lot of what the E3 has done was to trigger this ahead of the Russians having the presidency of the UN Security Council in October. And the reason why I'm explaining some of this context is because The UN dynamics is very important right now. Russia and China have tabled a counter draft resolution calling for a six month extension of this UN Security Council Resolution 2231. A lot of it again is about optics, blame shifting, then trying to find a compromise. As you rightly noted, the parliament in Iran is debating a bill to quit the NPThe non pro treaty and suspending IAEA cooperation. But I think all of this is very performative and although escalatory, it's performative. And part of what Iran is trying to do is set the stage to frame itself as the aggrieved party while sanctions risk further eroding issues. All ahead of the UN General assembly just weeks away.
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And the aggrieved party also because its messages are not being returned. Apparently there are conflicting narratives as to whether or not Tehran has asked to re engage with Washington and apparently been rebuffed. Do we know what happened?
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D
Well, obviously we can only gauge and read the tea leaves based on what we see in open reporting. But look, I mean it's an optics play right now. It's negotiations of the negotiations, if I may. So it' syou know, Washington insists the door is open. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, you know, the US remains available for direct engagement. But then when we look at practice, we haven't really seen Washington showing a capacity for any sort of form of sustained diplomacy. There's no Iran process, there's no interagency process that we've seen. And the US is maintaining very much this maximus position. We saw yesterday that Larijani, Iran's new security chief actually tweeted in English essentially saying the path to negotiations is not closed. And that was very directed towards an international audience. But Washington hasn't reacted to that tweet since yesterday. If anything it doubled down. The Treasury Department just sanctioned yesterday an oil smuggling network that blended Iranian crude with Iraqi exports. So again, I mean this is very much a familiar pattern. You see these back channel conversations that take place, everyone's testing the waters ahead of the UN General Assembly. But again there's more rhetoric than actual practice right now.
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A
How feasible is Washington's pressure on Baghdad to dismantle Iranian backed militias within the pmf, the popular Mobilization forces?
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D
I mean look, Washington is trying to shrink the operating space for Iran backed militias. They don't want to necessarily open what it seems like a full U. S Iran diplomatic track, but we're seeing this through a carrots and sticks approach that the US is doing. They're conditioning the security assistance in Iraq, they're Tightening sanctions on militia finance and oil smuggling like we saw yesterday. They're insisting that Baghdad protect U.S. personnel but. But all the while keeping the energy waivers, the IMF support flowing to avoid Iraq's collapse. And I think it's a very difficult situation that the Prime Minister's team find themselves. Right. It's a balancing act between asserting some form of sovereignty while carefully trying to ensure that through quiet channels they can try to deconflict issues with Tehran. But it's definitely something that we need to watch out for.
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I'd like to just bring this full circle back to Beijing and what's been happening there in the last couple of days. So the Tehran Times pointedly asked why China as a leading power of the global south, hasn't done more for Iran in its time of need, politically, economically and so on. I wonder if Tehran got any clearer answers from Beijing at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit. And on what terms might a true partnership be possible?
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D
I think it's an interesting question and again taking into consideration the timing of how this is playing out again ahead of the UN General assembly in just a few weeks, because I think partly right now it's very much a holding pattern. And I think China has essentially in all of its actions supported this holding pattern. They've maintained relations, but I think Iran was definitely struck by sort of where China and Russia stood in their time of need during the June war. And I think for them the writing was on the wall. I think the most that they can expect and appreciate is maintaining this holding pattern. And so you see again these actions at the UN with them tabling a Security Council resolution helping for a six month extension, again helping hold essentially what peace we have right now.
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Nega, thank you very much indeed. That's Nega Anger of the Wilson Centre's Middle east program. Now still to come on the show, we'll cross to Seoul to hear all about the new purpose built K pop arena coming in 2027. This is the globalist. Each of us has a craft, a calling that inspires us. Whether it's how a coffee is brew, a chair is built, or how money is looked after, there's a love for the work, a care that compels you forward. For us at ubs, it's about designing a unique outcome for you. Because whatever your craft may be, ours is built around helping you succeed. UBS banking is our craft. Well, let's continue now with today's newspapers and joining me in the studio is Inga Torda who is a former senior editor at the BBC and CNN and now works in ocean related philanthropy. Inga, many thanks for coming onto the show. I want to start with this story about Venezuela. So we have seen all these US Warships head off to the South Caribbean, including one nuclear powered submari. They've now shot dead 11 drug dealers or alleged drug dealers. Let's be clear, these people had not been convicted of anything. This is surely extremely significant.
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E
Yeah, I mean, it definitely is an escalation. And this deadly strike was on a boat linked to the Venezuela Trente Aragua cartel, which is often described as Venezuela's most powerful transnational gang and involved in drug trafficking, extortion, illegal mining, human trafficking, you name it. But trans border, which I think is important. Now, it's very unusual for the army to get involved in something like this. Normally it's law enforcement or intelligence, but the way for that was kind of paved earlier this year when the US Formally designated Trente Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization, which allowed the army to now be deployed to fight this war. And that's what we're seeing the beginning of. And it's definitely a major escalation and one that has drawn fierce criticism from Maduro.
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I mean, there's 4,500 US personnel either there or on their way there. Is this paving the way for some major conflict? And would Venezuela fight back? Does Trump want this so that he can be on a war footing and never call an election?
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E
Well, that's a very big question. I'm not sure that we can answer that now. And who knows what Trump does from day to day, really. But Maduro has certainly said that Venezuela is on maximum readiness. Now, who knows what that exactly means. But by, as I said, designating this organization, they are certainly allowing for more deployments from the US On a much grander scale to happen, and we're definitely seeing that now. Whether or not there will be more strikes as deadly as this one, that remains to be seen. But it seems like they're digging the trenches, should we say, on both sides? And it will be interesting to see what the next developments are.
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Absolutely. Let's just stay in that part of the world. Because Jair Bolsonaro's trial has started without a him.
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E
That's right. They said he was too ill to attempt the trial. And the reason that the New York Times was reporting for that was excessive hiccups, which is an interesting thing. But, yeah, he was not present. But the charges against him remain serious. He is accused of attempting, following the 2022 elections to stage what can only be described as A military coup to undermine the election, which he says were unfair and ruled him out of. And he even considered apparently violent actions against Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva, who won that election. Now, it now sits with the Supreme Court in Brazil. And I think that, again, we talk about staying in the region, but Trump is, of course, dominant here as well because he has been running major interference in this trial, putting tariffs on Brazil's products up to 50% and has threatened to do even more so if Bolsonaro is found guilty.
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And he's a huge supporter of Bolsonaro, presumably because he agrees with what he did around the election.
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E
Well, it certainly has echoes of things that happened in the US At Capitol Hill in January after Trump lost his election against Biden. So, yes, he's definitely a big supporter of his. And Bolsonaro has been named Trump of the Tropics, I think, a title that he very much relishes. So, yes, very much a supporter of this. But, I mean, I think that the main thing to kind of keep an eye out for is that the verdict is expected as early as the 12th of September, and we are expecting that Bolsonaro supporters will be out on the streets in Brazil. So it could be a very volatile week ahead in Brazil, two big tech.
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A
Stories that are very much linked now, all involving Google. Tell us about the Politico reporting on this about Google avoiding the biggest corporate breakup in history.
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E
That's right. It's a $2.5 trillion breakup. It would have been bigger than the AT&T back in the 80s. So that was a huge win for Google, although it wasn't a complete win for them because they now have. Well, the judge has said they have to give over some of their data to competitors. And this is because at the moment, Google dominates about 90% of the search market, which is an incredible dominance. But by giving up some of the data, they do give advantage to others, like Microsoft and others who have search engines, and that would allow them to improve their products. This is also for ChatGPT. OpenAI could also use this. But what importantly they didn't have to give up was their search index. So it's a limited amount of data that they've been asked to give up, but not the search index itself, which would have been a major catastrophe for them, really. But we're very much expecting them to appeal this verdict. So the fight isn't over yet. So we're likely to see this go on. And so are other trials, frankly, because Google is also facing another fight over its ad dominance. It basically dominates the 3,300 billion dollars digital ads market as well. That's coming later this month.
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So the EU Trade Commissioner made an 11th hour intervention to stop the European Commission from issuing a penalty against Google. How much has this got to do with sanctions?
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E
I mean, we know that the European Union has been on the warpath against the tech companies. It is now trying to get the US on board to do the same. Now if they are just trying to use that as some kind of a leverage in the sanctions, I think that is not clear just yet. And they're unlikely to win that fight anyway. And we know that the US itself is on the warpath against the tech companies. I mean, it's not just Google that it's in the firing line here. Amazon is facing trial, so is Apple, so is even Nvidia. So, you know, I think the US itself is doing this. So any pressure from the EU is unlikely to yield to anything because of.
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Course Google is keeping its Chrome and.
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Its Apple deal, which was the big fight. And so, you know, by keeping that, their profits will remain relatively intact, I would say.
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Yeah, yeah. Now I want to have a look at this iceberg story, the famous A23A iceberg.
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E
That's right. This is the iceberg that so famously broke away from the Antarctica about 40 years ago. It's been sort of slowly making its way or what we call the superhighway of water that the Antarctic circumpolar current creates. And it's been sort of relatively steady, breaking up, but relatively steady. But now it's moved in much further, further north into warmer waters and it's now melting at an unprecedented pace. And it's very dangerous when it does that because it breaks up. First of all, it disrupts shipping lines. It can also disrupt wildlife in the area. And you know, we know about the sea level rises and everything, but this is yet another example of how the ocean is warming up very rapidly. And we're seeing an iceberg of that size melt at that pace is certainly a message to us all about.
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And there's nothing we can do about it.
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E
Not really. I mean, I think this is, there will be mapping out like where the break offs are because every single breakoff from an iceberg that size is huge in itself. So there is definitely danger to shipping for sure. But it's also a sign of, I think scientists will be using this as a sign to look at what the currents are doing around that region and how quickly they are moving these icebergs around there, because that can also help us really see how we know that some of those currents are weakening, which is not a good story for us, and also about how quickly those icebergs are breaking off.
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A
Well, a ship that did succumb to danger more than a century ago was the Terra Nova, which, of course, was carrying Captain Scott and his men on their doomed expedition to reach the south pole in 1912, I think was their return journey. There's new footage.
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E
Yes, it's the first time it's been filmed in such stunning details. And it's always beautiful to see those sort of structures on the seafloor. I mean, if Terra Nova could speak, it would tell an amazing story, not just of Captain Scott, but of the 60 years that it sailed. And it didn't sink until 1943, when in World War II, when it was carrying supplies for the U.S. army. But, yeah, it's now 170 meters down, just off Grand Greenland. And now we've got this beautiful footage of it showing it's in pretty bad shape, but ocean wildlife has taken over and it's now become one with the ocean. There's plenty of fish, there's a lot of corals. But it was beautiful to see it there, you know, being so much part of the ocean sort of floor and its ecosystem.
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Absolutely. Inge, thank you so much. That's Inga Torda there. You're with the Globalist on Monocle Radio. Now here's what else we're keeping an eye on today. The U.S. military killed 11 people in a strike on a Venezuelan vessel allegedly carrying drugs. President Donald Trump said it was the first such operation since deploying warships, including a nuclear submarine, to the southern Caribbean. Tens of thousands of Israeli reservists have been called up for a fresh offensive to seize Gaza City, which Benjamin Netanyahu wants to speed up despite warnings from senior command. Palestinian officials say Israeli strikes killed at least 100 people on Tuesday, 35 of them in Gaza City. A 5.5 magnitude quake has struck southeast Afghanistan just two days after a stronger tremor killed more than 1,400 people and left thousands injured. The new quake was shallow, raising fears of further devastation in remote villages already flattened. This is the globalist. Stay tuned. Yesterday, a judge in California ruled Donald Trump's move to send troops into Los Angeles is illegal. Well, that ruling's on hold, but it could open the way to more challenges if he tries the same thing in other cities currently under threat, all Democrat run, all with black mayors, and all pointing to falling crime numbers, which doesn't exactly fit the Trump narrative. Well, I'm joined now by Mark Edelman, a long standing campaign and communications consultant to U.S. democrats. In fact, the best campaign and communications consultant ever. There has never been a better campaign and communications consultant. Some people say he should get the Nobel Prize for campaign and communications consultancy. Mark, welcome.
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F
Thank you, Georgina. Are you double timing as a White House staffer these days?
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A
Well, it feels like it could be, as are a number of other people, of course. Gavin Newsom is the chief one. He's trolling Trump online with memes and merch. Tell us more about this and is it smart politics or just playground stuff?
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F
Well, look, I think, you know, the thing about our governor is that he is not somebody to shy away from a fight. And I think what we have seen over and over again over the last several years is that nobody's really figured out how to kind of pierce the balloon of Donald Trump. And this has clearly been getting under the President's skin, both in what he's been saying in sort of interviews and press conferences, as well as his own sort of social media. And if you watch some of the more right wing media, it's a little bit under their skin as well too. You know, I also think it, it shows a real need for people to feel like, like their fighters are actually fighting. And Gavin Newsom is somebody who does that. I mean, he gets in the street and he knows how to throw a punch.
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A
Yesterday he launched a hundred million dollar ad blitz around Prop 50 trying to counter Republican gerrymandering attempts. Can you give us a sense of his new campaign?
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E
Sure.
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F
You know, this is something that's a response to what's going on in the state of Texas where they have sort of ceremoniously changed the rules of when you can reapportion congressional seats. Those are based on the census, which happen every 10 years and are really only done in those following years after the census. California is now moving forward with a proposition or a referendum, if you will, where the voters in November will get to have their say if the governor gets his way, that the congressional lines are reapportioned in the state, which would give Democrats five more seats. And I, you know, think this is a really interesting time for democracy and kind of how we view it and what we're fighting for. To say what the Republicans have done in the state of Texas, not being fair is an understatement. This at least I think brings it to the people. Let the people of California decide. Again, this is something that's very different and new for basically all Americans and specifically Those of us in the state.
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A
I mean, more broadly, Democrats are trying all sorts of things. Podcasts, change of language. It's sometimes a lot more casual use of social media. Do you think it's working or what should they be doing? I mean, you've advised them in the past. How would a campaign like this ideally be run?
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F
I think, look, they need to be doing everything they can, and they need to be trying different things. And that's what you see. A lot of that's going on sort of locally here in California and across the country. There was an article in the Wall Street Journal the other day about the candidate who's the Democratic nominee in Virginia, Spamberger, who is going to be, I think, the next Democratic governor of Virginia. And sort of the difference of her campaign versus that Mandani in New York. And while the tactics are not totally dissimilar, there's an authenticity, right, that works in Virginia that really kind of speaks to the voters that are there that are definitely more to the right in Democratic circles than those that are in New York City. And I think that it's important that candidates understand who they are running to represent what their electorate is looking for for and what the issues are that are going to motivate them. And look, saying this in the summer of 2025, you know, a year and a half before the midterms, or I should say 15 months, and of course, three years before the next presidential election, all hands are on deck. We got to try a lot of different things. Just like in Hollywood. There's no formula. And I think you're going to see a lot of people like Gavin who have really seen some great success over the summer with what he's been trying. And I think you'll see others that will try and maybe not do as well. It's a lot about sort of finding what feels authentic, which is a word that I know we all hate, but you kind of know it when you feel it and you see it. And what kind of speaks to the problems and the issues that are specifically voters concerns at that moment. And we know what's going on today. God knows what's gonna be going on in six weeks or in November when this referendum is up and the elections in Virginia and New Jersey for the governorships.
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A
When you talk about those problems, I mean, there is a reality check. There are high costs, poor services, people leaving Democratic cities. I wonder how much that blunts the Democrat message when they are trying to offer an alternative that although Trump is wrong perhaps about the fallingthe Rising crime rates. There are a lot of problems in the these cities.
- [37:18]
F
It's true. I, you know, I think, you know, you take a look at what's going on today in Chicago, specifically was addressed by the president. And Chicago's the third biggest city in the country. Are there crime issues? Yes. Did they have a terrible weekend? I think, you know, with, with several deaths, yes. The question is, who should be making the decisions to make those cities safer and stronger longer? Is that somebody who is not there, who has no experience in actually governing a city and working with the police and working with the community, or is it the people that are there on the ground, the governor, the mayor, the police chief who are all saying, do not come here, Please do not send the National Guard. And you know, we saw this in Los Angeles earlier in the summer. You had everybody from the governor to the mayor saying, please do not send the National Guard in, please do not send Marines in. We can all agree that there are a lot of problems in the great American cities as there are in the great European and Asian cities around the world. But you, you have to really be proportional to what the actual issue is and what is actually going to solve that issue. And the truth of it is a lot of these members of the National Guard and the Marines have no experience in local policing and keeping cities safe in the way that we think of how, how uniformed police officers do every day. And, and so I, you know, I worry, you know, that this does start to look like a federal government that is imposing their will against the actual people that are living in the communities and the ones that are leading these communities.
- [39:14]
A
Mark Edelman, thank you so much. Mark Edelman's a long standing campaign and communications consultant to U.S. democrats. And this is Monocle Radio. Now let's have a roundup of news from France. And joining me to do that in the studio here is Claudia Jacob, who's a writer for Monocle. Claudia, why do we come to you for French news? What's your French connection?
- [39:41]
G
I used to live in Paris when I was studying. I kind of fell in love a bit with the city then and have never really stopp following its trends along the way.
- [39:48]
A
And I assume you're bilingual.
- [39:50]
G
I mean, I get by, I try my best.
- [39:54]
A
So feeling like a Paris local. I mean, obviously you have spent a lot of time there. Everybody clears out in August, but apparently what's happening now is that there's been a surge of Chinese. If you live in Paris, is that something you resent?
- [40:07]
G
I think tourism in August has always been A strange one, because it's. You're not quite getting the Parisian experience in the sense of the locals not being there. But some people kind of love the fact that you can get into these restaurants that usually have a really long line very easily. But, yeah, I think China Paris has always been a popular destination for Chinese tourists quite historically. But I think this sort of surge that we've seen over the summer, which I think will continue, is partly political. There has been a warming of French Chinese diplomatic relations over the years, particularly last year, 2020, symbolize 60 years of bilateral ties between the two countries. And it's become easier actually to obtain a visa to travel to France. But I think maybe if you look at it more holistically, there are other reasons why Paris is such a special city for the Chinese. It's always held sort of a special place in the Chinese imaginary, and to some extent vice versa, I think, particularly if you look at sort of arts and culture.
- [41:07]
A
But there's been an issue with flights, hasn't there?
- [41:09]
G
That's right. Air France has been quite tricky about organizing flights between China and Paris. It's not always been politically, it's always been slightly fraught. I mean, I think Macron's last visit to Beijing was in 2023. But I think what the two countries have done, when you look slightly separately from the politics, is they've leveraged their cultural exchanges quite cleverly through, you know, through art, through culture, through history, and through food actually, as well.
- [41:37]
A
Well, food and food and drink, particularly taken on a sunny terrace, is something that of course, we always think of when we imagine France. But find sunny terrace has suddenly got a whole lot easier.
- [41:49]
G
That's right. There's this new app called Je veux du Soleil, translates as I want sun. And it very cleverly tracks the sun's movements through the city's sort of maze of buildings and terraces to find that sort of perfect sunny spot. You know, you don't need to find the spot yourself because the app will do it for you.
- [42:07]
A
That's extraordinary. But actually this feeds into something else, and that's the decline of the bistro culture.
- [42:12]
G
That's right. There aren't so much many as there used to be, you know, back in the sort of 1900s. And the French bistro holds sort of a very special place in the heart of Parisians. Not just for the food and drink you get there, but it's a really sociable experience. The chairs, you might notice, often sort of facing outwards into the street. The perfect opportunity for people Watching. And I think the Parisians have been very, very strict about resisting the sort of Americanization of this institution, of the traditional French bistro. And actually it's funny because technology really is actually an enemy me to this culture. You know, this whole like working from a cafe, it's not at all something you can do in Paris. You'll often see a sign on the table saying don't bring your laptop. No laptops allowed. You know, because they're there to socialize, they're there to speak to people, to interact. So could it be that an app is actually, you know, even though it's incompatible with this culture, could it be that an app is actually going to revitalize such a sort of spontaneous culture?
- [43:07]
A
Absolutely. And finally, what is and isn't Paris?
- [43:11]
G
That's right. Paris's peripheries are being reconfigured. These sort of once quite rigid boundaries which were delineated by what's known as the Paris Feri, which was a 21 mile ring road, the sort of neighboring inner d' epartement have been annexed by what actually President Sarkozy in 2016 called the Metropole du Grand Paris, the metropolis of greater Paris. And this sort of encapsulates the way that central Paris is growing. And you know, this was back in 2016 when this idea of the metropolis of greater Paris was established. But a decade later, we're actually seeing some of these tangible changes in Paris urban fabric.
- [43:47]
A
And what's that going to mean for people that live there?
- [43:50]
G
So the northern suburbs, which actually historically have been considered a place full of sort of dereliction and quite high crime rates. Areas like Pontin, Seine, St. Denis and AURC have become sort of the new call, if you like. And I think the reason why this urban shift is so interesting is because actually Paris is a very planned city. It kind of always has been since sort of around the 1800s when the urban planner Hausman decided how the city would look and created the beautiful architecture for what it's known as today. And now we're sitting seeing the city change face once more. You know, it used to be 12 arrondissement, then it became 20. And now some of these areas which had traditionally been sort of socially and also geographically marginalized, are being incorporated into central Paris. And even if it's not sort of the architecture that we've come to expect from Paris in these sort of northern subjects, suburbs, it's a really interesting way to see how the city is growing and how it might change over time.
- [44:45]
A
Claudia, thank you very much. Indeed, that was Claudia Jacob, a writer at Fort Monocle. And this is the globalist on Monocle. Radio, iq, EQ and AI. Three components key to the craft of innovation at ubs. Because to stay ahead in a rapid, 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 to Japan now. The Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo is currently hosting an exhibition called Aki Sassamoto's Life Laboratory. Aki Sasamoto is a New York based performance artist well known for her improvised performances in specially designed spaces that incorporate sculptures and installations she's designed herself. The exhibition is a mid career retrospective that looks back on her 20 years of artistic activity. Manako's Ryuma Takahashi spoke with Aki there and had a sampling of her art.
- [46:06]
B
Comedian is a good chef.
- [46:09]
G
Comedian can roast roast the whole pig.
- [46:14]
B
Comedians good at giving, bad at receiving. I started with kind of like a two separate focus, one is dance and one was sculpture and over time it started to merge and also I started to take over other mediums as well. So by now there's video, there's writing and more mixed media approach to making that can be performed and also be shown as still installations. This is my first survey exhibition and this is marks the meet career. So I'm pretty excited that it showcased work from past 20 to 25 years.
- [47:02]
A
Thank you. Please tell us about your journey that led to your art style of performing within your sculptures. Why did you become a performance artist?
- [47:13]
B
I didn't grow up with much art or focus on studying art. When I first went to study abroad I took a scholarship to go to to UK by myself. And then I barely spoke English then. So it was like out of frustration I ended up embolding the body language trying to communicate. That led me to do some street performances and that's probably the beginning of like wanting to express something using my body. And when I went to university I ended up like studying dance formally. That's probably the beginning again actually take it seriously to study some type of art form.
- [47:58]
A
Thank you. You say that your frustration was the beginning of your art style. So now how do you find inspiration and create artworks now?
- [48:10]
B
So I guess at the beginning it could have been a frustration trying to communicate. And I used to use a lot of of anger to fuel some performances or desire to create come from anger. But nowadays it's like doesn't necessarily have to be that I Could imagine it could be a desire to communicate with my friends. Or sometimes instead of like a street performance, I would just go to a bar to talk with my friends and whatever I end up like drawing on the napkins with my my friends, discussing some social matter end up becoming like a kind of score for the performance or a motif for the object making. So like things seems to come from outside the studio in life that ignites the seed. Like it's a seed for making work.
- [49:06]
A
In this exhibition we can watch your performance in the study of art space you design within the context of museum for you. How is performing in the museum different from performing in a theater or on the stage?
- [49:22]
B
I also once in a while I make a theater production in a theater and then in the black box. The rules are very different. But also audience. Not only the makers and presenter, but the audience. Audience have a different expectations. So they come in, they pay the ticket and they basically focused on consuming the next hour of experience. In a museum, it's different. You might bump into it. Even though you know that you're coming for the performance. You come in to examine the space first and object first and then performance could occur. So it's very different in terms of focused engagement in a theater. But that's in a way passive versus very active audience who's not necessarily focused. So I find those two kind of setup for audience exciting to kind of bounce off of each other for me to find the center of the piece.
- [50:21]
A
Thank you. I think your performance might feel difficult for people who see your works for the first time to understand. What kind of mindset would you like first time viewers to have?
- [50:35]
B
I would like it to be the fact that I like to have a relationship with museums and also is about more suspended and expanded engagement with the work. So a one time performance or one minute viewing is okay. So if you get like a just a hint of something, that's amazing and that's how like perhaps any sculpture should be viewed. It's not like you spend one minute and you get everything you want to spend a lifetime. Perhaps I come back to see the same sculpture in 10 years and what does it feel like? So it's almost like hoping that people only get a small portion because that's more me meaningful as a viewer. For me, when I was viewing artwork, I tried to get one little thing that means a lot rather than understanding the whole thing. Hopefully that's intentional and hopefully it becomes exciting rather than overwhelming.
- [51:38]
A
Aki Sasamoto there with Ryuyama Takahashi. You're listening to the Globalist on Monocle Radio. Seoul is the center of the K Pop world. However, the city does not have a dedicated musical venue that can hold large capacity crowds. But that's about to change. Seoul arena in the northeastern part of the city, which will be able to accommodate 20,000 people, is currently under construction and it'll be open during the first half of 2027. Well, I'm joined now by Bernie Cho, who's president of the Seoul based K Pop agency, DFSB Collective. Bernie, it's lovely to have you back on program. I find it staggering that the city hasn't had a purpose built venue of this size until now. What do you think the reasons for that are?
- [52:30]
H
Well, one of the reasons is that Seoul for the Olympics as well as for the World cup had built very large sports arenas. But truth be told, no one expected after they built these sports arenas that K Pop would get this this big so fast. And obviously not only just accommodating sports events, but any other major events. It's become harder and harder to squeeze large concerts not just for local acts, but international acts who want to tour through South Korea, which is currently the seventh largest music market in the world. Now that being said, you're starting to see music being a magnet for tourism. And what's happened is that there's a shortage of not just large venues, but more importantly smaller venues. And so what the city of Seoul has decided to do is to create a mid sized venue. Now in terms of the venue, a lot of the details early on were not revealed, but now we know more. When it was first announced in 2023, we knew it was being built in the northeast part of Seoul which is quite far away. But some new details emerged recently when the mayor of Seoul paid a visit to the construction Number one. A third of the construction is done and apparently it's ahead of schedule, which is a bit of a surprise for anyone who knows anything about construction. Number two is there's going to be express lines being built to bring fans both local and global to the venue much faster than expected. There's going to be express lines that are going to bring people from the airport from within an hour to anyone from downtown Seoul to cotton Gangnam, making it there in 20 minutes. So that's a huge convenience. And what surprised me was the announcement that there isn't going to be one, but actually two venues in the building. One is going to be able to house 28000 fans actually and there's going to be a smaller venue that's going to be able to see 10,000 fans. Obviously they're touting the fact that it's going to have state of the art audio equipment, ideal viewing sight lines for fans. So hopefully there's no bad seated in the house and flexible st. But also to sort of add a little bit more attraction for tourists. And again, the city of Seoul anticipates this arena alone will attract 2.7 million visitors a year. They're going to be adding shopping as well as movie theaters. And so this has been something that the industry has been hoping and waiting and frankly praying for. And unfortunately because of COVID there was a bit of a problem pause on the construction. But from all appearances it seems like it's going full steam ahead and more importantly ahead of schedule. It's slated to open in the first half of 2027, but many people in the industry, both artists, executives and more importantly fans, are extremely excited about the prospects of not only this venue, but it really, I think in many ways will become a landmark visiting site for tourists to come experience and enjoy.
- [55:39]
A
I mean, K Pop, you've exported it all over the world, it's a global craze. Do you think that Seoul has missed out on profiting on the universal love for the genre because of this lack of dedicated venue? I mean, it's all very well being in a sports arena, but the acoustics aren't ideal.
- [55:57]
H
Oh, they're not even ideal. They're horrible. Again, I think when these large projects were being put together, put together, the idea of these sports venues serving multi purpose, multi use functionality, especially for music, I don't think was planned for the venues. The stadiums that were built for the 88 Olympics, for the 2002 World Cup. K pop, the term didn't exist in 1988 and 2002 is very much in its infancy. And when you build these large scale projects, it takes years of planning and building to happen. And so I think in many ways, ways the planners were caught off guard by the explosive growth. But that being said, K Pop acts right now, the top music companies, they generate three quarters of the revenues outside of Korea. But when they are in Korea, it's very hard for them to lock down stadium size venues. And so this is one of the reasons why so many of the top, the biggest and the best K pop acts are often on the road touring because that's really the only way at the moment for them to reach out and satisfy their exploding fan base. But again, tourism is also exploding in Korea in large part to the Korean wave. Whether it's food, whether it's fashion, whether it's beauty. And now, you know, thanks to the movie K Pop Demon Hunters, more people want to see in real life what they saw animated. And so this surge in tourism, in large part due to pop culture and particularly K pop music, is finally being catered to, to the scale that it's currently at right now.
- [57:34]
A
And finally, do you think that the opening of this, this purpose built venue will affect the growth or the trajectory of the K pop industry?
- [57:44]
H
I definitely think it will help not just local music artists, but also international music artists who want to do more in Korea. So I think it's going to do wonders on many fronts for many reasons. For emerging acts, the ability to who play hopefully the smaller venue of 10,000 and then quickly graduate to the bigger venue of 28,000. Having it right there, not only in the same city, but more important, the same venue, I think is incredibly important and incredibly vital. And then for international acts who are also experiencing growth because the music fan base here is very dynamic and very diverse, it becomes more attractive for international act acts to come through, not just Japan, but now Korea and obviously making their way down to Southeast Asia as well. Because for many reasons, many of the biggest world tours often have to skip coming to Korea because of the lack of venues that can handle them. One of the cities that was missing on Taylor Swift's last world tour was Seoul. She was not able to perform here because rumor had it that there wasn't a venue that could accommodate the size and scale and the spectacle spectacle of that particular world tour. So I think on many ways everybody wins with the advent of this new Seoul arena.
- [59:01]
A
Bernie Cho, thank you very much indeed. Bernie's president of the K pop agency, DFSB Collective. And that's all for today's program. Thanks to our producers Chris Chermack and Anita Riota, our researcher Henry King, and our studio manager Flynn Simons, with editing assistance from Ryuma Takahashi. After the headlines, there's more music on the way and the briefing is live at midday In London, the Globalists will return at the same time tomorrow. I'm Georgina Godwin. Thank you for listening.