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Craft matters in small ways, like how a coffee is brewed, and in not so small ways, like how your money is cared for. Which is why for 160 years, UBS has elevated banking to a craft, tailoring unique strategies that combine human expertise with the latest technologies, all happening across 24 time zones and and 12 key financial hubs. With you at the heart of it all, UBS advice is our craft. You're listening to the Globalist, first broadcast on 8 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, the United States government has already begun marketing Venezuelan crude oil and the global marketplace for the benefit of the United States. That's the White House press secretary Caroline Levitt there. But as Washington announces it will control Venezuelan oil sales indefinitely, will Venezuela Venezuela buckle under the US Demands? In fact, can the government in Caracas say no at all? Also ahead in the next 60 minutes, China's top diplomat begins his annual African tour with every single destination of top strategic significance. We'll find out why he's going and where. And we'll ask why the Czech prime minister is claiming his government can both back Ukraine and scale back support for Kyiv.
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Plus, you see that in all of our properties across the globe, each one is specifically tailored to the local sensibilities and what the city and the place demands.
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A celebration of the opening of the Rosewood Doha. Plus, we find out about the world's tallest vertical farm. That's all coming up on the Globalist live from London. First, a quick look at the some of the other stories that are happening in today's news. President Trump has signed a memorandum announcing the withdrawal of the United States from 66 international organizations saying they operate contrary to the interests of the US the mayor of Minneapolis in the US has rejected the Trump administration's account of the shooting dead of a woman by a federal immigration agent in the city. And the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is to meet Denmark's prime minister next week, but has signaled that Donald Trump has not changed his mind about taking over Greenland. Stay tuned to Monocle Radio throughout the day for more on these stories. But first, what does the US have planned for Venezuela? Its immediate priorities have been made pretty clear and nor do they seem wildly surprising. Washington is to take indefinite control of the sale of Venezuelan oil and the US Seized two Russian flagged tankers linked to Venezuela at one of them in the North Atlantic. But the longer plans may be more difficult to achieve and can indeed. Or will Venezuela have any say? Well, joining me in the studio is Charles Hecker, author and Russia analyst, and down the line by Carlos Sola, who's a Senior Research Fellow in Latin American Security at the Royal United Services Institute here in London. Rusi, a very good morning to you both.
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C
Good morning, Emma.
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D
Morning, Charles.
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A
If I may begin with you. Tell us about these Russian flagged ships. What do we know? We don't know where they are, do we?
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C
That's right. I've been spending most of the morning trying to find exactly where these ships have been taken and information about their current whereabouts is scarce. The one thing that we do know about vessels that are part of the Russian shadow fleet is they tend to be rust buckets. So at some point these ships will likely be taken to a secure US Maritime facility, put into dry dock and dismantled and sold for scrap.
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A
Just explain a little bit though, about where they were seized and what was in them, what they were carrying.
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C
That's right. Well, I mean, the one that we know the most about is the Marinara, which was a ship that had been previously used to bring to transport oil between Iran and other destinations, including Venezuela. And so, so the Marinara was recently reflagged as a Russian ship. The United States believes that that was done illegally and that the ship was essentially stateless, which gave it the grounds to board the ship and seize it. Yesterday the Marinaro, when it was seized, was empty, we believe it did not have any oil cargo. It was approaching the coast of Venezuela and was kept from docking in Venezuelan ports by the US blockade of the Venezuelan co. It turned around and began to sail northwards. As it sailed on that route, it was intercepted in a fairly dramatic operation and was mounted, essentially boarded by a U.S. coast Guard helicopter and control was taken by U.S. authorities.
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Okay, so that's what's happening at sea. That's right. Back in Venezuela, Carlos, we now have large announcements being made about the US taking control of the sale of Venezuelan oil. What's been the reaction there? Say yes or no to any of this?
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D
Of course they can say yes or no, but I think that US pressure is pointing towards them saying yes. The whole operation that we saw against Nicolas Madur on Saturday, it really knocked the pieces of the chess that we were playing before Saturday. So it's a completely different scenario in which I think the US has shown enough initiative and political will now, especially from Mr. Marco Rubia, the Secretary of the State, in which which Venezuela will have to compel to certain requirements from the White House. And the main compel is on revamping the oil industry. And for that, of course, everything that goes in and out is now a matter of US Jurisdiction in and out. I mean, the oil that might be circulating between countries that used to do commerce with Venezuela before Saturday, and this.
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In very, very simple terms, Chuck, is being seen by some people as the appropriation of another nation's wealth.
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C
Well, that's right. It's the appropriation of another nation, essentially. I mean, the Venezuelan government essentially is now serving at the pleasure of the United States, and there's not that much it can do about it. The United States, essentially. President Trump hasn't said it in so many words, but he basically wants to try to make Venezuela great again. He wants to revive its economy, he wants to revive its energy sector. And, you know, he's meeting with U.S. oil executives in the White House over the next few days and wants them to all reinvest in Venezuela, including companies that were thrown out or who had their assets nationalized by the Maduro government and essentially call the Venezuelan energy industry its own.
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And just looking at the Financial Times front page this morning, it has an exclusive saying US Oil groups warn they will need guarantees to invest in Venezuela. Donald Trump held more talks with industry bosses as president flexes power over energy markets. It is as simple as that. Donald Trump sees Venezuela now as very much part of a sort of a. Well, how does he see a sort of a business asset?
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C
Well, it is as simple as that, but it's going to get very complicated very quickly. And you're right to say that U.S. companies, if they go back to Venezuela, and that's a very, very big if, if they go back, they're going to want US Guarantees, they're going to want the White House to have their back. Because what an energy company needs before it goes back into a market like Venezuela is, you know, some sort of level of security about the rule of law, about control over corruption, about organized crime, about the sort of, you know, the aftermath of the destruction of an autocracy which creates a government that is, you know, and an investment climate that is very, very far from stable. And I think what's gonna happen, because the precedent for this has already been set, is the White House will turn to the oil industry and say, sure, we'll have your back, and guess What? We'll take 15% of your profits. There will be a quid pro quo in this from the U.S. indeed.
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And then just going back to you, Carlos, about this idea of this quid pro quo. And Delcey Rodriguez, the president, I mean, what negotiating power does she have here?
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D
Well, she has the negotiating power of still being leaving the regime. Okay, so as Charles correctly saying, anyone just cannot go in Venezuela and think that this is a new country. You need to clean up government, you need to reestablish industry logistics. So the oil concerns from the industry are very real. This is very thick oil that we have in Venezuela. Whatever type of operation requires and demands a massive engineering effort. That engineering effort cannot happen in a vacuum of power where you have collectivos who might be attempting against your engineers, your technicians. Insecurity still a matter in Venezuela. High corruption, a militarized country where the armed forces were running the oil industry. So you had generals instead of civilian CEOs with an MBA. So it's a very, very tough country. And that's what Del C. Rodriguez can negotiate. I mean, when Marco Rubio presses the agenda of you need to revamp the oil industry and give it to foreign powers, she still can say, okay, but I'm not ready. The country is quite a mess. And still my country, I'm still living with the entourage that used to Nicolas Maduro, but now only Maduro was captured. The rest of the regime, the Minister of the Interior, the Minister of the Armed Forces, General Vladimir Padrino, still has a wide net of power within Venezuela, although of course being underneath this umbrella which is the US Running Venezuela.
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So going back to you, Charles, now let's examine where Venezuela's loyalties lie. They clearly have the United States with very powerful interests and unafraid to go in and capture the President on a Saturday night. Rodrigo Delcio. Rodrigo has said that, you know, Venezuelans will oppose any imperialist ambition. So where else can Venezuela now look? Because if, if, if the United States is pulling the oil strings, at least its friends before all this started were Russia, they were Iran, they were Cuba, they were China, they were the United States adversaries.
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C
That's right. Venezuela at the moment doesn't really have that many allies or other states to turn to, in part because there is still an enormous amount of American military hardware just off its coast. And so while President Trump has said that he wouldn't hesitate to put boots on the ground in Venezuela, that is extremely unlikely. That wouldn't go down very, very well with the American public, with the MAGA core that supports President Trump because of course you'll remember that he promised the United States to pull it out of all sorts of messy foreign engagements. But, but the American military presence off the coast of Venezuela is still significant and influential and, and, and will limit Venezuela's maneuverability. I mean I'd like to support what Carlos said in that is that there is a series of vested interests on the ground in Venezuela whose interests will have to be taken into consideration as the country moves forward. And I guess, you know, the, the dance between Ro Rodriguez and Trump in Venezuela and the remains of the rest of the Maduro administration and the Trump administration are going to be extremely difficult to iron out.
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Carlos, let's develop that a little bit. The ironing out of the influence of the Trump administration. If you were sitting in Caracas now and you were Delsey Rodriguez, would you be ringing Moscow or Beijing?
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D
Well, I think they have for a while now. Operation Southern espia started in August 2025, started gradually with a few of the American armada going down south with the first ideas of bombing these alleged drug boats that were running the coast of Venezuela. Of course that Venezuela has relied as mentioned before in China, Iran and in other countries that were allowed to deal with the Venezuelan oil industry at the hands of the regime. So this is not the first call of help. I think that moment has quite passed now. I think there have been a lot of evidence in which the brics have not invited Venezuela. Russia, China have done summits globally with invitees from their partner countries in which Venezuela has not been invited in 2025 or in 2024. There are very few connections left left that Del C. Rodriguez could pick up the phone and say hey, I need a bit more of your help. And Venezuela has been exposed. The intelligence operation of its terrain by the US has clearly thrown out what the Iranian drones in their air forces were capable of. The anti air defenses from Russia were completely decimated. So any of these countries, they won't just put any more military hardware for instance in the coast coast of Venezuela to expose them to US intelligence. So there's very little that Venezuela can do at the moment more than the rhetoric that these countries, that authoritarian countries are very good at. We demand the sovereignty we are against anti imperialism and so on. So Delsie is in a very very tough moment. She's cornered by the US but she still has a few tools that she could use in order to get rid of this with of amnesty. Right. They'll see and the rest of the regime, they need an amnesty to be free. If not they're going to end up in jail whether in Venezuela or elsewhere.
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Carlos Sola, thank you so much. Senior research fellow for Latin American security at RUSI and Charles Hecker author And Russia analyst, thank you both for joining me on the Globalist. It's 1014 in Mogadishu, 714 here in London. Now the destinations on China's top diplomat Wang Yi's annual visit to Africa this year read like a very deliberate shopping list. Somalia for its location as key influence point for the Red Sea, Tanzania for its copper, Zambia for its railway networks and Lesotho for its trade potential. To tell us more, I'm joined now by Naveena Kotle, Monocle's Nairobi correspondent. Good morning, Naveena. Good morning. So let's just recap this list. These four destinations, Somalia, Tanzania, Zambia and Lesotho. Very deliberate.
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Yes, very deliberate. All of these four countries especially, I think, Somalia, but also Tanzania, Ethiopia, have been struggling in different ways when it comes to their relationships with Western countries. There was a lot of criticism for the way Tanzania cracked down after the election against protesters. The country really shut down, didn't allow anyone in. And I think it is, it shows that, you know, these countries, Tanzania has a, you know, a lot of infrastructure projects already underway, are looking towards other big players to finance their projects for bilateral relations. And I think it's, it's very telling that while Western countries are in the process of coming back from the holidays, the Chinese foreign minister is embarking on his first foreign trip to East Africa.
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Indeed. And, and if you were and if you are a host nation preparing all that for all this and you're waiting for Wang Yi to, to arrive, you know full well that everything that is going to be done is going to be in an entirely trans of an entirely transactional nature. I mean, how does each nation prepare for this, these arrivals?
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E
Yes. I think these countries have different interests and different needs. You know, Somalia has, China is not the first country to be interested in expanding its relations with Somalia. The Turkish government is very active there. There has been investing, there is building a port. It has, it has the longest coastline in Africa, Somalia. So in terms of trade, in terms of fishing rights, there's a lot on offer. And obviously there are security arrangements to be made for a central government that is fighting an insurgency outside the capital. And this government, the Mogadishu government, has been losing financial support from major donors and I think it is looking for more military support. The same, in a way applies to Ethiopia. Ethiopia for a long time was, you know, had a very strong relationship with China, then opened up its economy. There was a lot of Western funding coming in and the hope that, you know, one of the biggest countries on the continent would, would open up to the west after the big war, we have seen it's not really the case. The economy is struggling. What Ethiopia has to offer is a big, big workforce. Is, has to offer an already kind of established working relationship with the Chinese government over the last decades. So I guess it's a place to offer manufacturing, textile industry. And as you said in Tanzania and in Lesotho, it's more about minerals and big infrastructure projects.
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Explain a little more. I mean, you mentioned the opening up of economies to Western governments for such a long time. The sort of received thought is that investment in Africa has been China's game. Are we in fresher times now where total dominance is no longer. Longer the case?
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E
Definitely. I think several economies and major players have woken up to the fact that the continent is growing. The, the economies are growing. The, there's a young workforce and there is a growing middle class. So you have major players like the Gulf States, Saudi Arabia, France, China, Turkey, trying to get in on the game. There is a lot of potential for agriculture within a context where I think these countries are looking for sort of food security and making sure that within a context of climate change, food security is, you know, is a major concern in these countries. But there's also potential for infrastructure development and cooperation in, when it comes to airlines, pretty much any area you can think of. We also seeing, I know the French foreign minister is not. The Chinese foreign minister is not coming here, but there's a big French presence in Nairobi now. Big French companies are actually present and I think goes to show how important the content has become for the global economy.
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Tell us a little bit more about what happened last year because Wangi, he does this every single year. He goes on his trip to Africa and last year he went to Namibia. Namibia, the Republic of Congo, Chad and, and at the point they were saying this is highlighting the consistency of China's engagement with analysts. Do we know what happened next as to whether these nations actually did. We can now see evidence that the Chinese investment is, is strong.
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I think we have or we have consistent evidence that Chinese investment, for example, in the Democratic Republic, in certain parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo is strong, that there is a strong relationship when it comes to the export of minerals roles of having, you know, building infrastructure projects that help mining efforts and Chinese access to resources that they need for the economy. I think in the case of Nigeria, it's a bit more complex. But what we do see, I mean, if you travel around, you do see a present, the presence is quite visible. And I guess the consistency also comes. It's just built in with the routine. It's hard for me to say whether within a year we can see these differences because I haven't been back to these countries. But what we do see in places where I've traveled to in the last year, for example, in Uganda, is that there is a very big presence that is consistent.
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Naveena Koto in Nairobi. Thank you so much for joining us on Monocle Radio. Still to come on today's program, Singapore.
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Has officially opened the world's tallest vertical farm as the city state looks to reduce its reliance on imported food. I'll bring you all of the details.
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We'll find out more later on the Globe list. CRAFT is a matter of perspective, a unique outlook, an obsessive attention to detail. With UBS chief Investment office Houseview, we're focused on identifying the latest investment opportunities and market risks to help you achieve your financial goals. So you get the big picture broken down into thought provoking insights delivered daily and curated by over 200 globally connected locally active analysts. UBS Banking is our craft. Let's continue now with today's newspapers. For that I'm joined by Ruth Michelson, the observers Middle east correspondent based in Istanbul. Good morning, Ruth. How's Istanbul looking this morning?
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This morning, incredibly blustery and stormy right now.
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Excellent. Batten down the hatches and we'll do the papers. What have you spotted?
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So a lot of coverage, particularly some excellent detailed reporting in the New York Times about the situation on the ground in Venezuela, how much worse it has been getting in the days since Donald Trump, Trump removed the president Nicolas Maduro from power. The New York Times talking about security forces interrogating people at checkpoints, boarding public buses, searching passengers phones and cracking down on journalists and human rights groups.
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Good. And so explain a little bit more about what the just develop that story for us a little bit more because what you described there has seems to be an incredibly palpable and and definite change.
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Absolutely. I mean, there's a lot of reporting also in the Washington Post talking about journalists and media workers being detained and the government in their way moving to suppress any public expression of support for the removal of Maduro, launching what they describe as a nationwide crackdown. And one person talking to the Washington Post saying it feels like it did after the presidential elections in 2024, saying we won, but we also lost.
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Let's move on to another story which is talking about Donald Trump and his extension, which is there is now talks between Israel and Syria.
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G
Yes. So surprising results earlier this week from some talks in Paris that Israel and Syria agreed to set up what they described as a dedic communication line to essentially facilitate. This is, in the slightly dry words of the State Department, carried by Al Jazeera, diplomatic engagement and commercial opportunities. So this idea that these two countries that officially have, have had no relations for years now, have diplomatic engagement with one another, which is a success in US Brokered talks, rare breakthrough in success there. But at the same time, there's not a huge amount of Clari about whether this will mean an end to the Israeli attacks on Syria that we have seen since the fall of Bashar Al Assad last year. Some reporting in Reuters saying that Syrian officials said that these talks in Paris concluded with an initiative to suspend all Israeli military activities in Syria, but that there was no comment from the Israeli side about whether this was actually true.
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Will there be any sense that just looking at the statement that's come out says that the mechanism will serve as a platform to address any disputes promptly and work to prevent misunderstandings. So there is clearly sort of a purpose to all this. Where is this actually all going? Some are suggesting that this could actually lead to a security agreement between Israel and Syria.
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G
I mean, there's certainly hopes in Washington that there is. There's this idea of a security agreement between the two countries that would be immediately immensely unpopular on the ground in Syria. And so there's a sense that Syrian officials are walking this line where they want to have this communication, or they need to have this communication rather with the Israeli side in order to calm the tensions that we've seen, find a way to prevent further Israeli strikes. But at the same time that actually entering into an official agreement, particularly an agreement that would change the situation or make the Israeli occupation of the Golan Heights permanent, that is something that would be deeply, deeply unpopular in Syria. And the new government regards that as a threat.
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How much is this down to the United States putting Israel under pressure to reach a deal with Syria?
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I mean, we've seen a huge amount of US Pressure on Israel regarding this. But I mean, at the same time, there is a sense that the Israelis sort of see what they want to see, that there is a desire to have an agreement that works in their interests, and the US Is trying to engineer a situation that potentially works for both countries. I mean, we've seen the main takeaway that we've seen reporting in the media on this has been the idea that the United States has pushed the idea that the two could set up a ski resort jointly operated in the disputed area between Israel and Syria up in the Golan Heights.
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I mean, it's an astonishing story that you'll spot in the telegraph out of the United Kingdom today. The U.S. president talking about an economic zone. And the picture in this story is illustrative of just how huge a gear change this will require. There are images of the Syrian army units on patrol and deployment activities in the snow. It doesn't necessarily conjure immediate thoughts of a luxury ski resource resort.
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G
Well, exactly. I mean, this is in an area that has seen an active military presence by the Israelis for the, the first time in, in, in years. There's been encroachment over the so called demilitarized zone up in the Golan Heights. And that there have, there's been shelling, there has been, there have been airstrikes in the area. And so it's not necessarily the location that you would pick for somewhere that you would want to go on holiday and go to a ski resort and have a relaxing time. But according to the Jerusalem Post, there's also some reporting in Alhura about this. This has been a focus by the United States to promote this initiative that, you know, they see this as a kind of major win from this communication between Israel and Syria and that they've talked about also at these talks establishing industrial zones in that demilitarized zone. I mean, where they're going to have space for all of this. We're not talking about a huge area. So there's going to be industrial zones, a ski resort, and at the same time, you know, potentially still active fighting because it's not necessarily clear that that's come to an end.
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Ruth, you know this area. Well, how do you think, do you think this, any of this will ever happen?
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Well, I mean, yet again.
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A
In the.
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Parlance of the White House, it's already begun and so there's no need to doubt it. So I mean, the Jerusalem Post saying that, you know, US Sources talking about how substantial work on the project had already been completed. I mean, what that actually means in practice, given that we've seen no change on the ground whatsoever, apart from the deeper encroachment of, of Israeli forces onto Syrian territory. It's all very confusing. But again, it's the White House trying to project success, you know, and basically say that, you know, if you're, if you're doubting it, you're just not looking at the progress that somehow has already been made, even though that's not visible at all.
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Ruth Michelson in Istanbul, thank you as ever, for joining us on Monocle Radio. You're Listening to THE globalist. Now here's a quick look at some of the other other stories we're keeping an eye on today. President Trump has signed a memorandum ordering the withdrawal of the United States from 66 international organizations. The White House said they operated contrary to the interests of the U.S. meanwhile, the mayor of Minneapolis has rejected the Trump administration's account of the shooting dead of a woman by a federal immigration agent in the city. Jacob Fry said video of the incident directly contradicted assertions by the White House that the agent had shot Renee Good in self defense. And the U.S. secretary of State Marco Rubio is to meet Denmark's prime minister next week, but has signalled that Donald Trump hasn't changed his mind about taking over Greenland. Copenhagen's allies such as Germany and France are currently working on a response. And those are the headlines on the Globalist. Foreign 30am in Prague, 7:30am here in London. Now the Czech Prime Minister Andre Babish was among those leaders joining the meeting of the coalition of the Willing this week, pledging continued support for Ukraine. Yet what role does the Czech Republic play and intend to play with an increasingly vocal far right opposition to the country helping Kyiv? Well, I'm joined now by Rob Cameron, journalist and in Prague. Good morning to you. Rob, welcome. Welcome back.
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Good morning. How are you?
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Very well, thank you. Let's talk about Andre Babisch's pledge. What exactly is it or was it it's not a million miles off the status quo, but it's not straightforward.
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H
It's not. But I think really what Mr. Babbi has been saying this week about his country's contribution to Ukraine's war effort, really it's been a lot of political spin. Andrej Babish spent the election last year railing against the so called Czech Ammunition Initiative, a scheme under which millions of artillery shells have been sourced around the world by Czech defence companies, paid for mostly by the Czech Republic's EU and NATO partners and sent to Ukraine. He said that it was opaque, it was corrupt and he vowed to scrap it. Then he walked that back a bit, said that he was going revise it and audit it. And now this week, as you say, following that coalition of the willing meeting in Paris, he said actually no, it's going to continue. What he said was it's going to continue, but Czech taxpayers would no longer pay into it and the Czech Republic would perform a coordinating role within it. But that's no change at all. The Czechs, it's a Czech scheme. It was started by Prague and the Czechs have always coordinated it and the amount of money that Czech taxpayers have paid in has been tiny. The man who devised the scheme, Tomasz Kopechny, he said this week he's a Defense Ministry former Defence Ministry official. He said that 98% of the cost of these shells is borne by big Western countries Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany. The Czechs really have paid very little into it. That's not been their role. So in that set sense, nothing really has changed.
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A
Nothing has changed apart from the political climate. We have Andrei Babysz trying to sort of distance himself from very strong pro Kyiv stances of predecessors and members of the Czech government. Yet at the same time he cannot appear to be too Russian, too pro Russian, I should say.
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H
That's exactly it. Yes, Andrej Babych of course won the elections, but he didn't win enough for an overall majority to form a government on his own. And he needed coalition, coalition partners. And one of those partners is the Kremlin friendly SPD party, a far right anti immigration party that has always viscerally opposed helping Ukraine in this war against Russia. And it has been one of the biggest critics of the Czech ammunition initiative. The party in fact ended up with the Defense Ministry portfolio when they were dividing up the ministerial posts. So they ended up nominating the man, the former general who would become Defence Minister. That man is clearly a rather independently minded chap. He appeared in front of the TV cameras shortly before Christmas telling the viewers, no, the ammunition initiative is going to continue. Russia is the aggressor and we must support Ukraine. He was immediately pulled over the coals by his own party, party, the party that nominated him, forced to do an excruciating video not 24 hours later when he was made to backtrack against those claims. That gives you an indication of the political climate in which this government exists. And Andrei Babis has to keep those coalition partners on side because they can torpedo his government. But yet he obviously wants to continue the Czech Republic's place and its role in there, NATO and the eu. That's why I think we've seen him not scrap this scheme this week, but talked instead about the Czechs no longer paying any money into it at all. But if the Czechs are only paying 2% of the scheme, then I think that's not really going to have much of an effect on the flow of shells arriving in Ukraine.
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A
Gazing into your crystal ball, Rob, where does this go next? Given the fact that this intractable problem is not going to go away anytime soon and all eyes are unbabished to try to create that balancing act, to be a true politician.
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H
It's difficult to really predict that, to be honest, because some say that this government arrangement that he's created, his catch all centrist, slightly conservative and or party in coalition with two much smaller parties, as I say this far right SPD party and the Eurosceptics motorists for themselves party that it can't last. It's just inherently so unsuccessful, stable and so fractious that this case, and also the case of a minister that the motorists wanted as foreign minister and he's been rejected by the President, that this is really a sign that the next four years is just going to be a constant case of these little crises blowing up and threatening the stability of his coalition. Some even believe that it won't last more than a few months. And then Mr. Bolton Babi will create another more stable coalition with perhaps more reliable partners on the centre right of Czech politics. I think it's just too difficult to say now. He's a very good politician and what he's really good at is absorbing these smaller parties into his coalitions and then destroying them from within, taking, stealing their voters and emerging as a much stronger political force. I think that's much more likely, likely to happen in the long term.
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A
More widely, though, what does this do for the Czech Republic's view or position within Europe and indeed more widely when it comes to supporting Ukraine?
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H
I think it's really just look at what happened this week. This man who railed against the ammunition initiative, who has spoken of being a pro peace politician and against war, and yet he's allowing this scheme, which has been crucial. It really cannot be stressed enough just how important this scheme has been to Ukraine. He's allowed that to continue. Before it was devised, it was devised in the summer of 2022, Russians were firing 10 shells for every one fired by Ukraine, thanks to this scheme, which has seen 4 million artillery shells deliver delivered to Ukraine when the EU was incapable of doing so. That's now fallen to two shells fired by Russia for every one fired by Ukraine. So that gives you an indication of how important it's been. And he, under pressure from America, from NATO, from the country's Western allies, is allowing it to go ahead. So we'll hear a lot of noise from Andrej Babys over the next four years, whether it's Ukraine or perhaps even even the EU's Green Deal and all sorts of things. In the end, you have to look at what he does and not what he says.
- [39:05]
A
Rob Cameron in Prague. Thank you as ever for joining us on the Globalist. You're listening to Monocle Radio. Let's focus on luxury hospitality now on the Globalist and in the Gulf in particular, Rosewood Hotels and Resorts has officially opened its long awaited new flagship in Doha. Fireworks and a launch event attended by Qatar's Tourism Minister. It was glorious. Now this opening marks a key step in the group's expansion across the GCC. Monocles Gulf correspondent in Zaman Rashid caught up with Radha Arora, who's president of Rosewood Hotels and Resorts at the event. And INSI began by asking him what it took to finally bring the project to life.
- [39:47]
B
Finally it's come to fruition. You know, the relationship that we've had had with Doha Qatar in particular has been there for a good 10 years and this project has taken as many years to build. As you can see, Rosewood. You know, each property is handcrafted, curated, very specific to Rosewood. And somebody said to me this morning, when other brands come to Doha, they basically, basically put their names on the building saying that they position their property there, there's a flag there. In our case, we don't do that. We continue the essence of Rosewood. And you see that in all of our properties across the globe, how each one is specifically tailored to the local sensibilities and what the city and the place demands.
- [40:41]
H
It's interesting because I've been coming to this country for a long time now and when I look at the hotel offerings, it felt like Dohan needed something like this. It needed something with a bit of character, a bit of personalization, it needed a bit of hospitality uplift. When it came to, to the luxury market, have you kind of, have you kind of felt that, do you feel like this is the right time to really enter this market in particular?
- [41:10]
B
Yeah, actually we're very, very fortunate because some of the markets that we go to, other brands are already there. So we kind of wait and see, see what's going on, what is the market, how is the market reacting? But then we don't look at the competition. We don't say, oh, we need to better the competition or this is what the market is saying. This is what the market, this is what we should be doing. When it comes to food and beverage companies, concepts or anything, we do what we feel is right for that destination. That's the beauty of the brand. It's very intuitive, it understands its customers. And what we see within ourselves, we grow after we develop each property. You know, as you, as, you know, we just opened the Chancery Rosewood in London, and then Courchevel, Rosewood, Courchevel just a couple of weeks ago. And each one has its own, own statement, and we feed off of that. While Doha is being developed over the last eight, 10 years, we were still able to catch up with the current time, say, okay, this is what we need to do. Basically, we get confidence from each one of our openings.
- [42:14]
H
Well, I'll come back to GCC expansion shortly, radha, but specifically about Doha. When you kind of look and feel of this property, when you spend a bit of time here, what is it so special about this property that makes it fit into Qatar in particular?
- [42:29]
B
Yeah, it's. What you're asking me is what people are telling me. Many of our partners who reside here, of course, as you know, we have a few partners within the Rosewood portfolio originating from Qatar. They all say that rosewood is a feeling. And when you walk into this property, it's a feeling. It's intimate. It feels like you belong, you want to belong, belong here. There's something special, something humble about the place. Feels very residential, and it does not feel like it's trying too hard to put on these sort of fancy food and beverage concepts. We do what we feel is right for the market, and many of the concepts that we've developed here are as a result of what I just said, what we felt was appropriate for the destination, but also what the customer and the clients and our partners in Doha were telling us was needed here. So we listen.
- [43:26]
H
Those and those little touches are so important in a market like the gcc. You know, even down to some of the privacy elements that you have in. In this hotel, some of the exclusivity elements that you have in the Rosewood Doha as well. They've played crucial roles in building this property, right?
- [43:44]
B
Well, yes, of course. I mean, you. You see the intimacy. You see how, you know, you see the different corners, the cigar lounge, or you see the Mediterranean restaurant, or you see the Chinese restaurant, how they've evolved and developed. We create intimate spaces, not these large spaces, and that is Rosewood. And whether the building itself is gigantic or not, big or not, what we do is we make it intimate so that it feels like you're walking in. Into a small cocoon and you feel that you belong. Like I said before.
- [44:15]
H
Tell me a bit about the gcc, then. Where are we in terms of trajectory for the rest of the gcc? We know that Dubai is coming up. We know Saudi Arabia is coming up as well. What can you tell us about when we're expecting to see those properties and what the trajectory is looking like.
- [44:32]
B
Yeah. So on the heels of Doha, I also feel that as a result of opening this property in the gcc, that Rosewood will continue to foster future partners who see what we can do in Doha. They've seen what we can do in London, they've seen what we can do in Hong Kong. Rosewood, Hong Kong, number one hotel in the world. They've seen what we can do in Courchevel, Amsterdam, in other parts of the world. And so to get it right here is kind of the sort of the template for the future. Of course, we have open roads Abu Dhabi, which was the second generation of Rosewoods, being in this part of the world many, many years ago. Rosewood 1.0 also had Al Fazalia in Riyadh, as you probably remember. So we've been wanting to kind of get further traction and trajectory in this part of the world. And both Abu Dhabi, then Doha today will be sort of, you know, the springboard for US successes to come, both in Alula and Amala and then hopefully some other opportunities. Red Sea, of course. And we're not doing that because other brands are going there, but we do, we do believe in this destination aligned with 2030 vision for Saudi as well. And not only that, it's important to us to be in this part of the world because, you know, people say, oh, it's feeder market. Feeder market, yes, of course it is. I'll give you an example. Rosewood Courchevel just opened. Many of our people that I know here in Doha were actually staying with us at Roosevelt Courchevel. Unbeknownst to them that we were just opening it as Rosewood Courchevel. As soon as the name Rosewood came up, they wanted to come and stay. So basically we're answering to the community.
- [46:14]
A
That was Radha Arora, president of Rosewood Hotels and Resorts, in conversation with Monocle's Inzaman Rashid. This is the global. 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, expertise with artificial intelligence. All to elevate you. UBS banking is our craft. Time now for a roundup of all the news from urbanism. And joining me from Edmonton in Canada is Sheena Rossiter, Monocle's contributing editor. A very good evening to you, Sheena. How are things? You are?
- [47:14]
I
Oh, well. All is well here. A great way to start 2026. Quite cold, but it's about to warm up a little bit over here. So we're grateful for that.
- [47:23]
A
Glad to hear it. Right, let's tell us, tell us about what's happening in urban planning.
- [47:28]
I
Well, it's really interesting because the country of azerbaijan has declared 2026 the year of urban planning and architecture. And that is specifically because in the capital, Baku, they're about to host the 3rd 13th World Urban Forum in May. And the country's president, Ilhan Aliyev, he signed an official order declaring this, that this is the year of urban planning and architecture. Now this is a pretty big deal in order to have this order because it aims to help preserve Azerbaijan century old traditions while integrating more kind of contemporary approaches to respond to current social, environment, environmental and spatial challenges. And this is all in preparation for that big UN conference that's happening in May.
- [48:17]
A
Okay, and how does this, you know, what you've just been talking about there actually sort of fit in with what Azerbaijan's goals are? Yeah.
- [48:27]
I
So the theme of this year's conference is about housing the world, so safe and resilient cities and communities. And this really aligns with sustainable cities and communities and quite frankly the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. And this is all really on the agenda to keep for inclusive, resilient and sustainable urban development, specifically linked with shelter and integrated planning that aligns with climate change adaptation and inclusive governance for Azerbaijan. So this is really part of a bigger mission for that nation, but it's being looked at in many other parts of the world as well. Of course.
- [49:10]
A
So tell us about the rest of the world. Given the fact that this at the moment looks as if it's clearly doing some good things for Azerbaijan, but the rest of us, where do we see the benefit?
- [49:21]
I
Yeah, it's really interesting because of course the topic of housing is we're in the middle of a global housing crisis. There's no other way to really put that. So let's just look at some of the numbers. Right now there are 3 billion people that are facing some type of housing inadequacy. And we more than 1.1 billion people are living in informal settlements like slums. And over 300 million people globally are experiencing homelessness. So we're not doing very well on that front. And then with things like climate risk just continuing to deepen and more inequalities widening around the globe, there continues to be problems with housing. So that's really what they're looking to tackle this year in May at the World Urban Housing Forum is to kind of advance More inclusion, equity and resilience by highlighting some of these disparities. And that is what they're looking at doing with the 3,000 delegates from some 143 countries that will be there just.
- [50:21]
A
To explore a little bit more these factors that contribute to the global housing crisis. Because you mentioned the fact that, you know, it is a huge, huge problem and they are very real and actually intractable ones in many sense.
- [50:33]
I
Yeah, it's really a big result of housing having been turned into a commodity. It used to be one of the necessities that we need to live, which is, you know, food, water and shelter. But it's turned into a commodity and that's really been a core driver in the rising of homelessness in wealthy countries. In particular, just to give you an example, in major European Union cities, 1 in 10 households spend more than 40% of their income on rent. Typically, that figure should be closer to about 30%. And some expert reject claims that migration is a driving force of housing shortages, saying that migrants typically have been kind of a easy scapegoat for that. But cities across the world just housing values continue to soar and they're outpacing the, the real wages that we see. And investment activity continues to grow. But affordable homes continue to, to shrink for just millions of residents in the EU and other parts of the world as well.
- [51:33]
A
Strangely, one of the great champions of increasing the amount of affordable homes is Donald Trump.
- [51:40]
I
Yes, this is actually quite curious. So the real estate magnet himself, he wants to actually ban large investors from buying single family homes in a bid to bring down the housing prices. What he said is, is he said, quote, people live in homes, not corporation. So he made this announcement on his true social and he said, quote, for a long time, buying and owning a home was considered the pinnacle of the American dream. And then he later added that American dream is increasingly out of reach for so many people. It is for that reason and much more that I'm immediately taking steps to ban large institutional investors from buying more single family homes. And I will be calling on Congress to codify it. People living in homes, not corporations. So this really comes down to shares of Blackstone. They dropped by 9% because Blackstone is a rather large institutional investor in homes. However, Blackstone themselves, they told CNBC back in July that they actually own less than 1% of the of the 46 million rental homes in the United States. But that doesn't erase the problem that between 2020 and 2025, housing prices climbed 55% nationwide in the United States. And that's not even taking into account larger cities like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, which would probably have risen even more exponential. So it is rather interesting that he just recently, recently announced these steps to help try to change policy to see if that can bring it down. But we'll see where this actually goes through as it makes its way through Congress.
- [53:22]
A
Sheena Rossiter in Edmonton, Canada, thank you so much for joining us on the Globalist. Finally, a look at one way of solving a country's food requirements, especially if you are in a place where there is little room to grow, quite literally. In Singapore, there is the world's tallest vertical farm has opened with the aim of producing 2,000 tons of vegetables every single year. And it uses AI and robotics to do so. I'm joined now by Adam Hancock, journalist who reports for NPR Al Jazeera and is a regular voice here in on Monocle Radio. And Adam, you're usually in Singapore, but lucky you, you're in Denpasar in Bali. Good afternoon.
- [54:01]
F
Good afternoon to you.
- [54:03]
A
Quick question from Angelica Jopson, our producer. How are your kids? Cucumbers?
- [54:10]
F
They're okay, but not as good as they would be if they were inside the vertical farm, the world's tallest vertical farm, which has been opened in Singapore. And if you get a chance to take a look at this today, it's definitely worth looking at some of the videos of it because it's mightily impressive to give a kind of sense of the, the size of it. It's 23 meters high, which is equivalent to five stories, stories and it looks almost dystopian is maybe one word to describe it. It's just row after row of, of plants, of greenery in white trays on huge metal racks on top of each other. And so it's effectively a factory or a warehouse, but for growing plants and, and creating an indoor farm. So, yeah, definitely check it out if you get the chance today.
- [54:56]
A
Dystopian is a really good way to describe this, isn't it? Because it's, it's all powered by artificial intelligence, it's all done by robots and it's all, it's, it's effectively a giant hydroponic farm, but farm, isn't it?
- [55:09]
F
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So it's, it's fully automated, as you said, even to a degree that AI systems are monitoring the vegetation constantly and they can send emails and alerts to staff members if there are problems. So for example, if some of the crops are going a little bit yellow, the leaves, the staff will get an email alert to say, look, there's a problem here, you need to come and have a look what's going on. The, the technology is also assessing how much light the vegetation needs as well. So it can reduce light when, you know, when they need less exposure or, or increase it as well. And that's, that's quite smart because one of the problems with these kind of indoor farms is, is they're hugely energy intensive and that obviously adds to the cost. So there has been a lot of indoor farms, agrit tech in Singapore over recent years, but actually a number of them have been closing because they just can't cope with the costs of running these indoor farms. Obviously this one is fully automated, but it still requires a huge amount of energy. And you have to remember the fact that because Singapore imports pretty much all of its food, a lot of it can be imported quite cheap from neighboring countries. So you're actually asking people to, to not buy those that produce and instead buy local locally, but often that can be up to three times the price. So even though this is a great solution for a country like Singapore, it's also not the most cost effective way of doing this, really.
- [56:33]
A
Indeed. And when you're talking about 2,000 tons of vegetables, it doesn't, on the face of it, appear to be a great amount.
- [56:41]
F
No, it's certainly not going to feed all of Singapore. I think this is, again, they've tried this for a while now, Singapore, they set a Target back in 2019, it was called 30 by 30. So they wanted 30% of all of Singapore's food needs to be homegrown by 2030 and they've failed on that target. And one of the reasons is because it's very difficult to do this and to mass produce the food that's needed. They've had to adjust those targets now kind of by food sector and pushing the date back to 2035 as well. So as much as this is headline grabbing and it's interesting testing and it's technology that could be used elsewhere in the world, it just can't replicate what is required and what Singapore will have to continue to do, which is to bring food into the country. So, yeah, it's great. And if it, if it's a success and it does manage to get to full capacity and produce 2,000 tons of vegetables, it's going to help, but it's not really going to solve the problem of, you know, Singapore just being completely reliant on imports for feeding the population.
- [57:44]
A
Indeed. Will it, though offer a potential solution to part of the problem? Of actually feeding a city where there is not that much space. And if you not just think about Singapore, but if you think more widely in other incredibly densely populated cities, that something like this actually could contribute more longer term and more widely to local food needs.
- [58:09]
F
Yeah, absolutely. And I think, you know, agritech is still a sector that, that is evolving. There's some of the technology that is being used in this new indoor farm. It's the first time it's being used, so it's a chance to sort of assess how it works, what can be changed. So I think this is a sector that we're going to see a lot more of in coming, in the coming years. Obviously in places like Singapore where food has to be imported, but also because of climate change, farming becoming a lot more difficult now. We've seen extreme weather events in Asia happening more frequently, more severe, and that is having an impact on a whole host of farming industries. So this kind of technology, I think it's, it's on a much smaller scale and it's, you know, it has to be scaled up to be a viable way of feeding populations. And I don't think we're ever going to have a situation where indoor farms and these kind of agri tech models are feeding the whole population. But I think lessons can be learned from projects, projects like this and they could potentially be taken forward. I know that I visited an indoor farm in Singapore last year for a filming project I was working on and they were using technology from.
- [59:17]
A
I hate to interrupt you, but we've run out of time. Thank you so much for joining us on the program. That's all the time we have today. Thanks to all my guests and to the producers Angelica Jobson, Chris Chermack and Laura Kramer, and to our researcher, Annelise Maynard and our studio manager, Elliot Greenfield. I'm Elliot Emma Nelson. Goodbye. Thank you very much for listening. 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. Tease because it's 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.