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- [00:04]
UBS Narrator
Craft matters in small ways, like how a coffee is brewed, and in not so small ways, like how your money is cared for. Which is why for 160 years, UBS has elevated banking to a craft, tailoring unique strategies that combine human expertise with the latest technologies, all happening across 24 time zones and 12 key financial hubs. With you at the heart of it all, UBS advice is our craft.
- [00:38]
Emma Nelson
You're listening to the Globalist, first broadcast on the 7th of November, 2025 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, a meeting of minds or just another leader at the White House? As Victor Orban meets Donald Trump, we examine what both men can gain from each other and and whether Mr. Orban can persuade Mr. Trump to let him buy Russian oil. Also ahead in the next 60 minutes.
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Matthew Levitt
I don't think that any type of international security force that just does traffic control and doesn't actually prevent Hamas from reorganizing is going to do anything other than lead us to the next conflict.
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Emma Nelson
Matthew Levitt, a former U.S. treasury Department official, examines if or when Hamas will rebuild itself after the Gaza ceasefire. We'll hear a roundup of the latest news from the Mediterranean.
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Andrew Muller
And we learned that we would very far from the first time in the history of this the what We Learned monologue on Monocle Radio be needing some silly French music.
- [02:04]
Emma Nelson
Andrew Muller serves us another helping of his take on the last seven days, plus the papers, too. That's all coming up on the Globalist live from London. First, a quick look at what else is happening in today's news. The US American military has targeted another boat in the Caribbean with three people reportedly killed. Forty major airports in the US Are to see a scheduled reduction in flights from today in response to the ongoing government shutdown. And Tesla shareholders have approved a pay package that could make its CEO, Elon Musk, the world's first trillionaire. Stay tuned to Monocle Radio throughout the day for more on these stories. But first, the first time the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban paid a visit to President Trump at the White house was in 2019, during Mr. Trump's first term. And no doubt to his delight, the president said the he's probably like me, he's a little bit controversial, but that's OK. Well, today Mr. Orban returns to the White House. And although they remain on the same side politically, the two strongmen are now divided by one thing, Russia. And in particular in its supply of oil. Well, I'm joined now by Lily Takar, who's a journalist at the Hungarian Independent Newspaper 444. She joins me on the line from Budapest. Good morning, Lily.
- [03:23]
Lily Takar
Good morning. Hi, Emma.
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Emma Nelson
So this is the big division, isn't it? Viktor Orban wants to continue the supply of Russian oil for Hungary. Mr. Trump wants to go hard on Moscow.
- [03:33]
Lily Takar
Well, it seems so, but we will see what happens, because, you know, with Donald Trump, nobody knows for sure. Orban and his allies call this a new golden age of US And Hungarian relations. But I think it's better to talk about Orban Trump relations rather than Hungarian American relations, because those institutionally doesn't really exist. But to be honest, the results so far are modest. I mean, since Trump's second inauguration, Hungary saw two tangible gains of Trump's presidency. The first is that one of the key Hungarian ministers who was sanctioned by the Biden administration was removed from the US Sanctions list and the travel restrictions for Hungarian passport holders are lifted. But these are the only results that we got from Trump's friendships so far, to be honest. But we will see what happens today, because for Orban, for sure, getting an exemption or a carve out is very important, at least until next April when we will have parliamentary elections. And Orban's campaign builds on low utility prices, which he says is guaranteed by Russian oil. While experts doubt that, but, well, at the end of the day, he is the prime minister.
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Emma Nelson
Indeed. So, as you describe, the tangible benefits of the Hungarian US Relationship may be minimal, but it appears that being friends with Mr. Trump makes Mr. Orban look quite good. Yeah, it is.
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Lily Takar
And also, you must not forget that Orban controls a heavy media empire which basically turns every handshake into a glorious victory for Mr. Orban. But you also have to know that Orban is not only endorsed by Donald Trump, but he was also endorsed by Vladimir Putin, which is quite a unique position for any Western leader being endorsed in the same time by both leaders. But we will see, because as I said, the timing is important. Until then, can get Orban an exemption if he can get one. And the other is what will be the cost of it? I mean, what Orban needs to promise to Trump to get an exemption, and what will be the cost that the Hungarian taxpayers will pay at the end of the day, we don't know that. It might be some small modular nuclear reactors or some weapons deal or any other energy deal. We will see. But to be honest, I'm not really sure that we will have a knowledge about the details. Today maybe we, you know, today we will be just about the photo shoots and handshakes and we will know the details later on after the, the propaganda celebrated this victory. I don't know to be.
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Emma Nelson
And indeed, is there any consistency in the relationship between these, these two men? Because there is that affiliation of the strong man, yet at the same time there is that constant reminder that Donald Trump is often influenced by the last person he spoke to. So there is often the sense that everything that is talked about today could turn.
- [06:48]
Lily Takar
Yeah, but also last time when it seemed that Trump, when Trump decided about the sanctions against Lukoil and Rosnev, then it seemed that it would affect Hungary as well. But then he had a phone call with Orman and then he seemed that the US President seemed again convinced that Hungary can get an exemption. So, you know, maybe he will just get a phone call from Orban whenever the Hungarian leadership feels that they need to change his view. We don't know. It was Orban who first supported Trump officially and internationally before his first presidency and then he supported him very openly in the second run. So, I mean, it is like a symbolic relationship. Trump likes strongman, Orban likes strongman, they call each other friends and photo ops is very important for both leaders. I think so I think they would portray it as a success. But we will see the contents later.
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Emma Nelson
What about the way that the two men deal with the likes of Europe? Both Viktor Orban and indeed in the past Donald Trump have rather enjoyed antagonizing Europe and the EU in particular. Yet recently there has been a bigger push from the EU and European leaders in particular to bring Donald Trump around to the Ukrainian point of view when it comes to the Russian full scale invasion of Ukraine. Where do you think that the two men could actually push relations or indeed change the landscape when it comes to Hungary and indeed the United States relationship with the European Union?
- [08:31]
Lily Takar
Well, we do know that Trump isn't particularly enthusiastic towards the European Union as an international cooperation institute and Orban isn't enthusiastic neither. So this is a common point between them. I think Trump likes Orban's stronghold and how he portrays himself as a strong man. But when Trump was inaugurated and he had to be really hard stance towards Ukraine after this Zelensky meeting in February in the White House, then I think Orban thought that he was in a winning track. But that changed Donald Trump's approach to Russia change. So that is a bit of a difference between the two of them. But I think Orban will still try to Convince Trump that the problem isn't Russia with the war, but the problem is Ukraine, which is what we hear here in Hungary every day. There were plans to make a peace summit in Budapest which was put on hold by the Russians. But you know, Orban's propaganda media portrays that it is on hold because of the Ukrainians don't want peace.
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Emma Nelson
And tell us a little bit more about the, the wider long term prospects for that, the part of the world from, you know, from Budapest and the like because we are now seeing the, the, the eastern flank of Europe being controlled more and more by populist author governments and indeed by, by more strong men. So we have the likes of Slovakia with Robert Fitzhugh. Slovakia, we have Viktor Orban in and Czechia, the Czech Republic has moved much further to the right in the last few weeks. When you look at the way that that map is changing politically, what influence does Donald Trump have on this part of the world? Is he actually becoming a sort of a poster for those on the far right or on the right of Europe?
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Lily Takar
Yeah, I think he's for sure an icon for populist rightist politicians. But you also have to know that the situation in Slovakia and in Czechia is different from Hungary because Orban has been on power with two thirds majority for the last 15 years. The situation isn't the same in Slovakia where Fico leads a coalition government. Babish will also lead the coalition government. So their power will be much more restricted than Orbans. So they don't have the same opportunities to change these countries into like a liberal democracy which is, it's just Hungary at the moment. But yeah, for sure, Trump is an icon, an idol for a lot of these MAGA style populist politicians. But we have our Eastern European version of him, to be honest.
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Emma Nelson
Lili Takarch from 444, thank you so much for joining us on the line from Budapest. You're listening to the Globalist. Now there have been multiple cycles in the Middle east of war between Hamas and Israel and then recovery and rebuilding from that war. Well, the question after this most recent and destructive conflict in Gaza in the last two years is whether Hamas still has a chance of rebuilding its center of power despite calls, including in the ceasefire agreement for the militant group to disarm. Almonikle's Chris Chermak heard from Matthew Levitt, a former U.S. treasury Department of official and currently senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He's the author of Politics, Charity and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad. Chris Began by asking Matthew just how much weaker Hamas is this time compared with the end of the other wars against Israel.
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Matthew Levitt
There's really no comparison at the end of each of the prior rocket wars that Israel and Hamas have fought since Hamas took over the Gaza Strip, parenthetically, not from Israel, but from fellow Palestinians. In 2007, Hamas was left standing in full standing tall. All of its tunnels, all of its weapons production, all of its smuggling capabilities, controlling government able to make significant amounts of money. By October 7th, we think they were making about a $500 million a year from taxing and extorting the economy above and below ground in Gaza. None of that is available to Hamas today. Hamas today is fighting not to remain as the government, not to remain as a militia that can stroll around the streets in force, but as a militant actor that is able to hold on to some weapons and is able to be part of the government structure that comes next, not to be the government, to be part of it while being apart from it by maintaining some of its own weapons.
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Emma Nelson
And.
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Matthew Levitt
And so the threat that Hamas continues to pose to Israel today really is kind of old school, like the 1980s and early 90s where small scale terrorist attacks, with the one exception that Hamas has begun to consider plotting attacks abroad. Even just today, another person was arrested, cash was found in Vienna, Austria. Someone was arrested in the UK the other day. I wrote about the Hamas operations abroad and the plots that were thwarted in Germany. And cash is found and Denmark and Poland and Bulgaria several weeks ago. And that is a development that we'll have to watch closely.
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Emma Nelson
And what's your sense then of what's happened in the last few weeks since that ceasefire on the ground? In particular, I'm curious how Hamas has tried to go about reconstituting itself. And also related to that, I guess, was it a mistake to agree a.
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UBS Narrator
Ceasefire before any kind of international assistance.
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Emma Nelson
Force was ready that could have filled the vacuum in Hamas place?
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Matthew Levitt
Two great questions, separate but related. Under ideal circumstances, you would have had an agreement on an international force to immediately go into Gaza, moving into those spaces that the Israel Defense Forces moved out of, preventing Hamas from being able to send in its militants who were no longer wearing the green Hamas bandana, but calling themselves something else, like a Gaza stabilization force. But what they were really doing was targeting those Gazans who had opposed Hamas. But in the real world we didn't have that luxury. And in part because one of the primary goals was twofold. One, to secure the release of hostages and particularly the live hostages for whom at this point, every moment counted. And second, to end the war, which had been devastating to Gazans, and that was the primary directive. Now we're in a situation where we're trying to get regional partners, international partners, to agree to participate in a force on the ground and what it will do. Some countries want it to be internationalized under UN Security Council resolution, which I understand, but also would mean de facto lowest common denominator authorities. The king of Jordan has said, you know, no country wants to go in there and take on Hamas, but if someone doesn't take on Hamas, Hamas is going to very much live to fight another day. And I don't think people sufficiently understand that even within the deeply divided political society that is Israel right now, there's basically complete agreement on one thing and maybe one thing only, and that is that Israelis will no longer sit back and allow enemies sworn to their destruction to accumulate the weapons needed to carry that out over time. And I don't think that any type of international security force that just does traffic control and doesn't actually prevent Hamas from reorganizing is going to do anything other than lead us to the next conflict.
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UBS Narrator
Matthew, you described there a lot, the.
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Emma Nelson
Sort of politics and the security angles to this. There is also the angle of just the sheer destruction of Gaza at this point.
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UBS Narrator
Right.
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Emma Nelson
And the question of a credible rebuilding.
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UBS Narrator
Plan in all of this.
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Emma Nelson
Because I have to say, it has always struck me in this conflict for decades, that aside from the questions of.
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UBS Narrator
Morality, there's also the matter of Israel's own security.
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Emma Nelson
And there's certainly an argument there that it would help to actually provide Gazans with a more promising future, a promising.
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UBS Narrator
Way of life, because otherwise, basically any.
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Emma Nelson
Population in the world is going to.
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UBS Narrator
Be radicalized and turned to a group like Hamas.
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Matthew Levitt
Yeah, I'm glad you asked that question. And unfortunately, the reality of war is that it's the citizens on the ground who get caught in the middle and suffer. And we need to recognize very painfully how much suffering there's been in Gaza. You're very right to highlight that. I think that we need to be focusing on two things. One, we need to make sure that there is reconstruction. We need to make sure that Gazans can live a normal and respectable life. I think it's important to remember that in the lead up to October 7th, that's kind of what was happening, except that Hamas was in charge. The Israeli government position was to work with Qatar to get Qatari money into the Gaza Strip so that there would be enough money circulating in Gaza. So that people would not want to heed Hamas's call to jihad. Not in sufficient numbers, not yet at a sufficient level, but it was moving in that direction. We need to make sure that as we move forward, it's not just that we build houses so people are no longer living in tents and just incredibly terrible circumstances, but that society can build a functioning civil society. I think the Israelis see that they have two points of leverage with the international community and the different countries in the region who are considering helping in one way or another in Gaza to make sure that actually Hamas is at least mostly disarmed, that Hamas is kept out of the governance project that follows in Gaza per President Trump's 20 point plan. And those are a reconstruction. And that's not just an Israeli thing. You know, talk to Europeans all the time. They are tired of funding reconstruction in Gaza that just gets destroyed because someone starts another war. And the second thing is that the Israelis were able to get a ceasefire and the release of hostages without having to withdraw from all of Gaza. There is what we now call the yellow line. And if Hamas refuses to disarm, if Hamas refuses to allow the creation of a non Hamas government, then there is the prospect, and some US Officials have already talked about it, of at least beginning the reconstruction on the side of the yellow line that Hamas does not control and showing that there can be a different way of doing things. At the end of the day, though, we need to find a way to move forward in Gaza, provide people a stable, respectable life, address the education system, which also has been a big problem. There is no reason why Gaza should be controlled by radicals who prioritize killing their neighbor over seeing to the needs of their constituents. In fact, I think the problem was they just didn't see Gazans as constituents.
- [19:41]
Emma Nelson
Finally, though, on that point, if, as you described, the support for Hamas has dwindled, surely given what has happened, there isn't any support though for Israel in Gaza. So when you mention something like reconstructing on the other side of the yellow.
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UBS Narrator
Line, how would Israel even go about.
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Emma Nelson
That and showing that it is a reliable ally for Gaza at this point.
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UBS Narrator
After what's happened over the last two years?
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Matthew Levitt
Yeah, look, if you are a civilian in Gaza, you're angry at everybody, right? And bombs have been dropped on you. This is, you know, you're angry at everybody. And I totally understand that. Of course, I'm not sure that the reconstruction on one side of the yellow line alone works, but it could be a point of leverage if we were to start there. And it wouldn't be all the Israelis doing it. It would be the U.S. it would be others. You know, the Emiratis and others are saying we're not going to go in and do things if we have to fight Hamas. Well, on one side of the yellow line, you don't have to fund Hamas. And there are Palestinians living there who are suffering in the moment. What if we started there, did what we can, where we can begin to fix the problem and then as we're able to, to reconstruct in areas that right now Hamas is controlling and maybe tomorrow might not, we can move there too. We should not fail to do what we can where we can just because there are other places where it's more difficult. That would not be all done by the Israelis, etc. This would be a much more international effort. A, the Israelis don't want to be responsible for all that on their own and B, you're right, there is a trust factor.
- [21:11]
Emma Nelson
That was Matthew Levitt, senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, talking to Chris Chermak. Still to come on today's program.
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Lily Takar
We'Ll.
- [21:31]
Emma Nelson
Be looking ahead to the oldest film awards in the Chinese speaking world. Stay with us on the globalist.
- [21:40]
UBS Narrator
Craft is a matter of perspective, a unique.
- [21:43]
Emma Nelson
Outlook and obsessive attention to detail.
- [21:46]
UBS Narrator
With UBS's Chief Investment Office Houseview, we're focused on identifying the latest investment opportunities and market risks to help you achieve your financial goals. So you get the big picture broken down into thought provoking insights. Delivered daily and curated by over 200 globally connected, locally active analysts. UBS banking is our craft.
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Emma Nelson
7:21 here in London. Let's have a look at today's newspapers. Joining me is Monocle's writer, researcher and resident Ukraine expert, Julia Jen. Good morning, Julia. How are things?
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Julia Jen
Pretty good. It's pretty dark here in London.
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Emma Nelson
Yes.
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Julia Jen
Very early in the morning.
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Emma Nelson
Yes, it's miserable. Not miserable for Elon Musk though. No, he's having a lovely time.
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Julia Jen
He's having a very good time. So his pay package has finally been passed through and this is, you know, following kind of months of intense public campaigning on the behalf of or on his behalf, I guess. We've had the Tesla chairwoman Robin Denel kind of making these big media rounds, really pushing this. They've even had TV campaigns really trying to get this 1 trillion pay package through. And it was approved yesterday by 75% of the vote.
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Emma Nelson
It was an astonishing moment when he wasn't it when he took to the stage and they were chanting his name and the way that this is being covered in the, in the newspapers as well, I mean, the New York Times has it as its top story and talks about a split screen on wealth in America. It says it. What is it, it's going to do that. You know, it comes in the same week that we had Zoram Mamdani's victory as the new mayor of New York. And you look at two very, very different Americas now.
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Julia Jen
Yeah, absolutely. Although the way I read it, I guess the way I was looking at this coverage was for me what was interesting was the control that Musk wants to exert over Tesla. So currently his shares are around 15%. And what this pay package is doing is creating these incentives. I mean people will argue, critics will argue that in fact these incentives are very watered down versions, promises that he's kind of been making over the years. He's said the sort of goals that he will achieve, but it's broadly creating sort of 12 steps, 12 incentives that he needs to reach in order to basically increase his sharehold over Tesla. So from 15% to 25%. One thing he wants to get really involved in are the robots, the robots which he was dancing alongside yesterday during this vote. So that's one thing that he's very focused on. And I think that critics were upset to see that kind of emphasis on the robots rather than on fixing the things that plague Tesla at the moment, which is the malfunctions in the self driving cars. They want to see that addressed before Tesla moves on to rolling out these robots that Musk is very fixated on and that critics are saying, well, there's actually not, potentially not much appetite for that in the market right now. And I guess that comes back to your point about Split Screen of America. Some people are worrying about, you know, how to get from A to B. Whereas Musk has this fixation on these robots that clearly not quite clear to us right now what on earth they will be doing.
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Emma Nelson
Indeed, that's a sort of, it's a cult of Elon Musk, isn't it? That the fact is, and as the New York Times talks about, is that he's had the support of smaller investment who have kept hold of their stocks despite the fact that profits have been slumping, despite the fact that car sales have been really sort of unpredictable and uncertain in the last few weeks and months, especially when he had his association with Donald Trump.
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Julia Jen
Yeah, I think that they, but there's a belief in the force of his personality and I guess there's this belief that the episode he had with Trump is sort of a blip in that sort of journey that he's been on. And we have to remember that, you know, in the last 10, 15 years, he really has transformed the industry, the car industry, with this product. And even though there has this been sale fall, you know, in Europe, we've seen other, especially byd, Chinese competitors really taking over the market, really threatening Tesla's position. We still have to understand, you know, I guess they believe in the entrepreneur as a classic story. You know, it's not, it's not, it's a long journey rather than a short.
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Emma Nelson
That's an interesting thing that you said there, you user about long and short journeys because it takes us neatly to the next story that you, you want to talk to us from the Odessa Journal, which is about Ukraine, in the middle of a full scale invasion from Russia, is able to build a railway line.
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Julia Jen
Yes, absolutely. So this is the second European gauge railway line. Now, why is it European? Because Ukraine uses a broader gauge to the continent's standard railway gauge and that's actually the same as Portugal. So Ukraine and Portugal on either side of the continent not quite able to join up to the rest of Europe. So it means that when you're doing RA railway journeys from, you know, Poland into Ukraine or Romania into Ukraine, it means that the train has to be lifted off the tracks and kind of put onto new tracks instead onto the broader gauges. So it adds these kind of couple of hours onto every journey. Now, Ukraine wants to iron this out and so does Europe to ensure that connectivity between the rest of, you know, the continent and Ukraine. We've seen how vital the railways are. They are the only link now other than, of course, automobile journeys. The only link now that, you know, you can ferry diplomats, business leaders. That's so important to Ukraine, being able to get those business leaders from A to B inside the country and from outside and into the country. And so, yeah, we're seeing this real kind of focus on this, both from the European Union and Ukraine. And this link, this particular link will be from a town just near Lviv, which is in the very west of Ukraine, to the Polish border to ease that transition.
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Emma Nelson
It does have a sort of hefty dose of symbolism, doesn't it, that the connection is now moving to the west?
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Julia Jen
I think so. But also, you know, the Ukrainian railways, they're actually currently in a very tricky position. In the last few days, there's been a lot of conversations about actually how much longer they can survive. The Ukrainian government has had to put in Emergency funding in the 2026 budget. It's kind of mixed in with a lot of sort of populist messaging over giving citizens free journeys. Something people are saying, how can the Ukraine railways really afford that when they're under such intense by the Russians? So in the last 24 hours we've seen quite large scale attacks on different depots throughout the country. And that's something every single night. But this, I think, yes, is very symbolic.
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Emma Nelson
Let's talk about an article in the Times. Two twins, one dressed in, both heading up.
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Lily Takar
The.
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Emma Nelson
Both heading up Mount Everest. One dressed in modern clothes and the other dressed in clothes that Malory Wore in his 1924 expedition. Let us be absolutely clear about this. He never came back down. Tell us a little bit more about this, this story and actually why you've chosen it, Julia.
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Julia Jen
Well, I think that it's such a testament to, I guess, I mean, I love the idea that we can use clothes that are made with all natural materials. I mean that sounds quite basic, but that they offer this insulation and this protection that otherwise might not be afforded by more synthetic materials. So what the experiment was all about was, you know, Malory not being able to come back down. Unfortunately, his expedition ended in tragedy back in the 1920s. But one of these twins. So these are two British explorers, Hugo and Ross Turner. Hugo wanted to prove that actually it wasn't because of the kit that he was wearing. It's no sort of snide remark on the kit that he was dressed in, but it was rather kind of other factors that led to. Because it's a whole mystery, you know, and so many of these adventurers, the way they sort of perish is such a mystery and it's a such so vital to understand. Was it the kits that had an influence on what they were, kind of the fate that they suffered? Were there other factors involved? It's so important for adventurers kind of following in their footsteps to understand what went right and what went wrong. And the British shoemakers that were kind of helping in this, so they replicated his shoes with yak felt insulation, hobnails, clinkers. I love the details about the base layers that he was in. On his top half, for example, it was silk and wool.
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Emma Nelson
I know, it sounds so stylish, Stylish. Oh, he's wearing a silk waist layer. You sound marvellous. Much better than something made of something else. Absolutely. It's great. And they did notice that his body temperature was lower than his brother's. But actually it's absolutely worth looking at this simply because if you want an exercise in, dare I say it, an adherence to lovely natural materials. But goodness me, they were stylishly dressed as well. I mean, the jacket he took up to the, he took up to the mountain was wonderful. It had lapels.
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Julia Jen
Yeah.
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Emma Nelson
And those wonderful big yellow woolen mittens are absolutely as stylish as anything you would see today.
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Julia Jen
Absolutely. And when you look at performance gear from modern brands, you're sort of looking, I guess at these kind of crinkly, plasticky materials. And it's nice to know that you can go out on your sort of outdoor adventures dressed in this very stylish, very like lovely feeling sort of materials.
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Emma Nelson
Not necessarily style over substance, but it is quite nice. Julia, Jen, thank you so much for joining me in this studio. You're listening to the Globalist. Now here's a look at some of the other stories we're keeping an eye on today. The U.S. military has targeted another boat in the Caribbean. Three people have been killed. The Pentagon released aerial footage of the strike which it says was targeting drug smugglers in international waters. Forty major airports in the US Are to impose a scheduled reduction in flights from today. Passengers have been told to expect further disruption, which is in response to the ongoing government shutdown. Tesla shareholders have approved a pay package that could make its CEO, Elon Musk, the world's first trillionaire. After the announcement, Mr. Musk, who's already the world's richest man, took to the stage and danced to chants of his name. And Nancy Pelosi, the first woman to serve as speaker of the U.S. house of Representatives, has announced her retirement. The 85 year old congresswoman was first elected in 1987. This is the Globalist. Stay tuned. It's time now for an alternative look at the last week's headlines. Here's Andrew Muller with what we learned.
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Ryuma Takahashi
Fly me to the moon.
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Andrew Muller
We learned this week that we did not in fact fly to the moon. Let me. Sorry, Frank. We'll be requiring a somewhat more skeptical soundtrack. We learned that the whole thing, like all of this stuff, Tranquility Base here, the eagle has landed has been a massive hoax all along. And we learned this from no less an authority than reality television apparition and person whose views on anything whatsoever are ceaselessly solicited by an agog media for some reason. Kim Kardashian, for the record, do you.
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Emma Nelson
Think that we didn't walk on the moon? I don't think we did. I think it was fake.
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Andrew Muller
We shouldn't laugh. Still a three and a half year window in which there is a genuine non0 chance she's appointed administrator of NASA because sticking with the subject of reality TV stars floundering a distance out of their depths, we learned that South America and South Africa are basically the same place.
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Matthew Levitt
For generations, Miami has been a haven for those fleeing communist tyranny in South Africa.
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Ryuma Takahashi
I mean, if you take a look.
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Matthew Levitt
At what's going on in parts of South Africa, look at South Africa, what's going on.
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Ryuma Takahashi
Look at South America, what's going on?
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Matthew Levitt
You know, I'm not going to we have cheat a meeting in South Africa. South Africa shouldn't even be in the GS anymore.
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Andrew Muller
Which in fairness does seem kind of in keeping with what we have learned of the foreign policy doctrine of the second Trump administration, that is that it's a combination of old fashioned gunboat diplomacy and a tombola barrel. For we learned that following Canada, Greenland, Panama, Venezuela and Gaza, apologies to anyone we missed. The latest territory to find itself wondering how to tactfully respond to the threat of arbitrary invasion by Earth's mightiest nation is Nigeria.
- [34:55]
Matthew Levitt
We're going to do things to Nigeria that Nigeria is not going to be.
- [34:58]
Ryuma Takahashi
Happy about and may very well go.
- [35:00]
Matthew Levitt
Into that now disgraced country, guns ablazing.
- [35:04]
Andrew Muller
We learned basically that someone is continuing to take a recent decision by the Norwegian Nobel Committee pretty badly. However, we learned that in this of all weeks, even such practiced camera hogs as Kim Kardashian and Donald Trump were going to struggle for the attention of America and indeed the world. As we learned that the trial of the century had at last come to order. Yes, today the trial began for the man accused of throwing a sandwich at a federal officer. We learned that the time had arrived for alleged Washington, D.C. area sandwich hurler Sean Dunn to face the beak, charged with assaulting, resisting, opposing, impeding, intimidating and interfering with a federal officer. From which we learn that someone in the Department of Justice owns a thesaurus. We learned further that the jury would need to be made of stern stuff, not just as may have been suspected, to keep their faces appropriately straight.
- [36:05]
Matthew Levitt
You could see jurors kind of holding back giggles as video of the sandwich throwing incident was played a number of different times.
- [36:14]
Andrew Muller
But to endure some harrowing testimony, the.
- [36:18]
Matthew Levitt
Customs and Border Patrol agent hit with the sandwich characterized it as a profound vanity lace tirade. And he told the jury, done threw.
- [36:27]
Andrew Muller
The sandwich so hard it exploded against his bulletproof vest.
- [36:33]
Matthew Levitt
Quote, I could smell the onions and mustard.
- [36:37]
Andrew Muller
Not just onions, onions and mustard.
- [36:41]
Ryuma Takahashi
I can't.
- [36:42]
Emma Nelson
Oh my God.
- [36:43]
UBS Narrator
Wow.
- [36:45]
Lily Takar
Crazy.
- [36:46]
UBS Narrator
What the hell?
- [36:48]
Emma Nelson
Oh, the humanity.
- [36:51]
Andrew Muller
We learned, however, and much to our vexation, that the actual verdict in the matter of the people versus the guy who threw a sandwich at a cop was due in the interregnum between the recording of this week's edition of what We Learned and its broadcast. So we don't know at time of recording whether or not the accused has received a substantial sentence. Also, assault with a deli weapon, sub panini like subpoena and the rye to remain silent. Are those anything but? We learned that we would very far from the first time in the history of this the what We Learned monologue on Monocle Radio be needing some silly French music with somewhat slapstick undertones like you might hear in the background of a Jacques Tati film. Actually, just slap that in. Pretty sure it's out of copy, right? Mononcle Radio, am I right? One for the 1950s French cinema heads there for we learned in the wake of the recent obviously reprehensible but undeniably amusing heist perpetrated upon France's most famous museum of certain deficiencies in said museum's security protocols. Even beyond leaving the Crown actual jewels, where they could be swiped by anybody in possession of a ladder, a motor scooter and one would certainly prefer to think a hooped shirt, black eye mask and a big sack clearly labelled Le Swag, we learned specifically what the password was that allowed access to the Louvre's video surveillance systems. Go on, you'll never guess. It's Louvre, isn't it? Yes. Yes, it is. We did not learn as such, but are going to go ahead and assume that the password that unlocks the personnel files at the Pantheon is Pantheon, that the password that opens the gates of Versailles is Versailles, and to disconnect the alarms at the Eiffel Tower, its electricity pylon with a souvenir shop. For Monocle Radio, I'm Andrew Muller.
- [39:01]
Emma Nelson
Thank you, Andrew. And if you enjoyed that, then a brand new installment of what We Learned airs every Friday right here on the Globalist on Monocor Radio. 9:38 in Athens. Now a roundup of all the news from the Mediterranean. Joining me in the studio is Emmanuel Papavasiliu, who's a Greek journalist and Monocle contributor, the man who knows about the Med. Good morning.
- [39:30]
UBS Narrator
Good morning.
- [39:30]
Emma Nelson
How are you?
- [39:31]
UBS Narrator
All good, all good.
- [39:32]
Emma Nelson
Coping with the cold?
- [39:33]
UBS Narrator
I am, yeah.
- [39:34]
Emma Nelson
Good, good, good. You have to ask him how are things in terms of the Mediterranean news? You wanted to start off with an interesting story about diplomacy and how Greece has got its new U.S. ambassador. After a fashion, yes.
- [39:50]
UBS Narrator
Finally Greece has a U.S. ambassador in place. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met on Wednesday with the new ambassador, Kimberly Galfoyle, who officially took office this week as Washington's new envy envoy. She is the first also woman to serve as a US Ambassador to Greece. And her appointment is not at all, not only because of the symbolism but because the post had remained unfilled for an unusually extended period. Now she was placed in the post. Trump made her the ambassador in December, but since then she had to actually go through diplomatic school. Galfell is not the traditional ambassador that you would think. She's a former California prosecutor and also well known media personality. She used to work at Fox. She's most importantly a very close ally of President Donald Trump. And she side notes she used to be engaged to Donald Trump Jr. Now the meeting in Athens stressed that both sides, what they called historic continuity in the bilateral relationship and their emphasis, what the US wants with Greece specifically is energy and security cooperation in the Eastern Mediterranean. There's this new alliance called the three plus one alliance that includes Greece, Cyprus, Israel and the US and what they want essentially is to replace the Russian natural gas that flows through Greece with new American LNG that Washington provides Greece.
- [41:27]
Emma Nelson
How has Greece reacted to this? Twofold. Firstly, the fact that a non diplomat but TV personality is now the US Ambassador to Greece. But secondly, the entire purpose of this is to do deals.
- [41:42]
Julia Jen
Yeah.
- [41:43]
UBS Narrator
Basically from the side of the government. This is good news because they want the money. They want the money with the US and that comes from energy. In fact, in the meeting, Galfell was not alone. The meeting was also joined by the Interior Secretary of the us, Doug Burgum and also the Secretary of Energy Chris Wright to do the actual moves. Galfell herself, due to her credentials. The normal Greek people, if they're concerned, is that they don't really trust her. There is a fun. If you walk the streets of Athens and you ask about her, she is nicknamed as the evil person from a Mexican soap opera.
- [42:28]
Emma Nelson
Excellent. That will start things out. Well, there's diplomacy in action. Let's move to a story from the Greek city times. This wonderful moment when Athens and Athenians reclaim their cultural city. Having been visited quite heavily and intensely by the rest of the world, they now get to go and have a look at their own cultural heritage and the city makes it possible for them.
- [42:52]
Lily Takar
Yeah.
- [42:53]
UBS Narrator
So Greece, as you may know, has one of the world's richest concentrations of museums and ancient landmarks. However, they're all paid to go Institutions. It's not like you would see in other European cities in which, for example, London here, where you can go for free.
- [43:14]
Lily Takar
So.
- [43:16]
UBS Narrator
The Ministry of Culture has created this new initiative in which there is now free admission to state run museums, archaeological sites and monuments. And it has started this month from November 2nd in selected Sundays and it will go throughout from here until May. And the measure is intended to make cultural heritage more accessible not only to tourists, but to residents who may not regularly visit historical sites. You know, I know a lot of people who have been living in Athens for their whole lives and they have visited the Parthenon once when they were at school days and never again. Because it's something that you see every day and you don't get to, you know, think about, you know, is this there? I'm gonna go one day and then they never end up going.
- [44:02]
Emma Nelson
There is something amazing about wandering around Athens and you do sort of turn a corner or you effectively go on a road and there's something quite amazing. Do people actually take this up though?
- [44:10]
UBS Narrator
Yes, they are. This is a new thing that people are starting to want to go now. It's like the organizing dates to go to museums, etceter. Because I think with this new initiative they are reminded that this is there. Let's go, let's see it.
- [44:28]
Emma Nelson
Emmanuel Papavasilio Manos, thank you so much for joining me in the studio. You're listening to the Globalist on Monocle.
- [44:34]
Lily Takar
Radio.
- [44:38]
UBS Narrator
Iq, EQ and AI. Three components key to the craft of innovation at ubs. Because to stay ahead in in a rapidly evolving age, you need a partner with decades of experience, endless passion for the work, and a finger on the pulse of leading technologies. Bridging human expertise with artificial intelligence. All to elevate you. UBS banking is our craft.
- [45:16]
Emma Nelson
Now. The Golden Horse Film Festival, which is the oldest film awards in the Chinese speaking world, is often called Taiwan's Academy Awards. Well, it kicked off in Taipei yesterday. And Monocle's Ryuma Takahashi explores the festival's opening film, A Foggy Tale, which also leads this year's nominations with 11. Ryuma heard from its director and took to Yu sun chen.
- [45:49]
Ryuma Takahashi
It was 1954, during Taiwan's White Terror period. The story follows a poor young girl from a rural family whose brother was executed by the government. Bringing his body home would cost far more than the family could afford. But she was determined to do it. To reach Taipei for the first time in her life, she embarked on a long, dangerous journey filled with hardship and courage. With the help of a Rickshaw driver and a brief two day encounter. Their lives were profoundly changed. That's the story.
- [46:27]
UBS Narrator
The film is set during one of Taiwan's darkest chapters, the white terror period of the 1950s, when the KMT regime imposed martial law and arrested, interrogated or executed thousands of people on suspicion of disloyalty. It was a period marked by political repression and widespread suspicion, affecting not only those who were accused, but also the soldiers and families who became part of turmoil of the time. Most of their stories were only revealed after martial law was lifted in 1987.
- [47:02]
Ryuma Takahashi
Learning about this history gave me a strong urge to give voice to the victims through my film. I also wanted to tell the story of these veterans who were treated badly and who were not allowed to go home.
- [47:16]
UBS Narrator
The male lead in the film is discharged KMT soldier from the mainland. This film reflects the director's wish to show how even in such a brutal period, moments of humanity still emerged and how the emotions and identity shaped in the 1950s continue to echo in Taiwan's present. He says this theme still feels close to Taiwanese society today.
- [47:41]
Ryuma Takahashi
Today, indeed, some people see themselves as Chinese, while others see themselves as Taiwanese. But I believe the purpose of making this film was to show that the Chinese soldier and the Taiwanese girl at the heart of the story share both hardship and joy, and to let audiences feel that connection.
- [48:01]
UBS Narrator
Set against one of the most significant periods in Taiwan's modern history, this film is both bold and moving. And the director spoke about his hopes for the future of Taiwanese cinema.
- [48:13]
Ryuma Takahashi
Taiwanese people are kind, sincere and hardworking, and we enjoy complete creative freedom here. That's our biggest advantage. But Taiwan is a small market. What I hope is that more filmmakers will find the courage to take creative risks and tackle challenging subjects.
- [48:33]
UBS Narrator
For Monaco in Tokyo, I'm Ryuma Takahashi.
- [48:37]
Emma Nelson
Thank you, Ryuma. You're listening to the Globalist.
- [49:12]
Matthew Levitt
Now.
- [49:12]
Emma Nelson
The artist Colin Davidson is celebrated for his portraits of the great and the good. Past subjects include the late Queen Elizabeth, the former German chancellor Angela Merkel, and the royal rock star Bono. What characterises his work, though, is his ability to strip back public roles and titles and create a picture of a person themselves. Well, a collection of 12 of his portraits has now been brought together in a new book co authored with the broadcaster Mark Carruthers. And I'm delighted to say that both Colin and Mark join me on the line. Colin is in Bangor in County down, and the broadcaster Mark Carruthers is in Belfast. Good morning, gentlemen. How are you?
- [49:48]
Ryuma Takahashi
Good morning. Thank you.
- [49:49]
Emma Nelson
Right, this is going to be fun. Let's Have a go. Colin, let's start with you now, having done a little bit of reading up on you, apparently calling you a portrait painter is not the done thing. Is that correct?
- [50:02]
Ryuma Takahashi
Well, it may be the done thing, but it's certainly not how I describe what I do. I suppose I see myself as a creative. I see myself as an artist who just so happens to paint portraits. If I have an idea for anything creatively, I tend to do it, bring it to fruition. And my portrait painting was just simply part of that.
- [50:30]
Emma Nelson
This is radio, so we've always got an uphill struggle pictorially. But could you describe what your pictures look like, please?
- [50:40]
Ryuma Takahashi
Yeah, that's an interesting one. They are simply bits of cloth with pigment put onto them, as I suppose any painting actually is. There is, I suppose, from my point of view, an awareness and always has been, of the physicality, the. The textural, the sculptural quality of oil paint. And so there is very much an adherence and awareness of that in my work. Pattern is very important. And indeed I have recently. And One of the 12 paintings in the book is a three dimensional painting. So I have recently, over the last five years, really taken a foray into sculpture and using the sculptural quality of oil paint.
- [51:33]
Emma Nelson
Now, your career path, in terms of the subject matter, as I mentioned a moment ago, it focuses on what people would describe. People in power, very famous figures. How did that come about?
- [51:46]
Ryuma Takahashi
Again, a very good question. And if I really knew the answer to all of this, I would bottle it and I would use it in the rest of my career. I think it's just. It's got to do with a lot of the people who I've met and I suppose a sort of un. Honesty, an honest approach to the art of portrait painting. Mark. Mark. Actually, our friendship sort of started around 2010 when I started making the large portraits. And the Lyric Theatre in Belfast was still. Is a very key aspect to my. To really showing the work and to also. Mark was able to introduce me at the time he was the chair of the Lyric. And I suppose he was able to at the start, introduce me to people like Brian Friel, who is an Irish playwright, as you know, Liam Neeson and other cultural greats from this part of the world and. And beyond. And I suppose there is this thread which runs through a lot of the work where a sitter will introduce me to somebody else and there doesn't necessarily need to be any commercial agenda to it or any commissioned agenda. It's just very often I just. I just go where my career takes me, where life takes me.
- [53:24]
Emma Nelson
Mark, let's bring you in here as having been introduced so eloquently by Colin as the, the man who makes things happen. You're, you are, you know, not only partner in crime, you, you have a deep friendship as well. But there's this, there's this alliance, isn't there, there's, there's this collaboration of words and pictures.
- [53:40]
Ryuma Takahashi
Yes, absolutely, Emma. I mean the project that we're talking about, the, the book itself is a collaboration from start to finish. And Colin and I had worked together probably over the past 15 years, as Colin mentioned. I chaired the board of the Lyric Theatre, which is the, the main producing theatre in Belfast and under knocked it down and raised a lot of money to rebuild it. And Colin's paintings play a very important part in that. And as he says, that was a way of Colin meeting some of the people who were coming through the theater and one sitting led to another sitting and this body of work has developed and it was a collaborative process at that stage 15 years ago and that process has really continued. And I suppose this book is a bland. And we hoped, and we are now pleased to be able to say that it is a blend of Colin's work represented within the book with about 160 images. Twelve paintings are the entry points to various conversations that we conduct in the book. But there are lots more than just the portraits represented in the book. And it's a balance of the images and also the text where Colin talks about his work, what he does, why he does it, how he does it. He talks about, about Belfast, his home city, which he also paints every year. He talks about his large scale window reflection paintings and his 3D paintings. And the one thing that Colin didn't mention there because he's very modest is the scale of his work is what is very striking because the portraits we're talking about are, if you think of them roughly as about 4ft square. So they're very large. And one of the people that Colin painted, as you know, was Her Majesty the Queen, which is a long story. But the thing that struck her and Colin can tell the story better than I can, but the thing that struck her when she unveiled the painting a number of years years ago was the scale of the painting. And the first thing she really said to Colin was why? Why did you paint my head so big? But the, the, the impact that those paintings have on the viewers is absolutely remarkable. And that's part of why I think they've had such an impact.
- [55:45]
Emma Nelson
Coralyn I think we need your version of Her Majesty's comments, please.
- [55:49]
Ryuma Takahashi
Well, yes, I can give you what, what. I suppose my response to that question was this was whenever the painting was unveiled in Nove in Crosby hall. And yeah, my response to her asking me, why did you paint my head so big? Was, well, mum, all of my paintings are that size and it would be wrong of me to make your head any smaller. She also, I can't believe I had the nerve, but I was told to go up and speak to her after for the cameras that were there. I was asked, would you go up and speak to her as soon as she unveils the portrait? Of course. I quite like to stay in the background when a portrait is unveiled in case the responses is not what I had hoped for. But I went up and I spoke to her straight away and I said, mom, I said, are you still talking to me? And she turned around and said, of course I'm still talking to you, and commented on how splendid the painting was. So, yeah, I mean, those are, those are the pinch me moments throughout my career. I suppose I'm interested in human beings. I'm interested in. And I've become interested in people who are conventionally very well known and whose faces we have become very used to seeing. Obviously in the late Queen's case, you know her, her image was for many years on the back of 20 point notes. Or you, you, you would lick an image of her face to put it on a postcard to post it. You know, I have the great privilege and I see it as being that being able to get access to and be able to glimpse the human being behind that. And that's what the great privilege in my life has been with these works.
- [57:52]
Emma Nelson
Carlene talking about glimpsing the human being behind it. We have just a few seconds to go through this, so I'm being a bit cruel here to ask you this question. When do you know that you've got it right?
- [58:03]
Ryuma Takahashi
Well, you don't. I mean, that's the whole thing. And, you know, you're never sure as an artist that you ever quite have. I think it's whenever I work on many paintings at the same time, so up to 15. And if, if I bring one of my portraits back to the easel again to do more work to it, and I see that balance of it being a decent painting and it looking like the person. If I've got that balance right, sometimes it's just a case to leave the thing alone, if that makes sense.
- [58:37]
Emma Nelson
Colin Davidson and Mark Carruthers. Thank you both so much for joining me on the line. And the book 12 Paintings is out now. And that's all the time we have for today's programme. The warmest of thanks to all my guests and to the producers, Vincent McEveney, Chris Chermak and Hassan Anderson. Our researcher was Joanna Moser and our studio manager was Stef Chungu, with editing assistance from Mariella Bevan. After the headlines, more music on the way. The briefing is live at midday here in London and the Globalist is back at the same time on Monday. But for now, from me, Emma Nelson, goodbye. Thank you very much for listening. Have a great weekend. Sam.
- [59:40]
UBS Narrator
With ubs, you have a truly global partner incorporating new technologies, innovative approaches and unexpected opportunities, leading you to insights that help answer the questions that matter. Delivered with passion, care and unmatched expertise. Because it's about rising with the dawn each day, knowing that we can do all and even better. That's what banking is to us. Not just work, but a craft. UBS advice is our craft.