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- [00:04]
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- [00:38]
Emma Nelson
You're listening to the Globalist, first broadcast on 17th October 2025 on Monocle Radio. The Globalist in association with U.
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Natasha Linstead
Live from London.
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Emma Nelson
This is THE Globalist with me, Emma Nelson. A very warm welcome to today's program.
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Donald Trump (voice or impersonation)
Coming up, we'll be talking about Ukraine. Yeah, I mean, I have the president coming in on Friday.
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Andrew Muller
He would like to have Tomahawks Zelensky.
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Emma Nelson
In the White House will ask whether a third trip to Washington could win the support the Ukrainian president needs from the US to win the war against Russia. But we'll hear the latest on the details of a planned meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin and see how that could change things. Also ahead in the next 60 minutes, after two decades of leaning to the left, could Bolivia be about to elect a right wing president? We'll look ahead to this weekend's elections and ask what a change in political direction could mean for the rest of the region. We'll find out why London's Freeze Art Fair, once a highlight of the elite art calendar, is struggling to compete with its neighbors.
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Andrew Muller
Plus, we learned that if it was probably optimistic to expect much in the way of perspective and humility from Donald Trump, we learned that his fifth smartest child was here to help on that front.
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Emma Nelson
Andrew Muller will be here with what we learned. That's all coming up on THE Globalist live from London. First, a quick look at what else is happening in today's news. Donald Trump's former national security adviser John Bolton has said he's looking forward to defeating defending himself after he was indicted on charges related to the alleged mishandling of classified information. The US Admiral Alvin Halsey, who leads US Military forces in Latin America, is to step down following reported tensions between him and the defense secretary Pete Hegseth. And the ultra low cost carrier Spirit Airlines is to furlough 365 staff and downgrade the status up to 170 pilots as part of a restructuring effort. Stay tuned to Monocle Radio throughout the day for more on these stories. But first, President Trump says he's planning to meet his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin in Hungary to discuss ending the war in Ukraine. The announcement came after the two leaders spoke by phone for at least two hours yesterday. So what does this development mean for Ukraine's President Zelensky? He arrived yesterday evening in Washington to try to persuade President Trump to give him long range Tomahawk missiles. Well, I'm joined now by Natasha Linstedt, professor of government at the University of Essex and a regular voice here. Good morning, Natasha.
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Natasha Linstead
Good morning.
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Emma Nelson
So this was all going to plan for Vlad, for Volodymyr Zelenskyy, wasn't it? Until there was this announcement of a two hour phone call between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump and this subsequent planned meeting in Hungary.
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Natasha Linstead
Exactly. And so this is going to pose problems for Zelensky with his meeting with, with Trump because things have been going really well after the Alaska summit between Putin and Trump and when Trump realized that Putin doesn't listen to anything he says and basically is nice to him, and then the next day bombs everybody. And I'm just paraphrasing the way Trump says this. And so he changed his tack. Trump completely changed his view on Ukraine, saying, I think Ukraine can take all, can regain all of its territory. That's a big change from when he said that Crimea should be part of Russia. And he started to support Ukraine engaging in more more aggressive tactics and then flirting with the idea of supporting Ukraine through providing Tomahawk missiles, which can be launched from ships and submarines and they could carry nuclear warheads or conventional warheads. And this apparently got Putin's ear and supposedly the Russians contacted the US about some meeting and then it was this great phone call and then we're already hearing Trump hedging about providing Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles. And this is one of the key things of this meeting that Zelensky and Trump are having about the potential of having these types of missiles which will give Ukraine far more range to, to go after Russian targets.
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Emma Nelson
So what is the likelihood of Tomahawks actually now being supplied to Volodymyr Zelensky and and to Ukraine?
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Natasha Linstead
Well, we can only take Trump for his words and he's saying, well, we don't really have a huge supply, that the US doesn't have enough Tomahawk missiles and they might not be able to provide UK with this. It's not clear if Trump was saying this that he might provide Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine to try to get the Russians to be really worried and to get them to negotiate. So we don't know if it was a ploy or if he really intended to do so. And it's hard to predict what Trump is going to do because he's just been going back and forth with this so much. It's hard to keep track of what his latest point of view is.
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Emma Nelson
Indeed, because we've been here before, haven't we, that he makes threatening sounds towards Russia. And as soon as they get on the phone, Donald Trump seems to be pacified somehow by what President Putin says to him. But how likely are we when it comes to Volodymyr Zelensky's presence at the White House today, to going back to that terrible scene in February when he was publicly eviscerated, is there a sense that actually Zelensky could regain Trump's ear?
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Natasha Linstead
So I think Zelenskyy's relationship with Trump is much improved and I don't see really any chance of them going back to that horrible press conference in February. As you mentioned, Zelenskyy has learned how to deal with Trump, how to talk to Trump, what the. Basically the languages. He had received support from other European leaders about the particular way you have to deal with him and talk with him. I think that Trump does see Zelensky as a partner that he can count on more because he's been more steady and consistent to dealing with Putin. He just admires Putin and is desperate to be his friend. I mean, we've seen press conferences where he said something to that effect, how disappointed he has been in Putin. So I don't see anything like that. And we also see that the US has increased its intelligence sharing with Ukraine. And I think that's something that could continue and that's been really effective. The US has also started to support Zelensky targeting energy infrastructure. That was something he was telling Zelensky to back off of, that Ukraine shouldn't be doing that prior to the Alaska summit. So I think there are other things that the US can continue to do. And I think Trump is seeing that he does need to ramp up support for Ukraine in order to get Putin back to the negotiation table.
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Emma Nelson
What can Donald Trump do for Ukraine? We are in a situation now where for Ukraine, things have stayed the same. The war, the Russia's full scale invasion of the country continues apace three years on. But for Donald Trump, he is now the man of the moment when it comes to forging peace. The Peace 25 moment at the beginning of this week between Israel and Hamas with all these world leaders was a defining point probably in Trump's eyes in terms of his ability to bring peace to the earth. Is there something inside him now that will motivate him to try to bring about a similar moment with Ukraine, Russia.
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Natasha Linstead
Well, he's definitely a little bit more motivated than he was before, sensing that he had an accomplishment here. And as he has said many, many times, he really wants to win the Nobel Peace Prize. And he didn't win it and seemed to be upset about that. I think he's trying to put the pressure on. So there was a time when even his Secretary of State, Marco Rubio said he was sort of bored by the conflict. He wasn't really interested in trying to resolve it because he thought it couldn't be resolved. The one between Russia and Ukraine, I should mention. So I think he's going to try to put more pressure on Russia. His special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, has wanted that, wanted a plan where there is a lot of pressure applied on Russia and a lot of military support provided to Ukraine. And so that those two factors will be really important. What Zelenskyy is wanting is more air defense missiles, more air support support. They've been able to miraculously deal with all of the drones. And that's something where the US hasn't been able to really be helpful. This is where Ukraine is well above and beyond the west and NATO is their ability to intercept and shoot down all of the drones and the swarming of drones that Russia has been using on Ukraine. But where the US can be helpful is with air support and with providing long range missiles.
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Emma Nelson
Where can Ukraine look if Donald Trump proves to be an unreliable ally? The the EU NATO defense map that was talked about over the last couple of days, it shores up Europe's borders, but that commitment from Europe to step up is, isn't. Is still not enough, is it?
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Natasha Linstead
No. I mean, so what Ukraine is asking for is for more military support. You know, they've been asking for this for, for some time now that this is what. But they're actually also starting to sell and share the advancements that they've made in producing drones. Because now we're seeing that NATO countries are not immune from the attacks from Russia, whether it be just to cause psychological tensions, but by having drones that are flying over NATO countries, with NATO really far behind in being able to intercept these drones. And we're seeing that Ukraine feels that it has something to offer NATO countries in the west and it's hoping in return it will continue to get sustained and reliable military aid.
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Emma Nelson
Finally, let's talk about Melania. She has said that she has an open channel of communication with Vladimir Putin. This is the first lady, Melania Trump over the welfare of Ukrainian children. What does that suggest about the channels of communication between Moscow and Washington?
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Natasha Linstead
I mean, that was such a peculiar story that I had read. It made very little sense because she doesn't tend to get involved in really anything and she says she wants to stay out of things and she famously wore a jacket that said I don't care, do you? So she's really a mystery. But what it does say is that there is much closer communication and open channels between the Trump administration, probably informal channels than we really realize.
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Emma Nelson
Natasha Linstead, professor of government at the University of Essex. Thank you as ever for joining us on Monocor radio. 7:11am here in London, 2:11am in Sucre. And for the past two decades, Bolivia has been a resolutely left leaning nation, choosing to be governed continuously by the socialists. Well, recently the political landscape has changed and this weekend the South American country could find itself voting for right wing president. To explain all, I'm joined by Dr. Celia Sisterman, who's associate at Earendel Associates based here in London. Good morning, Celia, good morning to you. So we have a runoff, don't we, between a conservative and a centrist?
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Dr. Celia Susterman
We do indeed. The first round of the elections were held in August and the two top candidates candidates were right leaning ones. And for the first time in 20 years, there will be no left wing candidate running in a country where there are depolarizations both in terms of ethnicity and regionalism. So you've got on the western highlands the poorest, more population with the largest indigenous proportion of citizens, while in the eastern high lowlands you've got the richest fertile agricultural lands where the white and business led population lives. And the problem was that there were so many divisions in the mas, the movement towards socialism led by Evo Morales.
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Yossi Meckelberg
That.
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Dr. Celia Susterman
The parties split into endless factions, meaning that in the end, the candidate they fielded in August, Andronico Rodriguez, only got admittedly 3% of the vote.
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Emma Nelson
Which means that the movement to socialism, which has been such a powerful force inside Bolivia, almost didn't have it, almost lost its legal status, doesn't it? So who are we left with this weekend we have Rodrigo Pereira, who's a Christian Democrat party centrist pushing for private sector growth. And then we have Tuto Quiroga, who is conservative, wants austerity measures and privatization, two very different paths to take Bolivia.
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Dr. Celia Susterman
Very different paths from the last 20 years when Bolivia came into the Latin American scene riding on the wave of what was then termed the pink tide. There's very little of the Pink Tide left. And in fact there is a shift towards right wing policies in the region in general, with the exceptions of places like Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuban. And the problem is that throughout those 20 years when MAS under Evo Morales was in power, there was a very strong social movement set in place with a history of extreme violence. And the fear now is that on Sunday, with no representation for Mass, whoever gets elected, whether it's Jorge Tuto Quiroga, who used to be was president very briefly in the early 2000s and then joined the party set up by the former military dictator Ugo Bansa, he in the first round, Tuto Quiroga obtained 28% of the vote. And the frontrunner was Rodrigo Paz of the Christian democratic party with 30% of the vote with the slogan Capitalism for all. Now, interestingly, Rodrigo Paz is the son of of Passamora, who was president earlier in Bolivia and who had appointed Tuto Tioga as his finance Minister back in 1992, when Kiroga was only just aged 32. So we now have both men, one running against the successor to his father and the other one trying to steer Bolivia well away from anything resembling Pink Tide and away from Iran, China and Russia, which were the three preferred geopolitical partners preferred by Evo Moragis.
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Emma Nelson
Finally, let's place this in a geographical context, in a regional context. You mentioned the countries which have stayed to the left, pushing Bolivia to the right, not necessarily in such an extreme ways as we should see perhaps in neighboring Brazil, but having a slightly more subtle and nuanced political shift to the right or to the center would do wider regionally.
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Dr. Celia Susterman
Well, it would have a very important impact, especially as far as the relations with the United States are concerned. Because for 20 years the United States was depicted partly correctly, of course, as an imperialist country trying to set its norms on Bolivia in terms of eradication of coca production. You have to remember that Bolivia still is, together with Colombia, the highest coca producer in the Americas. Coca, of course, being the base for cocaine. So the United States has always pursued a policy of eradication which would hurt the livelihoods of the farmers of the western highlands who Morales used to be himself one of them used to represent. And so there will be the pin tide will be is being replaced slowly but surely by, shall we say, Blue Tide, with people like Javier Milei in Argentina or Bolson Island, Brazil, although Bolsonaro now has been sentenced to prison home detention for attempting to organize a coup against Morales back in 2019. But there are really era dominant changes happening in Latin America.
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Emma Nelson
Currently Dr. Celia Susterman. Thank you so much for joining us on Monocle Radio. Still to come on today's program, no Laughing Matter, we'll hear about the rise of Beretax in Japan. Stay with us.
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Emma Nelson
19 minutes past, past 7am let's continue with today's newspapers. Joining me is Yossi Meckelberg, associate fellow of the Middle east and North Africa program at Chatham House, usually in here to give us the latest on the Middle east. Now giving us a much more general and broad approach to what the newspapers are reporting. A very good morning to you, Yossi. How are things? You've had quite a week, I would imagine.
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Yossi Meckelberg
Good morning. Yes, it's, I mean for a change, after two horrible horrific years of talking, you know, so many times here about how the situation is getting worse and worse and the death toll and you know, hostages that are there and no political horizon, at least there was some cause of hope. So of course with the Trump circus arriving to the Middle east, it gives a bit of a different flavor. But honestly to see that the fighting stop at FIFA, the hostages back, creating some hope that this is the end of this war was a better week than over the last two years.
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Emma Nelson
Oh, I'm very glad to hear it. Let's talk actually first about a story that you wanted to bring from Harrat. We're going to walk away, we're going to move away from the Middle east in a moment. But seeing as you are talking about it, Haaretz, which brings such a different view from many other publications, especially within Israel, doesn't have a huge readership, does it? It's not massively. It doesn't have a very, very loud voice. It has a very human voice.
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Yossi Meckelberg
Yeah. You know, I would say it's not always about the quantity, it's about sometimes the quality. But you know, this is very biased view that I read it. But I think yes, it's a very progressive liberal voice in Israel and much needed ones considering what has been going there for many is the attack on the Democratic foundation and this specifically it's about which I think it's about the role of civil society, of protest. So we Know that everyone gives credit to and deservedly sort for Trump stopping the war. But at the same time, the constant protest and, you know, someone who witness it. Whenever I visit the, you know, thousands of people gather, especially on a Saturday night, before the war, you know, to defend democracy and after the war, to ensure that the government remembers. The first and foremost is ending the war and bringing the hostages back. And, you know, you see that there is power in that. And sometimes I think there is a universal lesson there. It's about the role of civil society. Sometimes we feel powerless. We said, okay, even democracy, we vote once every four or five years, and that's about it. And in between, we have no influence. And I think the fact that protest can play such an important role and keep the pressure on government and sometimes the role of ngo, the role of people even writing letters to their representative and sometimes protesting. And we saw here in the UK as a great power.
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Emma Nelson
But how much of a genuine power has it been? Yes, it has allowed the plight of the hostages people to express themselves publicly, to be seen and, and to have their presence maintained. But the, the amount of pressure that this has genuinely exerted on, for example, Benjamin Netanyahu has been what? Because before we, if we cast our minds Back to Before October 2023, there were regular protests against Benjamin Netanyahu and nothing was done.
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Yossi Meckelberg
But the, I think actually a lot of the legislation was between the rhetoric of the changes and the actual changes. When it came to legislation, there was a huge difference. So I think this slowed down considerably. But I think with the case of the hostages, it moves more the Americans than Netanyahu. Netanyahu is about Netanyahu and maintaining his survival in power. But people like Wytkov and even Trump was actually more to the plight of the parents and of the hostages. So I think in the way it worked, they were moved. And of course, with the power of the United States, I think it actually made a difference.
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Emma Nelson
Thank you for that, Yossi. Right, let's move to a story in the Washington Post. It's a story that's broken over the last eight or nine hours. Former Trump aide John Bolton had a famous falling out with him. He has now fallen out with him so badly that Donald Trump has now made him third former Trump administration figure to be indicted. He said he's looking forward to defending himself. But what is this all about?
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Yossi Meckelberg
I think there is kind of an American obsession when they end their time in office. They take a lot of documents and then write their memoirs and probably making a lot of money. But it makes no sense why they take these documents. So in this case. So I think there are two stories a how vindictive is Trump and going after, whether it's him or comeyou know, the former head of the FBI and looking for reasons to imprison them. We all remember from the election, the first election, you know, the chance about Hillary Clinton, lock her up. So it's just kind of the idea if it's a rival, we need to lock them up. In the case of Bolton, it's finding probably documents, classified documents that he shared with relatives. He said they are not classified. What he said, according to the charges it is. So it will make a very interesting case in court. So it's kind of the nature of politics right now in the United States. Vindictive. But we know Trump collected a lot of documents after, you know, when he left the White House. They found also with former President Biden. So I think sometimes when it comes to excessively classified documents, they should kind.
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Emma Nelson
Of rethink indeed, because the accusations. Quite interesting that the accusations is that messages were sent through a personal email which was later hacked by what the US Believes was the government of Iran or an organization associated with it. What was shared was his diaries, which is not classified.
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Yossi Meckelberg
Not classified, but still can be harmful. But again, it's kind of rich coming from the Trump administration considering that some very senior people there were on social media sharing when and the United States was about to attack Yemen. So I think they have some issues with how to keep secrets right now in the US and how they share, even if it's not classified. If in the diary can be a thing, it's not. I think more than anything else with John Bolton, because he becomes such a critique of Trump that is looking to hurt him.
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Emma Nelson
It's casting some legal shade. I think it is. Look, let's look at a story in the Financial Times that broke about two hours ago, which is Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is talking about a defense deal with the Trump administration. So this is being compared directly to the US Cut up Act last month and that pact. The principle behind it was any attack on the Gulf state is a threat to American peace and security as well. Something similar for the US and for Saudi Arabia would mean what regionally?
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Yossi Meckelberg
First of all, it reminds us a bit the Article 5 of NATO, so it's a kind of creating a mini NATO within the Middle east tells everyone they try to attack American allies. Listen, you're going to have business with the United States and we are the most powerful military in the world. It's got even kind of, I think become more prone after Israel actually bombed Qatar and you know, the capital Doha. So the idea that everyone. I think mainly this is. I think the message is to Tehran and Iran. If you think about attacking any of our allies from the United States point of view, then you'll have to deal with the United States. I think what the United States is trying to build a new security architecture but also a political economic architecture in the Middle east, whether Iran part of it or not. It's a question, you know, those of us who part of their job is to listen to Trump speeches, including more than an hour of it in the Knesset this week. He talks about the golden age of the Middle east which, you know, you move from only security and war actually for economic, economic opportunities. But I think this pact is part of defending what they are trying to be.
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Emma Nelson
Finally, we can touch briefly on back here in the United Kingdom, most of Great Britain's major rail operators are now back in public hands. So there is a need for sort of a kind of a definition of a new era. And they have done something rather beautiful and they've done something rather clever. They've made a clock.
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Yossi Meckelberg
Again we all know the, the beautiful clocks in. In many train station in the world.
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Emma Nelson
Hello Switzerland.
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Yossi Meckelberg
Hello Switzerland.
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Emma Nelson
Hello Switzerland.
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Yossi Meckelberg
Or sometimes, you know, even in the. The U S some grand station. Oh yeah, all of this clock. But they're all. None of them is digital and this is the first one in the UK that is a digital one. They try also to work on the symbols of the trains in the uk so it's also about accuracy. So British Rail is not always. That's why it's been re nationalized or much of it because it's not known for being accurate. So you up with this digital huge clock in London Bridge which was the second station that originally in 1852 had. The huge clock is also to send a message, you know, of modernization of the train station. So it looks at least in the photos, I need to go and see that. But it looks very impressive. What it doesn't have. It has also the hours and the minutes, but not the second. The second is kind of a strange connection. Oh of a circle that moves. So if you miss it by few seconds you might miss your train.
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Emma Nelson
A strange connection with circle moves is rather an accurate description as I could find. It's a very beautiful clock. It's at London Bridge in the centre of the British capital, Yossi Meckleburg. We'll have to leave it there. Thank you so much for joining me on the Globalist. Now, here's a quick summary of some of the other stories we're following today. President Donald Trump's former national security adviser, John Bolton has said he's looking forward to defending himself after being indicted on charges related to the alleged mishandling of classified information. He's a third of Mr. Trump's critics to be charged in recent weeks. Meanwhile, the US Admiral Alvin Halsey, who leads US Military forces in Latin America, is to step down. It's been reported there's been tension between him and the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth. And US Officials have confirmed the country's military carried out a strike on Thursday on another vessel in the Caribbean. In it's the sixth such strike against vessels. At least three people have been killed in Kenya as police tried to disperse crowds trying to view the body of the late political leader Raila Odinga at a stadium. Calm was later restored. Mr. Odinga's funeral is being held today. And the ultra low cost carrier Spirit Airlines is to furlough 365 staff and downgrade the status of up to 170 pilots. And it's part of a restructuring effort. Spirit filed for bankruptcy for the second time in a year in August, but said its business plan is to return to profit in two years. This is the Globalist. Stay tuned. 1531 in Tokyo, which is where we head now because Japan has seen a record surge in bear encounters this year with more than 100 attacks and a record number of sightings reported across the country, including in residential and tourist areas. While the revised Wildlife Protection and Management Law which took effect last month, is trying to strengthen local government's ability to respond to this growing problem, showing Japan's determination to address the issue seriously. I'm joined now by Julian Ryle, who's a Daily Telegraphs correspondent in Japan. Good afternoon, Julian.
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Julian Ryle
Good evening.
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Emma Nelson
Have you seen a bear?
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Julian Ryle
Not recently, although I have seen them in the, in the very far north of Japan many years ago, yes, Ambling along the road. They are part of the scenery in much of northern Japan and there's a.
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Emma Nelson
Growing number of them.
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Julian Ryle
There are indeed. I just was doing some research and I found a statistic that in 2012 numbers were down to around 12,000 on the main island of Honshu of Japan, but that is up to 44,000 now. So, yes, they are proliferating and they're becoming a little bit more, I don't know, a little bit more outgoing perhaps, actually.
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Emma Nelson
What do you mean by that? These emboldened bears?
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Julian Ryle
Absolutely. They're coming out of the mountains. So a lot of Japan is experiencing rural depopulation. The villages are getting smaller, the towns are getting smaller. The young people are moving to the cities for education and work opportunities. So it's the old folk who are left behind. And these communities are shrinking. So the bears are getting a little bit bolder and they're coming into these villages and suburban areas. Also, there are far fewer hunters than there used to be in. So the bears are no longer nervous of being around people. So they are a little bit more aggressive and just in your face, if you like. So, yes, that's why we seem to be having more of these encounters.
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Emma Nelson
And these encounters, we were being quite gentle about this, actually. People are dying, people are being attacked and are losing their lives.
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Julian Ryle
Absolutely, yes. As you said, we've had the seventh fatality confirmed so far this year and that's a record since these statistics were first compiled in 2006. And we are still some way off winter and hibernation for these, for the, for the bears. So there might well, there will certainly be more fatalities between now and then. There's been a bad crop in the mountains of beech nuts and acorns and the berries that the, the bears rely on before they go into hibernation. So they are extending their ranges. They're going into these suburban areas and they're becoming a little bit more desperate as the wind, as the, the temperatures do fall. So it's inevitable that there are going to be more and more encounters in the weeks and potentially months ahead.
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Emma Nelson
So what are the authorities doing about this?
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Julian Ryle
They've relaxed the laws on shooting bears. Previously, the laws on shooting bears in suburban and urban districts were very, very tight. Obviously they had to be extremely careful of residents and people in these areas. They've made those a lot easier. They're making it easier to get guns or to have guns as, as a registered hunter. And there are other trapping initiatives. Farmers are being encouraged to do what they can to deal with the problem. But, you know, they are quite easy. These bears adapt easily to the environment. And, you know, the rural districts of Japan aren't going to be repopulated anytime soon, so they have larger areas to roam free in.
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Emma Nelson
So this wildlife protection and management law, the difference it will make will be what?
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Julian Ryle
Well, I just think that people will be able to. Hunters will be given greater reign to go out and shoot bears and they might very well be bear bounties. So they'll be given rewards for bringing in more bears. But again, it doesn't really solve the problem of a countryside that is largely devoid of people.
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Emma Nelson
Now, Julian Ryle in Tokyo, thank you so much for joining us on Monocle Radio. Foreign so here's Andrew Muller with what we learned.
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Andrew Muller
We learned this week that Norwegians just cannot take a hint.
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Donald Trump (voice or impersonation)
They gave it to Obama for doing absolutely nothing. He got the Nobel Prize for doing nothing. They should give me the Nobel Prize. Everyone says that I should get the Nobel Peace Prize. I had so many people, you should get the Nobel Prize.
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Andrew Muller
Although it turns out they do make quite pleasant folk music. Can I get some general muttered agreement? We learned that, yes, despite the characteristically subtle and self effacing campaigning of US.
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Donald Trump (voice or impersonation)
President Donald Trump, my rhetoric kept you out of wars. I stopped wars from happening. If it were some else, they would have gotten five Nobel Prizes. I never even got a mention.
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Andrew Muller
The Norwegian Nobel Committee had instead chosen to risk a vindictive American annexation of Svalbard by giving it to someone obviously less deserving, because who isn't? But we also learned that the Norwegian Nobel Committee were not above toying with a chap's emotions.
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Emma Nelson
The Nobel Peace Prize for 2025 goes.
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Dr. Celia Susterman
To a brave and committed champion of peace.
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Andrew Muller
Straighten your tie, Mr. President.
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Yossi Meckelberg
To a woman.
- [37:34]
Andrew Muller
Well, quite. We did, however, shortly thereafter learn and yes, we know this happened last Friday, but we record these on Thursdays to play on Fridays. We've explained this before. Keep up who the real winner was.
- [37:52]
Donald Trump (voice or impersonation)
The person who actually got the Nobel Prize called today, called me and said, I'm accepting this in honor of you because you really deserved it.
- [38:03]
Andrew Muller
But we learned that the president's supporters were taking his disappointment every bit as philosophically, graciously and above all, sanely as might have been expected. And none more so than Congressman Buddy Carter of Georgia's first district, and surely at least one once, the reason that his fellow Georgian US President and Nobel Peace Laureate Jimmy Carter uttered the phrase, dear God, no, Absolutely no relation.
- [38:27]
Emma Nelson
That's why he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.
- [38:31]
Andrew Muller
And that's why I'm introducing a resolution.
- [38:33]
Sheena Rossiter
For a sense of congress today that.
- [38:35]
Emma Nelson
Will honour him with the Nobel Peace Prize.
- [38:39]
Andrew Muller
Pretty sure that's not how this works, Congressman. As indeed, it can well be imagined that someone has said to Buddy Carter as he tried to pop corn in a tumble dryer, however, encouraged by this notion of simply awarding oneself prizes on which one has missed out.
- [38:58]
Natasha Linstead
And the winner of the special super duper gold trophy with a dinosaur on top for funniest and cleverest weekly news review monologue.
- [39:08]
Julian Ryle
Is.
- [39:10]
Natasha Linstead
What we learned on Monocle Radio.
- [39:18]
Andrew Muller
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you. No, but seriously, we also learned, in an irony that is surely causing President Trump to emit the odd rye chuckle, that the week of his cruel snub by those whale scoffing weirdos in Oslo should also be the week he achieved a diplomatic feature arguably more significant even than his brokering of peace between.
- [39:46]
Donald Trump (voice or impersonation)
Aber Baijan and Albania or resolving the equally.
- [39:51]
Andrew Muller
Intractable and non occurring conflict involving Cambodia and Armenia. We learned that. Yes. And can we maybe get a gritting teeth sound effect behind the rest of this sentence? That Trump had helped bring a halt to a little over two years of war in Gaza and slash. But we learned that this genuinely momentous accomplishment was not about to stop him conducting the attendant diplomatic formalities like he was guest compare of the Dean Martin celebrity roast.
- [40:24]
Donald Trump (voice or impersonation)
France. Thank you very much, Emmanuel. I would imagine Emmanuel standing someplace behind me.
- [40:31]
Andrew Muller
Where I see.
- [40:31]
Donald Trump (voice or impersonation)
Yeah, I can't believe. Believe it. You're taking a low key approach. Today, Italy, we have a woman, a young woman who's. I'm not allowed to say it because usually it's the end of your political career if you say it. She's a beautiful young woman. Now, if you use the word beautiful in the United States about a woman, that's the end of your political career. But I'll take my chances. We have Hungary. Oh, Victor. Where is Victor? Victor, Victor, Victor. We love Victor. Victor, I call him. You know, I put the little accent on it. You are fantastic. All right. I know a lot of people don't agree with me, but I'm the only one that matters.
- [41:14]
Andrew Muller
Try the veal tip your waiters hear all week and so forth. But we learned that if it was probably optimistic to expect much in the way of perspective and humility, from Donald Trump, we learned that his fifth smartest child was here to help on that front.
- [41:34]
Emma Nelson
And look how much better humanity and our world is.
- [41:36]
Marcus Schogel
You know, we're saving Christianity, we're saving God, we're saving the family unit, we're saving this nation.
- [41:42]
Andrew Muller
From which rash of media appearances we learned that Eric Trump has written a book.
- [41:47]
Emma Nelson
Oh, no.
- [41:49]
Andrew Muller
Or at least typed into chatgpt the prompt rattle me up 70,000 words, expanding my own Wikipedia pages into a lacrimose screed of self justification, self pity and paranoid fantasy, pitching my powerful billionaire family as the most persecuted people in all of human history. But we learned as he shilled his tome, that the immense and imaginary suffering endured by his unfortunate tribe had in no way diminished an abiding sense of right and wrong. And a profound belief in impartial justice. And we learned this from his right rage at New York State Attorney General Letitia James, who once filed fraud charges against Eric's father and upon whom Eric's father has recently set the Department of Justice because she once rented a house to her grand niece, possibly without being entirely straight with her mortgage provider about her intentions in this regard. And that said grand niece Denise may have been other than a model citizen at various points in her life. Yes, we're looking forward to the 27 part true crime podcast as well. But we learned that Eric Trump demands higher standards of public officials foresworn to uphold and abide by the laws of the land.
- [43:05]
Marcus Schogel
Somebody who's apparently committed mortgage fraud and.
- [43:07]
Emma Nelson
Somebody apparently has a felon living in their home right now.
- [43:10]
Marcus Schogel
Clearly you're not allowed to do that.
- [43:12]
Andrew Muller
I can. Victor felon in the family home. Imagine. For Monocle Radio, I'm Andrew Muller.
- [43:22]
Emma Nelson
Thank you, Andrew. You're listening to the Globalist on Monocle Radio.
- [43:29]
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- [44:33]
Emma Nelson
We head now to Canada for the latest in the climate climate news world. I'm joined now by Sheena Rossiter, our contributing editor in Edmonton. Good evening, Sheena.
- [44:42]
Sheena Rossiter
Good evening and good morning to you.
- [44:44]
Emma Nelson
To have you with us, let's talk about the latest headlines in climate and one of them is about heat waves.
- [44:49]
Sheena Rossiter
Yeah. So this was a massive report that came together with a bunch of renowned climate scientists. Some were from the World Weather Attribution and a couple were with the US Based Climate Central. They all teamed up and what they did is they did several computer simulations where they're calculating heat waves, which is ultimately one of the biggest climate effects that affect people. So these scientists are looking to see how much of a difference the Paris Climate Accord, the landmark agreement that took place 10 years ago, how much that's really impacted rising temperatures around the world. So what they did is they tracked and they looked to see how many super hot days are going to be happening by the end of the century. And it's reported that it's going to be be 57 super hot days in total with smaller nations now being more affected by these biggest carbon polluting countries. And that is basically what we're tracking right now. By the end of the century.
- [45:51]
Emma Nelson
Is there any good news in this? I mean this is a very difficult question to ask because these reports generally outlay or outline a difficult situation which is very hard to grasp.
- [46:04]
Sheena Rossiter
Yes, of course 57 extra super hot days by the end of the century is definitely hard to grasp. But that actually is the good news because what this study found is that because of the efforts to curb emissions of heat trapping gases that started 10 years ago because of the climate, the Paris Climate Accord Agreement that actually has had a positive impact without the measures that have been put into effect. What they found in this report is that actually the Earth would be heading to towards an additional 114 super hot deadly days if nothing was put into effect 10 years ago in Paris.
- [46:45]
Emma Nelson
How did they work these numbers out?
- [46:46]
Sheena Rossiter
Yeah, so important to mention this isn't peer reviewed yet, but they did use established techniques that are traditionally used for climate attribution. So what they did is they calculated how many super hot days the world and more than 200 countries have had since 2000, 2015 and how many Earth can get between now and future scenarios. So in one scenario they looked at to see if we're still continuing to curb the emissions by 2021 that we're keeping in line with the promises of the Paris Climate Accord and then the world will warm to 2.6 degrees Celsius. That's above pre industrial times. And that would equal to that 57 extra hot days. But the other scenario they warned is if nothing was done at all based on the Paris Agreement, that would actually go up to 4 degrees Celsius above pre industrial times. So what does this really mean for us? Well, let's just think back to that week long heat wave that happened in Southern Europe back in 2023. If nothing was done with the Paris climate accords 10 years ago, that heat wave that happened in 2023 it would likely have been been 70% hotter than it actually was. And if the world keeps climate fighting efforts and they don't decrease this, a similar heat wave at the end of the century would likely to be 3 degrees hotter according to this report. And they've this is just really significant because we can't forget that hundreds of thousands of people around the world have died due to heat waves.
- [48:29]
Emma Nelson
Sheena, let's focus a little bit on where you are and Canada. There are elections coming up, local elections. Is climate being mentioned anywhere in the campaigns?
- [48:40]
Sheena Rossiter
Yeah, so it's really interesting because a couple provinces here in Alberta were going elections. Likewise, they are in Quebec. So it really just depends on which part of the country you're in. But in Quebec, the second most populous province in the country, a recent poll done by Leger said that one month out from the municipal elections, 81% of people in Quebec believe that it's really important for municipalities to take action against climate change. And so this is a huge issue when it comes to the ballot when they go to vote on November 2nd. But interestingly enough, I thought this was interesting. Quebecers over the age of 55, 85% of them actually believe that climate change is a more, more important issue in municipal elections than those who are between the ages of 18 to 34. Usually we would have thought it would have been the other way around. But some reasons that that might be that older people are a little bit more concerned is because younger people are more likely to be launching into adulthood. And the weight that that just carries with things like a housing crisis and a tight labor market, which we're experiencing here in Canada.
- [49:51]
Emma Nelson
Sheena Rosseter, Monica's contributing editor in Edmonton, thank you so much for joining us on the line. You're listening to the globalist. Finally, a little earlier this year, the Swiss knife manufacturing giant Victorinox announced that part of the manufacturing process of its famous knives would be transferred to the United States. It had anticipated the introduction of tariffs when the Trump administration arrived. Well, now Victorinox is expanding into less volatile markets and is also broadening its product range, too. How will it fare? Well, to tell us about this story of endless adaptability, a little like a Swiss army knife, I'm joined now from Zurich by Marcus Shergel, associate professor at St. Gallen University Institute for Marketing, a regular voice around the studio table at Dufourstrasse 90, especially on monocle on Sunday. Good morning, Marcus. Good to have you.
- [51:07]
Andrew Muller
Good morning, Emma.
- [51:08]
Emma Nelson
Just tell us a little bit about the problems that Victorinox is facing.
- [51:14]
Marcus Schogel
Well, I think that's a typical problem that many Swiss companies have right now. The one thing that they have is this tariff thing with the United States. With a tariff rate that is above 30% for general exports to the United States. This hits Victorinox, I think, in a very special way as they are producing and manufacturing about right now. I think more than 90% of the Swiss army knives here in Switzerland, they transport them to the United States and then they do some finishing over there. As other journals are saying and other newspapers are saying, they're losing money by the minute when they sell it Swiss army knives. So this is a huge challenge that is representative for most of the manufacturing companies here in Switzerland. So basically what they are facing is that one of their most important export markets where they have one of the best images that you could think of as the GIs in the Second World War went to Europe and came back with a Swiss army knife. And it stands for, from my point of view, it's one of the brands that profits most from technological and craftsmanship representation in the brand of Switzerland and inherits in the Victorian ox brand. They've got a huge problem of harvesting on that potential. Even if they would put more actions into our activities, into the American market, they will not be able to really foster on a margin that makes that business profitable again.
- [52:41]
Emma Nelson
So this is now therefore the moment when Victorinox has to diversify. So I mentioned a moment ago that it's expanding into less volatile markets and it's also expanding its product range as well. Let's talk about the new markets that it's going to. With the American market not being what it used to be traditionally, as you have just described. Where does it look?
- [53:02]
Marcus Schogel
I think they should be looking and they will be looking into South America and Asia. Whilst I think that the Asian market, which is true for many European companies, is undervalued and underrepresented in their country portfolio. I think that Swiss army knife could easily take over from function like in the United States. For people in Asia, especially when you look into Singapore, Indonesia, when you look into Malaysia and the larger countries, this is really something where you need to have your eyes on even if there wouldn't be the tariffs of the United States, it's something where the growth region is for many companies and it's a little bit calmer than the rest that we see on the western side of the world. World map.
- [53:47]
Emma Nelson
Indeed. And the area that is being. I think Victorinox has said that it wants to go to Latin America and Asia. I mean, where is the market there? Who, who, who in Latin America and Asia will suddenly find themselves desiring a Swiss army knife where perhaps they didn't in the past?
- [54:03]
Marcus Schogel
Well, I think if you. Well, that's always the question on how you, how you, how you push demand and how you differentiate yourself if you're not communicating, predicting that you're a Swiss army knife in those markets and that you're not attractive and you don't have a product portfolio that is going beyond the Swiss army knife, but having that Swissness appeal. I would say it's a question of how you address those markets and how you position your brand. Actively if you haven't been doing this already, there's a huge potential to design and to form a brand that is really standing for Swissness in those markets much more in the future.
- [54:41]
Emma Nelson
One thing that Victorinox is thinking about is doing as well is, is making different objects, expanding it, it what it sells and, and it makes you, it reminds us of that, that idea of like would anybody recognize a product that wasn't a Swiss army knife by, by Victorinox in the same way that why would Ferrari make an aftershave?
- [55:05]
Marcus Schogel
Well, you say it, it's a question of time and it's a question of line extensions and those brand extensions. When you start out with a Swiss army knife and you move into travel products, you move into kitchen cutlery, if you move into specialized craftsmanship that goes around a knife as a first step and then extend this brand into other spaces that are useful and that are meaningful from the customer's point of view. That's long term strategy that I think is very valuable. This is what you see with a lot of brands, what they've been doing. As you said about Ferrari, I don't know who would ever put on a Ferrari perfume, but there are people that are doing this. Imagine there is a Harley Davidson perfume as well. So it's about the brand image that you have and how you can extend it to markets where it helps you not only to push forward the brand extension, but it helps you to shape your brand image in itself.
- [56:00]
Emma Nelson
Finally, the idea of the brand image of Switzerland is very much under pressure at the moment because of what's happening in the rest of the world, at least because of the United States, because Novartis, the drug manufacturer is feeling the pressure if tariffs extend to drug makers. But by all accounts, Swatch, who own Omega and also Nestle, are already being hit. So what is happening to brand Switzerland?
- [56:27]
Marcus Schogel
I don't know if it is the brand Switzerland or the two companies that you are naming. They have say distinctive problems that are more related not to the brand of Switzerland or the Swissness in it, but they've got managerial challenges. And I think what Nestle is facing is a culmination of issues that they had with their water brands that they had and certain behaviors that they showed in certain markets on a global scale. And it hits Nestle right in the face because of their corporate branding. While Swatch has a challenge that this. It's very much in discussion here in Switzerland if the Swatch company is treated properly as a stock listed company or is it more like treated like a family owned company which happens just to be at the stock market. And I think these two companies are not hit because of the Swissness image and I don't think they will hit the Swissness image so much because it's pretty independent. And so from my point of view, this is more firm related than really country related.
- [57:30]
Emma Nelson
Markus Schogel, Associate professor at St. Gallen University Institute for Marketing thank you for joining us. We look forward to having your monocle on Sunday very soon. And that's all the time we have for today's program. However, many thanks to all my guests and to the producers too, Colossa Rebella, Hassan Anderson and Monica Lillis. Our researcher was Jarona Moser and our studio manager was Elliot Grainfield with editing assistance by Mariella Bavan. After the headlines. More music on the way. The briefing's live at midday here in London. The Globalist is back at the same time tomorrow and on Monday, I should say. Hopefully you can enjoy. You can join me for that if you can. But for now, from me, Emma Nelson, goodbye. Thanks for listening and have a great weekend.
- [58:40]
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- [59:06]
Emma Nelson
You begin.
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