← The Monocle Daily
Loading summary
Transcript46 lines
- [00:00]
A
You're listening to the Monocle Daily, first broadcast on 19 March 2026 on monocle radio.
- [00:07]
B
EU leaders gather in Brussels for another large scale sigh in Donald Trump fails to heed the Basil Fawlty rule of diplomacy and is throwing snowballs really a crime? I'm Andrew Muller. The Monocle Daily starts. Hello, and welcome to the Monocle Daily. Coming to you from our studios here at Midori House in London. I'm Andrew Muller. My guests Tessa Siskovitz and Alexander Gerlach will discuss the day's big stories. And our weekly letter from is posted from the shadows cast by an enormous concrete sheep. Stay tuned. All that and more coming up right here on the Monocle Daily. This is the Monocle Daily. I'm Andrew Muller and I'm joined today by Tessa Kishkovitz, UK correspondent for Austrian weekly magazine Falta and author of Echter Englander Britain and Brexit, and by Alexander Gerlach, professor of political philosophy and geopolitics at New York University. Hello to you both.
- [01:17]
A
Hello, good evening.
- [01:18]
B
We have a definite sort of Central European themed panel this evening.
- [01:22]
A
We could speak German to you.
- [01:24]
B
You could, but that would sort of exclude me from the conversation because despite what may be suggested by my surname, I barely speak a word of it. Yeah, it was a long time ago. You have, however, both recently been conducting conversations in English with people here in England. Alexander, you've been, you've been speaking to somebody who thinks he can stop politicians from lying.
- [01:44]
C
Yeah, indeed. I met Marcus JJ. Ball like 10 years ago right after Brexit and he was really outraged about like obvious lies to the public. It's not about like if you vote for something or against something for the right reasons, that's, I guess, obviously fine. But then he was really upset by the fact that Farage and also Johnson were saying things to the public that were not true. And 10 years later, and I cannot attest to all the intricacies of the law making and the bill making and when becomes an act and when the King is signing it or whatever. But it seems like now, 10 years on, there has been some progress and I'm interested to see to whether that will also be like see succession on the continent, so other countries following suit.
- [02:28]
B
And Tessa, you have been speaking to somebody who. And is there a seamless link here? Yes, there is. Who is at least once that I can recall, played a lying politician on camera that is a somewhat opportunist and scheming Georgian, funnily enough, opposition leader in veep.
- [02:45]
A
Oh, he did, he did. It's true. I spoke to Stephen Fry for an interview about British humor and he said something really nice because he said that he can't really understand why, but somehow the Industrial Revolution started here and then Britain sent out a few ships and started trading and suddenly had a big empire. And so when he was a schoolboy, the teachers always said, like, don't boast, never show off. And that's how the British sense of humor, which is a self deprecating, self ironic, make fun of yourself kind of thing, started. And I thought it was quite a nice idea to put it on to the British Empire. So if you have, if you are particularly successful colonialist, just be nice.
- [03:34]
B
I mean, you. Well, I think speaking as a somehow descendant of that empire, I think the British can probably claim a fairly mixed record on that front. But we will start in Brussels and with an EU leaders summit at which normal conversation may be difficult given the massed gritting of teeth likely to be taking place. Three weeks ago, it might have been assumed that the dominant theme would be Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's determination to gum up funding for Ukraine, while everyone else prayed to their favoured God that his fellow citizens eject him at next month's election. Three weeks later, there is the additional challenge of trying to keep what remains of the transatlantic alliance in one piece while also staying out of a war in the Persian Gulf. Tessa, first of all, and I ask this question for what is hopefully the last time, what is Viktor Orban's problem? For he is not just trying to block 90 billion euros loan to Ukraine, but also EU accession talks with Ukraine, new sanctions on Russia, sanctions on violent Israeli settlers in the west bank, measures being undertaken against Georgia's pro Russian ruling party. Whatever it is, he's against it.
- [04:44]
A
Yeah, I mean, there is a problem that he has with energy supply a little bit similar to the other landlocked Central European countries. So it was a bit harder for him, as it was for Austria or Slovakia to get out of the Russian gas contracts. And so there he has a little bit of anger left that the Druzhba pipeline was damaged, but it was damaged, that is Ingo through the Ukraine and supplies him with gas from Russia. And so he has asked Zelensky to repair it, but the Ukrainian president, rightly so, said it was actually hit by a Russian rocket, so why should he? This is one of these games. Behind all these games, of course, is a pro Putin stand that Orban had for a long, long time. And now he's in an election campaign, and he's trying to ramp up a little bit of nationalist, pro Russian emotion against the European Union, which, according to the opinion polls, is really not the thing that will be his successful election this time. Let's hope that Peter Magia gets his foot down this time and gets elected and can replace him. Because for the European Union, this veto on all aid packages and sanction packages is really annoying. And today in Brussels, again, they have not managed to convince him. So they have a slightly fluffy declaration that came out saying that they are hoping to deliver the 90 million at the beginning of April in loans to the Ukraine. So we are not quite sure how this is going to go.
- [06:28]
B
Is it an actual option, Alexander, at this late point before this Hungarian election in which Orban is polling encouragingly badly, is it a reasonable option to just ignore him for another month and hope we never have to deal with him again? Or do they have to engage with him at least slightly? Because there is always a chance.
- [06:47]
C
I mean, the world is moving very fast these days and like, a few weeks can mean a lot in geopolitics nowadays and deciding wars, especially if you look into Ukraine, like, the position of the Russian leader about, like, what territory wants to seize, obviously every advance they make. Basically, I want to say the time frame is important, so I'm not sure if you can wait another two, three weeks until the elections are over in Hungary. And it's also, it's fair to say that despite, like, specific questions that you mentioned, there is also like a, let's say, an ideological divide between Orban and some others and the rest of the European Union, which is kind of like maybe not reflected as such to a full if there's a change in government, but still, like you have then almost half of the people in Hungary also not having voted for the new leadership. So it's kind of like the political culture in this country will not go away, or the sympathies for Russia that Orban is expressing is also reflected, at least in parts of the populace.
- [07:42]
B
I mean, Tessa, they will, of course, be talking about the war occurring in the Persian Gulf. And so far, the line from European countries is that they don't really want anything to do with it. But is there going to be some sort of discussion around the fact that they might have to send some sort of token force? There has already been this statement signed by some countries that they would participate in what they are euphemistically describing as appropriate measures, whatever that means, to keep the Strait of Hormuz open. Do they need to do something. Do they need to basically throw Donald Trump a bone for fear that he might just yank the plug on NATO entirely?
- [08:22]
A
So I read this statement of the leaders as a friendly rejection of everything that Donald Trump wants them to do. And he already, and he understood that also because he already came out with his slightly childish sort of I don't need you anyway statements that usually come at this moment. But if you look at the numbers, for example, one that I think is worth mentioning is that, you know, when Friedrich Merz was in the Oval Office two weeks ago and Trump was berating Sanchez, the Spanish pm, for coming out against the Iran war, Merz was quite. And one of the reasons for this, I think, is that Germany, that had to wean itself from the Russian gas just four years ago and has pretty much managed to do so successfully, but then started to buy LNG from the US and 96% of the German supply comes from the US now. So if you sit down with Donald Trump and you are Friedrich Merz, then you are weighing your words carefully. And so this is how this declaration of the leaders from Europe was. You don't want to completely burn all the bridges with the American administration. But as they also clearly said, including Friedrich Merz now and again now today in Brussels, this is not our war.
- [09:43]
B
I mean, has the United States, and it may or may not care about this Alexander, but actually underestimated how genuinely viscerally angry a lot of Europe is with the conduct of this administration. It was reported today in Danish media that the force that was sent to Greenland earlier this year, at a time when Monocle was broadcasting from there, was not actually a token force. They had sent special forces primed to blow up the runways in Greenland. They had sent blood supplies to deal with wounded soldiers. And they were preparing to undertake what they obviously knew would have been an absolutely futile stand to try and deter the U.S. invasion.
- [10:27]
C
Well, I mean, also I think the Germans wanted to send some soldiers. And then a few days later, the Chancellor withdrew that idea too, altogether. I feel like America should you have still the memory from the last excursion, if I want to call it that way, in Iraq 2001, also different from Afghanistan, where there was a UN mandate. And like a broad coalition of the willing, as they called it at the time, Iraq did not enjoy such a thing. And so the Germans and others were like not participating in the war. And George W. Bush was visiting Germany at the time. And I remember this in the city of Mainz, everything needed to be sealed. Nobody was allowed on the street. So they punished The Germans for that, too. Then the next day, he was taking a bath in the crack doubts and whatever. So when I say, like, being reprimanded being like, not doing what America does, and America or the government or the White House is not pleased with it, it's not for the first time. And I think one of the big reasons why no one wants to chip in, neither the Japanese were also allies or the Chinese, who would have. I mean, that would be insane if they would. It's just like the American administration had no plan. They have still no objectives for the war. At least they have not given any out to us or like to the general public or whatever Trump says doesn't make sense. And of course, and that's not even mentioning international law, which has been broken and Congress not being consulted. There is no sense the leaders, that's what I want to say, would not even know what they would be joining because there is no plan. It seems.
- [11:49]
B
Well, to Washington D.C. now, which is today's to do list for newish Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who has been hosted by US President Donald Trump. In between his regularly scheduled online fulminating and golf. Takechi is the first leader of a significant US Ally to spend time with Trump since the US And Israel embarked upon Operation Whatever the Hell this is nearly three weeks ago. Japan is one of many countries that Trump has seethed at by name due to their disinclination to saddle up to liberate the Strait of Hormuz before declaring that the US didn't need anyone, anyone else. Anyway, so there. And slamming his door. Anyway, it all went tremendously well. Why didn't you tell US allies in
- [12:35]
A
Europe and Asia, like Japan, about the
- [12:38]
B
war before attacking Iran? So we are very confused about Japanese citizens. Well, one thing you don't want to signal too much, you know, when we go in, we went in very hard and we didn't tell anybody about it because we wanted surprise. Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Okay. Why didn't you tell me about Pearl Harbor? Okay.
- [13:01]
A
Right.
- [13:03]
B
He's asking me, don't you believe in surprise? I think much more so than us mentioned at once, but I think I got away with it, etc. Tessa, how does. If you are the prime minister of Japan, do you even respond to that at the time? I mean, she didn't. She just sort of looked kind of mortified. I suppose she missed kind of a trick by not turning to him and saying, and how well did that work out for us?
- [13:27]
A
Yeah, exactly.
- [13:29]
B
But do you let this One go. Do you issue some sort of statement? Because that's, that's quite the thing, as diplomatic gaffes go. I mean, this, I mean, George H.W. bush is off the hook now. He only threw up on a Japanese prime minister. This is possibly worse.
- [13:45]
A
Yeah. But I think if you're sitting with Donald Trump, you know, since the famous meeting with Zelenskyy a year ago, I think nobody wants to kind of pick a fight or have a little exchange that is light banter or anything like that. Everything should be avoided at all costs. And that's what leaders to. And she's, you know, she's a new prime minister and she started very well with him when he visited her. And so maybe it is in her interest not to overreact to something that Donald Trump might have forgotten also tomorrow. You know, it's not a strategy that he's trying to incite people. It's just that he can't get his. He doesn't know what's funny, maybe. And so in her interest, it is certainly to keep her eyes on how she can keep the damage of this war for her own economy sort of limited, which is very difficult because we don't know how long this whole thing is going to take. But it was quite interesting that there was an Iranian diplomat that invited Japan that they could actually, if they don't support the American war, could go through the Strait of Hormuz with the ships that go to Japan. And it's, you know, there's this kind of funny diplomacy going on about who could pass, who could not pass. And of course, it's still in any case, too dangerous to pass because you don't know who can protect you if somebody else decides to bomb you. At the moment, everything is being blown up left, right and center. And so she has all these big questions to ponder before she goes, she leaves the Oval Office or she goes into the Oval Office. I think personal insights is something that people are so used by now that maybe she doesn't even care.
- [15:39]
C
She's also under a lot of pressure at home. She is also like a Japan first movement that garnered a few seats in the recent election. So she's. And they also ask her, what about Taiwan, what about China, what about nukes? So she has already, like, a lot of pressure. And this, the question for nukes is also because what about the American deterrent if the Americans turn away from us as our chief ally, key ally? So obviously, if she's alienating Trump or Trump gets too alienated by her, this is like Invigorating this question back home in Japan and also the whole debate about nuclear armament.
- [16:10]
B
I mean, she is, Alexander, fairly hawkish on Japanese defense. She is one of those broadly conservative Japanese politicians who does want to dispense with the hypocrisy about Japan having a self defense force rather than an actual conventional military. But at this moment, might she actually be quite glad of Article 9 of the Constitution? Like she now could be saying to President Trump, we'd love to send warships to come and help out in the Strait of Hormuz, but God, what do you know? Unfortunately, there's this constitution you guys wrote for us in the 1940s and we just can't help. Sorry about that.
- [16:48]
C
I mean, she would be well advised to do that, I feel. Also, however, when you look into what she just recently said about Taiwan, where she said it's our national interest that the Strait of Taiwan stays open, that's actually also true. But then she also said like, and we would also see that as a context of our own military intervention. So it would be self defense as well. So what I'm saying, the definition of this, what the constitution says can be bent wherever you want if the situation would be arising.
- [17:20]
B
Just finally on this one, Tessa, Japan, going back to what you were saying earlier, Japan imports 90% of its crude oil from the Middle East. So obviously what is happening in the Persian Gulf matters to Japan a great deal. The Nikkei index is down 6% in a month, 3.5% today. But is it, is it past time really for Japan and other developed nations to take the next step in the kind of transition we've seen from European countries and try to think how quickly can we detach from fossil fuels entirely?
- [17:52]
A
No, absolutely. And I'm astonished if you listen to the debate today, for example, at the European summit also people, the only answer they come up with instead of saying like, okay, the south of Italy full of sun, please put up solar panels and try to make up for this entire disaster that we have in the world of fossil fuel supply chains. No, they don't. They are discussing now how to finish all these rules that they put up in the last years too, for the net zero goals in 2040. This will be all postponed now. So the Austrian prime minister came up together with the Italian one with a plan today to ask the EU to change this agreements that were made. And I think it's really rather sad because of course this should be the time when people think about using more wind on Mozan. It's not entirely possible to have only that supply of renewables for an industry in our countries. But definitely don't even go in this direction of thinking like, okay, so Russia, impossible. Now the Middle east, very unlikely that this works. America, we don't know if he slashes like 30% tariffs just for fun. On the next that is being imported or exported from America. So the LNG supply from there is also not so secure. So instead of really going green, we are going bananas. And that's a real problem, I think.
- [19:21]
B
Well, to France now, which has at last put a name to the vessel hitherto unromantically known as Porte Avignon du Neuville generation or new generation aircraft carrier. It will be France Libre or Free France. An homage, it says here, to The World War II resistance movement government in exile led by General Charles de Gaul, later President, after whom the Marine National's present aircraft carrier is named. France Libre's name was unveiled by President Emmanuel Macron, who declared, to remain free, we must be feared. To be feared, we must be powerful. At least eventually. The 10 billion euro behemoth is not anticipated to set sail before 2038. Alexander, do you like the name? Is there something else you would have called it?
- [20:07]
C
Well, I feel like that you have this topic might rather attribute to the special relationship you on the island here might have with France. I think in Germany nobody would just be like giving it anything about the name. I don't know. I mean, it sounds interesting, makes sense. And we are in a geopolitical time where I guess democracy needs to make stands and Trump. Sorry. Macron has been never short of like big gestures. So maybe that's something that comes to mind when I think of this name.
- [20:34]
B
See, I was almost disappointed, Tessa, that they didn't go with. They could have furthered the cross channel tradition of affectionate bickering. There was a chance here, I thought, to like seek revenge for Waterloo Station here in London. They could have called it the Chesapeake or Beachy Head, or named it after some other French naval victory over the Royal Navy.
- [20:56]
A
But you see, I think Macron is only looking internally at having to fight the next the second round of the municipal elections on March 22.
- [21:07]
B
So last year you think he thought naming the aircraft carrier the France Libre will get us over the line for City hall in Marseille?
- [21:15]
A
I think that's what. And Nice, I mean, that's at stake, you know, if the far right wins City hall in Nice, that would be a big win for them. And. And Macron, of course, as you say, is very good at these big statements. And all this, but France libre. So vive la resistance. It's now about sort of the centrist president trying to fight the Nazis again, this time from inside the country. And I think that's why this speaks to everyone internally more than externally.
- [21:47]
B
I mean, is 10 billion euros, though, Alexander, a pretty big bet on aircraft carriers still being viable in 2038? I mean, war now in 2020 is unrecognizable from warfare at the beginning of this century.
- [22:02]
C
Absolutely. I mean, you absolutely asking the correct question. But just remember the deal of France that then did not become a deal because England and all the others got in and then the submarines were not sold to Australia. And so that's just two years ago. And you wonder, Taiwan has ordered, like, a whole array of new submarines. And I'm sure other countries, too. So, yes, I hear you. But then I don't know why they still invest in these sort of weaponry. But then you see in the Gulf now and the war in Iran, what we just discussed, they are still in use. So they bring these carriers to the war scene.
- [22:37]
B
But just to follow that up, because I did look up an interview I did a couple of years ago in an earlier stage of this boat being built, and it was with a former French vice admiral called Patrick Chevaliero. And one of the things he did talk about the logistics, he said, you don't need third country authorization to move your air power. If you have a carrier, you can just sail them anywhere. But he also said it demonstrates credibility. The knowledge, and I'm quoting him, the knowledge, political will and ability to build and deploy these capabilities. Is there still something to that, to be able to project that we are the kind of country that can build one of these?
- [23:12]
C
No, absolutely. Like, if you look at somebody like Pete Hexas, who cannot just do one pull up, but it's like, full of, like, pseudo masculinity. Obviously, the bigger the weapon, the better. And I guess they have not understood that the tiny ones, the cheaper ones, like the drones, they have actually, like, much more capacity of ending or deciding a war, if you so will. So, yeah, I clearly see that. That if you are in the industrial, military industrial complex or whatever to call it, obviously the bigger the volume, the more you make. So, like, these tiny, like, drones that like Iran and China and everybody can chip in and throw in, that's probably a threat to the business model.
- [23:47]
B
Well, to New York City now, which has seen many disputes down the years between its police force and occupants of city hall, but is now hosting what may very well be Its first such showdown over an exchange of snowballs. In February, New York's finest descended upon a gathering of unruly youth, pelting each other and passers by with snowballs in Washington Square Park. A charitable explanation for what ensued would be that the police were invited to participate. And this appears to be the attitude of the mayor, Zoram Mamdani. The cops have proved less amused. Two men have been charged, and the Police Benevolent association has thundered that all of our city leaders must speak up to condemn this despicable attack. Tessa, confession time. Have you ever thrown a snowball at a police officer?
- [24:35]
A
I have not. But I do think the night's young. The night is young, and if there's ever snow again, maybe try. But I think also, you know, I saw a quote of a Columbia, of course, Columbia law professor who said that the police in general are snowflakes, which I thought was quite funny in this context. And I think the whole political conflict between police and Mamdani, that is, and the police. The head of the police, the billionaire's daughter, Mrs. Tish, is of course, who he kept on as a chief of police. So there's a lot of. There's a lot of things that happen behind this exchange of words over the snowballs. And I think Mamdani has to be quite careful because I think he doesn't have a lot of credibility with law and order people in the city. And so I watched these videos with the snowballs flying on these police officers who could not really defend themselves. It was humiliating for them. And I think police officers don't like being humiliated by.
- [25:45]
B
I mean, who does? But, Alexander, could they not have scooped up a handful of snow and thrown it back?
- [25:51]
C
So, like, NYU's campus, if you so will, is Washington Square Park. That's, like, not legally true because it's a public park. But, like, lots of students are lingering there. Just a quick word to Washington Square Park. It has everything. Bankers, students, ret sellers, artists, homeless. So it's just a panopticon of crazy New York. I also saw the. Saw the videos, and I thought, like, at least the snippets I saw, it was kind of like not a situation anymore where the police officers could also have taken up, like, some snowball. Because I have also seen other footage where policemen do this, like, also, you know, So I feel like. But then again, like, you cannot really say who were all these people, what, like, triggered the situation. But they're totally right. Tess, what you say, like, Mamdani is under observation, if you so will by the groups that would not have necessarily be voting for him and the police being one of them and being there, seeing the bigger context in American politics or polity in regard to police violence, I think. But I agree it's snowflakey to just like not pick up your own snowball or just leave the scenery, as I feel like. To sue people now and bring them to court is like a little oversight.
- [27:02]
B
Well, I think we've sorted all that out. Tessa Shashkovitz and Alexander Gerlach, thank you both for joining us. Finally on today's show, our weekly letter from is from me from Goulburn, New South Wales, where I was recently ish. It is no disrespect to the new south Welsh city of Goulburn to suggest that there is is little reason to go there. It's a genuinely pleasant Australian country town, around 25,000 people, some handsome and venerable by Australian standards. Buildings, lovely wide streets and some decent places to eat, including the locally legendary Paragon Cafe, operated since 1940 by a succession of Greek families on Goulburn's main drag of Auburn Street. There is also housed in the old police station on Sloane street, the astonishing Argyll Emporium, a labyrinthine cavern complete with regular maps to assist the lost and bewildered of second hand books at prices which will prompt any visiting overseas bibliophile to anxious calculations regarding the baggage allowance on their flight home. But it's a long way from most of Australia to go go for a bag of cheap paperbacks. Goulburn is more or less halfway along the three to four hour drive between Sydney and Canberra, and most people who travel by car between those two cities think of Goulburn only as that place they stop on the outskirts of to buy a petrol station coffee and use the facilities before returning to the highway. There is, or pertinent to the point of this dispatch, was nothing you'd go out of your way to see. As such, Goulburn does have a prison, Australia's highest security such facility, but that doesn't do guided tours or have a gift shop. So circa the mid-1980s Goulburn's burghers resolved to erect an immense concrete ship cheap. The Big Merino, as it is formally known, was established first on the Hume highway when that ran through the town and moved in 2007 to beguile traffic on the bypass which has more recently run around Goulburn. Passing through or past Goulburn recently en route Sydney to Canberra, I swung by the Big Merino. It is as build big, a little over 15 metres tall and 18 metres long, it weighs apparently more than 100 tons. It also presides over a complex including a gift shop offering big Merino memorabilia and sundry Australiana. I buy a big Merino fridge magnet and a tea towel commemorating the exploits of the outlaw bushrangers Ben Hall, Captain Thunderbolt, Mad Dan Morgan, Morgan, among others who prowled the vicinity during a wilder era. And here's the thing. The afternoon I went, the joint was absolutely heaving. The queue at the gift shop cash register was comfortably in double figures. You could barely get into the little museum commemorating Australia's wool industry. There was another queue to climb inside the Big Merino, where steel stairs allow you behind the eye sockets to see Goulburn as the mighty ram does. Outside the statue, tourists waited their turn for pictures before returning to their cars and coaches. If you build it, they will come. And Goulburn is not the only Australian town to have figured this out. Dozens of conurbations all over Australia, especially those otherwise strapped for tourist attractions, have installed what have become gentle, generically known as big things. This has been going on since at least the 1960s, when Coffs Harbour built what might not have been quite the first big thing, but is the best known a 13 metre banana, which, along with select other big things, has since featured on Australian coins and stamps. I have in my time personally seen the Big Ben Bench in Broken Hill, the big Guitar in Tamworth, the Big Trout in Adaminaby, the Big Koala in Dadswell's Bridge, the Big Magpie in Euroa, the big Ned Kelly in Glenrowan and the big rolling pin in Wodonga. I have not visited, but would especially like to the big hammer in Mudgy, the big kookaburra in Kurri Curry, the big boxing crocodile in Humpty Doo, the biggest meat pie in Yatala and the big penguin in Penguin. There are many, many more. There is always something cheering about these fabulous follies. They are reminders of the transfixing allure of human whim, of what can result when someone acts on the thought. You know what this town needs? A bloody huge prawn that's in Ballina one day. And that is all for this edition of the Monocle Daily. Thanks to our panelists today, Tessa Shishkovitz and Alexander Gerlach. Today's show was produced by Carlotta Rebelo and researched by Anneliese Maynard. Our sound engineer was Steph Chongu. I'm Andrew Muller here in London. The Daily is back at the same time tomorrow. Thanks for listening.
- [32:39]
A
Ra.