← The Monocle Daily
The Monocle Daily
The Munich Security Conference begins. Plus: week one of the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina
00:39:19
Loading summary
Transcript78 lines
- [00:00]
A
You're listening to the Monocle Daily, first broadcast on 13th February, 2026 on Monocle Radio. Germany warns Washington that the US is not enough to go it alone. We head to Milan as the Winter Olympics hit the halfway point and how the Ukrainians have shown the world how to do it when it comes to waging war. I'm Emma Nelson, and the Monocle Daily starts. Foreign. Welcome to the Monocle Daily, coming to you from our studios here at Midori House in London. I'm Emma Nelson and my guests, Carlotta Rebelo coming to me from the Munich Security Conference, Tom Webb in Milan and Julia Jen holding the fort here with me at Midori House. We'll be talking about the day's biggest stories. Plus Andrew Muller's what We Learned is on the way, too. That's all coming up right here on the Monocle Daily. Now, a year ago, the United States made its first swing of the wrecking ball at the global world order in Munich. The US Vice President, J.D. vance told the Munich Security Conference that America's European allies were destroying themselves with immigration and stopping the far right from gaining power. Well, a year later, things are no calmer. But what are they talking about in Munich this. Well, Carlota Rebella is Monocle's senior foreign correspondent. She's in Munich now. Good afternoon, Carlotta. Good evening, I should say.
- [01:39]
B
Hi, Emma.
- [01:40]
A
So it's just gone 7pm where you are. What kind of day have we all had?
- [01:44]
B
It's been a long day so far. And if there's one thing that is certain at the Munich Security Conference is that this is just the beginning. Just right now, France's President Emmanuel Macron has stepped on stage for perhaps what has been one of the most anticipated speeches of, of the day in terms of a world leader on his own and not as part of a panel. Of course, this is following the opening panel from Germany's own Friedrich Merz. But all eyes now for the next 20 minutes at least, will be on Macron.
- [02:14]
A
Okay, so while we're looking ahead to what Emmanuel Macron will say, in conclusion, what has the mood been like today? Because we are now at one of the key events when it comes to security, when 50 global leaders gather together and everybody is looking back to what happened this time last year when J.D. vance delivered that speech. Is there a sense that people are moving together or is there a sense that people are still in shock?
- [02:44]
B
I think shock is no longer, you know, the most dominant feeling. And if there's one thing I can tell you from at Least the media and the journalist perspective is that it so far seems much calmer than last year. But, for example, one of the panels this morning, morning was on this idea of the international order between reform and destruction. And there was a lot of conversation about rewriting the transatlantic alliance, rewriting the relationship. And what kept emerging time and time again is this idea that Europe expects the US at some point to come back to the table. There was another session where Alexander Stubb, the Finnish president, was speaking, and he was really going on this message about Europe needing to bring its own defense industry together for its own sake. But we're not going to see a future where Europe is decoupling from the United States because we need each other. And this idea of the longstanding alliance, the transatlantic partnership, he said, has worked before, so that there's no reason why it won't work in the future. But I quote, he said we need to be cool, calm and collected. So really highlighting the benefits between that decoupling only really benefits the adversaries, the common adversaries between the United States and the European Union.
- [04:08]
A
And indeed, I mean, we had Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, saying, in the era of great power rivalry, even the US Will not be powerful to go alone. That's a very brave statement, isn't it? What have the panelists been talking about in terms of how you build alliances in the future?
- [04:25]
B
Well, there is this hope, of course, that by having dialogue, the bridge building is a bit easier. But one speaker that has really stood out so far, and he wasn't necessarily on a panel about geopolitics, he was speaking about climate action. But of course, inevitably, anything that's related to the US Comes back to this notion of the future relationship. And it was the California governor, Gavin Newsom, he literally said, donald Trump is doubling down on stupid. He is trying to recreate the 19th century. So there is no mincing of words there. And we know exactly where he stands now when it comes to climate. Of course, he was talking, talking about the last edition of the United Nations COP conference, where the US did not officially send a delegation. And that only benefits nations like China, for example, who are asserting their dominance in those discussions. But, you know, this idea that the US Is becoming a footnote on the global stage on anything else that is beyond defense was a message that kept coming up again and again. And when we talk about bridge building and, you know, the possibility of dialogue, it's important to talk about other aspects that is not just about, you know, weapons and military and defense in the most literal sense.
- [05:42]
A
And indeed, when we have these events coinciding with Donald Trump reversing the scientific ruling that determines that greenhouse gases pose a threat to public health, the concept of security, as you say, broadens.
- [05:56]
B
Absolutely. And, you know, Gavin Newsom was very quick to remind people that, you know, the state that he represents, California in the US has always been a leader in climate action. And in fact, that was started by Ronald Reagan, you know, a Republican, and then followed by Richard Nixon. So, you know, it's not anymore a conversation about, you know, Democrats versus Republicans, but something really about this administration. He also said that we need to remember that Donald Trump is temporary. This is how he put it. Donald Trump is temporary. This administration is temporary. And what the world this was his message to the Munich Security Conference. The world needs to remember is that once these three years are over, the United States will be there back and ready to engage. So that at least left the room a bit hopeful in thinking about, as you were just saying, Emma, the idea of what the future relationship might look like.
- [06:45]
A
And tell us a little bit more about what Monocle has been up to. We hosted an event last night, didn't we?
- [06:50]
B
Yes, absolutely. We hosted an event in partnership with Hitachi Energy. And this is really actually to dive into this notion of bringing people from different sectors together and encouraging dialogue. Now, it was an evening moderated by our editor, Josh Fennett, and our contributing editor, Andrew Muller, and myself, a series of discussions where we brought together people from from academia, from sports, from the FC Bayern Munich women's team, and also, of course, from the private sector with Hitachi Energy and talking about how to drive innovation in all aspects. You need to bring people from different backgrounds, different experiences together to the table. And how at the Munich Security Conference, this is the perfect backdrop to have some of these other conversations that not necessarily involve the national security of a country, but actually lead to innovation and development and investment in other sections such as science, such as technology and beyond, and sports and arts as well. So we moderated that event and then there was a lovely cocktail reception. And I will encourage listeners to tune into the Forum desk. There will be a special edition coming out from that event in a few weeks. And of course, that can be found@monacle.com.
- [08:11]
A
Carol Rebell, Monocle Senior Foreign Correspondent, thank you so much for joining me on the line from the Munich Security Conference. And we wish you all going to listen to Emmanuel Macron's speech. You're listening to the Daily.
- [08:31]
B
Now.
- [08:31]
A
Listening to all that was Julia Jenn, Monocle's Researcher and writer. Hello, Julie. Julie, good to have you in the studio with us.
- [08:37]
C
Good evening.
- [08:38]
A
So we have Carlotta in Munich listening to basically the world trying to pull itself together. And having experienced the shock of J.D. vance last year, we listened to Carlotta saying, people, it is karma this time, but is there a sense that actually the world is pulling itself together, that speed is now of the essence and that, you know, when you have Friedrich Merz saying, in the era of great power rivalry, even the US Will not be powerful enough to go it alone, that that is a RA cry that will actually lead to something rather than just more words.
- [09:10]
C
Yeah, I think that. I'm not a believer really in that, you know, that kind of slogan that the US Is not powerful enough to go alone. I don't know if that really is going to appeal to the Americans. We saw with Elbridge Colby's visit to Europe, kind of the pivot, you know, that America is really going to focus on their sort of side of the world, and they're really going to leave Europe now to deal with its own problems in its own backyard. But there was a sense of real confidence, and I think this is a piece of messaging that's really been picked up. It kind of started with the Ukrainians and then moved on to the Baltic states and Poland, and now finally is being repeated in Western capitals. Friedrich Merch talked about the fact that Europe is a great economic power. Its GDP is 10 times that of Russia's. And so it's time for Europe to act like that. And if we look at Europe's dealings with the rest of the world, actually, there's so much power there in terms of exports and imports, so much power to disrupt economically, even with the US for example. And I was talking to the chairman of Estonia's Foreign Affairs Committee yesterday before he went to the Munich Security Conference, and he really was repeating that and saying how important is for that message to really sink in in Western capitals, for Europe to understand its power and to use it.
- [10:29]
A
There is also the sort of the higher moral structure, the ethics, the values that pull the likes of Europe together, which over the last few months seem to have been. They look as if they've just been reduced to splinters by sheer brute power and transactional thinking. But when you have the likes of Max Matt's talking about trust among allies, partners and friends making NATO strong. And then when you have, you know, the likes of. We keep endlessly going back to Mark Carney's speech in Davos, but he is talking about bringing people together In a positive way. Arguably, in a way this is, you know, reflects post 1945, when people, you know, just meant never again we will actually build a group of nations on values. Is there a sense that, you know, when it comes to Ukraine, your home country, that this will push people enough to actually do something?
- [11:22]
C
I think there's, and this is what Monocle really focuses on is quality of life. And I think quality of life is really at the center of all of this. If you look over to the U.S. now, Europeans have been aghast at what's happening in America. The quality of life there, you know, in terms of the ability to protest, in terms of the ability to feel free when you walk out onto the streets. There's freedom of fear, freedom from fear. And there are all these myths that are spun about London, for example, where we're talking from, about this kind of crime ridden capital. But it's not, it's great when you walk out. It's fantastic, the diversity of life here. And I think perhaps there's a solidarity in that sense. There's a quality of life that is really unattainable in other places when you have more aggressive leaders. And I mean, if we look at Russia, for example, the kind of fall in quality of life there, the fall in the diversity of just, you know, simple things that you can do as an ordinary citizen. And I think that's what the colonel is here. It's the ability to live an ordinary life where you have freedom of choice and a freedom of expression.
- [12:19]
A
And that makes me think a little bit about what Carlotta said when she was in Munich. The idea of the, the Munich Security Conference, not just being about hard power, that absolute necessity to bring, and I'm quoting here, different backgrounds, different experiencing in different experiences, sorry, not just national security, but science, tech, Hitachi, energy. When you get different brains from different walks of life and you bring them together, then the problem, problem solving seems rather more collegiate and dare I say it, more effective.
- [12:46]
C
Yeah, absolutely. And there are so many great creative solutions that come out of these moments of crisis. I mean, we're looking now in Europe at a great transformational plan in terms of transport. I mean, of course there are some critics that say the transport plan has to be much braver and bolder. We're talking about railways, we're talking about cargo trains, motorways, new airports, new sort of transit points. That's all something that will greatly increase mobility for ordinary people across Europe and you know, ordina exports and imports between different countries and movement of goods and produce and great for business. So I think absolutely, you know, security really brings in absolutely everything and the ability to make things for yourself and your own citizens on your own home soil.
- [13:27]
A
Let's move on to an astonishing tale of how the Ukrainians have shown everybody else how to do it. When we, you were talking about new brains and collaboration and effectively taking the learning that you've got from one challenge and showing everybody else how to do it. So Ukraine and NATO had a war game in estonia called Hedgehog 2025 and it involved 16,000 troops from 12 NATO countries. There were some Ukrainian drone specialists on the ground and they took on two battalions, 10 people took on two battalions from NATO, which up to about 2,000 people on a big day. And they absolutely brought them to their knees. Within a day these two NATO battalions had been wiped out. Ukraine was showing us all how to do it.
- [14:17]
C
I think this hopefully will be the year that really proves that this is something we've been talking about since 2023. That was really the year that Ukraine started to get its groove in terms of drone production, drone technology. Then the Ukrainians were trying to convince the outside world, you know, we really have prowess in this area. And earlier this year, in the very first few days of 2026, Zelensky, President Zelensky of Ukraine said that we are going to be opening these battle tested defence tech kind of export centers within Europe. You know, we have the very first drone coming off a joint Ukrainian German production line within Germany. And then I think this article really underpins this whole idea that Ukraine has developed using as few soldiers as using a really sort of slick communication style. So this is using their battlefield management system called Delta, where basically information, real time information is used between different units and command and strikes are coordinated where they're needed most and where they'll be most effective. And this can be done in a matter of seconds. So you know, using things like AI, using that sort of cutting edge technology. And so this was used by these 10 Ukrainians far back from danger, which is the way sort of things operate now on the front line there's that kind of no man zone has really expanded. That gray zone has expanded from the days of the Second World War. And they use this to kind of basically take on these NATO soldiers who, you know, innocent them, they were sort of walking in, assuming that they were sort of camouflaged, their tanks were camouflaged, they were sort of setting up their different points and then you know, in the simulated battlefield situation they were totally destroyed. And the lesson really here for NATO as the article makes clear, is the battlefield is transparent. You can see everything that is going on at absolutely any moment. There are sort of funny images of Russians, for example, coating their tanks and coating their kind of cars in twigs, so it looks as if they're moving trees. But even that really isn't enough to deter, you know, to kind of avert eyes from them, to camouflage them. And it's about the cooperation on the battlefield. So allowing information that normally is, you know, classified and is not shared with lower down, for example, drone pilots, allowing that to really quickly move through. And that's a very important lesson for NATO from those kind of.
- [16:53]
A
Indeed, the Ukrainians showed that very, very quickly with the inexperienced military personnel at the start of the war, just realising that actually rank and rank and hierarchy weren't helping to win the war. Let's stay with the Ukrainian theme. But we do need to talk, Julia, about skeleton racer in the Winter Olympics. We'll be crossing to Milan in a second to catch up with Tom Webb, our deputy head of radio. And he's camped out in Milan for the last couple of days. He'll be there for another week. But just tell us about this incredibly sad story about how you. There are some areas of the world where you really cannot bring the outside conflict in.
- [17:37]
C
Yes. So this is the skeleton racer, Vladislav Heraskevich, and he was on course win a gold medal for Ukraine in his sort of competition. And he came to Milan with this helmet. He's kind of known as the helmet man now. And on his helmet he had images of all the Ukrainian athletes that he would have been training alongside who would have been on his national team. And they have sadly been killed in the war as a result of Russia's actions. So there was a 14 year old weightlifter girl who was killed in the shelling of Mariupol right at the very beginning of the war. And then we have kind of football players, we have, you know, and so he was drawing attention very subtly just through these images. He wasn't actually saying it out loud because of course that would have gone against the political messaging. He was using that to then allow people to basically find out about the fact that Russia has been actively targeting sports sites, athletic training grounds, even deaf Olympic sites. So these are sites specifically for disabled Paralympians, really, and drawing attention to that, but just through a very simple symbol through that helmet that he would put on. And he drew attention to the fact that, you know, other Winter Olympians have been drawing attention to their sort of, you know, relatives of Theirs, for example, who've passed away, or someone who they want to remember. And he, unfortunately, has been disqualified. He lost his appeal. But I think this moment. There has been a lot of tension in Ukraine internally, domestically, but this has been a real moment of solidarity among all Ukrainians. We even had Zelensky posting about the skeleton racer. I don't think the skeleton racer ever imagined he'd end up on the President's Instagram feed, but we've even had him posting about this, supporting the skeleton racer in his decision.
- [19:29]
A
Let us head to Milan, where Monocle's deputy head of radio has been putting together a series, two weeks of programmes from Italy's second city as part of the Winter Olympics. Tom, how are you? Where are you?
- [19:43]
D
Good evening, Emma. Very, very well, actually. Very, very upbeat. There's been a lot of talk about Milan not having the Olympic vibe, but actually standing right now in front of the Duomo on a Friday night, the vibe is here, the atmosphere is electric. I think it's because the hockey started, because all of the hockey fans are here and they're pretty rowdy. And actually, we like a little bit of that. The Giovo is lit up. It's a spectacular evening. The clouds have lifted, there's a lot of noise.
- [20:12]
A
You have friends.
- [20:14]
D
We're surrounded by friends. Everyone's very friendly. The Italians are fantastic hosts. And I'm not just saying that because they're hosting me for two weeks. So friendly, so, so enjoyable. And they were so proud of the opening ceremony. They're so proud of what they've achieved as hosts out here.
- [20:31]
A
How lovely.
- [20:32]
D
It really has been smooth.
- [20:33]
A
Some. Some enjoyable Italians. What's there not to love about a trip to Milan? Can we just touch briefly, if that's possible, that. That. We've got Julia Jenn in the studio with us and she's talking about this skeleton racer who's been asked to leave the Olympics because of his wearing this helmet. How much does that actually touch the news? And the narratives were. You are.
- [20:54]
D
It's a very interesting question and I have to say, if you're not following the news very closely, you would have missed the protest, you would have missed the ice protests, you would have missed the anti Olympic protest. There's not a lot of coverage and it's largely because the big brands have taken over here in Milan. You've got Coca Cola, you've got Airbnb, you've got Alianza, who are our hosts. And these brands want to be aligned with Olympic values, with. Which is peace, which is fun, which is Just not to talk about war and bad things for two weeks. So you don't really feel it, you don't see it.
- [21:30]
A
Julia, what's your reaction to that, given the fact that this is obviously an enormously important moment for the. For this Ukrainian athlete?
- [21:37]
C
I mean, I think it makes sense. There is so much going on. We've seen so much drama at the Winter Olympics, as I'm sure Tom has been keenly following, you know, from that shocking admission of cheating on whatever, as we had from the Norwegian competitor and so on. So it makes sense. But of course, you know, I think it's been making headlines beyond the kind of Olympic bubble. Right.
- [21:59]
A
Tom, you mentioned Allianz. They are our partners in Milan this week. And next week you've been up on the 47th floor of Allianz Towers in the Winter Sky Lounge with Monocle in Milan. How have you coped? It sounds very difficult indeed.
- [22:15]
D
Do you know there's a roaring fire up there as well. It's so lovely. There's sheepskin on all the sofas, there's Italian coffee, there's Panettone and there's views of the mountains. You get the sunrise, you get the sunset. How have we coped? We've had the world's leading experts in design, in sports and luxury and hospitality coming through our doors. I've met my heroes, I've done amazing interviews. I mean, you can be part of it by listening to Monocle in Milan. But I really have to say, it has just been an absolute joy to work on. I mean, even today we had the Finnish snowboarding team, she was straight down the mountains talking about Finnish soft power. We had Maria Poirot, the president of Salone, looking ahead to Design Week. And we had Edward Barber, who designed what I have to say is my favorite Olympic torch, London at 2012. And we have Carlo Ratti on Monday, who was the designer of this torch.
- [23:08]
A
Brilliant. Brilliant. And we have a whole week. And you do it all again next week, but this time with Andrew Muller.
- [23:14]
D
We're doing it all again. We're saying goodbye to Ed Stocker, who's off to the mountains for his own holiday. We'll be saying hello to Andrew Muller, who will have his own take on the Games. He is a big Winter Olympics nut. He's got all the facts, all the figures, and we do have some Winter Olympians coming his way. So starting head another week on Monday, 10 18.
- [23:36]
A
I can vouch for the fact that Andrew Mueller actually does send me footage of ice skating for fun. Tom, we're Going to leave you there for a moment. I'm going to let you go and join your noisy honking friends. And then we're going to listen to something that Ed did a little bit earlier today. Ed is Monocles at Europe, editor at large. He was joined by Noel Salmi, who's a travel and culture writer, an extreme sports fan and a regular Monocle Radio voice. And they're finding out what's going on in the mountains of Cortina. And they were joined by Anuka Himmel Vasone, who the executive director of the Finnish Snowboard association. To go through the Nordic nation's ambitions for this year's Games.
- [24:13]
E
We're going to try something a little bit complicated today, a three way conversation. We have Noel Salmi, travel and culture writer, an extreme sports fan, joining us on the line and here in the studio is Anuka Himi Vasone, executive director of the Finnish Snowboard Association. I'm going to throw to Noel in a second but I'm going to ask a quick question, seeing as you're here right in front of me. Anuka, just tell me, I want to zoom out before we talk about snowboarding, probably with Noel in more detail. But tell us, how is the Games going for Finland so far? I think there was a target of six medals. You've got one so far. Assess the first week at the Winter.
- [24:55]
F
Olympics it's been interesting. So yeah, we had five, six medals in total that we were supposed to to get. We got one bronze and we've had really close almost podiums like Britain. Yeah, exactly. So yeah, it's been good. I think it's been a learning process for everyone and we'll see what this week brings for us.
- [25:18]
G
Okay.
- [25:19]
F
Excited for it?
- [25:19]
E
We shall wait with bated breath. I'm going to hand over to Noel, who's much more of a sports expert than me, to ask some questions. Noel, are you you there?
- [25:27]
H
Yes, good morning and thanks for chatting with me again. I had a nice chat yesterday with Evelina Taka who is one of the snowboarders here for Finland and we also have. I know Renekangas and I am wondering if you can tell me what your expectations are in the next upcoming events that they are going to be in and what you're hoping for these snowboarders to achieve.
- [25:55]
F
Yeah. So Evelina and Rene both are the. One of the best riders from Finland and Rene being the riders. Riders. Rider I think. And we have the slopestyle coming up and we're hoping to get the best possible performances that they will be happy with their runs, that they will do their best and anything is possible basically in podium wise. So if they do good we can even have a gold medal. And I hope they do something that they are really happy with to leave living. So yeah, that's what I'm hoping for them.
- [26:34]
H
Yeah, that's great. I mean I know that Renee has some golds from the X game so maybe he will pull it out for Finland at this event. And tell me, can you tell me a little bit about how the Finnish Snowboarding association supports the snowboarding athletes?
- [26:51]
F
Yeah, so we support, we basically the governing body, the governing national body for dedicated solely to the development and success of snowboarding in Finland. So we are a little bit different from the other sports federations in Finland because for us it's not just only high performance but it's also the culture of snowboarding which is really, really important. So that means that we are developing everything from the crossroad levels, from the events clubs, Suami cup which is the Finnish national tour, Finnish national championships. We have, we've been having also para European Cups, World cups in Finland and and then the other part is the high, high performance sports. So all the team Finlands performance in the international level and then we also cooperate with FIS and WSF which I'm actually sitting on the board of directors. So it's a world Snowboard federation. So we basically do everything from A to Z. Anything that touches snowboarding we involved and also we work in cooperation with government Olympic committee, Olympic training centers in Finland and also with the other other sports associations in Finland. So it touches basically everything. But culture is very important and all the values are very important for us too. So not just only high performance and that's great.
- [28:28]
H
And have you seen a lot of interest in young people in snowboarding? Tell me why you think Finland is kind of an ideal place for young people to take up snowboarding and where do they do it?
- [28:42]
F
So we have really long winters. Winters are starting basically in north in early October and going until I would say even mid May. So it's a sport that you can do a lot like all basically like almost all year round. And there's been a huge development in snowboarding in the past years. Finnish cup has been raising their participants for like 25, 30% each year. So it means that there is really a demand for this kind of sports because it's creative and it's very, I would say it's, it's using your whole body in a different way. So this is extremely good for getting Kids out of the, out of the school and not just only doing like typical sports.
- [29:37]
A
So.
- [29:38]
H
And I know that you're a snowboarder yourself, so how did you start snowboarding in Finland? And, and are these your first games that you are here with FSA at and how's the experience been?
- [29:50]
F
So, yeah, first Olympics in this role with fsa, and I'm also a snowboarder. I used to compete in the World cup level for five years, and I started snowboarding basically when I was 14. I. I got a board for Christmas from my dad, and since then it's been my passion for my whole life. So, yeah, it's been great to actually have this kind of the circle coming, closing in that sense that starting as a little snowboarder and doing this job now at my age. So this has been great. And the Olympics are always special, special, special event for us.
- [30:31]
E
I think I'll come in with a last question. You know, you said the Olympics were a special occasion to be at. I mean, an amazing atmosphere. You've been traveling around. You've obviously been in the mountains. You're here in the city of Milan talking to us live on the radio today. No easy task, but, yeah, tell us what, how you found it. I'm kind of taking a bit of a pulse on the game, seeing as we're a week into. We've got one more week to go. How's your experience been? It's often amazing just to have all these crowds from all over the world. How's it been mixing with the international visitors here to see all the amazing sports in action?
- [31:08]
F
The atmosphere has been great. Living now has been a little bit quiet. I think in that sense that because the Olympics is a very special event. So it's been great to see all the different teams seeing how they function. And in overall, it's been a very interesting experience.
- [31:30]
A
And that was Anuka Himi Vasaneh, who's the executive director of the Finnish Snowboard Association. She was talking to Noel Salmi, travel and culture writer, extreme sports fan and regular Monocle Radio voicer, and Ed Stocker, our Europe editor at large, who's been manning the fort in Milan for Monocle in Milan for the last few days. You're listening to the Monocle Daily with me, Emma Nelson. The time here in London is just nudging 1832. It's Friday. Let's have what we learned. Here's Andrew Muller.
- [32:01]
G
We learned this week of unhappy tidings for supporters of the 7 National Hockey League teams based in Canada. That's the goal song adopted by the Calgary Flames in the background. That is TNT by acdc. Just impeccable taste the Calgary Flames. Big hello to all our listeners in Calgary. Hello. We learned, however, that fans of the Calgary Flames and of the NHL teams in six other Canadian jurisdictions may shortly have to find some other means of whiling away the long winter evenings. For we learned that the People's Republic of China is planning to somehow unclaim clear on the details as of this recording, abolish ice hockey in Canada. And along with it, again, not sure how this is going to work exactly, do away with the Stanley cup. So also leaving the remaining American NHL teams with nothing to play for. And we learned this from oh no. Oh yes. We learned that in the course of a characteristically coherent social media post about a bridge or whatever, US President Donald Trump had relayed China's alleged threat to abolish hockey. Which we learned when we went into it a bit, was actually an update of a previous meditation on this subject. Specifically, I know China very well.
- [33:32]
D
I know President Xi is a friend of mine.
- [33:34]
G
I know him very well.
- [33:35]
D
But that's a big hurdle to go over. When you get Canada, the first thing they're going to do is say you're not allowed to play as hockey anymore. That's not good.
- [33:43]
G
So. So we learned basically that if any Canadian NHL team does want to break that 33 year Stanley cup drought north of the border, they'd better get their skates on. Is that anything but? We learned that even red, white and blue blooded all American winter athletes were not safe, especially if they insisted on actually exercising those First Amendment freedoms that seething Trumpists are for ever loudly defending. We learned this from the response to US Freestyle skier Hunter Hess, who was one of several American competitors at the ongoing Winter Olympics in Milan and vicinity expressing ambivalence about the flag on their jacket in what we shall refer to as the circumstances.
- [34:27]
E
It brings up mixed emotions to represent.
- [34:29]
D
The US Right now.
- [34:30]
E
I think it's a little hard.
- [34:32]
G
There's obviously a lot going on that.
- [34:34]
A
Not the biggest fan of, and I.
- [34:36]
D
Think a lot of people aren't. Just because I'm wearing the flag doesn't mean I represent everything that's going on.
- [34:40]
G
In the US and we learned that we would not need to wait long to hear from the circumstances.
- [34:47]
C
The President also called Hess, quote, a real loser and said it's, quote, very.
- [34:52]
A
Hard to root for someone like this.
- [34:54]
G
Quite right. And we can surely all agree that expressing discomfort with the spectacle of masked goons employed by the state shooting citizens dead in the street is a much worse portrayal of your own country on the international stage than to pluck a completely random example out of thin air, publicly taking the word of the president of Russia over that of your own country's intelligence services. But we learned that the fifth column of woke subversive communists destroying America from within were really kicking it up a note. We learned that this, I. E. Bad Bunny's halftime show at the super bowl, which might well have given every appearance of being a witty, joyous and inclusive celebration of Puerto Rico, which could surely be enjoyed as a spectacle even by those who find Bad Bunny's actual music, if we're honest, somewhat earache ind. All right, all right was in fact not that, but basically the first shots of the Puerto Rican American War of 2026. And we learned this from Fox News yelper and man of whom it is hard to know whether it would be worse if he believed any of this horseshit or didn't Jesse Waters. Especially when it feels like the NFL is just using it as a marketing ploy to recruit Latin American audience on the heels of Latin America invading this country. 20 million pouring in and that's what you see. You see all these foreigners speaking a foreign language with foreign flags marching into the camera like a caravan too soon. Who, we learned, was righteously aghast at any suggestion whatsoever of Hispanic influence manifesting in a game played in Santa Clara, which is not far from San Francisco. But we learned that Watters was not the only American conservative absolutely morbidly determined that Bad Bunny's performance was basically Pearl harbor, but with people dressed as trees instead of flying torpedo bombers. We learned that several Republican Congress folk, among them Mark alford of Missouri's 4th district, believed that the matter required urgent investigation. We have a lot of questions for the entities that broadcast this and we'll be talking with Brendan Carr from the SEC about this. But this could be much worse than the Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction, let's put it that way. To underpin the gravity of this situation, we repeat, much worse than the Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction. Well, quite. And we learned that one of Congressman Alford's colleagues, the amusingly named Andy Ogles of the Tennessee 5th, believed matters may be even more serious than much worse than the Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction. We learned this from a letter he sent, an excerpt of which will now be intoned with due solemnity by Monocle's sanity and normality, desk chief Fernando Augusto Pacheco.
- [38:07]
B
Children were forced to endure explicit displays.
- [38:10]
G
Of gay sexual acts, women gyrating provocatively and Bad Bunny shamelessly grabbing his crotch while dry humping the air.
- [38:19]
B
And if that weren't outrageous enough, the performance's lyrics openly glorified sodomy and countless other unspeakable depravity.
- [38:28]
G
It would, of course, be even, even, even more serious if any of this was true. For Monocle Radio, I'm Andrew Muller.
- [38:41]
A
Thank you, Andrew, and if you enjoyed that, a fresh installment of what We Learned airs every Friday on the Globalist right here on Monocle Radio. That's all the time we have for today's program. The warmest of thanks to all my guests Tom Webb and Carla Tirabello and Julia Jenn, and to the producer Monica Lillis and researcher Marianne Bavan. Our sound engineer was Elliot Greenfield with editing assistance by Mariella. I'm Emma Nelson here in London. The Monocle Daily's back at the same time on Monday. But for now from me, goodbye. Thanks for listening. Have a great weekend.