0:00

You're listening to The Globalist, first broadcast on

0:02

the 8th of April, 2024 on Monocle Radio.

0:07

The Globalist, in association with

0:09

UBS. It's

0:11

1500 in Seoul, 9am in

0:13

Gaza, 8am here at Duforstrasse

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90 in Zurich and 2am

0:17

in Baltimore. You're listening to

0:19

Monocle Radio. The Globalist starts

0:21

now. Live

0:43

from Duforstrasse 90 in Zurich, this is

0:45

The Globalist of me, Emma Nelson, a

0:47

very warm welcome to today's programme. Coming

0:49

up. Here's the current

0:51

reality in Gaza. Despite

0:54

important steps that Israel has taken to allow

0:56

assistance into Gaza, the results

0:58

on the ground are woefully insufficient

1:01

and unacceptable. Six months

1:03

on from the start of the

1:06

Israel-Hamas War, we examined the new

1:08

nature of conflict, regional, unpredictable and

1:10

testing the limits of long-standing allies.

1:13

Also coming up, Russia makes moves

1:15

to overrun Ukrainian defences before more

1:17

Western aid arrives. We'll have the

1:19

latest on a weekend of fierce

1:21

resistance to Moscow's offensive. We'll

1:24

ask whether China will use artificial intelligence

1:26

to disrupt elections in the EU-S and

1:29

we'll take a look inside one world's

1:31

first dedicated lounge in Europe. I

1:34

believe that the kind of classic thing

1:36

that an airport lounge wants to have

1:38

is of course the tarmac view and

1:40

the contact with the

1:42

nostalgia of flying and going somewhere

1:44

else, right? And we

1:46

have not only one but two paper reviews

1:49

today, one from Midori House in London and

1:51

one here in Zurich. That's all ahead on

1:53

The Globalist live from Zurich. Just

2:04

a quick look at what else is happening in

2:06

today's news. Iraq says it will send 10 million

2:08

litres of fuel to the Gaza

2:11

Strip to aid Palestinians. The head

2:13

of the IAEA has condemned a

2:15

drone strike on the Russian-controlled Zaporizha

2:17

power plant in Ukraine. And

2:20

for the first time, French soldiers will

2:22

conduct a changing of the guard outside

2:24

Buckingham Palace in London today, with British

2:26

soldiers doing the same duties in Paris.

2:28

The move is part of a celebration

2:31

of 120 years since the signing

2:33

of the Entente Cordiale. Stay

2:35

tuned to Monocle Radio throughout the

2:37

day for more on these stories.

2:39

But first, six months ago, days

2:41

after Hamas launched its brutal attacks

2:43

on Israel, Israel's staunchest allies leapt to

2:46

offer their support. The US and

2:48

UK were some of the most vocal

2:50

as the retaliatory strikes were launched

2:52

against Hamas in Gaza. But six months

2:54

on, Israel's allies are beginning to

2:56

ask serious questions about the way

2:58

the country is waging its war, with

3:01

more than 31,000 people killed in

3:03

Gaza and huge sections of the

3:05

population starving. Well, to tell us more,

3:07

I'm joined now by Nick Gowing, who's

3:09

distinguished fellow at the Royal United Services

3:11

Institute in London. A very good morning to you,

3:13

Nick. Good morning, Emma. Let's

3:16

just begin with the news that's broken in the last

3:18

24 hours. The idea that

3:20

the reporting of Israel

3:22

pulling back a lot of its troops

3:24

from Gaza from the

3:26

south of the Strip and now Palestinians

3:29

going back to Haniness to what effectively

3:31

is a city in ruins. What more can you

3:33

tell us? Well, I

3:35

can't tell you much more apart from the fact that this

3:37

has been announced, but I think there's something even

3:39

more broad than just withdrawing

3:43

from the south of Gaza. When

3:46

you look at what Iran is now threatening

3:48

against Israel following the attack on the embassy

3:52

in Damascus, when a number

3:54

of the Revolutionary Guards were killed, they

3:56

have warned that there will be an

3:58

attack on Israel. And my

4:01

suspicion is that there's a reconfiguration

4:03

of the Israeli forces going on,

4:05

which is to reinforce the northern

4:07

command up on the border with

4:09

Lebanon because of what Hezbollah

4:11

might be threatening to do. Remember

4:14

as well that Iran has over the

4:16

weekend has warned that it will attack

4:19

Israeli diplomatic interests around the

4:21

world. My suspicion is

4:23

at this moment that actually there's

4:25

a reconfiguration and an assessment going

4:28

on of do we have enough

4:30

forces to resist both Hamas in

4:32

Gaza and continue our operation there

4:34

and also to act in the

4:36

north of the country along the

4:39

border with Lebanon. And

4:41

there are limits to what the Israeli

4:43

forces have at their disposal because last

4:46

week they cancelled all leave for

4:48

the reservists. And

4:50

this is borne out by the fact

4:52

that Israel's military has said that it

4:54

is prepared for any Iranian threat. And

4:58

an Iranian official, as you mentioned, said

5:01

over the weekend that Israel's embassies are no

5:03

longer safe. I mean, before we even start

5:05

to talk about what's happening in Gaza, you've

5:08

introduced the idea that this could

5:11

be a war that people

5:13

have been dreading, which is that it starts

5:15

to spill over regionally into areas which are

5:18

rather uncontrollable. Well,

5:20

it becomes a multi-front war. I

5:23

mean, Israel will have calculated on

5:25

this. But on the other hand,

5:27

having taken the action against a

5:29

diplomatic establishment in

5:31

Damascus and violated the

5:34

laws there, Iran is now considering

5:36

very clearly what kind of action

5:38

it can take. But if you

5:41

listen to those who are analyzing

5:43

Iran, including Iranians out of Tehran,

5:45

there is certainly a feeling

5:47

of Iran will not want to go too

5:49

far. But that was based

5:52

on the assumption of there being a

5:54

kind of understanding between Hezbollah and Israel,

5:56

even if they do have 150,000 million.

6:00

missiles in Lebanon. But this

6:02

is now escalated into something far

6:04

more sinister, potentially, and

6:08

Iran not wanting to go too far, even

6:10

though they want retaliation for what happened in

6:12

Damascus last week. Let's

6:15

focus on Gaza itself

6:17

and the events of the last six months. I

6:19

think we do need to go

6:21

back to what happened on the 7th of October

6:23

when 1,200 Israelis

6:26

were killed and more than 250

6:28

were kidnapped. One cannot

6:30

really underestimate the scale of Hamas's attack

6:32

on Israel, can we, because it effectively

6:34

shattered Israel's sense of security. It

6:38

is, but that's history now. Six months ago,

6:40

we still don't know quite why all the

6:42

signals of what was happening and what was

6:44

being planned over three years just across the

6:47

border, which was observed by members of the

6:49

IDF, didn't actually make it to the National

6:51

Security Council and therefore went into the thinking

6:53

of Benjamin Netanyahu and

6:56

his right-wing cabinet. But I

6:58

think we've moved on considerably since then. I'd

7:00

just like to bring to your attention, Emma, an

7:02

article in the HuffPost this morning where

7:05

they have interviewed two members of Hamas, and

7:08

they make it clear there is simply no

7:10

way, no way at all, that

7:12

they will do any kind of deal with

7:15

Israel. They still want Israel wiped off the

7:17

face of the earth. And so the deep-rooted

7:19

horror of what happened on October the 7th

7:21

is still very clear, which is that Hamas

7:24

does not want to recognize Israel and they

7:26

don't want a two-state solution either. You

7:29

mentioned that this is history, but

7:32

as we have seen in the last couple of

7:34

days, at least in Israel, this

7:36

is absolutely not history for the

7:38

families of those taken hostage. And

7:40

this is the fundamental issue that

7:42

Benjamin Netanyahu is struggling to deal

7:44

with. And to all intents and

7:46

purposes, people are questioning his methods.

7:50

Of course, and that is something which

7:52

is very much at the heart of

7:54

domestic Israeli politics at the moment, particularly

7:56

with the right-wing cabinet moving even further

7:59

to the right. The Netanyahu in

8:01

a survival mode because of all the

8:03

other things which are building up on

8:05

him in the seems quite have seen

8:07

to to to to to think the

8:09

duchy Netanyahu is doing all this to

8:11

avoid appearing in court on corruption charges.

8:13

but that's the way it does look

8:15

and certainly with up I think about

8:18

one hundred and thirty six hostages. Hundred

8:20

and thirty five hostages still unaccounted for

8:22

one who was the body was released

8:24

over the weekend, having been killed by

8:26

Islamic Jihad in January. So in other

8:28

words that body had been. There for

8:30

at least two months. It shows

8:32

the absolute. Absolute

8:35

priority of Israel to do this. But

8:37

I have to say and this is

8:39

a remarkable interview In the have posts

8:41

morning they've interviewed to members of Hamas

8:43

leadership in Qatar separately. I mean the

8:45

go into how they got the interviews

8:47

and so on and assuming that everything

8:49

that they're reporting is right and I

8:51

have no wave of the of them

8:53

have corroborating Of course they're making quite

8:55

clear that there's no way to the

8:57

hostages will be return because that would.

9:00

Be a weakness by Hamas. And

9:02

indeed as his as dense as Adams. I'm

9:04

here in sets and has a has an

9:06

interview her as a visit see an Allied

9:08

Muscle as well that very much gives the

9:11

impression that Hummus is from is is publicly

9:13

on on the plane. Eight is happy to

9:15

talk to the rest of the world. Well,

9:18

I'm not sure about happy to talk

9:20

to the rest will. They don't tend

9:22

to operate like that, they operate very

9:24

covertly, but they have made clear they

9:27

will have made their political decision on

9:29

this basis. And this is in Quetta

9:31

as opposed to the military wing somewhere

9:33

in the tunnels inside Gaza that Hamas

9:36

has no quarrel and closing gear with

9:38

the Jewish People or June Eight Two

9:40

Days and broadly in said opposing overly

9:42

aggressive actions fueled by Zionism and and

9:44

that suggests Hammers would accept a Palestinian

9:47

state limited to territories. Israel

9:49

did not control before Nineteen Sixty

9:51

Seven. Aligning with

9:53

the idea of a two state solution

9:56

my my very strong reading on the

9:58

diplomatic front is the essential. Even

10:00

with the involvement of the Cia Director Bill

10:02

Burns in car over the weekend. I.

10:05

Didn't think this is going anywhere because

10:07

Hamas and Israel are dug into very

10:09

deeply entrenched positions and ultimately you only

10:12

get some kind of movement towards peace

10:14

when there's a certain kind of a

10:16

t which is set in and certainly

10:19

I don't read any kind of city

10:21

the tool and probably getting back to

10:23

question who to see minutes ago about

10:26

said the withdrawal of for some of

10:28

the Israeli forces from the sun itself

10:30

and for of Gaza of this is

10:32

about a reconfiguration and probably consolidation of

10:35

forces. So they are ready for anything

10:37

that might happen, including on the Northern front.

10:40

Let's look at the way that the

10:42

rest of the world has has changed

10:45

it's approach to the at war in

10:47

Gaza and mean at the beginning of

10:49

the program we had and see blinking

10:52

yeah sixty states and result from the

10:54

ground of woefully insufficient and unacceptable when

10:56

it comes to bringing aid into Gaza

10:58

and questions have started to be asked

11:01

quite seriously haven't they about the way

11:03

that Israel is conducting it's operations at

11:05

with the death toll what more than

11:07

wave over thirty thousand now as as.

11:10

As reported by The Hammer

11:12

Said Health Authority in Gaza

11:14

Strip where does this leave

11:16

global influence? Because the United

11:18

States has has come up

11:20

short? He hasn't It's assassination.

11:24

Well. I wouldn't say they have

11:26

until of food in a sense

11:28

of us. I have to say

11:30

they did, They had until a

11:32

few days ago. when has to

11:34

imagine that the thirty minute conversation

11:36

between Biden the Netanyahu a few

11:38

days ago was pretty pretty vicious.

11:40

And the you do get a

11:42

sense that actually there has been

11:44

an impact set me on the

11:46

humanitarian side within reason. But.

11:48

i do think that there is confusion

11:50

still in the signals a very clear

11:52

about what happens with the recognition of

11:54

international law and this sense and this

11:56

is why david cameron little cameron the

11:59

british for and under such pressure

12:01

here to even go to the House

12:03

of Commons, as opposed to being in

12:05

the House of Lords, to explain the

12:07

British position. Because there's

12:09

no doubt, and this is made clear by

12:12

the former National Security Advisor, Lord

12:15

Sedwell, that it's really important that

12:17

they set out what really bores

12:19

down to is that it's unlawful

12:21

in British law to export arms

12:24

that would be used in breach of

12:26

international law. In other

12:28

words, other countries not being

12:30

want to be seen to be complicit

12:32

in the breaking of international law, not just

12:34

the UK, but many other countries as well.

12:37

And so this puts America in a far

12:39

more complex position, particularly when it comes to

12:41

the recognition of the international

12:43

courts and so on. And

12:45

indeed globally now, and we're hearing voices

12:47

from the likes of Brazil saying new

12:50

voices need to join the top table. There's

12:53

a lack of global governance. And

12:56

the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan,

12:58

has said the current international system

13:00

is devoid of fundamental concepts, such

13:02

as solidarity, justice and trust,

13:04

and cannot fulfill even its

13:06

minimum responsibilities. This is

13:09

a war in a geographically small

13:11

space, which has questioned every single

13:13

global norm, hasn't it? Well,

13:16

I think it's worse than that. I've been working

13:18

on a project since I left the BBC 10

13:20

years ago called Thinking the Unthinkable. And one of

13:22

the things we've been saying for some time is

13:24

that there's an unraveling of

13:27

respect for international law. And

13:29

I think this is a profound part of

13:31

this. It's not just in the Middle East

13:33

and what's happening in Gaza. It's what's happening

13:35

in Ukraine as well. The fact is that

13:37

many laws and many international agreements, which have

13:39

been fought over for the last 70 years

13:42

and emerged from the Second World War in

13:44

1945, they are beginning – they have

13:48

been unpicked. They were being unpicked. They

13:50

are now being – literally two fingers

13:52

are being put up at many of

13:54

the international Conventions and so

13:56

on. And I Think that is a really

13:59

sinister thing. Emerging from this

14:01

lack of respect for international agreements and

14:03

this is what is being put to

14:05

the testing cause a with Israel by

14:07

the international Community. It going

14:09

Thank you for during his own Monaco Radio

14:11

you to the Globalist live from Zero. Nine,

14:20

Fourteen Inches Eight Fourteen here at do for

14:22

us and ninety Now the head of the

14:24

I A E A has condemned the drone

14:26

strike on the Russians. told Zappa Reserve Power

14:28

Plant in Ukraine's reports suggested building containing the

14:31

react that was damage that there was no

14:33

risk for joining us. Now to tell us

14:35

more about that and stevenses the weekend is

14:37

older To carry out the Ukrainian journalists and

14:39

regular voice here in Monaco Radius joins us

14:41

on the line from Chief a very good

14:44

morning to yoga. Delighted to hear you. I'm

14:46

if you could just bring this up to

14:48

date please As E S. The news emerging

14:50

about the drone attacks on The Zipper is

14:52

a popular please. Yes,

14:54

Exactly so that ahead of International

14:57

Atomic Agency or said Rothys said

14:59

that there were three direct hits

15:01

against a damn reactor. contains instructor

15:04

of the zebra. The nuclear power

15:06

plant that is controlled by at

15:08

rest occupies in Ukraine. This is

15:10

very serious. This

15:14

is a s the this happened sand

15:16

the success time since and under twenty

15:18

two that into to and sense hit

15:20

a laid out five meant principles and

15:22

how to avoid a serious nuclear. Incident

15:25

where the and and Co about

15:27

the clan says as it would

15:29

be detrimental and tens of already

15:31

acted safety and so entrenched Atomic

15:33

Energy agency said the was also

15:35

on casualties and then they said

15:38

it had not come from a

15:40

nuclear safety but this is a

15:42

serious incident and Ukraine denies it

15:44

is behind this drone attacks. Their

15:46

representative of the pregnant hundred gems

15:48

and the use of sad that

15:50

and blame Russia by saying that

15:53

add this Russia resources seriously. the

15:55

this imitation attacks to lead to

15:57

blame ukraine actually playing doesn't really

16:00

an interest in damaging a nuclear power

16:02

plant which is on its territory that

16:04

is now occupied by Russia but Ukraine

16:06

considers it its own territory so Ukraine

16:09

doesn't see a point of causing a

16:11

nuclear incident there. This power plant

16:13

is effectively in the middle of this, it sort

16:15

of symbolizes the real

16:17

core of the problem doesn't it because it's been caught

16:19

in the crossfire since the Russian

16:22

invasion in 2022. It's being held by the Russians and

16:28

if anything goes wrong there then the

16:30

consequences are catastrophic. Yeah

16:32

well absolutely no and that's why

16:34

well Ukraine will be the

16:36

country and the people of Ukraine

16:38

will be those worst hit if something

16:41

happens that's why Ukraine has absolutely no

16:43

interest in causing damage to this nuclear

16:45

power plant. Ukraine shares a good memory,

16:47

a vivid memory of Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe

16:50

in 1986 when millions of people were

16:52

affected and then Russia

16:54

on the other hand has a track record

16:56

of hitting and damaging

16:59

infrastructure objects. In recent weeks

17:01

it intensified its missile and

17:03

drone attacks on Ukrainian energy

17:06

infrastructure basically destroying an

17:08

energy power plant in Vinnyter

17:10

region and many other regions

17:12

on Ukraine of Ukraine causing

17:14

significant damage to electricity

17:17

supply and parking, depriving basically city of

17:19

one million people of electricity for a

17:22

long period of time and that supply

17:24

has not been restored yet as Kharkiv

17:26

continues to be under quite intense Russian

17:28

missile and drone bombardment in recent days.

17:31

Olga let's move more broadly as to the situation

17:34

across Ukraine in the war. The commander

17:36

of armed forces has said that Russian

17:39

forces are advancing on the ground and that

17:41

pushing them back is difficult. What does he

17:44

mean by that and where are all those

17:46

intensive points? Yeah well

17:48

the most intensive point at the moment is

17:50

near two CVR it is in the next

17:52

region so after the loss of the bahmut

17:54

and the bivka, Ukrainian

17:57

Troops have been facing intense pressure.

18:00

A further A in the western part

18:02

of the night creatures it's and and

18:05

there are concerns that for since will

18:07

try to capture just Cdr and then

18:09

move toward Slovenians can promise to or

18:11

that have been a solid Ukrainian shrunk

18:14

holds a sense and twenty fourteen after

18:16

they were briefly taken by person for

18:18

simply put in they want and recaptured

18:20

and became senators of the next grievance

18:22

that he's currently on the Ukrainian control

18:25

another potential line of attack could be

18:27

are key have a hard to As

18:29

I said. At ease on that

18:31

a very intense Russian missile and

18:33

from the bard every the rock

18:36

casualty there are killed people among

18:38

civilians in hockey. Because of this

18:40

attacks are key blacks as efficient

18:42

as defense and Ukrainian officials have

18:44

been making a particular emphasis on

18:46

a didn't need to receive a

18:48

more our defense systems to protect.

18:51

Talking about one million people are

18:53

still live in there despite this

18:55

bombardment and of rough at the

18:57

moment seem to lack of the

18:59

capacity. To capture the city to

19:01

call claret but they might result to

19:04

the tactics of more you probably know

19:06

just like a luncheon, drums missiles and

19:08

and the Asian bombs on the city

19:11

to add and as a huge damage

19:13

to civilian objects to infrastructure to make

19:15

the city of livable. Tennis

19:18

a little bit more therefore about the

19:20

the growing need to the intensifying need

19:22

for x for more military aid of

19:24

a we had a precedent for lot

19:26

of his Alinsky over the weekend warning

19:29

that Russia will win if the Us

19:31

Congress doesn't have to prove military aid.

19:33

I mean it seems a very direct

19:35

appeal doesn't isn't and one wonders if

19:37

there are any as other solutions to

19:40

this a state if this aid packages

19:42

still stuck in Congress to some time.

19:45

Yeah, I think Ukrainian officials have become

19:47

very blondes recently in their statements

19:49

to convey that sense of urgency that

19:52

is due to both here and came

19:54

here in Ukraine that Ukraine nice

19:56

these weapons Urgency otherwise the frontline my

19:58

just collapse and. They in a

20:00

package have been a have been stuck

20:03

in the Us congress for months already.

20:05

There is no end in sight a

20:07

tool that he could potentially be disbursed.

20:09

We are seen as an effort to

20:11

be a Pm countries the to provide

20:14

artillery shells the diapers miss to Ukraine

20:16

so there have been as the has

20:18

been some progress and that this is

20:20

not enough. Obviously the you have the

20:22

most potential the new capacity to provide

20:25

you're playing with minutes resistance. Ukraine has

20:27

been also trying to ramp up it's

20:29

domestic production. Budget is mostly

20:31

drones that are he didn't rush on

20:33

our facilities. A in A with a

20:36

goal to deprive Russia have been all

20:38

over oil revenues to finance his war

20:40

machine but of course you pray needs

20:42

ammunition it cannot attack and this have

20:45

been made clear by Ukrainian officials as

20:47

well that you kind of not have

20:49

the capacity to counterattack. So the gold

20:51

for B C or is to hold

20:53

the line to not live Ukraine defense

20:56

of collapse and will they have an

20:58

urgent supply of ammunition is as the

21:00

report. On what about not only

21:02

the supply of ammunition, but the number of

21:05

people who were able to join the war

21:07

is? is this? This reduction of the draft

21:09

eligible age for men from twenty seven to

21:11

twenty five has up? And what's been the

21:13

reaction and Ukraine to the Us. What?

21:16

We know or this is. Something. That has been

21:18

long overdue or this earth to

21:21

earth changes to demobilisation legislation there

21:23

have been discussed for months already.

21:25

This law was supposed to be

21:27

a voters and approved by the

21:29

president in a January but then

21:31

at the were some objects has

21:33

gone gays and in other threads

21:35

on the finally this this a

21:37

changes were both the by the

21:39

now as signed by or the

21:41

president so this is something that

21:43

has to be expected. Spoke to

21:45

some experts yesterday who told. me

21:47

that's actually they think it was the

21:50

a little bit playing and authorities base

21:52

at didn't flee to conduct a very

21:54

successful mobilization campaign in the first two

21:57

years of war that he should have

21:59

been more promo campaigns

22:01

of recruitment. The

22:03

time has been lost actually and also that

22:06

this mobilization age lower it should have been

22:08

done earlier. We'll see what impetus it will

22:10

have but it is

22:13

undeniable that Japan is facing the shortage

22:15

of human resources as well as ammunition. Algottokaryuk,

22:18

thank you so much for joining us on

22:20

the line from KEEV. Still to come on

22:22

today's programme. We wanted

22:25

to introduce these local flavours to

22:27

the design and we were inspired

22:29

for example by the bridges of

22:31

the canals in Amsterdam

22:33

and these bridges are really famous

22:36

for its little light bulbs that

22:38

are in this half arch shape

22:40

that then get reflected in the water

22:43

of the canal. We take

22:45

a look inside one world's first dedicated lounge

22:47

in Europe. Stay with us on the globalist.

22:55

Nubius is over 900 investment analysts from over

22:57

100 different countries. Over 900 of the

23:02

sharpest minds and freshest thinkers in

23:04

the world of finance today. Finally,

23:07

I will take the first look at the

23:09

love of Nubius Canals. It

23:25

is 8.23am here in Zurich, 7.23am

23:27

in London which is where we

23:29

head next for our first instalment

23:31

of today's paper review. A cast

23:33

seat of the journalist and geopolitics

23:35

expert Latika Burke. A very good

23:37

morning to you. How's London looking

23:39

Latika? Good morning. First time I've

23:41

been in the studio at Monocle

23:43

this year where the sun has

23:45

actually been up. Okay, slight exaggeration.

23:47

It's daylight. The sun's not yet

23:49

out itself. Okay, good to

23:52

hear. And the big question is, are you sitting

23:54

in the presenter's chair? No Emma, I could never

23:56

do that to you. What a shame. I was hoping

23:58

you'd make a land grab. Latika, what... you

24:00

spotted in the papers today? Look

24:02

a really interesting story in Japan

24:04

Times that's on the front page

24:06

there because Japan, the United States,

24:08

Australia and the Philippines held

24:10

their first ever naval and air drills

24:13

together in the South China Sea on

24:15

the weekend. So this is a pretty

24:17

big deal Emma, you've heard a lot

24:19

about a quad operating in this region

24:22

that normally involves India but in this

24:24

case it's the Philippines and of course

24:26

that's very strategic in itself because many

24:29

think that the Philippines in fact and

24:31

not so much Taiwan is

24:33

actually the front line of whatever

24:35

flashpoint might happen between China and

24:38

a fellow Asian neighbour testing of

24:40

course what the United States and

24:42

its allies would do. Well that's

24:44

a show of force and it

24:46

was intended to be a deterrent

24:49

according to Ram Immanuel,

24:51

the United States Ambassador in Tokyo

24:53

who is never shy

24:55

of a colourful phrase Emma. Indeed, what

24:58

was said? Well he has

25:00

put some photographs up on Twitter

25:02

saying exactly that, that

25:05

this is meant to be

25:07

a deterrent. Now the language officially

25:10

carried in this newspaper report that

25:12

quotes the defence agencies of

25:14

course from all the four countries

25:16

is a lot more calm than

25:18

that. It says simply

25:21

restating the positions of the countries

25:23

that they oppose any unilateral changes

25:25

to status quo by force and

25:28

this includes attempts and

25:30

actions that seek to increase tensions in

25:32

the South China Sea. Now if you

25:34

closed your eyes and imagined someone in

25:36

Beijing saying that you could almost let

25:38

that pass. So of course both

25:41

sides here are claiming

25:43

something. Now the South China Sea is disputed

25:46

but there was a 2016 ruling

25:49

that says much of what China is claiming

25:51

in the South China Sea, specifically An

25:53

area relating to the 2nd Thomas

25:55

Shoal around the Philippines is not

25:58

in China's domain. So. This

26:00

is going to be a flashpoint you and

26:02

I am a will be discussing a

26:04

lot more, but this is a pretty

26:06

significant deal. This this quadrilateral exercise that

26:08

took place on the weekends and stupid what

26:10

they're dealing with or nothing says x

26:12

been a quite neatly some nothing else

26:14

to and Japan time says his paging maintains

26:17

acclaimed Ninety Percent of the South China

26:19

Sea. despite the fact that in the

26:21

there were claims by the likes of

26:23

Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, and the Philippines,

26:25

they will say that it belongs to

26:27

them and and ninety percent is an

26:29

enormous figure. It's huge and Beijing

26:31

has been showing itself very willing

26:34

to to be muscular in this

26:36

Regents may have been using water

26:38

cannons for example, against a the

26:40

Philippine into a coastguard trying to

26:42

when it when it tries to

26:44

refuel and replenish it's supplies and

26:46

that's personnel on board the second

26:49

Thomas Show which is arresting ship

26:51

pot done a bit of race

26:53

or that the Philippines says it's

26:55

is it it's at Tonic. Claims

26:57

this endless ruled against A in

26:59

Twenty sixteen. In the Hague, say

27:01

this is a very, very tense

27:04

ariane a very tense region. And

27:06

yes, China is going to absolutely

27:08

side the big dog in this

27:10

region. Eight very clearly says the

27:12

United States has no business being

27:14

in the South China Sea. Of

27:16

course seen other states does not

27:18

believe that and we're going to

27:20

see some pretty high levels is

27:23

it's this week and we expects

27:25

President Biden to once again worn

27:27

China specifically on the Philippines and

27:29

again distressing. Their Emma We've had so

27:31

much about time one of the last few

27:33

years. There's a lot of focus on what

27:35

China might or might not do when it

27:38

comes to Taiwan's There's a lot less focus

27:40

on what China might or might not do

27:42

when it comes to the Philippines, But arguably

27:44

there are a lot of people who think

27:46

that's actually the more significant hotspot to watch

27:49

right now. let's had to

27:51

poland's in an article in the financial

27:53

times its highlights that to sort of

27:55

the power struggles inside poland which has

27:57

emerged since donald says can't be became

28:00

prime minister and effectively

28:03

pushed the opposition

28:05

out, but it had the opposite

28:08

effect, hasn't it? Yeah, this is really interesting.

28:10

I've been watching this story for quite some

28:12

time because I know some journalists at TVP,

28:15

which is a Polish TV

28:17

station. It's state media and it was

28:20

under the PIS party piece.

28:22

It was heavily pro-government, of

28:24

course, and heavily right-wing. Now

28:27

when Donald Tusk won the recent

28:29

election, he closed down this television

28:31

station for about a week or

28:33

so and it led to an enormous power

28:35

struggle. Now the television station

28:37

is back on air. There

28:40

are much fewer PIS-leaning

28:42

staff spouting such views

28:44

on television. It's become

28:46

quite an ordinary run-of-the-mill

28:48

TV and news station.

28:52

What has since happened though

28:54

is that this has simply

28:56

amplified and given greater viewership

28:58

and ratings to the existing

29:00

and established, but not state-run,

29:02

conservative media. Think

29:04

here the equivalent of, say, Fox News

29:06

or G-Being News. They

29:09

themselves staff at these stations use

29:11

these television stations as their role models

29:13

or their examples of what they're trying

29:16

to emulate. The FT has

29:18

done a very good story here where

29:20

they visited TV Republika, for example, which

29:22

is one of these stations that sees

29:24

itself as a bit of a Fox

29:26

News lookalike in Poland. It

29:29

is simply making the point here that in

29:31

actually doing what Tusk has done, he

29:34

has inadvertently emboldened and

29:36

strengthened the rival television

29:39

stations that are spouting the exact views. He

29:42

didn't want heard, at least not on state media.

29:44

You could say, of course, that's the natural

29:47

way of the land, that's the media market,

29:50

and commercial media has every right to say

29:52

and believe what they want and state media doesn't

29:54

because it's taxpayer funds. It

29:57

is just an illustrative example there of

29:59

what they want. sometimes what

30:01

looks like on paper a good move when

30:03

you come into office can actually

30:05

have the exact opposite effect. Let's

30:08

have a look now at an article in

30:10

The Guardian which details

30:12

a report that examines the UK's

30:15

Foreign Office and the words describing

30:17

the Foreign Office is elitist and

30:19

rooted in the past. Well I

30:22

never, Emma, is this a shock

30:24

to you? This

30:28

is quite a surprising report

30:30

and I picked this out because it

30:32

was written by Lord Sedwell, Mark Sedwell,

30:35

who was former National Security Advisor.

30:37

Now he is one of the authors

30:39

of this report and he is

30:41

arguing that the UK is not making

30:44

the transition to being a middle power

30:46

well enough and it needs a giant

30:48

overhaul in the Foreign Office so

30:51

it can better integrate things like climate

30:53

change and trade for example. Now

30:56

it uses models like Australia to say

30:59

this is what we should be doing

31:01

more of but really it is quite

31:03

a very scathing view of how the

31:05

Foreign Office is operating and

31:07

in particular makes a lot of reference

31:09

to colonisation

31:12

and demand from

31:14

former colonies for reparations and

31:16

some compensation for historical emissions

31:18

and of course that's a

31:20

battle I know Emma

31:22

you follow very closely on what I call this

31:24

battle between the global south and the rest who

31:28

argue that they've had a bit of a difficult

31:30

time trying to adapt to a world that the

31:32

West has had a lot more time and got

31:35

to pollute the world essentially for free and now

31:37

it's being asked to shoulder such a burden on

31:39

climate change. So a lot of these

31:41

issues aren't exactly new but I

31:43

think the timing of

31:45

this report and Patrick Winter the

31:48

Guardian's diplomatic editor writes this is

31:50

clearly intended to be

31:52

directed at the next Labor government

31:54

giving them the chance to perhaps

31:56

come in sweep through the

31:59

Foreign Office and Gonna a giant over

32:01

horrible safe That happens. Emma. That.

32:03

She could vote think he is as as a

32:05

joining us on Monaco radio you listening to the

32:07

globalist me Emma Nelson coming she live from Do

32:10

for Sauce and ninety in Zurich split between his

32:12

eight thirty two a m Let's have a look

32:14

at some of today's headlines. Palestinians

32:20

have begun to return to the

32:22

southern Gaza city of Han Eunice

32:24

after Israel says it reduce the

32:26

number of soldiers operating in the

32:28

regents the move least just one

32:30

brigade. That meanwhile, Israel and Hamas

32:32

said they'd sent delegations to Cairo

32:34

to take part in ceasefire negotiations

32:36

and Iraq says it'll send ten

32:38

million liters as seals of the

32:40

Gaza Strip to aid Palestinians. Erect

32:42

is also said it's prepared to

32:44

receive and seat wounded Palestinians injured

32:47

in the conflict in Gaza. The

32:49

head of. The I A E A

32:51

has condemned drone strike on the Russian

32:53

controlled Zappa Reserve Power plant in Ukraine.

32:55

Reports suggested building containing the reacts it

32:58

was damage that know with to says

33:00

the boonies a position policy law and

33:02

has come first in the comes as

33:04

local elections. It's a setback for the

33:07

Prime Minister Donald Tusk have been hoping

33:09

to cement his political comeback. Some sort

33:11

of first time French soldiers will conduct

33:13

a changing of the got outside Buckingham

33:16

Palace in London today. sister she says

33:18

is doing the same Geez his interests.

33:20

The movies pursue the celebration of one

33:22

hundred and twenty years since A Sunny

33:25

The on South Korea signed in nineteen.

33:27

As for the ontological, the L cemented

33:29

an improvement in relations between the two

33:31

centuries after the Napoleonic. Wars States Is

33:34

the Globalists a kid? he

33:44

detector and microsoft has issued a

33:47

warning that forthcoming elections in the

33:49

us south korea and india could

33:51

be disrupted by china using artificial

33:53

intelligence the us tech firms that

33:55

is expected chinese state backed cyber

33:58

group to target high profile with

34:00

North Korea also involved. Well,

34:02

to tell us more, I'm joined now

34:04

from our studio in London by Ali

34:06

Bohani, a strategic expert who was formerly

34:08

based in Dubai and managing director of

34:10

360 strategic advisors. Ali's

34:12

also co-host of BRI Dialogues. Very good morning to you, Ali.

34:14

Good morning, Emma. Welcome to Midori House.

34:18

So what is it that Microsoft is saying that China

34:20

could do? Well, I think there

34:22

is a great concern with the power of

34:24

AI. You know, states

34:26

will start dabbling

34:28

into one another's electoral process

34:31

and democracies. But one

34:33

has to realize that, you know, AI

34:36

is, at the

34:38

moment, unregulated. You know,

34:41

we're getting into large language models, but

34:43

large legal models are missing. And

34:46

at the same time, I

34:49

think US is somehow forgetting

34:51

that a lot of discourse goes back

34:53

to the Florida Bush and, you know,

34:56

Gore era. The

34:58

erosion of public trust, you know,

35:00

in electoral process in the United

35:03

States is something that is the

35:06

story must be tackled at home. You

35:09

will see that, you know, with

35:11

deep fake, with cryptocurrencies. And

35:13

the fact that in US, at the

35:15

moment, everybody's holding their breath as to

35:17

where Taylor Swift will lay in and

35:19

weigh in is saying

35:21

a lot. So

35:23

just explain to us what exactly what

35:27

the disruption by China actually looks like.

35:30

How would we spot it or how would it manifest itself?

35:33

It would be very hard, Emma, to be

35:36

honest with you, because finger

35:38

pointing is easy. But

35:40

with technology, many times

35:42

there are as well, you know, you've

35:45

seen these tools that a state can

35:47

implicate a third state. So it's a

35:49

very risky proposition to come out and

35:52

just to outsource all of it in

35:54

advance to China. Do United

35:56

States and China and great powers interfere in

35:58

each other? There's a fair estate do. I

36:01

mean, there's the famous quote

36:03

that diplomacy is telling somebody to go to hell

36:05

in a way that that person actually

36:08

looks forward to the trip. And

36:10

I think the fact

36:12

that the United

36:14

States would like to say, hey, if anything

36:17

goes wrong, it's with

36:19

China, overlooks the complexities

36:21

of the private capital in the

36:23

United States. You have many opinionated

36:26

dip pockets, you know, pizza teal,

36:28

Elon Musk, all of

36:30

them have their own political convictions

36:32

and preferences. And AI

36:34

is unregulated. A lot of this happening in

36:37

dark kitchens. And as a

36:39

matter of fact, in China, you

36:42

know, technology and AI is strictly

36:45

overseen and, you know, looked

36:47

after by the state. In

36:49

the United States, you have private sectors.

36:52

So it is very easy to point

36:54

fingers. But at the same time, I

36:56

think we need a deeper conversation

36:59

between China and the United States

37:01

as peer competitors, similar to nuclear

37:03

treaty, because containment collaboration and code

37:05

of conduct are not all, you

37:07

know, part of the same dish

37:10

that US can serve. The United

37:12

States at the moment wants to have

37:14

an alacarte collaboration with China, but

37:16

a buffer criticism. And China doesn't work

37:18

that way. If you look at Kissinger,

37:20

you look at the diplomacy of 60s

37:23

and 70s, they have to sit down,

37:25

they have to talk about a

37:27

structured treaty in and around AI. Otherwise,

37:30

we're really, you know,

37:32

running into shifting sands. Charlie, this

37:34

is too late now when we have reports that China

37:37

attempted an AI generated disinformation campaign

37:39

in Taiwan. And now we have

37:41

the likes of Microsoft stepping up.

37:44

I mean, sitting down and talking

37:46

across the table is one thing,

37:48

but doing something and

37:50

preventing any interference in elections is

37:52

a different matter altogether. Completely.

37:56

And I couldn't agree more there with

37:58

you. But one... who

38:00

is familiar with China knows that you

38:03

need candid, private, respectful,

38:06

secure conversations. The

38:08

only thing that at the moment is taking

38:10

place, if you look at FT's cover today,

38:12

is that the US is warning

38:14

China on this front, the US is warning

38:16

China on that front, Janet

38:19

Yellen is giving sturched warnings to

38:22

China on this subject. Chinese

38:24

need to sit down and talk to Americans

38:26

and likewise the stakes are high for humanity.

38:29

It's not just about this election, you

38:31

know, you look at

38:33

deep fakes and you look at

38:35

cryptocurrency role in the US election

38:37

and upcoming elections. There's much

38:39

more at stake I think than

38:41

just saying, oh, we found an

38:43

attempt by Microsoft because

38:45

some of its surfaces we hear about

38:48

them. There's a lot more behind the

38:50

scenes between aging and Washington and

38:52

they need to sit down and as

38:54

I said, have, you know, peer competitor

38:56

conversations and have a framework around AI.

38:58

This is just the beginning because

39:01

think about it, Emma, they're talking about

39:03

neural link, they're talking about brain computer

39:05

interface. Twelve years ago,

39:08

15 years ago, if we were talking about many

39:10

of these technologies, one would have said, what

39:12

are you smoking? Are you crazy? These

39:15

things will come as well. So the

39:17

question is, if we're not putting the

39:19

guardrails and having proper conversations state to

39:21

state about rules of engagement

39:25

and having the framework in which

39:27

we do not interfere in each other's affairs

39:29

and but at the same time respecting

39:32

each other's processes in terms

39:34

of model of governance, those

39:36

conversations have to take place right now. As

39:39

I said, the deep pocket, I

39:42

would say dark kitchens of AI

39:45

are much more sprouting in the

39:47

Western hemisphere and we have to

39:49

be very mindful because the private

39:51

capital in our part of

39:53

the world at the moment trumps the

39:56

state investment R&D and

39:59

control in AI and artificial

40:01

intelligence. And as I said, large

40:04

language models need large legal models around

40:06

them as well. Ali Bohani, thank

40:08

you so much for joining us on Monocle Radio.

40:10

You're listening to The Globalist. Now,

40:19

following the completion of the Global Airline

40:21

Alliance's one world first dedicated lounge in

40:23

Seoul, last month we saw the unveiling

40:25

of a lounge at Amsterdam Skipul Airport.

40:28

It's the Alliance's first in Europe. So

40:30

Monocle Radio sent writer and broadcaster Jeannie

40:32

Tan to the busy grand opening where

40:35

she heard from Joachim Stratman. He's art

40:37

director at D-DOG, and they created the

40:39

visual look and feel for the lounge.

40:41

Jeannie began by asking Joachim about the

40:44

brief he was given at the start

40:46

of the project. In the

40:48

beginning, when we got in contact with One World,

40:51

we got the brand documents that

40:53

they have developed with Al Guilfie,

40:57

the brand agency. And

41:00

these documents were very

41:02

special about brand identity,

41:04

about how to publish

41:07

things, having also catchy

41:09

imagery of how

41:11

the guest experience would be and

41:13

could be. And that's

41:15

what we took in first. They

41:18

were very colorful. They were

41:20

very exciting and playful

41:23

as well, very catchy. But

41:26

the colors, the One World colors,

41:28

as you know, are very strong pastel

41:30

colors. So when we

41:32

had the mission to basically translate that

41:34

in a 3D spatial concept

41:36

to really start to design an actual

41:39

space with, that was kind of a

41:41

challenge. Like, how are we going

41:43

to translate all these colors? How

41:46

do we get these nice props

41:49

that you see on these photos? How do you get

41:51

that feeling of levity and brightness

41:53

into the space? And

41:55

then it started to develop in,

41:59

let's look at the image. this one will blue

42:01

and translate that into the

42:03

seating landscape. So the

42:05

seating landscape has the stones blue

42:07

that are very comforting, that are

42:09

soothing here in East,

42:12

but they also have a lure,

42:14

they have their sophistication

42:16

in terms of the materials,

42:18

the mohair wool that we use.

42:21

Of course all materials suitable for

42:23

airports. And the

42:26

Dutch touches, let's move on to them. Yeah

42:28

so apart from being

42:31

very recognizable we wanted to introduce

42:33

these local flavours to the design

42:35

and we were inspired for example

42:37

by the bridges of the canals

42:40

in Amsterdam and these bridges

42:42

are really famous for its little light

42:45

bulbs that are in this half arch

42:47

shape that then get reflected in

42:50

the water of the canal. So

42:52

you get this full circle that

42:54

you magically pass through with these

42:56

boats on the canals right, so

42:58

this feeling was a very

43:00

nice metaphor for entering the

43:02

lounge through this portal with

43:05

light bulbs and arches that

43:07

basically forms transition from the

43:09

airport bus into this branded

43:11

environment. And you really

43:13

give this kind of touch of

43:16

glamour and cheerful way of

43:18

entering this branded environment.

43:21

And the Dutch skies, tell us a

43:23

little bit about that. Yeah the Dutch skies are

43:25

full of birds as well, that's why

43:28

we also have birds on top of the

43:30

bar. We have one bird

43:32

even popping a chewing gum so it's

43:34

a very cute little detail and you

43:36

sit at the bar, you look up,

43:38

you see that. But

43:40

indeed this lounge is an amazing

43:43

panorama of sky. So

43:45

it's the tarmac with a

43:48

lot of gates and very wide

43:50

airfield but also skies that in

43:53

Holland always change. Now

43:55

it's really great but we

43:57

have a lot of different cloud Formations that are.

44:00

Famous by Centuries is facing the

44:02

it seems cloud pages and the

44:04

goals and aces we call it's

44:07

are known for the said dude

44:09

for clouds. And

44:12

his hands of this type of view

44:14

is says hang on for at f

44:16

has land is it American. And

44:18

yeah I believe that the kind

44:21

of classic seeing them airport lounge

44:23

wants to have the school system

44:25

a few and contact with the

44:27

most of the of flying and

44:30

going somewhere else right exploring so

44:32

this is something as them. A

44:34

lot of Laos is nice to

44:36

have that is not always the

44:39

case and oh it's not always

44:41

in this amount of splendor. so

44:43

a single this place a staple

44:46

is really yeah yeah very special.

44:48

Terms of a huge panoramic we know

44:51

what is also nice. Space is no

44:53

so deep so the space forms itself

44:55

alone does long we know is no

44:58

a small we know indians and know

45:00

as a whole facade of the lounge.

45:02

the has school as he. briefly.

45:15

And Decency And a sound?

45:17

Yeah, Has to do with

45:20

services offered. Visits Also read

45:22

his do with this translation

45:24

of travel bridesmaids really lead

45:27

to new color schemes. new

45:29

way of designing a call

45:31

from light into the space,

45:34

rather them to boot. Branding

45:36

polis everywhere. And yeah, I

45:38

found it a very daring.

45:42

Documents with a start of ways

45:44

in terms of branding to really

45:47

brands yourself. in this

45:49

whole conglomerate or airline members

45:51

with such strong cause very

45:54

pronounced so yeah that was

45:56

the children's with is also

45:58

the media uni points

46:01

of these spaces and what I

46:03

also got is feedback that the

46:05

airlines are very happy with this

46:09

kind of language as well. And

46:11

that's Monocle's Genie Tan speaking to Jochum

46:13

Stratman, you're listening to the Globalist Live

46:15

in Monoparedo. UBS

46:21

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46:23

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The Bulletin with UBS every week for

47:02

the latest insights and opinions from UBS

47:04

all around the world. It's

47:15

8.47 in Zurich and today on The Globalist

47:18

we bring you not one but two paper

47:20

reviews ladies and gentlemen. Aren't you lucky? Because

47:22

Noelle Salme is joining me. She's a travel

47:24

culture writer based in Zurich. She's

47:26

brought along a stack of good stories to tell us. A

47:28

very good morning to you Noelle. How is it this morning?

47:31

Pretty good. It's incredibly warm actually. Yep

47:35

shoulders are out ladies and gentlemen. The interesting

47:37

thing is that everybody is talking about the

47:39

Sahara sand and so are the papers and

47:42

I have seen none of this. I

47:44

mean since my arrival on Saturday afternoon it

47:46

has been the non-stop chatter among

47:48

those in the know and yet

47:51

no sign of the Sahara sand that's supposed to

47:53

descend from the skies. Well if you take

47:55

a walk and take a good look at the

47:58

mountains you might notice that they are actually hazier.

48:00

than normal. So this

48:02

Sahara sand is brought on a

48:04

wind called the fern. Fern, interestingly,

48:07

is also the German word for hairdryer

48:10

because it refers to a hot dry

48:12

wind and this hot dry wind is

48:14

what is bringing this warm weather

48:16

and it's also bringing particles of

48:18

sand from the Sahara northwards over

48:21

the Alps and into Switzerland and today

48:23

is supposed to be even more than

48:26

yesterday so maybe you'll catch

48:28

it today. If you have

48:30

respiratory conditions or asthma don't go

48:33

out for a run because that

48:35

might be less healthy but

48:39

you can take some photos and send them in

48:41

to 20 minutes. One of the local papers is

48:43

asking for photos and I've been

48:45

skiing when the Sahara

48:47

sands has turned the snow yellow and

48:50

the sky yellow as well so it's pretty cool so

48:52

take a look and there will be a good sunset

48:54

as well. Okay you have been warned, Zurich is orange

48:56

today or yellow. Let's have a

48:58

look at, there's an article in the tool

49:00

isn't there about France wanting Switzerland to help

49:03

pay for building its nuclear power plants. The

49:05

Swiss haven't taken this very kindly have they?

49:07

No they have not. Yes

49:09

so as you know President,

49:12

French President Emmanuel Macron has

49:14

been saying that he wants to build up

49:18

France's already pretty formidable collection

49:22

of nuclear power plants. He wants to

49:24

build six more and possibly as many

49:27

as 14 by 2050 and

49:29

that will cost a hundred

49:31

billion euros and he would

49:33

like to have Switzerland help

49:35

pay for it because Switzerland

49:37

imports energy, nuclearly produced

49:39

energy from France and

49:42

this is not actually without precedent. In

49:44

the 1970s the

49:46

residents of Kaiser-Auchst opposed the creation

49:49

of a nuclear power plant in

49:51

their region so Swiss

49:53

electricity providers back then helped

49:55

finance the construction of plants

49:57

in France with the aim

50:00

of being guaranteed the right to practice some

50:02

of the electricity that they produced. But

50:05

nuclear power is becoming even

50:07

less popular in Switzerland and

50:09

so the big energy companies now

50:11

are saying that they would prefer

50:13

to invest in other

50:15

renewable energy sources. Indeed, like so

50:17

many other places, it was Fukushima

50:19

which changed Switzerland's policy when it

50:21

comes to nuclear power, didn't it? That's right, that's

50:24

exactly right. And that is what the

50:26

newspapers are saying. Okay, lovely. Thank you very much indeed

50:28

for that. Let's move on to

50:30

another story about Swiss merchants want

50:33

to stop people using Chinese

50:35

shopping apps. I mean, how popular

50:37

is the average Chinese shopping app

50:39

here in Zurich? Well, it turns out it's

50:41

pretty popular. Imports

50:44

from abroad, according to the post

50:46

office, are up 10% and there's

50:48

basically from China. Well,

50:51

you have now spent a fair amount of time

50:53

here, Emma, and you know that pretty much everything

50:55

in Switzerland is expensive. So it

50:58

gets pretty tempting to get onto a site

51:00

like Tema or Shine and go ahead and

51:02

import those things. But

51:04

both Swiss regulators and Swiss

51:06

merchants, merchant associations are saying

51:08

this stuff is really low

51:11

quality. It doesn't meet Swiss

51:13

or EU standards. Clothing

51:16

can be carcinogenic. They tested

51:18

a bunch of baby toys and

51:20

it turns out practically

51:22

all of them are not compliant. Electrical

51:24

products were not compliant. The

51:27

question is how can they regulate those things coming in? Indeed,

51:29

it would be a very, very clever country

51:31

that could stop this from happening. Yes, it

51:33

would be. Yeah, no,

51:36

it's the customs officials are pretty strict

51:38

in Switzerland but it is so

51:41

much stuff is coming in that they said

51:44

their customs officers are overwhelmed. Now,

51:47

tell us a little bit more about a story

51:49

in the NZZ about chocolate being

51:52

become well, the global

51:54

competition for the chocolate market, something which

51:56

obviously the Swiss have

51:59

a keen eye on. But

52:01

this is a story in the end that about

52:03

chocolate coming from Africa. That's right. Yes, well, you're

52:05

right. The Swiss have a keen eye on it

52:07

not only because they produce some of the world's

52:09

best chocolate, but also eat the most of it annually

52:12

of anyone else. And

52:14

so typically, so Ivory Coast produces

52:16

45% of the world's

52:18

cocoa beans, but they don't until

52:21

now they haven't produced any chocolate. That

52:23

means that they only

52:25

get 7% of the profits from those

52:27

cocoa beans. But now there's

52:29

a startup called Cocayons, which

52:31

is the brainchild of Julianne

52:33

Marboof. He was Ivory Coast

52:36

country manager for a

52:38

Swiss-based coffee trader and Alain

52:40

Parquet, who was an Ivorian

52:42

diplomat. And they have a two-fold

52:45

plan. One is to produce

52:47

the coffee more naturally. They are using a

52:50

method that takes out the

52:52

bitterness during fermentation. And more importantly, they

52:54

want to produce the coffee in the Ivory

52:56

Coast, the coffee. Sorry. They

52:58

need more coffee. They want to produce the chocolate in

53:01

the Ivory Coast. And

53:03

they've already produced two tons

53:05

of it last year at a cafe

53:07

and a small hotel that's owned

53:10

by Parquet. They have a chocolatier

53:12

who is Parisian-trained

53:15

by Ivorian. And the

53:17

trick is now how they're going to export

53:19

it. No, well, thank you so much

53:22

for joining us around the table here at Dufor

53:24

Strautman 90. We're listening to The Globalist.

53:28

So,

53:37

really, Let's Talk Architecture and Design. Tim Abrams

53:39

joins us on the line from London. Good

53:42

morning, Tim. Good morning. How

53:44

are you doing? Very well, thank you. And

53:46

delighted to hear that the venues for the

53:48

Olympic Games are now ready. And that sounds

53:50

like a big statement, but really, it's actually

53:52

quite a modest project, isn't it? There

53:55

is only one new venue for

53:57

the Olympic Games in Paris.

54:00

Paris. The

54:02

athletes village is also a new set

54:04

of structures but this is the one

54:06

new venue and it's been completed so

54:08

we're ready to go except not quite.

54:11

Right, okay so tell us all about this venue

54:14

and why are we not quite ready there? Effectively

54:17

the one new venue

54:20

is a swimming pool. It's not actually going

54:22

to be where the Olympics hosts the swimming,

54:24

it's going to be where the diving and

54:26

the synchronized swimming are going to take place

54:28

but after that it's going to be a

54:30

community pool right on the edge of

54:33

Paris on the border with Paris and

54:35

Saint Denis. So it's effectively if you

54:37

imagine it as a very large beautiful

54:40

community facility which is being

54:42

dressed up and delivered as

54:44

an Olympic facility

54:47

then you get some idea of

54:49

where Paris is going with it,

54:51

where it's organizing its venues. It's

54:53

very much about taking existing facilities

54:55

largely apart from this one new

54:57

one and bigging

55:00

them up, dressing them up,

55:02

refurbishing them, creating temporary structures

55:05

and hosting the Olympics in that

55:07

way. And there is

55:09

always a perpetual tension between the

55:11

residents of the city and the

55:13

organizers of an Olympic Games. I

55:15

mean are Parisians coming

55:18

around to the idea of the Olympics being

55:20

there especially if they have existing facilities being

55:22

given an upgrade? The

55:24

way in which Parisians deal with

55:27

large-scale events which bring in

55:29

tourists may be something we need to

55:31

ask Parisians on an individual level but

55:33

I think the way in which the

55:36

city has gone about approaching the Games

55:38

has left a lot of people with

55:41

a positive impression and the level

55:43

of this

55:47

disturbance is pretty minimal

55:49

given some of the other moves that are

55:51

happening in the city particularly the introduction of

55:53

50 mini cities

55:55

by their mayor and Hidalgo. So

55:58

the Paris Olympics is minor

56:00

in comparison to the inconveniences

56:02

that previous moves in the city

56:04

have caused. Let's talk about

56:08

Salone del Mobile. There's

56:10

an awful lot of chatter here in

56:12

Zurich because I think, well I know

56:15

that Monaco is dispatching a considerable contingent

56:17

to Milan in the next couple of

56:19

weeks. Tell us what the latest from

56:21

Salone is. The Salone

56:23

is enjoying, is it perhaps shall

56:25

we say at the end of

56:28

a very, very positive period for

56:30

the Italian and European wider

56:33

furniture industry. The lockdown following

56:36

the COVID pandemic was very good for

56:38

business. People were buying things, making their

56:40

homes look nice, making their outdoor furnishings

56:42

look nice. What is

56:45

currently happening is there is a period

56:47

of slowdown, the

56:49

market in China, which is obviously in

56:51

furniture as in many other things,

56:53

one of the most growth developing areas.

56:56

And there's a slowdown there. There are

56:58

also supply side issues due to the

57:01

events in Ukraine and

57:03

the inflation ensuing there from.

57:06

So we're at the edge of a, we're at the

57:08

end of a positive period and

57:10

it looks as if the Salone is scaling

57:12

down its event.

57:15

Large numbers of previously supportive brands

57:17

are not actually turning up to

57:19

the big fair act on the

57:21

outskirts of Milan itself and are

57:23

actually focusing on their retail spaces,

57:25

smaller intimate spaces in the center

57:27

of the city. So there will

57:29

still be plenty of things to

57:31

go and see. And indeed

57:34

the way in which the Italians are

57:36

dealing with the downscaling is

57:38

by designing it, designing it out.

57:40

There's some really interesting images coming

57:43

out of the Salone as different

57:45

designers are kind of rationalizing

57:48

the lack of, the

57:50

lack of exhibitors. Tim

57:53

Abrund, thank you so much for joining

57:55

us on Monocle Radio. And that's

57:58

all the time we have for today's programme. the

58:00

warmest of thanks to all my guests and

58:02

to our live audience here at Dufor Strahsa90

58:04

and thanks too to the producers in London,

58:07

Vincent Macavini, Tom Webb and Monica Lillis. Our

58:09

research was George Ruskin and our studio manager

58:11

Lily Austin in London, our studio manager here

58:13

in Zurich, Vati Sock. After the headlines, more

58:16

music on the way, the briefings live at

58:18

midday back in London but the globalist is

58:20

back at the same time tomorrow. For now

58:22

from me Emma Nelson, goodbye, thank you very

58:25

much for listening and have a great week!