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The world is on fire. There's a coup. Inflation is through the roof, and AI is taking our jobs. What does it all mean? Each week, Matt Bevan explains the biggest story in world news while hiding in his basement from assassins and authoritarian regimes.

Recent episodes include an exploration of the relationship between India and China, a closer look at the Saudi Arabian city of NEOM, the conflict in the Middle East, the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran, and Ukraine's incursions into Vladimir Putin's Russia. Matt Bevan draws connections between stories from the past and the events of the present to help listeners understand world news and international affairs.

The podcast also features series about big moments in world news; previous series have focused on the United States presidential election, the United Kingdom's 14 years of Conservative Party leadership, Donald Trump's relationship with Russia, Donald Trump's presidency and promise to Make America Great Again, the Mueller Report, Vladimir Putin's scheme to destroy western democracies, how the relationship between Australia and China came to the verge of collapse, and Australia's turbulent history with climate change.

There's a new episode of If You're Listening every Thursday.

If You're Listening

Australia, the UK, France and Canada intend to recognise Palestine as a state at the UN General Assembly in September. But what does that actually mean? 

Well Timor Leste, the small island nation 500km off the coast of Australia was recognised as a state back in 2002 after years of Indonesian occupation and violence, and might offer us a glimpse into what the future looks like for Palestinians. 

Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.

Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq

The blueprint for Palestine

After an entire week looking into the Oslo Accords, we still had a residual urge to find out more about Mona Juul and Terje Rod Larsen, the Norwegian couple who were instrumental in brokering that landmark agreement. 

We were reading about the Broadway play about their work, reading about the movie adaptation... and then suddenly, unexpectedly, Kara plunged into a rabbit hole. A very unexpected, but oddly familiar one…it involves a trip to Mongolia, a former Australian Prime Minister, and Mona and Terje.

Kara drags Matt back down the rabbit hole

Even the most seasoned negotiators can’t agree on how to bring peace to the Middle East. Everyone agrees that - on a personal level - it’s a problem too big, too old and too entrenched for them to even have an impact on. Except Mona and Terje. 

Norwegians Mona Juul and Terje Rød-Larsen looked at this extremely complicated conflict and said “we can fix this”. 

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Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq

How Middle East peace plans were hatched in the Norwegian woods

Getting accused of murder is never a good thing. But, hypothetically if you are going to get accused of murder, it’s generally for the best that it’s not somewhere like Houthi-controlled Yemen - a part of the world that barely has a functioning justice system.

This is the reality for Nimisha Priya, an Indian nurse who has been convicted of murder and is currently awaiting trial in a Yemeni prison. The question is now whether she’ll be executed for her crimes or whether the victim’s family will accept a blood money payment to spare her life. 

Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.

Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq

The nurse on death row in Yemen

The internet is flooded with hour-long podcasts about what really happened to Jeffrey Epstein. Until recently, two of the most high profile Epstein conspiracy truthers were MAGA podcasters, Dan Bongino and Kash Patel. But that all changed when they joined the FBI. 

In the last few months, Bongino and Patel have done a complete 180, and are now saying there’s nothing to see… So are they telling the truth about the so-called Epstein files? Or has the deep state got to them too?

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Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq

Are the MAGA podcasters right about Epstein?

So Jeffery Epstein probably wasn’t a Mossad spy. But online conspiracies like this pop up closer to home too. Could Israeli intelligence have been involved in Australia’s most traumatic mass shooting? There are people who think so. In this bonus episode of If You’re Listening, Matt is joined by Conspiracy Nation author Cam Wilson, who breaks down the pervasive PA96 conspiracy about the Port Arthur massacre. 

Cam Wilson and Ariel Bogle's book Conspiracy Nation is out now.

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Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq

Australia's most dangerous home-grown conspiracy theory

The Jeffrey Epstein rabbit hole has opened into a cavernous rabbit abyss and it seems no one is safe. Conspiracy theorists and right-wing podcasters are following a particularly spicy lead: that Epstein was actually Israeli intelligence. 

It explains the curious circumstances around his death, the suppression of his so-called client list, and why Donald Trump seems keen to bury the story entirely. But where did the Mossad rumours come from and are they all just an elaborate smoke screen? 

If you're in Canberra and interested in coming to our live show on the 21st of August at the Canberra Theatre Centre you can buy tickets here: https://canberratheatrecentre.com.au/show/if-youre-listening-live-25/

Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.

Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq

Was Jeffrey Epstein a Mossad agent?

Forty years ago, a man named Mordecai Vanunu came very close to exposing Israel’s secret nuclear enrichment facility in a bible group in the heart of Sydney. But before he could speak to journalists, he was lured to Rome by a beguiling blonde named Cindy. In this bonus episode of If You’re Listening we take a closer look at “Cindy” the mysterious Mossad honeypot who abducted Vanunu and changed the course of his life forever. 

If you're interested in watching Stanley Hanin's tyre company advertisement you can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-zCM_8APc0 

If you're in Canberra and interested in coming to our live show on the 21st of August at the Canberra Theatre Centre you can buy tickets here: https://canberratheatrecentre.com.au/show/if-youre-listening-live-25/

Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.

Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq

How to avoid abduction by a Mossad honeypot

It’s widely accepted that Israel has nuclear weapons. 

How many? Well, it’s impossible to know because to this day the Israeli government has never officially confirmed or denied that it possesses a nuclear arsenal at all, instead it maintains a policy of “strategic ambiguity”. 

In truly one of the most extraordinary stories we’ve told on this show - we get to the bottom of how Israel hides its nukes, how we found out about them, and why the global community seems to be fine with it.

If you're in Canberra and interested in coming to our live show on the 21st of August at the Canberra Theatre Centre you can buy tickets here: https://canberratheatrecentre.com.au/show/if-youre-listening-live-25/

Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.

Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq

Israel’s not-so-secret nuclear weapons

With Iran still in the news, we thought we would revisit the man who created the regime that so many in the Israeli and American political establishments would love to topple: Ayatollah Khomeini. This is the man who came back from 16 years in exile to be the Supreme Leader of Iran’s fundamentalist Islamic regime and overthrew the 2500 year old monarchy. 

This episode was originally published on the 22nd February 2024.

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Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq

How Ayatollah Khomeini changed Iran

China's pandas are not just pandas. They're diplomats.

You're friendly to China? You get a panda. You criticise China? You get no pandas.

In recent years China has been hostile toward the West, with the most literal symbol of their displeasure being the withdrawal of their pandas from zoos around the world.

And yet, Chinese President Xi Jinping appears to be having a change of heart.

This may indicate something very important — a return to a more peaceful relationship with the West.

But why? And why are pandas the key to understanding it?

Please participate in our listener survey!

Subscribe to If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app.

Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzM1L3Nrc-I

What is China's "panda diplomacy"?

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