Synopsis
Making sense of Australias place in the world, Between the Lines puts contemporary international issues and events into a broader historical context, seeking out original perspectives and challenging accepted wisdoms.
Episodes
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Jan 6th attack testimony. Commonwealth heads meet in Rwanda. The view from the Pacific.
25/06/2022 Duration: 54minOlivier Knox discusses the mostly Republican witness testimony on the January 6th attack on the US Capitol building. Cindy McCreery looks at CHOGM — the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Rwanda and the organisation's purpose, place and priorities. Steve Ratuva explains why Australia, and other big powers, are guilty of overlooking and under estimating Pacific Island nation's agency, ability and autonomy.
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Ukraine’s bid for EU membership. Too many regional strategic groups. The state of Florida vs Disney
18/06/2022 Duration: 54minWhat it will take for Ukraine to be able to join the EU? Has Australia has signed up for too many strategic regional groups and dialogues and is it time to review and prioritise? What’s at stake in battle between the State of Florida and the Disney corporation?
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The PM’s visit to Indonesia. Boris survives. Watergate and the Jan. 6th insurrection.
11/06/2022 Duration: 54minGreg Barton reviews Prime Minister Albanese’s official visit to Indonesia. A blunt assessment of Boris Johnson’s tenure as UK PM. Would things turn out differently for President Richard Nixon if Watergate occurred today?
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Ukraine's MP Kira Rudik. Australia's covert action. The myth of primitive communism.
04/06/2022 Duration: 54minUkrainian MP Kira Rudik urges for more support during her speaking tour of Western Europe and describes the situation in her war torn country. William Stoltz discusses his new paper ‘A regrettable necessity: The future of Australian covert action. Anthropologist Manvir Singh considers the prevalence of ownership and private property rights in hunter gather societies and explains why the idea of primitive communism is flawed.
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U.S politics and fault lines. Diplomacy and grand Asia Pacific tours. Congestion and conflict in space.
28/05/2022 Duration: 54minDamien Cave, the New York Times bureau chief here in Australia considers the big fault lines that have led to deep and lasting divisions in US politics and society. Richard McGregor reviews the grand tours by the U.S President and the Chinese Foreign Minister through the Asia Pacific. It's crowded and anytime now a fight could break out but there’s no sheriff in sight - which is why outer space is being compared to the wild west.
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Bin Laden's secret letters. Testing times for Lebanon.
21/05/2022 Duration: 54minOsama Bin Laden’s declassified personal papers and correspondence have prompted a re-evaluation of the infamous terrorist and his reach, power and influence following the 9/11 attacks. From Beirut, Kim Ghattas reports on Lebanon’s election results. Is there is any light at the end of the tunnel for this deeply troubled country?
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Marcos return to power. Afghanistan failed and now forgotten. Geopolitics and Eurovision.
14/05/2022 Duration: 54minWhy and how did Ferdinand Jnr win so convincingly in this week’s election in the Philippines? What’s life like under the Taliban for the long suffering people of Afghanistan. How the geopolitical realities of Europe play out both on and off the stage at Eurovision.
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(Rpt) John Howard. Home Affairs - too big ? China, nationalism & WW2.
07/05/2022 Duration: 54min(Repeats) Former Prime Minister John Howard evaluates his time in office. Peter Edwards and Jacinta Carroll on the Dept. of Home Affairs and the legacy of the Hope Royal Commissions into intelligence. Oxford university historian Rana Mitter on how the new Chinese nationalism is being shaped by a re-interpretation of China's role in World War Two.
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Revolution and the U.S constitution. The Koala manifesto. How Hitler lost the war.
30/04/2022 Duration: 54minJames Philips discusses the American constitution-its origins and influences. Deborah Tabart’s passionate advocacy for the koala. Jonathan Dimbleby’s WW2 history: Operation Barbarossa and how Hitler lost the war.
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Election 2022. Strongmen and autocrats. 804 days in an Iranian prison.
23/04/2022 Duration: 54minJournalists Chris Kenny and Jacqueline Maley assess the Federal election campaign. Gideon Rachman discusses the rise and popularity of the autocrats. Kylie Moore-Gilbert's memoir Uncaged sky: My 804 days in an Iranian gaol.
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North Korea. 21st century enlightenment. USSR: a short history
16/04/2022 Duration: 54minVeteran correspondent Jean Lee explains why 'it never pays to forget North Korea'. Steven Schwartz remembers those brave souls who challenged and changed mainstream thought. Shelia Fitzpatrick's concise history of the Soviet Union: from Lenin to Gorbachev.
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Francis Fukuyama's liberalism and its discontents. Kevin Rudd's China, the US and an avoidable war.
09/04/2022 Duration: 54minFrancis Fukuyama defends liberalism and assesses the situation in Ukraine. Former P.M Kevin Rudd offers a way forward in the fraught China–U.S relationship.
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Global consensus on Ukraine? China’s foothold in the Solomons. Britain vs France and the colonisation of Australia
02/04/2022 Duration: 54minEd Luce discusses Biden's 'gaffe' and the illusion of global consensus on Ukraine. Anne-Marie Brady explains why China's move in the South Pacific is concerning and provocative. Margret Cameron-Ash offers a new account of how and why Britain established a penal colony in Australia.
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Alexander Downer on Ukraine 2022. Max Hastings’ Cuba 1962. A global economic outlook.
26/03/2022 Duration: 53minFormer Minister for Foreign Affairs - Alexander Downer discusses international relations. Max Hastings contrasts the 1962 Cuban missile crisis with the current situation in Ukraine. Economists Su-Lin Ong and Joanne Masters offer their views on the Australian economy and the global economic outlook
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The West re-energised. Putin's war in Syria. Malcolm Fraser's foreign policy.
19/03/2022 Duration: 54minIs a rules based world order still possible? Putin’s 2015 war in Syria and the legacy of his strategically successful intervention. Malcolm Fraser- a dominant figure in Australian political history. Geoff Raby assesses his foreign policy record.
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Backlash: Pacifist nations rearm
12/03/2022 Duration: 53minThe invasion of Ukraine has triggered a marked change in attitudes towards security in Europe and Asia with both Germany and Japan increasing their spending on defence. Anne Henderson's biography of Liberal senator Margaret Guilfoyle.
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It’s all about Ukraine
05/03/2022 Duration: 54minPutin's domestic opposition. The view from South-East Asia. Prospects for net zero.
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John Bolton on Putin. Misogynist attacks on conservative women. Nixon’s 1972 China visit.
26/02/2022 Duration: 54minJohn Bolton: the Ukraine, Russian and China. 'Only Richard Nixon could go to China in 1972' – Evelyn Goh explains how and why. Parnell McGuiness on the left's double standards.
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American power over extended. Albanese's political prospects. The bombing of Darwin. A tribute to P.J O'Rourke.
19/02/2022 Duration: 54minA challenge to the mindset that the U.S can be everywhere all the time. Does Albo have the right tools to do the job as PM ? Australia attacked 80 years ago. Satirist P.J O'Rourke remembered.
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Myanmar post-coup. Churchill reassessed. Cartoonist Bill Leak's Bio.
12/02/2022 Duration: 54minMyanmar: The state of the nation one year after the military coup. Winston Churchill's legacy critically reappraised. Cartoonist Bill Leak remembered.