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Program: If You're Listening

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Presented by

Matt Bevan

The world is on fire. There's a coup. A former president is being indicted. 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.

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Latest

The Ayatollah who dreamed of an Iranian caliphate

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was a revolutionary leader with a revolutionary idea. In just 10 years as Supreme Leader, Iran became a global pariah; virtually friendless in the international community.

Published: 15h agoWed 21 Feb 2024 at 2:00pm

Duration: 17 minutes 9 seconds

More from If You're Listening

How the Shah's cancer led to Iran's rift with the US

In 1974, the Shah of Iran was diagnosed with cancer. It led to a Shakespearean tragedy that brought about the end of the Iranian monarchy and shaped the Middle East conflict we're seeing today.

Duration: 16 minutes 42 seconds

Published: 14 Feb 2024Wed 14 Feb 2024 at 2:00pm

How Houthi rebels are embarrassing the world's biggest navy

The Red Sea is the most trafficked trade route in the world, and now the US Navy and a group of militant Houthi rebels are going to war over it.

Duration: 16 minutes 34 seconds

Published: 7 Feb 2024Wed 7 Feb 2024 at 2:00pm

Can Zelenskyy get the world to care about Ukraine again?

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has a new problem. As well as fighting Russia, he also has to fight Israel and Hamas for the world's attention. The shift in attention to Gaza has already meant Ukraine has lost crucial support.

Duration: 18 minutes 24 seconds

Published: 13 Dec 2023Wed 13 Dec 2023 at 2:00pm

What is China's "panda diplomacy"?

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.

Duration: 18 minutes 33 seconds

Published: 6 Dec 2023Wed 6 Dec 2023 at 2:00pm

Season Seven: Russia, If You're Listening

RUSSIA | S07 E1 - How war weakened strongman Putin

For 20 years the Russian President Vladimir Putin was happy to lurk in the shadows, trying and occasionally succeeding to manipulate the rest of the world into doing what he wanted them to do. But this year he chucked that out the window.

A composite image of Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Duration: 34 minutes 9 seconds

Published: 15 Nov 2022Tue 15 Nov 2022 at 10:21pm

RUSSIA S07 E2 | Zelensky's big call: run away or stay to fight

Vladimir Putin's plan for a three day takeover of Ukraine relied on a quick strike to take out Volodymyr Zelenskyy - to kill him, to capture him, or to make him flee.

Man in khaki t-shirt speaks to soldiers.

Duration: 34 minutes 4 seconds

Published: 15 Nov 2022Tue 15 Nov 2022 at 10:20pm

RUSSIA | S07 E3 - Why it’s hard to fight when you don’t know why

What does war look like on the ground, for the soldiers who go off to fight? What’s it like to be sent into the muddy confusion of a battlefield, asked to lay down your life for your country? In this episode: two soldiers.

A man in a khaki Tshirt and camouflage reclines on a piece of military equipment

Duration: 33 minutes 20 seconds

Published: 22 Nov 2022Tue 22 Nov 2022 at 4:57am

RUSSIA | S07 E4 - Undersea sabotage? The mysterious pipe blasts

On 26 September, a series of underwater explosions destroyed a cluster of natural gas pipelines on the bottom of the Baltic Sea.

a circle o white water in the baltic sea with a cloudy sky and a ship in the background

Duration: 34 minutes 21 seconds

Published: 29 Nov 2022Tue 29 Nov 2022 at 2:47am

Season Six: Australia, If You're Listening

INTRODUCING Season Six | Australia, If You're Listening

The sixth season of If You’re Listening tells the story of Australia’s turbulent history with climate change, and what that means for the future.

Published: 14 Dec 2022Wed 14 Dec 2022 at 4:40amby Matthew Bevan

AUSTRALIA | S06 E1 - The legacy of our first decisions on climate change

In 1987, scientists gathered in Melbourne for a landmark conference where they discussed, for the first time, the effects climate change might have on Australia.

Duration: 35 minutes 29 seconds

Published: 26 Apr 2022Tue 26 Apr 2022 at 6:30amby Matthew Bevan

AUSTRALIA | S06 E2 - How we became addicted to coal

Australia’s second-oldest city, Newcastle, was built around a single resource - coal. Since then, Australia has come to rely on coal for its prosperity.

Duration: 35 minutes 20 seconds

Published: 28 Apr 2022Thu 28 Apr 2022 at 3:43amby Matthew Bevan

AUSTRALIA | S06 E3 - How long will the world want our coal?

Australia intends to keep exporting coal for as long as there are countries willing to buy it. Miners have grand dreams of establishing new coal regions in Queensland to supply coal to the power stations and steel mills of India.

Duration: 35 minutes 46 seconds

Published: 26 Apr 2022Tue 26 Apr 2022 at 6:31amby Matthew Bevan

Season Five: China, If You're Listening

INTRODUCING Season Five | China, If You’re Listening

A podcast about how the relationship between Australia and China came to the verge of collapse. Not long ago, Chinese President Xi Jinping was regularly having warm, friendly chats with Australia's Prime Ministers.

Duration: 2 minutes 7 seconds

Published: 14 Dec 2022Wed 14 Dec 2022 at 4:39amby Matthew Bevan

CHINA | S05 01 - Xi Jinping: The 'Man of Destiny'

At first glance, Chinese President Xi Jinping's life story seems simple. His father was a high-ranking Chinese government official, and opened doors for his son, who rose even higher.

Xi Jinping

Duration: 34 minutes 38 seconds

Published: 21 Jun 2021Mon 21 Jun 2021 at 5:21amby Matthew Bevan

CHINA | S05 02 - How Tiananmen is being repeated in Xinjiang

For decades Australia has taken the approach that when it comes to China; we can criticise their human rights record without risking our trading relationship.

Chinese troops patrol a major road in Beijing just days after the Tiananmen massacre.

Duration: 37 minutes 17 seconds

Published: 21 Jun 2021Mon 21 Jun 2021 at 5:21amby Matthew Bevan

CHINA | S05 Bonus episode - The story behind Bob Hawke’s mysterious Tiananmen Cable

In 1989, five days after tanks rolled into Tiananmen Square in Beijing and brutally ended weeks of protests, the then prime minister Bob Hawke gave a horrifying description of what Australia thought happened.

A man stands in front of a row of tanks

Duration: 17 minutes 15 seconds

Published: 21 Jun 2021Mon 21 Jun 2021 at 5:21amby Matthew Bevan

Season Four: America, If You're Listening

INTRODUCING Season Four | America, If You're Listening

The 2020 US Presidential election is shaping up to be a historical moment. Voters are deciding if the America of the last four years is the one they want to live in in the future.

Duration: 2 minutes 17 seconds

Published: 14 Dec 2022Wed 14 Dec 2022 at 4:41amby Matthew Bevan

AMERICA | S04 01 - What a hurricane taught Trump about being president

Hurricane Maria smashed through Puerto Rico in 2017, destroying everything in its wake.

Donald Trump throws paper towel rolls into a crowd of people.

Duration: 27 minutes 45 seconds

Published: 20 May 2021Thu 20 May 2021 at 3:34amby Matthew Bevan

AMERICA | S04 02 - The surprising story of how Donald Trump took on the NRA

The most powerful gun lobby group in the United States was brought to the edge of collapse. And right at that moment, Donald Trump vowed to do something about mass shootings.

Donald Trump NRA

Duration: 28 minutes 59 seconds

Published: 20 May 2021Thu 20 May 2021 at 3:36amby Matthew Bevan

AMERICA | S04 03 - How close did Trump get to nuclear war?

Within months of taking office, Donald Trump threatened North Korea with "fire and fury". Soon afterwards, he would tear up a nuclear deal with Iran and bring the US to the brink of war. And yet that war never came.

Donald Trump gestures to a chair as he and Kim Jong-un prepare to sign a document.

Duration: 32 minutes 40 seconds

Published: 20 May 2021Thu 20 May 2021 at 3:36amby Matthew Bevan

Season Three: Russia, If You're Listening

INTRODUCING Season Three | Putin vs The World

The Russian campaign to meddle in the 2016 US Election was only part of President Vladimir Putin's big plan.

Duration: 4 minutes 13 seconds

Published: 14 Dec 2022Wed 14 Dec 2022 at 4:28amby Matthew Bevan

RUSSIA | S03 01 - A cold, wet day in Salisbury

The residents of the sleepy English town of Salisbury woke up one morning to find their town in chaos. Russian agents had attempted to assassinate a traitor with a terrifying weapon, in a brazen chemical attack on British soil.

Investigators in chemical hazmat suits walk next to a police tent.

Duration: 18 minutes 43 seconds

Published: 20 May 2021Thu 20 May 2021 at 3:18amby Matthew Bevan

RUSSIA | S03 02 - From spymaster to president

Russian President Vladimir Putin came to power declaring he would kill his terrorist enemies, even if they were in the toilet at the time.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin rides a horse, shirtless, in southern Siberia's Tuva region

Duration: 20 minutes 24 seconds

Published: 20 May 2021Thu 20 May 2021 at 3:18amby Matthew Bevan

RUSSIA | S03 03 - How to spin a war

When is an invasion not an invasion? When Putin's propaganda machine is involved, sowing false narratives, confusion and fear.

Armed man patrols Ukraine's Simferopol airport

Duration: 21 minutes 17 seconds

Published: 20 May 2021Thu 20 May 2021 at 3:20amby Matthew Bevan

Season Two: Russia, If You're Listening

RUSSIA | S02 01 - Trump's best day ever

After 22 months Mueller's report has dropped. But it hasn't been made public - yet. US Attorney General Bill Barr has the report in his hot hands - and according to him - Mueller found no evidence of collusion.

Special counsel Robert Mueller and his wife Ann leave St John's Episcopal Church.

Duration: 17 minutes 42 seconds

Published: 20 May 2021Thu 20 May 2021 at 2:51amby Matthew Bevan

RUSSIA | S02 02 - Maria Butina: Russian in the NRA

An undercover Australian journalist from Al Jazeera spent three years inside the National Rifle Association of America. He wasn't the only one trying figure it out. Simultaneously, a Russian secret agent was trying to infiltrate the NRA.

US pro-gun advocate Maria Butina has been charged in the US for conspiracy.

Duration: 18 minutes 52 seconds

Published: 20 May 2021Thu 20 May 2021 at 2:52amby Matthew Bevan

RUSSIA | S02 03 - Rob Goldstone: 'I regret all of it'

Affable Englishman Rob Goldstone was literally in the room for the infamous Trump Tower Meeting, and he was with Donald Trump the weekend of the mythical "pee tape".

A picture of British publicist, music manager, and former tabloid journalist Rob Goldstone outside a building in Washington DC

Duration: 19 minutes 31 seconds

Published: 20 May 2021Thu 20 May 2021 at 2:53amby Matthew Bevan

RUSSIA | S02 04 - Sergey Kislyak: The radioactive ambassador

Everyone who meets Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak ends up in deep trouble.

Donald Trump stands in the centre of the white house talking to Sergey Lavrov and Sergei Kislyak

Duration: 17 minutes 54 seconds

Published: 20 May 2021Thu 20 May 2021 at 2:55amby Matthew Bevan

Season One: Russia, If You're Listening

RUSSIA | S01 01 - Donald Trump: A Russian love affair

Donald Trump has always claimed he has "nothing to do with Russia" but is that true? What if Trump was caught in a Russian web, long before he even considered a career in politics? This is the first episode of the ABC's new podcast, Russia, If…

Donald Trump at the American Farm Bureau Federation convention.

Duration: 11 minutes 50 seconds

Published: 20 May 2021Thu 20 May 2021 at 2:20am

RUSSIA | S01 02 - Vladimir Putin: The man with a grudge

The spy from St Petersburg and the lawyer from Chicago. Why does Russia's president have such a deep and abiding hatred for Hillary Clinton? This is the second episode of Russia, If You're Listening.

Vladimir Putin stands in the snow.

Duration: 11 minutes 49 seconds

Published: 20 May 2021Thu 20 May 2021 at 2:21amby Matt Bevan

RUSSIA | S01 03 - The Oligarchs: Money and power

The oligarchs hold the power and the money in Russia. So who are they and why does your average Russian billionaire care about who sits in The White House? This is the third episode of Russia, If You're Listening.

A series of large buildings with golden domes

Duration: 14 minutes 5 seconds

Published: 20 May 2021Thu 20 May 2021 at 2:23amby Matthew Bevan

RUSSIA | S01 04 - George Papadopoulos: The coffee boy

George Papadopoulos is the first known link between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Paul Manafort's former aide George Papadopoulos holding a briefcase.

Duration: 18 minutes 43 seconds

Published: 20 May 2021Thu 20 May 2021 at 2:24amby Matthew Bevan

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