Diplomates - A Geopolitical Chinwag

30/12/2023

Will democracy survive in 2024?

In our final ep of ‘23 Misha Zelinsky and Hagar Chemali run their eye over the big issues:

— Israel/Hamas war
— Ukraine aid
— ‘elections’ in autocracies
— the politics of assassinations

Plus the BIG 2024 predictions!

Listen now!

And thanks to everyone who has supported the show this year!

https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/diplomates-a-geopolitical-chinwag/id1440590206?i=1000639081858

29/12/2023

Not a bad result for our little nerdy chat!

Top Podcasts 2023
These were the 100 most popular podcasts on Great Australian Pods in 2023. These podcast entries piqued the most visitor interest and attracted the greatest number of page views.

https://www.greataustralianpods.com/top-podcasts-2023/

09/10/2023

The horrific and senseless terror attacks in Israel have shocked the world.

Misha Zelinsky and Hagar Chemali caught up to discuss the impacts of the attack, what happens next and what this means for the Middle East as well as global geopolitics.

https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/diplomates-a-geopolitical-chinwag/id1440590206?i=1000630698948

💔🇮🇱

20/07/2023

New ep w Luke Harding of The Guardian!

We talk all things Ukraine:

— did the world get Putin wrong?
— what can the world do now to help
— the latest in the conflict
— will Putin be toppled?
— the global stakes
— how this ends

Listen now!

https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/diplomates-a-geopolitical-chinwag/id1440590206?i=1000621648904

31/03/2023

New ep w Hagar Chemali

Listen here: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/diplomates-a-geopolitical-chinwag/id1440590206?i=1000606589475

We talk:

Xi in Moscow, Kishida in Kyiv.

A new Cold War?

Trump arrest.

China as Middle East power broker.

Israel protests, what next for Bibi?

Deep fake Popes endangering democracy.

Lebanese daylight saving politics!

And MORE!

14/03/2023

The AUKUS episode w Dr Mike Green of United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney

Listen now: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/diplomates-a-geopolitical-chinwag/id1440590206?i=1000604127531

Misha and Mike chat all things !

– why the US shared nuclear secrets.
– what nuclear submarines can do.
– the task ahead for Australia.
– Xi Jinping: the ‘godfather’ of AUKUS.
– AUKUS ‘phase 2’ technologies.
– how to maintain peace in the Indo-Pacific.

Listen now!

‎Show Diplomates – A Geopolitical Chinwag, Ep Dr Mike Green: All About AUKUS — Subs, Tech and China - 14 Mar 2023

02/03/2023

New ep of the pod w the amazing Hagar Chemali

Listen here: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/diplomates-a-geopolitical-chinwag/id1440590206?i=1000602071782

Mr Biden goes to Kyiv!

We talk:

Why Biden's visit to Kyiv was a baller moved
Can Putin survive?
Should dictators be kicked out of NATO/EU once they’re in?
Will Xi bail out Putin?
Why earthquakes threaten Erdogan's grip on power.
Bears in Zoos, North Korea, and spy balloons

‎Show Diplomates – A Geopolitical Chinwag, Ep Mr Biden goes to Kyiv: Zelensky, Putin and Xi — Chinwags with Misha and Hagar Chemali - 28 Feb 2023

14/02/2023

New ep w human rights legend and Magnitsky sanctions champion, Bill Browder.

Listen here: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/diplomates-a-geopolitical-chinwag/id1440590206?i=1000599558657

Misha and Bill talk:

How he became an enemy of Putin’s Russia.
How the world could’ve stopped Putin before his invasion.
Seizing and freezing Russian assets.
Strengthening sanctions.
What to make of dead oligarchs.
Russian democracy.

And more!

About Bill Browder.

Bill Browder is the head of the Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign the author of Red Notice and Freezing Order.

Bill was the largest foreign investor in Russia until 2005, when he was denied entry to the country and declared “a threat to national security” for exposing corruption in Russian state-owned companies.

In 2008, Browder’s lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, uncovered a massive fraud committed by Russian government officials that involved the theft of US $230 million of state taxes. Sergei testified against state officials involved in this fraud and was subsequently arrested, imprisoned without trial and systematically tortured. He spent a year in prison under horrific detention conditions, was repeatedly denied medical treatment, and died in prison on November 16, 2009, leaving behind a wife and two children.

Since then, Mr. Browder has sought justice outside of Russia and started a global campaign for governments around the world to impose targeted visa bans and asset freezes on human rights abusers and highly corrupt officials. The United States was the first to impose these targeted sanctions with the passage of the Sergei Magnitsky Accountability Act in 2012, followed by the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act in 2016.

‎Show Diplomates – A Geopolitical Chinwag, Ep Bill Browder: Sending Putin Broke — Dirty Money, Oligarchs and Sanctions - 14 Feb 2023

01/02/2023

New ep of Diplomates — Exporting Insurrections, Tankplomacy and Biden’s Corvette with Hagar Chemali

Listen here: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/diplomates-a-geopolitical-chinwag/id1440590206?i=1000597407486

Misha and Hagar talk:

Brazil insurrection, why this matters, including links to Trump and US far right identities.

Tanks heading to Ukraine and Putin’s energy blackmail failing.

Iran protests, including rapes and tortures and soldiers opening fire on protestors.

The ‘Israeli’ strike on an Iranian drone facility.

China’s dodgy Covid and population numbers and Xi’s attempts to reset global relations.

Secret files next to Biden’s corvette and how you are should handle classified materials.

George Santos. ‘Nuff said!

Putin’s threat to kill Bojo.

And more!

‎Show Diplomates – A Geopolitical Chinwag, Ep Exporting insurrections, Tankplomacy and Biden’s Corvette — Chinwags with Misha and Hagar Chemali - 31 Jan 2023

17/01/2023

New ep of Diplomates w Major General Mick Ryan.

War Transformed: Ukraine, Russia and the Future of War.

Listen here: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/diplomates-a-geopolitical-chinwag/id1440590206?i=1000594959981

We talk:

Putin’s new generals and Russia’s strategy.
Ukraine’s military innovations.
New age info wars.
Why leadership is critical to military success.
What Australia should do to help.
What happens in 2023, including who might win.
Why Ukraine is frontline in the struggle for democracy.

LISTEN NOW!

‎Show Diplomates – A Geopolitical Chinwag, Ep Major General Mick Ryan — War Transformed: Ukraine, Russia and the Future of War - 17 Jan 2023

21/12/2022

New Diplomates is out! Has the world reached peak autocrat? Listen now!

Listen here: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/diplomates-a-geopolitical-chinwag/id1440590206?i=1000590787166

Misha Zelinsky and Hagar Chemali chat about:

FIFA World Cup and Qatari sports washing.

Xi’s China COVID Zero trap and why autocrats are doomed to fail

Britney Griner, hostage diplomacy and a shift in US policy

Iranian protests continue.

So does Elon’s Twitter meltdown.

And Trump. Remember him?

Merry Christmas to everyone — except the autocrats!

‎Show Diplomates – A Geopolitical Chinwag, Ep Has the world reached Peak Autocrat? — Xi, Putin, Elon and Donald - 20 Dec 2022

08/12/2022

What does Xi Jinping want?

What are his plans for the world? And why is Xi’s ideology so poorly understood?

Listen to the latest ep with the legendary Peter Hartcher of the Sydney Morning Herald!

Thanks to everyone for making Diplomates number 7 in Australia!

https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/diplomates-a-geopolitical-chinwag/id1440590206

06/12/2022

New ep with Peter Hartcher, the legendary Sydney Morning Herald and The Age foreign and political editor.

Misha and Peter discuss:

— China protests
— What Xi Jinping wants
— CCP ideology
— Putin, Xi; Ukraine and Taiwan
— AUKUS subs
— How Australia stood up to CCP bullying
— the global struggle against autocracts

Listen now! 👇🏼👇🏼

‎Show Diplomates – A Geopolitical Chinwag, Ep Peter Hartcher: What does Xi Jinping want? China, Australia and the global struggle for freedom. - 6 Dec 2022

20/11/2022

DIPLOMATES TURNS 50!

Check out our new 50th episode of the pod w Hagar Chemali

With SO much going on in the world, Misha and Hagar have a chinwag about:

Why Trump is the biggest loser from the US mid terms.
What happens next in Ukraine and avoiding WW3.
G20 and COP27 wrap.
Latest from Iran protests.
Elon’s Twitter meltdown.
FIFA’s Qatar humiliation.

And more! Listen now! 👇🏼👇🏼

https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/diplomates-a-geopolitical-chinwag/id1440590206?i=1000586855470

30/09/2022

New ep w anti-Putin freedom fighter Evgenia Kara-Murza.

Listen here: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/diplomates-a-geopolitical-chinwag/id1440590206?i=1000581114099

We talk:

Ukraine war.
Russian war crimes.
The political arrest of husband Vladimir Kara-Murza who is in Russian prison.
How the West indulged Putin.
What Russia after Putin looks like.
Why Ukraine must win.

Episode 49. Russia without Putin? Ukraine, War Crimes, and Political Resistence

Evgenia Kara-Murza, is a Russian dissident and campaigner for democratic change in Russia.

Evgenia is the wife of Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian politician, author, and historian who is currently jailed in Russia as a political prisoner of Vladimir Putin. Kara-Murza played a key role in the establishment of Magnitsky laws around the world and has been a long time opponent of Vladimir Putin. He is the survivor of two assassination attempts.

Evgenia is the advocacy coordinator for the Free Russia Foundation, which seeks to give a voice to those repressed by the current Russian government and informs the world about the situation in Russia.

Misha Zelinsky caught up with Evgenia to discuss the war in Ukraine, Russian war crimes, why the West ignored Putin for too long, Russian political opposition, why Ukraine must win, and what a post Putin Russia might look like one day.

You can follow Evgenia and Vladimir here: and

You can following Misha Zelinsky who is reporting for the Australian Financial Review from inside Ukraine here:

About Vladimir Kara-Murza

A longtime colleague of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, he has served as deputy leader of the People’s Freedom Party and was a candidate for the Russian Parliament. Kara-Murza played a key role in the passage of “Magnitsky laws” in countries around the world – including the UK, the U.S., and Canada – that imposed personal sanctions on Russian officials involved in human rights abuses.

Twice, in 2015 and 2017, he was targeted for assassination by poisoning by operatives of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) who were later identified in a media investigation by Bellingcat, The Insider, and Der Spiegel. In April 2022 Kara-Murza was arrested and has since been imprisoned in Moscow for his public opposition to Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine.

He has been designated as a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International. Kara-Murza is the author or contributor of several books and documentaries on Russian politics and history. He has worked as a journalist for Russian and Western media organizations, including Kommersant, Echo of Moscow, and the BBC; and writes a regular column for The Washington Post. He is a recipient of a number of international prizes, including the Geneva Summit Courage Award, the Sakharov Prize for Journalism as an Act of Conscience, and the Magnitsky Human Rights Award. He holds an M.A. (Cantab.) in History from Cambridge.

‎Show Diplomates – A Geopolitical Chinwag, Ep Russia without Putin? Ukraine, War Crimes, and Political Resistance - 29 Sept 2022

12/08/2022

New ep w Vasyl Myroshnychenko Ukraine’s Ambassaor to Oz. 🇺🇦🇦🇺

Listen here: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/diplomates-a-geopolitical-chinwag/id1440590206?i=1000575719473

We talk:

Latest in the war.
What the world can do to help.
What Ukrainians want for the future.
Putin and Russian war crimes.
How the world got Putin wrong.
The fight for democracy.

And why Ukraine’s future matters to us all.

Please share and promote this chat widely. The war is still underway, and we most do everything we can.

✌🏼🦘🇺🇦

BIG chat.👇🏼👇🏼