The Munk Debates Podcast
Episodes
Friday Focus: Trump's plan to weaken Canada so he can annex it
07 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...
Friday Focus: Zelensky clashes with Trump and Canada faces tariff threats - again
28 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...
Munk Debates Podcast: Stephen Walt and Evelyn Farkas on Trump's plan for Ukraine and the changing world order
28 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Harvard Kennedy School's Stephen Walt and the McCain Institute's Executive Director Evelyn Farkas join us to debate and discuss what a good peace...
Friday Focus: Trump attacks Zelensky and Xi Jinping sees an opportunity
21 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...
Be it Resolved, don't trust mainstream media
20 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On this special edition of the Munk Debates podcast, we are bringing you the best moments from the Munk Debate on media bias, which took place in the ...
Friday Focus: Plans to end the war in Ukraine and momentum for Mark Carney
14 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...
Munk Debates Podcast: Gaza, tariffs, and a constitutional showdown
12 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Washington Post columnist Megan McArdle and Vox senior correspondent Zack Beachamp unpack President Trump's plans for Gaza, closing USAID, and what we...
Friday Focus: Tariff reversal and Trump's shocking plan for Gaza
07 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...
Be it resolved, liberalism gets the big questions right
05 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Liberal democracy has long been credited with the West’s economic development, social tolerance, personal freedoms, and the rule of law. And yet...
Friday Focus Special Episode: Day One of The Canada-U.S. tariff war
02 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The following is a special episode of Friday Focus featuring Janice and Rudyard in conversation with The Hub’s editor-at-large Sean Speer. They ...
Friday Focus: Canada needs a better response to Trump's tariffs
31 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...
Munk Debate Podcast: Elon Musk embraces the far-right and Trump ends DEI
30 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On the first episode of our new series on politics and culture, Washington Post columnist Megan McArdle and Vox senior correspondent Zack Beachamp deb...
Friday Focus: Trump doubles down & Canada prepares for tariffs
24 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...
Be it resolved, the gentle parenting ethos raises happier children
23 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If you're a new parent, you've probably heard the term 'gentle parenting'. It's the latest trend that has taken hold among millennials who reject the ...
Friday Focus: Gaza ceasefire - Trump prepares to take office
17 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...
Friday Focus: Trump's territorial aspirations - Liberal leadership race
10 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...
Munk Dialogue with Rudyard Griffiths and Ricki Gurwitz: the Munk Debates in 2025
09 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On this special edition of the Munk Debates podcast, host Rudyard Griffiths and managing director Ricki Gurwitz take listeners behind the scenes of ou...
Friday Focus: Trudeau's January and lone wolf terrorist attacks
03 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...
Friday Focus: A Year in Canadian Politics
27 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...
Be it Resolved, history will be kind to Joe Biden
24 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
“Together, we shall write an American story of hope, not fear” Joe Biden proclaimed as he took his oath of office in January 2021. His sup...
Friday Focus: A crisis in Ottawa - Canada as the 51st state?
20 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...
Munk Dialogue with Stephen Moore: why Trump's tariff plans will benefit Americans
18 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Donald Trump’s plan to impose high tariffs on all goods coming into the US, including a 25% tax on items imported from Mexico and Canada, has le...
Friday Focus: Trump's tariff plan and Canada's soaring debt
13 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...
Munk Dialogue with Michael Weiss: how Assad's fall is reshaping the Middle East
10 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Bashar al-Assad has fled to Russia. Rebel leaders have taken over Damascus. And hundreds of thousands of refugees from the country’s long civil ...
Friday Focus: Democracies in trouble - a controversial political pardon
06 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...
Munk Dialogue with Raja Mohan: the Canada-India relationship hits a new low
03 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently announced that six Indian diplomats were being expelled from Canada due to an alleged campaign to threaten and ...
Friday Focus: Trump Tariffs – Lebanon Ceasefire
29 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...
Be it Resolved, DEI workplace programs do more harm than good
28 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the wake of George Floyd’s murder and the protests that followed in the summer of 2020, offices across North America began introducing Diversity,...
Friday Focus: Ukraine's dangerous escalation against Russia and the ICC issues arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant
22 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...
Friday Focus: Trump takes a wrecking ball to America's governing institutions
21 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...
Be it Resolved, Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in the assassination of JFK
21 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It’s America’s greatest unsolved murder: who shot JFK? On the 60th anniversary of the Warren Commission, we debate who was really behind the assas...
Munk Dialogue with Jeff Weaver: a sober wake-up call for the Democrats
11 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As Democrats are left wondering how their candidate could lose so badly, so decisively, to a man who is not only loathed by half the country but denou...
Friday Focus: Democrats point fingers and Iran threats another strike on Israel
08 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...
Friday Focus: special US election episode
06 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On this special edition of the Friday Focus podcast, Rudyard and Janice react to the election of Donald Trump. Voters this time around knew who Trump ...
Friday Focus: the US election enters the final stretch and North Korean troops join the war in Ukraine
01 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...
Be it Resolved, don’t stop now. The U.S. should join Israel and take out Iran’s nuclear program
01 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Israel’s retaliatory air strikes against Iran last week targeted strategic military locations, including drone and ballistic missile manufacturing s...
Friday Focus: A consequential election and serious warnings about Donald Trump
25 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...
Be it Resolved, cultural appropriation is part of the American experience.
22 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The release of the country album “Cowboy Carter” by Beyoncé this spring caused some surprising controversy. Some complained Beyoncé, who is Bl...
Friday Focus: the death of Yahya Sinwar and Trump's worrying economic plans
18 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...
Friday Focus: How will Israel respond to Iran?
11 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...
Munk Dialogue with Dan Senor: a defining moment for Israel
10 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For those who have been following the chaos unfolding in the Middle East since October 7th, Dan Senor needs no introduction. A former political foreig...
Be it Resolved, the UK needs migration for its future prosperity
09 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The fatal stabbing of three young girls at a dance class in Southport, England set off one of the worst periods of unrest across the UK. Mobs motivate...
Friday Focus: A Shape-Shifting Moment in the Middle East
04 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...
Munk Dialogue with Yossi Klein Halevi: Israel's next move
02 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Israelis are reeling from a massive Iranian ballistic missile attack which forced over 10 million people to take cover in bomb shelters and threatened...
Friday Focus: Israel pushes forward in Lebanon and Putin changes Russia's nuclear doctrine
27 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...
Munk Dialogue with Adam Kirsch: the dangerous ideology behind settler colonialism
26 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On this Munk Dialogue we are talking about an academic theory that has become ubiquitous with criticism of Israel and to a larger extent, the West. Ad...
Friday Focus: Israel's pager attacks have changed the rules of war
20 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...
Be it Resolved, Baby Boomers have knee-capped the prospects of future generations
17 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Thanks to their sheer numbers, Baby Boomers have always had an outsize effect on politics and policy. When they were young and liberal, society became...
Friday Focus: Staring Down the Barrel of a NATO-Russia War
13 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...
Be it Resolved, Israel must agree to a hostage deal
12 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Following the execution of six Israeli hostages in Gaza, Israeli protesters are demanding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agree to a cease-fire deal...
Friday Focus: Judicial reforms in Mexico and Putin changes his nuclear doctrine
06 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...
Munk Dialogue with Ayaan Hirsi Ali: why the UK is facing a clash of civilizations
04 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Western societies have never been more divided. As the election race heats up in the US, both parties are accusing the other of being a threat to demo...
Friday Focus: Israel on the Offensive and Kamala Harris's Foreign Policy
30 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...
Munk Dialogue with Dmitri Trenin: when nuclear war becomes inevitable
27 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
While the war between Russia and Ukraine drags into its third year and out of the front pages of newspapers, some surprising developments in recent mo...
Friday Focus: Kamala's "vibes" and a final push for a ceasefire deal
23 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...
Be it Resolved, Bibi is the best Prime Minister for an Israel at war
19 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Israel is facing an existential crisis on all fronts. A devastating war in Gaza. Nonstop rocket attacks from Hezbollah in Lebanon. Drone attacks from ...
Friday Focus: The Middle East on tenterhooks and Putin's military blunder
16 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...
Be it Resolved, Kamala Harris is the Democrats' best hope to defeat Donald Trump
13 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Within hours of Joe Biden’s announcement that he was bowing out of the presidential race Kamala Harris became the presumptive Democratic nominee. Wi...
Friday Focus: Israel waits for Iran's response and Ukraine's surprising offensive into Russia
09 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The sh...
Be it resolved, the gentle parenting ethos raises happier children
06 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
If you're a new parent, you've probably heard the term 'gentle parenting'. It's the latest trend that has taken hold among millennials who reject the ...
Be it Resolved, Ukraine should be admitted to NATO
30 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
“We will continue to support Ukraine on its irreversible path to NATO membership”. It was this statement by NATO members at a recent summit in Was...
Munk Dialogue with Jeff Weaver: a new race for the White House
24 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of the presidential race sent shockwaves across the US - and indeed much of the world - as the Democrats are scramb...
Be it Resolved, journalism schools are bad for journalism
15 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We have never been more polarized. Echo chambers promote information that confirms people’s preconceived notions, regardless of whether the facts pr...
Be it Resolved, Joe Biden must step down
09 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
**Munk Debate members can vote on who they think won the debate at www.munkdebates.com** Joe Biden’s disastrous performance in his debate against...
Munk Dialogue with John Mackey: Adventures in Love, Life, and Capitalism
05 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On this Munk Dialogue we are speaking with one of the most successful and well known entrepreneurs of the past 50 years. John Mackey was a 24 year old...
Be it Resolved, anti-Zionism is antisemitism
25 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On this special edition of the Munk Debates podcast we are sharing the opening statements from the Munk Debate on anti-Zionism, which took place on Ju...
Munk Dialogue with David Ignatius: Space as the future of warfare
18 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
One could be forgiven for thinking reality, these days, is stranger than fiction. Fears of civil war in the United States if Donald Trump doesn’t ...
Munk Dialogue with Douglas Murray, Natasha Hausdorff, Mehdi Hasan and Gideon Levy: Looking ahead to the Munk Debate on Anti-Zionism
11 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On June 17th four debaters will take to the stage at Toronto’s Roy Thomson Hall for a sold out debate on Anti-Zionism. The motion up for debate: Be ...
Munk Dialogue with David E. Sanger: New Cold Wars
04 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
About thirty years ago, the world seemed to be entering what President George H.W. Bush called “a new world order” – a world where capitalism wa...
Be it Resolved, Israel is committing genocide in Gaza
28 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The world “genocide” was first coined in the 1940s to describe the Nazi slaughter of millions of Jews. So it is in a sense surreal that the coun...
Be it Resolved, the elites have betrayed America
21 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Long-held notions of the role of government, trade and economic policy, foreign policy and immigration are being challenged by populist thinkers and m...
Be it Resolved, campus protesters are on the right side of history.
14 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For the protesters and their supporters, the pro-Palestinian campus demonstrations across the globe are part of a proud tradition of student activism ...
Munk Dialogue with Charles Asher Small: Qatar's influence on campus protests
06 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
University students across North America have set up encampments to protest Israel's war in Gaza. These demonstrations are well organized and supplied...
Be it Resolved, Israel should take out Iran’s nuclear facilities.
30 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Iran’s missile and drone barrage at Israel earlier this month was the most brazen attack the Islamic Republic has ever conducted against the Jewish ...
Munk Dialogue with Ambassador Dennis Ross: a new Middle East strategy
23 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
One of the most volatile regions in the world seems to be sitting on a tinder box. How can the international community avoid tensions between Israel a...
Munk Dialogue with Gregg Carlstrom: Israel and Iran's shadow war explodes into the open
15 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Middle East, a region already mired in conflict due to the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, just got a lot more dangerous. In response to a r...
Munk Dialogue with Richard Haass: a crumbling world order
09 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We are in the midst of one of the most dangerous and unstable geopolitical moments in recent history. Wars are intensifying in Ukraine and the Middle ...
Be it Resolved, TikTok is a national security threat and should be sold or banned.
03 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
TikTok is one of the most popular social media sites on the planet. But concerns have been growing over TikTok’s ability to collect massive amounts ...
Be it Resolved, American workers have never had it so good
28 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The US economy is booming. Public investments in infrastructure, education, clean energy, and more is accelerating labour productivity, growing wages,...
Be it Resolved, Donald Trump is a weak general election candidate.
18 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
If recent polls are to be believed, Donald Trump is poised to become the President, for the second time, of the United States of America. Yet some obs...
Munk Dialogue with Rose Gottemoeller: assessing Russia’s nuclear threats
13 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Following the Cold War, the US and Russia entered into a series of arms control treaties that gave the world hope that, one day, nuclear weapons may b...
Munk Dialogue with Gilead Sher: why a two-state solution is the only viable path to peace
06 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For decades, the two-state solution has been held up as the best chance for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. But in the aftermath of October 7...
Be it Resolved, the Democrats need a new nominee
27 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
“An elderly man with a poor memory”. That is how a special counsel report described Joe Biden, president of the United States. Public appearances ...
Munk Dialogue with Sarah Paine: the rise of the Russia-China axis
22 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Most geopolitical experts agree that we have entered into a new cold war. The rise of the China-Russia axis and its threat to the international rules-...
Be it Resolved, western governments must resume funding to UNRWA
12 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
14 countries, including Canada and the US, suspended funding to the U.N.’s Palestinian Refugee Agency in response to Israeli allegations that 12 emp...
Munk Dialogue with John Mearsheimer: why Ukraine needs to break ties with the West
07 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In May 2022, just a few months into the war between Russia and Ukraine, we convened a public debate in Toronto about whether the West needed to acknow...
Munk Dialogue with David Horovitz: is it possible to defeat Hamas?
30 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Despite international pressure and the threat of a wider regional conflict, Israel has made clear their intention to keep fighting until Hamas has bee...
Munk Dialogue with Michael Knights: Houthi attacks in the Red Sea
24 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
US airstrikes don’t appear to be deterring Houthi rebels in the Red Sea. The Yemen-based militant group has continued their attacks on commercial sh...
Munk Dialogue with Lenore Skenazy: the importance of raising free-range kids
18 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Teenagers are facing a mental health epidemic. The numbers are staggering: 30% of teenage girls and 10% of teenage boys are suffering from depression,...
Munk Dialogue with Greg Lukianoff: how to fix higher education
10 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Claudine Gay, the first black female president of Harvard, faced intense scrutiny since her widely criticized congressional testimony on campus antise...
Munk Dialogue with Zhou Bo: Why China sees Taiwan as its biggest national security concern
02 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On this Munk Dialogue we are speaking to one of China’s leading experts on military strategy and security. Zhou Bo is a retired senior colonel of Ch...
The best debates of 2023
27 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this special edition of the Munk Debates podcast, host Rudyard Griffiths is joined by senior content producer, Ricki Gurwitz, to discuss some of th...
Munk Dialogue with Michael Geist: Why the Online News Act is a policy disaster
19 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Amid years of decline in news ad revenue and a rapidly changing media landscape, the Canadian government introduced Bill C-18, the Online News Act. Th...
Be it Resolved, Henry Kissinger was one of history’s great statesmen
12 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Henry Kissinger, the former US Secretary of State who helped shape Cold War history, is a man both revered and reviled. To his supporters, he was a ...
Munk Dialogue with Yossi Klein Halevi: for Israel, this is a war of necessity
07 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It’s been two months since Hamas’s surprise attack on Israel that killed 1200 people, took 240 hostage, and shook the country to its core. October...
Be it Resolved, the western media has an anti-Israel bias
28 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Within one week of the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, the BBC received more than 1,500 complaints relating to its coverage of the Israel-Hamas c...
Munk Dialogue with John Spencer: how to dismantle Hamas terror tunnels
20 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this episode of the Munk Debate podcast we’re talking about one of the biggest challenges facing the Israeli army in Gaza: Hamas tunnels. These t...
Be it Resolved, liberalism gets the big questions right
14 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This is the podcast version of our public debate on the Crisis of Liberalism that took place in front of an audience of 3,000 people in Toronto on Nov...
Munk Dialogue with Mohamed El-Erian: A plan to fix a fractured world
09 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The last two decades have seen the world economy cascade from crisis to crisis: from the global financial crisis of 2008, to increasing economic inequ...
Munk Dialogue with Leon Cooperman: anti-semitism on college campuses
02 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this Munk Dialogue we’re speaking to American billionaire investor Leon Cooperman. Leon is as famous for his candid conversations as his success ...