532. The Trump-Xi Showdown and Putin’s Conscription Con
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Thanks for listening to The Rest Is Politics. To support the podcast, listen without the adverts and get early access to episodes and live show tickets, go to therestispolitics.com. That's therestispolitics.com. On Iran, I mean, it may be that Trump basically has to say, I've got myself into a bit of a mess. You see, you could have a word with your friends in Iran.
Then they'll be looking for a concession on Taiwan. The US continues to have a formal position saying, we do not support Taiwanese independence.
And they want to change to, we oppose. Taiwan, Japan and South Korea will be watching this with incredible confidence. nervousness. You can brief him and he'll listen and he'll read and he can, it looks like he's taking it in, but he does tend to gravitate towards what the strong bad leader wants.
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What are the implications of Trump's visit to China?
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Welcome to the Restless Politics Question Time with me, Rory Stewart. And me, Alistair Campbell. So, huge news this week. President Trump is on his way to China. First US presidential visit in almost a decade. The two great superpowers getting together at a time when the world is crumbling. Are they going to be able to reshape the new world order? And in Russia, Ukraine, signs that Russia may be more on the back foot. Are strains appearing in the Russian economy with Russian recruitment? Or is this just part of an ongoing saga where we change our minds every few months about who's on the losing side? And then I think we'll get into some lighter questions, but interesting ones too, on the spirit of trees and some thoughts about books.
Let's start with China. So the question, and then I'll do a little explainer, will Trump's meeting with Xi and China bring any kind of positive developments, including in terms of Iran? Basically, this is the biggest story in geopolitics. The American and Chinese economies together are now about half of the whole global economy. We're in a world which feels like a bipolar age. Those are the two big giants. And you've got the US spending about a trillion dollars a year on defense. You've got China spending probably in purchasing power parity terms about half of that, maybe $500 billion in PPP terms, but less in real dollars. And then you've got countries like Germany, UK, India, who are more like $100 billion, or in the UK case, about $85 billion.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–1:31
2
What are the implications of Trump's visit to China?
1:31–5:20
3
How might Trump negotiate Taiwan's security in relation to Iran?
5:20–11:05
4
What is the current state of the Russia-Ukraine war?
11:05–15:28
5
How is Russia recruiting foreign fighters for the Ukraine conflict?
15:28–20:12
6
What challenges is Russia facing in the Ukraine war?
20:12–26:25
7
What are the potential outcomes of the Trump-Xi meeting?
26:25–31:46
8
How does the global economic landscape affect U.S.-China relations?
31:46–56:00
Speakers
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567. Who Really Benefits from AI and Will Data Centres Decide the Midterms?