Mutiny in Moscow: why it’s not all over for Vladimir Putin

Will we have a May General election? Will there be massive Conservative defeat in any Election that we do have this year? And what’s the economy got to do with it? 

Here to answer those questions are the Former Chancellor who gave us the infamous mini-budget of 2022, Kwasi Kwarteng, and the former Labour Party leader and Mother of the House, Harriet Harman. They join Krishnan Guru-Murthy and Channel 4 News’ Political Editor, Gary Gibbon to discuss Jeremy Hunt’s Budget announcement yesterday, income tax cuts, and why, in their view, the Conservatives are starting to look a lot like the Labour party.

Produced by Alice Wagstaffe, Silvia Maresca and Shaheen Sattar.

In the 110 days since the war started, over 25,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's offensive on Gaza, prompting the charity Oxfam to describe it as the ‘deadliest conflict of the 21st century’. It follows the October 7 attacks by Hamas that saw 1,200 people killed and around 240 taken hostage in Israel. There is huge pressure internationally for a new ceasefire and hostage release deal to alleviate the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza and the remaining Israeli hostages held by Hamas.

In this episode of The Fourcast we speak with Jan Egeland, a former diplomat who helped draw up the 1993 peace agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, the Oslo Accords.

Egeland, who is now the Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, tells Krishnan Guru-Murthy that the scale of civilian carnage in Gaza makes it clear that this is not a conflict between equals. He also looks at the ‘hypocritical’ position of many Western governments who have been quick to call out Russia’s aggression on Ukraine but are not doing the same with Israel’s attacks on Palestine, and looks at how the conflict could worsen going forward if a two-state solution is not reached.

Produced by Shaheen Sattar and Alice Wagstaffe

A four day temporary cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas has been extended by two days, and brings a glimmer of relief and hope to Palestinians in Gaza. Momentum from this brings the possibility of even more Israeli hostages and Palestinian detainees being released.

Over 14,000 Palestinians have been killed, one-third of them children, since the onset of Israel’s siege in Gaza on October 9th, according to the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry. It followed the October 7 attacks by Hamas that killed 1,200 people in Israel and around 240 were taken hostage.

In this episode of The Fourcast, we speak with the Palestinian Ambassador to the UK, Husam Zomlot. He’s a part of the Palestinian Authority that governs areas in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. We look at the wider ramifications of the Israel-Hamas war, and what it does to damage a secure and prosperous future for the Palestinians.

A warning, this episode contains graphic descriptions of violence and warfare.

Pressure on Israel to pause fighting and allow humanitarian aid into Gaza is growing, with leaders around the world including President Biden calling for a multiple day long ceasefire. Meanwhile, negotiations are continuing in Qatar for the release of hostages - Netanyahu says he won't allow a ceasefire unless hostages are released.

The Israel-Hamas war has already killed more than 10,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas appointed Gaza Health Ministry, and Israel has come under fire for what the UN calls a collective punishment of Palestinians for the atrocities of Hamas.

In this special episode of The Fourcast, Krishnan Guru-Murthy speaks to Israel's Ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely. She's a member of the right-wing Likud party in Israel, and was Minister for Settlements before becoming Ambassador. We look at why Israel is continuing its bombardment of Gaza, what the endgame is - can Hamas really be eradicated? And whether she has any empathy for the Palestinians during this war.

At the Nato summit this week, the star attraction was President Zelenskyy of Ukraine. But while he knew he was among friends - and allies were keen to emphasise their continuing support - he came with a clear demand: let Ukraine join the Nato alliance. 

But even before his arrival, the mood music suggested that Ukraine was not going to be offered membership to Nato, nor was it going to be given a clear timetable on how and when it could join.

With President Erodgan of Turkey also holding up Sweden’s membership, it seemed like Nato had some trouble ahead of the summit.

But then things changed. On the eve of the summit, Erdogan said he was stopping his blocking of Sweden’s application, and during the summit, President Zelenskyy appeared to accept that even if membership was not forthcoming, the head of Nato was clear that it might come one day.

But how might the war come to an end? And why can’t Ukraine join now, to deter Russia? In today’s episode, we put these questions to Emma Ashford, an expert on Russia and Europe at the foreign affairs think tank, The Stimson Centre. I spoke to her about Nato, the war, and how it might conclude.

The story of the sinking of the Titan submersible dominated news headlines. Five people killed underwater. That same week, our international correspondent Paraic O’Brian was also reporting on people drowning at sea. 

In a small port in Tunisia, 11 people died after their boat, full of asylum seekers and refugees, capsized on its way to Europe.

One story, but it happens all the time. 

It is an ongoing crisis in the Mediterranean, claiming lives every day, as the EU and other nations try to deter migration itself, wanting to avoid an influx in refugees.

On today’s Fourcast, we talk to Foreign Correspondent Paraic O’Brien about his time in Tunisia on the frontline of this crisis, and what the reaction by politicians, as well as the lack of reaction from the public, tells us about how we view migration today.

This episode includes distressing themes.  

This hasn’t been the greatest week for Russia President, Vladimir Putin in two decades of power in the Kremlin.

A mutinous band of mercenaries, that he himself created, charged up towards Moscow, denouncing his war in Ukraine and seemingly meeting little resistance on the way.

While he faced down Evgeny Prigozhin and the Wagner group, appearing to banish them to Belarus, it’s not all over for Putin.

In this episode, Hubertus Jahn, professor of the history of Russia and the Caucasus at Cambridge University, explains how the “mafia boss” in the Kremlin has seen cracks forming in his enterprise - and explores what might be next for Russia and its leader.

The Darién gap is a stretch of land between Colombia and Panama, an unavoidable section of the route from South America to Central America that thousands of migrants a week take, as they travel up to the Mexico / United States border. 

It’s been called ‘hell on Earth’ because of its dense and dangerous jungle. There are no roads, just treacherous paths, rivers that can wash you away, vast swamps, steep mountains and deadly animals. And it’s lawless, with cartels and kidnappers taking advantage of the vulnerable migrants. 

The fittest take days to cross, the feeble can table weeks and many do not make it at all. 

And despite all of this, record numbers are still crossing.

Our Latin America correspondent Guillermo Galdos travelled that most dangerous of human trails, and in today’s episode of The Fourcast, he speaks about his journey, the people he met along the way.