Jeremy Bowen
Appearances
Global News Podcast
Gaza special: ceasefire and hostage deal agreed
The ceasefire is a considerable achievement. It is long overdue. Versions of the deal have been on the table since May last year. Hamas and Israel have blamed each other for the delays. Israel's response to the Hamas attacks on the 7th of October 2023 that killed around 1,200 people, mostly Israeli civilians, has left Gaza in ruins.
Global News Podcast
Gaza special: ceasefire and hostage deal agreed
Most of Gaza's population of well over 2 million has been displaced. According to the Hamas-run health ministry, Israeli attacks have killed almost 50,000 people, both combatants and civilians. A recent study in the Lancet medical journal says that might be a major underestimate. The first big challenge is making sure that the ceasefire holds.
Global News Podcast
Gaza special: ceasefire and hostage deal agreed
Senior Western diplomats fear that after the first phase of 42 days, the war could resume. The Gaza war has had immense consequences across the Middle East. It did not, as many feared, lead to a general war in the region. The Biden administration has claimed credit for that, but it has led to geostrategic upheaval. Hamas is still able to fight, but it's a shadow of what it was.
Global News Podcast
Gaza special: ceasefire and hostage deal agreed
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister have been accused of war crimes by the International Criminal Court. The International Court of Justice is investigating a case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of genocide. After Hezbollah in Lebanon intervened in the war, it was eventually crushed by an Israeli offensive.
Global News Podcast
Gaza special: ceasefire and hostage deal agreed
That was a factor that led to the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria. Iran and Israel exchanged direct attacks, weakening the Iranians. Their network of allies and proxies that they called the Axis of Resistance has been crippled. The Houthis in Yemen have halted much of the shipping between Europe and Asia that passes the Red Sea.
Global News Podcast
Gaza special: ceasefire and hostage deal agreed
It remains to be seen whether they will keep their pledge to stop attacks now there's a ceasefire in Gaza. As for the long conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, it is as bitter as it has ever been. The ceasefire might, with luck, stop the killing. and get Israeli hostages and Palestinian detainees and prisoners back to their families.
Global News Podcast
Gaza special: ceasefire and hostage deal agreed
It does not end a conflict that is more than a century old.
Global News Podcast
Trump halts military aid to Ukraine
What is actually going on right now is the worst crisis in transatlantic relations since the alliance between the US and Europe was created after and during the Second World War. It is absolutely that serious because essentially this suspension of aid has put the US on the other side to its major NATO allies. All the American pressure has been on Zelensky.
Global News Podcast
Trump halts military aid to Ukraine
Putin's position has not changed because what he has been demanding consistently since the full-scale invasion and before is effectively for Ukraine a capitulation. If you look at what Trump and his people say... It's America first.
Global News Podcast
Trump halts military aid to Ukraine
America first is emerging as an idea which essentially treats the rest of the world as raw material for American business deals, for American supremacy, for America trying to extract as much money, including from their allies. And the implications of that, while Trump is in the White House...
Global News Podcast
Trump halts military aid to Ukraine
The rest of us really are, I think, in his mind, an adjunct to try to make America as rich and powerful as possible, which is one reason why. And this, I think, even, you know, for the British as well, they would say that it leaves a sour taste. They are saying to Zelensky, you have to go back and talk to Trump and sign that deal.
Global News Podcast
Trump officials accuse journalist of lying after Signal app leak published in full
First of all, I think he feels among friends when he comes to Paris, when he speaks to European leaders. They've been lighting up the Eiffel Tower in the colours of the Ukrainian national flag, yellow and blue. Clear, deliberate gesture to contrast with the verbal dressing down he got when he was in Washington. from President Trump and from his Vice President, J.D. Vance.
Global News Podcast
Trump officials accuse journalist of lying after Signal app leak published in full
Now, in this panel discussion I had with President Zelensky, we covered the whole gamut of the things which will be talked about here in Paris tomorrow at a European summit, the so-called Coalition of the Willing, trying to work out what it is they can do. And so one question I asked President Zelensky was about the...
Global News Podcast
Trump officials accuse journalist of lying after Signal app leak published in full
Steve Witkoff, der Anwalt von Präsident Trump, gab ein sehr illuminierendes Interview am letzten Tag. Und es scheint sehr stark zu suggerieren, dass... The Americans don't take seriously the efforts that the British and the French are doing to try to put together a force to give you some security guarantees.
Global News Podcast
Trump officials accuse journalist of lying after Signal app leak published in full
Witkopf said, he ridiculed it, he said it was a posture, it was a pose, there was simplistic desire to sound like Winston Churchill. But bearing in mind the realities of European military weakness compared to the US, actually, do you think he's right?
Global News Podcast
Trump officials accuse journalist of lying after Signal app leak published in full
And he actually went on to speak somewhat disparagingly of Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff's grasp of the facts of what the war is going on in Ukraine in general. He said that the Americans were parroting, he didn't use that word, but certainly repeating war. Kremlin talking points far too easily. But he said that Steve Witkoff actually was an expert at selling real estate.
Global News Podcast
Trump officials accuse journalist of lying after Signal app leak published in full
He was not an expert at trying to work out the way that the war went there. Now, considering that he is Trump's lead envoy, not just on Ukraine, but on the Middle East as well, it is a sign that Zelensky, while he's saying the kinds of things the Americans want to hear and Trump wants to hear, he's not trying to disguise the fact. Jeremy Bowen in France.
Global News Podcast
Trump aide tells Ukraine to ''tone down'' US criticism
I think the fact that the news conference was cancelled, guesswork on my part, but the indications I'd say are that they had nothing good to say about each other, so best not to say it in public. And also, General Kellogg, the US envoy, would have been asked all sorts of awkward questions about, does he agree that Zelensky, who presumably would have been standing next to him, is a dictator?
Global News Podcast
Trump aide tells Ukraine to ''tone down'' US criticism
as president trump has said as for waltz the national security advisor and one of the criticisms of the american approach has been is that they are treating ukraine potentially like a colony where they can extract its mineral wealth its natural wealth and just walk off with it in a very very one-sided deal and waltz was saying you've got to get that contract signed and tone down the uh
Global News Podcast
Trump aide tells Ukraine to ''tone down'' US criticism
the nasty comments about our leadership, even though the Americans, of course, have license to say, President Trump particularly, about what he wants about the Ukrainians. So I think they are saying, look, it is an unequal relationship. We are stronger than you. And you know what? Bad luck. We're going to do what we want and you better go along with us.
Global News Podcast
Trump aide tells Ukraine to ''tone down'' US criticism
One thing Ukrainians are not short of after three years of war is nationalism. And one thing that Zelensky is good at is defiance. He showed that from the outset three years ago. I mean, you remember he did a video late at night with his chief advisers around him saying, we are all here, we're not leaving. And I think that that will quite likely be the approach he takes to all of this.
Global News Podcast
Trump aide tells Ukraine to ''tone down'' US criticism
Well, answer, you can't. I think that it wouldn't work otherwise. There are various formulations being discussed, but the thing about it is if there is going to be some kind of a peace agreement, and it's a misnomer to talk about what's going on really between the Americans and the Russians as peace talks, because while the Americans had been backing Ukraine,
Global News Podcast
Trump aide tells Ukraine to ''tone down'' US criticism
Ukraine, they're not direct belligerents in the war. And you can't really do a deal just by talking to one side. And there now seems to be very little daylight between the things that Trump and his people are saying about the war and the things that Putin and his people have been saying about the war for many years now, since before the full-scale invasion.
Global News Podcast
Trump aide tells Ukraine to ''tone down'' US criticism
So I think that Trump does not like defiance and he pushes back when he gets it. I don't think these bullying tactics are going to work in international relations and particularly not dealing with a country that believes it's fighting for its life the way that they might work if you're around the negotiating table talking about a hotel project in New Jersey.
Global News Podcast
Syria's de facto leader says the country is not a threat to its neighbours or the west
The de facto leader of Syria, Ahmad al-Sharra, chose to do the interview in the presidential palace built by the Assad's. He told me he wasn't surprised that the old regime collapsed so quickly. Syrians, he said, needed to keep calm to tackle all the problems they face. You've made a lot of promises.
Global News Podcast
Syria's de facto leader says the country is not a threat to its neighbours or the west
You've said that you'll respect the mosaic of different sectarian groups here in Syria, minorities as well. Are you going to keep those promises?
Global News Podcast
Syria's de facto leader says the country is not a threat to its neighbours or the west
So this isn't going to be some kind of a caliphate or you're not going to make Syria into a country like Afghanistan because you know that there are people who say that maybe you want to behave like the Taliban.
Global News Podcast
Syria's de facto leader says the country is not a threat to its neighbours or the west
So the culture of Syria includes rights for women, it includes education for women, it includes tolerance for people drinking alcohol. Is that all acceptable to you?
Global News Podcast
Syria's de facto leader says the country is not a threat to its neighbours or the west
Let's talk about wider issues that you face. First of all, this country is broken. There is massive amount of destruction. The economy is destroyed. There are huge debts. How do you begin to start dealing with all of that when the country is under sanctions and when major powers around the world and the United Nations say that you are the leader of a terrorist group?
Global News Podcast
Syria's de facto leader says the country is not a threat to its neighbours or the west
That's a political classification.
Global News Podcast
Syria's de facto leader says the country is not a threat to its neighbours or the west
I'd say he was very relaxed. He's a very calm man. He had a retinue of five or six people, bodyguards and so on, and media people with him. But yeah, he was prepared to talk. He was prepared to answer my questions. He didn't get offended by anything. He didn't get angry at any point. He came across to me as a highly intelligent and politically sophisticated man.
Global News Podcast
Syria's de facto leader says the country is not a threat to its neighbours or the west
individual and like a lot of politicians around the world in the west notably he's also pretty good at not giving a straight answer to a straight question he was stressing what he felt was the need for sanctions to be lifted what were the key parts of this interview for you Well, I think it was a couple of things.
Global News Podcast
Syria's de facto leader says the country is not a threat to its neighbours or the west
First of all, he's trying to reassure all comers, people in Syria, that they're not going to be cracking down on people who aren't religious Sunni Muslims. And I think what was also important about it was the fact he said he called for their designation as a terrorist group to be lifted. He said that Syria needed sanctions to be lifted, too.
Global News Podcast
Syria's de facto leader says the country is not a threat to its neighbours or the west
And interestingly, too, when I said, look, I think people won't believe you necessarily. He said, I'm only really concerned about what Syrians think. I'm not really concerned about what the rest of the world thinks. And when I also spoke to him about the fact that the Israelis are taking territory, they have had a major bombing campaign against the storehouses of what was the Syrian military.
Global News Podcast
Syria's de facto leader says the country is not a threat to its neighbours or the west
He said the country's exhausted. They can't possibly go to war with anybody and can't anyway, don't have the capacity. So what he's trying to do is reach out in diplomatic ways to other parts of the world. And he has been talking to the Americans. He's been talking to the French. He's been talking to the British. And he's been talking a lot to the United Nations.
Global News Podcast
Last minute hitch in Gaza ceasefire deal
In the streets of Hanunis in Gaza, overwhelming relief that they are alive and hope, too, that the nightmare of this war might be over.
Global News Podcast
Last minute hitch in Gaza ceasefire deal
Some weapons, some defiance were on show, but Hamas is a shadow of what it was when it attacked Israel on the 7th of October, 2023. And in Tel Aviv, it is also a bittersweet moment for the families and supporters of Israeli hostages, living and dead. 33 women, older men and the sick and wounded are due for release in the next six weeks in return for hundreds of Palestinian detainees and prisoners.
Global News Podcast
Last minute hitch in Gaza ceasefire deal
But the future of the rest of the hostages depends on more negotiations.
Global News Podcast
Last minute hitch in Gaza ceasefire deal
In Washington, President Biden took credit for a diplomatic victory, celebrated America's support for Israel and said the war had transformed the Middle East for the better.
Global News Podcast
Last minute hitch in Gaza ceasefire deal
With Gaza in ruins, the president's point that the Palestinians have a path to their own state is wishful thinking. Israel's government says security depends on military power, not allowing Palestinian independence. After 15 months of war in Gaza, the conflict, which has lasted more than a century, is as bitter and intractable as ever. With luck, the ceasefire will end this war.
Global News Podcast
Last minute hitch in Gaza ceasefire deal
It does not end the conflict. the consequences of so much destruction and death will be felt for a generation at least.
Global News Podcast
Israel checking Hamas claims that new body handed to Red Cross is Shiri Bibas
Trump Tower, Trump City, Trump Plaza, Trump Castle.
Global News Podcast
Israel checking Hamas claims that new body handed to Red Cross is Shiri Bibas
Telling President Zelensky again that it's not important for him to be in the room when the U.S. talks with Russia about ending the war reinforces the already strong impression that Donald Trump believes the world's problems can only be settled by powerful leaders of big countries, like it or lump it. Mr. Trump has posted an image of himself on social media as a king wearing a crown.
Global News Podcast
Israel checking Hamas claims that new body handed to Red Cross is Shiri Bibas
Perhaps it's a joke, but his anger when he's challenged publicly is real. He does not like the fact that President Zelensky has pushed back hard against Mr. Trump's untrue allegations that Ukraine started the war and could have ended it by now. It is now hard to see daylight between Donald Trump's view of Ukraine and Vladimir Putin's.
Global News Podcast
Israel checking Hamas claims that new body handed to Red Cross is Shiri Bibas
In the presidential offices in Kiev, I asked one of Mr. Zelensky's top advisors, Ihor Brusilo, about the way Mr. Trump has demolished the old certainties about U.S. support for Ukraine.
Global News Podcast
Israel checking Hamas claims that new body handed to Red Cross is Shiri Bibas
It is not at all clear that the meeting will happen, at least not until President Zelensky accepts some of Mr Trump's demands. One is a deal said to give the U.S. control of up to half of Ukraine's rare earth minerals. Mr. Trump's national security adviser, Mike Waltz, said the Ukrainian president would have to sign.
Global News Podcast
Israel checking Hamas claims that new body handed to Red Cross is Shiri Bibas
that have been invested in this war. This week, President Zelensky refused to sign what appears to be a very one-sided deal, saying, I can't sell our state.
Global News Podcast
Arrests made after many fatalities in North Macedonia nightclub fire
There's two reasons which are being put forth by the two different camps in Israel. The one is by Netanyahu whose reason for saying he wants to fire the head of the Shin Bet is that he doesn't trust him anymore, meaning he has no faith in his ability to do the job. And on the other side,
Global News Podcast
Arrests made after many fatalities in North Macedonia nightclub fire
Inside of the aisle, there are the opposition parties and other critics who are saying that there's a very serious investigation against aides to Prime Minister Netanyahu about their connections to Qatar during a time of war when Qatar has close ties to Hamas. Those aides are suspected of being involved in efforts to improve Qatar's image in Israel.
Global News Podcast
Arrests made after many fatalities in North Macedonia nightclub fire
And that therefore the shin bed is involved in this investigation into those ties within the prime minister's office. And therefore that that's the reason why Netanyahu was moving against one end bar at this time. You know, that's that's that's the two reasons that we're being presented with at the moment.
Global News Podcast
Arrests made after many fatalities in North Macedonia nightclub fire
Well, you know, according to the law, it is actually the government, as in the cabinet, which is entitled to appoint and dismiss the head of the Shin Bet. The attorney general, you know, she is the ultimate arbiter for the government of what is legal, what is a legal government action.
Global News Podcast
Arrests made after many fatalities in North Macedonia nightclub fire
And she's saying that Israeli law and precedent in the courts means that the government can't just fire a senior official like the head of the Shin Bet at will. It has to provide a substantive precedent. reason to do so. And she's saying first, the government needs to provide that reason to her before she can say whether or not she believes that's a legal and lawful decision.
Global News Podcast
French ministers arrive in Mayotte after devastating cyclone
The Israelis essentially think that the Western countries are deluding themselves. These people are certainly Islamists. They may well be jihadists. They come from that background. Don't take any risks. Bomb them to blazes. Bomb away their military infrastructure and safeguard the country that way. On the other hand, there are those who believe...
Global News Podcast
French ministers arrive in Mayotte after devastating cyclone
In Western countries, it's necessary to deal with Syria and try to make it into a stable country. Now, the new rulers of this country say that they are Islamists, but they want to have a pluralistic, diverse society. Of course, it's only a week, so it's a bit too early to say the way that it will go. Syrians lost agency as individuals to the regime for half a century.
Global News Podcast
French ministers arrive in Mayotte after devastating cyclone
The country itself ceased to be the arbiter of its own affairs during the war when a lot of foreign countries intervened in what was going on, not least the neighbors. And I think that one of the big questions for the future of Syria, and a lot of Syrians have said to me, but for goodness sake, the rest of the world, just leave us alone.
Global News Podcast
French ministers arrive in Mayotte after devastating cyclone
This country is really, large areas are absolutely destroyed. Over the years, I've traveled extensively around it. And really, wherever you go, I mean, there are some areas, say north of Hama, every village, every town is rubble. Large parts of the suburbs of Damascus are rubble. So how on earth, I mean, to rebuild would be billions and billions and billions.
Global News Podcast
French ministers arrive in Mayotte after devastating cyclone
So if the Gulf oil states got involved, the Saudis or the Emiratis, Well, they wouldn't want to just give them money. They would want something in return for that. So I think perhaps it is a bit of a pipe dream to hope that Syria will be left alone.
Global News Podcast
French ministers arrive in Mayotte after devastating cyclone
The question is whether countries want to use it, if you like, as a boxing ring for their own quarrels with other countries or whether they do try to make this into a stable, better place.
Global News Podcast
NATO calls for unity as tensions rise with US over Ukraine
America is under new management and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has joined a growing list of US allies who are finding out that the world according to Donald Trump is cold, uncertain and potentially dangerous.
Global News Podcast
NATO calls for unity as tensions rise with US over Ukraine
President Zelensky, visiting a nuclear power plant, told journalists that it was not pleasant that President Trump had rung Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin before calling him, but much worse was the thought that the two men might want to settle Ukraine's future between them and no one else.
Global News Podcast
NATO calls for unity as tensions rise with US over Ukraine
The main thing, President Zelensky said, was to stop Putin's plan to make all negotiations between Russia and the U.S. bilateral. As an independent country, he said, Ukraine could not accept any agreements made without its involvement. When he starts negotiating seriously, President Trump might find that it's impossible to bridge the gap between Ukraine and Russia's positions.
Global News Podcast
NATO calls for unity as tensions rise with US over Ukraine
President Zelensky wants Russia to pull out of Ukraine and to deter any future invasions by joining NATO. Both Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin seem to agree that neither will happen. President Putin says he'll end the war if Russia keeps the land it has captured and gets more as Ukraine becomes neutral and demilitarized. That is an ultimatum, not a peace proposal.
Global News Podcast
NATO calls for unity as tensions rise with US over Ukraine
For President Putin, ending the war is not just a real estate deal of the kind that Donald Trump might understand, working out who keeps what. Vladimir Putin wants much more than land. He is demanding Ukraine's capitulation, the surrender of its independence and sovereignty.
Global News Podcast
NATO calls for unity as tensions rise with US over Ukraine
With Russia grinding forward on the battlefields of eastern Ukraine, this is the toughest moment Volodymyr Zelensky has faced since the dark and desperate first months of the war. It is also a moment of decision for Ukraine's Western European allies. President Trump is forcing them to face up to the gross disparity between their military promises to Ukraine and their military capabilities.
Global News Podcast
NATO calls for unity as tensions rise with US over Ukraine
The Europeans need to make tough decisions that cannot be put off much longer.