It’s a tense moment for Ukraine. The optimism that followed Ukraine’s early successes on the battlefield in 2022 started to fade last summer as its counteroffensive failed to achieve a breakthrough. By late 2023, Ukraine’s then-commander-in-chief said the war had reached a “stalemate” — and by the start of the spring, things were looking even worse, with high-ranking Ukrainian officers warning a collapse of the front lines could be imminent without more weapons from Washington. In mid-April, U.S

For the past two months, millions of Kazakhstanis have been glued to their screens, witnessing a landmark moment in the nation’s history: a murder trial live-streamed on YouTube. This was the trial of Kuandyk Bishimbayev, Kazakhstan’s former economic minister, who was convicted of torturing and killing his wife, Saltanat Nukenova, on November 9, 2023. The brutal CCTV footage of the incident went viral, not just within Kazakhstan but internationally as well. This trial not only highlighted Saltanat

This week Ali and co-host Zoë Grünewald digested the latest political news. The duo was also joined by Surata Sawo, a young Labour member, Oscar Brooker, a young Conservative, and Luanne Thornton, a young Green party member who took part in a young activist roundtable to discuss whether political parties are doing enough to compel young people to vote and what policies they would like to see make the manifesto.

Historically, Ukraine has been home to people of a variety of faiths and religious denominations, and it’s been exceptionally “open to receiving a wide spectrum of religious communities” in the years since the collapse of the U.S.S.R, according to expert Catherine Wanner.This laissez-faire approach to religion stands in stark contrast to Russian state policy, which claims to embrace religious pluralism while systematically repressing religious liberty. In Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine,

This week Ali and co-host Zoë Grünewald digested the latest political news. Olivia Lever, director of Blue Beyond reacted to the Conservative's pledge to re-introduce national service and explained why young conservatives are staying blue despite the Conservative's abysmal record with policies for young people. Fiona McGowan, former Labour party member, discussed the news that Diane Abbott and Faiza Shaheen had been blocked from running as Labour candidates. Plus Sharon Gaffka, political activist

It’s strange days recently at Russia’s Defense Ministry. Amid the replacement of the agency’s head, police have brought large-scale bribery charges against at least two senior officials in the Defense Ministry, raising questions about the state of corruption in Russia’s military and the Kremlin’s approach to the phenomenon in wartime. Also earlier this month, the American Political Science Review published relevant new research by political scientist David Szakonyi, an assistant professor at

This week Ali and co-host Zoë Grünewald digested the latest political news. Deltapoll's Joe Twyman helped dissect some of the polling around the General Election and whether Nigel Farage's decision not to run will harm Reform's chances of causing an upset. Also on the show was Adham Mardini, Former Cultural Attaché at the Syrian Embassy in London who spoke about the death of the Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi and whether it could be problematic for the Supreme Leader.

The leadup to voting this November will renew fears in the United States about Russian malign influence. That means more paranoia from politicians, more alarming op-eds and white papers from the institutes created and funded to draw attention to foreign disinformation, and more mutual suspicions among ordinary people on social media, where journalists and pundits often draw their anecdotal conclusions about popular opinion. This week, for a skeptical view of the foreign disinformation threat in

This week Ali and co-host Zoë Grünewald digested the latest political news. Matt Wrack, General Secretary of the Fire's Brigade Union spoke about Labour's new deal for the working people and Sir Keir Starmer's crisis talks with the trade unions. Also on the show was Judy Bruce and Reverend Dr Sue Parfitt, Just Stop Oil campaigners who were arrested after smashing the glass around the Magna Carta. They spoke about a new report which suggests protest groups like Just Stop Oil should be treated like

Over the past few weeks, many in the think-tank community have argued about the negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv in the first two months of the full-scale invasion, following an article published on April 16 in Foreign Affairs, titled “The Talks That Could Have Ended the War in Ukraine: A Hidden History of Diplomacy That Came Up Short — but Holds Lessons for Future Negotiations,” by Samuel Charap, a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation, and Sergey Radchenko, a professor at the

This week Ali and co-host Zoë Grünewald digested the latest political news. Green Party Deputy Leader Zack Polanski spoke about the Green's success at the local elections and whether they could convert that into success at the General Election. Plus Alon Pinkas, former Israeli diplomat and advisor joined Ali and Zoe to discuss the latest in Gaza including Israel's occupation of the east of Rafah and ongoing ceasefire talks.

According to a new investigation from Novaya Gazeta Europe, Chechnya Governor Ramzan Kadyrov was diagnosed with pancreatic necrosis in 2019 and isn’t long for this world. Since then, he’s supposedly undergone “regular procedures,” including surgeries, at an elite hospital in Moscow. A bout of COVID-19 in 2020 reportedly further degraded his health, kicking off another round of sudden weight loss. His kidneys reportedly started to fail and fluid built up in his lungs, making it difficult for him to

This week Ali digested the latest political news with former London Assembly member Murad Qureshi. Mikey Erhardt from Disability Rights UK spoke about the potential reforms to the disability benefits system and whether Suank's attack on 'sicknote culture' is damaging. Plus Erica Popplewell from River Action discussed a new alliance between several water sports to push the Government to tackle water pollution.

It’s no secret that the economies of Central Asian countries like Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan rely heavily on labor migration to stay afloat. In 2022, according to the International Organization for Migration, remittances from Russia accounted for just over half of Tajikistan’s GDP, and made up more than 20 percent of the GDPs of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Many of the workers sending these remittances are their families’ sole breadwinner — and given the lack of employment opportunities at

This week Ali digested the latest political news with Zoë Grünewald from The Independent. Professor Anupam Chander from Georgetown University explained why America is potentially banning TikTok and whether it will affect the UK. Plus Phoenix Andrews, writer and broadcaster discussed their new book 'I Heart Politics: How People Power Took Over the World.'

Look at almost any recent major news story from Russia, and you’ll find the Federal Security Service, better known as the FSB. Having failed to prevent the Crocus City Hall terrorist attack in Moscow last month, the agency has played a major role in arresting and apparently torturing the suspected perpetrators. It was FSB agents who arrested Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich on espionage charges just over a year ago. And the FSB has been heavily involved in enforcing Russia’s crackdowns

This week Ali digested the latest political news with James Schneider, former director of communications for Jeremy Corbyn. Adam Smith Insitute's Maxwell Marlow discussed the smoking bill which was passed by the House of Commons this week. Plus Caroline Lucas, Green Party MP spoke about her new book 'Another England.'

It’s been seven weeks since a local branch of Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service published a brief news post about the death of opposition leader Alexey Navalny. “He went for a walk, felt sick, collapsed unconscious, and couldn’t be resuscitated.” Russian officials would later insist that Navalny died of natural causes — his mother was told that he succumbed to “sudden death syndrome.” In mid-March, while celebrating his claim on a fifth presidential term, Vladimir Putin finally uttered Navalny’s

It’s been a little more than a week since a group of armed men walked into a concert hall just outside Moscow and gunned down dozens of defenseless people. A branch of the Islamic State active in South-Central Asia known as Islamic State – Khorasan, or IS-K, claimed responsibility for the Moscow attack in a statement through an affiliated media channel. That same channel later published body-cam footage recorded by the terrorists in the concert hall during the attack. Western intelligence officials

This week Ali digested the latest political news with Ben Cope, political commentator. Professor Mark Garnett, senior lecturer at Lancaster University joined Ali to discuss the state of the Conservative Party after 63 MPs have announced their intention to step down at the next election. Plus Baroness Carmen Smith spoke to Ali about being the youngest member of the House of Lords including having an eventful first week on the job!