Why is Germany in a bit of a funk? How did the superstar of Europe go so far off the rails - even the German trains aren't running on time. Germany is governed by a three party centre-left coalition that's in disarray, a snap election has been called for February, and polls show the main ruling SPD party is set to suffer a big loss. Meanwhile, the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) is the second most popular party. Tobias Cremer is a German member of the European Parliament and he’s with the SPD party. But he was only elected a few months back so still has several years in parliament, at least. Tobias also has an interesting background researching the relationship between religion, secularisation and the rise of right-wing identity politics throughout western societies. RECOMMENDATIONS: Geraldine: The Granddaughter By Bernhard Schlink Hamish: The Quiet German feature in The New Yorker GET IN TOUCH: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Last week New Zealand parliament went viral when MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke performed a haka and tore up a controversial bill. And this week tens of thousands of New Zealanders marched in protest, opposing the bill. At the heart of the debate is the Treaty of Waitangi and a bill that seeks to reinterpret it, with some fearing it will dilute Maori rights. Guest: Taiha Molyneux, Māori News Editor Radio New Zealand RECOMMENDATIONS: Hamish - Rear Vision episode on the Treaty of Waitangi and the podcast The Last Voyage of the Rainbow Warrior Geraldine - Fateful mix: Great powers, strongman leaders and manifest destinies, essay by Michael Wesley in Australian Foreign Affairs GET IN TOUCH: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Much has been going on around the world this year so climate and environment have taken a back seat. Now with the US electing a president who calls climate change a hoax, how will conversations and actions change globally? Perhaps there are opportunities for Australia as China increases its dominance. Martijn Wilder joins us to discuss - and it's not all bad. Martijn founded Pollination, a climate change advisory and investment firm that's working to speed up the transition to net zero. But he's worked in climate law and policy for many years, advising governments and organisations. RECOMMENDATIONS: Geraldine: Documentary film Martha on Netflix Hamish: The Jury: Death on the Staircase directed by Tosca Looby on SBS on Demand GET IN TOUCH: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Donald Trump has a mandate to do what he promised after winning easily. But how far will he actually go and how fast? And will he try to unite the country a little, as hinted at in his victory speech? Jonathan Swan, who’s been covering Trump for close to a decade, warns that Trump's been emboldened to take more risk, and little stands in his way this time. Swan is a reporter for The New York Times covering national politics and the US government but known for his Emmy-award winning interview with Trump when he was president. RECOMMENDATIONS: Hamish: The Great Global Rebalancing with Dr Samir Puri - episode of War Studies podcast Geraldine: Noble Fragments: The maverick who broke up the world’s greatest book, by Michael Visontay GET IN TOUCH: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

An election on a knife-edge, and a nation seemingly on the brink. How do we make sense of this fever-pitched moment? First a snapshot from USA Today political reporter Deborah Berry, who's been in Georgia a lot lately. Then we hear how strategist Rachel Bitecofer has advised the Democrats to beat the Republicans at their own game, with less focus on policies and more on negative attacks. And we discuss the deluge of listener feedback to our Niall Ferguson episode. RECOMMENDATIONS: Geraldine: Don Waton's Quarterly Essay - High Noon Stopping the Steal documentary on SBS Hamish: Elon Musk's Secret Conversation with Vladimir Putin GET IN TOUCH: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Our friends at If You're Listening have a new series about the US presidential election that we want to tell you about. Donald Trump still refuses to accept the result of the 2020 election. Now he’s on the ballot again, and in his campaign against Kamala Harris he’s calling on his supporters to make the race ‘too big to rig’. In America's Last Election, Matt Bevan leaves his basement and heads to the US, examining the chaotic aftermath of the 2020 election and what it means for the vote this November. Find the latest episodes by searching for If You're Listening in the ABC listen app.

In this extended conversation with Geraldine and Hamish, renowned historian Sir Niall Ferguson warns that Donald Trump is not the biggest threat to American democracy. A bigger threat, he says, lies much closer to Australia... RECOMMENDATIONS: Geraldine: Niall Ferguson: The Treason of the Intellectuals article in The Free Press Hamish: The tragedy of a 50-50 America article in the Financial Times by Janan Ganesh GET IN TOUCH: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Like it or not, we all have a stake when Americans head to the polls in November. So what would a Harris or Trump presidency mean for the global economy, conflicts in the Middle East and Europe, and an increasingly powerful China? Guest: Edward Luce - US national editor, Financial Times. RECOMMENDATIONS: Geraldine: Secret Documents Show Hamas Tried to Persuade Iran to Join Its Oct. 7 Attack by Ronen Bergman in The New York Times Hamish: The World from Down Under by George Negus. GET IN TOUCH: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

In the final instalment of our New Frontlines mini-series, we look at the ideological fault-lines that are dividing countries from within. Identity, values and fears are being weaponised by those on the political extremes, and it's working. Guest: Margaritis Schinas - the European Commission vice president for Promoting our European Way of Life. RECOMMENDATIONS: Geraldine: Europe Takes a Trumpian Turn by Hans Kundnani in Foreign Affairs Magazine Hamish: Kosciuszko: The incredible life of the man behind the mountain by Anthony Sharwood GET IN TOUCH: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Iran talks a big game, but in the last two weeks Israel has dealt some serious blows to the ‘axis of resistance’, while Tehran has done little to deter Netanyahu from going even further. Is the balance of power in the Middle East swinging away from Iran and towards Israel? Or is there more going on inside Iran than meets the eye? Guests: Ali Ansari - Professor of Iranian History & Founding Director of the Institute for Iranian Studies at the University of St Andrews David Hale - Global Fellow, Wilson Center; Former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs; Former Ambassador to Pakistan, Lebanon, and Jordan. RECOMMENDATIONS: Geraldine: Kaos, series on Netflix Raf: English teacher, series on Disney + VOTE FOR US: Love the pod? Vote for us in the Australian Podcast Awards here: Voting - Australian Podcast Awards GET IN TOUCH: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Exploding pagers, attacks on underwater gas pipelines and deepfake videos - we’ve entered a terrifying new realm of hybrid warfare, where the aim is to sow discord deep within our democracies. But how do you fight a war that isn’t really a war, against an invisible enemy? We visit a centre in Finland where they are urgently trying to find the answers to that question. Teija Tiilikainen - Director of the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats. Elina Valtonen - Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland RECOMMENDATIONS: Geraldine: Ezra Klein podcast with David Remnick: Israel vs. Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran — and Itself Hamish: We have changed, says Indonesia’s Jemaah Islamiah leader Para Wijayanto by Amanda Hodge in The Australian VOTE FOR US: Love the pod? Vote for us in the Australian Podcast Awards here: Voting - Australian Podcast Awards GET IN TOUCH: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

As the war in Ukraine spills into Poland, Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski makes an impassioned call to countries around the world to wake up to what he sees as Putin's true imperialist intentions. RECOMMENDATIONS: Geraldine: America’s Role in the World Is Hard. It Just Got Much Harder. Thomas Friedman in The New York Times. Hamish: Take Me To Your Leader Season 3: Dictators & Demagogues on ABC Listen App. VOTE FOR US: Love the pod? Vote for us in the Australian Podcast Awards here: Voting - Australian Podcast Awards GET IN TOUCH: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

We kick off this Global Roaming mini-series by looking at the ways wars will be fought in the future. From drones to electronic warfare and even social media, war today looks completely different to what it did even a decade ago. Russia’s war on Ukraine is providing a breeding ground for testing and innovation of new weapons, but are we in Australia prepared for any of this? Do we need to be? Guest: Dr Jack Watling - Senior Research Fellow for Land Warfare at the Royal United Services Institute. His 2023 book is The Arms of the Future: Technology and Close Combat in the Twenty-First Century RECOMMENDATIONS: Geraldine: A Trump loss could stabilise US politics for a generation by Janan Ganesh, Financial Times Hamish: ‘Whatever Happens in the Sauna Stays in the Sauna’: Diplomacy, Conducted in the Nude By Alison Krueger, The New York Times VOTE FOR US: Love the pod? Vote for us in the Australian Podcast Awards here: Voting - Australian Podcast Awards GET IN TOUCH: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Sure, we have great beaches, but when it comes to forging strong economic and security ties, does Australia leave something to be desired? Guest: Dr Kyung-wha Kang – President and CEO of the Asia Society; South Korea’s 38th Minister of Foreign Affairs (2017 to 2021) under President Moon Jae-in RECOMMENDATIONS: Geraldine: Kiss the Future documentary - SBS On Demand Hamish: Zhou Enlai: A Life - review in London Review of Books VOTE FOR US: Love the pod? Vote for us in the Australian Podcast Awards here: Voting - Australian Podcast Awards GET IN TOUCH: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

With 40 million eligible Gen Z voters, the tight US presidential race has become a battle for followers, likes and shares on social media. But will this actually translate to votes in November? GUEST: Katie Harbath - founder and CEO of technology policy firm Anchor Change; Former Facebook Public Policy Director for global elections RECOMMENDATIONS: Geraldine: The Born in the USA fallacy - The New Statesman Hamish: This wasn't 't the social media election everyone expected - BBC VOTE FOR US: Love the pod? Vote for us in the Australian Podcast Awards here: Voting - Australian Podcast Awards GET IN TOUCH: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

With the rest of the world swinging left and right, how do we make the progressive centre of politics more attractive, and its proponents sound less like 'pious schoolteachers'? Rory Stewart thinks Australia may hold the key... GUEST: Rory Stewart is the co-presenter of the hit podcast The Rest is Politics. He served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Penrith and The Border between 2010 and 2019, representing the Conservative Party. Rory is coming out to Australia at the end of October to discuss his political memoir Politics on the Edge. RECOMMENDATIONS: Geraldine: BBC podcast The Long History Of... Ignorance Hamish: ABC Rear Vision The Kamala Harris Story GET IN TOUCH: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

At the eleventh hour, journalist Masha Gessen has been granted a visa to enter Australia, but why are they considered so dangerous? Guest: Masha Gessen - Russian-American journalist and author. Masha is due to appear at The Edge, Fed Square in Melbourne for the Wheeler Centre (21 August) and at Carriageworks in Sydney, as part of the Festival of Dangerous Ideas (24-25 August). KEEP AN EYE OUT: Our main episode will drop Friday, with special guest Rory Stewart, co-host of The Rest Is Politics podcast.

In a sign of our deepening strategic ties, Australia will play host to more frequent US military deployments across air, land, and maritime domains. At the same time, an updated AUKUS agreement provides a 'get-out' clause for the US and the UK. Former prime minister Paul Keating has raised his concerns, but he's not alone is asking: Is Australia getting the short end of the stick? Guest: David E. Sanger is chief Washington correspondent for The New York Times and the author, most recently of New Cold Wars: China's Rise, Russia's Invasion, and America's Struggle to Defend the West. Recommendations: Geraldine - When Keating went to war with the White House Australian Financial Review article by James Curran. Hamish - The Places in Between by Rory Stewart. Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

The sudden departure of Sheikh Hasina after weeks of student protests sparked jubilant celebrations, which stretched all the way to Australia. It’s paved the way for a new interim government led by Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus, who is heralding this as a 'second liberation' for Bangladesh. Guests: Dr Mubashar Hasan - Bangladesh born academic and social justice activist. Post Doctoral Researcher at the University of Oslo, Norway and an adjunct research fellow at Humanitarian and Development Research Initiatives, Western Sydney University. Associate Professor C. Christine Fair - Professor in the Security Studies Program within Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. Recommendations: Geraldine: Lies, Politics and Democracy on SBS on Demand Hamish: Bangladesh has achieved its second liberation, says Muhammad Yunus, The Economist Bonus episode: Hamish speaks to Gov. Tim Walz Get in touch: We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Kamala Harris has chosen Minnesota governor Tim Walz as her running mate, but who is he? It turns out he was actually in Australia last November for a trade mission and he spoke remarkably openly with Hamish Macdonald. GET IN TOUCH: Love this bonus discussion? Have your own thoughts on Gov. Tim Walz that you need to share? We're listening! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au