The Explanation Podcast
Where the world is explained. Making sense of the big stories - looking behind the spin.
Where the world is explained. Making sense of the big stories - looking behind the spin. Exploring the important questions about long-running stories and the latest global news. An honest, unvarnished, explanation of the world. Episodes from The Explanation, Unspun World, The Global Jigsaw and The Media Show.
Episodes to download
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Unspun World: Can anyone in Russia challenge Putin now?
Sat 30 Sep 2023
Now Yevgeny Prigozhin is dead, can anyone in Russia challenge the president鈥檚 power?
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The Global Jigsaw: Wagner after Prigozhin
Fri 29 Sep 2023
What next for the notorious group after the plane crash that wiped out its leadership?
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Unspun World: What has changed for women in Iran, a year after Mahsa Amini's death?
Sat 23 Sep 2023
Iranian women are still fighting for freedom, despite government crackdowns
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The Global Jigsaw: Grain deal special
Sat 9 Sep 2023
Russia and Turkey failed to reach an agreement to bring Ukrainian grain to the world
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Could Puerto Rico become America's 51st state?
Sat 26 Aug 2023
大象传媒 Mundo鈥檚 Ronald Avila-Claudio discusses what the future might hold for his homeland
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The EU
Sat 29 Jul 2023
How the European Union evolved from a six-nation club to a major global player
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Who are the Rohingyas?
Sat 22 Jul 2023
How the Rohingyas fled Myanmar to become the world鈥檚 largest stateless population
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Unspun World: Is it time to return looted art?
Sat 8 Jul 2023
What should we done with stolen treasures? Katie Razzall confronts colonialism's legacy
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Haiti's gang crisis
Sat 8 Jul 2023
How competing gangs are carving up Haiti鈥檚 capital, Port-au-Prince
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How Lebanon鈥檚 economy collapsed
Sat 1 Jul 2023
Protests, the port explosion and power cuts 鈥� what鈥檚 next for Lebanon?
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Unspun World: Is Putin's time up?
Fri 30 Jun 2023
The editor of the 大象传媒鈥檚 Russian service, Famil Ismailov, analyses Vladimir Putin's future
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Unspun World: Xi Jinping: President or emperor?
Sat 24 Jun 2023
What do the growing ambitions of China's leader mean for the rest of the world?
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What is the Wagner Group?
Sat 24 Jun 2023
The mercenary organisation's operations have extended to many nations, but who are they?
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Unspun World: Who can challenge Trump?
Sat 17 Jun 2023
The race for the 2024 Republican White House nomination is about to heat up
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Unspun World: What's it like reporting on the war from inside Russia?
Sat 10 Jun 2023
Steve Rosenberg on the challenges for journalists still in Russia
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Unspun World: Can the US transform the world's economy?
Sat 3 Jun 2023
President Biden puts America first. So will he succeed in reshaping the global economy?
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Unspun World: Could AI outsmart humanity?
Sat 27 May 2023
Reporting from Ukraine's battlefields. Plus, how worried should we be about AI?
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Unspun World: Is Ukraine's counter-offensive a turning point?
Sat 20 May 2023
Ukraine prepares a renewed offensive. Plus, what is a pangenome and how will it help us?
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How the Good Friday Agreement helped bring peace to Northern Ireland
Sat 4 Mar 2023
Denis Murray reflects on the legacy of the 1998 agreement
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Ethiopia, Eritrea and border wars
Sat 25 Feb 2023
Kalkidan Yibeltal explains the complex history between the two countries
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Sudan鈥檚 journey from independence to revolution
Sat 18 Feb 2023
Mohanad Hashim explains some of the complex history of the country he grew up in
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How Yemen has been engulfed by civil war
Sat 11 Feb 2023
Nawal Al-Maghafi explains how war has caused one of the world's worst humanitarian crises
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Who are the Uyghurs and why are they being persecuted?
Sat 4 Feb 2023
John Sudworth tells the story behind China's treatment of its Uyghur minority
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Cuba鈥揢nited States relations
Sat 28 Jan 2023
How a long, complex history between neighbours led to such an uneasy relationship
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Roe v Wade and abortion in America
Sat 21 Jan 2023
Katty Kay explains how abortion became central to American politics
