Friday Focus
The Friday Focus podcast is a weekly, half-hour masterclass on current events with Janice Stein, the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs, and Rudyard Griffiths, Chair of the Munk Debates. To access full length episodes of Friday Focus consider becoming a donor to the Munk Debates. For as little as a $25 CAD annual charitable donation you can listen to 50+ weekly Friday Focus programs online or on your favorite podcast platform.
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December 1, 2023
Friday Focus – War Restarts & COP 28
This week’s edition of Friday Focus begins with a discussion of the forces that propelled a return to hostilities in Gaza. How is Israel likely to fight its campaign to remove Hamas as a military force in the refugee congested southern regions of the territory? Will Hamas consider more hostage...
November 24, 2023
Friday Focus – Hostage Release & Targeted Assassination
This week’s edition of Friday Focus starts with a look ahead at the next four days of planned hostage exchanges between Hamas and Israel. What should we expect from both parties as the exchanges unfold? How could Hamas take advantage of the pause in hostilities? Will Israel restart its military...
November 17, 2023
Friday Focus – PM’s Remarks & Halifax Security Forum
On this week’s edition of Friday Focus, Janice and Rudyard begin the program with a discussion of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s remarks this week excoriating Israel for the civilian casualties caused by its war against Hamas in Gaza. Why has the prime minister changed his tone on the conflict and...
November 10, 2023
Friday Focus – Tale of Two Wars & Interest Rates
This week’s instalment of Friday Focus starts off with a discussion of the two major wars now ongoing in Gaza and Eastern Ukraine. How are these two conflicts similar and different? And how are they playing off each other both in terms of their future trajectories and domestic support in...
November 3, 2023
Friday Focus – War on Hamas & Carbon Tax
This week’s Friday Focus starts off with a recap of Israel’s war on Hamas. What have we seen in the past seven days in terms of new developments and trends in the conflict? Why is the border crossing in Egypt only allowing a trickle of dual passport holders and critically injured...
October 27, 2023
Friday Focus – Ceasefire Debate & Proportionality
This week’s edition of Friday Focus examines what we have learned in recent days about Israel’s war on Hamas and the international community’s response. Janice and Rudyard’s discussion begins with the growing calls for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Is this a realistic response to the current humanitarian crisis...
October 20, 2023
Friday Focus – Israel at War
This week’s edition of Friday Focus digs into the last week of events on the ground as Israel prepares for a ground invasion of Gaza. What do Janice and Rudyard think about the argument that Israel should agree to a temporary ceasefire? Why do parts of the media seem to...
October 13, 2023
Friday Focus – War on Hamas
This week’s edition of Friday Focus discusses the latest developments in Israel’s war on the Hamas terrorist organization. Janice and Rudyard discuss the dynamics and risks of the impending ground invasion of Gaza and why weeks, if not possibly months, of hard fighting in the streets and tunnels of Gaza...
October 9, 2023
Friday Focus Special Edition – ‘The targets were overwhelmingly civilians’: Janice Gross Stein on the surprise attack on Israel
This is a special Friday Focus episode with Janice Stein’s analysis of the horrible events that have taken place over the weekend in Israel. Janice provided her usual on-point, thoughtful commentary of now fast developing war.
This special podcast comes courtesy of The Hub, Canada’s leading source for timely analysis and...
October 6, 2023
Friday Focus – House Rules
This week’s edition of Friday Focus with Janice Stein and Rudyard Griffiths sets sail into the stormy weather that defined the last week in U.S. politics. For the first time in history, the Speaker of the U.S. Congress was removed from office by a vote of its members. The putsch...
September 15, 2023
Friday Focus – Big Israel / Big Iran & Progressivism
On this edition of the Friday Focus podcast, Janice and Rudyard spend the first half of the show talking about two concepts that have emerged that help explain some of the West’s aspirations and fears about the Ukraine War. Some analysts are now arguing that an end game to the...