Is Vladimir Putin a drowning man?

The Radio National Hour · Jun 30, 2026 · 53m

As Russian soldiers continue to die in appalling numbers and Ukrainian drones terrorise civilians in Moscow, fears are growing that a paranoid Russian president could escalate the war both at grave cost at home and abroad. On the eve of the Dalai Lama’s 91st birthday his special representative is in Australia to sound an alarm about China’s new ethnic unity laws, which, they say, seeks to crush their culture and identity.It’s the food staple that nourishes half of humanity, but rice crops are particularly vulnerable to the ravages of an El Nino weather cycle. That’s forcing poor farmers…