Mortal Giants

On this week’s Mortal Giants Sandy Garossino and Vina Nadjibulla discuss the deteriorating relationship between Canada and India which became pubic after Prime Minister Trudeau in September 2023 accused India of involvement in the killing of a Canadian Sikh leader in B.C. The Indian government called the accusation ‘absurd’. Then both governments expelled diplomats.Garossino and Nadjibulla take us step-by-step through the escalating rhetoric between the two governments and the events that led to the RCMP holding a news conference on Thanksgiving weekend in 2024 to lay out their investigation that the Modi government created a network of to follow and harass and perhaps even orchestrate the murders of Sikh separatists in Canada.

Sandy Garossino and Vina Nadjibulla are having conversations about the fragility of power in the 21st century. And that became even truer after the U.S. election that will return Donald Trump to the presidency in January 2025.Episode six is aptly titled, Trump and the Post-American World. Sandy and Vina talk about which world powers will lose and which will gain in the Trump presidency.“I think if Ukraine is probably the biggest loser, European Union would be the second biggest loser from this election because President Trump has shown a lot of hostility towards the European Union and the concept of a \united Europe and has no interest to deal with Brussels and EU as a bloc. He prefers to work bilaterally with certain European leaders like the president of Hungary,” Vina said.The U.S. and the EU have decades of political and cultural cooperation and the largest bilateral trade and investment relationship in the world.“I think a lot will depend on whether or not Europe is able to unite in the way that the French president is now saying, well, if it's America first, then we also need to have Europe first approach,” she said.

The world is grappling with how best and how fast to fight climate change.  China stands out for its enormous investments in renewable energy – at home and around the world. In 2022 China spent over half a trillion dollars on the energy transition – about half the global total.  Yet China continues to expand its coal operations and its emissions are growing.  The U.S. the EU, Japan and Canada are working to catch up.Mortal Giants is hosted by Sandy Garossino and Vina Najibullah.  Sandy is a former crown prosecutor and has been the public affairs columnist for Canada’s National Observer responsible for some groundbreaking investigations.  Vina is the vice-president of Research and Strategy at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. She is a frequent media commentator on geopolitics, Canadian foreign policy, and Canada- Asia relations. 

This episode looks at the how the Communist Party of China has changed over the past century and how today’s party is very much the party of its President, Xi Jinping.  From a period where its remarkable growth was an economic miracle for the country, and there seemed to be more freedom for its citizens, to the beginning of the 2000s when the party got tougher again and Xi Jinping became President in 2012 and began consolidating his power over the party.  He is also close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.  What does this mean for China’s relationship with the world today and in the future? Mortal Giants is hosted by Sandy Garossino and Vina Najibullah.  Sandy is a former crown prosecutor and has been the public affairs columnist for Canada’s National Observer responsible for some groundbreaking investigations.  Vina is the vice-president of Research and Strategy at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. She is a frequent media commentator on geopolitics, Canadian foreign policy, and Canada- Asia relations. 

The island of Taiwan and its strait the Taiwan Strait are the gateway to the South China Sea which stretches from Taiwan to Malaysia. One third of the world’s shipping traffic sail through these waters every year. And because of this Taiwan is one of the most dangerous flashpoints in global politics today. China believes Taiwan is part of China and that includes the Taiwan Strait.  Many countries support Taiwan as an independent country and the Strait as international waters.   One school of thought is that China’s Xi Jinping is moving closer to invading Taiwan and the U.S. has vowed to defend it.  Oh, and there’s another thing, remember from Episode 2, Taiwan produces over 60 per cent of all semiconductors and 93 per cent of the most advanced chips.Mortal Giants is hosted by Sandy Garossino and Vina Najibullah.  Sandy is a former crown prosecutor and has been the public affairs columnist for Canada’s National Observer responsible for some groundbreaking investigations.  Vina is the vice-president of Research and Strategy at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. She is a frequent media commentator on geopolitics, Canadian foreign policy, and Canada- Asia relations. 

In this episode of Mortal Giants we're going to look at the new race for power – literally. The United States is challenging Asia for dominance in production of the tiny semiconductor chips that help reduce reliance on fossil fuels and will expand and advance artificial intelligence. And technological power will be the key to national power in this century. And to the competition between the U.S. and China.Mortal Giants is hosted by Sandy Garossino and Vina Najibullah.  Sandy is a former crown prosecutor and has been the public affairs columnist for Canada’s National Observer responsible for some groundbreaking investigations.  Vina is the vice-president of Research and Strategy at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. She is a frequent media commentator on geopolitics, Canadian foreign policy, and Canada- Asia relations. 

Mortal Giants, a podcast about the fragility of power in the 21st century.  After almost a century of post -war prosperity and unrivalled American power, we've entered a new era of growing uncertainty and realignment as many of the world's nations now seek to challenge that dominance.  For better or worse, one man, Xi Jinping,President of the People's Republic of China will be a transformative force on the issues facing the world. Mortal Giants is hosted by Sandy Garossino and Vina Najibullah.  Sandy is a former crown prosecutor and has been the public affairs columnist for Canada’s National Observer responsible for some groundbreaking investigations. Vina is the vice-president of Research and Strategy at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. She is a frequent media commentator on geopolitics, Canadian foreign policy, and Canada- Asia relations. 

Do you have questions about the rush to produce the tiny semiconductor chips that are essential to the transition away from fossil fuels?   Do you want to understand why China is a threat to Taiwan?  Or why the most sophisticated chips are almost exclusively produced by Taiwan?  Or if the new gold rush to be the leader in production is putting the world at risk for conflict?   You can get answers with Mortal Giants.  A conversation between former prosecutor and columnist for Canada’s National Observer, Sandy Garossino and Via Najibullah, Vice-President of Research & Strategy at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada.