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The Why? Curve
Putin's Foot on the Gas
Season 1, Ep. 9
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Winter is coming, and Europe is looking at a chilly one. Germans are told – take a cold shower or turn down the thermostat and use 15% less gas. And the European Commission is looking at EU-wide measures to deal with what could be a major crisis. It’s all because Russia is tightening the valves on the gas pipeline into the EU. Moscow says it’s technical problems but few doubt it’s pushback for the sanctions imposed on Russia over the Ukraine invasion. Germany is especially reliant on Russian gas, but much of Europe is scurrying around to find alternative energy sources before winter arrives. How long will public sympathy for Ukraine last when the heating goes off? Will EU leaders face pressure from frozen pensioners to, maybe, compromise a little with Putin? Phil and Roger read the meters with Daniel Gros, Director of the Centre for European Policy Studies - and find out why he thinks Europe WILL get by without freezing
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38:14A dictator set to succeed in grabbing another sovereign nation, and challenging, with tanks and missiles, the political landscape of Europe - is this, as the Polish prime minister says, our 1939? Should the West be ready for the collapse of an arms-starved Ukraine, and a victorious Vladimir Putin poised to challenge NATO right on its borders? If Donald Trump wins the US election this year, will reliance on Washington no longer be an option for halting Russia’s expansion? David Galbreath, Professor of War and Technology at the University of Bath gives Phil and Roger his analysis of the crisis ahead96. Why Is Populism So Popular?
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39:51What’s happened to electric cars? Weren’t we all supposed to be driving one by now? Is it the cost, the range or the lack of charging points? Is the government still on track to phase out new petrol cars, and reach net zero on emissions? Tom Stacey of Anglia Ruskin University steers Phil and Roger through the complexities of electrifying the driving experience for all of us.94. Prisons In Crisis
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