Former ambassador Bob Bowker joins Democracy Sausage to assess the Middle East two years after October 7 and asks whether the prospect of a Palestinian state has been obliterated forever.
Why did Hamas’s military wing launch an attack they knew would unleash catastrophic retaliation? How has Australia’s recognition of Palestine exposed an ‘iceberg adrift’ in our society? And why does Trump’s 20-point peace plan have even less chance than Moses’s ten commandments?
Dr Bob Bowker is an Adjunct Professor at the Centre for Arab & Islamic Studies at the Australian National University. He served as Australia’s ambassador to Jordan, Egypt and Syria during his diplomatic career with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).
Mark Kenny is the Director of the ANU Australian Studies Institute. He came to the University after a high-profile journalistic career including six years as chief political correspondent and national affairs editor for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times.
Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. We’d love to hear your feedback on this series, so send in your questions, comments or suggestions for future episodes to democracysausage@anu.edu.au.
This podcast is produced by The Australian National University.
Top image: Adobe Stock image
In this special live recording from the 2025 Whitlam Symposium, Mark hosts a star-studded panel discussing the 50th anniversary of the Dismissal.
Political journalist and author Troy Bramston joins Democracy Sausage to discuss his new biography of Gough Whitlam and asks how a government could be so transformative yet so chaotic.
Jason Koutsoukis joins Democracy Sausage to examine Barnaby Joyce's political future and asks whether One Nation is really a viable option for the former Nationals leader.