Liberal Pride and Radical Prejudice

In this episode we begin with Europe, where the war continues to take its toll on Ukraine and the Trump administration has reportedly given Viktor Orban’s government a sanctions carve-out to allow Russia’s participation in the construction of a nuclear power plant in Hungary to resume. Speaking of Hungary, we note how the attempt to ban Budapest Pride backfired, turning the LGBT pride march into a more general and much larger protest against Orban’s illiberalism — and contrast that outpouring of broad liberalism with the narrow radicalism of Pride organizers in New York City, where LGBT police officers were banned from marching in uniform. This leads to a discussion of radicalism in the West, including the “death to the IDF” chants at the Glastonbury Festival in the UK and the rise of anti-Israel New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. Turning to Israel itself, we note President Trump’s strange decision to speak up on Prime Minister’s Netanyahu’s legal woes, inserting himself into Israeli politics in ways that often don’t work out for US presidents. (NB: I couldn’t fully fix the audio issue at ~12:25, but it passes in a few seconds.) Finally, circling back to Ukraine, we note Russia’s capture of a lithium deposit, undermining the US-Ukraine mineral rights deal signed earlier this year, and Grant highlights China’s interest in lithium mining in Mali and the implications for Australian lithium exports.