Christiane Amanpour Presents: The Ex Files

President Trump has announced a deal with Russia, lifting his own diesel sanctions and committing to spend $4bn of American money to Russian fuel, in return for a ceasefire on energy infrastructure. As Zelensky calls it a gift to Russia's war machine, did Trump just sell out Ukraine for cheaper diesel?Christiane and Jamie unpack the logic behind it and examine Trump's claim that Zelensky should be replaced.Later Christiane reports from Reykjavik's Hofdi House, 40 years on from where Reagan and Gorbachev came within touching distance of abolishing nuclear weapons, and walked away. Jamie, who worked on arms control at the time, explains why that "failure" broke the back of the Cold War, and why both now argue the same leap of thinking is needed to govern AI before it governs us.Christiane Amanpour Presents: The Ex Files is a Global production, available every Tuesday and Thursday on Global Player, YouTube or wherever you get your shows. Make sure you subscribe so you never miss an episode.Christiane is up for Best Host in the Signal Awards Listener's Choice. If you love the show, take ten seconds to vote: https://vote.signalaward.com/PublicVoting#/2026/shows/craft/best-host

The gruesome botched execution of Christa Pike has prompted an international debate about the use of the death penalty. Should it prompt America - the only major western democracy which still uses capital punishment - to finally scrap the death penalty?Christiane and guest co-host Tina Brown dissect the 'barbaric' attempts to execute Pike, explain why prison doctors are so poorly trained and reveal why there is a shortage of lethal injection drugs in the US. They also ask: what does this extraordinary case say about America? Christiane talks about her personal experience of visiting a death penalty facility in person and she and Tina discuss whether anything is likely to change as a result of this story.Plus, they look ahead to the midterms. Are these elections simply a referendum on Donald Trump? Christiane asks why so many senior Republicans still won't criticise the President by name and they discuss whether candidates would do better if they did. Plus Tina explains her theory on how Trump has lost his touch, and they give their reactions to the latest on the President's war with the press.Christiane Amanpour Presents: The Ex Files is a Global production, available every Tuesday and Thursday on Global Player, YouTube or wherever you get your shows. Make sure you subscribe so you never miss an episode.Follow us on social media @amanpourpodFor more content, please follow us:Watch us: https://www.youtube.com/@AmanpourPodInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/amanpourpodX: https://x.com/AmanpourPodFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Christiane-Amanpour-PresentsBlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/amanpourpod.bsky.social

Xi got the pomp, the pageantry and a trip to see the US Constitution. America got a promise of two pandas.In this episode, Christiane and Jamie ask what Trump's summit with Xi actually achieved? Why was there no AI agreement? Is the Taiwan arms sale dead or just delayed? And why is Trump pushing hardest on America's friends while reaching for its adversaries?Plus Christiane gives her reaction to her exclusive UNGA interviews with Brazil's President Lula and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani.Christiane Amanpour Presents: The Ex Files is a Global production, available every Tuesday and Thursday on Global Player, YouTube or wherever you get your shows. Make sure you subscribe so you never miss an episode.Follow us on social media @amanpourpodFor more content, please follow us:Watch us: https://www.youtube.com/@AmanpourPodInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/amanpourpodX: https://x.com/AmanpourPodFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Christiane-Amanpour-PresentsBlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/amanpourpod.bsky.social

How do you negotiate with a government you can't predict? That's the question preoccupying presidents and prime ministers this week, as leaders gather in New York for the UN General Assembly with every major global crisis in the same building at the same time. Christiane and Jamie ask whether wars are solvable and alliances can be strengthened while the world's superpower keeps moving the goalposts.Christiane brings the view from the very top. Fresh from interviewing Brazil's President Lula, and with Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney building a political reputation for standing up to Trump, she and Jamie examine how major nations are quietly engineering workarounds for dealing with the Trump administration. Is this a sustainable new model of diplomacy? They also look ahead to two meetings that will test this fragile system: Trump and Xi, with AI now a national security question rather than a tech issue, and Trump and Zelensky, with Kyiv increasingly frustrated by reduced American support.Later, Christiane responds to Trump's latest attempted crackdown on press freedom: his ban on journalists from CNN, MS Now and Politico from entering the White House. Christiane explains why this is such a concerning move and why authoritarian regimes all over the world will be the ones who benefit.Christiane Amanpour Presents: The Ex Files is a Global production, available every Tuesday and Thursday on Global Player, YouTube or wherever you get your shows. Make sure you subscribe so you never miss an episode.Follow us on social media @amanpourpodFor more content, please follow us:Watch us: https://www.youtube.com/@AmanpourPodInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/amanpourpodX: https://x.com/AmanpourPodFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Christiane-Amanpour-PresentsBlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/amanpourpod.bsky.social

Is Trump's war with Iran making America weaker? Christiane and Jamie examine what the conflict is costing the US – from military resources and its position in Europe and Asia to the risk of spreading America's power too thinly.They also examine how the war is affecting Iran, as pressure mounts on its economy and the battle for control of the Strait of Hormuz intensifies. With the US reportedly running down its stocks of defensive missiles, could the conflict give Iran greater leverage?Plus, two crucial elections are coming up. Christiane and Jamie discuss what the US midterms could mean for Trump, and why Israel's election in October could become a reckoning for Benjamin Netanyahu. After sanctions were introduced on West Bank settlers, they ask, is Israel becoming increasingly isolated internationally?Christiane Amanpour Presents: The Ex Files is a Global production, available every Tuesday and Thursday on Global Player, YouTube or wherever you get your shows. Make sure you subscribe so you never miss an episode.Follow us on social media @amanpourpodFor more content, please follow us:Watch us: https://www.youtube.com/@AmanpourPodInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/amanpourpodX: https://x.com/AmanpourPodFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Christiane-Amanpour-PresentsBlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/amanpourpod.bsky.social

A 22-year-old international student launched India's "Cockroach Party" and has successfully forced the education minister to resign. Christiane and Jamie unpack how a tongue-in-cheek protest movement exposed widespread exam corruption, won government reparations, and may signal the beginning of the end of Modi's unchallenged power.They also explore whether Putin's apparent weakness makes NATO membership for Ukraine more realistic. Jamie explains why the answer is still no, but why Kazakhstan's president telling Putin to "freeze the war now" matters more than people realise.Plus, Trump wore a "Trump 2028" cap to the White House Correspondents' Dinner. Even if he was joking, does floating a third term normalise the erosion of constitutional limits?Christiane Amanpour Presents: The Ex Files is a Global production, available every Tuesday and Thursday on Global Player, YouTube or wherever you get your shows. Make sure you subscribe so you never miss an episode.Follow us on social media @amanpourpodFor more content, please follow us:Watch us: https://www.youtube.com/@AmanpourPodInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/amanpourpodX: https://x.com/AmanpourPodFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Christiane-Amanpour-PresentsBlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/amanpourpod.bsky.social

The ICC is in crisis. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has threatened to dismantle the International Criminal Court 'brick by brick', and with Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan now facing sexual misconduct allegations and a vote on his future, the institution has never looked more vulnerable. Christiane and Jamie discuss whether the Trump administration really might try to destroy the court, and what that would mean for international justice.They also tackle Pete Hegseth's decision to introduce testosterone screening for all US servicemen. Is there an irony in policing hormone levels when transgender troops were forced out of the military just last year?Plus, Christiane responds to her critics on Iran: why do some accuse her of being too sympathetic to the Islamic Republic, while others say she's too close to the exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi? And is there any realistic prospect of the UK rejoining the EU, a decade on from Brexit?Christiane Amanpour Presents: The Ex Files is a Global production, available every Tuesday and Thursday on Global Player, YouTube or wherever you get your shows. Make sure you subscribe so you never miss an episode.Follow us on social media @amanpourpodFor more content, please follow us:Watch us: https://www.youtube.com/@AmanpourPodInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/amanpourpodX: https://x.com/AmanpourPodFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Christiane-Amanpour-PresentsBlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/amanpourpod.bsky.social