Friday Focus: Trump faces pressure from Gulf States, Britain’s populist parties get a boost, and Canada’s new GG is plucked from the Laurentian elite

Become a Munk Donor ($50 annually) to get 72-hour advanced access to full length editions of the Friday Focus podcast with Janice Stein. Your donor membership comes with other great perks including a livestream pass to our mainstage debates and advanced access to full length episodes of our other weekly podcast with Globe and Mail columnist Andrew Coyne.

Trump’s pause on escorting ships through the Strait of Hormuz has less to do with pressure from Iran and more to do with pressure from Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, the U.S. has done little to protect the UAE, which is under sustained attack from Iran. What happened to the U.S. security guarantee to the Gulf states?

In the second half of the show, Rudyard and Janice turn to two previous Munk Debaters — Louise Arbour and Nigel Farage — who were in the news this week for very different reasons. Nigel had a great night in Britain, with his Reform Party trouncing Labour in local council elections. The rise of populism in Britain, on both the left and right, is due to failures of governance and the political ineptitude of Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

In Canada, former Supreme Court justice Louise Arbour was appointed the country’s new Governor General. Why is Ottawa unwilling — or incapable — of promoting talent beyond the Laurentian elite circle? And is it time for Boomer careerists to step aside, bow out, and make room for a younger generation to take over these institutions?