Richard Maude returns (Part 1), and Darren in the Beirut blast.

For nine years, the civil wars in Syria, Libya, and Yemen have caused massive casualty numbers, destruction, and refugee outflows, with hunger and economic collapse facing those who remain – three of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Now the pandemic is exacting an even greater toll.

ABC journalist Stephen Dziedzic on reporting Australian foreign policy, media-government relations, and the Wolverines.

The pandemic’s impact has varied across the Middle East, but infections are rising again. The virus is unlikely to be contained quickly, and that will limit Australia’s ability to reopen its borders and economy.

Frances Adamson, DFAT Secretary, on our 50th episode.

US turmoil; India CSP; G-7; WHO lessons; HK; Australian geoeconomics.

As crises go, they rarely come bigger than the Coronavirus pandemic. With India now emerging from the world’s largest lockdown, it appears to have weathered the crisis reasonably well.

If ever there was justification for a Royal Commission, this is it. Its primary term of reference should not be to apportion blame, but to identify how we can prepare better for the next big one.

Harinder Sidhu, former High Commissioner to India, on the Australia-India relationship.

Heather Smith on fixing the G20, industrial policy, tech competition, and what economists get wrong.

Australia-China tensions over a COVID-19 inquiry.