stephen sackur talks to vanessa neumann — venezuela's opposition envoy to the uk.elcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. 18 months ago, venezuela seemed to be on the brink of political upheaval. the leader of the national assembly declared himself president and he won the backing of more than 50 countries. but today, the socialist government is still in power — president nicolas maduro overseeing a deep economic and health care crisis. my guest today is vanessa neumann, the london envoy of the would—be president juan guaido. has the opposition missed its main chance? vanessa neumann in new york city, welcome to hardtalk. thank you very much for having me. it's a pleasure to be back with you, stephen. let's reflect on the big declaration made byjuan guaido some 18 months ago, when he declared himself president of venezuela. he said that he was going to deliverfreedom and democracy and a better life to the people of venezuela. are you somewhat embarrassed when you think back to those claims? no, absolutely not. i think we have made a lot of progress. we have 61 count

i'm stephen sackur. one of the world's most sensitive conflict zones is heating up again.month, armenian and azerbaijani forces clashed, and at least 17 people were killed. it is the latest twist in a long—running dispute over nagorno—karabakh. well, my guest today is armenia's prime minister, nikol pashinyan. is armenia preoccupied with fighting old battles? prime minister nikol pashinyan in yerevan. welcome to hardtalk. thank you. hi. it's more than two years now since you swept into power with very high hopes for the so—called velvet revolution. when i look at armenia today, it seems many armenians feel that those hopes have been dashed. what has gone wrong? i wouldn't agree with your impression, because all armenians — all citizens of armenia — they are seeing and they are living in a democratic country, and with. .. in 2019, we had the biggest economic growth in europe, and we had big economic success. and our country made tremendous progress in all international ratings in terms of democracy, freedom of speech, independent judiciary, anti—corru ption policy. and inte

i'm stephen sackur. chinese government goes to extraordinary lengths to control its own population. perhaps the most extreme example, xinjiang, where muslim uighur people have faced systematic repression. but the principal of authoritarian control runs much deeper. my guest today is wu'er kaixi, a political dissident in exile, part of the 1989 tiananmen generation. he is himself a uighur. has beijing effectively snuffed out the spirit of tiananmen? wu'er kaixi in taiwan, welcome to hardtalk. thank you very much. thank you for having me back. it is a pleasure to have you on the show. i think we must begin with what is happening in xinjiang, particularly to the uighur muslim communities in xinjiang. there is a rising level of international condemnation at what the chinese government is doing. as you watch this situation very closely, do you see any sign china is modifying its policies? small signs here and there, but not in the general picture. for instance, there is one country, turkey, being a muslim cou

i'm stephen sackur.is people have turned against him in the streets, but belarus‘s dictator alexander lu kashenko his security forces are still following his orders. so, where do the anti—lu kashenko activists go from here? well, my guest is natalia kaliada, one of the founders of the belarus free theatre, an artist dissident in exile. will bela rus‘s summer rebellion be blown away with the autumn leaves? welcome to hardtalk. masses of people, protesters on the streets, but president lukashenko has streets, but president lu kashenko has not streets, but president lukashenko has not blinked or buckled. are you surprised? i'm sure you saw a number of weeks ago, his helicopterfully equipped with a rifle. he presented himself as a complete joke to the world. we need to understand he is and that mental condition, because he has mosi psychopath e. we need to understand what to do with him next, because people are standing up against him. when you say he made himself a com plete you say he made himself a comple

i'm stephen sackur.is people have turned against him in the streets, but belarus' dictator, alexander lu kashenko, is still in power. his security forces are still following his orders. so where do the anti— lukashenko activists go from here? my guest is natalia kaliada, one of the founders of the belarus free theatre, an artist dissident in exile. will bela rus‘ summer rebellion be blown away with the autumn leaves? natalia kaliada, welcome to hardtalk. thank you for having me here. we have seen extraordinary scenes for more than two weeks now in belarus. masses of people protesters on the streets. but president lukashenko, he hasn't blinked, he hasn't buckled. are you surprised? 0h, he blinked. and i am sure you saw a number of days ago when he was in his helicopter, fully equipped with a rifle, and he presented himself as a complete joke to the world. so we need to understand he is in that mental condition, because he has messiah psychopathic, and he speaks, and now we need to understand is the world

welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur. the unimaginable horror of the beirut blast, the people of lebanon are now living with a zombie government, dead in all but name but still in place. my guest today is the minister of economy and trade, raoul nehme. now he has resigned but he's still in office until new ministers take over. the outgoing prime minister says the catastrophic situation is the result of endemic corruption. so is lebanon a country now beyond rescue? minister raoul nehme in beirut, welcome to hardtalk. thank you, thank you. your country is going through an unparalleled crisis, and i have to ask you a very simple question, does lebanon have a government today or not? lebanon has a caretaker government, which means that the council of ministers cannot meet and take any decisions. there are very few exceptions, basically if there is an emergency, an earthquake and we need to make some decisions, then yes we can do it. each minister on his own can take only basic decisions, administrative decisions, and not spen

i'm stephen sackur.lobal covid—19 pandemic has put a spotlight on the relationship between scientists and policy makers. leaders across the world have responded to the science with everything from respect to scepticism, foremost amongst the sceptics presidentjair bolsonaro of brazil, one of the countries hit hardest by the virus. my guest, brazilian microbiologist natalia pasternak, has launched a crusade against her president in the name of science. is she winning the argument? natalia pasternak in sao paulo, welcome to hardtalk. thank you, stephen, for having me. it's a pleasure to have you on the programme. let's start with the claim from your president, jair bolsonaro, that the worst of the coronavirus epidemic in brazil is now over. would you agree? of course not. we're still in the middle of it... ..if we're lucky. and the president seems to be completely disconnected from reality, really. that's the way he's been behaving from the start. so, he has no real measure of the dangers and the gravity of

welcome to hardtalk. 7 7 7i'm stephen sackur. 7 7 7the chinese government goes 7 7 7to extraordinary 7 7 7to control its own population. 7 7 7 perhaps the most extreme 777example, xinjiang, where muslim uighur people have faced 7 7 7systematic repression. 7 7 but the principal of authoritarian 7 7 7control runs much deeper. 7 7 7my guest today is wu'er kaixi, 7 7 7a political dissident in exile, 777part of the 1989 7 7 7tiananmen generation. 777he is himself a uighur. 7 7 7 has beijing effectively snuffed 7 7 7out the spirit of tiananmen7 77wu'er kaixi in taiwan, 7 7 7welcome to hardtalk. 7thank you very much. 7 7 7thank you for having me back. 7 7 7it is a pleasure to 7 7 7have you on the show. 777i think we must begin 7 7 7with what is happening in xinjiang, particularly 777to the uighur muslim 777communities in xinjiang. 7 7 7there is a rising level 7 7 7of international condemnation7 7 7 7at what the chinese 7 7 7government is doing. 7 7 7as you watch this 7 7 7situation very closely, 777do you see any sign china 777is modifying its policies? 7 7 7small signs here and there, 777b

i'm stephen sackur. the global covid—19 pandemic has put a spotlight on the relationship between scientists and policy makers. leaders across the world have responded to the science with everything from respect to scepticism, foremost amongst the sceptics presidentjair bolsonaro of brazil, one of the countries hit hardest by the virus. my guest, brazilian microbiologist natalia pasternak, has launched a crusade against her president in the name of science. is she winning the argument? natalia pasternak in sao paulo, welcome to hardtalk. thank you, stephen, for having me. it's a pleasure to have you on the programme. let's start with the claim from your president, jair bolsonaro, that the worst of the coronavirus epidemic in brazil is now over. would you agree? of course not. we're still in the middle of it... ..if we're lucky. and the president seems to be completely disconnected from reality, really. that's the way he's been behaving from the start. so, he has no real measure of the dangers and the grav

welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur. covid—19 pandemic has inflicted huge economic damage, but it has offered the natural world a little bit of respite — room to breathe. but what will come next? will it be a return to the old ways of resource exploitation and consumption? my guest today is one of the uk's best known naturalists and environmental campaigners, chris packham. are we humans capable of fundamentally changing our priorities? chris, thanks so much for inviting me to your home, but also this woodland, which i know means so much to you. yes, well, this is my ecological home, there's no question of that. i love this patch of woodland. i feel more connected to this place than anywhere else on earth. it's an environment that i grew up in, this oak hazel, a bit of ash, a bit of yew woodland. and i'm comfortable here with all the colours, the sounds, the smells. it's a wonderful place to be able to spend my time. and i've spent more of it here this spring than ever before. i was going to say, the coronavirus pandemic

i'm stephen sackur. in ireland, all of the talk earlier this year was of a political earthquake. nationalist party sinn fein won the most votes in ireland's general election. they promised to smash the status quo. well, so much for that. in fact, ireland's two old established parties formed a grand coalition, and they are guiding the country through the covid—i9 pandemic and brexit. my guest today is mary lou mcdonald, the leader of sinn fein. has her party missed its moment? mary lou mcdonald in dublin, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. after the february election, when you and your party did remarkably well — you won the most first preference votes in ireland's general election — you talked about a revolution at the ballot box. well, five months on, what's happened to that revolution? well, five months on, we are into really uncharted and unprecedented times, no more than yourselves, with a global pandemic, with the public health emergency here on our island, and, of course, that has caused very considerable disruption to people's daily lives, but also to political life. but i'm

i'm stephen sackur.this, the mobile phone, our ability to inform, communicate and persuade has never been greater. yet, public debate seems more toxic, more divisive than ever before. so what is happening? are intolerance and extremism winning out over reasoned debate? my guest today is the american neuroscientist, philosopher and podcaster, sam harris. he goes into intellectual territory where few others dare tread — on race and religion. he generates lots of heat. what about light? sam harris in california, welcome to hardtalk. happy to be here, thanks, stephen. you have an extraordinarily popular podcast in which you talk with leading intellectuals across the world but you also express your own trenchant opinions in a host of books that you have written. which is more important, more meaningful to you? the conversation or expressing your strong opinion? good question. i think i split the difference there because, as you know, i do not do much in the way of standard interviews. i am really trying to ha

welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur.l the talk of spikes and second waves, one thing is clear. those people predicting an early end to the covid—19 pandemic are indulging in wishful thinking. so, is there any way of respecting the science and mitigating the worst impacts on economic and social life? my guest today is sir jeremy farrar, director of the wellcome trust and a key scientific adviser to the uk government. just how dangerous is the moment we're in now? sirjeremy farrar, welcome to hardtalk. pleasure. governments around the world have had pretty much six months now to figure out how to get control of covid—19. how do you think they're doing? i think we face enormous challenges. we've got a virus which came across from animals into humans maybe sometime in 2019, maybe before that. to which none of us have any immunity, we have no treatments, no vaccines, no diagnostic when it happened, and it's very, very transmissible. it goes from me to you very easily and so spreads around the world in, what, 100 days and it w