Ep 166: Macron's Lebanon gamble — Navalny poisoning — Misha Glenny's Iron Men

A firsthand account of French President Emmanuel Macron's latest diplomatic push in Lebanon; the poisoning of opposition activist Alexei Navalny; and McMafia author Misha Glenny on the political leaders he calls "iron men" — it's a packed episode of EU Confidential to welcome you back from summer holidays.

POLITICO's Rym Momtaz sat down with Macron on his plane as they headed to Beirut earlier this week. Rym gives us the inside scoop on the trip and breaks down Macron's risky mission to resolve Lebanon's multiple interlocking crises.

POLITICO's Matthew Karnitschnig and Andrew Gray discuss how Germany and Europe will respond now that Berlin has concluded Navalny was poisoned with a nerve agent from the Novichok group.

Misha Glenny, author of the nonfiction book McMafia that inspired a big-budget TV thriller series, is our special guest to discuss his latest project: A six-part Audible series, The Rise of the Iron Men.

Glenny's definition of the iron men — they're all men, he notes — are populists who came to power thanks to democracy and then set about undermining it.

He starts the series with Hungary's Viktor Orbán, before going on to profile Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines, Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, India's Narendra Modi and ... the U.K.'s Boris Johnson.

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