The Interview

Genocide is often called the ultimate crime and after every tragedy, the world says 'it must never happen again'. And yet it does. Hardtalk speaks to leading international human rights lawyer Payam Akhavan, who made his name trying to bring to justice those responsible for war crimes in the former Yugoslavia. He believes that the international community has a duty to challenge human rights abuses wherever they occur. But is true justice ever really possible - or is it compromised by the political constraints and realities of the day?

South Africa is holding general elections next year and for the first time, a whole new generation will cast their vote. The 'born free generation' has no direct memory of the struggle against apartheid - and they have grown up with the powerful African National Congress as their country's government, rather than as its liberators. In a South Africa still struggling to overcome inequality, corruption and youth unemployment, what hopes can the party offer to the younger generation? Hardtalk speaks to Mzwandile Masina, the interim president of the ANC Youth League. Have they still got anything to offer to the younger generation?

The political standoff in Egypt remains in the balance. Thousands of supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi, remain camped-out in Cairo. The interim government wants them removed but more bloodshed could follow if the troops move in. Hardtalk speaks to Egypt's new Foreign Minister, Nabil Fahmy. He is part of a government which many of his compatriots view as illegitimate. So will they bring democracy to Egypt as promised or will the streets of Cairo once again become a battlefield?(Image: Egypt's newly appointed Foreign Minister, Nabil Fahmy. Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

Sarah Montague speaks to Sir John Tavener, one of Britain's most celebrated composers. He says his music is for God - even referring to it as a form of divine dictation. Forty years ago, his work was sometimes dismissed as bland, populist, new age. But over time he has defied the critics - the Protecting Veil was one of the biggest selling classical albums ever, and his Song for Athene was played at the funeral of Princess Diana. Having been ill for much of his life, he says that everything changed after he nearly died from a heart attack six years ago. How did this experience affect his view of life, his music, and his faith?(Image:Sir John Tavener (left) and Simon Russell Beale. Credit: BBC)

Alaska, a land of pristine wilderness, sparse population and unimaginable resource riches. It is also the corner of our planet which is experiencing the most dramatic effects of climate change. The carbon economy which made Alaska rich now threatens its delicate ecosystem, presenting the US with a challenge. In the second of two programmes, Stephen Sackur explores whether the world’s second largest carbon emitter is getting serious about climate change.(Image: A sea otter sits on a chunk of ice near Whittier, Alaska. Credit: AFP)

Hardtalk is on the road in Alaska. In the first of two programmes, Stephen Sackur visits the Bristol Bay region of south-west Alaska where the fishing industry, the mining industry and the federal government are locked in a bitter argument over environmental sustainability and resource exploitation. Every year 40 million salmon swim into Bristol Bay before beginning their journey up the rivers and streams of the region. It is one of the world’s great fisheries. However 120 miles inland there is a plan to build North American’s largest copper mine. Can the two forms of resource exploitation co-exist?

Opera is one of the least watched art forms in the world, and possibly the most expensive. Hardtalk speaks to opera superstar Thomas Hampson. He says the way to get people to love opera is to get them to understand it, and then it has the power to transform. If he is right, could one of the most elite and expensive art forms have worldwide appeal?

Rivers State is at the heart of Nigeria’s oil industry, which produces 20% of the country's wealth. Yet more than one billion dollars a month is being lost to thieves who syphon it off from remote pipelines. Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi is Governor of Rivers State, a key figure in addressing the problem. But he's locked in a highly public dispute with the president, Goodluck Jonathan. Their supporters have had to be separated by the police, and the power struggle has prevented the state assembly from meeting since May. Isn't it time he focused on the day job?Picture: Children sail past an oil pipeline in Rivers State, Nigeria, Credit: Pius Utomi Ekpei, AFP/Getty Images

Iraq’s foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, said he wanted to rehabilitate Iraq’s image after the fall of Saddam Hussein. But now sectarian violence in Iraq is arguably worse than ever and is overlapping with sectarianism in neighbouring Syria. The Shia-led government in Baghdad is accused of discriminating against the Sunni minority and of being too close to Iran. How can Hoshyar Zebari, himself an Iraqi Kurd, hope to have any coherent foreign policy, when his own country is in danger of slipping into civil war?

Britain's Labour Party was created from the trade unions and it still gets most of its money from them. But Labour’s leader Ed Miliband - a man who owes his job to the union vote - now wants to loosen those ties. Hardtalk speaks to Paul Kenny, the leader of one of the UK's biggest unions, the GMB. He says Labour is in danger of losing 90% of his union's funding. So what would a change mean for the Labour Party, the unions and working class representation in Britain?Photo: Paul Kenny (right) Credit: Getty Images

Albania is the single most corrupt country in Europe according to Transparency International. Hardtalk speaks to Edi Rama, who will become Albania's prime minister in September. A modern artist, he won international plaudits for transforming the capital Tirana when he was its mayor - not least by painting its grey buildings in bright colours. He's now promised a renaissance for the whole country. So can he succeed where previous politicians have failed?(Photo: Edi Rama. Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

David Davis has been a candidate for the leadership of the British Conservative party but he has also made a name for himself as a civil liberties campaigner - arguing against what is sometimes called the 'surveillance state'. So what does he make of the massive collection of data by the US National Security Agency and Britain’s GCHQ revealed by the American whistle-blower, Edward Snowden? In the years since the 9/11 attacks - have we got the balance wrong between liberty and security?(Image: David Davis, Conservative MP at the 2005 Conservative Party Conference in Blackpool. Credit: Associated Press)

Zhang Xin is one of only 24 self-made female billionaires in the world. Her story is a true rags-to-riches tale. As a teenager she worked in a sweat-shop in her native China, by her twenties she worked for Goldman Sachs. Disillusioned by Wall Street, she returned to China to make her fortune in property development. But what kind of China did she return to - a country heading for economic problems or possibly an emerging democracy as well as an emerging super-power?(Image: Pan Shiyi (L), chairman of Soho China, and Zhang Xin, chief executive officer of Soho China. Credit: Getty Images)

A year ago the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood's creed looked like a winning political formula. Now the Islamists have been removed from power by the army and millions of Egyptians see that as a cause for celebration. Meanwhile, Turkey's moderate Islamist rulers have faced unprecedented mass protests - and in Tunisia political Islam is on the defensive. Stephen Sackur speaks to Turkish writer Mustafa Akyol and Egyptian feminist and political activist Dina Wahba. Is political Islam failing, if so why?

Nikos Dendias, Greece’s minister for public order believes Greece has become the new gateway to Europe, receiving 90% of all illegal immigrants to the EU. He also says the Greek immigration problem may prove even greater than the financial one. How have the years of austerity impacted on Greek society and law and order?(Image: Greek minister of public order and citizen protection, Nikolaos Dendias. Credit: Associated Press)

Afghanistan is a country that has huge natural resources. It is also one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Hardtalk is in Kabul to talk to Afghanistan’s finance minister Dr Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal. He has publically accused fellow MPs of corruption, and has had to defend himself against similar charges. There is money to be made in Afghanistan, but will the people who live there see any of it?(Image: Afghan Finance Minister Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal (R) and Japan's Ambassador to Kabul, Reiichiro Takahashi (L). Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

International Forces are pulling out of Afghanistan. By the end of next year they will be gone completely. HARDtalk is in Afghanistan to speak to the head of the Afghan National Army, Sher Mohammad Karimi. He and his troops now have the task of keeping the country safe from attacks. Does he think his men are up to the job?(Image: General Sher Mohammad Karimi, head of the Afghan National Army. Credit: MoD/Crown copyright)

Tony Iommi’s band is topping the charts again after 43 years. Black Sabbath are better known for the antics of on/off lead singer Ozzy Osborne than the skills of its guitarist. But Iommi is one of the original members of the band and has always remained with the band. Despite missing finger tips that can make playing painful, a rock'n'roll lifestyle lived to the full, and now cancer, the 'king of the heavy riff' is still recording and touring around his treatment. Shaun Ley asks, what keeps him playing?(Image: Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath announcing their first new album in 33 years. Credit: Getty Images)

Since the end of apartheid almost 20 years ago South Africa's constitution has become one of the most admired in the world - progressive, transformative, guaranteeing equality and human rights. But despite the great strides the country has made the reality is failing to live up to the promise. The legal system which guarantees the constitution has itself come under fire -- from within the government, from the opposition, and from some human rights groups. The buck stops with South Africa's Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng.(Image: South African President Jacob Zuma (left) poses with new Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng. Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

Sergei Guriev is one of modern Russia's best and brightest economists. Well connected to the new Russian political elite, Guriev was a strong voice for economic liberalisation and is a Russian patriot. So why, earlier this year, did he choose - as so many talented Russians have in the past - to go into exile? And what does Guriev's extraordinary story tell us about the true face of Vladimir Putin's Russia?(Image: Sergei Guriev (left) attends a meeting with premier Dmitry Medvedev (right) in Moscow. Credit: Associated Press)

Tim Franks speaks to Michael Sandel, a philosopher with the global profile of a rock star. His argument that markets are increasingly entering all parts of life and are becoming more and more destructive, has won him a worldwide following. But are commercial interests and financial incentives really that much more intrusive these days? If so, how do you draw up the rules for the moral limits of markets?

Following the response to the anti-government demonstrations, critics at home and abroad are pointing to an increasingly authoritarian style of political leadership in Turkey. Why have protests erupted across the country like never before under the ruling AK party? And did the initial crackdown by the security forces actually strengthen the protesters? Zeinab Badawi is in Ankara to speak to Turkey’s finance minister, Mehmet Simsek.(Image: Mehmet Simsek, Credit: Dominique Faget/AFP/Getty Images)

More than a thousand people were killed in violence in Iraq last month according to the United Nations. The country appears to be dividing along religious lines, not helped by its neighbour Syria's descent into civil war. Sarah Montague talks to Ayad Allawi, the country's first Prime Minister after Saddam Hussein. He has accused the current Prime Minister, Nouri Al Maliki, of turning into a dictator. So what hope is there now for keeping the peace in Iraq?(Image: Ayad Allawi, former prime minister of Iraq. Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

Stephen Sackur speaks to Martin Amis, an author who was pigeon-holed early in his career as the ‘enfant terrible’ of the British literary world. Four decades on, he remains one of the most successful and closely scrutinised novelists of his generation. His books are filled with greed, lust, addiction and ignorance, and yet, he suggests he writes in a celebratory spirit. So, what exactly is he celebrating?

He’s European by birth; an American citizen by choice. But are those two outlooks becoming increasingly hard to reconcile? There’s tension over US surveillance that could affect Europeans; and a division in NATO between what one US defence secretary calls those who pay – principally the Americans – and those who enjoy the benefits – the Europeans. As Ivo Daalder ends his term, does he think it’s time for this 64-year-old veteran security organisation to be pensioned off? Presented by Shaun Ley.(Image: Ivo Daalder, Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

Shaun Ley speaks to Mo Ibrahim, creator of the Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership. His Index of African Governance suggests generally things are getting better. But some worry that China's willingness to lend money "no strings attached" is encouraging politicians to revert to their bad old ways. Is Mo Ibrahim's ambition of better governance being undermined from outside?

France is one of the political heavyweights of the European Union, a key world economy and a major global player. Hardtalk speaks to Jean-François Copé, the leader of the UMP, the main opposition party on the centre-right, who has lurched farther to the right on issues like gay marriage. He has also made comments about the French Muslim community, which have led to accusations that he is threatening cultural harmony. Is he in danger of consigning his party to the political dustbin at home and on the world stage?(Image: Jean-François Copé, Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is pulling some of its international staff out of Afghanistan, following a murderous attack on its Jalalabad compound. It's an unprecedented move in three decades of ICRC operations in Afghanistan. Stephen Sackur speaks to Pierre Krähenbühl, the ICRC’s operations director. Is his organisation being overwhelmed by the danger and complexity of modern conflict?(Image: Pierre Krähenbühl, Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

Robert Fowler, a senior Canadian diplomat, was held hostage for five months by Al Qaeda in Niger in 2009. He says that since his capture and release, terror attacks and events in the region, such as the brief Islamist takeover of northern Mali, should serve as a wake-up call of a jihadist danger. He believes militants aim to set up a seven thousand kilometre Islamic caliphate stretching from Mauritania to Somalia. Is he scaremongering, or does he have a point?(Image: Robert Fowler, Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

South Africa’s government and politics and has been dominated by Nelson Mandela’s old party, the ANC, since the end of apartheid nearly twenty years ago. HARDtalk speaks to Lindiwe Mazibuko, the Parliamentary Leader of the largest opposition party in South Africa, the Democratic Alliance. What chance does her party have against the ANC, the party of liberation, which is still seen as the natural home of black voters?(Image: Lindiwe Mazibuko, parliamentary leader of the Democratic Alliance party, South Africa. Credit: AFP/Getty images)

President Obama says the US needs to redefine and recalibrate its strategic response to terrorism. From drone strikes to the future of Guantanamo, the Obama Administration has consistently struggled to reconcile its stated values with the realities of the so-called ‘war on terror’. Stephen Sackur speaks to Harold Koh, who was chief legal adviser at the US State Department throughout Obama's first term. Did President Obama betray America's highest ideals in the name of national security?

As the African Union celebrates 50 years, young people from across the continent put their questions about US foreign policy to John Kerry, US Secretary of State. Zeinab Badawi hosts the show from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, putting questions to him from the BBC's global audience about his country's relationship with the rest of the world.(Image: John Kerry, Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

On July 1st, Croatia will be the twenty-eighth and newest member of the European Union. Stephen Sackur talks to Prime Minister, Zoran Milanović. He sees his country’s accession as a sign of the transformation from war torn land to stable democracy. However, both Croatia and the EU have serious economic problems. So, does either side really need the other?

Sir Alan Parker is one of Britain's most experienced and successful film directors. His work ranges from the stomach churning realism of Midnight Express to the feel good entertainment of Bugsy Malone and Fame. He has never cared much for film critics and has always held strong views on the future of the film industry. In this digital age, are movies as central to our culture as they used to be?

The British public appears increasingly alienated from mainstream politics and politicians - a phenomenon which can also be seen in other mature democracies. Stephen Sackur speaks to Alan Johnson, who held a series of cabinet posts in the last Labour Government. He is that rare breed, a politician who grew up in poverty and worked his way up from the bottom. Has today’s professionalised class of politicians lost touch with real life?

When it comes to national security does the need for secrecy override the public's right to know? It is a hot debate in many democracies, none more so than the United States where the Obama Administration has gone after leakers and whistle-blowers with unprecedented ferocity. Stephen Sackur speaks to Thomas Drake, a former intelligence official inside America's National Security Agency. His unhappiness with things he saw led him to leak information to a reporter. He ended up prosecuted by the government he had served. Did he deserve the trouble he got?

Zainab Bangura, the UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, says that for too long wars have been waged on the bodies of women. Over the past two decades the list of war torn countries where women and children have been subjected to systematic rape and sexual abuse has grown shamefully long, from Bosnia and the Democratic Republic of Congo to Syria. HARDtalk asks - how can the most vulnerable be protected?(Image: Zainab Bangura, UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict. Credit: Reuters)

South Africa has been told by the old colonial power, Britain, that it doesn't need development aid any more. Shaun Ley speaks to Pravin Gordhan, South Africa’s finance minister. His national development plan seeks to raise more people out of poverty through economic growth. But his party, the ruling ANC, is facing an election, its union comrades are no longer playing ball, and growth has slowed. In reality, has the country Britain describes as Africa's economic powerhouse stalled?(Image: Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan(left) and Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble(right). Credit: Reuters)

Almost three hundred million people across the world consume BBC content every week. But does the BBC deserve your trust? After going through a prolonged internal crisis marked by serious internal failings HARDtalk speaks to the ultimate overseer of the BBC, Chairman of the BBC Trust, Chris Patten. He insists it's the best broadcaster in the world. Stephen Sackur asks if you should believe him.

He made his name and fortune in the oil industry and in the process became one of Britain's best known business leaders. John Browne was BP's boss for 12 years. He expanded and diversified one of the world’s fossil fuel giants. Now he's back in the thick of the energy debate backing a company eager to develop shale gas production in the UK. His career has been defined by the search for fossil fuels and economic sustainability. Can we have both?

Jonathan Miller has had a career of mind-boggling diversity and creativity that defies an easy label. He is best known as a director and producer of opera and theatre, but he is also a writer, performer, sculptor and photographer. He trained in medicine and sometimes seems more fulfilled by science than his life in the arts. Stephen Sackur asks why, after five decades as a dominant figure in British cultural life, he never seemed entirely at ease with his country or its culture.

Cyprus is enduring the agonies of a financial and economic meltdown. But here's the really bad news for the Cypriot people - according to international economists their darkest days have yet to come. The islands economy is about to shrink dramatically, overseas investors are fleeing and the current Government is struggling to come up with a survival strategy. Stephen Sackur speaks to Cyprus's Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides. Who and what will save Cyprus?(Image: Cyprus Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ioannis Kasoulides (right) shakes hands with Foreign minister of Sweden, Carl Bildt. Credit: Associated Press)

The United States is a nation built by immigrants, but immigration is also an issue which has created deep divisions. As the United States Congress prepares to debate a plan that would offer a pathway to citizenship to millions of illegal immigrants, America’s conservatives face a question – are they ready to embrace their country’s new demographic reality?HARDtalk speaks to Carlos Gutierrez, a former Republican Secretary of Commerce. America is changing fast; can the Republican Party keep up?(Image: Former Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez (left) and former Florida governor Jeb Bush. Credit: Associated Press)

IMF managing director Christine Lagarde says the challenge right now is to move from a fragmented, 3 speed world economy to a full speed economy. It's a neat slogan, but how is it be done?

Mathieu Kassovitz has been a darling of French cinema for 30 years. Now he says, "I'm out of this country" - and it's nothing to do with taxes. Is he frustrated with an industry that was indifferent to his latest movie? Or with the politicians who furnish some of his least-appealing characters? His newest offering, a tale of post-colonial bloodshed on a Pacific island inspired by real events, which he thinks should shame France, attracted an audience there of just 150,000 people. Has the actor-director tired of France, or have the French tired of him? Presented by Shaun Ley.(Image: Mathieu Kassovitz, Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

Angela Merkel is a politician caught between a rock and a hard place. In Germany, a new party accuses her of doing too much to keep alive the hated Euro currency. Other eurozone members say her government is not doing enough, fearful of those domestic critics ahead of this autumn's federal election. Hardtalk speaks to Germany’s deputy finance minister Steffen Kampeter. Just how big a price is Germany prepared to pay to save the euro-project, and its own reputation?(Image: Steffen Kampeter, Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

Stephen Sackur meets one of Britain's most successful actors, Jeremy Irons. The Oscar winning performer is best known for his portrayal of troubled, brooding upper class men. He has just finished making a documentary about the potentially devastating impact of the mountains of toxic waste polluting our planet. He is an actor with very strong opinions. Could that get him into trouble?(Image: Jeremy Irons, Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

Rarely does the death of a long-retired politician prompt a genuinely worldwide reaction, but Margaret Thatcher was one of a kind. Britain's first female prime minister transformed her own country, and provided the world with a model of market economics and conviction politics, which was inspirational to some, repellent to others. Hardtalk speaks to a man who played a key role in the creation of Thatcherism. Maurice, now Lord Saatchi, was the advertising guru who helped define, and sell, what she stood for. How enduring is the Thatcher legacy? Presented by Stephen Sackur.(Image: Lord Maurice Saatchi, Credit: Getty Images)

In the midst of war or natural disaster humanitarian aid can make the difference between life and death. But according to influential critics it can also exacerbate conflict, offer succour to tyrants and foster dangerous dependency. Stephen Sackur talks to Sir John Holmes who was the UN's Emergency Relief Co-ordinator during crises in Sudan, Sri Lanka and Haiti. Today the emergency response is focused on Syria, but the question remains the same; does humanitarian aid work for those who need it most?(Image: John Holmes listens to Manila residents displaced by devastating floods in 2009, Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

For more than a decade Kosovo has been struggling to emerge from a political and diplomatic twilight zone. It is a fledgling state lacking universal recognition. At the heart of Kosovo's problem is a still bitter and dysfunctional relationship with Serbia - until their feud ends neither will be welcomed into the European family of nations. Stephen Sackur talks to Kosovo's Deputy Prime Minister Mimoza Kusari-Lila. Are Kosovans ready to reach out to Belgrade?(Image: Mimoza Kusari-Lila, Credit: Getty Images)