The Phileas Club

Turki and I tackle all things middle eastern and European in this "two person panel"(tm) episode. Financial Crisis, EU elections, Israel, Three Strikes law, comments on last episode and more...

Roger from East Meets West (and from San Francisco) and Mohammed "the kid" from Qatar join me in this episode as we wait for that guy from Saudi Arabia to remember he's due for our panel. Yes, Turki forgot about us a second time (and he'll never hear the end of it). He does end up joining us though, and we tackle a number of issues, some very serious and some really not... Petty much as usual. Some of the topics we talk about include: police violence at the G20, Talibans resurgence, Ahmadinejad at the Durban II conference, Obama and south America and the EU elections. Enjoy!

In this second special we take on the whole GOP! Well, maybe not, but Brian,Richard and Randy take on the difficult task of explaining to a poor silly Frenchman what the Republican party and ideas are all about. We talk about the (often caricatured) media portrayal of their views as well as the major issues that seem to drive a wedge between the left and the right, and that often seem to be considered as extremes in many parts of the world: taxes, government reach, religion, arms control and much more. We hope you enjoy the show and find that you understand the reasoning behind the republican's ideals a little bit better, or at least that you have fun listening to our ramblings!

Two newcomers join the club. Maria from Sweden and Charles from Singapore complete this month's trio. Just to give you a quick preview, let me tell you what titles I was thinking about for the episode: "Earth Hour in the Nude" and "Fun Swedish Nurse Stories". Yes, I know! So we had a lot of fun during the show, but we also tackled serious issues though, like "these tough economic times" (drink), the pope's controversial statements and the ICC's latest rulings. As well as pirate trials in Sweden, the end of French open bars and stories from Singapore that you won't know whether you should laugh at or feel sad about... Enjoy!

It's seems I'm unable to keep the show to a reasonable length... No matter, with guests like Tom (from the US), Julio (from Argentina/Netherlands/Space) and Turki (from Saudi Arabia), anything less would seem like a waste. This time we focus around serious and controversial topics like the Australian fires, the Isreali election, the terrorist attacks in Cairo, Hugo Chavez's referendum and the right to be a revisionist, as well as more light hearted topics like the Oscars and the oil companies' secret death rays from space.

Do you ever get tired of thinking in stereotypes and inaccuracies? I know I do, and my knowledge of Islam certainly is vague... but here's an idea: how about sitting down with a Muslim and asking him all sorts of candid questions? Simple enough, right? But maybe you don't have a Muslim right next door to ask him yourself. Well, fear not! The Phileas Club is here to help. We asked Turki (our resident Saudi panelist) to take us on a tour of the Muslim faith. I also asked Scott (from Utah) to join the discussion and help us ask the best questions we could. And to make this show even more special we enlisted the help of twitterers around the world, too! Thanks go out to all of those who were kind enough to answer the "instant questions" I asked. So we hope you'll learn a thing or two about Islam in this episode (or at least that you'll have fun listening to Scott and I make fools of ourselves) and we'll try to bring you more "for dummies" specials in the future.

Turki (Saudi Arabia), Randy (Texas / Canada), Mohammed (Qatar) join me on the show to talk about Gaza, Obama and the religious police, as well as the Dell / Poutine incident, ad-sponsored adultery and more!

For the last show of the year we thought we'd do something special, and something special we did! Five hosts spaning twelve time zones for two hours Phileasic goodness. We cover India / Pakistan from India, Isreal / Gaza from Tel Aviv and Ryad, Shoe throwing from all over, and we take a look back at what made 2008 memorable as well as making bold predictive hopes for 2009. So turn off the TV and pour yourself a drink as we close off this year the international way!

In October we get a US centric episode. With the election dominating the news, Brian Hess from Las Vegas joins Turki from Saudi Arabia and myself to try and get a balanced picture of what is going on in the last weeks of the race. We also talk about the economic crisis, annulled marriages, terrorist being prosecuted, misconduct at the top of the IMF, president voodoo dolls and even clever cops.

A slightly longer show, as interesting as it is fun! Tom Merrit (from the US) and Turki (from Saudi Arabia) join me on this month's adventure as we tackle the financial crisis, Pakistani elections, the US presidential debate, the question of Sarah Palin's choice and edicts to kill broadcast companies owners, as well as investigations on toilet parts theft, fat taxes and reasons why Mickey Mouse should be put down.

An epic "new world vs old world" confrontation makes the august edition of The Phileas Club a memorable one. With only two panelists this time, Scott Johnson (from Utah) gets a chance to show his serious side when we tackle topics like the Russia / Georgia issue, the Beijing Olympics, the deaths of French soldiers in Afghanistan and more. They also talk about the Mormon "condition", drug enhanced cyber athletes and kids with a heightened sense of smell.

For the month of july 2008, we welcome Jeff from the US and Turki from Saudi Arabia. We talk about the Union for the Mediteranean, Obama's world tour, Bill Gates and his evil ways, as well as cool nerds who dress funny, TV shows causing divorces and more!

For the month of june 2008, we welcome Mohammed from Quatar and Jim from Colorad (US). We talk about the oil prices, Irish voters, alcohol free sundays, 700.000 year old velociraptaurs building huts and more!

This month we get our share of testosterone with an all male cast. Turki from Saudi Arabian, Artur from Armenia, Randy from Texas and myself, Patrick from france bring up difficult stories and fun facts from around the world with a healthy amount of discussion. We talk about the crisis in Burma, the lebanese crisis and Israel's 60 years, but we also bring you stories of people dining at gunpoint, mining ressources out of the moon and more.

For the month of april 2008, we welcome Gita from London (UK) and Rachel from Round Rock (TX, USA) to join Patrick from France. We talk about the big issues like the Chinese olympics, the food crisis or the US elections of course, but we also tackle topics like presidents' sexy wives dressed in old queen dresses, teen TV stars showing half a back, tugging icebergs into London, and british party members getting fined for saying first names, among many other serious and interesting things.