Erstellt am: 24. 6. 2015 - 15:05 Uhr

Quelle horreur! Quelle surprise.

Reality Check: France spying scandal, women's issues in Turkey, the Second Arab awakening, the Confederate flag controversy

French president, Francois Hollande, is outraged. He's shocked, appalled, and many other such emotions - all because Wikileaks has revealed that the US has been spying on him, as well as his predecessors, Nicholas Sarkozy and Jaques Chirac.

EPA

Chirac, Sarkozy and Hollande - recent French presidents all monitored by the NSA

Why he should be so surprised, after it emerged in 2013 that Angela Merkel's phone was tapped by the NSA, is unclear. Why would France be any less spying-worthy than Germany? Especially after all that unpleasantness over the freedom fries.

Security and intelligence expert, Anthony Glees, says he believes Hollande's reaction is more to do with garnering favour with the anti-surveillance lobbies, because he must surely be aware that nations spying on each other is business as usual.

In fact, he says, everyone spying on everyone else is actually in the interests of peace and security. Curiously, the quantity of surveillance material collected on other countries is considered by the USA and China to be a measure of their power on the world stage - regardless of whether there is anything of any interest in the material, or even whether they bother to analyse it at all.

EPA/STR

Dilek Ocalan, the niece of jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, is one of the new HDP parliamentarians

Turkey and women's issues

The new Turkish parliament has more women than ever before, including dozens belonging to the progressive pro-Kurdish HDP. But does this mean a better deal for women in Turkey? Analyst Ayse Dursun explains why the reality on the streets does not always match the political policy.

The Second Arab Awakening

Jordanian former diplomat and politician, Marwan al-Muasher, puts forward his vision of a "Second Arab Awakening" and discusses the changes that will be needed for the Arab countries to move forward in the 21st century.

EPA/John Taggart

Despite the controversy, the Confederate flag still flies over the State Capitol in South Carolina

Confederate flag

Joe Remick explains why the confederate flag is such a controversial issues in the United States, and why it is so offensive to many people.

FM4 Reality Check

Monday to Friday from 12.00 to 14.00, Saturday from 12.00 to 13.00, and after the show via Podcast or fm4.orf.at/realitycheck.