Podcast Episodes
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Setting 2023 in perspective
What is the deep meaning of 2023? Alastair Benn is joined by Paul Lay and Iain Martin to set a dramatic year in perspective.
Image: A woman lights a c…
2 years, 5 months ago
Yu Jie on the deep historical roots of China's global ambition
China projects its power and secures its national interests in three ways: exercising might, spending money and expressing its own mindset. Read by L…
2 years, 5 months ago
A new world of intelligence
Paul Lay and Alastair Benn are joined by Matthew Hefler, post-doctoral fellow at the Ax:son Johnson Institute for Statecraft and Diplomacy, to discus…
2 years, 5 months ago
Andrew Monaghan on how the past shapes Russian grand strategy
Putin uses history not only to fit a narrative that Russia is strong when it stands together, but also to seek legitimacy. Read by Leighton Pugh.
Imag…
2 years, 6 months ago
The challenges of counter-insurgency
What went wrong for the western alliance in Afghanistan? Paul Lay and Alastair Benn are joined by John Ferris, author of Behind the Enigma: The Autho…
2 years, 6 months ago
Pär Stenbäck on religion and politics in the Middle East
Religion is often ignored as a political factor; in the Middle East, this is not possible. Read by Leighton Pugh.
Image: Supporters of the pro-Iranian…
2 years, 6 months ago
The promise and perils of declassifying intelligence
Paul Lay and Alastair Benn are joined by Calder Walton, author of Spies: The epic intelligence war between East and West, to discuss how governments …
2 years, 6 months ago
Wolfgang Palaver on the complex relationship between violence and religion
Wherever we insist on truth in order to win over our adversaries, we awaken a spirit of violence that endangers our living-together in the world. Rea…
2 years, 6 months ago
Recovering the women of Augustine's Confessions
Paul Lay and Alastair Benn are joined by Kate Cooper, author of Queens of a Fallen World, to discuss the women who shaped the life of Augustine of Hi…
2 years, 6 months ago
Gary Lachman on the sources of mystical experience
Mystical experience is the missing link in modern accounts of how human beings came to be conscious. Read by Leighton Pugh.
Image: Trasverberazione di…
2 years, 6 months ago