This Is Not A Drill with Gavin Esler

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This Is Not A Drill with Gavin Esler
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Exploring threats to global stability from Ukraine to China to the Middle East with host Gavin Esler – former BBC News presenter, Washington correspondent and host of Newsnight – plus Ukraine-based war reporter Oz Katerji and independent conflict analyst Emma Beals. This Is Not A Drill dives deep into the dangers, corruption, conflicts, disinformation, rivalries and ruthless realpolitik that are making our world ever more dangerous. Support This Is Not A Drill on Patreon from just £3 per month to get each episode early plus bonus material and exclusive merchandise. From Podmasters, the team behind Oh God, What Now?, Paper Cuts and The Bunker.

  1. Meet the Climate Conmen – How fossil fuel’s fixers created a new age of disinformation

    18 DEC

    Meet the Climate Conmen – How fossil fuel’s fixers created a new age of disinformation

    The climate emergency is more urgent than ever, yet powerful interests are still pushing back on solutions and peddling climate denial. From fossil fuel giants to populist governments and greedy online grifters, they sow doubts about four decades of research and undermine a hard-won global political consensus.  Who are the Climate Con-Men and how are they succeeding? Gavin Esler talks to Jennie King, Director of Climate Disinformation Research and Policy at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, about their techniques of deceit, distrust and disinformation – and to James Murray of environmental news service BusinessGreen to find out how the world can unite to tackle the climate crisis. • This episode of This Is Not A Drill is supported by Incogni, the service that keeps your private information safe, protects you from identity theft and keeps your data from being sold. There’s a special offer for This Is Not A Drill listeners – go to Incogni.com/notadrill to get an exclusive 60% off your annual plan. • Support us on Patreon to keep This Is Not A Drill producing thought-provoking podcasts like this. Written and presented by Gavin Esler. Produced by Robin Leeburn. Original theme music by Paul Hartnoll – https://www.orbitalofficial.com. Executive Producer Martin Bojtos. Group Editor Andrew Harrison. This Is Not A Drill is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    48 min
  2. Meet the Climate Conmen – How fossil fuel’s fixers created a new age of disinformation

    18 DEC • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

    Meet the Climate Conmen – How fossil fuel’s fixers created a new age of disinformation

    The climate emergency is more urgent than ever, yet powerful interests are still pushing back on solutions and peddling climate denial. From fossil fuel giants to populist governments and greedy online grifters, they sow doubts about four decades of research and undermine a hard-won global political consensus. Who are the Climate Con-Men and how are they succeeding? Gavin Esler talks to Jennie King, Director of Climate Disinformation Research and Policy at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, about their techniques of deceit, distrust and disinformation – and to James Murray of environmental news service BusinessGreen to find out how the world can unite to tackle the climate crisis. Written and presented by Gavin Esler. Produced by Robin Leeburn. Original theme music by Paul Hartnoll – https://www.orbitalofficial.com. Executive Producer Martin Bojtos. Group Editor Andrew Harrison. This Is Not A Drill is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk

    40 min
  3. “It’s Syria’s future now”

    11 DEC

    “It’s Syria’s future now”

    Assad’s stunning fall ends a tyrannical 53-year rule in Syria, leaving monstrous crimes against human rights exposed, rocking both Iran and Russia on their heels, and handing the country’s future back to its people. Where next for Syria? Will the rebel fighters coalesce into a working government and avoid the factionalism which would jeopardise the Syrian people’s hopes? And what does it mean for an international community which had turned its back on the Syrian war? Emma Beals explores an awe-inspiring week in the Middle East with Syria expert and open-source investigator Suhail al-Ghazi.  • No Longer on Twitter? Follow TINAD and Emma Beals on BlueSky.  • Support This Is Not Drill on Patreon to continue by backing us on Patreon. You’ll get early, ad-free editions, merchandise and more.  Written and presented by Emma Beals. Audio production by Robin Leeburn. Original theme music by Paul Hartnoll – https://www.orbitalofficial.com. Executive Producer Martin Bojtos. Group Editor Andrew Harrison. This Is Not A Drill is a Podmasters production podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    45 min

  4. 4 DEC

    Islamic State – How global chaos is bringing terror back

    • Give or get 20% off a year’s Patreon backing for TINAD in our Black Friday sale. This year marks a decade since ISIS hit the headlines with their dramatic rise to power in Iraq. It would be easy now to think it is a thing of the past. But in 2024 the group is having a resurgence in Syria, has a presence across Africa, and has morphed into a worldwide operation.  With multiple wars and a new phase of global disorder upon us, has the West forgotten about countering the threat of ISIS? Emma Beals assesses the state of ISIS worldwide and the foreign policy response to its continued threat with Charles Lister, director of the Syria and Countering Terrorism & Extremism programs at the Middle East Institute, and discusses their presence in Africa with Ryan O’Farrell, senior analyst at the Bridgeway Foundation and the co-author of The Islamic State in Africa: The Emergence, Evolution, and Future of the Next Jihadist Battlefront. This episode of This Is Not A Drill is supported by Incogni, the service that keeps your private information safe, protects you from identity theft and keeps your data from being sold. There’s a special offer for This Is Not A Drill listeners – go to Incogni.com/notadrill to get an exclusive 60% off your annual plan. Support us on Patreon to keep This Is Not A Drill producing thought-provoking podcasts like this. Written and presented by Emma Beals. Produced by Robin Leeburn. Original theme music by Paul Hartnoll – https://www.orbitalofficial.com. Executive Producer Martin Bojtos. Group Editor Andrew Harrison. This Is Not A Drill is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    45 min
  5. Trump's trade war: How risky a game is he playing?

    27 NOV

    Trump's trade war: How risky a game is he playing?

    • Give or get 20% off a year’s Patreon backing for TINAD in our Black Friday sale. Donald Trump’s talk of boosted tariffs has sparked concerns of a major trade war with America’s rivals. The Chinese government has responded that “no one will win a trade war” and with economists warning that tariffs are liable to increase inflation, who will be the losers of Trump’s trade policies? And how would tariffs affect global relations in an already unstable world?  To discuss the potential economic and geopolitical impacts of Trump’s tariffs, Gavin Esler talks to US-China trade expert Professor Mary Lovely, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, and trade economist Dr Rebecca Harding, senior fellow at the British Foreign Policy Group. This episode of This Is Not A Drill is supported by Incogni, the service that keeps your private information safe, protects you from identity theft and keeps your data from being sold. There’s a special offer for This Is Not A Drill listeners – go to Incogni.com/notadrill to get an exclusive 60% off your annual plan. Support us on Patreon to keep This Is Not A Drill producing thought-provoking podcasts like this. Written and presented by Gavin Esler. Produced by Robin Leeburn. Original theme music by Paul Hartnoll – https://www.orbitalofficial.com. Executive Producer Martin Bojtos. Group Editor Andrew Harrison. This Is Not A Drill is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    43 min
  6. Trump against the world – Can diplomats handle him?

    20 NOV

    Trump against the world – Can diplomats handle him?

    • Give or get 20% off a year’s Patreon backing for TINAD in our Black Friday sale. Donald Trump operates in a zero sum world. If he’s going to win, you have to lose. So what will his brutal negotiation methods mean for global diplomatic corps who are already rocked by our turbulent times?  Trump is promising an immediate end to the war in Ukraine and threatening global tariffs on US imports, ranging up to 60% on goods from China. Trade wars and worldwide economic dislocation loom. What can leaders do to plan and prepare for his return to power? Gavin Esler talks to Peter Ricketts – retired senior diplomat, crossbench peer, former UK National Security Adviser and former chair of the UK Joint Intelligence Committee – about the global impact of Trump 2.0.  • This episode of This Is Not A Drill is supported by Incogni, the service that keeps your private information safe, protects you from identity theft and keeps your data from being sold. There’s a special offer for This Is Not A Drill listeners – go to Incogni.com/notadrill to get an exclusive 60% off your annual plan. • Support us on Patreon to keep This Is Not A Drill producing thought-provoking podcasts like this. Written and presented by Gavin Esler. Produced by Robin Leeburn. Original theme music by Paul Hartnoll – https://www.orbitalofficial.com. Executive Producer Martin Bojtos. Group Editor Andrew Harrison. This Is Not A Drill is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    33 min
  7. Europe’s wake-up call – The coming war with Putin

    13 NOV

    Europe’s wake-up call – The coming war with Putin

    • Give or get 20% off a year’s Patreon backing for TINAD in our Black Friday sale. A destabilised Europe faces a stark choice, now more urgent since Trump’s victory. Make urgent preparations for a shooting war with Russia on our own territory – or prepare to lose that war, with all the terrifying consequences. That’s the argument of Keir Giles, author of Who Will Defend Europe? and senior consulting fellow of Chatham House’s Russia and Eurasia Programme. He talks to Gavin Esler about the scale of the challenge, the damage done by European governments’ shortsightedness about the Kremlin’s escalating provocations, and why the advent of another Trump Presidency is more than a wake-up call. • “These are decisions that should have been taken years and decades ago. They should not have taken the threat of a Trump to push them to into action.” • “Russia has been at war with us in every domain except open military conflict for over a decade now.” • Twitter refugee? Follow TINAD, Gavin Esler and Keir Giles on BlueSky. • Buy Who Will Defend Europe? through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund TINAD by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. • Support This Is Not Drill on Patreon to continue by backing us on Patreon. You’ll get early, ad-free editions, merchandise and more. Incogni keeps your private information safe, protects you from identity theft and keeps your data from being sold. There’s a special offer for This Is Not A Drill listeners – Go to Incogni.com/notadrill to get an exclusive 60% off your annual plan. Written and presented by Gavin Esler. Audio production by Robin Leeburn. Original theme music by Paul Hartnoll – https://www.orbitalofficial.com. Executive Producer Martin Bojtos. Group Editor Andrew Harrison. This Is Not A Drill is a Podmasters production podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    40 min
  8. Ukraine-Russia update: Has Zelenskyy’s Kursk gamble paid off?

    6 NOV

    Ukraine-Russia update: Has Zelenskyy’s Kursk gamble paid off?

    President Zelenskyy’s attack into the Russian-occupied Kursk region of Ukraine was audacious and unexpected. But with Ukrainian resources stretched thin after three years of fighting – and with thousands of North Korean troops arriving in Russia to reinvigorate Putin’s war effort – is it working? Will the alliance between Putin and fellow dictator Kim Jong-Un make a dire conflict worse? And with the result of the US election uncertain, will Western allies finally provide the support Ukraine needs to defeat Russia? Oz Katerji talks to independent foreign policy and security analyst Jimmy Rushton in Kyiv about reporting from the front lines and the prospects for Ukraine, and wider Europe, as the full-scale war approaches the end of its third year. Support This Is Not Drill on Patreon to continue by backing us on Patreon. You’ll get early, ad-free editions, merchandise and more.  Written and presented by Oz Katerji. Audio production by Robin Leeburn. Original theme music by Paul Hartnoll – https://www.orbitalofficial.com. Executive Producer Martin Bojtos. Group Editor Andrew Harrison. This Is Not A Drill is a Podmasters production. podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    46 min
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Exploring threats to global stability from Ukraine to China to the Middle East with host Gavin Esler – former BBC News presenter, Washington correspondent and host of Newsnight – plus Ukraine-based war reporter Oz Katerji and independent conflict analyst Emma Beals. This Is Not A Drill dives deep into the dangers, corruption, conflicts, disinformation, rivalries and ruthless realpolitik that are making our world ever more dangerous. Support This Is Not A Drill on Patreon from just £3 per month to get each episode early plus bonus material and exclusive merchandise. From Podmasters, the team behind Oh God, What Now?, Paper Cuts and The Bunker.

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