Battle Lines is The Telegraph’s foreign policy, geopolitics and global conflict podcast. It offers expert analysis and on-the-ground reporting everywhere from China and the United States to the Middle East and Europe.
Twice a week, veteran foreign correspondents Roland Oliphant and Venetia Rainey bring you on-the-ground dispatches from the world’s most volatile regions and informed analysis from world-class experts.
Whether it’s the Russia-Ukraine war, the Israel-Gaza conflict, Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific, tensions between India and Pakistan, or the civil war in Sudan, Battle Lines covers the world’s most critical flashpoints with depth and clarity.
When will China invade Taiwan? Can Donald Trump bring peace to the Middle East? What should Europe do to help Ukraine beat Russia? Is Iran building a nuclear bomb? What is the point of NATO? Can the United Kingdom still defend itself?
Created by David Knowles, Battle Lines answers all these questions and more, bringing together the best of The Telegraph’s international, geopolitical, and conflict reporting in one place.
Don’t forget to follow and leave a review to stay updated on the latest in global conflict and foreign affairs.
Telegraph subscribers get early access to bonus episodes of Battle Lines and its sister podcast, Ukraine: The Latest. You can subscribe within The Telegraph app, or tap on ‘Already a subscriber’ at the top of this page to log in to link your existing subscription, for more information click here.
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Battle Lines is The Telegraph’s foreign policy, geopolitics and global conflict podcast. It offers expert analysis and on-the-ground reporting everywhere from China and the United States to the Middle East and Europe.
Twice a week, veteran foreign correspondents Roland Oliphant and Venetia Rainey bring you on-the-ground dispatches from the world’s most volatile regions and informed analysis from world-class experts.
Whether it’s the Russia-Ukraine war, the Israel-Gaza conflict, Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific, tensions between India and Pakistan, or the civil war in Sudan, Battle Lines covers the world’s most critical flashpoints with depth and clarity.
When will China invade Taiwan? Can Donald Trump bring peace to the Middle East? What should Europe do to help Ukraine beat Russia? Is Iran building a nuclear bomb? What is the point of NATO? Can the United Kingdom still defend itself?
Created by David Knowles, Battle Lines answers all these questions and more, bringing together the best of The Telegraph’s international, geopolitical, and conflict reporting in one place.
Don’t forget to follow and leave a review to stay updated on the latest in global conflict and foreign affairs.
Telegraph subscribers get early access to bonus episodes of Battle Lines and its sister podcast, Ukraine: The Latest. You can subscribe within The Telegraph app, or tap on ‘Already a subscriber’ at the top of this page to log in to link your existing subscription, for more information click here.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
One of the darling's of the global populist movement, former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, has recently been sentenced to over 27 years in prison in his native country. So what does that tell us about the possible fortunes for other political leaders of the same ilk across the globe, and where does the South American country go from here?
Roland hears from the Telegraph's senior foreign correspondent Adrian Blomfield, who has just returned from Brazil, about his meeting with Bolsonaro's wife and the extraordinary phenomenon of one of the world's largest Catholic majority countries being set to become majority Evangelical Christian in the coming years.
Also in the programme, Roland speaks to Moldovan policy analyst Andrei Curăraru about the country's historic parliamentary elections this Sunday, and how Russia is trying to influence the result.
Read Adrian Blomfield's interview with Mrs Bolsonaro: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/09/24/michelle-bolsonaro-rise-like-lioness-husband-languish-jail/
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Is the UN still relevant? The organisation faces numerous unresolved conflicts, a cash crisis, deep polarisation among its members, a bloated bureaucracy and the waning interest of its biggest backer, the US.
Venetia Rainey speaks to Richard Gowan, veteran UN watcher and UN director for the US think tank International Crisis Group. He says the body is “rotting from the top” and questions if parts of it will survive another 10 years.
Plus, a wave of Western countries including the UK, Canada, France and Australia have recognised the state of Palestine in the hope of preserving the two-state solution. But that option is long dead, according to The Telegraph's chief foreign affairs commentator, David Blair.
Read David Blair's analysis: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09/20/starmers-middle-east-madness-in-recognising-palestine/
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What links Elon Musk, Steve Bannon and Tommy Robinson? They all believe England is on the cusp of civil war. As US President Donald Trump wraps up his second state visit to the UK, hosts Venetia Rainey and Roland Oliphant examine the darker side of the transatlantic “special relationship” — from American support for the British far-right to the spread of populist extremism across borders.
They’re joined by Rob Crilly, The Telegraph’s chief US correspondent, who explains MAGA-world’s obsession with the idea of British decline, Trump’s surprisingly friendly ties with Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and what the president’s visit means for US-UK relations and the defence industry.
They also discuss Musk’s speech at Robinson's "free speech" rally in London, Steve Bannon’s influence, and the rise of political violence in America following the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
Read Roland's analysis: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09/17/conservative-america-turn-britain-musk-vance-charlie-kirk/
Read Rob's analysis: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2025/09/18/trump-inspects-troops-war-brewing-at-home/
Credits: X/@TRobinsonNewEra; National Conservatism via YouTube; Charlie Kirk via YouTube; White House via YouTube
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In a bombshell report, the UN has accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza for the first time. Chris Sidoti, one of the report's authors and a human rights law expert, explains why on this bonus episode of Battle Lines.
Speaking to host Venetia Rainey and Telegraph reporter Lilia Sebouai, he delves into the report's findings, how his team reached their conclusions, and concrete examples of Israeli genocidal acts and genocidal intent in Gaza. They also discuss criticisms of the report, its authors and the UN at large - including Israel's allegations of anti-Semitism.
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The assassination of Charlie Kirk marks more than a shocking act of political violence - it is a symptom of America’s accelerating era of violent populism, and it will continue to escalate without intervention.
That's according to Robert Pape, one of the world’s foremost experts on political violence, terrorism, and national security and director of the Chicago Project on Security and Threats.Roland speaks to Pape about what next after Kirk's murder, the deeper forces driving America’s unrest and what lessons other countries in the West should take from it.
Plus, Venetia speaks to The Telegraph's Samaan Lateef about the historic protests in Nepal and how Gen Z demonstrators overturned a government by using new online technology such as Discord and Chat GPT.
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It's been a week of big developments, with Nato planes scrambled after Russia sent more than a dozen drones into Polish airspace, and Qatar on high alert after Israel bombed a Hamas negotiating team in the centre of Doha. Roland and Venetia unpack the significance of the events and what might happen next.
Plus, the team spends a day at DSEI, one of the world's largest arms fairs, to look at how the UK is getting its armed forces ready for the next war. They catch up with a veteran British tank commander on the pros and cons of the upcoming Challenger 3, the managing director of Ukrspecsystems, Ukraine’s largest drone manufacturer, on why they’re investing in the UK, and Hamish de Bretton-Gordon on chemical warfare and the importance of good defensive kit.
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Image: Petty Officer Joel Rouse © Crown copyright 2024
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For three generations the Kim dynasty has ruled North Korea with ruthless precision. Now Kim Jong Un appears to be grooming his 12-year-old daughter, Kim Ju Ae, as his heir—a bold move in a country where women have never held power. At the same time, reports surface of a disastrous US Navy SEALs mission to bug Kim’s communications, ending in civilian deaths. So what does all this tell us about the Hermit Kingdom’s future, its ties to China and Russia, and the grip of one family dynasty? We are joined by leading North Korea analyst Rachel Minyoung Lee to cut through the mystery, the propaganda, and the paranoia.
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https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09/04/kim-jong-un-daughter-kim-ju-ae/
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Andrew and Jihi Bustamante aren’t your average married couple — they met inside the CIA and their romance played out under the shadow of espionage. In this gripping conversation, they reveal how they fell in love during training, the reality of life inside America’s most secretive agency, and how a mole within the CIA blew their cover. Love, lies, and life on the frontline of the new spy war.
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Andrew’s CIA book ‘Shadow Cell’: https://geni.us/ShadowCellBook
If you want to hear more from Andrew, you can follow him on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@Andrew-Bustamante
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China's biggest ever military parade boasted sophisticated new weapons, thousands of goose-stepping troops, and a guest list designed to put the West on notice.
The footage of Chinese President Xi Jinping walking in between Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un in particular was a clear message to the US, Europe and its democratic allies: Beijing now officially heads up a new world order of authoritarian states.
Venetia is joined by former Russia correspondent Roland Oliphant and former China correspondent Sophia Yan to explain everything you need to know about the new weapons unveiled, the leaders who were and weren’t there, and what it means for the West.
Read Sophia's exclusive drone investigation: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/09/03/how-china-is-secretly-arming-russia/
Read Sophia's analysis: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/09/03/china-parade-xi-putin-kim/
Listen to our mini series on the rise of China's military: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/08/08/battle-lines-podcast-inside-the-rise-of-chinas-military/
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As the war for Sudan's Darfur region heats up, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are stepping up their brutal siege on the last remaining army stronghold of El Fasher, with new satellite pictures showing a wall being built around the northern city.
The RSF have been accused of genocide for conducting a campaign of violence, rape and murder against Darfur's non-Arab communities. Famine has been declared in the region and millions have been displaced.
To understand what is going on in El Fasher, Venetia speaks to the head of the Darfur Human Rights Network, Mohammed Adam Hassan, who is Darfurian and in contact with people on the ground.
Plus Amnesty's head of crisis research, explosives expert Brian Castner, explains why he believes the UAE is arming the RSF, including with sophisticated Chinese weapons.
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As the old cliché goes, the first casualty when war comes is truth.
In the past week, Israel has denied that it has caused a famine in Gaza, accusing the UN-backed body behind the report of a “blood libel”, and killed five more journalists in a widely condemned double-tap attack on a hospital.
It is part of a wider trend that has made getting to the facts of the war in Gaza difficult.
To understand how a war on truth is being waged in Israel, Venetia speaks to UNICEF’s Tess Ingram in Gaza City, Phil Chetwynd, global news director of news agency AFP, and Israeli information warfare specialist Tal Hagin.
READ MORE:
What really happened with Israel’s ‘double-tap’ strike on Gaza hospital? https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/08/27/what-really-happened-with-israel-double-tap-gaza-hospital/
Seven common tropes used to deny Gaza’s famine: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/terror-and-security/seven-common-tropes-used-to-deny-gazas-famine-debunked/
Listen to our mini series on the rise of China's military: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/08/08/battle-lines-podcast-inside-the-rise-of-chinas-military/
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How can Nato make itself future-ready? What are the biggest threats facing Western democracy? And what black swan event helped change the course of the First World War?
To find out, Venetia chats to Dr Gabriele Rizzo, a defence futurist and foresight strategist whose job is to imagine different possibilities and help his clients prepare for them.
He has years of experience working with the US Space Force, NATO, the Italian Government, the European Defense Agency, and the United Nations.
In 2022, UNESCO elected Dr. Rizzo as a UNESCO Chair in Futures Studies and Foresight, making him the youngest recipient ever. He is also in the process of writing the Handbook of Foresight, Strategy, and Futures Studies for Defense and Security, which looks at how foresight strategies can be used in government and policy.
Listen to our mini series on the rise of China's military: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025...
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In his desperate attempt to win the Nobel Peace Prize, President Trump claims to have ended at least six wars around the world. But how does that stack up in reality?
In this episode Roland Oliphant hears from Telegraph correspondents Adrian Blomfield and Sarah Newey alongside Caucasus expert James Kilner about Trump’s actual involvement, or not, in halting these conflicts and how likely it is that he’ll win the prize he seemingly covets above any other…
Listen to our mini series on the rise of China's military: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/08/08/battle-lines-podcast-inside-the-rise-of-chinas-military/
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Eighty years on from Victory over Japan day in 1945, the contribution of British and Commonwealth soldiers in a brutal battle against the Imperial Japanese armed forces is often overlooked. The fact that the dropping of two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki saved the lives of many in prisoner of war camps is even less discussed.
Featuring voicenotes from readers whose family fought in Asia and the Pacific, Venetia and Roland dive into this tangled history and reflect on the legacy they have left behind.
Plus, The Telegraph's Gareth Corfield gives the inside scoop on the story behind the biggest British data leak in history - the Ministry of Defence's Afghan list - and how Iran is using it to hunt for MI6 spies.
Read David Blair's piece: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/08/06/the-bombing-of-hiroshima-saved-my-grandfather/
Read more VJ Day veteran accounts: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/08/15/vj-day-80th-anniversary-veterans-who-were-there/
Listen to our mini series on the rise of China's military: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/08/08/battle-lines-podcast-inside-the-rise-of-chinas-military/
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As US President Donald Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin get ready to meet in Alaska, there has been lots of talk about what Washington, Moscow and even Europe want from the historic summit.
But what about Ukrainians? What do they want? To find out, Roland speaks to former Ukrainian defence minister and chairman of the Center for Defence Strategies Andriy Zagorodnyuk and veteran frontline soldier Max Kuzmenko.
Plus, Ukraine: The Latest host Dominic Nicholls and acting deputy US editor Connor Stringer dial in from Anchorage to talk about international expectations ahead of the meeting.
Read Roland's analysis about the options available on the table in Alaska: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/08/14/ukraine-russia-alaska-summit-donald-trump-putin-zelensky/
Listen to our sister podcast Ukraine: The Latest for a special bonus episode on Friday after the Trump-Putin summit: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/03/02/russia-ukraine-war-listen-daily-podcast/
Listen to our mini series on the rise of China's military: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/08/08/battle-lines-podcast-inside-the-rise-of-chinas-military/
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Australia holds a unique position in global geopolitics - on the other side of the world but still very much a 'Western' country.
To that end, Roland Oliphant speaks with former Australian Defence Minister Christopher Pyne about the delicate balancing act his country faces in dealing with an increasingly sharp-elbowed China; and whether President Trump will stand by the AUKUS nuclear submarine pact with Australia.
Also in this episode, Roland looks at developments in Gaza. Nearly 200 journalists have been killed while reporting in the strip, but for the first time, Israel has publicly stated that the death of one on Sunday - Al Jazeera’s Anas al-Sharif - was an assassination by its own forces...
The Telegraph’s Jerusalem correspondent Henry Bodkin discusses why the strike happened now and what it means for journalists either already in Gaza and those still trying to enter.
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Nuclear weapons are back.
This week, Moscow announced that it would no longer abide by the once hugely significant Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. Last week, President Donald Trump announced that he had moved nuclear submarines towards Russia.
From growing stockpiles in China and North Korea, to growing cooperation between the UK and France, the direction of travel is clear.
As Japan marks the 80th anniversary of the devastating atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Venetia talks to Dr Sidharth Kaushal, a senior fellow in military sciences at the Royal United Services Institute in London.
What’s driving this new nuclear arms race? Which country will be the next to go nuclear? And is there an argument that it actually makes the world safer?
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Amid growing international outrage over an unfolding famine in Gaza, lack of aid supplies and the high death toll in the ongoing war, Israel is increasingly isolated on the world stage.
Last week, several of Israel's major Western allies - the UK, France and Canada - set out a timetable for recognising a Palestinian state. In the following days, an apparently emboldened Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad both released fresh videos of hostages they kidnapped on October 7th, showing the two men in shocking conditions.
Venetia speaks to Gili Roman, brother of a released hostage and brother-in-law of a murdered hostage, about the pain of the videos and the mood on the ground in Israel amid fresh anti-government protests.
Plus, The Telegraph's chief foreign affairs commentator David Blair looks at whether recognising a Palestinian state is the right move and what other options were available to Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
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Will China invade Taiwan? If so, when and what signs should we look for that will show it is imminent? How exactly could Beijing seize the island? And what would the US do in response? These questions have been at the core of Indo-Pacific security concerns for decades, but in recent years, the threat has become more tangible - and the questions more urgent.
In the final episode of this three-part series on China's military, Venetia Rainey looks at different analyses of whether Beijing is getting ready to invade the self-ruled island it claims as its own. Plus, she examines the different scenarios that could unfold and crucially, what that would mean for a conflict with the US and a potential Third World War.
This series dives into the strengths and weaknesses of China’s military and its remarkable transformation over the last few decades from obsolete to world-class.
How significant is China’s military buildup? What does Xi Jinping’s ongoing purge mean for the People’s Liberation Army? And how likely is an invasion of Taiwan in the next few years?
As the US pivots to the Indo-Pacific and the threat of a truly global war looms, understanding the evolving role of China’s military on the world stage has never been more important.
With thanks to Dr Phillip Saunders and Joel Wuthnow from the Center for the Study of Chinese Military Affairs at the Institute for National Strategic Studies, Oriana Skylar Mastro from the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University, Meia Nouwens from the China Programme at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Timothy Heath at RAND, Amanda Hsiao at Eurasia Group, and The Telegraph’s Asia Correspondent Allegra Mendelson.
Archive used: WION, SBS News, PBS News Hour, Channel 4, NATO, DRM News, CCTV, Weibo/social media
Find episodes one and two of the series here: https://linktr.ee/BattleLines
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China’s military is not a real army - it’s the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party. Ideology is paramount and corruption is endemic.
Plus, the People’s Liberation Army hasn’t fought a war since 1979. Xi Jinping calls it “the peace disease”.
In episode two of this three-part series, Venetia Rainey looks at the PLA’s weaknesses and how the Chinese president Xi is trying to fix them, from endless purges of top generals to a specially built training centre in Mongolia and live-fire drills around Taiwan.
This series on China’s military dives into the strengths and weaknesses of China’s military and its remarkable transformation over the last few decades from obsolete to world-class.
How significant is China’s military buildup? What does Xi Jinping’s ongoing purge mean for the People’s Liberation Army? And how likely is an invasion of Taiwan in the next few years?
As the US pivots to the Indo-Pacific and the threat of a truly global war looms, understanding the evolving role of China’s military on the world stage has never been more important.
Listen to episode one of this series on China's military here.
With thanks to Dr Phillip Saunders and Joel Wuthnow from the Center for the Study of Chinese Military Affairs at the Institute for National Strategic Studies, Oriana Skylar Mastro from the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University, Meia Nouwens from the China Programme at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Timothy Heath at RAND, and Amanda Hsiao at Eurasia Group.
Archive used: WION, SBS News, PBS News Hour, Channel 4, NATO, DRM News, Shortwave Radio Audio Archive, Reuters
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