Battle Lines is The Telegraph’s defence, security and foreign affairs podcast. It offers expert analysis and on-the-ground reporting from around the world, everywhere from China and the United States to the Middle East and Europe.
Three times 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.
Every Wednesday on Battle Lines x Global Health Security they’re joined by Arthur Scott-Geddes to look at the intersection between health and security, from bioweapons to warzone diseases to frontline medicine. You can watch these episodes here.
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.
Battle Lines: Global Health Security is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Battle Lines is The Telegraph’s defence, security and foreign affairs podcast. It offers expert analysis and on-the-ground reporting from around the world, everywhere from China and the United States to the Middle East and Europe.
Three times 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.
Every Wednesday on Battle Lines x Global Health Security they’re joined by Arthur Scott-Geddes to look at the intersection between health and security, from bioweapons to warzone diseases to frontline medicine. You can watch these episodes here.
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.
Battle Lines: Global Health Security is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
There’s a rhythm to wartime atrocity. First come the warnings, ignored, dismissed. Then the whispers, the shaky videos, the satellite images that no one can quite believe. And finally, the horrific truth. That’s where we are today in el-Fasher, Sudan, where the militia calling itself the Rapid Support Forces is perpetrating a massacre that can literally be seen from space. The crime has refocused attention both on Sudan's war, and the RSF's regional backers. Who are they, and why are they bankrolling such bloodshed? And why is such a vast and visible atrocity drawing such a muted reaction from the international community? Battle Lines is joined by Sudanese analyst Kholood Khair from think tank Confluence Advisory and terrorism and conflict specialist Michael Jones from Royal United Services Institute.
A massacre visible from space: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/10/28/sudan-bloodied-sands-massacre-thousands/
Attack on El Fasher hospital: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/terror-and-security/hundreds-die-in-el-fasher-hospital-massacre-darfur-sudan/
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Credit: AFP PHOTO / HO / SUDAN RAPID SUPPORT FORCES (RSF) TELEGRAM
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It's been over two weeks since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into effect in Gaza. While the full-blown war has stopped, the World Health Organisation is warning that Gaza is experiencing a health "catastrophe" that will last for "generations to come".
How do we make Gaza healthy again? How do you heal a city that’s been under siege and rebuild a health system destroyed by war?
To find out, Arthur and Venetia are joined by Professor Paul Spiegel, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Humanitarian Health, and Nick Maynard, a consultant surgeon at Oxford university hospital who’s regularly been into Gaza during the war.
Did you know, you can watch this podcast? Just click here to follow our playlist on YouTube.
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Picture credit: OMAR AL-QATTAA/AFP
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As the Arctic ice melts, a new Cold War is heating up. Russia and China are rewriting the rules of global power, testing missiles, flexing muscles, and pushing into the world’s last frontiers. A 294-metre container ship has just blazed through the Arctic route from China to Europe in record time. If trade can flow through, what’s to stop warships? Are we watching the start of a polar power grab? Should NATO be bracing for a Chinese fleet in the North Atlantic, or even Antarctica next? Military historian Caroline Kennedy-Pipe and Arctic expert Dr Elizabeth Buchanan plunge into the freezing front line to expose what’s really happening beneath the ice.
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Credit: Anthony Upton/Telegraph
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The Caribbean is heating up and Trump’s fingerprints are all over it. U.S. warships, stealth fighters, elite troops… and whispers of regime change. Is Donald Trump about to launch a full-scale invasion of Venezuela? Behind the “war on drugs” rhetoric, Washington has been quietly building up military power near Maduro’s shores, reopening bases and even authorising covert CIA operations. Venezuela’s leader says America is trying to overthrow him. Trump insists it’s about stopping criminals and cartels. So who’s telling the truth? And how close are we to another Cold War-style showdown in America’s backyard? Senior Adviser at International Crisis Group, Brian Finucane, joins us to expose what’s really happening on the edge of the Caribbean.
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Credit: AFP/Federico Parra
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Last month, Donald Trump raised the spectre of biological weapons at the UN, calling on the world to help him end their development.
He said AI could help enforce the ban on these weapons.
But scientists are increasingly concerned that technologies like AI and gene editing tools could also make them more accessible – and even more dangerous.
So we’re asking: has the threat of biological weapons returned?
We are joined by Dr Brett Edwards, Senior Lecturer in Security and Public Policy at the University of Bath. His research focuses on both the history and contemporary threat posed by biological and chemical weapons.
Plus we speak to Dr Ken Alibek, Former Deputy Chief of the Soviet Union's Biological Weapons, who lifted the lid on their secret bioweapons programmes to find out what threat Russia poses today.
For more insights and exclusive content, sign up to the Global Health newsletter: https://secure.telegraph.co.uk/customer/secure/newsletter/global-health-security/
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Dr Brett Edwards hosts the Poisons and Pestilence Podcast on the history of biological and chemical weapons and warfare.
Dr Ken Alibek is the author of 'Biohazard'.
Credit: UN clip - ABC News.
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Here’s a sobering reality: China could bring America’s military to its knees — without firing a single shot. The weapon? Rare earth minerals. These hidden elements power everything from fighter jets and submarines to missiles and drones. If Beijing pulled the plug tomorrow, Western stockpiles would run dry within weeks — and rebuilding them wouldn’t be easy.
Now, with China tightening export controls and Trump hitting back with 100% tariffs, the global standoff is escalating fast. This week on Battle Lines, Samuel Olsen from Sibylline and Neha Mukherjee from Benchmark Minerals expose the fight beneath the surface — the battle for the world’s rare earths.
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We surface a story that’s been making waves. A Russian diesel-electric submarine, The Novorossiysk, is being trailed through the North Sea by NATO ships, sparking headlines about a “crippled” vessel and “embarrassment for Moscow.” But is it really in trouble? Or are we, once again, jumping to Cold War-style conclusions?
Yes, it leaked fuel last month. Boats do that. It’s now heading home. They do that too. It’s been politely shadowed by eleven ships from six nations—Britain, France, the Dutch—all watching closely, all behaving exactly as they should. And it’s on the surface? Perfectly normal for a diesel-electric sub. These boats run on a mix of diesel and battery power—surfacing to recharge before diving again.
The truth is, diesel-electric submarines are both silent hunters and noisy neighbours. On battery, they’re whisper quiet; on diesel, they roar like thunder.
So, could The Novorossiysk simply be recharging, not retreating? Is NATO flexing its muscles for show, rather than necessity? And in an age of nuclear subs and high-tech stealth—are diesel-electrics just relics running on borrowed time? Former Royal Navy commander Tom Sharpe dives deep into the story.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/10/15/russia-navy-putin-mediterranean-naval-threat/
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War is the perfect petri dish for disease. In the conflicts of the 18th and 19th centuries, many more troops died of illnesses than in battle. And, at the start of the 20th century, the Spanish Flu pandemic emerged out of the chaos of the First World War.
With anti-microbial resistance on the rise and HIV cases soaring among Russian soldiers, might ‘Disease X’ – the mystery pathogen that could cause the next pandemic – be lurking in Ukraine, or Gaza, or Sudan?
In the first episode of a brand new Global Health Security Series for Battle Lines, Venetia Rainey is joined by Arthur Scott-Geddes to ask: Could war spark the next pandemic?
We hear from Amesh Adalja, Senior Scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security about pandemic preparedness and how war zones breed disease.
Plus, Laura Spinney, author of best selling book, Pale Rider, explains how the First World War paved the way for the Spanish Flu to kill up to 100 million people.
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China isn’t just spying — many Western security officials believe it’s waging a full-blown, whole-of-government campaign against the West. From hacking our systems to manipulating elections and social media, Beijing’s playing the long game to undermine Britain, America, and their allies. We speak to former FBI agent Michael Feinberg who quit under very controversial circumstances — he lifts the lid on how China’s outsmarting the FBI, America, and the entire Western intelligence machine. Rooted in centuries of pride and grievance, he says that China sees itself on a divine mission to topple Western dominance. And while our governments talk tough, we’ve tied ourselves to China economically — a dangerous bind.
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Credits: Steven McDowell / Science Photo Library RF
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In this explosive episode of Battle Lines, Venetia Rainey is asking the question everyone else is too afraid to: is Britain ready for a Russian-style drone onslaught? Drones have been spotted across Europe — Poland, Germany, Denmark, Belgium — sparking fears of a new kind of hybrid war. Could the UK defend itself if those drones turned up on our shores? To find out, Venetia is joined by ex-RAF pilot and CEO of FlyBy Technology, Jon Parker, and The Telegraph's senior foreign correspondent, Memphis Barker. Their verdict? Britain’s readiness score — a pitiful two or three out of ten. This is a wake-up call.
Read Memphis' Wales drone dispatch:https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/09/14/britains-best-attack-drones-are-stuck-chasing-sheep/
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Credits: Mariusz Burcz / Alamy Stock Photo
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Two years on from October 7th, Donald Trump is on the cusp of brokering a fragile peace deal between Israel and Hamas. But with Hamas showing signs of reconstituting itself and Israeli forces still in control of much of the Strip, few believe the war is truly over.
In this episode, we hear from The Telegraph’s Jerusalem correspondent Henry Bodkin, fresh from an Israeli army embed inside Gaza City, about what he saw on the ground and why Hamas’s resilience could shape what comes next.
Venetia also speaks to Dalia Horn, whose brother-in-law Eitan Horn is one of around twenty hostages believed to be alive in Gaza out of the 48 not yet released.
Plus, Sophia Yan catches up again with two close friends from the Oasis of Peace — one Jewish Israeli, one Palestinian — who she has spoken to throughout the conflict about their friendship and whether they still believe in the two-state solution.
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Read Henry’s dispatch: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/10/04/inside-gaza-city-idf-face-younger-braver-hamas/
Read El Sharabi’s book extract: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/10/04/eli-sharabi-hamas-hostage-book-extract-2/
Listen to Sophia’s previous conversations with the best friends:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/02/14/battle-lines-israel-oasis-of-peace-palestine/
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/10/09/israels-oasis-of-peace-one-year-later/
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and President Trump delivered extraordinary speeches to top military generals this week, declaring a war on the "enemy within" and signaling a radical transformation of the US armed forces.
To decode what it all means, Roland Oliphant speaks with Mark Cancian, senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a former Marine Corps colonel. Are American soldiers lazier than before? Is there any chance the US Navy will start building battleships again? And how significant is Trump's call for cities to be used as "training grounds"?
They also discuss the ongoing redrafting of the National Defense Strategy and what it means for America's allies and enemies.
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Today, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House to discuss bringing an end to the conflict in Gaza. Last week, he was giving a fiery speech at the UN General Assembly denying the accusation of genocide levelled at Israel following a UN report.
In response to an earlier Battle Lines interview with one of the report's authors, Venetia gets the other side of the argument with Dr. Eran Shamir-Borer, a former head of the International Law Department in the Israel Defense Forces and part of Israel's team at the International Court of Justice defending the country's against a genocide case there. He is now director of the Center for Security and Democracy at the Israel Democracy Institute and shares his legal perspective on why the UN Commission of Inquiry's report was wrong and Israel is not committing genocide in Gaza. Plus he discusses how Hamas' operating tactics makes the Gaza war one of the most morally and legally complex in modern history.
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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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