This Is Not A Drill with Gavin Esler

Trump’s erratic actions around Ukraine look less and less like sincere bids to end the war and more like attempts to cosy up to Putin, sell out Ukraine and save himself in the midterms. And Putin is using his increased impunity. Within hours of any meeting between Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and the Russians there’s another devastating Russian missile attack on Ukraine. Is the Trump Administration just chasing its tail on Ukraine? Does any of it matter when Putin flatly refuses to accept that Ukraine deserves to exist at all? And might Witkoff’s many failures actually give the Administration’s pro-Ukraine faction more oxygen after the midterms? Oz Katerji has reported on the Ukraine War on the ground since 2022. He talks to Michael Kimmage – history professor at Catholic University of America and author of The Abandonment of the West – about the Trumpist factions driving the President’s policies and the future for Ukraine when Trump becomes a lame duck president. • Support This Is Not A Drill on Patreon and get early, ad-free episodes, merchandise and more. • Buy The Abandonment of the West through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. Written and presented by Oz Katerji. Produced by Robin Leeburn. Original theme music by Paul Hartnoll – https://www.orbitalofficial.com. Executive Producer Martin Bojtos. Managing Editor Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor Andrew Harrison. This Is Not A Drill is a Podmasters production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A new Great Game is under way. As the frozen poles start to melt, a new “ice silk road” is emerging in the newly-navigable Arctic Ocean – and it’s subject of intense commercial and military competition between China, Europe, the US and Russia. Trump’s on-off threats to Greenland are still causing consternation across Europe and NATO, China sees a new opportunity for dominance, and to Russia the Arctic is the next military arena.  Will the next major standoff happen at the top of the world? Gavin Esler is talk to journalist and author Rana Foroohar about her book Sea Change: America’s Great Game in the Arctic Circle and how global warming and great power competition are coming to a head in the Far North. • Buy Sea Change through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. • 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. Managing Editor Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor Andrew Harrison. This Is Not A Drill is a Podmasters production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Trump’s sanction-busting diesel deal with Vladimir Putin has sent shockwaves across the world. As Ukraine braces for a Russian winter offensive, have US threats to withhold intelligence and access to weapons sold out the Ukrainian people? Gavin Esler is joined by Steven Pifer, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Center on the United States and Europe and a former US ambassador to Ukraine, to discuss why Trump has struck a deal with the Kremlin, the US reaction ahead of the November’s midterms, and a deepening rift in the transatlantic alliance. • 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. Managing Editor Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor Andrew Harrison. This Is Not A Drill is a Podmasters production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On August 4th a drone strapped with explosives failed to detonate when it struck a Ukrainian plane at Leipzig Airport. German security services investigating the device pointed the blame at Russia’s GRU. Putin is ramping up his hybrid warfare against NATO allies, including cyber attacks, arson, sabotage and drone incursion. Just how far is he willing to go to test Europe? Gavin Esler talks to Dr Ulrike Franke, senior fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, about the dangers of Russian drones in NATO airspace and how Europe might counter the threat.   • Read Ulrike’s ECFR report ‘Buzzkill: How to defend Europe against drones’ here. • 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. Managing Editor Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor Andrew Harrison. This Is Not A Drill is a Podmasters production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A surge in violence in Yemen has seen Houthi forces seize land on the Red Sea coast – reigniting a war with Saudi Arabia and threatening a further global energy shock. The Iranian-aligned group has increased its foothold in Yemen, now locked in civil war for more than a decade, and launched drone attacks on Saudi oil pipelines. With global trade still reeling from the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz and Saudi Arabia’s allies in America constrained by the ongoing Iran conflict, where next in the latest escalation in the Middle East? Gavin Esler is joined by Dr Elisabeth Kendall, expert on Yemen and the region and Mistress of Girton College, Cambridge. • Support us on Patreon to keep This Is Not A Drill producing thought-provoking podcasts like this. Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact [email protected] to find out more. Written and presented by Gavin Esler. Produced by Robin Leeburn. Original theme music by Paul Hartnoll – https://www.orbitalofficial.com. Executive Producer Martin Bojtos. Managing Editor Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor Andrew Harrison. This Is Not A Drill is a Podmasters production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices