Battle Lines

• Battleships, boot camps and 'the enemy within': Trump and Hegseth's war on the US military

  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.https://linktr.ee/BattleLines Contact us with feedback or ideas: [email protected] @venetiarainey @RolandOliphant Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• 'This is not a genocide': ex-Israeli military lawyer explains why the UN is wrong

  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.https://linktr.ee/BattleLines Contact us with feedback or ideas: [email protected] @venetiarainey @RolandOliphant Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• The Rise and Fall of the 'Trump of the Tropics' & Moldova's existential election

  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/https://linktr.ee/BattleLines Contact us with feedback or ideas: [email protected] @venetiarainey @RolandOliphantSign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditor Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• Why the UN is in crisis, plus the death of the two-state solution

  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/https://linktr.ee/BattleLines Contact us with feedback or ideas: [email protected] @venetiarainey @RolandOliphant Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• Why Trump supporters are predicting an English civil war

  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 YouTubehttps://linktr.ee/BattleLinesContact us with feedback or ideas:[email protected]@venetiarainey@RolandOliphant Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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