This Is Not A Drill with Gavin Esler
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.
Episodes
August 6, 2025 • 34 mins
After the 12 day war, which saw Israel and the US bomb Iran and its nuclear facilities, where next for the Iranian regime?
Questions remain over the Tehran regime’s ability to stay in power after decades of tensions in the region exploded on Iranian soil in June, its strategy of ‘forward defence’ left in ruins following Israel’s attacks on Iranian-aligned militia groups. Will Iran now continue to pursue what’s left of the nucle...
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July 31, 2025 • 31 mins
Why is it so difficult to end wars and what makes peace settlements
so likely to be rejected? These questions echo across the globe in an era of conflict and political division, with attempts to broker peace settlements in Gaza and Ukraine dominating headlines but so far remaining out of reach.
Historian Margaret MacMillan is Professor at the University of Oxford and the author of numerous books on war and peace, including Pea...
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July 24, 2025 • 31 mins
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, a generation of young Russians hoped for a better future of economic prosperity and personal freedom. Yet three decades later Russia has invaded Ukraine and is isolated from the Western world.
What happened to the dreams of the perestroika generation, and what does Russian society think about Putin’s war and his grip on power?
In the latest episode of This Is Not a Drill, Gavin Esler...
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July 16, 2025 • 26 mins
Trump’s position on the war in Ukraine looks to be changing, with his decision to send new weapons to Ukraine and a 50-day ultimatum for Vladimir Putin to halt Russian attacks.
But will Trump’s threat of ‘severe’ sanctions decisively impact Russian’s war economy and force Putin to a lasting ceasefire?
Gavin Esler assesses Trump’s ‘major statement’ on Russia with Mark Galeotti, historian, writer and leading expert on Russian...
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July 9, 2025 • 35 mins
Trump has opened the doors to kleptocrats the world over as he launches a new era of corruption the likes of which we’ve never seen. Oliver Bullough, writer of the Coda Story newsletter as well as the author of Butler to the World: How Britain Became the Servant of Tycoons, Tax Dodgers, Kleptocrats and Criminals, and Moneyland, has long been following the corrupt ways money moves around the globe. He joins Gavin Esler to discuss ho...
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July 3, 2025 • 46 mins
From ‘alternative facts’ to political lies to the disinformation that courses through social media, the ‘post-truth’ phenomenon threatens the foundations of democracy.
Politicians and ideologues are ramping up mistrust in our institutions using unchecked digital media. How can we hold onto democratic guardrails in a world shaped by politically-driven deceit and manipulation?
Eliot Higgins is the founder of Bellingcat, the invest...
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June 25, 2025 • 28 mins
Out early due to the fast moving situation...
The ceasefire announced by Donald Trump has seemingly brought an end to the conflict between Israel and Iran.
Yet with the ceasefire almost immediately broken by both sides according to the latest reports, will the truce last? And what can America and allies do to hold peace in a fragile Middle East?
Gavin Esler is joined by Dr Julie Norman, professor in politics and internationa...
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June 19, 2025 • 27 mins
As Israel and Iran continue to trade attacks, what role will the US play in attempting to bring the crisis to an end - and might it be dragged into the conflict?
As Donald Trump weighs up his options – either to force Iran into committing to giving up its nuclear programme, or potentially deploy US bombers and bunker busting bombs to hit Iran’s underground nuclear facilities – the prospect of American forces joining directly in ...
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June 13, 2025 • 27 mins
Israel’s unprecedented attack on over 100 targets in Iran – including nuclear facilities, missile sites, and military leadership – has stunned the region. But what does it mean? As Iranian state TV reports the deaths of key regime figures, and nuclear scientists, supreme leader Ali Khamenei promises heavy retaliation for “Operation Rising Lion”. Trump meanwhile warns “it will only get worse” for Iran unless they sign a deal over it...
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June 11, 2025 • 25 mins
Launching the UK’s latest strategic defence review, Keir Starmer pledged renewed spending on defence and vowed “everything we do will add to the strength of NATO”.
Yet as NATO secretary general Mark Rutte calls for members to increase spending further to five percent of GDP on security, are Britain and its allies doing enough to secure the alliance’s future and deter the threat of an expansionist Russia?
In the latest episode...
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June 9, 2025 • 37 mins
More than three years since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, warfare has been transformed by drones.
Reports have stated that 70 percent of combat casualties in the war in Ukraine are now caused by drones, while the British security think tank RUSI calculates drones account for 60 to 70 percent of damaged and destroyed Russian systems.
Ukraine, forced to innovate to hold off Russian forces, claims to be capable of...
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June 5, 2025 • 28 mins
Ukraine’s daring drone attack Operation Spiderweb has stunned Russia with its stealth, precision planning and the damage it unleashed on warplanes based deep within Russian territory.
Gavin Esler is joined from Kyiv by This Is Not A Drill co-host Oz Katerji, to discuss the impact of an operation planned meticulously over the past 18 months – and what it means both for the war and the nature of asymmetric conflict.
• This episode...
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May 29, 2025 • 31 mins
The continued assault of the Israeli armed forces amid a growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza has drawn global criticism. Yet the question remains – who will intervene to end the conflict and restrain Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu?
Donald Trump’s recent trip to the Middle East saw the US President looking to broker deals in the region - including the potential for a new deal with Israel's rivals Iran. But is Trump a...
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May 22, 2025 • 25 mins
With questions raised over Europe’s defence capabilities, Poland is one of the key nations insisting the continent needs to bolster its security.
This March the European Commission announced an €800bn plan to boost continental defence. But is Europe doing enough? Gavin Esler discusses the view from Poland with Professor Agnieszka Bieńczyk-Missala from the Faculty of Political Science and International Studies at Warsaw Universi...
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May 15, 2025 • 44 mins
Trump’s shock announcement that he would be lifting economic sanctions on Syria has sparked celebrations in the streets of Damascus.
What are the consequences for the recovery of a nation rebuilding its state and infrastructure after more than a decade of civil war? And following the announcement in Riyadh after a meeting between Trump and Syria’s new President Ahmed al-Sharaa, what does it mean for Syria’s rebalancing of relat...
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May 8, 2025 • 28 mins
As the crisis across the India-Pakistan border escalates, can the conflict be brought back from the brink?
To discuss the latest from the region and the wider context of a deep-rooted interstate rivalry, Gavin Esler talks to Christopher Clary, associate professor at University at Albany, State University of New York, non-resident fellow at the Stimson Center and author of The Difficult Politics of Peace: Rivalry in Modern South As...
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May 5, 2025 • 31 mins
Ukraine and the US have reached a long-awaited agreement on a deal over American access to Ukrainian mineral resources. What does this mean for Ukrainian resilience in the fight against Russian invasion – and for a US-Ukraine relationship strained by the arrival of Donald Trump in the White House?
Oz Katerji discusses the mineral deal and the economics of the war with Tymofiy Mylovanov, President of the Kyiv School of Economics an...
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May 1, 2025 • 12 mins
As a follower of This Is Not A Drill, we thought you might like to try our brand new, not-entirely-dissimilar podcast CRIME SCENE. Every week ex-Met Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe and former Mirror editor Alison Phillips lift the lid on how criminal investigations really work.
In our debut episode: The horrific shooting of an innocent nine-year-old girl in Dalston in 2024 laid bare bitter rivalries between London’s armed ...
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May 1, 2025 • 30 mins
The first 100 days of Trump’s second term have left the rest of the world facing the challenge of maintaining a global order without American leadership at its core.
What comes next is the subject of ‘Order Without America, How the International System can Survive a Hostile Washington’ – a recent Foreign Affairs article by the founding Dean of the Blavatnik School of Government and Professor of Global Economic Governance at Oxfor...
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April 24, 2025 • 28 mins
Donald Trump famously said he could end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours. But now, he’s suggested the US might “pass” on peace negotiations – unless rapid progress is made. So, what does that mean for Ukraine, three years into Russia’s full-scale invasion?
After a week of statement and counter-statement in which Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported continued Russian attacks on Ukraine despite Vladimir Putin’s unilateral declaration of...
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