Bogan Intelligentsia

Tony Kevin is a former Australian ambassador to Poland and Cambodia, and the author of Return to Moscow (2017). He served in Moscow from 1969 to 1971 and has returned to Russia several times since 2016.

Kevin joins us on a war he says Kiev has already lost, and that the West is still prolonging. The conversation runs from his Cold War posting and the decay of the Soviet system, through Maidan, Bandera’s afterlife in Ukrainian politics, the Donbass fighting from 2014, and the Minsk accords as a ceasefire that also bought time. It then turns on Russophobia in Australia and the wider West, Rocky IV and a century of invasion memory from Nevsky to Napoleon and Hitler, what a Russian-terms peace would require, and why he thinks economic self-interest is the only adult way out.

Podcast Details: 71 min | Released 7 October, 2026 | Tony Kevin – Former Australian ambassador to Poland and Cambodia; author of Return to Moscow; served in Moscow from 1969 to 1971 and has returned to Russia several times since 2016.

Support the Launch:
Subscribe for free on Substack at boganintel.com to get episodes and show notes, or go paid ($5/month). 

Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. 

Watch the video version on our YouTube channel. Subscribe for updates. 

Back us on Patreon starting at $3/month. 

Share this episode on X (@Boganintelpod) or with your network to amplify our reach. 

#TonyKevin #Ukraine #MinskAccords #Maidan #Russophobia #ReturnToMoscow #Donbass #NATO #BoganIntelligentsia #IndependentJournalism

Bryant Harris is a former journalist with more than a decade covering U.S. foreign and defense policy from the White House and Capitol Hill. He is now pursuing a Master of Strategic Studies at Victoria University of Wellington, and is the author of Rebuilding New Zealand’s Navy for Security, Not Aggression (Center for International Policy, 17 September 2026).

Harris joins us on the sliding-doors decision in front of New Zealand: replace the aging ANZAC frigates Te Kaha and Te Mana with new high-end warships, or build a navy for home waters, the Pacific, and disaster relief instead of distant coalition war. The conversation turns on cost, crews the navy does not have, a poll in which more New Zealanders see the United States as a threat than China, and what veto Wellington still has if two new frigates are built to sail in someone else’s fight.

Podcast Details: 42 min | Released 4 October, 2026 | Bryant Harris – Former journalist covering U.S. foreign and defense policy from the White House and Capitol Hill; Master of Strategic Studies candidate at Victoria University of Wellington; author of Rebuilding New Zealand’s Navy for Security, Not Aggression.

Support the Launch:
Subscribe for free on Substack at boganintel.com to get episodes and show notes, or go paid ($5/month). 

Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. 

Watch the video version on our YouTube channel. Subscribe for updates. 

Back us on Patreon starting at $3/month. 

Share this episode on X (@Boganintelpod) or with your network to amplify our reach. 

#BryantHarris #NewZealandNavy #ANZAC #Frigates #NonOffensiveDefense #PlanTasman #AUKUS #ANZUS #SlidingDoors #NZDefence #BoganIntelligentsia #IndependentJournalism 

On Episode 82 of Bogan Intelligentsia, Ambassador John Lander returns for an episode on Australia as a US military colony and sovereignty gone via the 2014 Force Posture Agreement and AUKUS. He outlines a China war not of our making, asking what veto is left if Washington uses our bases over Taiwan, and sets Albanese’s UNGA appearance and words against the realities of the decisions made in Canberra.

Podcast Details: 1 hr 24 min | Released 1 October, 2026 | John Lander – Retired Australian diplomat; former Deputy Ambassador to China; three-time Head of DFAT’s China section; Australia’s first Ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Support the Launch:
Subscribe for free on Substack at boganintel.com to get episodes and show notes, or go paid ($5/month). 

Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. 

Watch the video version on our YouTube channel. Subscribe for updates. 

Back us on Patreon starting at $3/month. 

Share this episode on X (@Boganintelpod) or with your network to amplify our reach. 

#JohnLander #AUKUS #ForcePostureAgreement #MilitaryColony #Sovereignty #HMASStirling #Taiwan #UNGA #AustraliaChina #BoganIntelligentsia #IndependentJournalism 

On Episode 81 of Bogan Intelligentsia, journalist, author and Australia Institute chief political analyst Amy Remeikis joins the program to discuss Screw Nice, the politics of civility, and how manners became a tool for keeping Australia’s real arguments off the table. 

Podcast Details:  55 min | Released 27 September, 2026 | Amy Remeikis – Author, journalist and chief political analyst, The Australia Institute

Support the Launch:
Subscribe for free on Substack at boganintel.com to get episodes and show notes, or go paid ($5/month). 

Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. 

Watch the video version on our YouTube channel. Subscribe for updates. 

Back us on Patreon starting at $3/month. 

Share this episode on X (@Boganintelpod) or with your network to amplify our reach. 

#AmyRemeikis #ScrewNice #CivilityPolitics #Jobseeker #Anomie #AUKUS #Sovereignty #NationalInterest #JohnHoward #BoganIntelligentsia #IndependentJournalism

On Episode 80 of Bogan Intelligentsia, Adelaide journalist and climate researcher Royce Kurmelovs joins the program to discuss the climate crisis and the impact of the deteriorating global political situation on effective solutions and consensus driven outcomes. Climate action was pinned to an international system that assumed law, consensus, and enough peace for complex work; war and the wrecking of those mechanisms did not just distract attention, they removed the furniture. Royce details this clash of these counterintuitive priorities. 

Podcast Details:  71 min | Released 20 September, 2026 | Royce Kurmelovs –  Author, journalist and climate researcher 

Support the Launch:
Subscribe for free on Substack at boganintel.com to get episodes and show notes, or go paid ($5/month). 

Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. 

Watch the video version on our YouTube channel. Subscribe for updates. 

Back us on Patreon starting at $3/month. 

Share this episode on X (@Boganintelpod) or with your network to amplify our reach. 

#RoyceKurmelovs #Slick #IranCrisis #Diesel #FuelSecurity #ClimateProtest #ClimateHushing #SouthAustralia #Sovereignty #AUKUS #Aviation #FossilFuels #BoganIntelligentsia #IndependentJournalism 

On Episode 79 of Bogan Intelligentsia, Lebanese-Canadian journalist and Free Palestine TV founder Laith Marouf returns for a unique discussion on resistance, the United States empire, and the last Western outpost in the Levant. Marouf also speaks on the untold story of the fully colonised states like Australia: conquest so complete that the settlers themselves became the most captured subjects of a new empire, rear bases with votes, weapons, and the feeling of freedom because the chain does not look like a checkpoint.

Podcast Details: : 63 min | Released 09 September 2026 | Released 13 September 2026 | Laith Marouf – Lebanese-Canadian journalist and political commentator; founder of Free Palestine TV; reporter and analyst on Lebanon, Palestine, Iran and the Axis of Resistance.

Support the Launch:
Subscribe for free on Substack at www.boganintel.com to get episodes and show notes, or go paid ($5/month). 

Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. 

Watch the video version on our YouTube channel. Subscribe for updates. 

 #LaithMarouf #LastCrusade #Iran #Israel #CrusaderStates #Saladin #FreePalestineTV #Lebanon #Gaza #SettlerColonialism #Canada #Australia #Sovereignty #BoganIntelligentsia #IndependentJournalism 

On Episode 78 of Bogan Intelligentsia, retired Australian diplomat, former Deputy Ambassador to China and first Ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Iran John Lander joins us for a tight, unsermonic hour on sovereignty, and AUKUS through the lens of the Force Posture Agreement.

Lander walks through what Australia conceded on unimpeded US access to bases and facilities, why he says that arrangement surrenders operational control, and how submarine rotations at HMAS Stirling, bomber deployments and “interchangeable” forces lock the country into US strategy.

Podcast Details: : 63 min | Released 09 September 2026 | John Lander – retired Australian diplomat; former Deputy Ambassador to China and Chargé d’Affaires in Beijing; three-time Head of DFAT’s China section; Australia’s first Ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Iran; commentator on Australia–China relations, AUKUS and the US Force Posture Agreement.

Support the Launch:
Subscribe for free on Substack at www.boganintel.com to get episodes and show notes, or go paid ($5/month). 

Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. 

Watch the video version on our YouTube channel. Subscribe for updates. 

#JohnLander #AUKUS #ForcePostureAgreement #OneChina #Taiwan #AustraliaChina #Sovereignty #HMASStirling #ANZUS #BoganIntelligentsia #IndependentJournalism 

 On Episode 77 of Bogan Intelligentsia, Australian human rights lawyer, former Human Rights Commissioner and UN commission of inquiry member Chris Sidoti joins us for a tight, unsermonic hour on law, visas, the IDF running the Sydney Marathon,and the killing of Zomi Frankcom.

Starting from Israel’s decision to close the Zomi Frankcom file and refuse criminal charges days before the Sydney Marathon, Sidoti walks through the details surrounding the event, looking at what Australia failed to do at the border, and how the whole thing was allowed to happen if the first place. Sidoti questions what Home Affairs actions, what AFP or the Commonwealth DPP can still do, what a proportionate response looks like now the race is over, and what Labor should have done, and what it can still do.

Podcast Details: : 42 min | Released 06 September 2026 |  Chris Sidoti – Australian human rights lawyer; former Human Rights Commissioner and Australian Law Reform Commissioner; member of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel.

Support the Launch:
Subscribe for free on Substack at www.boganintel.com to get episodes and show notes, or go paid ($5/month). 

Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. 

Watch the video version on our YouTube channel. Subscribe for updates. 

Keywords:
#ChrisSidoti #ZomiFrankcom #SydneyMarathon #IDF #Golani #Direction110 #BassemYoussef #Visas #InternationalLaw #BoganIntelligentsia #IndependentJournalism 

On Episode 76 of Bogan Intelligentsia, American-born IR scholar, Un-Diplomatic host and Victoria University of Wellington associate professor Van Jackson joins us for a sharp conversation on empire and Australia's role within it. Starting from Mark Carney’s Davos “rupture” speech and his August address after Canada walked away from U.S. trade talks, Van unpacks last-minute American demands Canada, and what it means when Washington treats even its closest partner as a subsidiary. From there he turns to alliances as instruments that launder coercion, like Australia's, via the 2026 Iran campaign and US strategic failures. Under the theme Alliances, Primacy and the Multipolar Rupture, and diving into AUKUS, Van asks who actually benefits from these fights, what middle powers still refuse to face, and what a foreign policy should look like in the circumstances.

Podcast Details: : 55 min | Released 30 August 2026 |  Van Jackson – Associate Professor of International Relations, Victoria University of Wellington; host of The Un-Diplomatic Podcast; author of The Rivalry Peril, Pacific Power Paradox and Grand Strategies of the Left

Support the Launch:
Subscribe for free on Substack at www.boganintel.com to get episodes and show notes, or go paid ($5/month). 

Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. 

Watch the video version on our YouTube channel. Subscribe for updates. 

Back us on Patreon starting at $3/month. 

Share this episode on X (@Boganintelpod) or with your network to amplify our reach. 

Van Jackson, Mark Carney, Canada US tariffs, alliances, Iran war, primacy, multipolarity, class politics, Un-Diplomatic, national security state, Bogan Intelligentsia#VanJackson #MarkCarney #CanadaUSTrade #Alliances #Iran #Primacy #Multipolarity #ClassPolitics #UnDiplomatic #BoganIntelligentsia #IndependentJournalism

On Episode 75 of Bogan Intelligentsia, Australian-Palestinian writer, director and filmmaker Ala’a Al Qaisi joins us for a deep and moving conversation on storytelling as memory, resistance and healing. Drawing on her upbringing with her grandmother’s stories of a Palestine she has never seen, Ala’a examines diaspora identity and the homeland, the shift from screen to theatre as soft power, the genesis of a work born from one family’s grief, the creation of a “second reality through imagination,” the responsibility of embodying real loss on stage, art that humanises against dehumanising narratives, and healing as a communal and spiritual act. Under the theme Storytelling as Resistance: Memory, Healing and the Return, Ala’a reflects on the roots of her practice, the essence she most wants audiences to carry, and what it means to refuse erasure through the power of story.

Podcast Details: : 75 min | Released 27 August 2026 | Ala’a Al Qaisi – Australian-Palestinian writer, director & filmmaker

Support the Launch:
Subscribe for free on Substack at www.boganintel.com to get episodes and show notes, or go paid ($5/month). 

Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. 

Watch the video version on our YouTube channel. Subscribe for updates. 

Back us on Patreon starting at $3/month. 

Share this episode on X (@Boganintelpod) or with your network to amplify our reach. 

#AlaaAlQaisi #TheReturn #StorytellingAsResistance #Diaspora #SoftPower #PalestinianArt #MemoryAndHealing #BoganIntelligentsia #IndependentJournalism #FirstNations