Secrets and Spies Podcast: Espionage | Global Issues | Current Affairs

Investigative journalist Matthew Cole joins Matt to discuss his new book, Princes and Thieves: Jared Kushner and Mohamed bin Zayed’s Secret Plot to Remake the Middle East. Drawing on more than fifty sources, Cole traces how the UAE’s ruler cultivated Kushner, starting with a December 2016 meeting at a Manhattan hotel. He follows the middlemen who carried Emirati influence into Trump’s orbit, and the 2017 blockade of Qatar that nearly became an invasion. He also reports that Dutch intelligence watched Kushner access a Gulf-funded bank account on his iPhone, an allegation Kushner denies. With Kushner back at the center of American diplomacy and a new Congress arriving in January, they ask what accountability in Washington could look like, and argue that the allies taking advantage of America may not be the ones Trump has been blaming.

Subscribe and share to stay ahead in the world of intelligence, global issues, and current affairs.

Order Princes and Thieves: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Princes-and-Thieves/Matthew-Cole/9781668095324

Follow Matthew’s Substack, The Cole Report: https://matthewcole.substack.com/

Please share this episode using these links

Apple Podcasts: shorturl.at/PdK58

Spotify: shorturl.at/wpJbh

Amazon Music: shorturl.at/fCdxd

Youtube: shorturl.at/BQJJA

Suggested YouTube titles

How the UAE Worked Its Way Into Trump’s White House | Matthew Cole

Jared Kushner, the UAE, and the Book He Calls “Completely Insane” | Matthew Cole

Are the UAE and Saudi Arabia the Allies Taking Advantage of America? | Matthew Cole

Support Secrets and Spies

Become a “Friend of the Podcast” on Patreon for £3/$4: https://www.patreon.com/SecretsAndSpies

Buy merchandise from our shop: https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/60934996

Buy us a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/secretsandspies

Subscribe to our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDVB23lrHr3KFeXq4VU36dg

For more information about the podcast, check out our website: https://secretsandspiespodcast.com

Connect with us on social media

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/secretsandspies.bsky.social

X/Twitter: https://x.com/SecretsAndSpies

Instagram: https://instagram.com/secretsandspies

Facebook: https://facebook.com/secretsandspies

Spoutible: https://spoutible.com/SecretsAndSpies

Follow Chris and Matt on Bluesky:

https://bsky.app/profile/chriscarrfilm.bsky.social

https://bsky.app/profile/mattfulton.net

Secrets and Spies is produced by Films & Podcasts LTD: https://filmsandpodcasts.co.uk/

Music by Andrew R. Bird

Secrets and Spies sits at the intersection of intelligence, covert action, real-world espionage, and broader geopolitics in a way that is digestible but serious. Hosted by filmmaker Chris Carr and writer Matt Fulton, each episode examines the very topics that real intelligence officers and analysts consider on a daily basis through the lens of global events and geopolitics, featuring expert insights from former spies, authors, and journalists.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

After a midterm wave handed Democrats both houses of Congress, Chris and Matt, espresso martinis in hand, ask what the result changes for American national security. Matt lays out what the new majorities gain in January, from subpoenas to the defense budget to confirmations, and what they don’t, as the Pentagon braces for a fight over who answers for the Iran war and Pete Hegseth’s future comes into question. Chris brings the view from Europe, where relief is tempered by doubt over whether voters rejected Trumpism or just gas prices, and where capitals are weighing how to work with Congress, manage the White House and plan for what comes after. Along the way: Elon Musk, Starlink and the limits of private power over public defense, and what the transatlantic relationship can realistically become.

Support Secrets and Spies

Become a “Friend of the Podcast” on Patreon for £3/$4: https://www.patreon.com/SecretsAndSpies

Buy us a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/secretsandspies

Subscribe to our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDVB23lrHr3KFeXq4VU36dg

Please share this episode using these links

Listen on Apple: shorturl.at/Dk4PT

Listen on Spotify: shorturl.at/RDyyB

Listen on Amazon Music: shorturl.at/5sC93

Watch us on YouTube: shorturl.at/B1iDu

"Accountability Will Come – What Should It Look Like for the Department of Defense?" by Frank Kendall | Just Security: https://www.justsecurity.org/162162/accountability-will-come-department-of-defense/

"How Americans Defeated an Autocrat-in-Waiting" by Anne Applebaum | The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/11/future-democracy/689280/

"Trump asking advisers if Hegseth should stay after midterm losses, sources say" by Jennifer Jacobs and Emma Nicholson | CBS News: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-hegseth-midterm-election-losses/

"‘Knives out’ for Hegseth, other military leaders after Iran war dooms GOP" by Dan Lamothe, Tara Copp, Noah Robertson, and Katherine Doyle | The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/11/04/knives-out-pentagon-after-unpopular-iran-war-dooms-gop-midterms/

"After the midterms: Europe's three-pronged strategy for dealing with America" Giuseppe Spatafora | European Union Institute for Security Studies: https://www.iss.europa.eu/publications/commentary/after-midterms-europes-three-pronged-strategy-dealing-america

"Time to focus on cost of living, says PM after US election results" by Kate Whannel | BBC News: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6kgl0xk8en9o

"Why Europe shouldn’t celebrate a Democratic midterm victory" by Jamie Dettmer | Politico: https://www.politico.eu/article/why-europe-shouldnt-celebrate-democratic-us-midterm-victory/

"Even if US democracy can be salvaged from Trump, Europe is moving on" by Rafael Behr | The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/nov/03/us-democracy-donald-trump-europe-trust

Connect with us on social media

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/secretsandspies.bsky.social

X: https://x.com/SecretsAndSpies

Instagram: https://instagram.com/secretsandspies

Follow Chris and Matt on Bluesky:

https://bsky.app/profile/chriscarrfilm.bsky.social

https://bsky.app/profile/mattfulton.net

Secrets & Spies is produced by Films & Podcasts LTD: https://filmsandpodcasts.co.uk/

Music by Andrew R. Bird

Photos by US Congress, Anadolu/Getty, Andrew Harnik/Getty

Secrets and Spies sits at the intersection of intelligence, covert action, real-world espionage, and broader geopolitics in a way that is digestible but serious. Hosted by filmmaker Chris Carr and writer Matt Fulton, each episode examines the very topics that real intelligence officers and analysts consider on a daily basis through the lens of global events and geopolitics, featuring expert insights from former spies, authors, and journalists.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Keir Giles has spent his career explaining why Russia does what it does, as an adviser to governments and a senior fellow in Chatham House’s Russia and Eurasia Programme. He returns to talk with Chris about his new book, American Overthrow: Moscow’s Endgame in Its Long War with Washington, which reads Trump’s second term through the lens of Kremlinology. Giles argues that the administration’s choices track closely with goals Russian strategists set out decades ago. He points to concentrating power in the presidency, dismantling the offices that guarded against foreign interference, pressing Ukraine toward a ceasefire and draining US munitions in Iran. He is equally careful about what the evidence cannot yet show: the mechanism connecting Moscow’s aims to Washington’s decisions. The conversation closes on 2028, and whether Trump follows Putin’s playbook on term limits.

Subscribe and share to stay ahead in the world of intelligence, global issues, and current affairs.

Order American Overthrow: https://hurstpublishers.com/book/american-overthrow/

More about Keir Giles: https://www.chathamhouse.org/about-us/our-people/keir-giles

Support Secrets and Spies

Become a “Friend of the Podcast” on Patreon for £3/$4: https://www.patreon.com/SecretsAndSpies

Buy us a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/secretsandspies

Subscribe to our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDVB23lrHr3KFeXq4VU36dg

Connect with us on social media

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/secretsandspies.bsky.social

X: https://x.com/SecretsAndSpies

Instagram: https://instagram.com/secretsandspies

Follow Chris and Matt on Bluesky:

https://bsky.app/profile/chriscarrfilm.bsky.social

https://bsky.app/profile/mattfulton.net

Secrets and Spies is produced by Films & Podcasts LTD: https://filmsandpodcasts.co.uk/

Music by Andrew R. Bird

Secrets and Spies sits at the intersection of intelligence, covert action, real-world espionage, and broader geopolitics in a way that is digestible but serious. Hosted by filmmaker Chris Carr and writer Matt Fulton, each episode examines the very topics that real intelligence officers and analysts consider on a daily basis through the lens of global events and geopolitics, featuring expert insights from former spies, authors, and journalists.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Chris and Matt open with two reports, from the Washington Post and Politico, that point to a more aggressive Pentagon intelligence posture: a planned deep-cover program with officers posing as businesspeople as part of economic warfare against China, and a quietly created Technology Support Office built to sabotage rivals’ military technology. The Pentagon calls the reporting “simply not true.” They weigh which model of non-official cover the Pentagon might borrow, JSOC’s or the CIA’s, and what oversight should look like. From there: MI5 Director General Ken McCallum’s annual threat update and social media’s role in radicalization; Israel’s inconclusive election, which left neither Benjamin Netanyahu nor Gadi Eisenkot within reach of a majority; Austria’s expulsion of four Russian diplomats from Vienna, long a hub for Russian intelligence in Europe; and a Defense Intelligence Agency report with the clearest image yet of China’s secretive spaceplane.

Andrew R Bird Album "Automatopia" https://music.imusician.pro/a/xfpkGB99

Support Secrets and Spies

Become a “Friend of the Podcast” on Patreon for £3/$4: https://www.patreon.com/SecretsAndSpies

Buy us a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/secretsandspies

Subscribe to our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDVB23lrHr3KFeXq4VU36dg

"Pentagon looks to build a deep-cover spy program to confront China" by Zach Dorfman & Warren P. Strobel | The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/10/21/pentagon-looks-build-deep-cover-spy-program-confront-china/

"The Pentagon is quietly building an elite new tech sabotage agency" by John Sakellariadis, Jack Detsch & Paul McLeary | Politico: https://www.politico.com/news/2026/10/22/technology-support-office-dod-tech-spyware-sabotage-01100327

“Unpacking MI5’s Warning on a ‘New Era’ of Security Threats” by Farah Pandith | Council on Foreign Relations: https://www.cfr.org/articles/unpacking-mi5s-warning-on-a-new-era-of-security-threats

“Israel’s Election: When Will We Know Who Will Be Prime Minister?” by Ephrat Livni | The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/25/world/middleeast/israel-election-guide-netanyahu-eisenkot.html

“Spies Suspected at Russian Embassy and OSCE Mission in Vienna. Austria Orders Four Diplomats to Leave” by Katherina Poplinichenko | United24 Media: https://united24media.com/world/spies-suspected-at-russian-embassy-and-osce-mission-in-vienna-austria-orders-four-diplomats-to-leave-23759

"U.S. Intel Confirms This Is China’s Secret Spaceplane" by Joseph Trevithick | The War Zone: https://www.twz.com/news-features/u-s-intel-confirms-this-is-chinas-secret-spaceplane

Connect with us on social media

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/secretsandspies.bsky.social

X: https://x.com/SecretsAndSpies

Instagram: https://instagram.com/secretsandspies

Follow Chris and Matt on Bluesky:

https://bsky.app/profile/chriscarrfilm.bsky.social

https://bsky.app/profile/mattfulton.net

Secrets & Spies is produced by Films & Podcasts LTD: https://filmsandpodcasts.co.uk/

Music by Andrew R. Bird

Photos by Eric Lee/NYT, Canva, Aaron Favila/Reuters

Secrets and Spies sits at the intersection of intelligence, covert action, real-world espionage, and broader geopolitics in a way that is digestible but serious. Hosted by filmmaker Chris Carr and writer Matt Fulton, each episode examines the very topics that real intelligence officers and analysts consider on a daily basis through the lens of global events and geopolitics, featuring expert insights from former spies, authors, and journalists.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Former U.S. Army counterintelligence special agent Pete Turner joins Chris for a conversation about what human intelligence actually looks like on the ground. Turner’s career ran from post–Cold War Germany and Bosnia through Egypt in the weeks after 9/11 to Iraq and Afghanistan, and he explains why the work turned less on stealing secrets than on access: winning over wary commanders, building rapport with sheikhs and district governors, and treating interpreters as partners rather than mouthpieces. Along the way he recounts a meeting he later learned the Taliban had called to look him over, and a colleague’s hunt for a district’s shadow governor that ended at the governor’s own door. Turner, host of the Break It Down Show, closes on what the job taught him about human nature.

Subscribe and share to stay ahead in the world of intelligence, global issues, and current affairs.

Find Pete on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeteATurner/streams

Listen to Pete’s podcast:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/break-it-down-show/id941689175

https://open.spotify.com/show/1FcUXypxYsB2heFD3Q4gcm

Support Secrets and Spies

Become a “Friend of the Podcast” on Patreon for £3/$4: https://www.patreon.com/SecretsAndSpies

Buy us a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/secretsandspies

Subscribe to our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDVB23lrHr3KFeXq4VU36dg

For more information about the podcast, check out our website: https://secretsandspiespodcast.com

Connect with us on social media

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/secretsandspies.bsky.social

X/Twitter: https://x.com/SecretsAndSpies

Instagram: https://instagram.com/secretsandspies

Follow Chris and Matt on Bluesky:

https://bsky.app/profile/chriscarrfilm.bsky.social

https://bsky.app/profile/mattfulton.net

Secrets and Spies is produced by Films & Podcasts LTD: https://filmsandpodcasts.co.uk/

Music by Andrew R. Bird

Photo by U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Cody Quinn

Secrets and Spies sits at the intersection of intelligence, covert action, real-world espionage, and broader geopolitics in a way that is digestible but serious. Hosted by filmmaker Chris Carr and writer Matt Fulton, each episode examines the very topics that real intelligence officers and analysts consider on a daily basis through the lens of global events and geopolitics, featuring expert insights from former spies, authors, and journalists.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Joby Warrick covered national security for the Washington Post for nearly three decades. In his new book, The Jackal, he turns to Ilich Ramírez Sánchez—Carlos the Jackal—the Venezuelan who in the 1970s and '80s was the most famous terrorist in the world. Matt talks with Warrick about Carlos’s rise, from the audacious 1975 OPEC siege in Vienna to his years as a gun for hire in the Soviet bloc, and about the book’s sharpest argument: that Carlos was less a true believer than a narcissist in love with his own legend. They close on why his story matters now as the deniable, mercenary terror Carlos pioneered is back, in the contract attacks Russia and Iran are running across the West. Only this time, the hired hands have no wish to be famous.

Subscribe and share to stay ahead in the world of intelligence, global issues, and current affairs.

Order The Jackal: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Jackal/Joby-Warrick/9781668070550

Learn more on Joby’s website: https://www.jobywarrick.com/

Follow Joby on X: https://x.com/JobyWarrick

Please share this episode using these links

Apple Podcasts: https://shorturl.at/7pIpb

Spotify: https://shorturl.at/GMHLJ

Amazon Music: https://shorturl.at/dUa5i

YouTube: https://shorturl.at/tFqZT

Support Secrets and Spies

Become a “Friend of the Podcast” on Patreon for £3/$4: https://www.patreon.com/SecretsAndSpies

Buy merchandise from our shop: https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/60934996

Buy us a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/secretsandspies

Subscribe to our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDVB23lrHr3KFeXq4VU36dg

For more information about the podcast, check out our website: https://secretsandspiespodcast.com

Connect with us on social media

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/secretsandspies.bsky.social

X/Twitter: https://x.com/SecretsAndSpies

Instagram: https://instagram.com/secretsandspies

Facebook: https://facebook.com/secretsandspies

Spoutible: https://spoutible.com/SecretsAndSpies

Follow Chris and Matt on Bluesky:

https://bsky.app/profile/chriscarrfilm.bsky.social

https://bsky.app/profile/mattfulton.net

Secrets and Spies is produced by Films & Podcasts LTD: https://filmsandpodcasts.co.uk/

Music by Andrew R. Bird

Photos by Jack Guez/AFP, AFP/Getty, Marvin Joseph/WaPo

Secrets and Spies sits at the intersection of intelligence, covert action, real-world espionage, and broader geopolitics in a way that is digestible but serious. Hosted by filmmaker Chris Carr and writer Matt Fulton, each episode examines the very topics that real intelligence officers and analysts consider on a daily basis through the lens of global events and geopolitics, featuring expert insights from former spies, authors, and journalists.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A quick programming note: this weekend’s episode will be out on Sunday, October 18, rather than our usual Saturday release. We’re taking an extra day in the edit on Matt’s conversation with national security reporter Joby Warrick about Carlos the Jackal, the Venezuelan-born militant who became one of the Cold War’s most wanted men. Thanks for your patience, and we’ll see you Sunday.

Subscribe and share to stay ahead in the world of intelligence, global issues, and current affairs.

Support Secrets and Spies

Become a “Friend of the Podcast” on Patreon for £3/$4: https://www.patreon.com/SecretsAndSpies

Buy merchandise from our shop: https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/60934996

Buy us a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/secretsandspies

Subscribe to our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDVB23lrHr3KFeXq4VU36dg

For more information about the podcast, check out our website: https://secretsandspiespodcast.com

Connect with us on social media

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/secretsandspies.bsky.social

X/Twitter: https://x.com/SecretsAndSpies

Instagram: https://instagram.com/secretsandspies

Facebook: https://facebook.com/secretsandspies

Spoutible: https://spoutible.com/SecretsAndSpies

Follow Chris and Matt on Bluesky:

https://bsky.app/profile/chriscarrfilm.bsky.social

https://bsky.app/profile/mattfulton.net

Secrets and Spies is produced by Films & Podcasts LTD: https://filmsandpodcasts.co.uk/

Music by Andrew R. Bird

Secrets and Spies sits at the intersection of intelligence, covert action, real-world espionage, and broader geopolitics in a way that is digestible but serious. Hosted by filmmaker Chris Carr and writer Matt Fulton, each episode examines the very topics that real intelligence officers and analysts consider on a daily basis through the lens of global events and geopolitics, featuring expert insights from former spies, authors, and journalists.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Chris and Matt start at RAF Fairford, where the arrest of five men outside the US bomber base, their swift release on bail, and a widening inquiry into possible Iranian involvement were followed by the abrupt return of all twelve American B-1Bs to the United States. They turn to flydubai Flight 1072, where the co-pilot attacked his captain with the cockpit crash axe en route to Tel Aviv, and to the reported red flags that didn’t follow him from one airline to the next. In Germany, former BND president August Hanning has been arrested on suspicion of espionage and treason, allegedly fed classified files by a serving insider. And ShinyHunters’ breach of the FBI’s jobs portal may have exposed the home addresses and assignments of Bureau personnel. They close with what the summer’s listener survey told them.

Subscribe and share to stay ahead in the world of intelligence, global issues, and current affairs.

Please share this episode using these links

Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://shorturl.at/idErq

Listen on Spotify: https://shorturl.at/JTjj6

Listen on Amazon Music: https://shorturl.at/SKH8R

Watch us on YouTube: https://shorturl.at/q59g5

Support Secrets and Spies

Become a “Friend of the Podcast” on Patreon for £3/$4: https://www.patreon.com/SecretsAndSpies

Buy merchandise from our Redbubble shop: https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/60934996

Buy us a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/secretsandspies

Subscribe to our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDVB23lrHr3KFeXq4VU36dg

For more information about the podcast, check out our website: https://secretsandspiespodcast.com

Articles discussed in today’s episode

"Amateurism and organisation’: Iran’s potential role in RAF Fairford incident" by Charles Clover | Financial Times: https://www.ft.com/content/7a91fa6b-e908-4a28-b04f-02d5a10a6bb1

"No 10 insists RAF Fairford is safe after US withdraws its bombers from base" by Dan Sabbagh & Aletha Adu | The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/05/no-10-says-raf-fairford-safe-us-withdraws-bombers-from-base

"B-1B Bombers Make Hasty Departure From England" by Howard Altman | The War Zone: https://www.twz.com/air/b-1b-bombers-make-hasty-departure-from-england

"RAF Fairford suspects were ‘just thieves syphoning fuel’, sources" by Daniel Jae Webb | Wiltshire999s: https://www.wiltshire999s.co.uk/raf-fairford-thieves-syphoning-fuel/

"UK-Iranian dual national arrested over RAF Fairford released on bail" by Olivia Ireland | BBC News: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6d095ygggv1o

"What happened inside the Flydubai flight to Israel?" by Mitchell McCluskey & Tal Shalev | CNN: https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/30/middleeast/flydubai-israel-plane-pilot-hijacking-incident-latam-hnk-intl

"Flydubai co-pilot originally planned attack for July, investigators believe" by Jason Burke & Stephanie Kirchgaessner | The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/05/flydubai-co-pilot-originally-planned-attack-for-july-investigators-believe

"German court orders detention of former intelligence chief after spying arrest" by Kate Connolly | The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/07/germany-court-august-hanning-spying-arrest-detention-bnd

"What to Know About the Hacking Group ShinyHunters and Its F.B.I. Breach" by Chris Cameron | The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/29/us/politics/shinyhunters-fbi-hacking-cybercriminal-group.html

"Embarrassing Breach at F.B.I. Fuels Fears of Harm to Its Employees" by Dustin Volz, Alan Feuer, Charlie Savage & Adam Goldman | The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/28/us/politics/fbi-shinyhunters-damage.html

"What Should the U.S. Government Do in Response to the FBI Hack?" by Nikita Shah | CSIS: https://www.csis.org/analysis/what-should-us-government-do-response-fbi-hack

Connect with us on social media

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/secretsandspies.bsky.social

X/Twitter: https://x.com/SecretsAndSpies

Instagram: https://instagram.com/secretsandspies

Facebook: https://facebook.com/secretsandspies

Spoutible: https://spoutible.com/SecretsAndSpies

Follow Chris and Matt on Bluesky:

https://bsky.app/profile/chriscarrfilm.bsky.social

https://bsky.app/profile/mattfulton.net

Secrets and Spies is produced by Films & Podcasts LTD: https://filmsandpodcasts.co.uk/

Music by Andrew R. Bird

Photos by USAF/Senior Airman Colin Hollowell

Secrets and Spies sits at the intersection of intelligence, covert action, real-world espionage, and broader geopolitics in a way that is digestible but serious. Hosted by filmmaker Chris Carr and writer Matt Fulton, each episode examines the very topics that real intelligence officers and analysts consider on a daily basis through the lens of global events and geopolitics, featuring expert insights from former spies, authors, and journalists.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Sam Lichtenstein, director of analysis at the global risk intelligence firm RANE, returns to walk Chris through RANE's 2025–2035 decade forecast: a multipolar world in which no great power has the will or the means to set the rules. The big calls include a China turned inward by economic and demographic strain even as its coercion of Taiwan intensifies; a Europe pushed toward integration as the American security anchor weakens; a Russia that won't remain a pariah forever; intra-Sunni rivalry reshaping the Middle East; and global jihad's center of gravity settling in the Sahel. They also cover AI's disruption of white-collar work, climate change as a threat multiplier, and a splintering internet. Throughout, Sam is candid about the limits of the exercise, including why the Iran war, which dominates the present, may not define the decade.

Subscribe and share to stay ahead in the world of intelligence, global issues, and current affairs.

Read RANE’s 2025-2035 decade forecast here: https://go.ranenetwork.com/decade-forecast-overview-lp

More about RANE: https://www.ranenetwork.com/

Support Secrets and Spies

Become a “Friend of the Podcast” on Patreon for £3/$4: https://www.patreon.com/SecretsAndSpies

Buy merchandise from our shop: https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/60934996

Buy us a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/secretsandspies

Subscribe to our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDVB23lrHr3KFeXq4VU36dg

For more information about the podcast, check out our website: https://secretsandspiespodcast.com

Connect with us on social media

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/secretsandspies.bsky.social

X/Twitter: https://x.com/SecretsAndSpies

Instagram: https://instagram.com/secretsandspies

Facebook: https://facebook.com/secretsandspies

Spoutible: https://spoutible.com/SecretsAndSpies

Follow Chris and Matt on Bluesky:

https://bsky.app/profile/chriscarrfilm.bsky.social

https://bsky.app/profile/mattfulton.net

Secrets and Spies is produced by Films & Podcasts LTD: https://filmsandpodcasts.co.uk/

Music by Andrew R. Bird

Photo by Saul Loeb/Getty

Secrets and Spies sits at the intersection of intelligence, covert action, real-world espionage, and broader geopolitics in a way that is digestible but serious. Hosted by filmmaker Chris Carr and writer Matt Fulton, each episode examines the very topics that real intelligence officers and analysts consider on a daily basis through the lens of global events and geopolitics, featuring expert insights from former spies, authors, and journalists.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Every week, the Security Council of the Russian Federation publishes a digest of world events as Moscow sees them. Investigative journalist Dave Troy has been reading them closely, and he argues they matter not because they’re accurate, but because they show the story the Kremlin tell itself and its allies. Dave returns to the show to talk with Chris about his piece "What Russia Believes." His central claim is that the Kremlin sees the war in Ukraine less as a fight over territory than as a contest over the shape of the world order itself — and its real campaign is the slow export of that worldview into the West through proxies and information warfare, a war the West has been slow to recognize as one. They also get into why Washington keeps misreading Moscow, the spiritual and conspiratorial currents Putin curates rather than invents, and how "sovereignty," disinformation, and even UFO culture serve the same end.

Read Dave’s article, "What Russia Believes: Weekly Reports Reveal the Kremlin's Distorted Worldview": https://america2.news/what-russia-believes-weekly-reports-reveal-the-kremlins-distorted-worldview/

More about Dave on his website: https://about.davetroy.com/

Follow Dave on Bluesky and X:

https://bsky.app/profile/davetroy.com

https://x.com/davetroy

Support Secrets and Spies

Become a “Friend of the Podcast” on Patreon for £3/$4: https://www.patreon.com/SecretsAndSpies

Buy merchandise from our shop: https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/60934996

Buy us a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/secretsandspies

Subscribe to our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDVB23lrHr3KFeXq4VU36dg

For more information about the podcast, check out our website: https://secretsandspiespodcast.com

Connect with us on social media

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/secretsandspies.bsky.social

X/Twitter: https://x.com/SecretsAndSpies

Instagram: https://instagram.com/secretsandspies

Facebook: https://facebook.com/secretsandspies

Spoutible: https://spoutible.com/SecretsAndSpies

Follow Chris and Matt on Bluesky:

https://bsky.app/profile/chriscarrfilm.bsky.social

https://bsky.app/profile/mattfulton.net

Secrets and Spies is produced by Films & Podcasts LTD: https://filmsandpodcasts.co.uk/

Music by Andrew R. Bird

Photo by Sergei Bobylev / TASS

Secrets and Spies sits at the intersection of intelligence, covert action, real-world espionage, and broader geopolitics in a way that is digestible but serious. Hosted by filmmaker Chris Carr and writer Matt Fulton, each episode examines the very topics that real intelligence officers and analysts consider on a daily basis through the lens of global events and geopolitics, featuring expert insights from former spies, authors, and journalists.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.