From Russia's nuclear threat to satellites, the prospect of a permanent lunar station, and the hopes of Artemis, Patrick and Tom could barely contain their space-geek excitement at speaking with General Whiting, head of US Space Command.

'There cannot be anybody on the planet who has more power in space than that man', gushed Patrick. And for good reason; war is now essentially a space domain, as the the American general explains, determining conflicts from Ukraine to Iran. 

And space, more than any other theatre, is where the cold war with China is most acutely felt. 

In a welcome note of optimism to close the conversation, General Whiting doubled-down on the benefits to both Europe and America of continued military cooperation, and paid fulsome tribute to his Nato allies.

We hope you love this conversion half as much as Patrick and Tom did!

Hosts: General Sir Patrick Sanders and Tom Newton Dunn

Guest: General Stephen Whiting, head of US Space Command

Producer: Micaela Arneson and Harry Stott

Executive producer: Fiona Leach

Image: Getty

Get in touch: [email protected]

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Having first demanded that Iran 'open the fucking strait', President Trump followed up with a post vowing 'an entire civilisation will die tonight' if it did not do so. 

But could any such order ever be legal, and would the American military even agree to carry it out?

Patrick and Tom chew over these and other questions, including whether it's time for America's long-standing allies to bail on it, if bombing a country into submission ever works, and what the sacking of the head of the US army tells us about the state of the country's military and, perhaps, its constitution. 

But first up, in a week which saw possibly the finest rescue mission ever carried out, John Nichols recalls his experience in the first Gulf War of being shot down over enemy territory, attempting to evade capture, and waiting for the infantry to arrive. 

Hosts: General Sir Patrick Sanders and Tom Newton Dunn

Guest: John Nichol

Producer: Micaela Arneson

Executive producer: Fiona Leach

Image: Getty

Get in touch: [email protected]

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For their Easter special, Tom and Patrick turn the entire show over to you. They answer as many listener questions as possible that have landed in the General & Journalist inbox since Christmas. Among them: whether Europe could defend itself in the events of an immediate Russian incursion, and whether the Iran war has changed Xi's calculus over taking Taiwan - and many more. 

Hosts: Tom Newton Dunn & General Sir Patrick Sanders

Producer: Shabnam Grewal

Executive producer: Fiona Leach

Get in touch: [email protected]

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Kremlin's treasury runneth-over with oil revenues, Moscow's military is being treated to a lesson in the latest US warfare in real time, and the world's eyes are averted from Ukraine. 

Trump's war with Iran has been a boon for President Putin. And yet rumours of paranoia, deserting elites, and strange defections abound. 

To decipher what exactly is going on in Moscow, Patrick and Tom are joined by Russia-watcher extraordinaire, Mark Galeotti. 

Hosts: General Sir Patrick Sanders and Tom Newton Dunn

Guest: Mark Galeotti

Producer: Shabnam Grewal

Executive producer: Fiona Leach

Image: Getty

Listen here to Mark's podcast, In Moscow's Shadows

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World-renowned historian Peter Frankopan joins Tom and Patrick to dissect the escalating conflict in Iran through the lens of ancient history and shifting civilisations. The Silk Roads author argues the war is less a standalone event and more the continuation of a century-long struggle for control over the "spine of the world" and its vital resources, namely oil.

Upending international law, decades-long alliances, and the norms of democracy, Frankopan posits that the war has buried multilateralism for good, and is as consequential for geopolitics as either the fall of the Berlin Wall or 9/11.

Hosts: General Sir Patrick Sanders and Tom Newton Dunn

Guest: Peter Frankopan

Producer: Shabnam Grewal

Executive producer: Fiona Leach

Image: Getty

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We are in the second week of a war that was supposed to be over by now. Yet the world is facing soaring oil prices, rising inflation and a regime which doesn't seem ready to capitulate. 

While President Trump continues to threaten Iran, he faces the limits of what air power, alone, can achieve and increasing pressure at home. 

Recording on Day 12 of the conflict, Patrick and Tom are joined by Sir Simon Gass, former Ambassador to Tehran and Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, to dissect the rise of a new Iranian dynasty and the high-stakes search for an off-ramp that no one seems able to find.

Hosts: General Sir Patrick Sanders and Tom Newton Dunn

Guest: Sir Simon Gass

Producer: Shabnam Grewal

Executive producer: Fiona Leach

Image: Getty

Clips: War.gov

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President Trump has given numerous reasons for America's war on Iran. But if a clear objective cannot be defined, can that war be won?

Admiral James 'Sandy' Winnefeld is a former vice-chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff. Until last year he headed the President's Intelligence Advisory Board, overseeing planning for American strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

He joins Tom and Patrick to talk US tactics, Iranian response and a possible end-game.

Hosts: General Sir Patrick Sanders and Tom Newton Dunn

Guest: Admiral James 'Sandy' Winnefeld

Producer: Shabnam Grewal

Executive producer: Fiona Leach

Image: Getty

Clips: Whitehouse.gov, Reuters, USA Today, @WION.

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Two years ago, Al Carns was a colonel in the Royal Marines and, though he can never confirm or deny it, had also commanded the Special Boat Service. 

He pivoted to politics when he realised that the country's military leadership did not fully grasp the seismic shift in warfare brought about by drones and AI - but he did.

Having risen at breakneck speed to become armed forces minister, Al talks candidly to Patrick and Tom about the need for the country to prepare for war with Russia in "three to five years."

Hosts: General Sir Patrick Sanders and Tom Newton Dunn

Guest: Al Carns DSO OBE MC MP

Producer: Shabnam Grewal

Executive producer: Fiona Leach

Image: courtesy of Al Carns

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Beginning with the annexation of Crimea in 2014, but accelerated by the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Poland has super-charged its military to become the third largest in Nato, behind only Turkey and the US.

It spends more on defence as a proportion of national wealth than even America and is soon to have more large tanks than the UK, Germany and France combined.

So how did this happen, what are the implications, and are there lessons to be learned for the UK? 

Host:Tom Newton Dunn

Guests: Oliver Moody and Bartosz Kielak

Producer: Shabnam Grewal

Executive producer: Fiona Leach

Photo: Getty Images

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If the UK is to present a credible deterrence to any adversary, its armed forces need to be sufficiently large. They are not. And the fastest, most economical, way of plugging the gap is by growing the reserves.

The Chief of the defence staff recently called for an 'all in mentality', urging civilians to step up to the very real threat posed by Russia.

Not 'weekend warriors', but people from high-tech industries and professions, skills the regular army lacks. He meant all of us. So, who could join the reserves, how quickly, and what would they get out of it?

Hosts: General Sir Patrick Sanders and Tom Newton Dunn

Guests: Elisabeth Braw and Peter Apps

Producer: Shabnam Grewal

Executive producer: Fiona Leach

Photo: Getty Images

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