Today, I spoke with Dr Alex Bellamy, who is a professor of peace and conflict studies and director of the Asia Pacific Centre for the responsibility to protect at the University of Queensland.

He is the author of numerous books, including ‘World Peace And How We Can Achieve It’, which was the basis for our discussion today. However, as you’ll hear, we covered many topics, including:

• Outline of Responsibility To Protect (R2P)

Some of the topics we cover in Part 2, coming out on the 20th of October, are as follows:

• Are humans wired for violence?

If you like what you’ve heard, please consider liking and reviewing the show wherever you get your pods. You can also support the show on our Patreon page here.

Today, I spoke with Amanda Hsiao who is the Senior Analyst for China at the International Crisis Group. She joined me to shed some light on the increasing tensions between Washington and Beijing.

Amanda did this by tackling questions such as:

• What are key points of difference in the US and Chinese worldviews?

Amanda’s work at Crisis Group focuses on conflicts in which China plays an important role, and developments in China’s foreign policy that relate to conflict prevention and resolution. As you will hear, it is understandable why she is a respected go-to voice on matters affecting China and the region. Some of the topics we covered are:

• Amanda’s journey into researching China

If you like what you’ve heard, please take a moment to like and review the show wherever you get your pods. You can also support the show on our Patreon page here.

Today, I spoke with Dr Mike Martin and John Spencer who joined me for an update on the situation in Ukraine.

This conversation was recorded just after 9pm on the evening of 22nd of September, Ukraine time.

Some of the topics we covered are:

• Impact of recent Russian battlefield losses

My previous conversations with Mike and John about Ukraine can be found below:

64. John Spencer - On Ukraine, Urban Warfare and lessons learnt

58. Dr Mike Martin and LTGEN (Ret.) Arne Dalhaug - Update on the Russian invasion of Ukraine

If you like what you’ve heard, please consider liking and reviewing the show wherever you get your pods. You can also support the show on our Patreon page here.

My guest today is Paul Ingram, who is the Academic Programme Manager at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) at the University of Cambridge.

Up to a few months ago, he was also the Director of Emergent Change, which he established to further the understanding and practice of the Stepping Stones Approach (SSA) to nuclear disarmament. Prior to that, he was the Executive Director at British American Security Information Council (BASIC) where he developed the Stepping Stones Approach along with his colleagues from the Swedish Foreign Ministry. Throughout his extensive career, Paul has worked across the world on many projects related to nuclear disarmament.

Some of the topics we covered are:

• Paul’s journey into research of existential risk

I made mention in the preamble about a report on the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference. You can find that report here.

You can also find out more information about Russian nuclear weapons in this article by Hans M. Kristensen from 25th February 2022.

If you like what you’ve heard, please consider liking and reviewing the show wherever you get your pods. You can also support the show on our Patreon page here.

This is Part 2 of my conversation with Dr Jessica Wolfendale, who is an author, ethics professor and expert on torture and war crimes. If you've missed Part 1 of this discussion, I suggest you listen to that first here.

Some of the topics we covered in Part 2 are:

• The dispositional account and cognitive-affective personality system

During the chat, I made reference to my conversation with Deane-Peter Baker about moral drift in the context of military ethics. You can find that interview here.

Additionally, if you'd like to hear more about the position I take on the idea of 'free will', I recommend listening to episode 33 with the renowned 'free will sceptic', Gregg Caruso. You can find it here.

If you like what you’ve heard, please consider liking and reviewing the show wherever you get your pods. You can also support the show on our Patreon and Buy Me A Coffee page on the links below:

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thevoicesofwar 

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This is Part 1 of my conversation with Dr Jessica Wolfendale, who is an author, ethics professor and expert on torture and war crimes. She joined me to try and tackle the dichotomy of how to reconcile one’s perception of oneself with one’s actions, within the context of atrocities carried out in war. 

She does this by asking questions such as, ‘How do good people commit atrocities, like torture, and how are their views on killing impacted?’ and ‘Does the military training process make excessive violence acceptable and permissible in certain contexts, such as war?’.

Jessica is the author of ‘Torture and the Military Profession’, arguing that the prevalence of military torture is linked to military training methods that cultivate beliefs connected to crimes of obedience. She also co-authored ‘War Crimes: Causes, Excuses, and Blame’, with Matthew Talbert, where they unpack factors that can lead to war crimes as well as wrestle with the justness of responsibility and blame attributed to perpetrators. 

Some of the topics we covered in Part 1 are:

• Capital punishment as detached, humane killing

Part 2 will be released on 8th of September where we discuss topics such as:

• The dispositional account and cognitive-affective personality system

If you like what you’ve heard, please consider liking and reviewing the show wherever you get your pods. You can also support the show on our Patreon and Buy Me A Coffee page on the links below:

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thevoicesofwar 

Buy Me A Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/thevoicesofwar

Here is the link to the 2-minute survey:

https://forms.gle/RoxVPkKCZaJzLXq5A

Thank you!

Maz

Today, I spoke with John Spencer who is an award-winning scholar, professor, author, combat veteran, and internationally recognised expert and advisor on Urban Warfare and other military related topics. John currently serves as the Chair of Urban Warfare Studies with the Madison Policy Forum and was until recently the Chair of Urban Warfare Studies  at the Modern War Institute at West Point. He is also the Co-Director of the Urban Warfare Project, and host of the Urban Warfare Project podcast.

John is also the author of the ‘Mini-Manual for the Urban Defender’, which is a short compilation of John’s vast experience and there are currently over 100,000 copies of the manual in Ukraine, where it’s being used daily by the defenders.

Some of the topics we discussed are:

• John’s background in Urban Warfare

During the chat, I made reference to my conversation with Carl Miller about Russian influence operations in the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries. You can find that interview here.

If you like what you’ve heard, please consider liking and reviewing the show wherever you get your pods. You can also support the show on our Patreon and Buy Me A Coffee page on the links below:

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thevoicesofwar

Buy Me A Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/thevoicesofwar

If you'd like to help improve the show, please visit our Patreon page at https://www.patreon.com/thevoicesofwar

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My guest today is Dr Ned Dobos, who is a Senior Lecturer in International and Political Studies at the University of New South Wales in Canberra. He joined me to discuss his more-recent book, ‘Ethics, Security, and the War Machine: the True Cost of the Military’. Some of the topics we covered are:

• Ned’s background and entry into military ethics

Link to rate or review the podcast: RateThisPodcast.com/thevoicesofwar

Our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/thevoicesofwar

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My guests today are Abby Zeith and Ruben Stewart from the International Committee of the Red Cross. Abby is a Legal Adviser in ICRC’s Arms and Conduct of Hostilities Unit where her work focuses on urban warfare and the conduct of hostilities more generally.

Ruben is a Military and Armed Groups Advisor in the ICRC unit that manages relations and dialogue with arms carriers. He focuses on Non-State Armed Groups, battlefield behaviour and new technologies.

Abby and Ruben join me today to discuss Urban Warfare, including aspects of International Humanitarian Law that seek to govern it, as well as issues related to the conduct of combatants and impact of Urban Warfare on civilians affected by it. Some of the topics we covered are:

• Abby and Ruben’s backgrounds and entry into the ICRC

We referred to a couple of important documents during our chat. You can find the links to those below:

• Reducing Civilian Harm in Urban Warfare: A Commander’s Handbook

Some additional resources you might find of interest are:

• Urban warfare: an age-old problem in need of new solutions - Humanitarian Law & Policy Blog