This Is Not A Drill with Gavin Esler

European security is in a state of crisis that would have been hard to imagine when Emmanuel Macron took office as French President in 2017. What happens when a President whose term has been so dominated by the threat of Russia, the fate of NATO and fears for Europe’s independence comes to the end of his term? Fresh from the NATO summit, Macron turned his final Bastille Day into a statement of European unity and resolve – but questions remain over his successor, European rearmament and America’s commitment to NATO. Could the ‘true European Army’ that Macron once posited by the answer? Gavin Esler talks it over with Sophie Pedder, Paris bureau chief at The Economist.

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Written and presented by Gavin Esler. Produced by Robin Leeburn. Original theme music by Paul Hartnoll – https://www.orbitalofficial.com. Executive Producer Martin Bojtos. Managing Editor Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor Andrew Harrison. This Is Not A Drill is a Podmasters production.
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As member states gathered for the NATO conference in Ankara this week, leaders faced a series of questions over the future of the security alliance.

As President Trump flew into Turkey criticising allies over spending commitments and their support in the Iran conflict, could they rely on the US commitment to NATO any longer? And with Russia’s war on Ukraine ongoing, and the looming threat that Putin may yet test NATO’s resolve by targeting a member state, can allies meet defence budget pledges and defend Europe within a NATO less reliant on America?

Oz Katerji hears the latest from the conference halls from Ed Arnold, Senior Associate Fellow, International Security at RUSI, the Royal United Services Institute.

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Written and presented by Oz Katerji. Produced by Robin Leeburn. Original theme music by Paul Hartnoll – https://www.orbitalofficial.com. Executive Producer Martin Bojtos. Managing Editor Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor Andrew Harrison. This Is Not A Drill is a Podmasters production.
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The United States’ war with Iran is a reminder that it’s easier to start a war than to end it.

Many other lessons from the conflict are also being analysed right now, from how relatively low-cost weapons change the economics of war, to how even a far-away war can affect all of us in our daily lives.

Dr Neda Bolourchi, Middle East historian and nonresident fellow with the Institute for Global Affairs Eurasia Group, joins Gavin Esler to explore some of the ways in which the Iran war is making military strategists, politicians, governments and ultimately the rest of us think very differently about conflict in the 21st century.

Read Dr Bolourchi’s article The Hidden Systems of Modern War: Ten Takeways from the Iran War for the Modern War Institute here.

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Written and presented by Gavin Esler. Produced by Robin Leeburn. Original theme music by Paul Hartnoll – https://www.orbitalofficial.com. Executive Producer Martin Bojtos. Managing Editor Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor Andrew Harrison. This Is Not A Drill is a Podmasters production.

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Ukrainian drone swarms have hit targets in major Russian cities, while disrupting its military assets and vital oil supplies. Could this be a turning point in the war more than four years after Russia’s full-scale invasion began? 

Gavin Esler is joined by John Lough, senior research fellow at the New Eurasia Strategies Centre and associate fellow in the Russia Eurasia programme at Chatham House.

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• Support us on Patreon to keep This Is Not A Drill producing thought-provoking podcasts like this.

Written and presented by Gavin Esler. Produced by Robin Leeburn. Original theme music by Paul Hartnoll – https://www.orbitalofficial.com. Executive Producer Martin Bojtos. Managing Editor Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor Andrew Harrison. This Is Not A Drill is a Podmasters production.
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News of the framework for a peace deal between Iran and the United States - if it holds - might be the beginning of the end of a conflict that has unsettled not just the Middle East and the world economy but also Washington’s relationships with its allies. 

Even if President Trump claims some kind of victory in Iran - with stories about arguments and possible rifts between Trump and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, how far will the United States and Israel agree on the way forward? 

Gavin Esler is joined from Washington by Steven Cook, senior fellow for Middle East and African studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.

• Support us on Patreon to keep This Is Not A Drill producing thought-provoking podcasts like this.

Written and presented by Gavin Esler. Produced by Robin Leeburn. Original theme music by Paul Hartnoll – https://www.orbitalofficial.com. Executive Producer Martin Bojtos. Managing Editor Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor Andrew Harrison. This Is Not A Drill is a Podmasters production.
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