This Means War – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Technical and general information from the podcast's RSS feed.

This Means War

Peter Roberts

Government

Frequency: 1 episode/14d. Total Eps: 94

Conversations about contemporary warfare and what it means for the future of fighting. Each episode will look at how wars are being fought around the world today, whether (and why) this is important, and what it all might mean for militaries and national security in the coming decades.

Read moreCollapse

Site

RSS

Apple

Recent rankings

Latest chart positions across Apple Podcasts and Spotify rankings.

Apple Podcasts

🇬🇧 Great Britain - government
31/08/2026
#90
🇬🇧 Great Britain - government
30/08/2026
#84
🇬🇧 Great Britain - government
29/08/2026
#65
🇬🇧 Great Britain - government
28/08/2026
#36
🇬🇧 Great Britain - government
26/08/2026
#90
🇬🇧 Great Britain - government
25/08/2026
#70
🇬🇧 Great Britain - government
24/08/2026
#58
🇬🇧 Great Britain - government
23/08/2026
#41
🇬🇧 Great Britain - government
22/08/2026
#29
🇬🇧 Great Britain - government
21/08/2026
#30

Spotify

No recent rankings available

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

Links found in episode descriptions and other podcasts that share them.

See all

https://www.leidos.com/company/our-business/defense
2 shares
https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/04/09/russia-soldiers-ukraine-war-crimes-meatgrinder-human-waves-brutal-violence-protest/
2 shares
https://paulcornish.substack.com/p/uk-strategic-defence?utm_campaign=reaction&utm_medium=email&utm_source=substack&utm_content=post
2 shares

RSS feed quality and score

Technical evaluation of the podcast's RSS feed quality and structure.

See all

RSS feed quality

To improve

Score global : 63%

Publication history

Monthly episode publishing history over the past years.

Year

Latest published episodes

Recent episodes with titles, durations, and descriptions.

See all

NATO finale: Friends and Enemies (Question Time)

Season 4 · Episode 4

Wednesday, August 14, 2024 • Duration 18:03

This mini series about NATO has taken some people out of their comfort zone: nonetheless, there has been a lot of positive feedback about the honesty of these conversation about the Alliance. In the final episode of this series, Peter talks again to Professor Julian Lindley French about NATO's friends and enemies and tackle some questions from listeners. In the end, they address the thorny question of a second Trump presidency and what that could mean for the Alliance.

The series has been is co-sponsored by NATO Public Diplomacy Division. It's reassuring to know that the Alliance has the self-confidence to foster an honest and open debate about NATO. That's not something you would find from lesser organisations. Chapeau!

Read moreCollapse

The real heroes of NATO

Season 4 · Episode 3

Wednesday, July 31, 2024 • Duration 27:17

NATO is rarely covered by mainstream news outlets between annual summits yet the work goes on constantly. In this episode, Peter talks to Professor Julian Lindley-French about the unsung heroes of the Alliance: the PermReps, the MilReps, the International Staff, the International Military Staff, and the Chairman of the Military Committee. Whilst the Sec Gen and SACEUR get all the headlines, it is this team of dedicated professionals who make deterrence and denial actually happen. Kudos to them.

This episode is co-sponsored by NATO Public Diplomacy Division.

Read moreCollapse

DPRK in an era of Great Power realignment

Season 3 · Episode 7

Thursday, October 12, 2023 • Duration 27:12

Most people will not have missed the visit North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un, to Russia last month. What went without comment was the significance of the realignment with Moscow and not Beijing. As the first foreign visit after three years of self-imposed pandemic national lockdown, the message was very clear: The Russia-Hermit Kingdom relationship is important. Russia needs ammunition and rockets for its on going war in Ukraine; the North Korean shopping list is more varied. It already has the diplomatic support needed at the UN and food aid continues to be delivered, so the cost to Russia is more likely to be material and knowledge based – satellite and military technologies trump that list. Nuclear demands probably are lower down since it appears that DPRK is already making preparations for its 5th test (under Kim Jung Un). What is a good response for Taiwan and the US? This was the question for Ankit Panda to ponder.

Read moreCollapse

On Taiwan – strategic ambiguity, operational clarity?

Season 3 · Episode 6

Thursday, October 5, 2023 • Duration 35:55

Beijing seems to have an insatiable appetite for increasing the scale and pace of military operations around Taiwan: from embargo operations to large scale, set piece amphibious exercises, busting median line airspace agreements and live missile firings. As Ralph Cossa, president emeritus of Pacific Forum, describes it, "Xi Jinping seems to be tactically clever but strategically foolish". The US, by comparison, continues a doctrine of strategic ambiguity over American policy. If more operational clarity is required to effectively deter China and the PLA, it would also add to the dilemma facing Beijing as it contemplates timelines for further action. In Taipei meanwhile, the reality of making the country into a 'poisoned shrimp' (the Asian equivalent of a porcupine strategy) is already in action on the ground.

Read moreCollapse

Investing in a War Zone

Season 3 · Episode 5

Thursday, September 28, 2023 • Duration 25:30

How do companies, businesses, and industry make investment decisions in a war zone? There is no shortage of international funding committed to the rebuilding phase of Ukraine in a post war era yet most companies simply don't want to wait until hostilities have ended. Indeed, societies and the people can't wait that long either. So how do companies make decisions about investing into war zones? When do they make the decision and how long do they wait? How are boards influenced by politics and events on the front line? Peter is joined by Mike Longstaff, MD of the security arm of Audere Group, to explain how it all happens.

Read moreCollapse

Ending wars - a primer

Season 3 · Episode 4

Thursday, September 21, 2023 • Duration 34:30

Bringing conflict to a conclusion usually comes about because of annihilation of one party or the exhaustion of both. It sounds very 'dead Prussian', but relies more on each sides determination and resources than one might imagine. The inimitable Professor Beatrice Heuser tackles peace theory and the reality of ending wars, as well as treaties, truces and congresses. Even if peace is not, in fact, a recent invention and the reverse is true, neither that perspective nor the great history of warfare provide us with easy answers to a solution to the Russia invasion of Ukraine in a way that provides a lasting solution. Well not without another Russian revolution.

Read moreCollapse

What if the deep battle doesn't matter?

Season 3 · Episode 3

Thursday, September 14, 2023 • Duration 34:57

The modern interpretation of manoeuvre theory for warfare holds the deep battle as a central avenue to success. Indeed, Western militaries have become so invested in this thinking that force designs and procurement prioritise capabilities for this over almost anything else. Yet, as Franz-Stefan Gady points out, what if our adversary is just not structured for the type of systems warfare that successful use of manoeuvre warfare necessitates? What if the deep battle doesn't matter, or – and this be heresy to many – centres of gravity just not relevant? Have we even thought about alternative approaches, let alone started educating the next generation of the profession of arms in them? A discussion that starts to turn our theory of battle upside down.

Read moreCollapse

Manoeuvre theory is in a coma

Season 3 · Episode 1

Thursday, August 31, 2023 • Duration 37:02

The opportunities to use manoeuvrist theory on contemporary battlefields are scarce, if they exist at all. Professor Tony King talks to Peter about the three conditions he believes are necessary for it to be successful (movement and scale, defining will and cohesion, and delegated command). Given the geometry, topography and telemetry of today's battlefields we would perhaps be better off educating leaders about alternatives to manoeuvrism.

Read moreCollapse

Is manœuvre a myth?

Season 3 · Episode 1

Thursday, August 24, 2023 • Duration 33:28

There is a disturbing undercurrent in Western PME – demonising anything not termed 'manoeuvre' or 'manoeuvrist' as stupid, dated and irrelevant. Ukraine's generals have been lambasted by Western counterparts on occasion for not embracing more manoeuvrism in their strategies. Yet the reality is that manoeuvre has simply become a catch-all for almost anything to do with modern combat. Not even the guidelines provided by Martin Van Creveld really help. Peter is joined by Amos Fox as they start season 3 to pull manoeuvre apart.

Read moreCollapse

NATO structural issues unresolved at Vilnius

Season 1 · Episode 25

Thursday, July 13, 2023 • Duration 46:00

Going into the NATO summit at Vilnius, NATO had a three tier membership structure and lacked the political leadership and will to make hard decisions. There are some good examples of things going well at the tactical, military end (the CDCM systems in the Baltic that make that region one with a compelling A2AD challenge for Russia, for example) but behind the veneer of platitudes and handshakes, the Alliance looks less solid. Indeed, as described by Professor Julian Lindley-French, it has become an 'anything-but-war' grouping of states, full of pretence and appeasement. In this discussion we cover the underlying issues with the Alliance and are left wondering whether today's NATO leaders have the courage to get out of the Potemkin village they have sleep walked into.

Read moreCollapse

This Means War – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

This Means War – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

Other3

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Similar podcasts and content

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Other3

Apple Podcasts

Spotify