Apocalypse Now?

This week, we speak to journalist and best-selling author Douglas Murray on his latest book, On Democracies and Death Cults: Israel, Hamas and the Future of the West, drawing from on-the-ground reporting in Israel, Gaza and Lebanon, on a journey through the aftermath of the 7th October massacre. On this latest episode he talks about the ongoing war on the west, the an...

This week, David comes live from Jerusalem as Iran, Israel and the US settle into what feels like a precarious ceasefire.  Though not for President Trump, when not dropping the F-bomb on live TV, he’s solved the problem of the Middle East, and is currently waiting for the Nobel Peace Prize to be Fed Exed to the Oval Office. Probably. But what if the ceasefire doesn’t hold, and, more impo...

This week, David comes live from Tel Aviv where he was woken up on his first morning by an air raid siren, accompanied by a recorded Hebrew voice telling him to get to a shelter.    This in a week where a former Swedish prime minister said, it “looks like Trump is going to war”, posting flight tracking images that showed large US tanker aircraft being moved from the US to Europe.   For his part, T...

142 days, that’s all it’s taken. 142 days of Trump to help destabilise a country’s infrastructure, undo tenets of the constitution, buckle the economy and fall out spectacularly with a tech-bro big dog and then have a bitch fight about it all on social media. Director Alex Garland’s Civil War movie seemed like a cinematic fever dream when it was released in the spring of 2024, it now looks more li...

‘Death from above’ isn’t just something painted on the side of Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore's helicopter in Apocalypse Now anymore. Now you can buy it off the shelf…   Over the weekend, Operation Spider Web used over 100 first-person view drones to hit four air bases in Russia.   And they’re cheap, you can buy them online (there will surely come a day when Amazon drones will deliver drones), arm the...

Over 800 hundred lawyers have called on the UK government to use "all available means" to stop the fighting in Gaza, including reviewing trade ties with Israel and imposing travel bans on Israeli ministers.   This, as Amnesty International issues astatement condemning Hamas for its brutal crackdown on peaceful protests in Gaza.    And yet, the bloody war machine rolls on, with those on the ground...

Can it really be almost ten years since former PM David Cameron called the referendum to stay in or leave the EU? The summer of 2016 saw a country fall in behind Sunderland and vote to exit the European Union. David Cameron exited too, ushering in an era of new premiership under Theresa May, but Brexit cast too long a shadow for even May to escape and so she too fell on the sword Cameron had so ki...

Ask most people to point out Qatar on a map and they’d be hard pushed to find a place that has escalated in international news in a matter of weeks. And say what you like about Donald Trump, but who else gets gifted a $400million jet as a replacement for Air Force One because, and we quote, ‘Boeing were very late with the plane’.   For those that might have missed it, President Trump is currently...

Pakistan “won’t take long to settle the score” following India’s attack, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, the Pakistani defence minister, has said. But could this latest attack be the thing that could tip the world into another war?   In this latest episode we speak to voices on both sides of the divide - Sarjan Shah, a Security Analyst based in India, and award-winning Pakistani journalist Zia Ur Rehman –...

Former White House Chief Strategist and host of the War Room, Steve Bannon has a lot to say. Not least about President Trump running for an unprecedented third term, but how to control the political narrative and discourse in America, what he really thinks of Elon Musk (it’s not what you’d call an endorsement), his loathing of the Chinese government and why his former boss needs to find way toward...

Iran says it will brief China this week in advance of a third round of talks with the United States on its nuclear programme. This, as Iranian officials separately accused Israel of seeking to “undermine and disrupt the diplomatic process”.  And let’s not forget President   Donald Trump’s take on things; threatening to attack Iran unless it reaches a new deal swiftly that would prevent it from dev...

This week’s episode comes with a warning: there are graphic and disturbing depictions of rape and sexual violence in today’s programme. Make no mistake, the so-called Russian Rape Machine turns sexual assault and violence into weapons of war. It’s as integral a part of their assault on Ukraine as boots on the ground, drones, and artillery. Conflict-related sexual violence is their stock in trade....

What does tie China and America together, but pulls them both apart? Two superpowers irretrievably opposed, culturally, psychologically, politically, but both led by headstrong leaders with despotic tendencies. They get along – begrudgingly – but is this moment in history as much about the struggle for world dominance as it is about the financial implications for both countries? And let’s not forg...

“Head high, clean hands” was once a slogan of the far-right, anti-immigration National Rally party to distance itself from what it called greedy traditional politicians’ crooked ways. But this week, a political earthquake has sent shockwaves that are almost certain to end Marine Le Pen’s ambitions for the 2027 presidential election and throws her far-right party into chaos just as it was setting i...

A week is a long time in politics, but for the Trump administration it only seems to take about 48 hours to set the world on its ear. In this week’s episode, we’re on the ground in Washington DC to talk to a former US Diplomat who served under President Obama and a defence expert about spilling military plans on Signal and ask the question; can Ukraine survive without America’s help?  Those guests...

It could be a conversation that will change the world as we know it. This week, President Trump and President Putin had a phone call to discuss “dividing up certain assets”, including land and power plants in Ukraine. So, where are we as drone attacks continue to rain down across Ukraine and Russia and the White House promises peace at any cost?  Dmytro Kuleba is the former Ukrainian Minister of F...

British-Lebanese journalist and film maker Oz Katerji speaks to David Patrikarakos from Damascus to explain the latest developments there.  Oz shares what the atmosphere is like just days after the fall of the Assad regime, how appalling the scale of the regime's torture is, what will happen with the ISIS prison camps dotted across Syria and just how serious a strategic defeat this is for Russia a...

The Syrian rebels' advance in Aleppo and Hama has been nothing short of astonishing. But what does it mean for the conflicts and tensions around the world, and especially for Russia? In this episode of 90 Seconds to Midnight David talks to chemical weapons expert and long time visitor to Syria Hamish de Bretton Gordon to understand just what Putin's collapsing 'Southern Flank' in the country means...

In this episode of 90 Seconds to Midnight, David Patrikarakos talks to US investigative journalist Michael Weiss to discuss the huge escalation in the war in Ukraine over the last week. The pair unpack what Russia's launch of a hypersonic missile for the first time ever really means, if Putin may just be saving face and why the new Trump administration's appointment of the likes of Elon Musk is so...

In this episode of 90 Seconds to Midnight, David Patrikarakos sits down with Iraqi political expert Lawk Ghafuri in Kurdistan, Northern Iraq to discuss the dangerous situation in the country. Ghafuri explains just how significant Iran's influence in the country is, what the incoming Trump administration may mean and why the planned US withdrawal of all remaining troops is a major geo-political fla...

In this episode David is in Tbilisi, Georgia to speak with former Prime Minister and opposition leader Giorgi Gakharia about the country's recent heavily disputed election result. David and Gakharia discuss everything from intense Russian interference in the country, why Georgia is a key battleground State between Western and Russian influence and what the election of Donald Trump may mean for bot...

After perhaps the most extraordinary election result in US history, David Patrikarakos speaks to famed historian Sir Simon Schama to unpack what on earth happens next.    The pair also discuss how a second Trump term will push America toward authoritarianism and why Ukraine may be the biggest casualty of the result. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Follow us on...

On the eve of the US Presidential election the foremost chronicler of Trump’s first term, Michael Wolff, speaks with David Patrikarakos to share what is really going on in Trump’s camp; what is really driving the former President and why his son-in-law may become one of the most influential figures in global geo-politics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Follow...

Despite years of intense sanctions, regimes like Russia and Iran are not only surviving but thriving at keeping the money rolling in.    What makes it worse is that we can’t blame it all on Tehran or Moscow. The uncomfortable truth is that much of this network of corrupt finance was created by us in the West… London being a primary culprit.    In this episode David Patrikarakos speaks to Pulitzer...

David Patrikarakos speaks to Iran expert Holly Dagres to unpick one of the most complex countries on earth – Iran. The two discuss whether the Islamic Republic really wants to wipe out the West; just how stable it is; and, why its huge Gen Z population may prove to be the most significant factor in long term geopolitics of the Middle East. Producer: Max Bower  Editor: Alex Graham Executive Produce...